IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING CASES OR BOXES OF THIN SHEET METAL: AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Ferrier Shanks, of Barrhead, in the
County of Renfrew, North Britain, Plumber and Tinsmith, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING CASES OR BOXES OF THIN SHEET
METAL: AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR.
"
'
METAL AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Ferrier Shanks
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th November 1872.
I, ANDREW FERRIER SHANKS, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Plumber and Tinsmith, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING CASES OR BOXES OF THIN
SHEET METAL, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to
say :—
This Invention relates to improvements whereby superior results are
obtained and time and material are economised in the making of boxes
or cases of thin sheet metal. The application of the Invention is very
advantageous in the making of tin (that is tinned plate) packing cases,
or linings for packing cases, but it may also be extended with more or

page_text: less benefit to square or rectangular boxes or cases of various sizes, and
also to any forms in which there are sides forming angular junctions with
each other.
The Invention consists principally in shaping the thin sheet metal on
a mould or box of a suitable size in each case or on a fixed or variable
skeleton box or frame. The sheet metal is to be laid on or against the
top or side of the mould or frame, and a tool formed with an angular
indentation is moved along the edge and folds down the edge of the sheet
in an accurate manner, and so makes it ready for soldering or joining to
the side sheets. To save friction rollers may in some cases be fitted at
the sides of the angular indentation in the folding tool to run on the
sheet metal and turn it down the more gradually. When the proposed
skeleton frame is made variable to suit different sizes it will not in
general be necessary to make it variable as to height. The frame may
be made variable or adjustable as to size in various ways, but in one
simple arrangement two horizontal screws at right angles to each other,
and each formed with right handed and left handed threads at opposite
ends act on cross heads which are at right angles to the screws, and
which are placed in positions corresponding to the ends and sides of the
box or frame. Corner pieces are formed with sockets to connect and
work on the ends of the cross heads, and when the longitudinal screw is
turned to increase or diminish the length the two pairs of corners move
lengthways with the end cross heads and slide on or off the side cross
heads, but when the transverse screw is turned the two corners at each
side move with the side cross heads and slide on or off the end cross heads.
Movable pieces of the various sizes required are provided for fixing on
the exposed parts of the cross heads and to make up the edges to the
lines of the corners.
For closing tin packing cases a modified folder is provided to turn the
top edge of the sides inwards and downwards. This folder is formed
with a plate to slide under the folded edge and support it whilst being
folded, and it is provided with an edge or surface or with a small roller
to bear on and turn down the edge, whilst it has also attached to it a
guide piece adjustable by a screw to run on the top edge of the outer
wooden case.
For small boxes, such for example as those used for packing biscuit,
the four sides are formed by bending one sheet round a metal block,
such block being mounted on a shaft in a frame and turned round by a

page_text: handle or otherwise, whilst one or more rollers pressed towards the block
by springs or cams cause the sheet to be applied to the sides of the
block in succession. The sides of the block may be made slightly
concave, so that the metal in springing back a little after being bended
may eventually become of the desired form instead of the sides bulging
out as they might do if bended on a flat-sided block.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andrew Ferrier Shanks in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
FERRIER SHANKS, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Plumber and Tinsmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Andrew Ferrier Shanks, Her special licence
that I, the said Andrew Ferrier Shanks, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Ferrier Shanks, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MAKING CASES OR BOXES OF THIN SHEET METAL, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Ferrier
Shanks, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Andrew Ferrier Shanks, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to improvements whereby superior results.
are obtained and time and material are economised in the making of
boxes or cases of thin sheet metal. The application of the Invention is
very advantageous in the making of tin (that is tinned plate) packing
cases, or linings for packing cases, but it may also be extended with more
or less benefit to square or rectangular, boxes or cases of various sizes,
and also to any forms in which there are sides forming angular junctions 1
with each other.
The Invention consists principally in shaping the thin sheet metal on
a mould or box or skeleton frame of a suitable fixed size in each case or
on a variable box or frame. When the proposed box or frame is made
variable to suit different sizes it will not in general be necessary to make
it variable as to height. The box or frame may be made variable or
adjustable as to size in various ways, and in one arrangement two hori-
zontal screws at right angles to each other, and each formed with right
handed and left handed threads at opposite ends, act on cross heads
which are at right angles to the screws, and which are placed in positions
corresponding to the ends and sides of the box or frame.
Corner pieces
are formed with sockets to connect and work on the ends of the cross
heads, and when the longitudinal screw is turned to increase or diminish
the length the two pairs of corners move lengthways with the end cross
heads and slide on or off the side cross heads, but when the transverse
screw is turned the two corners at each side move with the side cross
heads and slide on or off the end cross heads. Movable pieces of the
various sizes required are provided for fixing on the exposed parts of the
cross heads and to make up the edges to the lines of the corners.
Another and less expensive arrangement of variable frame is herein.
after described.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
modifications of my improved arrangements. In these Drawings the same
reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever
they are repeated

