IMPROVEMENTS IN COINING MACHINERY
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ralph Heaton, the younger, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and George Heaton, of Birmingham,
aforesaid, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COINING
MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ralph Heaton and
George Heaton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 11th August 1859.
We, RALPH HEATON, the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, and GEORGE HEATON, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COINING MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists, firstly, of the following method of feeding blanks
into marking or milling machines:-The blanks are placed in a trough or
channel so inclined to the horizon, that the pressure of the blanks maintains
the lower ones in a vertical position against a vertical plate. A feeder is made
to rise and fall by the action of a camb, and at each descent pushes the lowest
blank from the rest, and feeds it into the machine.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in working the upper or moveable die of
coining machines by means of mechanism situated below the level of the dies.
The said mechanism nearly resembles the ordinary mechanism in an inverted

page_text: position, and is placed underneath the dies. Motion is transmitted from the
said mechanism to the upper die by means of vertical connecting rods, and a
cross piece carrying the die.
Our Invention consists, thirdly, in the following mechanism for effecting the
raising of the lower die, which is necessary after the coin has been struck.
The lower die is supported on two rings, the opposed faces of which are pro-
vided with inclines, so that by rotating the upper ring partially upon the lower
one, or the reverse, the said upper ring rises and falls, and with it the lower
die. The motion of the rotating ring is effected by means of a lever on its
edge, upon which the main shaft of the machine acts.
Our Invention consists, lastly, in feeding blanks between the dies of coining
machines by means of a feeder consisting of a bar of metal sliding horizontally.
On the side of the said bar is a fixed plate, which passes under the hopper
containing the blanks, and receives the said blanks and feeds them to the dies
one at a time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ralph Heaton and George Heaton in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 7th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RALPH
HEATON, the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufac-
turer, and GEORGE HEATON, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Ralph Heaton and George Henton, Her special licence that we,
the said Ralph Heaton and George Heaton, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Ralph Heaton and George Heaton,
our 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 COINING
MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Ralph
Heaton and George Heaton, our executors, or administrators, by an instru-

page_text: ment in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us or them, 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.
I NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Heaton, on behalf of the
said Ralph Heaton and myself, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say:
Our Invention consists, firstly, of the method herein-after described and
illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawing, of feeding blanks
into marking or milling machines used in making coins.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of one of the said machines, to which
our Invention is applied, and Figure 2 is a plan of a portion of the same. a.
is a trough or channel in which the blanks 6 to be operated upon are placed.
The said channel a is so inclined to the horizon that the weight of the blanks
6 causes them to slide down the said channel a, when they are at liberty to
move, and the pressure of the column of blanks maintains the lowest one in a
vertical position against the vertical plate c. A lever d turning on a centre
at e, and made to rise and fall by the cam f on the driving shaft g, carries at
its end a plate or feeder h. The said plate or feeder h is rounded at its end,
and is of a thickness about equal to that of the blanks to be fed into the
machine. As the feeder h rises and falls by the motion of the lever d, its
lower edge strikes at each descent upon the lowest of the blanks b, and pushing
the said blank before it carries it from the column of blanks into that part of
the machine where the marking or milling is effected. When the feeder h
has been raised into the position represented in Figure 1, the pressure of the
column of blanks 6 brings the lowest blank under the end of the feeder h, and
the descent of the said feeder pushes the said blank before it in the manner
already described. The descent of the lever d and feeder h is effected by their
own weight, and the pressure of the spring i. The fixed end of the spring i
is secured to the axis e at the back of the lever d, as best seen in Figure 2,
the free end of the said spring i pressing upon the free end of the lever d.
The marking or milling of the blank is effected in the curved channel k, but
as the machinery by which the said marking or milling is effected is of the
kind ordinarily used for like purposes, we do not think it necessary to describe
the same.
We usually make the machine, Figures 1 and 2, double, that is

