IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ANVILS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
WRIGHT, of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Vice and Anvil Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of January, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Wright, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Peter Wright, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Peter Wright, my exors, admors, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ANVILS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Peter
Wright, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her
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

page_text: and by the same, ACTOR READ
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter Wright, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
bad to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
According to the plan hitherto adopted of making anvils, these articles are
constructed of several pieces, which are formed by forging into the proper
shapes, and are afterwards welded together to form a complete anvil.
Anvils of the ordinary construction are usually formed of from nine to fourteen
pieces, according to the size; and the consequence of constructing them in
this manner is, that they are very liable to be damaged in use by some of the
numerous joints giving way, thereby allowing portions of the anvil to be
knocked off by the heavy blows to which they are frequently subjected. Now
the object of my Invention is to manufacture anvils in such a manner as
greatly to diminish their liability to be broken in the manner above described;
and this object I propose to attain by making anvils in one, or at the most
in two, solid pieces, which are formed or moulded in moulds or dies, instead of
being forged.
In carrying my Invention into effect for making anvils in two pieces, one
mode of proceeding is this:-I prepare two hollow dies, one of which is in
form the counterpart of the intended form of the upper portion of the anvil (see
Fig. 1), and the other the counterpart of the intended form of the "butt" or
lower portion (see Fig. 2). These dies or moulds may be made of cast iron.
Now, having brought a piece of iron suitable for the purpose to a welding heat,"
and worked it into something approaching the shape of the part of the anvil
which it is destined to form, I place it in the corresponding die, and by the
application of a series of blows delivered by a forge or other large hammer
I cause the mass of heated iron to fill the die, and thus to assume the shape
thereof. The same mode of proceeding is adopted both for the upper and
lower parts of the anvil, and when the two pieces are completed, I weld them
together, so as to form a block having only one joint in it, and then I face and
finish the anvil in the ordinary manner.
Another mode of working which I adopt in manufacturing an anvil in two
pieces by means of dies is as follows:--Instead of the upper and lower parts
of the anvil being made separately, and connected together by welding, as
above described, the anvil may be made in two halves, counterparts of each

page_text: other, as if the anvil were cut through longitudinally, such halves being made
in moulds or dies of corresponding shape in the manner already described,
and afterwards welded together so as to form à block having one longitudinal
vertical junction, as shewn at Fig. 3. Or otherwise the upper part may be
made in a die as first described, and then welded to a block constructed by
the old process of forging, the upper part being that which it is most im-
portant to form in one solid piece. In making the smaller sizes of anvils I
make the whole in one piece. For this purpose I use plates of faggotted or
piled iron, and having heated them in an ordinary furnace to a welding heat,
I work the mass of iron into a shape approaching the shape of the anvil. I
then place it in a die of the form shewn at Fig. 4, and then hammer it
into the shape of the entire anvil, and I then face and finish it in the usual
manner.
It will be obvious that in making anvils in the several ways above
described the essential feature of the process is the use of moulds or dies, and
of compression of the metal therein. And I must observe, that although by
the use of moulds or dies I am enabled to manufacture anvils in one or two
solid pieces, with due regard to economy, yet of course I do not mean hereby
to limit my Invention to the making of anvils in one or two pieces, the
substance of it being, as I have said, the use of dies and compression, and not
the particular number of pieces moulded; I accordingly hereby declare that I
claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent the mode which I have
described of manufacturing anvils, by which I can make them in one or two
pieces by forcibly compressing the metal of which they are to be composed
in a die or dies, and I do not claim any other of the matters or things
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Wright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Peter Wright came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two.