IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PUNCHING, RIVETTING, AND SHEARING METAL PLATES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE- PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MAY, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day
of April, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles May, my exors, admors,
and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,"
that I, the said Charles May, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles May, my exors, adñññors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,-
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PUNCHING, RIVETTING,
AND SHEARING METAL PLATES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that I, the said Charles May, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said

page_text: Charles May, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:
aro
The first part of the Invention consists of a mode of punching metallic
plates by means of pressure derived from a modification of the hydrostatic
press, as will be better understood by reference to Figuro 1, which represents
a side view, partly in section, of apparatus arranged according to this part of
the Invention. Figures 2 and 3 are two sections of the same. It will be
*seen that I form the ram a of a cylinder, carrying with it a second rain b, to
which is affixed the punching instrument c, which may be of any suitable form
and size. The water being forced in at d both rams or cylinders are propelled
forward until they meet with resistance; the outer or annular ram a then acts
to hold the plates (one or more), by pressing them against an unyielding sur-
face in the nature of a vice, whilst, by a continuation of the injection water,
the immer or solid ram & is urged forward, so as to punch out the desired
hole, whether the same be through one thickness or more of plates. Two
thicknesses shown in the Drawing by red lines. It will be seen that there
is a collar round the annular cylinder or ram, preventing it from being forced
out of the water cylinder beyond a given point; and also another collar round
the inner or solid ram, limiting its range of motion. The ram has a tail-
pieco b', which, passing through the end of the water cylinder, carries a disc,
secured by a nut &, by which a spring his retained, with a tendency at all
times to draw the ram & back, and which acts for that purpose when the water
is withdrawn after the punching has taken place; and there are projecting
pieces from the ram b, which slide in grooves a' in the cylinder or ram a, so
that the spring serves to draw back both rams a and b. I have shewn the
cylinder applied to one arm of a frame, of a horseshoe form, the other end
carrying the die e, which is held in its place by a set screw f, and may be
exchanged for another of different size or form if required. This arrangement
of apparatus I consider particularly applicable to the purposes of ship building,
boilor making, and similar work; and it is capable of being suspended by
means of the rings 9, 9, from a travelling crane or other suitable apparatus
carrying the pump, which may be connected with the cylinder d' by an elastic
tube, which is best formed of a strong metallic tube bent into a spiral form,
and having as many turns as will give the requisite amount of elasticity. Tho
pump prefer to have two plungers, of greatly differing diameter, so that the
slack" may be taken up by the larger and the pressure carried on by the
I

page_text: smaller, according to any of the numerous contrivances for effecting this, which
are currently known to engineers.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention, which relates to rivetting,
I prefer to employ a horseshoe frame, similar to that shown at Figures 1, 2, 3;
but in this case only one ram is, under ordinary circumstances, necessary, as is
shown at Figures 4, 5, and 6; at the same time, if the plates are not closc
together, on account of some unevenness in them, the double ram may be
usefully employed to pinch them together at the time of forming the rivets.
The same letters are used to indicate similar parts in these Figures as were
employed in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which it will be seen is
a modification of the arrangement shewn and described with respect to the
first part of my Invention, for the purpose of punching out larger openings or
shearing plates, such as the axle guards of railway carriages, where a large
proportionate amount of the original plate is taken out. And, in order to
accomplish the work accurately, it is desirable to have the plate held firmly
during the operation of punching or cutting. Figure 7 shows a side view,
partly in section, of apparatus according to this part of the Invention.
Figures 8 and 9 show details of some of the parts; and Figure 10 a part of a
plate from which an axle guard is to be cut, as shown by dotted lines. The red
dotted lines in this Figure show the cut which would be made by the cutter'
Figure 9. a is the outer ring or ram, which has an enlarged rim a³, on which
is placed a frame i, which in this case is the holding surface, and which may
be replaced by another of different form, according to the form of the cutter
to be used therewith. The inner ram b is formed with a recess to receive
the stem c¹ of the cutter c. g is the receiving die, as is well understood.
For shearing long plates of iron, I adopt an arrangement such as is shewn
at Figures 11 and 12, where hydrostatic pressure acts by means of a series of
rams upon a slide carrying a steel cutting edge working against a similar fixed
cutting edge. a, a, are the rams working in the cylinders e, e, attached to the
framing c, c; and d is the moveable knife frame upon the parts d' of which
the rams a, a, work. This knife frame is guided by grooves in the end framing,
as is well understood. are openings to admit the water to the cylinders,
as is well understood. When the slide has descended through the requisito
distance for making the cut, a stop, not shown in the Drawings, turns off the
water from the pumps, and a counterbalance weight attached to the two
rings, shown, raises the slide rams, &c. ready for the next cut.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood, that I do not confine

page_text: myself to, the details shewn, so long as either part of the peculiarity of my
Invention be retained. And I would remark, that I am aware that it has
before been proposed to employ the pressure of water as a means of forcing
up rivets by applying a cylinder into and from which water may be allowed
to flow by means of a slide or other valve, and I mention this circumstance
in order to state that I do not claim the pressure of water generally for forcing
rivets, the peculiarity of such part of my Invention consisting of so arranging
the apparatus that the hydraulic ram used is put in motion by a pump or
pumps forcing liquid into the hydraulic cylinder or chamber. And I would
wish it to be understood, that what I claim is,-
up
First, the so arranging of apparatus that punches ar cutters may be put in
motion by hydraulic rams actuated by fluid forced in by pumps, as herein
described.
Secondly, I claim the so arranging apparatus for forcing up rivets, that the
proper punch may be put in motion by an hydraulic ram, actuated by a pump
or pumps.
Thirdly, I claim the combining a series of hydraulic rams to give motion to
a cutter for shearing sheet metal.
And lastly, I claim the arranging hydraulic machinery used for punching,
rivetting, and shearing metal plates with two rams, one within the other, as
berein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles May, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord Ouo
thousand eight. hundred and forty-six.