IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATCHETS AND CUTLASSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Major Mole, of the Firm of Robert
Mole and Sons, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF MATCHETS AND CUTLASSES."
Sealed the 1st January 1870, and dated the 21st July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Major Mole
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st July 1869.
I, FREDERIC MAJOR MOLE, of the Firm of Robert Mole and Sons, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF MATCHETS AND CUTLASSES," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary manufacture of matchets and cutlasses a long strip of
steel having generally a slight wedge shape in cross section is cut up
into a series of blanks or pieces of the proper length. In order to convert
these blanks or pieces of steel into matchets or cutlasses it is necessary

page_text: to point one end. This pointing consists in widening or expanding the
said end and thinning or reducing the back, or thinning or reducing the
said end with as little widening of the blank as possible. The said
pointing is ordinarily effected by hand hammering or by means of a
steam hammer or tilt hammer.
My Invention consists in effecting the said pointing of the blanks or
pieces of steel for the manufacture of matchets and cutlasses in the
following ways: Where the end of the blank or piece of steel requires
to be widened or expanded, and its back thinned, I employ a process of
cross rolling, that is to say, I use a pair of plain rolls and pass the
heated end of the blank or piece of steel to be operated upon between
the said rolls at their ends, the greatest length of the blank being pre-
served parallel to or at a small angle with the axes of the rolls during
the said rolling. By the pressure of the rolls the heated end of the blank
or piece of steel is widened and the thickness of the back reduced, and
the matchet or cutlass blank thereby pointed or partially pointed. The
pressure of the rolls also rolls out the furrows which are ordinarily made
along the strips of steel from which matchets are made. Where those
kinds of matchets and cutlasses are to be made which require the end of
the blank to be thinned without widening or but slightly widening the
end, I effect the said thinning of the end by a process of back rolling,
that is to say, I use a pair of plain rolls from the cylindrical surface of
one of which a portion has been cut away. These rolls have a con-
tinuous rotatory motion. When the cut away portion of the one roll.
presents itself the workman introduces the end of the heated blank
between the rolls. By the motion of the rolls the blank is seized and
thinned and returned to the workman. The matchet or cutlass blank
after it has been pointed according to my Invention is finished in the
ordinary way.
By pointing or partially pointing matchets and cutlasses according to
my Invention great facility and economy in the pointing are secured,
and the quality of the steel is less injured than by the ordinary method
of pointing by hammering. The pointing may be completed when
necessary by the ordinary method.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederic Major Mole in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
MAJOR MOLE, of the Firm of Robert Mole and Sons, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Frederic Major Mole, Her special licence, that
I, the said Frederic Major Mole, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederic Major Mole, 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 MATCHETS AND CUTLASSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Frederic Major Mole, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Frederic Major Mole, 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 :-
In the ordinary manufacture of matchets and cutlasses a long strip of
steel having generally a slight wedge shape in cross section is cut up.
into a series of blanks or pieces of the proper length. In order to.
convert these blanks or pieces of steel into matchets or cutlassės it is
necessary to point one end. This pointing consists in widening or
expanding the said end and thinning or reducing the back, or thinning

page_text: or reducing the said end with as little widening of the blank as possible.
The said pointing is ordinarily effected by hand hammering, or by means
of a steam hammer or tilt hammer.
.
My Invention consists in effecting the said pointing of the blanks or
pieces of steel for the manufacture of matchets and cutlasses in the fol-
lowing ways: Where the end of the blank or piece of steel requires to be
widened or expanded, and its back thinned, I employ a process of cross
rolling, that is to say, I use a pair of plain rolls and pass the heated end
of the blank or piece of steel to be operated upon between the said rolls
at their ends, the greatest length of the blank being preserved parallel to
or at a small angle with the axes of the rolls during the said rolling.
By the pressure of the rolls the heated end of the blank or piece of steel
is widened and the thickness of the back reduced, and the matchet or
cutlass blank thereby pointed or partially pointed. The pressure of the
rolls also rolls out the furrows which are ordinarily made along the
strips of steel from which matchets are made. Where those kinds of
matchets and cutlasses are to be made which require the end of the
blank to be thinned without widening or but slightly widening the end,
I effect the said thinning of the end by a process of back rolling, that is
to say, I use a pair of plain rolls from the cylindrical surface of one of
which a portion has been cut away. These rolls have a continuous
rotating motion. When the cut away portion of the one roll presents
itself the workman, introduces the end of the heated blank between the
rolls. By the motion of the rolls the blank is seized and thinned, and
returned to the workman. The matchet or cutlass blank after it has
been pointed according to my Invention is finished in the ordinary way.
By pointing or partially pointing matchets and cutlasses according to
my Invention great facility and economy in the pointing are secured,
and the quality of the steel is less injured than by the ordinary method
of pointing by hammering.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation and end elevation a partly manu-
factured matchet or piece of steel which has been cut and shaped from a
long strip of steel, the said strip of steel having a slight wedge shape in
cross section. The said partly made matchet or piece of steel requires
its end a, a, to be pointed, that is, widened or expanded, and thinned or

