IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HINGES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HORNE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brass Founder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
at Westminster, the Third day of September, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Horne, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Horne, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Thomas Horne, my 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 mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF HINGES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a pro-
viso, obliging me, the said Thomas Horne, by an instrument 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 Her 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 there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in .compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Horne, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, 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 present Improvements in the Manufacture of Hinges apply particularly
to the process, manner, mode, or method of making or manufacturing hinges
from iron, and consist, in the first place, in an improved manner, mode, or
method of preparing the strips or plates of iron of which the hinges are to
be made, and also in the application thereof to the making of hinges, that is,
the "using up" or "working" of the same, or in other words, "cutting it up"
for the manufacturing of "hinges ;" and, in the next place, in improvements in
further preparing the knuckle or thinner part of the said prepared plate metal,
or such parts of other plate metal so previously prepared or cut into parts, and
intended to be converted into hinges, so as to enable a better joint to be pro-
duced when the two halves or wings of the hinge are fitted together; and
lastly, in an improved means, manner, or method of producing the counter-
sunk holes intended to receive the heads of the screws when the hinge is
fastened in its required situation; and, in order better to explain or illustrate
the first and second parts of my present improvements, I do now refer to the
Specification of my former Patent, granted to me by His late Majesty King
William the Fourth, for "Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of
Hinges," bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, One thousand eight
liundred and thirty-five, the Specification of which was duly inrolled in the
Rolls Chapel Office of the High Court of Chancery on or before the Twenty-
fourth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six; in which
Specification it will be found that my then described "Improvements consisted
in making hinges out of sheet metal, peculiarly prepared, of unequal thick-
nesses, by means of rolling, drawing, stamping, or 'swaging, so that the parts
which are used to form the knuckles or joints shall be thinner than the parts
used to form the flaps or wings of the hinges, and of turning over the said
thinner parts of the metal into a rabbet or against a shoulder," in the manner
therein described.
In the first place, as regards my present improvements, I would remark,
that in my former Specification above referred to, the groove or thinner part
of the metal was described as being formed longitudinally in the strips or
plates of metal (that is to say), as regards iron in the direction of the "fibre"
(as it is commonly called and known to iron workers and engineers) of the

page_text: metal, and that when such iron was cut up as described in my said Specifica-
tion, so as to form the two parts of a hinge, the fibres would still be in the
same direction when the hinge was formed; whereas the first part of my
present Invention enables me to cause the fibres of the sheet metal to be
placed in a direction across the hinge, or at right angles or nearly so with its
length; and this I effect by forming the grooves, indentations, or thinner parts,.
which are intended to form the knuckles or joints, at intervals, across the piece
or plate or strip of iron, which afterwards being separated to form the two
parts of the binge, will have the fibres situated across cach piece; whereby I
am enabled to turn the metal round to form the knuckle with greater ease
and safety, and also to make a much stronger knuckles than when the fibres
of the iron are placed longitudinally in the hinge. This will be better illus-
trated by reference to the Drawings, wherein Fig. 1 represents a portion of
the surface of the prepared sheet iron, as described in my former Specification,
-that is, with the groove cr thinner part, which is to constitute the knuckle,
formed longitudinally, or in a direction with the fibres of the metal, the
direction of the. "fibre" being shewn by the dotted or wayed lines in the
Figures; and Figures 2 and 3 shew similar representations of portions of such
plate metal when separated for the purpose of forming the two parts of the
hinge; and Figures 4 and 5 are sections of the same after the said thinner
parts have been turned over, so as to form the knuckle or joint,. a, a, being the
thicker parts of the metal, or those intended to form the flaps or wings, and
b, b, the thinner parts, or those to form the knuckles or joints; and Fig. 6.
shews a portion of the iron rolled, or otherwise prepared, according to the first
part of my present improvements,--that is, with the grooves or indentations or
thinner parts formed crosswise of the "fibres" of the metal, or at right
angles or nearly so to the longitudinal direction of the rolled metal; and
Figures 7 and 8 are representations of parts of the same separated from the
piece in order to form the parts of a hinge. Figures 9 and 10 being sections
of the same; Figures 11 and 12 shewing the same after being turned over to
form the knuckle or joint, the waved or broken lines in these Figures shewing,
as in the former, the direction of the "fibre" of the metal, the red lines in
Fig. 6 shewing the line of separation of the metal; the black arrows
shewing the direction in which the thinner parts of the metal are bent or
turned over to form the knuckle or joint. It will be seen that by my present
improvements the direction of the fibres of the iron are placed at right angles,
or nearly so, to the length of the hinge, that is, they will, by my present
improvements, be placed around the pin of the hinge in a direction crosswise
to its axis, whereas they were by the former method placed longitudinally or
parallel with it, or nearly so.

