IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHARCOAL Box IRONS AND IN FASTENINGS FOR THE LIDS OR COVERS OF CHARCOAL BOX IRONS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Shadrach Williams, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHARCOAL Box IRONS AND IN FASTENINGS FOR
THE LIDS OR COVERS OF CHARCOAL BOX IRONS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Shadrach Williams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th November 1873.
I, SHADRACH WILLIAMS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Ironfounder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHARCOAL Box IRONS AND IN FASTENINGS
FOR THE LIDS OR COVERS OF CHARCOAL BOX IRONS," to be as follows :—
My improvements in manufacturing charcoal box irons consist in
making the lids or covers of the said box irons and parts connected with
the said lids or covers in the manner herein-after described, whereby
great facility and economy of manufacture are secured.

page_text: In making the said lids or covers and parts connected therewith
according to my Invention, I make the lid or cover with its handle and
chimney of two longitudinal parts or halves, which parts or halves are
joined or connected together by screwing or rivetting so as to form a
complete lid or cover together with its handle and chimney. I make
the said parts or halves by the process of casting in sand or other
moulds, the processes of moulding and casting being conducted
essentially in the ordinary way.
In order to provide for the accurate fitting and securing together of
the two parts or halves of the combined lid or cover, handle, and
chimney, I make on the edge or on a portion of the edge of one of the
halves or parts a beading or rim which projects from and is situated out
of the plane of the said edge.
When the edges of the two longitudinal parts or halves are fitted
together the projecting beading or rim on one of the said parts projects
over and embraces, the plain edge of the other part and holds the two
parts together. Each part or half is also furnished with snugs which
abut against one another. Through these snugs screws or rivets are
passed for screwing or rivetting the parts together. I prefer to make
the snugs described at the front or chimney part of the cover, and also
near the top of the chimney at its junction with the handle, but I do
not limit myself to the position of the said snugs.
I prefer to make the handle hollow and with perforations to permit of
the circulation of air through it to keep it cool.
Instead of making the lid or cover with its handle and chimney of
two longitudinal parts or halves as described, the lid or cover and its
chimney only may be made in the manner described.
A separate
handle of wood or metal being connected to the said lid, or a short
chimney may be made to the lid and a rotating head be applied thereto.
In this last case I make the said rotating head of two parts or halves by
casting, and provide one of the said parts with an overlapping rim or
beading and each part with snugs for screwing or rivetting the two
parts together.
By making the lids or covers of charcoal box irons and the parts of
the said lids or covers in the manner described the moulding is much;
simplified and economized, and the use of cores, which are necessary

page_text: when the lid or or cover and parts thereof are made in one piece, is
dispensed with.
For fastening tho lids or covers of charcoal box irons to the body of
the said irons I use a nearly vertical lever situated at the back of the
chimney of the lid. The said lever turns on a joint or centre at the
junction of the handle with the chimney, and its upper arm or thumb
plate end projects above the handle, the position of the said thumb plate
end of the lever fastening being such that while the hand grasps the
handle of the iron the thumb may operate the said lever fastening, onc
of the screws or rivets which holds the two halves of the lid or cover
together may constitute the centre on which the lever fastening turns.
The bottom of the lever is hooked, the hooked end engaging under a cross
bar on the body of the iron to fasten the lid to the said body, a spring in
the hollow handle of the lid presses upon the lever and causes its hooked
end to engage with the cross bar of the body. The front edge of the
hooked end of the lever is inclined, and on shutting down the lid the
said hooked end is first pushed back and afterwards made to snap by the
action of the spring upon the cross bar and fasten the lid to the body.
By pressing the thumb plate end of the lever in the direction of the heel
of the iron the lever is released and the lid unfastened and may be raised.
Instead of fastening the lid to the body by the lever described it may be
fastened by a vertical screw occupying the same place as the said lever.
The top of the said screw carries a thumb plate or head situated a little
above the handle, and the lower end of the said screw takes into a
concave screw in the cross bar on the body of the iron. The fastening
and unfastening of the lid are affected by driving home and unscrewing
the said screw.
30
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Shadrach Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SHADRACH
WILLIAMS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Ironfounder,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
35 Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Shadrach Williams, Her
special license that I, the said Shadrach Williams, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Shadrach
Williams, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHARCOAL BOX IRONS AND
IN FASTENINGS FOR THE LIDS OR COVERS OF CHARCOAL BOX IRONS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Shadrach Williams, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Shadrach Williams, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements in manufacturing charcoal box irons consist in
making the lids or covers of the said box irons and parts connected with
the said lids or covers in the manner herein-after described, whereby
great facility and economy of manufacture are secured.
In making the said lids or covers and parts connected therewith
according to my Invention, I make the lid or cover with its handle and
chimney of two longitudinal parts or halves, which parts or halves are
connected together by screwing or rivetting so as to form a complete lid
or cover together with its handle and chimney. I make the said parts
or halves by the process of casting in sand or other moulds, the pro-
cesses of moulding and casting being conducted essentially in the
ordinary way.
In order to provide for the accurate fitting and securing together of the
two parts or halves of the combined lid or cover, handle, and chimney,

