A CHAIN OR CHAINS MANUFACTURED IN A PECULIAR MANNER BY A NEW PROCESS OR PROCESSES, AND CERTAIN APPARATUS AND IMPLE- MENTS IN PERFORMING AND EXECUTING THE SAME
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
BROWN, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Captain in the Royal Navy,
and PHILIP THOMAS, of Liverpool, Lancashire, Manufacturer of Iron Cables,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters, Patent
under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of December, in the fifty-
seventh year of His reign, did give and grant unto the said Samuel Brown
and Philip Thomas, their executors, administrators, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, during the term of years
therein expressed, that they should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed;
their new Invention of "A CHAIN OR CHAINS MANUFACTURED IN A PECULIAR
MANNER BY A NEW PROCESS OR PROCESSES, AND CERTAIN APPARATUS AND IMPLE-
MENTS IN PERFORMING AND EXECUTING THE SAME;" in which Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging the said. Samuel Brown and Philip
Thomas, under their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
them, to cause a particular description of the nature of their 'said Invention,'

page_text: heat at which such iron passes through the rollers or cylinders; secondly; in
making or forming the links of two, three, or more folds or layers of square,
or flat, or half round iron; thy, in welding the links with powerful tilt
hammers or stamps, or presses and dies, or other apparatus, instead of welding
the scarf by hand and sledge hammers.) Thus, in making or forming the links
into their desired shape at the furnace, where the bolt or bar iron is made or
formed at the same heat at which the said bolt or bar iron is passed through
the rollers, the end of the bolt which first passes through the rollers or
cylinders is conducted to the mandril C, Figure 12, and the end of the bolt
introduced into the hook or staple A on the said mandrill, which then receives.
a rotatory motion by the nut or pinion T in Figure 12, the wheel' u, which
slides on the spindle O from one end to the other, and is grooved to the form
of the bolt iron p, being previously placed on the bolt. The iron p is then bent
round the mandrill, as shewn in the enlarged view, as D, D, in Figure 7.
The sliding wheel u passing along the spindle O from W to X, presses the
bolt to the mandrill, and guides it as it revolves till the iron is all wound round
the mandrill C, each turn constituting sufficient for a link. The next
operation is to disengage the iron from the mandril!. This is done by drawing
the bolt y in the carriage Z, Z, Figure 12. This being jointed at a drops
down and leaves the mandrill clear. The wedge or key e, in Figures 6 and 7,
is withdrawn from the mandrill, and the moveable part of the mandrill C
drops, and the coil of iron round it is loosened. The next operation is to
divide the coil into rings to form the links. This is done by the shears Fig. 8:
Part of the coil is slipped on the rest O, and cut in a diagonal direction by the
cutter m, which divides the rings one at a time, and when divided shows as
Figure 1. They are then placed endways in the dies R, and pressed till the
scarf is sufficiently overlapped for welding; they are likewise pressed side-
ways by the other dies r, which forms them into their proper shape for
welding. The salvagee or faggotted links are made of oblong square iron,
although links may be made on the same principle of iron otherwise shaped,
taken immediately from the rollers, and bent round the mandrill, as before
described, the sliding wheel u, Figure 12, having a square grove of the size
of the iron, so as to guide it fair on the mandrill, as Figure 6. They are then
cut, scarfing by the same operation as before described, but with this diffe-
rence, that the scarf is considerably longer, and that two, three, or more layers
of iron are to form one link. These are left open, as drawn from the
mandrill, for the convenience of introducing one link into the other when
making into chain. The method of making this description, of chain is as

