AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHAPING PLASTIC MATERIALS, AND HOT, BUT NOT MELTED, METALS, BY MEANS OF PRESSURE, PERCUSSION, OR ROLLING
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Stanton Williams, of the City of Boston, in
the County of Suffolk, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of
the United States of America, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR SHAPING PLASTIC MATERIALS, AND HOT, BUT NOT MELTED,
METALS, BY MEANS OF PRESSURE, PERCUSSION, OR ROLLING."-A communi-
cation from the Inventor, Elbridge Wheeler, residing at Marlborough,
in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth oforesaid
Sealed the 8th December 1863, and dated the 16th June 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Stanton Williams
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th June 1863.
I, FRANCIS STANTON WILLIAMS, of the City of Boston, in the County. of
Suffolk, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the United States
of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHAPING PLASTIC MATERIALS, AND HOT, BUT NOT MELTED,
METALS, BY MEANS OF PRESSURE, PERCUSSION, OR ROLLING," a communication from
the Inventor, Elbridge Wheeler, a person resident at Marlborough, in the
County of Middlesex, and Commonwealth aforesaid, to be as follows:-
Said apparatus consists in a mould of solid material as contradistinguished
from moulds formed of powdered, granulated, or plastic material, which mould
is constructed substantially as described, so as to admit of the formation by
pressure, percussion, or rolling of various shapes and objects therein. These
moulds may be made of metal or of other solid material suitable for with-

page_text: standing the pressure and heat, if any, brought to bear upon them. The
interior configuration of these moulds when completed may be as perfect as
ordinary sand moulds used in the casting of metals, and they might in some
instances be made to take their place, but being of solid material they are
intended to effect for solid and plastic substances much the same results that
sand moulds do for molten or fluid ones, while they possess one great advantage
over them, which is, that after casting sand moulds are broken up in the
removal of the casting, while these moulds are simply dismembered, and are
then easily re-formed into other moulds, and are thus made to serve for any
number of successive operations.
When the Invention is employed for shaping material by pressure or
percussion, but not by rolling, the mould is formed of a bed plate, on which
rests another plate of similar lateral dimensions, but of any desired thickness,
which plate is perforated from its upper to its lower surface by a hole of any
required shape or size. This upper plate may be made to open into two or
more parts, which are all secured together and to the bed plate by suitable
fastenings, the design being to open the upper plate to discharge the object
formed therein, while in the operation of formation the upper plate is held
immoveable upon the bed plate. Thus an open box is formed with strong
sides and bottom, in which are to be arranged separate pieces so shaped as to
form the reverse of corresponding parts of the object to be produced. Thus
the interior of the box is converted into a mould, the exact counterpart of all
the faces of the object to be produced except the upper one, which is supplied
by a driver or plunger, whose under surface is made the counterpart of the
said object. The material is then placed in the mould and the driver inserted
over it, when by percussion or pressure thereupon the material takes the
desired form, filling the void spaces. By dismemberment of the mould the
formed object is released therefrom. When the force which forms the object
is applied by rolling, the box is formed by and at the junction of four rings or
collars which are changeable, and are applied to the ends of spindles which
overhang their bearings, so that an opening or groove is formed by and at
said junction, through which material can be passed and shaped by rolling.
In this box, or rather "trough," as it has but four boundaries, projections and
depressions may exist on or in its interior surface, formed in either of two
ways. They may be formed on the surfaces of the collars themselves where
they meet to form the groove, or pieces may be inserted, as in the box described
in the first form of the Invention, but they must be securely fastened each to
one or more of the surfaces forming the groove.
The arrangement of the collars on the spindles is as follows:-One forms

