AN IMPROVED VICE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert W. Davis and Daniel Davis, of Yellow
Springs, in the County of Greene, and State of Ohio, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED VICE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert W. Davis and
Daniel Davis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 12th December 1855.
We, ROBERT W. DAVIS and DANIEL DAVIS, of Yellow Springs, in the County
of Greene, and State of Ohio, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED VICE" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain novel means of operating the movable.
jaw of the vice to produce the gripe, whereby the construction of the vice is
rendered cheaper than when a long screw is employed for that purpose, and
the jaw can be moved more quickly and conveniently when the width of
opening has to be very materially changed. This is obtained by the applica-
tion to the vice of a beam having a ratchet, which is engaged by a pawl, &
having a spiral faced head, or the equivalent thereof, fitted with a loose cap.
having a corresponding face. It also consists in a novel method of connecting
the stationary & movable jaws, for the purpose of keeping the movable jaw.
parallel with the stationary jaw in all positions. This object is attained by
arranging crossed levers between the jaws, & attaching them so as to secure to
the jaws an uniform leverage in all positions.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert W. Davis and Daniel Davis in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
W. DAVIS and DANIEL DAVIS, of Yellow Springs, in the County of Greene,
and State of Ohio, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Robert W. Davis and Daniel Davis, Her special licence that we, the
said Robert W. Davis and Daniel Davis, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert W. Davis and Daniel Davis, our
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 "AN IMPROVED VICE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Robert W. Davis and Daniel
Davis, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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 we, the said Robert W. Davis and Daniel Davis,
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:-
This Invention consists in certain means of operating the movable jaw of
the vice to produce the gripe, whereby the construction of the vice is rendered
cheaper than when a long screw is employed for that purpose, and the jaw
can be moved more quickly and conveniently when the width of opening
has to be very materially changed. It also consists in a novel method of
connecting the stationary and movable jaws for the purpose of keeping the
movable jaw parallel with the stationary jaw in all positions.
The accompanying Drawing illustrates the Invention; Fig. 1 being a
central vertical section of an iron vice in a plane parallel to the movement

page_text: of the Jaw; Fig. 2, a central vertical section of the same parallel with the
faces of the jaws; Fig. 3, a horizontal section in the plane indicated by
the line x, y, in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4. is a view to illustrate the application
of the Invention to a wooden vice. Similar letters of reference indicate:
corresponding parts in the several Figs.
A is the stationary jaw of the vice, which may be secured to a bench or
post in the same way as the stationary jaw of a common screw vice, and B is
the movable jaw. These may be of cast or wrought iron. C is a horizontal
beam which fits to suitable openings made through the two jaws, and forms
the main connection between the jaws, supplying the place of the screw
generally employed in the vices heretofore constructed in serving to hold the
jaws together to gripe. the article to be held in the vice. This beam is of
wrought iron of cylindrical form, with the exception of having its lower side
flattened and formed with a ratchet a. The flat side of the beam and corre-
sponding flat sides of the openings in the jaws prevent the beam turning in
the jaws.
In the ratchet a there plays a pawl b, which is applied to work on a
pivot i in a recess within the stationary jaw B, in such a manner as to prevent
the bean moving in a direction to allow the jaws to open, but to allow it to:
move in a direction to close the jaws. This beam is made with a solid head
c, the inner face of which, that is to say, the face next the jaw, forms one:
turn of a spiral, or is equivalent to one turn of a screw thread. This head is:
received in a loose box D, which is formed with a shoulder d, d, to come
between the spiral face of the head c'and the movable jaw. That face of this
shoulder & which comes next the jaw B is flat, but the other face which comes:
next the head c is made of a spiral form, to correspond with the inner face of
the head, so that by turning the loose box D, which is furnished. for that
purpose with a sliding lever p, like what is commonly applied. to. the, head of:
the screw. vice, the spiral face of. the said box acts like a wedge. between
the head of the beam and the movable jaw, and drives the latter towards
the stationary jaw. The rise of the spiral faces should be greater than the
distance between two adjacent teeth of the ratchet, properly about two or
three times that distance. The head c has a spiral groove e, which receives a
small pin f, projecting from the interior of the box. One object of this pin.
and groove is to draw back the box when it is turned in the reverse direction
to that in which it is. turned to drive up the jaw B, and the pin also serves as:
a stop to prevent a complete revolution of the box on the head. c, which would
cause the gripe to be lost. In order to apply the box to the beam, the former
is made with an opening in the front large enough for the beam to pass.

