Improvements in the Manufacture of the Metallic Eyes of the Wooden Handles or Trees of Spades, Shovels, and Agricultural Forks and other Tools.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Oct., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 13th July, 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 17th Aug., 1888
Improvements in the Manufacture of the Metallic Eyes of the
Wooden Handles or Trees of Spades, Shovels, and Agricultural
Forks and other Tools.
I JOSEPH MILLS of the firm of J. Mills and Son of Eagle Works Lye near Stour-
bridge in the County of Worcester Spade Shovel and Agricultural Fork Manufacturers
do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
The eye of the wooden handle or tree of a spade shovel agricultural fork or other
tool such as a draining tool consists of a bow shaped enlargement at the head of the
handle or tree which is gripped by the hand. The said eye or bow shaped enlargement
is sometimes made in one piece with the wooden handle or tree or is made of a separate
metallic piece riveted to the top of the wooden handle or tree. The separate metallic
eye is usually made of malleable or annealed cast iron and consists of a tubular socket
in which the top of the handle or tree fits and is riveted and of two curved side pieces
or branches forming a bow between the tops of which branches a wooden grip part is
fixed by riveting.
My invention consists in making the separate metallic eye fixed to the wooden
handle or tree from sheet metal in the manner herein after described.
In making one of the said metallic eyes according to my invention I cut from sheet
iron or steel a blank having a cross piece at bottom of a size and shape proper for the
making of the tubular socket part of the eye which cross piece is bent or fashioned
into a tubular form and its edges welded together. Extending from the bottom cross
piece of the blank is a fork the branches of which are situated symmetrically on either
side of the middle line of the blank. The branches of the fork part of the blank are
slightly taper from their junction with the cross piece to their ends. From these
taper branches the curved sides of the eye are made by a shaping or fashioning process
the bending of the cross piece of the blank into the socket part of the eye bringing
the said branches into their proper position on the socket part.
I prefer to fashion the blank into the eye by shaping tools worked in a stamp but
the fashioning of the said blank may be effected by hand. The edges of the curved

page_text: sides or branches of the eye are bent or turned over on the inner faces of the said
curved sides for strengthening them and for giving their edges a rounded or non
cutting edge. After the socket and the curved sides of the eye have been made
the socket is pierced with one or more holes for riveting it to the top of the wooden
handle or tree of the spade shovel or other article and the upper ends of the curved
sides are rounded and a central hole pierced in each of the rounded ends.
these holes the long rivet by which the wooden grip is connected to the top of the
eye is riveted.
In
Instead of making the eye from a single blank of sheet iron or steel it may be
made from two blanks each blank having the shape of one half of the blank herein
before described. In this case the eye is made in longitudinal halves that is each
half consists of a semi tubular socket and one of the curved sides of the eye. The
two socket parts of the eye are connected together and to the top of the wooden handle
or tree by cross rivets.
Dated this Seventeenth day of October 1887

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of the Metallic Eyes of the
Wooden Handles or Trees of Spades, Shovels, and Agricultural
Forks and other Tools.
I JOSEPH MILLS of the firm of J. Mills and Son of Eagle Works, Lye near Stour-
bridge in the County of Worcester, Spade Shovel and Agricultural Fork Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of my Invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The eye of a wooden handle or tree of a spade, shovel, agricultural fork or other
tool such as a draining tool consists of a bow shaped enlargement at the head
of the handle or tree which is gripped by the hand. The said eye or bow shaped
enlargement is sometimes made in one piece with the wooden handle or tree or is made
of a separate metallic piece rivetted to the top of the wooden handle or tree. The
separate metallic eye is usually made of malleable or annealed cast iron and consists of
a tubular socket in which the top of the handle or tree fits and is rivetted, and of two
curved side pieces or branches forming a bow between the tops of which branches a
wooden grip part is fixed by riveting.
My invention consists in making the separate metallic eye fixed to the wooden
handle or tree from sheet metal in the manner herein after described.
In making one of the said metallic eyes according to my invention I cut from sheet
iron or steel, a blank having a cross piece at bottom of a size and shape proper for the
making of the tubular socket part of the eye, which cross piece is bent or fashioned
into a tubular form and its edges welded together. Extending from the bottom cross
piece of the blank is a fork, the branches of which are situated symmetrically on
either side of the middle line of the blank. The branches of the fork part of the blank
are slightly taper from their junction with the cross piece to their ends. From these
taper branches the curved sides of the eye are made by a shaping or fashioning process
the bending of the cross piece of the blank into the socket part of the eye bringing the
said branches into their proper position on the socket part.
I prefer to fashion the blank into the eye by shaping tools worked in a stamp but
the fashioning of the said blank may be effected by hand.
The edges of the curved sides or branches of the eye are bent or turned over on the
inner faces of the said curved sides for strengthening them and for giving their edges
a rounded or non-cutting edge.
During the manufacture of the metallic eye the socket is pierced with one or more
holes for riveting it to the top of the wooden handle or tree of the spade, shovel or
other article and the upper ends of the curved sides are rounded and a central hole
pierced in each of the rounded ends. In these holes the long rivet by which the
wooden grip is connected to the top of the eye is riveted,

