IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SHEARING, CUTTING, AND PUNCHING METALS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
Fox, of London Works, near Birmingham, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of September,
in the tenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Fox, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Fox, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Charles Fox, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no other others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her
said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the
Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney; Sark, and Man, and in all Her Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SHEARING,
CUTTING, AND PUNCHING METALS;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, requiring that I, the said Charles Fox, shall particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what mannėr
the same is to be perforined, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court

page_text: of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said
Charles Fox, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by this present instrument in writing, reference being had
to the several Drawings hereunto annexed, and in which said several Drawings
similar parts are marked and referred to by similar letters or figures (that is
to say):-
My said Invention consists, firstly, of a machine or apparatus for shearing,
cutting, and punching plates and other pieces of metal, such machine or
apparatus being constructed as herein-after described, and so as to receive
the dies, tools, or instruments by means of which the machine is to perform
the shearing, cutting, or punching.
And my said Invention consists, secondly, in such improved dies or instru-
ments for shearing, cutting, or punching as herein-after described.
Several views of my said machine are shewn in the said Drawings hereunto
annexed.
Figure 1 is a side view of the machine; Figure 2 is an end view; Figure
3 is a longitudinal section taken through the dotted line y, z, in Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a plan view of the under side of the upper table of the machine,
with one of my improved dies attached thereto; Figure 5 is a plan or bird's-
eye view of the top of the middle or moveable table, with a die fixed upon
it; Figure 6 is a longitudinal vertical section of the upper table, shewing
another mode of attaching a die thereto, so that such die may rise and fall
for the purposes herein-after described.
This machine is composed of three tables or flat pieces of metal A, A, B, B,
and C, C, the upper and lower of which tables A, A, and C, C, are fixed and
held firmly in a position parallel to each other by means of iron tie bolts
D, D, threaded and furnished with nuts, as shewn in the Drawing, so that
the distance or space between those two tables may be adjusted from time
to time in such manner as may be required. The tie bolts D, D, are turned
straight and true, and the middle or moveable table B, B, has bosses, through
which holes are bored and made to fit accurately upon the tie bolts, for the s
purpose of allowing the table to be moved up and down, and in every position
kept parallel with the upper and lower tables.
The operations which the machine is intended to perform are to be performed
by means of dies, tools, or instruments attached to the under side of the upper

page_text: table and the upper side of the middle or moveable table, and which dies,
tools, or instruments are to be brought into operation by raising or moving
the middle table towards the upper table A, A, in manner berein-after
described. In the centre of the lower table is made a round hole to receive
the hydraulic cylinder E with its ram F; the cylinder is made with a strong
shoulder e, e, to rest upon the under side of the lower table and keep the
cylinder firmly in its proper position when the machine is in action; the ranı
F is made to fit the cylinder accurately in the usual way, and the upper end
of the ram is inserted in a socket bored in a boss on the under side of the
middle or moveable table B, B. At the lower end of the cylinder is inserted
a pipe G, through which water is to be pumped or forced into the cylinder
in the usual way; the pipe G is connected with the force pump from which
it receives the water, and also with a waste or exit pipe, by means of which
the water may be allowed to escape, and the communications between the
pipe G and the pump or the exit pipe being by means of stop-cocks or valves,
those communications may be opened or closed at pleasure. When the com-
munication with the force pump is opened and the pump put in action, the
water forced into the cylinder E will raise or move the ram F, and with it
the middle or moveable table towards the upper table A, A, so as to apply
the required degree of force or pressure to any thing which may be placed
between the upper table and the middle or moveable table, in order to be
operated upon; and when the communication between the pipe G and tho
waste or exit pipe is opened, the weight of the middle 'or moveable table and
the ram will cause that table and the ram to descend and drive the water
out of the cylinder.
I construct the cylinder of my machine so as to be separate from the bottom
table in which it is placed, in preference to constructing that table and the
cylinder in one piece, for the purpose of diminishing the cost of construction,
the casting and preparation of the articles being I believe easier, and con-
sequently less costly, when the cylinder and table are made separate; and
in case of any injury to either the table or the cylinder, the defective part
may be replaced at a smaller cost; and by constructing the cylinder separate
from the bottom table I am enabled to insert cylinders of different powers,
according to the nature of the work to be performed.
The dies, tools, or instruments, by means of which the operations of shearing,
cutting, or punching are to be performed, are to be placed upon the upper
part of the middle table and against the under side of the upper table, as
before mentioned; and those dies, tools, or instruments may be attached to
the tables by means of bolts and screws, as shewn in the Figures 4 and 5

