IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE HYDRAULIC PUNCHING APPARATUS
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Richard Hollands at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
December 1863.
I, EDWARD RICHARD HOLLANDS, of No. 12, Ray Street, Clerkenwell, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE HYDRAULIC PUNCHING APPARATUS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in portable hydraulic
punching apparatus. In constructing such apparatus I form a strong casting
or forging with two jaws; in one of the jaws the bed die is fitted, and the other
is made to receive a ram having a punch fixed at its inner end. The other
end of the ram fits accurately a cylinder or chamber in the casting or forging,
and this chamber is closed at the top by a cap or end, which screws into it.
Through the cap a plunger passes, and there is a screw within the plunger, by
which it can be forced down into the cylinder or chamber, or withdrawn
partially out of it. The cylinder or chamber being full of water or liquid, and
the ram and plunger being both made by cupped leather or other packing to
fit it closely, when the plunger is forced down, it, by displacing some of the
liquid, causes the descent of the ram; and the ram being of large area compared
with that of the plunger, its descent is comparatively slow, and it is thus
capable of overcoming the resistance of the metal, which it is made to punch.
The lower end of the plunger enters a recess or hole bored in the top of the
ram, and when it is forced down by the screw causing the descent of the ram, as
before described, it ultimately comes to the bottom of the recess, and presses

page_text: directly on the ram, and then the screw acts to force down the ram and
plunger at the same speed as it itself moves, but this does not take place until
the metal to be punched is cracked through, and its resistance for the most
part overcome. The causing the screw in this manner to give motion directly
to the ram at the end of the stroke so as to obtain a rapid action in pushing
out the blank as soon as the metal is cracked through, is an important feature
of my Invention. In the return stroke the screw raises the plunger until a
flange at its lower end comes against a collar at the top of the ram, and then
the plunger as it continues to ascend lifts the ram with the punch at its
lower end; thus the same screw or instrument which forces down the ram
serves also at its return stroke to lift it with its punch; this also is an
important feature of my Invention, as heretofore a separate instrument has
been necessary to raise the ram and punch. In order to keep the cylinder or
chamber constantly full of water or liquid, a passage is made through the
plunger this passage, when the plunger is up, connects the cylinder or
chamber with a reservoir of water or liquid, a valve placed at the inner end of
the passage being at this time opened by its stem coming against the end of
the screw which works the plunger. A spring piston within the reservoir
ensures the passage of liquid into the cylinder or chamber if it be not already
quite full. When in using the apparatus the screw is turned and the plunger
moves a short distance, the valve is immediately closed by a spring, and the
return of the liquid through the passage prevented.