CERTAIN IMPROVED MA- CHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FORGING OF MASSES OF IRON.
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Nasmyth, of Barton-upon-Irwell, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVED MA-
CHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FORGING OF MASSES OF IRON.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Nasmyth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
December 1854.
I, JAMES NASMYTH, of Barton-upon-Irwell, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FORGING OF MASSES OF
IRON" to be as follows:-
These improvements consist of arrangements of chains, wheel work, &
pulleys, & of hydraulic cylinders & apparatus connected therewith, worked
by steam or other motive power, by means whereof the mass of iron intended
to be manufactured may be removed from the furnace to the anvil, and vice
versa, and may be raised, lowered, or turned over in either direction during
the process of manufacture.
The mode of operating is as follows:-Three hydraulic cylinders (which I
prefer to have inverted) are placed side by side upon a carriage running in
guides or rails upon beams placed at a suitable height above the floor level,
and which extends from the plane of the face of the hammer to that of the

page_text: furnace. Each of the cylinders is worked by steam or hydraulic power, and
each has a pipe and tap, so that the water pressure in each can be increased,
diminished, or removed at pleasure, and they can be made to act collectively or
independently at the will of the workman.
The connection between the mass to be raised and the several cylinders is
effected as follows:-The piston rod of the center cylinder (which is to be used
for elevating or depressing the mass of iron) is connected by a swivil, hook, or
ring, with a pulley or vertical plane carrying an endless chain, in which the
forging is swung on the ordinary way. Distinct links or chains are connected
at their upper ends respectively with the lower ends of the respective piston
rods of the two side cylinders; the other ends of such several chains are attached
to opposite sides of the endless chain in which the forging is swung, or are
carried underneath, or partly round the forging, and attached to fixings placed
upon it in such positions as may be found most convenient and efficient. It
will be evident that by raising the piston of one of the side cylinders, the piston
rod and chain connected with it will be drawn upwards, and that side of the
forging thereby raised or turned upwards, whilst by the discharge of water
from the cylinder on the opposite side, that side of the forging will be
correspondingly depressed or turned downwards, and vice versa.
The removal of the iron from the furnace to the hammer & back is effected
as follows: A chain, having one end attached to the cylinder carriage, is
passed over two pulleys respectively placed between and at opposite ends of the
two lines of rails on which the carriage runs, and the other end of the chain is
then attached to the carriage, so as with it to form an endless chain. One of
the pulleys by means of wheel work receives motive power from the engine
which works the cylinders, and thus communicates rectilinear motion to the
cylinder carriage, and to the mass suspended therefrom, in the ordinary way.
The several motions before described can be varied, reversed, and otherwise
controlled with an amount of manual labor almost inappreciable as compared
with that required by the systems at present pursued.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Nasmyth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
NASMYTH, of Barton-upon-Irwell, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send 3
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Nasmyth, Her special licence that I, the said James Nasmyth, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Nasmyth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVED MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FORGING OF MASSES OF IRON," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Nasmyth, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Nasmyth, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say):-
My improvements consist of arrangements of hydraulic cylinders and other
apparatus with chains, wheel work, and pulleys connected therewith, worked by
steam or other motive power, by means whereof the mass of metal intended to
be manufactured may be removed from the furnace to the anvil, and vice versa,
and may be raised, lowered, or turned over in either direction during the
process of manufacture.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will procced to
describe the same, reference being had to the Sheets of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
In Sheet 1, Figure 1 represents in a longitudinal elevation, partly in section,
the general arrangement or disposition of the hammer, and of the furnaces in
which the pieces to be forged are intended to be heated, as well as of the
hydraulic apparatus, and other apparatus or machinery connected therewith;
Figure 2 is a ground plan of the same, also partly in section; Figure 3 is an.
end elevation of the same, also partly in section; and Figure 4, a side elevation
of a hydraulic reservoir and pressure regulator. In Sheet 2, Figures 1 and 2
are sectional elevations of the hydraulic lifting apparatus; and Figure 3 is a