page_text: I make on the edge or on a portion of the edge of one of the halves or
parts a beading or rim which projects from and is situated out of the
plane of the said edge.
When the edges of the two longitudinal parts or halves are fitted
together the projecting beading or rim on one of the said parts or halves
projects over and embraces the plain edge of the other part and holds
the two parts together. Each part or half is also furnished with snugs,
which abut against one another. Through these snugs screws or rivets
are passed for screwing or rivetting the parts together. I prefer to
make the snugs described at the front or chimney part of the cover, and
also near the top of the chimney at its junction with the handle, but I
do not limit myself to the position of the said snugs.
I prefer to make the handle hollow and with perforations to permit of
the circulation of air through it to keep it cool.
Instead of making the lid or cover with its handle and chimney of
two longitudinal parts or halves as described, the lid or cover and its
chimney only may be made in the manner described, a separate handle
of wood or metal being connected to the said lid, or a short chimney
may be made to the lid and a rotating head be applied thereto. In this
last case I make the said rotating head of two parts or halves by casting,
and provide one of the said parts with an overlapping rim or beading, and
each part with snugs for screwing or rivetting the two parts together.
By making the lids or covers of charcoal box irons and the parts of
the said lids or covers in the manner described the moulding is much
simplified and economized, and the use of cores, which are necessary
when the lid or cover and parts thereof are made in one piece, is
dispensed with.
For fastening the lids or covers of charcoal box irons to the body of
the said irons I use a nearly vertical lever situated at the back of the
chimney of the lid. The said lever turns on a joint or centre at the
junction of the handle with the chimney and its upper arm or thumb
plate end projects above the handle, the position of the said thumb plate
end of the lever fastening being such that while the hand grasps the
handle of the iron the thumb may operate the said lever fastening. One
of the screws or rivets which hold the two halves of the lid or cover
together may constitute the centre on which the lever fastening turns,

page_text: are fitted together embraces the plain edge of the other longitudinal
part c, cs, es, and the said two parts are thereby accurately and closely
fitted and held together. The shape of the projecting or overhanging
beading or rim b' is best seen in the cross section, Figure 4, where the
beading on one half of the lid or cover is represented fitted against and
embracing the plain edge of the other half c of the said lid or cover.
Each longitudinal half or part of the combined cover, handle, and
chimney is provided with snugs marked d, situated at the front of the
chimney, c³, and also near the top of the said chimney; through these
snugs screws e, f, (or rivets) are passed for screwing (or rivetting) the
parts together; the two longitudinal parts or halves are also secured
together by the flap g of the hinge h being screwed at i to each half or
part; the handle b³, o³, is hollow, and is perforated at k to permit of the
circulation of air through it to keep it cool; it is separated from the
chimney at k² so that no fumes from the said chimney can enter the
handle.
Figure 6 represents a plan of a charcoal box iron, in which the lid or
cover and chimney only are made of two longitudinal parts or halves, a
separate wooden or metallic handle or grip being employed. In this
arrangement each longitudinal part or half of the cover b, c, has at its
back end a half upright, surmounted by a half collar or clip marked
respectively b, c, and at the chimney end similar half collars or clips
marked respectively 6º, c°, are made. The ends of the separate grip part
of the handle are clipped or embraced by the collars b³, c³, and 6º, co,
when the two longitudinal parts b, c, are fitted together, as represented
in the Drawing. By passing screws m, m, through the collars b³, c³, and
6, 0, and the ends of the grip part 7 of the handle, the lid or cover and
handle are securely fixed together. The halves of the chimney are
screwed or rivetted together at front, as before described.
.
In Figure 6 a rotating head made according to my Invention is
represented applied to a short chimney.
An elevation of the said rotating head is represented detached in
Figure 7, and the halves of which it is composed are represented in
Figures 8 and 9, the said halves being marked p and p³. On the half p
is an overlapping rim or edge p³ for fitting the parts accurately together,
and on cach part is a snug p', p', through which snugs, when the two

page_text: parts have been fitted together, a screw, pin, or rivet at g is passed to
fix the parts firmly together.
Lids or covers, handles, and chimneys, and parts thereof made as
herein-before described, may be applied to box irons in which the lid or
cover is hinged or otherwise connected to the body of the iron.
My improved lever fastening for fastening down the lids or covers of
charcoal box irons to the body of the irons is represented in Figures 1, 2,
3, and 4, and detached in Figure 5. r is the nearly vertical lever
situated at the back of the chimney, and turning (by preference) on the
pin or centre f, the said pin or centre f being one of the screws (or
rivets) used to fix the halves or parts of the combined lid, handle, and
chimney together. The lower end ² of the lever fastening is hooked,
and the upper or thumb plate end ³ is so situated that when the hand
grips the handle 6º, c³, the thumb may operate the said lever fastening,
as represented.
By means of a coiled spring 8 (see Figure 3) situated in the hollow
handle of the iron the hooked end of the fastening lever is pulled
towards the heel end of the iron, and the said hooked end made to
engage with the raised cross bar t on the body u of the iron as represented,
and fasten the lid or cover to the body of the iron. By pressing the
thumb plate end 73 of the lever in the direction of the heel end of the
iron its hooked end is withdrawn from the cross bar t, and the lid or
cover is released as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, and may be raised
on its hinge to open the iron. On closing the lid or cover the hooked
end is pushed back by its curved or inclined nose or front coming
against the cross bar t, and when the cover has been fully shut down
the said hooked end ³ snaps under the bar t and fastens the said lid or
cover.
The action of the lever r may be inverted, that is, its hooked end
may be forced by the spring towards the front or point end of the iron,
and the said hooked end which in this case is turned towards the front
of the iron may engage under a projection 12 at the said front of the iron.
To unfasten the lid or cover the head 7 of the lever must be pushed
towards the front of the iron. The lever in this modification has the
shano ransesonted in Piano EA

page_text: In witness whereof, I, the said Shadrach Williams, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year
of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
Richard SkeRRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
SHADRACH WILLIAMS. (L.S.)