page_text: The second part of the present improvements consist in giving a pressure to
the thinner or knuckle parts of the pieces of prepared metal, after they have
been cut out or separated from the piece or sheet, for the purpose of further
expanding these parts, so that when properly operated upon and finished by
the workman perfect or neat joints may be formed in the knuckles of the
hinges. And I would here remark, that when the two pieces of metal, as
Figures 2 and 3 or 7 and 8, are cut or stamped out of the sheet or pieces,
that although these parts may nearly fit together while in the flat state, yet
even then there would not be any metal left for the workman or finisher to file
off so as to make a perfect junction or close-fitting joint; and further, that
when the thinner parts are turned round so as to form the knuckle, or even
when working in ordinary plate metal in such process, these parts, in such
operation, become altered in the shape, and do not make a perfect joint. Now,
in order to obviate this difficulty, I give this second pressure to the knuckle
parts of the prepared metal of different thicknesses, or to the parts of ordinary
plate metal, for the purpose of widening or expanding these parts of the metal,
and I thereby obtain a sufficient spread or width of the metal to enable the
workman to remove the surplus parts, in order to form the joints of the hinge
perfect, either by punching, or cutting off, or filing, or other means, and
thereby fitting the two parts together in a proper manner. This will be
better explained by reference to the Drawings.
Fig. 13, which is a representation of one portion of a hinge which has been
operated upon by this second process of pressure on the indented metal, or the
like effect upon the same parts of plain sheet metal. a is the part to form the
wing, and 6 the parts to form the knuckle. It will be seen that the sides of
the parts b, b, of the piece which are intended to form the knuckle, are spread
out or made wider by the additional pressure, so as to allow of a portion of
the metal being removed by the workman preparatory to the operation of
"jointing," which operation may be effected by the assistance of dies, or
stamping presses, or other suitable tools, as the manufacturer may think fit.
This operation of the further pressing may be performed (either separately or
in conjunction with the herein after-described process of countersinking the
screw holes) on either or both sides of the hinge.
The third improvement; being the making or countersinking of the screw
holes, I effect either before or after the holes have been punched out by the
ordinary process; and I prefer operating with the metal hot when the counter-
sinking is to be performed, after the screw holes have been first punched out
of the pieces of metal when they were in a cold state.
They are then heated
in any suitable furnace, and I subject them to pressure under any suitable fly
or stamping press containing dies having proper-shaped faces, and one of them

page_text: furnished with suitable raised conical parts placed or formed thereon, so as to
take into and act upon the several holes in the pieces or wings of the hinge.
Figure 14 will serve to illustrate this part of my present improvements,
which Figure represents a vertical section of a pair of dies furnished with
suitable conical projections for effecting this purpose. A is the upper dic or
ram, which in this instance has only a flat face or surface; B is the lower or
fixed die; C represents one of the raised conical pieces fitted into or formed
thereon, and D the piece of iron prepared as herein-before described, that is,
with thicker and thinner parts, and consequently the bottom die has a step or
lower part formed in it. But in working with ordinary plate metal this would
not be required. The action of the dies, when the two operations of pressing
out the parts of the knuckles and countersinking the holes is performed at
once, is as follows:-The piece of metal, after being made hot, is placed on the
lower die, as shewn in the Drawing, the conical pieces c being opposite the
previously punched holes; the upper die or ram A is then made to descend,
and by its pressure forces the piece of hinge of metal upon all the raised
conical studs; at the same time, by the thinner or knuckle parts coming into
contact, and under the pressure or operation of the parts a, b, of the two dies,
they will be expanded or spread out so as to take such a shape or figure as
that shewn at b, b, in Figure 13. The pieces are to be removed quickly, and
the dies kept cool by any convenient means.
Another method of effecting these operations may be by performing the
three operations at one time; that is, punching the holes, then countersinking
them, and compressing the knuckle part. Figure 15 will serve to illustrate
this method, which Figure represents a section of a pair of dies. A is
the upper die, which in this instance has the step formed upon it to suit
the figure of the metal, and also a punch C affixed to it having a conical
shoulder & intended to form the countersinking of the holes. B is the lower or
fixed dic, and D the piece of metal. The lower die has in this instance a
hole or aperture E formed in it to allow of the discharge of the pieces of
metal punched out by the descent of the punch C on the upper die or ram.
The operation will be readily understood, for when the piece of metal is placed
upon the lower dic, and the upper one A descends, the punch C will first
punch out a portion of the metal, and then, as the dies approach near to each
other, the conical shoulder d of the punch will be forced into the hole
previously made by its first part and perform the operation of countersinking,
while the parts a, b, of the dies will press the knuckle parts of the hinge and
expand them.
I would here remark, that the surface of the conical holes may
afterwards be finished off by any rotary tool cutter or punch, if required.

page_text: Having now described my present improvements, and some modes of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as
my present improvements, and secured to me by the above in part recited
Letters Patent, is,-
Firstly, the improved mode, manner, or method of preparing the strips or
plates of iron for hinges, so that the "fibres." of the metal, as they are com-
monly termed, shall be laid or placed crosswise. of the hinge.
Secondly, the expanding or spreading out of those parts which form the
knuckle or joint of hinges which have been previously cut, parted, or sepa-
rated by means of any description of press and appropriate tools, in order that.
there may be sufficient width of metal to enable the workman to form a close
and neat or perfect joint.
And lastly, the operation of previously counter sinking or first preparing
the screw holes by means of coned dies, as herein described, instead of
altogether cutting out those parts which admit the heads of the screws by
cutting-tools or drills (or what in the trade is termed "countersinks," as
generally used for that purpose. And I claim these several operations when
affected either in combination or separately.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Horne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of March, in the year of our Lord One