page_text: reduced at the back in the manner represented in Figure 2;. or the said
end a, a, Figure 1, in some cases only requires thinning with as little
widening of the said end as possible. I effect the pointing described by
processes of rolling performed in the pair of rolls represented in side
elevation in Figure 3 and cross section in Figure 4 of the Drawing.
b, c, are the two cylindrical rolls supported in the standards or housings
d, d, and adjusted by the screws e, e, in the usual manner.
In pointing
the end a of the matchet or piece of steel, Figure 1, in the manner
represented in Figure 2 I use a process of cross rolling, that is to say, I
heat the end of the said piece, Figure 1, and pass it between the rolls b, c,
at their plain or cylindrical ends, the greatest length of the blank or
piece of steel being preserved parallel to or at a small angle with the
axes of the rolls during the rolling process. A piece of steel or partly
made matchet of the kind represented in Figure 1 is represented being
cross rolled in Figure 3, the piece of steel being marked f. By the
pressure of the rolls b, c, upon the stationary and heated end of the piece
of steel, the said end is widened and the thickness of the back reduced,
and the matchet is thereby pointed or partly pointed. The pressure of
the rolls also rolls out the furrows along the strip of steel, as seen in
Figure 2. When the end of the partly made matchet or piece of steel,
Figure 1, requires only to be thinned without naterially widening the
said end, I effect the said thinning of the end by a process of back
rolling, that is to say, I use the pair of rolls b, c, Figures 3 and 4, the
upper roll 6 of which has a portion marked g cut from its cylindrical
surface; or a portion may be cut from the lower roll instead of the
upper roll with the same effect. The said cut away part g is of a size
sufficient to permit of the end of the piece of steel, Figure 1, being passed
between the rolls without being acted upon by the said rolls. When
the cut away part g of the roll 6 presents itself at the front of the rolls
the workman introduces the end of the heated blank or piece of steel,
Figure 1, between the rolls in the manner illustrated in Figure 4, where
the piece introduced between the rolls is marked i, . The length of the
blank or piece of steel introduced between the rolls may be adjusted by
a stop at the back of the rolls. When the piece of steel has been
introduced between the rolls in the manner illustrated in Figure 4, the
rotation of the said rolls in the directions indicated by the arrows causes
their uncut parts to seize the end of the piece of steel situated at the
back of the rolls, and thin it at the said end, and return the piece of
By this back rolling the end of the piece of steel
steel to the workman.

page_text: is thinned by the elongation of the said end, and the pointing is thus
effected without materially widening the said end.
Although in the Drawing I have represented a matchet having three
furrows, yet my Invention is also applicable to the manufacture of
matchets without furrows, or having only one or two furrows.
In manufacturing cutlasses according to my Invention I take pieces
of steel of the required size and form, and point the ends in the manner
described with respect to matchets. The matchets and cutlasses which
have been pointed by the cross rolling or back rolling described may be
completed by the ordinary method.
Although I prefer to employ strips of steel having a slight wedge
shape in cross section as described and represented, yet strips of steel of
other sections may be employed for the manufacture of matchets and
cutlasses according to my Invention.
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, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion; but I claim as my Invention, the improvements in the manufacture
of matchets and cutlasses herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, pointing or partially pointing
pieces or blanks of steel from which matchets and cutlasses are to be
made by a process of cross rolling or by a process of back rolling, instead
of by hammering as usual, the said processes being conducted and the
pointing or partially pointing of the said pieces or blanks of steel
effected substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Major Mole, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
FREDERIC MAJOR MOLE. (L.S.)