IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FORGINGS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clay, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF FORGINGS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN."
Sealed the 15th June 1869, and dated the 22nd December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd December 1868.
I, WILLIAM CLAY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman,
5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FORGINGS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN," to
be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to ensure sound forgings, which it is
very difficult to obtain when manufacturing bulky articles, the thickness
of the metal in which greatly and suddenly varies.
In manufacturing, for example, marine engine shafts with disc
couplings the point of junction of the disc with the shaft will generally

page_text: be found when cut into to exhibit internal fissures, which greatly
detract from the strength of the shaft. In order to avoid this defect in
large forgings I propose when forming heads, collars, or flanges upon
shafts or rods to employ a horizontal hammer, the head of which is
carried by a carriage and operated by the pressure of steam against a
piston connected with the carriage. The heated shaft is placed (with its
head opposite the hammer head) in a bearing or rest furnished with
friction rollers which facilitate the turning of the shaft when required.
The head of the shaft overlies the bearing, and the face of the hammer
will be so shaped that in delivering its blows it will form a hollow in the
head, and thereby to a considerable extent reduce the bulk and equalize
the thickness of the metal at the centre or the junction of the head with
the shaft. By this means a more equable contraction of the metal when
cooling will take place than heretofore, and the formation of fissures in
large forgings of the character illustrated will be avoided. To ensure
the best practical effect I propose to commence the cooling of the metal
at the centre by the application of a jet of water or other cooling
medium. By thus causing the metal to shrink towards the interior
instead of the exterior as heretofore the chief difficulty of obtain-
ing sound forgings will be removed. The hammer head should be
removeable to allow of various forms being applied to suit varying
circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Clay in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLAY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Clay, Her special
licence that I, the said William Clay, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Clay, my executors,"

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FORGINGS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN," upon
the condition, (amongst others) that I, the said William Clay, 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 manuer
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 immic-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clay, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates to that class of forgings known in the trade as.
heavy forgings, the object sought being to ensure sound forgings, which
it is very difficult to obtain when manufacturing bulky articles, the
thickness of the metal in which greatly and suddenly, varies..
In manufacturing, for example, marine engine shafts with dise
couplings the point of junction of the disc with the shaft will generally
be found when cut into to exhibit internal fissures which greatly
detract from the strength of the shaft.
In order to avoid this defect and
to ensure solidity throughout the metal of large forgings I propose when
forming heads, collars, or flanges upon the ends of shafts or rods to
employ a horizontal hammer of peculiar construction, which is connected
with and operated by a piston working in a horizontal steam cylinder,
and thereby materially to reduce the sectional thickness of the metal at
the line of junction of the head, collar, or flange with the shaft.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation the kind
of steam hammer which I propose to employ in manufacturing heavy
forgings; Fig. 2 is a partial longitudinal section of the same; Fig. 3 is
a transverse section taken at the line 1, 2, of Fig. 2, and looking in the

