CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED AS AN UNIVERSAL CHUCK FOR TURNING AND BORING PURPOSES, WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1840

page_text: STIVENS' SPECIFICATION...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I,' ALEXANDER
STIVENS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster; Engineer;isend greeting..
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of November, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the''said-
Alexander Stivens, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Alexander Stivens, my executors, administrators; and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Alexander Stivens; my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no other, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed;i,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED AS AN UNIVERSAL CHUCK
FOR TURNING AND BORING PURPOSES, WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is-
contained a proviso, that I, the said Alexander Stivens; shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court. of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,' reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, 'the said
Alexander Stivens, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
..

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation, that is to say:-
My improvements consist principally in a novel construction and arrange-
ment of mechanism constituting an universal chuck, or expanding and
contracting apparatus, to be used in lathes employed for turning and boring
purposes, and I have exhibited in the Drawings attached to these Presents
several views of its application to such particular purposes by way of illus-
tration, although the principles of my Invention are applicable to many other
useful purposes, hereafter named. The simplicity and universality of appli-
cation of these improvements will be found superior to any chucks now in use,
being capable of fixing excentric as well as concentric, and binding or holding,
either inside or outside, by means of the holding nogs or dies, with equal facility
and power. The principle upon which this apparatus is constructed is equally
applicable to a variety of other useful tools, such as binding tables for drilling,
slotting, planing, and shaping machines, screw-cutting engines, universal stays
for slide lathes, &c. In the Drawings attached, Figure 1 is a view of the back
of the chuck with the outer plate or cover unscrewed or removed, in order to
expose the working apparatus; Fig. 2 is a side or edge view of the chuck
complete; and Figure 3 is a face or front view of the same. The front plate
of the chuck is shewn at a, a, a, and the back plate or cover at b, b, b. c, c, c,
are the holding or binding nogs or dies attached by screws d, d, d, to dove-
tailed slide pieces e, e, e¹, which slide in the radial mortices f,f,f. In one of
these slide pieces, e', a nut is formed, in which a screw 9 works, having a
journal neck or bearing in the front plate a, at h; so that as this screw is
turned by a key applied at i, the picce e will be slidden to and fro in its dove-
tailed mortice f. These pieces e, e, e', have each a straight lever or bar j, j.j.
attached to them by the pins or screws k, k, k, the other ends of these levers
being attached by pins to an equilateral triangular lever 1, 1, 1, which turns
loosely on the central boss m, m, attached to the front plate; this central boss
may be either fixed or moveable, according as the chuck is to be used, either
excentric or concentric, or the chuck may be made excentric by merely
lengthening or shortening one or two of the arms or levers j, j. Now, it
will be seen that by this peculiar arrangement of leverage, upon turning the
screw y, the slide pieces e, e, e, with their nogs or dies c, c, c, will all be
simultaneously slidden to and fro in their mortices as required, and thus
acquire a very powerful binding or holding force: The front plate a, a, a, is
also provided with radial mortices or slots n, n, n, n, in order to bolt or secure
the work more firmly, and also thus enabling the chuck to be used as an
ordinary face plate for lathes, should occasion require. Figure 4 shews

page_text: an arrangement of this apparatus in which the leverage is worked by means of
a wormo and wheel p, instead of a nut and screw, the worm wheel also serving
for the triangular lever l; and Figure 5 shews an arrangement of the leverage
doubled or strengthened, as it may be arranged for chucks of a large size
and power. It will be seen that these Figures have corresponding letters of
reference placed upon similar parts of the apparatus.
Having now particularly explained the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same may be practically applied, I desire it to be
understood that I claim the peculiar and novel arrangement and construction
of apparatus constituting an universal chuck, without being confined to the
precise numbers, lengths, or dimensions of the leverage j, j, j, 1, 1, 1, working
upon the central boss m, m, which apparatus may also be applied to various
other useful purposes and machines as a brake for cranes, or locomotive engine
and carriage wheels, the arrangement to be worked in a similar manner to the
chuck; the blocks for holding or binding to be worked with rods and eyes,
instead of fitted slides as in a chuck, or as an expanding paddle wheel for
propelling steamboats and other vessels; the expanding motion, in this case,
having a greater number of levers, equal to the number of floats on the
paddle wheel, or as an expanding pulley used in machinery for spinning
cotton and other materials, or as a contracting motion for bringing forward
any number of dies in a screwing machine, for cutting bolts, &c., any or all, or
any other application of which improved expanding and contracting apparatus,
I also claim.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Stivens, have hereunto set
my.
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
ALEXANDER (L.s.) STIVENS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eighteenth day of May,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Alexander Stivens, came before
o our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of May, in the year above written.