IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR STAMPING OR SHAPING METALS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HETHERINGTON, of Handsworth, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the Third day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hetherington, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Hetherington,
my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Hetherington, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention
of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR STAMPING OR SHAPING METALS," communicated to
me from abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said William Hetherington, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and

page_text: .
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at largo
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hetherington, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being bad to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The said Invention consists of a method of stamping or shaping metals
whereby plates or sheets of metal may be stamped into vessels or into such
other forms as are or may be produced by the processes of stamping or
pressing without the repetition of blows and annealings, which are necessary
in the ordinary process of stamping, the said plates or sheets of metal being at
the same time prevented from wrinkling or creasing during the said process.
Figures 1 and 2 represent the said improved machinery in vertical section, the
said sections being taken in planes at right angles to one another; Figure 3
represents a horizontal section taken through the line a, Figure 2; and Figure 4
represents a horizontal section taken through the line b, Figure 2, and repre-
senting the face of the die c and the die w, Figures 1 and 2; d, d, is the frame
of the stamp fixed on the bed e; fis the hammer to the lower end of which
the stamp g is affixed, the said hammer slides in the guides h, h; i is the main
shaft of the machine, having the fly wheel i and the fast and loose pulleys k,l;
m is a pinion on the shaft i, which said pinion engages in the toothed wheel n
on the upper shaft o; q is a cam on the shaft o, the said cam works in the slot f¹
in the hammerf, and by acting on the roller raises the said hammer until by
the part of the cam 7 escaping from the roller r the said hammer is liberated
and falls;
the force of the descent of the said hammer is augmented by the
action of the steam cylinder S on the top of the stamp; the piston rod t of the
said steam cylinder is connected with the hammer f, and by the admission of
steam into the said cylinder, prior to the descent of the hammer, the velocity of
its descent is increased and its percussive force augmented.. I do not deem it
necessary to describe minutely the valves and other appendages of the steam
cylinders, as they do not differ from those in ordinary use.
The lower. or
stationary die, which has the figure of the vessel or other article to be produced,
is fixed on the bed d in any convenient manner, and the metal to be forced
into the said lower or stationary die is operated upon by an upper or moveable
die of an annular form, and having a small range of motion, as well as by the
stamp or die affixed to the hammer f. The action of the said moveable die and
stamp is illustrated in Figure 5, as well as in Figures 1 and 2, and is as

page_text: follows:-The plate or sheet of metal to be forced into the lower or fixed die
cis laid upon the said die in the position indicated by the dotted line in the
said Figure 5; the moveable die u is made slowly to descend and to force the
said sheet or plate of metal partially into the said lower die c, as indicated by
the line v, Figure 5; when the said die u bas descended into the said lower or
fixed die c as far as it is capable of being made to descend, and while the said
moveable die u still presses the sheet of metal between it, the said moveable
die, and the lower or fixed die c, the stamp g descends through the said annular.
moveable die u, and completes the vessel, or other article to be produced by
forcing the said sheet of metal v to the bottom of the said fixed die c; by the
descent of the said stamp g, and the forcing of the said sheet or plate of metal.
into the said fixed die c, the said metal is drawn between the opposed sur-
faces of the moveable die u and the fixed die c (between which said surfaces
the said sheet or plate of metal is pressed, as herein-before explained), and the
formation of wrinkles or creases, which but for the pressure on the said sheet
or plate of metal by the said surfaces would be formed, is prevented. The
same effect is produced, namely, the prevention of the formation of wrinkles
or creases, if instead of the annular moveable die entering the lower stationary
die and partially forming the vessel or other article to be produced, the said
annular moveable die only presses the said plate or sheet of metal flat upon
tlie horizontal face of the stationary die during the descent of the stamp.
This modification of the Invention is represented in Figures 1 and 2, where the
annular moveable die w presses the plate or sheet of metal to be stamped upon
the horizontal face of the die c during the descent of the stamp g; as the sheet
or plate of metal is forced by the said stamp 7 into the stationary die c, those
portions of the said sheet or plate which are pressed between the opposed sur-
faces of the annular moveable die w and the lower stationary die c are drawn
between the said surfaces, and the formation of the wrinkles or creases pre-
vented. The said Invention may be modified in various ways to suit the
particular articles to be produced, but I do not deem it necessary to describe
any other modifications than those herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings, as I believe the nature of the said Invention to be fully
ascertained by the said description and representation, the essence of the said
Invention consisting in the pressure by an annular die of those portions of the
plate or sheet of metal to be stamped or shaped situated near the circum-
ference or edge of the said plate or sheet in or upon the lower or stationary die
during the descent of the stamp through the said annular die, so that during,
the pressure of the said sheet or plate of metal into the said lower or stationary.

page_text: die the portions of the said sheet or plate of metal situated near the circumference
of the same shall be drawn between two surfaces, which by the pressure they
exert prevent the formation of creases or wrinkles.
Although, in order to render the description of the said Invention more
intelligible, I have described only dies having a circular figure, yet the figure
of the dies may be varied without departing from the nature of the said
Invention. The descent of the annular moveable die w, Figures 1 and 2, and
u, Figure 5, is effected in the following manner: x, x¹, x, xl, are four vertical
rods sliding through the bed d of the stamp. These rods are connected
together by the horizontal plates y, y', y", and the annular die w is connected
with the plate y', as represented in the Drawing, the exact position of the said
die w being determined by the screwed nuts y¹¹¹, cambs =,=, on the shaft o
(one only of which cambs is represented and in dotted lines in Figure 1), act
upon rollers 1, 1, on the plate y, and cause the descent of the said annular
die w, and press it in or on the lower or stationary die c during the descent of
the stamp g. The return or upward motion of the annular die w is effected
by the lever 2, the arm 2' of which is loaded with such a weight as is sufficient
The same
to raise the die w when it is not pressed down by the cambs 2, 3.
motion also raises the rod 3, by which the vessel formed is lifted from the
lower die c. Although I prefer using a hammer f of the relative size repro-
sented, and which is larger and heavier than the hammer usually employed in
stamping machinery, and requires a less range of motion, and although I
the action of
prefer increasing the percussive force of the said hammer
steam (as herein described), or by compressed air, or by the elastic force of
springs, yet the size. and range of motion and percussive force of the said
hammer are not essential to the action of the dies, as herein described; and
although I have only described the Invention in connection with a stamp, yet
the arrangement of dies of which I have described the Invention to consist
may be used in connection with a screw press or any other machine whereby
sheet metal is or may be shaped in dies either by percussion or pressure.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I
do not limit myself to the precise methods of carrying the said Invention into
effect herein described and represented in the accompanying Drawing, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of the said Invention;
but I claim the stamping, pressing, or otherwise shaping of sheets or plates of
metal in dies by pressing the portions of the said sheets or plates situated
near their circumference between two surfaces during the descent of the stamp

page_text: or upper die, and the forcing of the said sheets or plates of metal into the
lower die, so as to cause the said pressed portions to be drawn between the
said pressing surfaces during the formation of the vessel or other article, and
thus prevent the formation of wrinkles or creases.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hetherington, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.