page_text: Figure 1 is a plan and Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of an
arrangement of variable box applicable for making tin linings for
rectangular packing cases. This box consists of four wooden corner
pieces 1 fixed on four posts 2, and each comprising portions of the three
sides meeting in a corner. The corner pieces 1 are connected together
by bars 3, having slots in them to allow of the adjustment of the corner
picces 1 more or less apart to suit different sizes of case, and the bars
are fixed by thumbscrews 4. When the corner pieces 1 are not fixed
close together filling-up pieces may be placed in the openings left
between them. The sheet metal to be shaped is laid on or against the
top or side of the box, and a tool 5, such as is shewn in Figures 3 and 4
is moved along the edge and folds down the edge of the sheet in an
accurate manner, and so makes it ready for soldering or joining to the
side sheets. This folding tool 5 is formed with an angular indentation,
which is by preference fitted with rollers 6 to run on the sheet metal and
turn it down. Two handles are formed on the tool to enable it to be
moved and guided along the edge of the box.
- Figure 5 is a front elevation and Figure 6 is a side elevation of a
modified form of folding tool for closing tin packing cases. This folder
is provided with a small roller 7 to bear on and turn inwards and down-
wards the top edges of the side sheets, and it has also attached to it a
guide piece 8 adjustable by screws 9 to run on the top edge of the outer
wooden case and determine at what distance below that edge the tin is
to be folded. A plate may be fixed to the folder to slide under the
folded edge and support it whilst being folded.
Figure 7 is a transverse vertical section and Figure 8 is a front
elevation of a modification of my improved apparatus suitable for
making small hexagonal cases or flasks for holding solids or liquids,
and consists of a metal block 10 mounted on a shaft 11 revolving in
bearings in a pair of frame standards 12. This block 10 is turned by
means of a handle 13 fixed on the tubular boss of a pinion 14 running
on a stud 15, which can be adjusted in a slot in one of the standards 12,
the pinion 14 gearing with a spur wheel 16 on the shaft 11. A pair of
rollers 17 pressed towards the block 10 by springs 18 cause the metal
sheet to be applied to the sides of the block in succession as the
block is turned round, the sheet being carried round in consequence of
one edge of it having been entered in a groove 19 in the block. This
groove 19 is by preference at one of the corners as shown, but may in

page_text: some cases be placed between two corners.
The sides of the block 10
are by preference made slightly concave, so that the metal in springing
back a little after being bended may eventually assume the desired form
instead of the sides bulging out as they might do if bended on a flat-
sided block. The block 10 shown in the Drawings is six sided, but it
may obviously be made with any convenient number of equal or unequal
sides according to the form of case or flask required.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The shaping of packing case linings or cases for other purposes of
thin sheet metal on a mould or box or skeleton frame of a fixed or
variable size, substantially as herein-before described.
2. The using of folding or bending tools substantially such as are
herein before described with reference to Figures 3 to 6 of the accom-
panying Drawings in the making of cases or boxes of thin sheet metal
as herein-before described.
3. The applying of apparatus substantially such as is herein-before
described with reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the accompanying
Drawings for shaping thin sheet metal in making cases or boxes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Ferrier Shanks, have
hereunto set my hand ánd seal, this Fifth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ANDREW F. SHANKS. (L.S.)