IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC STAMPS AND HAMMERS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Husband, of Hayle, in the County of
Cornwall, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC STAMPS
AND HAMMERS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Scaled the 26th July 1870, and dated the 15th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Husband at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th March 1870.
I, WILLIAM HUSBAND, of Hayle, in the County of Cornwall, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN
ATMOSPHERIC STAMPS AND HAMMERS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES,"
to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to that description of stamps and hammers
in which the lifting and striking power actuates the stamp or hammer
through the medium of an elastic cushion afforded by confined air. Such
hammers have been constructed, firstly, by attaching the hammer shaft or
"lifter" to a piston working in a closed cylinder, to which reciprocating

page_text: motion was imparted by means of a crank shaft and connecting rod,
such cylinder having side apertures for the ingress and egress of air;
secondly, such hammers have been constructed by fixing the hammer
head to the cylinder and actuating the piston by the crank and
connecting rod.
My improvements upon the first arrangement consist in making the
hammer shaft or "lifter" hollow, and extending it beyond the piston
and through the upper end of the cylinder in order to provide a better
guide and to pass a stream of water down through the same (the water
to be admitted at top by means of a pipe) to keep it cool, the water being
made to escape through holes at the lower end, whence it flows into the
coffer, or provision may be made on the outside of the lifter for the
water to flow down, and if necessary I also supply the cylinder with a
jacket through which water is made to circulate for the purpose of
cooling the same. The upper end of the lifter passes through a fixed
guide, and I also arrange the cylinder to act as a guide cither by
forming or fixing upon it a projection working between or on guides or
by extending the upper end of the cylinder and causing such extended
part to work in a guide. I actuate the cylinder by means of an
excentric, the rod of which is forked and passes down on each side of
the cylinder to studs on which it is connected, giving a direct lift. The
hammer shaft or lifter may be divided below the cylinder, the bottom
part being of larger diameter than the upper part in order to afford
increased weight, strength, and rubbing surface, as also for convenience
of changing the packing.
My improvements upon the second described system consist in dis-
pensing with the slides, guides, and connecting rods of the present
arrangement by connecting the piston directly to the rod of an excentric
actuating the stamp or hammer, which rod passes through a trunk
formed or fixed on the piston and working through a gland on the
hammer cylinder so as to act as a guide.
In another modification of this system I make the hammer cylinder
of increased length and closed at both ends. It is provided with two
pistons, one near each end of the cylinder, connected together by a rod,
to this rod is attached a cross head, the ends of which pass through slots
formed in the sides of the cylinder outside of which the forked rod of
the working excentric or crank is connected to the ends of the cross
head. The enclosed air spaces in the cylinder above the upper piston

page_text: and below the lower one constitute the requisite air cushions, and the
cylinder is there provided with the usual side apertures. The stamp or
hammer head may either be fixed to an extension of the cylinder or to
a hammer shaft fixed to the cylinder; the cylinder or hammer shaft is
made to work in fixed guides, and a water jacket may as before be
provided to keep the cylinder cool.
:
In applying either of the before described systems to forge hammers
I provide means for regulating the force of the blow by fixing to the
"lifter" or to the hammer cylinder, as the case may be, a piston
working inside a second closed cylinder provided with a cock or valve, by
opening or closing which more or less the ingress and egress of the air
(acting as a cushion) to and from the cylinder is regulated, and thus the
force of the hammer increased or decreased.
Although I prefer to actuate my improved arrangements of stamps
or hammers by excentrics as stated, yet they may also be actuated by
cranks and connecting rods.
Another of my improvements has for its object to lessen the wear and
tear of the leather or india-rubber packing to the pistons of the before
described atmospheric stamps and hammers, and which is also applicablo
to pistons generally where such leather or india-rubber packing is used.
It consists in letting into the rubbing surface of the packing a ring or
rings of steel, iron, gun metal, or other suitable metal, so that the outer
surface of such ring being flush with the rubbing surface of the packing
will take the greater part of the wear and tear, while the leather or india-.
rubber surface of the packing on each side of the ring will ensure the
requisite air or steam tight fit.
0
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Husband in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HUSBAND, of Hayle, in the County of Cornwall, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Husband, Her special licence that I, the
said William Husband, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Husband, my 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 ATMOSPHERIC STAMPS
AND HAMMERS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Husband, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Husband, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
My improvements relate to that description of stamps and hammers
in which the lifting and striking power actuates the stamp or hammer
through the medium of an elastic cushion afforded by confined air.
Such hammers have been constructed, firstly, by attaching the hammer
shaft or
"lifter" to a piston working in a closed cylinder, to which
reciprocating motion was imparted by means of a crank shaft and
connecting rod, such cylinder having side apertures for the ingress
and egress of air; secondly, such hammers have been constructed by
fixing the hammer head to the cylinder and actuating the piston by the
crank and connecting rod.
My improvements upon the first arrangement consist in making the
hammer shaft or "lifter hollow, and extending it beyond the piston
and though the upper end of the cylinder, in order to provide a better
guide and to pass a stream of water down through the same (the water to
be admitted at top by means of a pipe) to keep it cool, the water being
made to escape through holes at the lower end, whence it flows into