page_text: Instead of making the eye from a single blank of sheet iron or steel it may be made
from two blanks each blank having the shape of one half of the blank herein before
described. In this case the eye is made in longitudinal halves that is each half
consists of a semi-tubular socket and one of the curved sides of the eye. The two
socket parts of the eye are connected together and to the top of the wooden handle or
tree by cross rivets.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents elevations taken at right angles to one another and Figure 2
represents in plan of underside partly in horizontal section the metallic eye of the
wooden handle of a spade or shovel, agricultural fork or tool, the said metallic eye
being manufactured according to my invention. The metallic eye consists of the
tubular socket a into which the top of the wooden handle or treo 6 of the spade,
shovel or tool is fitted and riveted and the two curved side pieces or branches c, c
forming a bow between the tops of which branches the wooden grip part d is fixed by
rivetting.
In making the said metallic eye I cut out at a press or stamp, an iron or steel
blank of the kind represented in Figure 3. The said blank consists of the cross
piece a at the bottom of the blank and the fork c², c² extending from tho said
cross piece a² the taper branches of the fork being situated symmetrically on either
side the middle line of the blank. From the bottom cross piece a² of the blank
the tubular socket part a Figure 1 of the eye is made and from the taper
branches c², c of the fork the curved sides c, c Figure 1 of the eye are made.
The blank is first operated upon in the manner represented in Figure 4, whereby
the ends cc³ of the branches c³, c² of the blank are rounded and at the
same time the piercings c, c are made in the said rounded ends and also the
piercings made in the cross piece a³. The edges or marginal parts of the
branches c2, c of the blank Figure 3 are next bent or turned over the inner faces
of the said branches as represented in back elevation, side elevation and cross section
in Figure 5, where the bent or turned over parts are marked c. By the turning over
of the edges of the branches c³, c² the sides of the eye are strengthened and a rounded
or non-cutting edge produced. By a further operation the strengthened branches c², c²
of the blank are curved into the form represented in back elevation, sido elevation and
plan (partly in section) in Figure 6. The blank is now ready for the bending or
fashioning of the cross piece a² into the socket part a Figure 1 of the eye. By the
bending of the cross piece a² to form the socket a the curved branches or sides c², c²
are brought into their proper position, that is, are situated at opposite sides of the
socket as seen in the finished eye Figure 1 where the branches or sides of the eye are
marked c, c.
The fashioning of the cross piece a³ into the socket a may either be effected by a
pair of rolls or by a pair of dies or by a hand process; and the curving of the
sides of the partially made eye may be performed by a pair of shaping tools
worked in a stamp but the operations described may be performed by hand. The
socket a may either be made with a close or welded joint as represented in Figure 1
or with an open or unwelded joint as represented in elevation in Figure 7 and plan
of underside, in Figure 8. The eye may be finished by painting or galvanizing.
The finished eye is attached to the wooden handle or tree b by inserting the top of
the handle in the socket a and fixing the said socket by the rivet e passed through the
holes c, c in the said socket and through the wooden handle. The wooden grip d is
secured between the upper ends of the curved sides c of the eye by the long rivet f
passed through the grip and through the holes ct, et in the rounded tops of the said
sides c c.
In making the eye from longitudinal halves I employ blanks of the kind represented
in Figure 9. These blanks are shaped pierced strengthened and curved so as to form
longitudinal halves of the kind represented in Figure 10 substantially in the manner
herein before described with respect to blanks having forked branches and cross pieces
for the complete socket. It will be seen that each longitudinal half of the eye consists

page_text: of a semi-tubular socket a³ made from the part a³ of the blank Figure 9 and a curved
strengthened side or branch c² with a pierced and rounded end c³ made from the
part of the blank Figure 9.
Figure 11 represents the two longitudinal halves from which an eye is formed. The
two longitudinal halves are presented together with their concave faces inwards in the
manner represented in Figure 11 and the socket parts a³ are connected together and
to the top of the wooden handle by a cross rivet or rivets. The wooden grip
is afterwards connected by a long rivet to the top of the curved arms of
the eye.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and
the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as my
invention of "Improvements in the manufacture of the metallic eyes of the wooden
handles or trees of spades shovels and agricultural forks and other tools,"
First Making the combined tubular socket and the curved sides or branches of the
said metallic eyes from blanks of sheet iron or steel of the kind represented in
Figure 3, the said blanks being treated and fashioned substantially in the manner
herein before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Secondly-Making the said metallic eyes each from two longitudinal halves the
said halves being fashioned from blanks of sheet iron or steel of the kind and sub-
stantially in the manner herein before described and illustrated in Figures 9, 10
and 11 of the accompanying Drawings.