page_text: through it. This opening is closed by a cap h, after the beam has been put in
the box. When an article is to be griped in the vice it is placed against the
stationary jaw, and the movable jaw is at once brought in contact with it by
simply pushing it up by hand, pushing up the beam also, since the pawl b
admits of the movement of the beam in that direction. The pawl will hold
the jaws close to the article or at a distance therefrom less than the distance
between two adjacent teeth of the ratchet a. A partial turn of the head or
box D of the beam wedges the movable jaw up with great force, and causes
the article to be griped very securely. By reversing the movement of the box
D the article is again set free, and by simply raising the heel of the pawl to
throw its claw out of the ratchet, the jaws may be opened as wide as may be
desired. It may be well here to remark that a short screw of two or three
turns on the beam and a nut in the box D may be substituted as an equiva-
lent for the spiral faces herein-before described.
The improved mode of operating the movable jaw having been now
described, the description of the improved method of connecting the jaws to
keep them parallel with each other will be now described. This is by the
following arrangement of cross levers E, F. These levers are of equal length,
and are connected by a common fulcrum pin 9, which passes through the
centre of each, thus making the four arms of equal length. These levers
form, as it were, the diagonals of a regular parallelogram, and consequently if
the two jaws are each secured to one end of each lever they will remain
parallel in all positions. The application of this principle of the parallelogram
to a vice is not new, but the within-described arrangement of the levers, so as
to give an uniform leverage to the jaws of the vice, has not been before
known. To effect this, the lower extremities of the levers are secured to the
bottom of the jaws by pivots k and m passing through the levers and through
the jaws, and the upper ends of the levers are formed with horns ; and 1 to
slide up and down within parallel cavities m', m', formed in the jaw. These
cavities have openings n, n, see Figs. 1, 2, and 3, only just wide enough to
allow the levers to pass through, but are enlarged within the slots to receive
and confine the horns which cannot escape therefrom, though they can be
drawn out at the bottom by releasing the beam from the pawl and opening
the jaws sufficiently wide. By connecting the lower ends of the crossed levers
with the jaws, the jaws always have an uniform leverage, but if the upper
ends of the levers have fixed connections with the jaws, and the lower ends
are arranged to slide, the leverage of the jaw becomes less powerful as the
jaws open wider and the sliding connections rise. A spring o is applied
between the stationary jaw and the lever E for the purpose of throwing open the

page_text: jaws when the box D is turned to release them. This spring is only necessary
when the jaws are very near together, as the weight of the levers tends to
force apart the jaws when they are wider open, and the levers are farther
from an upright position.
In applying these improvements to a wood vice, all the parts, with the
exception of the jaws, will be constructed in the manner above described.
The jaws may be of the usual form of the jaws of wood vices, or of
any other
convenient form, and a cavity will be cut in each to receive the horned upper
ends of the levers. An iron plate of the form shown in Fig. 4 will be
attached by screws outside the said cavity to confine the horns, the said plate
having a slot n like the slot in the iron vice, and having a large opening qat
the bottom for the introduction of the horned ends of the levers, and for the
removal thereof when necessary. The form of that part of the cavity
which is covered by the plate is indicated in Fig. 4 by the dotted out lines
Inarked m², m¹.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of the said Invention, we
wish to have it understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise
details herein described; but we claim as new and of our Invention,―.
1st, the application to a vice of a beam C, having a ratchet a, which is
engaged by a pawl b, and having a spiral faced head, or the equivalent thereof,
fitted with a loose cap having a corresponding face, the whole operating
substantially as herein described.
2nd, though we do not claim the employment of crossed levers as such to
connect the two jaws of the vice, nor their application between the jaws
in any other way than substantially as herein described, we claim the
arrangement of the crossed levers between the jaws and their attachment
substantially as herein described, so as to secure to the jaws an uniform
leverage, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert W. Davis and Daniel Davis,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WM. H. SCHOFIELD.
JAMES DAVIS.
R. W. DAVIS.
(L.S.)
DANIEL DAVIS.
(L.S.)