page_text: the coffer, or provision may be made on the outside of the lifter for the
water to flow down, and if necessary I also supply the cylinder with a
jacket through which water is made to circulate for the purpose of
cooling the same. The upper end of the lifter passes through a fixed
guide, and I also arrange the cylinder to act as a guide either by forming
or fixing upon it a projection working between or on guides, or by ex-
tending the upper end of the cylinder and causing such extended part to
work in a guide. I actuate the cylinder by means of an excentric, the
rod of which is forked and passes down on each side of the cylinder
to studs on which it is connected, giving a direct lift. The hammer
shaft or lifter may be divided below the cylinder, the bottom part being
of larger diameter than the upper part in order to afford increased weight,
strength, and rubbing surface as also for convenience of changing the
packing.
My improvements upon the second described system consist in
dispensing with the slides, guides, and connecting rods of the present
arrangement by connecting the piston directly to the rod of an excentric
actuating the stamp or hammer, which rod passes through a trunk formed
or fixed on the piston and working through a gland on the hammer
cylinder so as to act as a guide.
In another modification of this system I make the hammer cylinder of
increased length and closed at both ends. It is provided with two
pistons, one near cach end of the cylinder, connected together by a rod,
to this rod is attached a cross head, the ends of which pass through
slots formed in the sides of the cylinder outside of which the forked
rod of the working excentric or crank is connected to the ends of the
cross head. The enclosed air spaces in the cylinder above the upper piston
and below the lower one constitute the requisite air cushions, and the
cylinder is there provided with the usual side apertures. The stamp or
hammer head may either be fixed to an extension of the cylinder, or to
a hammer shaft fixed to the cylinder; the cylinder or hammer shaft is
made to work in fixed guides, and a water jacket may as before be
provided to keep the cylinder cool.
In applying either of the before described systems to forge hammers.
I provide means for regulating the force of the blow by fixing to the
"lifter" or to the hammer cylinder, as the case may be, a piston work-
ing inside a second closed cylinder provided with a cock or valve, by
opening or closing which, more or less, the ingress and egress of the
'

page_text: air (acting as a cushion) to and from the cylinder is regulated, and
thus the force of the hammer increased or decreased.
Although I prefer to actuate my improved arrangements of stamps
or hammers by excentrics as stated, yet they may also be actuated by
cranks and connecting rods.
Another of my improvements has for its object to lessen the wear
and tear of the leather or india-rubber packing to the pistons of the
before described atmospheric stamps and hammers, and which is also
applicable to pistons generally where such leather or india-rubber
packing is used. It consists in letting into the rubbing surface of the
packing a ring or rings of steel, iron, gun metal, or other suitable metal,
so that the outer surface of such ring being flush with the rubbing
surface of the packing will take the greater part of the wear and tear,
while the leather or india-rubbing surface of the packing on each side of
the ring will ensure the requisite air or steam tight fit.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings are shown my before de-
scribed improved constructions of pneumatic stamps and hammers.
Figure 1 shows in vertical section and in elevation the first herein-
before described construction of stamps or hammers, in which the piston
rod A, having a lower enlarged part A' attached to the stamp or
hammer head B, is extended up through the top of the cylinder C,
actuated by the forked excentric rod D'. The piston rod is formed
hollow and into the upper end thereof passes a pipe E, through which
a constant stream of cold water is introduced, which in flowing down
the piston rod effectually absorbs the heat generated by the friction of
the piston in the cylinder, and eventually escapes through the side
holes a, a, in the lower part A¹ of the rod, whence it flows into the
coffer of the stamps. The piston rod passes through fixed guides F, F,
above and below the cylinder C, and if desired the latter may also work in
guides as before-mentioned, though by the direct action of the excentric
D thereon obtained by the forking of the excentric rod D' as shown,
and the connection of the same to the studs c, c, on either side of the
cylinder, such guide would not be necessary; c³, c³, are air holes above
and below the piston A³ as heretofore employed.
Figure 2 shows a vertical section of the arrangement of stamps or
hammers in which the cylinder A fixed to the stamp or hammer head B
and working between guides C has a piston D provided with a trunk D'
passing through a stuffing box A' in the closed upper end of the

