IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE HAMMERS:
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Astbury, of Hadley, near Wellington, in the
County of Salop, Foreman of Bar Iron Works, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE HAMMERS:"
Sealed the 24th March 1864, and dated the 18th December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Astbury at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
December 1863.
I, JOSEPH ASTBURY, of Hadley, near Wellington, in the County of Salop,
Foreman of Bar Iron Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE HAMMERS," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary method of constructing forge hammers the body of the
hammer, or that part called the Thelve, is made with only one working force,
that is to say, only the under or working side of the helve or hammer is
provided with the parts required in a forge hammer, namely, the chilled nose
by which the hammer is lifted, an eye hole to receive the hammer head, a slab
face and bearings to work on the standards; and when any of the said parts are
injured the helve or hammer becomes useless:
My Invention consists in making the bodies of forge hammers or the T
helves with two working faces instead of one, that is to say, instead of niaking
the top side of the hammer plain I give it the same figure and furnish it with
the same parts as the under side, so that when one working face is, by wear
or by injury to any of its parts, rendered unfit for use, it is only necessary to
reverse the body of the hammer or T helve, and by fixing the hammer head

page_text: in the working face which has been turned downwards the hammer is again
ready for work.
My improvements are applicable to forge hammers of various kinds and
sizes. By making forge hammers according to my Invention great saving is
effected, as a forge hammer having my improvements is equal to two forge
hammers of the ordinary kind, and the loss of time and the trouble consequent
upon casting and removing from the foundry to the forge so large a mass of
metal are avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Astbury in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPII
ASTBURY, of Hadley, near Wellington, in the County of Salop, Foreman of
Bar Iron Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year, of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Joseph Astbury, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Astbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Joseph Astbury, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FORGE HAMMERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joseph Astbury, 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 mouths next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Astbury, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, that is to say:-
In the ordinary method of constructing forge hammers the body of the

page_text: hammer, or that part called the Thelve, is made with only one working face,
that is to say, only the under or working side of the helve or hammer is
provided with the parts required in a forge hammer, namely, tho chilled nose
by which the hammer is lifted, an eye hole to receive the hammer head, a slab.
face and bearings to work on the standards, and when any of the said parts
are injured the helve or hammer becomes useless.
My Invention consists in making the bodies of forge hammers or the T.
helves with two working faces instead of one, that is to say, instead of making
the top side of the hammer plain I give it the same figure and furnish it with
the same parts as the under side, so that when one working face is, by wear.
or by injury to any of its parts, rendered unfit for use, it is only necessary to
reverse the body of the hammer or T helve, and by fixing the hammer head
in the working face which has been turned downwards the hammer is again
ready for work.
My improvements are applicable to forge hammers of various kinds and.
sizes.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation the body or Thelve of a forge
haminer having two working faces constructed according to my Invention;
Figure 2 represents a plan of the under side of the same; and Figure 3
represents a vertical section of the same. The same letters of reference
indicate the same parts.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3, the under side and upper side of the body or Thelve a t
are made of the same figure and are furnished with the same parts, as repre-
sented. On the under side of the said body or T helve are the chilled nose b
by which the hammer is lifted, the eye hole c to receive the axis or peg d² of
the hammer head d, the slab face e against which one side of the hammer
head & bears, and the bearings f,f, which work on the standards of the hammer
in the ordinary way. The upper side of the said body or Thelve a is provided.
with similar parts to the lower side, namely, the chilled nose 6, eye hole c³,
slab face e, and bearings f, f. The hammer head d is fixed in the eye hole c
or c² by means of keys in the ordinary way. When the under working face
of the body or T belve a is worn, or any of its working parts injured or
otherwise rendered unfit for use, the hammer head d is removed from the said
lower face and the body a reversed. The same or a fresh hammer head is
then fixed in the fresh working face, which has been turned downwards, and
the hammer is again ready for work.

page_text: In some cases the slab faces marked respectively e and e on the upper and
lower sides of the body or Thelve may be dispensed with, but I prefer to use
the said slab faces c, e³. In some forge hammers the cross piece a of the
body carrying the bearings is made separately from the part à carrying the
hammer head d. When the part a² is made separately from the part a the
latter is connected to the former by being keyed thereto.
In this case
the part a is only reversed when a fresh working face is required to be brought
into use. Instead of the under and upper noses b, b, by which the hammer is
lifted, being chilled, a bray or face plate may be applied and fixed to the end of
the part a by bolts and screws or cotters, as is usual in hammer bodies or T
helves of the ordinary construction.
By making forge hammers according to my Invention great saving is
effected, as a forge hammer having my improvements is equal to two forge
hammers of the ordinary kind, and the loss of time and the trouble consequent
upon casting and removing from the foundry to the forge 'so large a mass of
metal are avoided.
. Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied with-
out departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention
the improvements in forge hammers herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making the bodies or Thelves of
forge hammers with two working faces instead of one, so that when one of
the said working faces is worn or is rendered unfit for use by injury to any of
its parts the other working face can be brought into use by reversing the said
body or Thelves.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Astbury, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
HENRY WILKES,
Sheffield.
JOSEPH ASTBURY. (L.S.)