page_text: to say, parts similar to those described and represented are situated at either
end of the axis g, so that blanks are fed into and marked or milled at opposite
sides of the machine.
Our Invention consists, secondly. in working the upper or moveable die of
coining machines by means of mechanism situated below the level of the dies..
We will describe this part of our Invention with reference to Figures 3 and 5,
which said Figures also represent the machinery which constitutes the third and
fourth parts of our Invention. The said mechanism resembles in all essential
respects the mechanism ordinarily employed, but instead of being placed over
the dies, the said mechanism is inverted and placed underneath the dies.
Motion is transmitted from the said mechanism to the upper die by means of
two vertical connecting rods marked z, 22, in Figure 3 working in collars 1, 2,
in Figure 5. A cross piece carrying the upper die is fixed to the connecting
rods 2,, and the said cross piece and die are raised and lowered by the
motion of the said connecting rods z, 23. By placing the mechanism which
actuates the upper die underneath the dies, the several parts on and near the
bed of the machine are more accessible and more easily adjusted and repaired
than when the said mechanism is placed above the dies.
The third part of our Invention consists of the machinery hereinafter de
scribed and represented in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the accompanying.
Drawing for effecting the raising of the lower die of coining machines after
the coin has been struck; Figure 8 is a plan of a portion of a coining
machine to which this part of our Invention is applied; Figure 4 is an eleva-
tion of the same; Figure 5 a vertical section of the same; and Figures 6, 7,
and 8 are separate parts of the same. The lower die l, is supported on two
rings m and n, the opposed faces of which are provided with inclines, so that
by partially rotating either one of the rings, the other remaining stationary,
the upper ring may be made to rise and fall, and with it the lower die l;
Figure 7 represents the lower ring m in plan, together with the lever o, by
which its motion is effected. The parts marked m³ are the summits of the
several inclines on the ring, and the parts marked m³ are the bottoms of the
inclines. The figure of the under side of the upper ring n, is the exact counter-
part of the upper side of the ring m. The ring m turns upon a collár p shown
separately in Figure 8, fixed in the bed of the machine, and the descent of
the die is secured by the springs q, best seen in the plan Figure 6, in which
the plate carrying the feeding mechanism herein-after described is removed.
The lever o is worked from the main shaft of the machine by any convenient
mechanism. When the ring'm is turned so as to cause its inclines to advance
under the inclines of the ring n, the said ring n rises, and with it the die l, and

page_text: the coin resting upon the said die l is raised to the level of the collar r, the
säid coin is removed and another blank fed into the machine by means of the
mechanism which constitutes the fourth and last part of our Invention, and
which said mechanism is represented in Figures 3 and 4. The feeder, con-
stituting this part of our Invention, consists of a bar of metal s, sliding in a
dovetail in the plate t. The sliding motion of the bar s, is effected by the
lever u to which a reciprocating motion is given by the main shaft of the
machine or by the screw; when the feeder is applied to a screw press. To the
bar sa plate v is fixed, which said plate vis carried by the motion of the bar s,
underneath the hopper w containing the blanks, and over the collar r, to the
level of which the bottom die l is raised after the blank has been struck. As
the plate v advances over the collar r, it pushes before it the raised coin, and
causes it to fall down the incline, into a receptacle placed to receive it. In
that part of the plate v, which is represented in Figure 3, under the hopper w,
a hole is cut of a sufficient size to receive one of the blanks to be fed into the
machine, and as that part of the plate comes under the hopper w, the lowest
blank of the column of blanks in the said hopper w, drops into the said hole.
As the plate v advances over the collar r, it pushes before it the coin which
has been struck and raised to the level of the collar r, in the manner already
described, and the die descending, the plate v in its return motion over the
collar r, brings the blank, which it received from the hopper w, immediately
over the die . The said blank falls from the hole in the plate v upon the die 7,
and is struck in the usual manner. As the hole in the plate vis again brought
under the hopper w, another blank falls into it which, by the motion of the
plate v, is fed into the machine in the manner last described.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of our Invention; but we
claim as our Invention:-
Firstly, the method herein-before described and represented in Figures 1
and 2 of the accompanying Drawing, of feeding blanks into marking or mill-
ing machines, used in making coins.
Secondly, working the upper or moveable die of coining machines by means
of mechanism situated below the level of the dies, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, raising the lower die of coining machines by giving a partial rotation
to one of two rings upon which the die is supported, the said rings being
provided with inelines as herein-before described and represented in Figures 3,
4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the accompanying Drawing.

page_text: Fourthly, feeding blanks to and removing the finished coin from coining
machines by means of a feeder consisting of a plate of metal fixed to a bar
sliding horizontally, and constructed and worked as herein-before described
with reference to Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Heaton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty:
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
GEORGE HEATON. (L.S.)