page_text: follows: The first link will be closed, and appear as Figure 2. It is then
introduced to a coal or coke fire, and about two thirds of the link receives the
proper degree of 'heat for welding. It is to be laid flat on the dye or bottom
tool, Figure 3, fixed in a block or standard, and then struck with a corre-
sponding dye.or top tool, Figure 4, fixed in a stamp or tilt hammer, or other
suitable apparatus, and worked till it is round and to the size required. The
other end is heated in like manner, and finished by the same operation.
Should any ridge or fin appear on the side of the link, it may be worked down
by a hand hammer on the bick iron, or other suitable implement. The
next process is to slip the finished link into another, and close it as Figure 2,
and work it as before. Figure 5 shews a link made of half-round iron. These
are turned on the plain mandrill Fig. 6, the grove in the sliding wheel, u
corresponding with the shape of the iron. The coil is then removed to the
shears Figure 8, and cut into links, as appears at Fig. 5. Two of these half
links are put together, and the scarfs to. be on different sides. They are then
heated in the same manner, and worked by the apparatus before described for
the salvage link. Upon the same principle and method of construction chains
of almost, every shapo may be made. Figure 7 is an enlarged view of the
mandrill C, Figure 12, with the wedge or key. The dotted lines 6 mark the
place for the socket to fix on the square of the spindle by which it is put in
motion. d is the key to hold it on the socket. C is the moveable part of the
mandrill. F, the key that keeps it to the socket part. e is the wedge or key
that is slipped between the fixed and moveable part of the mandrill. fis a
hoop which is slipped over the wedge or key, embracing the exterior part of
the mandrill to keep the wedge or key in its place, which is removed when the
wedge is drawn out. The grooves hin the mandrill, Figure 7, are intended,
when the bolt iron is bent, to prevent the links being flattened in the inside
of the crown, as would be the case if the mandrill wero plain. The mandrill;
Figure 6, is the same as Figure 7, with the difference that it is plain. This is
intended for the salvagee or fagotted links. The half-round iron is used in the
same manner as the other. These mandrills are made either of cast or
wrought iron. The shears, Figure 8, are intended' to cut and press the links
after the coil is taken off the niandrill. K, the shear blade. L, the frame or
standard. m, the knife or cutter. This is fixed by two bolts n to the seat in
the shear blade. This knife or cutter is nearly similar to what is called a hot
chisel, as the section of it, Figure 9. This is to be made of such a length
that when the shear makes a down stroke it shall just bear on the rest O.
The rest O is inade as Figure 10 and 11, and fitted to the shear standard or

page_text: frame, and made fast at the back with a strong key. These are made of such
sizes as may be required for the links. At p'are two guides fixed to the frame
or standard, and against which the links or rings are pressed when on the rest
to be cut. These are moveable by screws' at the back, and are set agreeable
to the size of the link or ring or length of the scarf. 9 is the joint bolt of the
shears. Figure 11 is the rest O, shewing the position of the links or rings
when cutting; the rest O to be made 'less than the inside of the links or rings,
so as to be able to hold them in a diagonal direction. Figure 3 and 4 are the
dies, or top and bottom tools. They are firmly fixed in the tilt hammers or
stampers, standards, or other apparatus, but may be removed to admit others
agreeable to the size of the links or rings. They must be adjusted so as to strike
perfectly fair. Figure 2, a, is a section of the salvagee or faggotted link; and
Figure 2, b, a flat view of the same; and Figure 5" is a section of the link,
made of half-round iron. Figure 3, plan of the die; and Figure 3, section of
the same.
In addition to what is specified of the nature of our Inventions, and the
manner in which they are effected, I have to notice that, although it is a most
material point in the said Inventions to do away entirely with the process of
turning the link by reheating the iron in a furnace or other fire, which not
only occasioned certain waste, but subjected it to be overheated and dete-
riorated, yet in case the advantage of turning the link at the same heat at
which the iron is made cannot be obtained, the salvagee or faggotted link, or
that made of the half-round iron, may be formed on the mandrill, or other
suitable implements, out of iron reheated as heretofore. I have further to
state, that the salvagee or faggoted link, and that made of half-round iron,
may be turned singly on the mandrill or other suitable implement; that is to
say, the iron may be cut or broken into proper lengths to compose a link.
The scarfs may be cut diagonally by shears, as in Figure 8, or they may be
drawn by a hammer.
I have thus endeavoured to render the nature of our Invention, and the
plans of executing and performing the same, clear to the capacity of any
mechanic of common ability; but it must be obvious that in the state of
perfection to which machinery is brought in this country, that there may be
other means and implements used to effect the same purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and seventeen.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of February,
in the fifty-seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third,
the said Samuel Brown came before our said Lord' the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the. Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
in the fifty-fifth year of His said Majesty's reign.'
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of February, One thousand eight hundred
and seventeen.