page_text: ground plan of the same; Figure 4 is a front view of the wheel work used in
connection with the lifting apparatus.
Between the furnaces A and A¹ (see Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1,) two beams a,
with rails placed upon them, are laid and supported at the ends nearest to the
furnaces by the pillars 6 and 6¹, and in the middle by the brackets c, which are
fixed to the frame of the steam hammer B. The apparatus for raising,
lowering, and turning the mass of iron to be forged can be moved to and fro
between the furnace and the hammer upon the beams a, as upon a railway, and
as a distinct arrangement may be provided for each face of the hammer, and
each is precisely the same, I shall confine myself to a description of the appa-
ratus for one face or side only, as shewn in Sheet 1, Figures 1 and 2, where
one forging is shewn as placed under the hammer. The hydraulic apparatus C
is placed upon the two pairs of wheels d, which are connected by an iron
framing d', thus forming a carriage, which is moveable upon the rails e. This
carriage is attached to the endless chain f, which passes over the chain pulleys
gand g, by means of a bracket projecting from the carriage d¹. The chain
pulley g¹ is keyed upon the shaft h, and receives its motion from the steam
engine D (see Figures 2 and 3,) by means of the wheels i and k, the drum 1,
the pulley m or m¹ (see Figure 3), which pulleys are fixed upon the shaft
n, the pinion o, which is keyed upon the same shaft, the wheel p and pinion g
upon the shaft r, and the wheels on the shaft h. The shaft n also contains a
loose pulley t, and when the apparatus C is not required to move, the two
straps u and u¹, which receive motion from the drum l, and the latter.of which
is crossed, work on the loose pulley t; but when the apparatus C has to travel
along the rails e, the attendant has only to throw either the strap u¹ upon the
pulley m, or the strap u upon the pulley m', according to the direction in which
the apparatus C is required to move. The three cylinders of the hydraulic
apparatus C (see Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet 2,) are in connection with the
fixed pipes v and v¹, and the swivel joint pipes wand w¹ (see Sheet 1,
Figures 1 and 3). The pipe w is connected with the pipe v¹ by means of the
swivel joint, which is fixed to a beam of the roof; and it is evident that the
pipes w and w¹ adapt themselves to whatever position the apparatus C may be
placed in upon the rails; and the pipe v is directly connected with the valves
x and a¹, by means of which the water is admitted into the cylinders of the
hydraulic apparatus, or allowed to escape therefrom. The steam engine D
keeps the pumps E continually at work; and in order that the action of the
hydraulic apparatus may at all times be steady and uniform, they are made to
pump the water into the hydraulic cylinder y (see Sheet 1, Figure 4). The
pressure in the cylinder y can be regulated by loading the hollow drum z to

page_text: passes,
any desirable extent.
A small aperture in the cylinder y allows the water to
escape as soon as the ram 1 has been raised to a certain extent. It will be
seen, on reference to Sheet 2, Figures 1, 2, and 3, that the hydraulic apparatus
C is composed of three-cylinders. Into the socket 2, which is screwed to the
end of the piston rod 3 of the central cylinder 4, a rod 5 is inserted (see
Figures 1 and 3, Sheet 1), and held in its place by a pin. The rod 5 terminates
in a forked end 6, which holds a chain pulley 7, over which an endless chain 8
in which the mass of iron under operation is swung. To the end of
each piston rod 9 (see Sheet 2, Figures 1 and 2,) of the two external cylinders
10 a block. 11 is screwed, to which the end link of a chain can be attached,
the other end of such chain being hooked to the endless chain 8, in which the
forging is swung, as already stated. The tube 3* with the T-shaped ribs 3b
serves to guide the piston rods 3 and 9 in their ascent and descent; the
socket 2 being enlarged, so as to fit the tube 3* internally, and the projections
11ª from the blocks 11 partly embracing the ribs 36. It is evident that when,
for the purpose of placing the mass of iron in a convenient position for heating
or for forging, it becomes necessary to raise or lower the same, such raising or
lowering can be effected with the greatest facility, accuracy, and regularity by
either admitting the water into the whole of the cylinders 3 and 4 simultaneously,
or allowing it to escape therefrom by means of the valves a and a¹. For this
purpose, and also for the purpose of regulating the position of the straps u and u¹,
by which the traverse motion of the hydraulic apparatus C is determined, a
person must be placed near the engine, so as to have both the furnace and the
hammer constantly in view, and to be ready to receive the orders of the work-
men who have the management of the piece of iron to be heated and forged.
If the mass of iron under operation should require to be turned over, water
must be admitted into one of the external cylinders 10, aud allowed to escape
from the opposite one simultaneously, whereby the endless chain 8, in which
the mass of iron is swung, will be set in motion, and carry the same round with
it. Instead of making use of the external cylinders 10 (see Sheet 2, Figures
1, 2, and 3,) for the purpose of turning the mass of iron over, the apparatus
represented in Sheet 1, Figures 1 and 3, and in Sheet 2, Figure 4, may be
used. In this case the chain pulley 7 is to be turned by hand by means of the
chains 12 (indicated by blue lines in Sheet 1, Figures 1 and 3), the chain
pulleys 18, which are fixed on the shafts 14, on which also the pinions 15 are
keyed, which latter gear into the wheels 16 on the shafts 17.
On the opposite
ends of the shafts 17 the pinions 18 are fixed, which gear into the wheel 19
on the shaft 20; and finally, the pinion 21, which is keyed on the opposite
side of the shaft 20, gears into the wheel 22 on the shaft 23, on which also

page_text: the chain pulley 7 is fixed. When this apparatus is employed, the two side
cylinders 10 are dispensed with, and the central cylinder 4 alone is used for
raising and lowering the mass of iron under operation.
Having now described the nature of my said improvements, I wish it to be
understood that what I claim as my Invention is, the combination and appli-
cation of hydraulic lifting apparatus, substantially as herein-before described,
with the additions and modifications herein-before set forth, for the purpose of
raising, lowering, and turning over masses of iron to be forged, and conveying
the same from the furnace to the anvil, and vice versa.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Nasmyth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.