IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER EDGE TOOLS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Morgans and Morgan
Geoffrey Morgans at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
7th April 1881.
WILLIAM MORGANS, of Bristol, in the County of Gloucester, Consulting
Engaeer, and MORGAN GEOFFREY MORGANS, of Mells, in the County of Somerset,"
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER
EDGE TOOLS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PARTS
OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Our Invention relates to improvements in the forging, hardening, and setting of
agricultural and other edge tools, and is expressly applicable to scythes, hooks, and
hay knives, parts of the Invention however are also adapted for use in the
manufacture of other taper or partly tapering articles.
In the manufacture of scythes, for instance, lengths or pieces of solid steel or
more commonly of steel & iron welded together are generally used. These lengths
or pieces are known as moulds, and they usually require to be drawn to a varying
taper form to provide such a distribution of the metal as will, when they are
"plated" "skelped" or flattened out, result in the production of blades of the shape
and dimensions required.
Hitherto it has been the practice to draw and taper the said moulds under trip
or steam hammers and it requires considerable skill and practice on the part of the
hammerman to produce moulds of the desired form, and even then it is difficult to
obtain due uniformity in moulds required to be alike in pattern and weight.
According to our Invention we surmount these difficulties by employing instead of
hammers for forming and tapering the moulds, rolls of special construction to
effect the desired purpose in a more reliable and uniform manner.
The rolls may
be either segmental or cylindrical rolls, but we prefer them to be cylindrical. They
are fitted with gearing cams and levers for the purpose of allowing the rolls to,
recede from each other or to close nearer together as the mould passes between.
them, so as to give it the required taper and form. To this end we prefer to allow
the upper roll to run in bearings fixed, except for purposes of adjustment, whilst
the bearings of the lower roll rest upon wedges or eccentrics which are designed
to raise and lower the roll as required during its revolutions. For actuating the
wedges or eccentrics we prefer to use a lever, the motion of which is controlled by
a cam, because we are enabled by varying the profile of the cam to raise and lower
the lower roll as required, and to give the mould any required rate or variation of
aper as it progresses through the pass between the rolls.

page_text: Another part of our Invention relates to the plating, skelping, or flattening out
of the blades of scythes and similar edge tools, and consists in the substitution for
the ordinary hammering process of two long dies or segments provided with convex
or other shaped faces, and receiving reciprocating rotary motion, on centres which
are capable of adjustment after the manner of ordinary rolls, the said motion
being obtained by means of a strong lever fixed on the axis of one or both of the
dies. We prefer to make the faces of steel or chilled cast iron.
By this apparatus we are enabled to plate, skelp, or flatten out heated moulds
to the shape required with a less expenditure of time and labor, and with a much
more perfect result than is attainable by the ordinary hammering process.
The next part of our Invention relates to the forging of the plates and backs of
scythes after the moulds have been plated or skelped.
This has been usually effected by the handiwork of smiths and strikers, and by
the aid of swages, and specially formed anvills and tools. In lieu thereof we
employ a trip hammer having a horizontal striking face in addition to the ordinary
vertical striking face, the said horizontal face acting at the edge of the anvil in
such a manner that the back of the scythe is pressed or hammered into shape by
the horizontal action simultaneously with the descent of the hammer upon the
blade or plate of the scythe. By making the anvil and striking faces of suitable
forms, this contrivance also enables us at the same time to form the ridge known
as "trigging" along the blade instead of having to do it by means of a separate
operation, and in lieu of forming the trigging with a sharp angle, as in the ordinary
manner, we are enabled, if we so desire, to make it of a channelled or curvilinear
section, whereby increased stiffness is obtained and the liability to fracture is
lessened.
Another part of our Invention relates to the hardening and setting of the blades
of scythes and other agricultural edge tools. By the common practice of heating
the blades to redness, and then plunging them into cold water, the blade is hardened,
but it is also deformed by twists and puckers which have to be corrected by sub
sequent hammering and "setting," a process requiring skill and care, and involving
risk of damage to the thin plate or blade of the tools.
We avoid this expense and risk by placing the blades when they are sufficiently
heated between faces or dies of iron, steel, or other suitable material. The dies are
then pressed together, and water is allowed to pass through slits, channels, or
perforations formed in the faces of the dies to admit of the rapid cooling and
hardening of the blade. The effect of the dies in pressing upon the scythe or other
tool during the hardening process is to retain the blade in its proper shape, so that
when it is removed from the dies it will be found to have few or no puckers needing
to be corrected by hammering and setting.
In some cases sufficient hardness of the blade may be obtained by the chilling
effect of the cold faces of, the dies without the direct action of water. In such
cases the faces of the dies are not grooved or perforated as herein before described,
but cold water is caused to circulate through the body of each die, which is cast
hollow with only a thin wall of metal between the face of the die and the
water.
It is obvious that parts of our Invention are applicable to the manufacture of
other articles, such as brake handles and harvester tines of tapered form, and to such
tools as hoes, shovels, and spades, also to gun barrels, railway points, and other taper
articles.