CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF HOLLOW AXLES AND AXLE BOXES, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVE- MENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER TUBES, HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS AND SUCH LIKE TUBULAR BODIES, WHERE GREAT STRENGTH AND SOLIDITY IS REQUIRED
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Thompson, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF HOLLOW AXLES AND AXLE BOXES, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVE-
MENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER
TUBES, HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS AND SUCH LIKE TUBULAR BODIES, WHERE GREAT
STRENGTH AND SOLIDITY IS REQUIRED."
Sealed the 20th October 1864, and dated the 22nd April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd April 1864.
I, JAMES THOMPSON, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOLLOW AXLES AND AXLE BOXES, AND WHICH SAID
IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LOCOMOTIVE AND
OTHER TUBES, HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS, AND SUCH LIKE TUBULAR BODIES WHERE GREAT
STRENGTH AND SOLIDITY IS REQUIRED," to be as follows (that is to say):-
My improvements in the manufacture of such and other like articles named
in the title consist in their being manufactured entirely seamless, of iron, steel,
or other metal, and are in reality an extension (for the purposes herein-named)
of the process and appliances described in Patents granted to me on the 24th
of April 1863, Nos. 1023 and 1024, aud in a subsequent application on the

page_text: 19th of January of the present year, No. 139, for "
Manufacture of Barrels for Fire-arms and Ordnance,"
Improvements in the
And my improvements for the purposes herein-before named consist in
taking a large or small bloom of iron, steel, or other metal, according to the
purposes for which it may be desired, and after heating to swage, hammer,
roll, press, or otherwise from the said bloom into the desired preliminary shape
to be left whole or divided into parts as required; and such pieces of iron, steel,
or other metal I purpose placing under or over a suitable punch or plunger,
to be actuated by any mechanical force or bydraulic steam, heated air, or other
like convenient power. This punching process has the quality of condensing the
substance of the metal by forcing the metal from the centre into the annular
part surrounding the punch or plunger, which I purpose to support during
the operation, thereby greatly improving its condition or quality; these punched
pieces I purpose further shaping and elongating by hammering, swaging,
rolling, drawing, or pressing, preferring to use a mandril or internal support
during these processes,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
THOMPSON, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Thompson, Her special license that I, the said James Thomp-
son, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Thompson, my executors, administrators, or 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 "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOLLOW AXLES AND AXLE BOXES, AND WHICH
SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LOCOMOTIVE
AND OTHER TUBES, HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS, AND SUCH LIKE TUBULAR BODIES WHERE

page_text: GREAT STRENGTH AND SOLIDITY IS REQUIRED," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Thompson, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my band and seal, or under the band and seal
of one of them, 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 James Thompson, 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 (that is to say) :-
My improvements in the manufacture or production of such and other like
articles named in the title of my present application for Letters Patent
consist in the said articles being produced entirely seamless, or without weld
or join, whether the same be formed of iron or steel, or of iron converted into
steel after their formation, or of other ductile metals, such as copper and copper
alloys, and which improvements in their production are in reality an extension,
for the purposes herein-named, of the processes and appliances described in two
Patents granted to me on the Twenty-third day of April 1863, No. 1023 and
No. 1024 respectively, and in a subsequent application on the 14th day of
January of the present year, No. 108, which said application was allowed to
lapse from the inexplicitness of the Provisional Specification, and a new appli-
cation, made five days subsequent, namely, on the 19th of January, and in the
Complete Specification filed in accordance with the requirements of that appli-
cation, I fully and amply described the process or processes by which I give
effect to my Invention, which was entitled "Improvements in the Manufacture
of Barrels for Fire-arms and Ordnance,"
And to extend the application and appliances therein described to the pur-
poses named in the title comprehends the object and purpose I have in view
in obtaining this Patent. For, in like manner as described in the Specification
of my Patent No. 139, I take a large or small bloom or lump of iron,
steel, copper, or other metal or metallic alloys, according to the purpose for
which it may be desired, and after heating, swaging, hammering, rolling,
pressing, or otherwise forming or converting the said bloom or lump of metal
from its shape or condition when first heated into the desired preliminary
shape, to be left whole or divided into smaller parts, according to the purpose
for which such prepared metal may be subsequently required. And such
pieces of iron, steel, or other metal, I purpose placing in a heated condition

page_text: under or over a suitable punch or punching apparatus or machine, to be
actuated by any mechanical force, or hydraulic steam, compressed or heated
air, or other like convenient, power. This punching process has the quality of
condensing the substance of the metal by forcing or displacing the metal from
the centre into the annular part surrounding the punch or plunger, and in a
general way I purpose supporting during the operation of punching the piece
of heated metal that is being operated on by adjustable jaws or supports,
which advance simultaneously for holding the metal to be punched concentri-
cally beneath the punch, thus forming from its confined positon an external
support around the metal that is being punched during that operation, which
when performed leaves the metal so operated on to be further treated either
by forging, rolling, drawing, or other equivalent means for imparting to it the
shape desired. Such means and appliances I do not think it necessary
to describe here, as they are well understood and practised in the rolling
of metal, as well as in the forming of tubes by drawing them, either with or
without internal pressure, through a hole at a draw bench, the strength of
which should be proportioned according to the size and length of the seam-
less tube desired to be made, thus leaving such articles, whether cylinders
for hydraulic or pneumatic presses, axle boxes, locomotive tubes, cylinders
for calico printing or other purposes, perfectly seamless and thereby uniform
in strength.
And it is the application of the processes herein-before referred to, and fully
described in my former Patents herein-named, to the purposes herein set forth
that I claim as of my Invention, and for which I seek protection under these
my present in part recited Letters Patent.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Thompson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
JAMES THOMPSON. (L.S.)