IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CERTAIN MATERIALS AS SUBSTITUTES POR WHALEBONE, APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES, AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DANIEL DAVIDGE, of Greville Street, Hatton Garden, in the Parish of Saint
Andrew, Holborn, and County of Middlesex, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the Seventh year of Her reign,
did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Daniel Davidge, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Joseph Daniel Davidge, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph Daniel Davidge,
iny executors, administrators, 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 men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CERTAIN MATERIALS
AS SUBSTITUTES POR WHALEBONE, APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES, AND IN
THE MACHINERY FOR EFFECTING THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph Daniel Davidge, by an in-
strument in writing, under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Iler 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Daniel Davidge, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say):
My Invention consists in the application of strips of metal, either rolled,
drawn, or twisted into tubular forms, for various purposes to which whalebone
is now applied, and also in suitable machinery for forming the same into tubes.
The advantages to be derived from the application of twisted strips of metal
or metal tubes over the use of whalebone are, elasticity, durability, lightness,
and economy; and the principal objects to which they may be applied are,
riding and other elastic whips, whipstems as intermediate pieces between the
thong and the handle, umbrellas and parasols, as the framing over which the
cotton, silk, or other fabric is distended; stems for feathers, walking sticks,
fishing rods, ramrods, the flexible stems of brushes or apparatus for sweeping
flues or chimnies, as substitutes for the pieces of whalebone or cane employed for
stiffening the caps worn by boys and men, and a variety of other useful purposes.
Various modes of forming the tubes either by twisting, rolling, or drawing
the strips of metal, and a variety of mechanical contrivances for effecting
these objects, may be suggested, but the method I prefer is, forming the tubes
of strips of metal by twisting the said strips helically or conically round a
mandrill in the following manner-Sheet metal for forming the tube is
cut into strips of the desired breadth, according to the stiffness intended
to be given to the tube, and these strips are then twisted round a mandril;
they are afterwards drawn several times through draw plates," in order
to bring them to required diameter, or I pass them through one, two,
or more pairs of grooved rollers, and by altering the shape of the grooves
therein the tubes may be made to assume a circular, oval, square, or
any other desired form. When this operation of drawing or rolling has been
effected, the helical twists are in a compressed state, and only shew a space
between them when the tube is bent out of a straight line; the tube is then
hardened and tempered, great care being taken to keep it straight, and, if
required, it may be turned and polished in a lathe or ornamented in any other
manner. It should be remarked that the length of the strip of metal must be
according to the length of the tube required, as no joining of the strip of metal
can be effected either during the operation of making the coil or afterwards,
and the circumference of the mandril must not be less than the breadth of the
strip of metal intended to be used.

page_text: The machinery which I have found to answer for making the elastic metal
tubes above described is shewn in the several views of the Drawing hereunto
annexed. Fig. 1 is a front view of the machine, and Fig 2 an end view of the
same; a, a, is the framework; b, b, a bar on which a sliding piece c traverses the
whole length of the machine; the traverse motion is effected by means of the
wheels d and e; from the axle of the wheel e proceeds a screw shaft f, which
passes through the lower end of the sliding piece c, and has a bearing in the
other end of the framework, and from the axle of the wheel d is projected the
mandril g on which the tube or helical twist is formed. This mandril passes
through an opening in the upper part of the sliding piece c, a side view of
which is shewn at Fig. 3; the upper part of this sliding piece is formed into a
spring clasp by being split down the centre, and it is made to bind against the
mandril by means of the thumb screw h; immediately under this screw is an
opening through which the strip of steel or other metal is introduced (see Fig. 1)
in order to be wound on the mandril, and its end is attached to the mandril
being passed through an opening o or slot at i. The operation of the machine is as
follows:-On rotary motion being communicated to the wheel d the mandril g is
made to revolve and carry with it the strip of metal which is drawn through the
slit before mentioned in the spring clasp or sliding piece c, and the wheel d, being
gear with the wheel e, causes the latter to revolve and carry with it the screw
shaft, which, working into a corresponding thread cut in the sliding piece c,
causes it to move towards the end of the mandril, and the tube formed thereon
is then withdrawn. Before commencing the making of another tube the
sliding piece c must be drawn to the other end of the machine by reversing
the motion of the screw shaft f
in
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to confine
myself to the above-described construction of mechanism, as other arrangements,
such as the ordinary lathe with slide rest, may be made to effect the same
purpose; neither do I claim this machinery except when applied to the above-
described object. But that which I claim exclusively under the before in part
recited Letters Patent is, drawing, rolling, or twisting strips of metal by any
convenient means into the forms of tubes or rods to be applied to the purposes
above mentioned.
In witness whereof, T, the said Joseph Daniel Davidge, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty three.
(L.S.) J. D. DAVIDGE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eleventh day of August in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Joseph Daniel Davidge came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.