IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO RATCHET AND CRANK BRACES AND OTHER TOOLS OR APPARATUS WHEREIN CENTRE POINTS AND PIVOTS ARE REQUIRED
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Francis Drury, Joel Eaton Walker, and
William George Walker, all of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Engineers and Tool Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO RATCHET AND CRANK BRACES AND OTHER TOOLS OR APPARATUS
WHEREIN CENTRE POINTS AND PIVOTS ARE REQUIRED."
Sealed the 1st April 1869, and dated the 2nd October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Francis Drury,
Joel Eaton Walker, and William George Walker at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 2nd
October 1868.
We, ROBERT FRANCIS DRURY, JOEL EATON WALKER, and WILLIAM
GEORGE WALKER, all of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineers and
Tool Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO RATCHET AND CRANK BRACES AND OTHER TOOLS OR
APPARATUS WHEREIN CENTRE POINTS AND PIVOTS ARE REQUIRED," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists essentially in the application and use to and
in crank and ratchet braces, lathes, and other tools or apparatus requiring
"centres" or pivots of rotation of loose centres in lieu of fixed centres,
as heretofore, the object being to reduce friction, and thereby increase
the durability of the "centre."

page_text: The improved "centre" may be made of steel, gun metal, or other
suitable hard metal, alloy, or mineral substance, and is double pointed,
the inner point being free to rotate in a female centre, which may be
either fixed or movable. These loose centres may obviously be con-
structed in various forms according to the tool or apparatus to which
they are to be applied, but in all cases they are left perfectly loose or
free to revolve within the box or holder containing such loose centre.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Francis Drury, Joel Eaton Walker, and
William George Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
FRANCIS DRURY, JOEL EATON WALKER, and WILLIAM GEORGE WALKER,
all of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineers and Tool Makers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Robert Francis Drury, Joel Eaton Walker,
and William George Walker, Her special license that we, the said Robert
Francis Drury, Joel Eaton Walker, and William George Walker, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert
Francis Drury, Joel Eaton Walker, and William George Walker, our
executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE.
MENTS APPLICABLE TO RATCHET AND CRANK BRACES AND OTHER TOOLS OR APPA
RATUS WHEREIN CENTRE POINTS AND PIVOTS ARE REQUIRED," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Robert Francis Drury, Joel Eaton
Walker, and William George Walker, our executors or administrators
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the

page_text: 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 we, the said Robert Francis Drury, Joel
Eaton Walker, and William George Walker, do hereby declare the
nature of our 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 Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our said Invention consists essentially in the application and use
to and in crank and ratchet braces, lathes, and other tools or apparatus
requiring "centres" or pivots of rotation of loose centres in lieu of
fixed centres, as heretofore, the object being to reduce friction, and
thereby increase the durability of the "centre."
The improved "centre" may be made of steel, gun metal, or other
suitable hard metal, alloy, or mineral substance, and is double pointed,
the inner point being free to rotate in a female centre, which may be
either fixed or moveable. These loose centres may obviously be con-
structed in various forms according to the tool or apparatus to which
they are to be applied, but in all cases they are left perfectly loose
or free to revolve within the box or holder containing such loose
centre.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of our Drawings represents one of our loose centres detached;
Figure 2 is a removeable cup or female centre or seat for the same, also
detached; Figures 3, 4, and 5, represent the heads of ratchet or crank
braces, partly in section, provided with different forms and arrangements
of loose centres.
A is the double-pointed loose centre; B, the female or cup centre
or seat, which in Figures 2, 3, and 4 is represented as being removeable
from the brace, it being provided with an external screw thread a,
screwing into an internal screw thread 6 made in the head of the
brace, as shewn in Figures 3 or 4. If preferred the cup centre or

page_text: seat B may form a part of the brace head itself, as shewn in Figure 5.
In all cases the seat B has a conical recess formed therein for the
reception of the inner point c of the loose centre A, and a lubricating
opening d is formed in the brace head for the introduction of oil or
other lubricant between the loose centre and its seat.
In Figures 3 and 5 the main portion of the loose centre A is made
cylindrical, and an inner shoulder or head e is formed thereon to prevent
it from dropping out of its place.
In Figure 3 the loose centre works in the head of the brace itself, the
centre A being inserted and removed through the interior of the brace
head from the rear end thereof, the cup centre B being first removed,
but in Figure 5 a steel or other hard metal bush fis screwed on to
the brace head for the reception of the loose centre, which latter is
removed and replaced from the front end of the brace by first unscrewing
and removing the bush f.
In Figure 4 the loose centre is made slightly tapered or expanded
towards its inner end, which answers the same purpose as the shoulder
or head e in Figure 3, the centre being removed and replaced in the
same way, as already described in reference to that Figure.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what
we consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Inven-
tion secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
the construction and use of ratchet and crank braces provided with
loose centres arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Francis Drury, Joel Eaton
Walker, and William George Walker, have to this our Specifi-
cation set our hands and seals, the Thirty-first day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.