A MODE OR METHOD OF FIXING TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS IN HELVES OR HANDLES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Parkes, of Sutton Coldfield, in the County
of Warwick, Edge Tool and Agricultural Implement Maker, for the
Invention of "A MODE OR METHOD OF FIXING TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS IN
HELVES OR HANDLES."
Sealed the 20th June 1854, and dated the 19th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Parkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
January 1854.
I, FRANCIS PARKES, of Sutton Coldfield, in the County of Warwick, Edge
Tool and Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "A MODE OR METHOD OF FIXING TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS IN
HELVES OR HANDLES" to be as follows:-
I take a ferrule, and close it at bottom with a disc, in which I make an
aperture for the admission of the tang of the tool or implement to be fitted to
or fixed in the handle at the upper end of the ferrule, and extending for a
short distance down inside the ferrule. I solder, weld, or cast in one piece with
the ferrule a flat piece or blade of metal. In this flat blade is an aperture or
apertures for the reception of a pin or pins or rivets, as hereafter mentioned.
The end of the tang of the tool or implement is split. The split end is com-
pressed, and inserted through the hole in the disc on the lower end of the
ferrule, and is made to embrace that part of the flat blade which is carried down
in the ferrule. The handle has a slit made in it, to receive the flat metal blade

page_text: over which it is passed into the ferrule. A corresponding hole to that in the
flat blade is drilled in the handle, and a screw or pin is passed through to
secure the handle to the ferrule. Instead of the flat blade, before described, a
rivet pin or blade of metal might be driven in or otherwise inserted across
the ferrule, and the split end of the tang passed over such pin or blade.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Parkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
PARKES, of Sutton Coldfield, in the County of Warwick, Edge Tool and
Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Francis Parkes, Her special licence that I, the said Francis
Parkes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Francis Parkes, 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 "A MODE
OR METHOD OF FIXING TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS IN HELVES OR HANDLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis Parkes, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Francis Parkes, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
My Invention consists of a mode or method of fixing tools and implements
in helves or handles. My Invention is applicable more especially to spades

page_text: forks, rakes, hoes, spuds, weed-hooks, trowels, and other like tools and im-
plements, but it may also be employed in all cases where a secure fastening
of the tool or implement in its handle is required.
The manner in which my Invention is performed is as follows:-I take a
ferrule, and close it at bottom with a disc, in which I make an aperture for the
admission of the tang of the tool or implement to be fitted to or fixed in the
handle. At the upper end of the ferrule, and extending for a short distance
down inside the ferrule, I solder, weld, or cast in one piece with the ferrule a
flat piece or blade of metal. In this flat blade is an aperture or apertures for
the reception of a pin or pins or rivets, as hereafter mentioned. The end of
the tang of the tool or implement is split. The split end is compressed, and
inserted through the hole in the disc on the lower end of the ferrule, and is
made to embrace that part of the flat blade which is carried down in the
ferrule. The handle has a slit made in it to receive the flat metal blade, over
which it is passed into the ferrule. A corresponding hole to that in the flat
blade is drilled in the handle, and a screw or pin is passed through to secure
the handle to the ferrule. Instead of the flat blade before described, a rivet
pin or blade of metal might be driven in or otherwise inserted across the
ferrule, and the split end of the tang passed over such pin or blade.
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is a side view of part of a tool or im-
plement fixed in its helve or handle, according to my Invention; and Figure 2
is a longitudinal section of the same; Figure 3 is a side view, partly in section,
of the socket which receives the tang of the tool or implement; and Figure 4
is an end view of the same; Figure 5 is a side view of the tang of a tool or
implerent, which is to be fixed in its helve or handle by my method. A is
the wooden helve or handle; B, the ferrule; C, the disc at its end; and D,
the aperture for admitting the tang E of the tool or implement; the tang is
split at the end, as shewn; F is the flat blade of metal in the ferrule; and G
is a pin or rivet through the handle and the upper part of the blade, by which
the handle and socket are held together. The tool or implement is fixed in
the handle by compressing the split end of the tang E, and inserting it
through the hole in the disc C, when the split end of the tang embraces that
part of the blade F which is carried down in the ferrule. Figure 6 shews a
handle and socket for a digging fork, in which the parts are curved to suit the
curvature of the handle.
This method of fixing or fitting tools or implements in their handles admits
of their being readily removed when worn, and changed for others, so that
one handle may be made to serve for a variety of tools and implements.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,
The mode or method of fixing tools and implements in helves or handles
as represented in the Drawings, and herein-before described; and also the
modification of the same herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Parkes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four.
FRANCIS PARKES. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Francis Parkes in the presence of
EDWP H. COLLIS,
Attorney, Birm™.