IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PACTURE OF EYE PROTECTORS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Vale, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Optician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF EYE PROTECTORS."
Sealed the 28th February 1865, and dated the 23rd September 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Vale at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
September 1864.
I, HENRY VALE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Optician,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF EYE PROTECTORS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after explained in making
the frames of eye protectors and in attaching the said frames to the wire
gauze of the said eye protectors.
In making the frames of eye protectors in the ordinary way a piece of
flattened wire is taken and bent into a nearly elliptical figure, and the ends
of the said wire are joined and soldered together, loops being left in the
said wire at opposite sides. The frame is attached to the edge of the
wire gauze of the eye protector by soldering, the superfluous solder being
removed by filing.
In making the said frames and attaching them to the wire gauze according
to my Invention I proceed as follows:-I cut out from sheet metal at a press
ring-like blanks of a nearly elliptical figure, the said blanks having at opposite
points nearly circular pieces to form the loops in the finished frame. By means
of raising tools and pressure I raise the said blanks into a trough-like form,

page_text: and at the same time raise and perfect the shape of the loops at the ends of
the frame. There is thus produced a trough-like frame provided with the
necessary loops, the sides of the said trough being nearly parallel. In securing
the wire gauze of the eye protectors to the frame, the edge of the wire gauze
is placed in the trough of the frame, the sides of the said frame or trough are
then closed upon the wire gauze and the said wire gauze firmly secured to the
frame. By raising the frames from sheet metal according to my Invention a
very neat frame without a junction is produced which is attached to the wire
gauze without the use of solder: -
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters, Patent, filed
by the said Henry Vale in the Great, Seal Patent Office on the
18th March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
VALE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Optician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto
me; the said Henry Vale, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Vale,,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such. others as I, the said Henry
Vale, 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 MANU-
PACTURE OF EYE PROTECTORS," upon, the condition (amongst, others), that, I, the
said; Henry Vale, 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 Henry Vale, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in making
the frames of eye protectors and in attaching the said frames to the wire gauze
of the said eye protectors.
.
Im making the frames of eye protectors in the ordinary way a piece of
cylindrical wire is taken and bent into a nearly elliptical figure, and the ends
of the said wire are joined and soldered together, loops being left in the said
wire at opposite sides. The frame is attached to the edge of the wire gauze
of the eye protector by soldering, the superfluous solder being removed by filing.
In making the said frames and attaching them to the wire gauzė according
to my Invention I proceed as follows:-I cut out from sheet metal at a press
ring-like blanks of a nearly elliptical figure, the said blanks having at opposite
points nearly circular pieces to form the loops in the finished frame. By
méans of raising tools and pressure I raise the said blanks into a trough-like
form, and at the same time raise and perfect the shape of the loops at the
ends of the frame. There is thus produced a trough-like frame provided with
the necessary loops, the sides of the said trough being nearly parallel. Instead
of raising the frames from rings of metal as described, a raised blank may be
formed from sheet metal, the metal inside of and external to the depression in
the said blank being afterwards removed by cutting dies or tools. In securing
the wire gauze of the eye protector to the frame the edge of the wire gauze is
placed in the trough of the frame; the sides of the said frame or trough are
then closed upon the wire gauze and the said wire gauze firmly secured to the
frame. By raising the frame from sheet metal, according to my Invention, a
very neat frame without a junction is produced, which is attached to the wire
gauze without the use of solder.
My Invention is applicable to the frames of eye protectors in which the
eye is protected by wire gauze alone or by a combination of glass and wire
gauze.
.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plau a raised blank, from which a frame is to be
made according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same;
and Figure 3 is a section of the same.
The said raised blank consists of a nearly elliptical depression a made in
the sheet brass or other metal or alloy b, the said depression having a trough
shape in cross section, ás represented in Figure 3. At opposite points in the

page_text: .
said depression a nearly circular depressions c are made to form the loops in
the finished frame, by which loops the eye protectors are connected together
and to the. head of the wearer.
Figures 4.and.5 represent in section the pair of. raising dies by which the
blank, Figures 1, 2, and 3, is formed, Figure 4 representing the upper die or
punch, and Figure 5 the lower or fixed die. The upper die or punch, Figure 4,
has the projection d, and the lower die, Figure 5, the depression e, necessary
to form the depression a; as well as projections and depressions necessary to
form the ears c of the raised blank, Figures 1, 2, and 3, by the operation of
the said dies.. After the raised blank has been formed, the metal from the
inside of the depression.a.is.next removed by a pair of cutting tools. having
the proper figure.
こ
:
A pair of cutting tools for this purpose is represented in. Figures 6,7, and 8
of the Drawings, Figure 7 representing an elevation of the upper cutting too!
or punch, Figure 6 a plan, and Figure 8 a section of the lower or fixed cutting
tool. By placing the raised blank, Figures 1, 2, and 3; upon the. lower
cutting tool, Figures 6 and 8; and bringing the moveable tool, Figure 7, down
upon the said blank, the metal .from. the inside of the depression a is removed,
as illustrated in plan in Figure 9 and side élevation in Figure 10.
The metal external to the depression a and ears 'c of the blank is next
removed by the pair of cutting tools represented in Figures 11, 12, and 13;
Figure 11 representing in elevation the upper cutting tool or punch, Figure 12
in plan, and Figure 13 in section the lower or fixed cutting tool. The blank,
Figures 9 and 10, being placed upon the lower tool, Figures, 12 and 13, the
upper tool, Figure 11, is brought down upon it, and the metal external to the
depression-a and ears is cut away by the operation of the said cutting tools.
A trough-shaped frame is thus produced which only 'requires to be pierced at
the ears or loops à to be finished. A finished frame raised from sheet metal,
with the necessary loops at opposite ends, is represented in plan and edge
view in Figure 14.
In securing the frame, Figure 14, to the wire gauzė of the eye protectors,
I place the said frame with the open side upwards upon a flange of a dome-
shaped-support-fixed-by-a-stem in a vice, or otherwise firmly held. The wire
gauze is placed on the dome-shaped support and its edge placed in the trough-
shaped frame.
A support of this kind for the wire. gauze and frame is represented in
Figure 15, where the wire gauze is marked fand the frame g. By ham-
mering or pressing the external side of the frame g the sides of the said frame
áre closed upon the edge of the wire gauze f, situated in the said frame, and

page_text: the wire gauze firmly attached to the frame, as represented in Figure 16, which
represents an elevation of a finished eye protector made in the way described.
I do not limit myself to any particular method of closing the trough-shaped
frame upon the wire gauze, as the closing may be effected in a variety of
ways, for example, by the action of a pair of dies, or by plyers, or by rolls.
Figure 17 represents a pair of finished eye protectors the frames of which
are made and fastened to the wire gauze according to my Invention, and
Figure 18 represents another pair of eye protectors the frames of which are
made and fastened to the wire gauze according to my Invention, the wire
gauze parts having central openings therein which are filled in with glass.
The eye protectors are connected together by a covered chain h fastened to
the loops c,.c, and the pair of eye protectors is secured to the head of the
wearer by a piece of elastic cord i fastened to the loops c², c², as in eye
protectors made in the ordinary way.
The raising or closing dies and cutting tools which I employ in carrying
my Invention into effect are worked in presses of the ordinary kind.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings, as the same may be varied vithout departing from
the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvements
in the manufacture of eye protectors herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, making the frames of eye pro-
tectors by raising them from sheet metal by dies and pressure, and attacbing
the said frames to the wire gauze of the eye protectors by closing the sides of
the said frames upon the said wire gauze, substantially in the manner described
and illustrated in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Vale, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of Our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
HENRY VALE. (L.S.)