page_text: cylinder A. The rod E¹ of the driving excentric E passes down through
the trunk D¹ and is hinged directly to the piston, which is guided in its
motion by the trunk passing through the cylinder, and thus the use of
connecting rods and fixed guides is dispensed with. a, a, are the air
holes to the cylinder A as heretofore employed. Below the guides C is
fixed a closed cylinder F, in which works a piston G fixed to the
cylinder A. At the bottom of the cylinder F is a cock or valve H by
closing which more or less the exit of the air from the cylinder is more
or less throttled as the piston G descends with the cylinder A, and thus
the blow of the stamp or hammer may be regulated or intercepted.
One or more openings fare provided at the top of the cylinder F to
allow the air to pass in and out freely above the piston G.
Figure 3 shows the same arrangement of stamp or hammer as just
described with the omission of the regulating cylinder F, the cylinder A
being arranged to work through the cylindrical guide I, having circular
channels i, i, through which cold water is made to circulate.
Figure 4 shows a vertical section of the arrangement, in which two
pistons D, D', are provided in the cylinder A connected by the rods C,
which is provided with a cross head F the ends of which pass through
slots (shown in dotted lines) on each side of the cylinder, and are
connected to the ends of the forked rod E¹ of the excentric E. The
requisite air cushions are formed between the top of the piston D¹ and
the closed top of the cylinder and between the bottom of the piston D
and the bottom of the cylinder provided with the usual air holes a, a.
The cylinder A may either work through fixed guides G, G, as shown,
or the part of the cylinder below the line X, X, may be formed into a
solid rod of a sufficient length to work through guides fixed below the
cylinder A.
By the above described arrangement it will be seen that all stuffing
boxes for the piston rods, as in the previous arrangements, are dispensed
with.
In cach of the before described arrangements the working cylinder
may be provided with a water jacket, through which water is made to
circulate, being conveniently introduced through a fixed pipe at the top
passing through a hole in the top of the water jacket in a similar manner
to the pipe E at Figure 1.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be perforined, what I claim is, -

page_text: First. Constructing that description of pneumatic stamps and
hammers wherein the cylinder is actuated by the excentric or crank
with a hollow piston rod or hammer shaft passing right through the
cylinder, through which hollow piston rod water is made to flow,
substantially as described.
Second. Actuating the cylinder by means of an excentric or crank
with forked rod connected to studs or trunnions on each side of the
cylinder, substantially as described.
Third. Constructing that description of pneumatic stamps or hammers
wherein the cylinder is connected to the hammer head with a piston
having a trunk passing through the upper end of the cylinder, the rod
of the excentric or crank being made to pass through such trunk and
connected directly to the piston, substantially as described.
Fourth. Constructing the cylinder connected to the stamp or hammer
head with entirely closed ends and providing it with two pistons con-
nected by a rod having a cross head passing through slots in the
cylinder, to which cross head a forked excentric or crank rod is.
connected, substantially as described.
Fifth. Providing the lifter or the hammer cylinder with an external
piston fitting inside a fixed cylinder provided with one or more cocks or
valves for regulating the force of the blow, as herein-before described.
Sixth. Providing the cylinders of pneumatic stamps and hammers
with water jackets, through which cold water is made to circulate,
substantially as described.
· Seventh. Constructing leather or india-rubber packing to pistons
with one or more rings of metal let into the rubbing surface thereof,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Husband, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JOHN. HAMBLY.
WILLIAM HUSBAND. (L.S.)