page_text: direction of the arrow; and Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken in the
same line, but looking in an opposite direction.
A, A, is the bed of the machine formed in one casting. To one end
of this bed the steam cylinder B is bolted, and to the other is secured a
block C for receiving on its face the anvil D. The face of this anvil is
shaped to correspond to the form the end of the shaft is intended to
receive by its lateral expansion, and in order to allow of the anvil being.
changed to suit different sizes or kinds of work it is made to fit into V's
formed on the face of the block C. The anvil is U-shaped, as shewn at
Fig. 4, and the block has a corresponding vertical hollow to enable it to
receive the heated shaft that is intended to be brought under the action
of the hammer. To facilitate the turning of the shaft on the anvil the
block C is fitted with antifriction rollers c, c, c, which support the shaft
when it is presented to the hammer. E is the piston of the cylinder B,
fitted to a cylindrical trunk E³, which carries at its other end the hammer
block. Fitted centrally in the face of this block is a conical piece G¹,
which forms the striking part of the hammer; its object is to form a
cavity in the end of the shaft, and thus by reducing the thickness of
the metal at that part to remove the liability of fissures occurring in the
forging. His the slide valve, the rod h of which extends through the
opposite ends of the valve box. At its rear end this rod is formed into
a link to receive a cam h', which is keyed to a cross shaft . This shaft
rocks in bearings on the top of the cylinder B, and it is fitted with a
handle, by raising or depressing which the attendant is enabled to operate
the valve, and thus regulate the advancing and retrograde movements
of the hammer at pleasure. To prevent the risk of damage to the
machinery from inattention the valve rod is jointed at its front end to
the arm of a rock shaft mounted in bracket bearings at the front of
the cylinder B, and fitted with a pendent arm * carrying an antifriction
bowle. In a line with this bowle on the hammer head is fitted an
adjustable stop ³, which as the piston is nearing its back stroke will
strike the bowle of the arm h and rock the shaft h³. This motion of the
rock shaft will, by reason of its connection with the valve rod, cause the
valve to advance and cut off the supply of steam to the cylinder, while
at the same time it will stop the escape of the exhaust steam, and thus
provide an elastic cushion for the piston to strike against.
An incidental advantage derivable from making the cylindrical
trunk E¹ of the large diameter indicated in the Drawing is that it will

page_text: allow of but a small amount of steam being used in the return stroke of
the piston, while a powerful propelling force may be used for its advance.
The hammer head is fitted with a pair of V-grooved wheels I, which turn
freely on a fixed axle that passes through the hammer head. These
wheels are intended to carry the weight and facilitate the traverse of the
bammer, and for this purpose they run upon and between angular.
rails K, K', which constitute also tie rods for connecting the cylinder B
and blocks C together, and enabling the machine the better to resist
the strain to which it is subjected. The lower rails K serve as track
rails for the traverse to and fro of the hammer, and the upper rails K
assist in steadying the wheels on the track rails.
In order to form a head or enlargement on a shaft according to my
Invention I first take a shaft forged in any well-known or approved
manner, and file the end with pieces of wrought iron, after the manner
indicated at Fig. 5, so as to approximate roughly to the shape desired.
The piled end of the shaft I next bring to a welding heat in a furnace
and reduce the pieces to a solid mass in the usual way, whereby I obtain
a shaft head like that shewn at Fig. 6. Having thus prepared the shaft
forging instead of finishing. it in the ordinary way I submit it to the action
of the forging machine above described, previously reheating the shaft, if
that is required, to enable the machine to act efficiently upon it. The
heated shaft I place (with its head opposite the hammer head), as shewn
at Fig. 2, in the block or rest C, furnished with antifriction rollers c, c,
for facilitating. the turning of the shaft when required. The head of the
shaft overlies the anvil which forms the face of the block C, and the.
hammer by reason of its shape will, in delivering its blows, form a
conical hollow. in the head of the shaft, and thereby to, a considerable.
extent reduce the bulk and equalize the thickness of the metal at the
centre or the junction of the head with the shaft. By turning the shaft
from time to time on its axis as the operation proceeds its head will be
reduced under the blows of the hammer to a regular figure, requiring
comparatively little turning to finish it. This mode of forging thick
portions hollow also ensures a more equable contraction of the metal
when cooling than heretofore, and the formation of fissures in large
forgings of the character illustrated will be thereby avoided. To ensure
the best practical effect I propose to commence the cooling of the metal
(when the forging is completed) at the centre of the head by the appli-
cation of a jet of water or other cooling medium. By thus causing the

page_text: metal to shrink towards the interior instead of the exterior as beretofore
the chief difficulty of obtaining sound forgings will be removed.
Having now. set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in the Manufacture of Forgings, and in the Machinery to be used
therein," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim the employment of the means above described for
ensuring sound heavy forgings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clay, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-first 21st day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILLIAM CLAY. (L.S.)