A SELF-ACTING METAL BREAKER
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Francis Berry at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th December
1867.
I, FRANCIS BERRY, of the Firm of Francis Berry and Sons, of the Calder-
dale Iron Works, Sowerby Bridge, Engineers and Tool Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A SELF-ACTING METAL BREAKER,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel apparatus intended to be employed for
breaking up metals and other substances into smaller pieces, and is more
particularly designed for and intended to be used for the purpose of breaking
up pig metal and metal for foundry purposes, although of course the
mechanical contrivances and arrangement of apparatus to be hereafter
described may likewise be used or employed for other purposes, as it is the
novel arrangement and combination of the parts thereof that constitutes the
Invention.
Heretofore the "pigs" and other "metal" require: for the purpose of
feeding the cupolas or furnaces in which metal has to be melted, and from
which when in a molten state the metal is run into moulds or converted
into castings of the required shapes and forms, is broken into small pieces,
so that it may be more quickly run down or melted. This is usually done
by means of a sledge or hand hammer, or by a "monkey," or a weight
raised to the required height by hand power by means of a pulley or rope,
[Price 8d.1

page_text: or by a winch or crab. and then allowed to fall from a height upon the
"pig "or other metal to be broken. Now by these means only a com-
paratively small quantity of metal can be broken in a given time, whilst by
the present Invention the power of steam is substituted for manual power
and the accelerated and intensified blows produced by steam propelled
hammers working when geared self-actingly is substituted for the limited
blow and effect of a weight falling through a limited vertical distance, at
distant intervals of time. Thus, also, by the aid of a suitably formed
hammer head or breaking fool, and an anvil or adjustable swage in con-
junction with a supplying or feeding apparatus, worked or actuated by the
self-acting and continuous movement of the hammer, so as to produce
(when desired) a continuous or rapid intermittent feed or supply of material
to be operated upon, a greatly increased quantity of metal can be broken
up in a given time with great economy of cost of labour.
I construct a steam hammer, and to the hammer head or "monkey
thereof fit a suitably shaped tool, as herein-after described, and instead of
the ordinary anvil or anvil face I employ a hollow faced anvil or a swage of
suitable width and suitably hollowed, forming as it were "a pair of top and
bottom tools." At or by the side of this steam apparatus, and in connection
therewith I employ a feed apparatus consisting of a moving bed upon which
the material or materials to be broken are placed for the purpose of being
fed in this part of the apparatus may consist of an endless chain supported
on and actuated by or through rollers, and having a series of rollers or
adjustable guide pieces above them; or, instead thereof, for some purposes
I prefer to employ a series of rollers suitably scored or grooved with a
delivering roller superimposed at the delivery end close to the hammer head,
so as to securely hold the pieces to be operated upon; or, instead thereof,
two rows or series of such rollers, one above the other, may he employed,
and between which the materials are made to pass: either of these
mechanisms may be moved forward at intervals at any desired speed by
means of an alternating feed worked in connection with and by the move-
ment of the hammer head or "monkey" at any convenient length of stroko
or forward movement, and in relation to the pause or rest between each
stroke or blow of the hammer head.
For feeding in "pig" iron or long pieces of metal, the cross section of which
does not vary greatly, I prefer to employ a trough or tube having a piston or
plunger to force the pieces forward. The metal when about to be subjected
to the blow of the hammer head or "monkey" is, by preference,suppo: ted at
two points, between which the blow is delivered upon the piece to be broken,

page_text: but instead of the piece being struck at a point equidistant between the two
points of support, and by a hammer head or "monkey," or a tool of a wedge-
shaped, or chisel, or truncated cone form, the haminer head or the tool fitted
thereon may be e square edged on the feeding-in side, and the anvil face or one
side of the swage block may overhang or be undercut so as to produce a
cutting or shearing action. The width between the anvil faces or between the
parts of the swage may, by means of a screw or wedge, be varied, as also the
form or shape of the tool in the hammer head or the hammer,or the "monkey"
itself may be varied, the better to adapt it to the kind or description and also
the size and form of the metal or materials to be broken,crushed, or otherwise
operated upon. By means of a taking-off table, or a series of rollers, or an
endless band, the broken metal may be received thereupon and be removed
from the apparatus, and when desired fed into a tram wagon or other vessel
for the purpose of effecting its rapid or economic removal; or by an incline
it may be delivered at the furnace top. Where steam is not generated at a
convenient distance from the apparatus constructed according to my Invention,
I mount a vertical or other convenient form of steam boiler either upon the
same bed plate or in convenient proximity to the appartus; or in some cases
I prefer to erect a steam boiler of suitable form and construction above or in
connection with the cupola or melting furnace, so that the waste heat there-
from may be advantageously employed to generate the steam requisite for
working the machinery or apparatus herein described. The rapid change in
the direction of motion in the steam hammer on its downward movement for
the purpose of giving the full effect of the force of the steam to the blow,
whilst but a slow movement is produced when the hammer is ascending, is
effected by means of the following novel arrangement or contrivance, and by
which means whilst the hammer is made "self-acting" violent shocks to the
parts of the machinery are prevented:-From the spanner of the spindle of
the steam valve depends freely a rod carrying a weight which is free to slide,
up and down it, and by which weight when it is at rest the valve is kept open
and the steam is admitted very gently to the under side of the piston. By
means of a stud in the side of the hammer head a side lever is struck on its
upward motion, and that blow and movement in turn causes the end of the
lever to strike the weight with a sharp blow, which causes it to slide rapidly
up the rod jointed to the valve spanner and open the valve to admit the full
force of the steam on the upper side of the hammer piston, and the hammer
and piston having rapidly descended and struck the required blow whilst the
weight is suspended and before it has had time to fall and reverse the valve
and so alter the direction of steam admission. The feeding in of the "pig"

page_text: or other motal, by which it is brought under the hammer, takes place whilst
the hammer is being more slowly raised.
For regulating the stroke of the piston a second lever arm is mounted
near to one end thereof on the same fulcrum as the bent reversing lever
beforo described, and the shortor end of the second lever is connected by
means of a screw lanyard to the reversing lever, so that the relative positions
of the two may be readily changed with respect to each other, and the stud
in the hammer head may, by first coming in contact with the second levor,
actuate the steam valve as before described.