page_text: in the said Drawings, or may be placed in adjustable frames or otherwise
attached to the tables, as may be deemed to be most convenient.
For the purpose of performing any of the operations already mentioned,
either my improved dies or instruments herein-after described, or dies, tools,
or instruments of the ordinary descriptions may be used; but if dies, tools, or
instruments of the ordinary description be used, they must be so constructed
as to be capable of being fixed in proper positions upon the surfaces of tho
tables to which they are to be attached.
The several parts of a pair of dies or instruments, constructed according to
the second
part of
my said Invention, are shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6,
the bottom part H of the pair of dies being shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 5,
and the upper part I, in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4. This pair of dies is con-
structed so as to shear, cut, or punch out of a plate or piece of metal an
article of the form shewn in Figure 7; but the dies or instruments may be
varied so as to produce articles of various forms, as may be required. A plate
or piece of metal, such as may be employed for making such an article, is
shewn in Figure 8. The bottom or male die H is to be made flat and level
upon its upper surface, and the outline must be made of the form of the
article which the dies are intended to produce. I make this die of sufficient
thickness to pass through the upper or female die, and press the piece of metal
which has been sheared, cut, or punched against the under side of the upper
table or other surface immediately above the upper or female die, so as to
deprive the surface of the article produced of any irregularities occasioned by
the previous parts of the operation. I also undercut the edges of the male
and female dies slightly, so that the articles or pieces of metal sheared, punched,
or cut, may be removed from the dies with facility after the operation. The
dies are also to be so constructed that every part of the cutting edges thereof
may not come into action at one and the same time; but some parts of the
cutting edges are to be raised above the others, and the whole so constructed
that the cutting may take place gradually, and in manner somewhat similar to
the cutting operation of a pair of shears. For this purpose I construct my
lies so that they may commence operating at two places opposite to each other
at the same time, and I make those two places as nearly as I conveniently can
in the middle of the cutting or shearing to be performed; and so that during
the whole operation the instruments may cut, shear, or punch in contrary
directions; and so that the article operated upon may be kept steadily in its
proper position, and not forced to one side or the other by the bevil shape of
the cutting edge or edges of the instruments.
Although I have described the female dies as placed under the upper table,

page_text: and the male upon the middle table, it must be borne in mind that the male
die may be placed under the upper table, and the female upon, the middle
table; but I have found that it is generally more convenient to place the
female die above.
If the article to be produced is intended to be cut out of a sheet or plate
of metal, and to be formed. into any other than a flat form or shape, the dies
or instruments may be so constructed that the required piece of metal may be
cut or sheared out of or from a larger piece, and immediately afterwards
punched by the instruments into the form or shape required. For this pur-
pose, I construct the interior of a female die, or a punch placed within a
female die, of the shape into which one side of the required article is to be
formed; and I also make the male die of such a shape that it will, in con-
junction with the female die or punch placed within it, punch the piece of
metal (after it has been cut or sheared) into the required shape. And it will
generally be found better to make any recess required in the male die
and any projecting part in the female, so that the plate or piece of metal
may be held flat or level during the cutting or shearing portion of the
operation.
In some cases it is desirable to make provision for facilitating the removal
of the article produced by the dies after the completion of the operation. For
this purpose I place the female die uppermost or under the upper table, to
which table I attach the die by bolts through portions of the die, and the
bolts are made so as to allow the die to fall down or descend from the table
such a distance as may be requisite for enabling the workman to withdraw an
article made in the machine. When the machine is not in action the female
die will fall down to the extent allowed by the length of the bolts, but when
the machine is put into operation the female die will be pressed up to the
upper table during the operation of cutting or shearing the metal operated
upon. And when the operation of cutting or shearing has been completed the
female die will again descend to the extent allowed by its bolts, and leave the
requisite space between it and the upper table for withdrawing the article
which has been produced by the machine.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, I
hereby declare that I do not claim as of my Invention the said machine or
apparatus above described as separate from the said hydraulic cylinder, nor
the said cylinder as separate from the said machine or apparatus; and I
further declare that I claim as of my Invention,―
-Firstly, the mode of constructing a machine or apparatus with a cylinder

page_text: capable of being removed therefrom, in manner and for the purposes herein-
before described.
Secondly, the mode of constructing dies or instruments so that they will
cut or shear pieces of metal in contrary directions, in manner and for the
purposes aforesaid.
Thirdly, the mode of constructing such dies or instruments as aforesaid,
so that a piece of metal may immediately after being cut or sheared be
flattened or punched into the required form or shape, in manner herein-before
described.
And, fourthly, the mode of constructing a female die or instrument so that
the same may fall down or descend so as to leave such an opening as herein-
before mentioned, for the purpose of facilitating the removal of the article
which has been produced or operated upon, in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Fox, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.