CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF CONNECTING METALLIC PLATES FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOILERS, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
SMITH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing late at
Westminster, the Sixteenth day of February, in the seventh year of His
reign, did for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Smith, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Robert Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Robert Smith, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with and no other, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OF CONNECTING METALLIC PLATES FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOILERS,
AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a provisó
that I, the said Robert Smith, should cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His 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
Robert Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and

page_text: 4.
ascertained in the Drawings hereto annexed, and by the following explanation
thereof, that is to say:-
My Improvements in the Means of Connecting Metallic Plates for the
Construction of Boilers, and other Purposes, consist in the employment of
certain machinery for connecting the plates by compression, that is, com-
pressing the ends of the studs or rivets by dies instead of the ordinary manner
of rivetting by means of the hammer and by manual labour. The apparatus
which I have adapted to effect this object is evidently capable of much varia-
tion as to form and magnitude, and of some modifications in the arrangement
and construction of its parts. I have exhibited, in the Drawings attached to
these Presents, several views of a machine capable of performing the operation
of rivetting plates together in a very complete. manner, and the form and
arrangement there set out I have found sufficiently convenient and effective.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a machine adapted to the purpose of
connecting plates of iron or other metal by compressing the ends of short
pieces of cylindrical rods which form the rivets; Figure 2 is a vertical section
taken longitudinally through the middle of the machine; and Figure 3 is å
horizontal view of the same taken on the upper side, similar letters of reference
being marked upon corresponding parts of the machine in all these Figures.
The framework or main casting of the machine is shewn at a, a, a, which is to
be bolted down to foundation stones, or otherwise firmly secured to the ground.
right-angled lever f, of the first order, is mounted upon a fulcrum pin or
axle h, inserted into the side frames, the shorter arm of which lever acts upon one
of the punches or dies k; and a straight lever g, also of the first order, is mounted
upon a similar fulcrum pin or axle h, likewise inserted into the side frames,
its shorter arm acting on the other punch or die k. A rotary shaft b, turning
in plummer blocks attached to the framework, carries the cam d, which acts
against the tail or longer arm of the lever f, for the purpose of projecting the
die k, and another rotary shaft c, similarly mounted, carries the cam e, which
acts against the longer arm of the lever g, for the purpose of working the
other die k. The driving power is applied by means of a band and pulley 1, or
otherwise to the shaft n, which shaft carries a pinion m that takes into a
wheel o, fixed on the cam shaft b, and this driving power is communicated
through an intermediate wheel p to a corresponding wheel j, fixed on the
other cam shaft c. The punches or dies k, k, slide in sockets formed in the
front part of the framework, as represented in the sectional Figure 2, and
they are respectively connected to the levers ƒ and g by straps i, i. Two
plates of metal, A and B, having been previously punched or pierced with
corresponding holes, are introduced between the dies and held in the proper

page_text: positions, as shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3. A small pin or rivetting stud is
then passed through the corresponding holes in the two plates, and the positions
of the plates adjusted so that the ends of the rivetting studs shall stand
opposite to the two dies k, k, ready to be compressed by them when the levers
f and g are put in action. Rotary motion being now applied as described to
the shafts and c, the cams d and e cause the levers ƒ and g to act simul
taneously in bringing the dies h, k, toward each other, by which means the
ends of the metal pin- or rivetting. stud are. compressed and spread out upon
the plates in form of rivets of a spherical, conical, or other protuberant shape,
according to the countersunk figure of the dies, and the plates thus become
closely and firmly attached or rivetted together, the operation of perfectly rivet-,
ting each stud by compression being effected by one rotation of the shafts and
cams, as described. After one rivet has been thus formed, the plates have to
be advanced in a lateral direction for the purpose of bringing the next pair of
holes with the rivetting pin into the same situation between the dies. This is,
effected by the agency of a pair of conducting rollers q, r.
These rollers aro
fixed upon perpendicular shafts x, x, which are inserted into cylindrical holes,
in the framework and turn loosely therein, as shewn in Figure 2. They are.
placed parallel to each other, and the studs or pins round the periphery of the
spur roller pass into a groove formed round the periphery of the roller 1.,
The shafts x, x, are adjustable by means of screw nuts or collars y, y, in order
that the rollers q; r, may,
be brought into coincidence, and raised or depressed
according to the breadth of the plates intended to be operated upon. On the
shaft of the spur roller q.a ratchet wheel w is fixed, which is acted upon by a
click attached by a swivel joint to a weighted lever u, u. These parts are
represented in the elevation, Figure 1, and also in the detached horizontal
view, Figure 5. Upon the end of the shaft c an eccentric cam is fixed, which
acts upon the tail of the lever u, and when the lesser radius of the cam comes
round, the lever by its gravity falls toward a perpendicular position, and causes
the click to drive the ratchet wheel one tooth, which turns the spur roller and
causes it to advance the plates one hole, thereby bringing the next rivet under
the operation of the dies. I have shewn in Figure 4 a variation of the
machinery I have employed for the purpose of connecting metallic plates, as
above proposed; and in this Figure it will be seen that I have made one of
the dies & stationary, and am consequently enabled to perform all the necessary
evolutions of the machine without the aid of the wheel
and the one
P,
into which it geers upon the shaft c; also without the cam 7, lever, 9, and
pin h, communicating the rotatory motion to the cams by means of bevil
wheels and the diagonal shaft ; and as this arrangement of the machine will

page_text: be the simpler of the two, it may be found to perform the necessary operation
with equal success. It will be found by practical observation, that boilers and
other vessels, the plates of which have been connected by the means I have
described, are much more firmly united, and consequently more capable of
resistance, than those which have been rivetted in the ordinary manner by
hand, and that the rivets so produced have a much more finished appearance
and regularity of form than can be obtained by the ordinary strokes of the
hammer, whilst the saving of time consumed in the operation is as ten
to one.
Having now described the mode of carrying my Invention into practical
effect, and having at the same time shewn and described two modifications of
the construction of the machine I would employ for this purpose, it only
remains for me to add, that I do not intend to confine myself to any precise
form or construction of the machine or apparatus employed, as it must be
evident that it is capable of much mechanical variation by a different arrange-
ment of the parts of which it may be composed, nor shall I confine myself to
the dimensions of the same. But I claim as my Invention the manner of
connecting metallic plates for the construction of boilers and other purposes,
by rivetting them together by compression obtained by the aid of machinery
constructed upon the principles shewn in the accompanying Drawings, whatever
variation in form or dimensions it may receive.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord