CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Pierre Brignon, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
E. C. for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGING."
Sealed the 7th May 1858, and dated the 14th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Pierre Brignon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th December 1857.
I, JEAN PIERRE BRIGNON, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire
of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, E. C., do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGING," to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists in the construction of an apparatus which combines
an hydraulic press with the steam cylinder and piston of the ordinary pile
hammer.
The steam cylinder is firmly fixed on the top of a strong frame supported by
suitable pillars, and the piston rod is fitted with a hammer or mandril in the
ordinary manner. To the lower part of the frame and underneath the hammer
is fitted the hydraulic press. The head of the ram of the press forms a table
upon which the iron to be forged is placed; moulds also may be fitted to the
apparatus to form the tires of railway and other wheels, or for any other
purpose to which the ordinary pile hammer is applicable.
By the combined force or pressure obtained by the above arrangement of
apparatus, forged iron articles of a superior quality are produced.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Pierre Brignon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN.
PIERRE BRIGNON, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France,
and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, E. C., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-soven, in the twenty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Jean Pierre Brignon, Her special licence that I, the said
Jean Pierre Brignon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, tho said Jean Pierre Brignon, my executors, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Jean Pierre Brignon, 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 manner 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Pierre Brignon, 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 accompanying Drawing, and to the
letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in a method of forging metals, by the combined
agency of hydraulic pressure and the steam hammer.
The apparatus employed for this purpose is formed of a solid base, on which
is placed the moveable part of an hydraulic press, and mounted with four
columns to maintain the pressure plate. Between these two platforms and in
the space of the columns are placed the mandrils of different forms, according
to the nature of the forging to be performed. On the upper platform, of the
press is fixed the cylinder of a steam hammer, which moves vertically to the
centre of the square closed by the columns. When the lower plate of the

page_text: press is at the end of its range, the hammer is caused to work, and when the
press
is put
in movement it acts as the maundril for the interior of the moulds.
The accompanying Drawing represents the apparatus at work on a wheel
tire or band. A bar of iron previously twisted and joined is heated and placed
inside the mould P, where it rests on the piece N of the same dimensions.
The hammer being then brought down strikes by its bevelled extremity,
and takes the position shewn in the Drawing. The press, which is then set
to work, brings up the different parts, until the lower maundril P strikes the
moveable piece or maundril F which is firmly pressed against the upper plate.
The maximum compression being attained, the hammer is raised and the tire
removed, the apparatus is then prepared for a new operation. When required
to add to a tire already used, a quantity of metal corresponding to the amount
worn away, an iron bar is placed between the tire and the ring N, and joined
by pressure. The compressed metal fills the mould, and the surplus escapes
by the joints of the maundril. By means of this apparatus the wheels of
locomotive engines and carriages may be formed either entirely or in their
separate parts, as also the different objects hitherto forged or wrought by the
steam hammer.
Independent of the economy and simplicity of the above apparatus, its
employment presents many advantages over the methods hitherto followed,
such as superiority in the moulding of the metal, and increased density
resulting from the enormous pressure to which it is subjected by the combined
nction of the press and hammer, while, as will be seen from the example given,
its application may be extended to almost all forging operations.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of putting it into execution, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein laid down, as these may be modified
according to circumstances; but what I claim is the construction of an
apparatus for forging metals, by the combination of the hydraulic press and
steam hammer, substantially as above described, and represented in the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Pierre Brignon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May, Eighteen hundred
and fifty-eight.
JN PERE BRIGNON. (L.S.)