page_text: the bottom, another the top, and the two others the sides of the groove;
between these side collars one of the first named is clamped and the other
rotates, the arrangement being such that all or any of the collars may be
changed at will for others, in order to vary the size and form of the object to
be produced rolling without removal of the spindles from their bearings in
the rolling mill frame. The collars forming the top and bottom of the groove
may be eccentrically placed, or they may be made cam shaped for the formation
of bodies not parallel throughout their length. Sudden projections and depres-
sions within certain limits may be made in the upper and lower surfaces of the
object formed in the groove by depressions in or projections from the collars
forming the top and bottom of the groove. Depressions may also be made in
the sides of the rolled object by projections from the collars forming the sides
of the groove, but these projections must meet the periphery of the collars
forming the top and bottom of the groove, or one of them, and must be largest
there, otherwise the material will not deliver from the groove, but will join
therein. Depressions cannot be made in the collars forming the sides of the
groove for the purpose of making projections on the side of the object, because
the material cannot be delivered from such depressions as it is from those
in the top and bottom collars. Rolling in grooves has been performed here-
tofore by solid grooved rolls operating between the frames of a mill, so that
when such rolls are injured they have to be changed for others, and new rolls
have to be supplied to form new shapes, or where possible old ones are returned
to the desired form. But by changeable collars placed on overhanging ends
of spindles new shapes may be formed without disturbing the spindles in their
bearings either by changing some or all of the collars thereon, or retaining
the same collars by a change of the parts attached and fastened to their
surfaces, both ways serving to vary the form of the groove.
Without attempting to enumerate all the possible applications of this
Invention, they may all be comprised in the following general statement :-
The Invention is applicable to forging and forming hot and cold metals, and to
compressing plastic substances into any desired shape. For these purposes
dies have hitherto been used over which these moulds have decided advantages
in that, first, they render it possible to forge forms which cannot be produced
by dies; second, their comparative cost is but trifling owing to the separate
and independent fabrication of the parts. In dies depressious are cut into the
solid material thereof, which is an expensive process.
In this Invention, by the simple insertion of cheaply constructed separate
pieces, void spaces are left in the mould corresponding in function to the costly
depressions made within dies. A die too is useful only for its one particular

page_text: form of product, while in this Invention slight, and cheap changes in the
pieces which are or may be placed within the mould enable one to produce
a variety of forms in the same mould. A die, too, when worn or broken is
worthless, but in this Invention the wear or fracture of a part does not impair
the integrity of the other parts, and it may be easily and cheaply replaced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Stanton Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
STANTON WILLIAMS, of the City of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Francis Stanton Williams, Her special licence that I, the said
Francis Stanton Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Francis Stanton Williams, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "AN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING PLASTIC MATERIALS,
AND HOT, BUT NOT MELTED, METALS, BY MEANS OF PRESSURE, PERCUSSION, OR
ROLLING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis
Stanton 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
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 Francis Stanton Williams, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-

page_text: This Invention consists in a mould of solid material as contradistinguished
from a mould formed of sand, when constructed substantially as described, so
as to admit of the formation of various shapes under pressure, percussion, or
rolling. These moulds may be used in forging hot or cold metals, or in com-
pressing plastic substances into regular or irregular shapes. They may be
made of metal, of wood, or of any solid substance capable of resisting the
pressure brought to bear on them. The interior configuration of one when
completed may be as perfect as an ordinary sand mould used in the casting of
metals, and it may in some instances be made to take their place, but being
solid it is intended to effect for solid and plastic substances much the same
results that the sand mould does in castings, while it possesses one great
advantage over them, which is, that after a casting sand moulds are ordinarily
broken up to remove the casting, while these moulds are simply taken to pieces,
and the parts may then be re-formed into another mould, and thus serve for
any number of successive operations. When used for metals and operated by
pressure, percussion, or rolling, the apparatus should be of metal; when used
for compressing plastic substances it may be of wood or other solid substance.
In the application of the Invention to shaping metal or plastic substance
by pressure or percussion, but not by rolling, the process for which will be
described hereafter, the apparatus consists in a solid block or plate of metal
as a bed, upon the upper surface of which is placed another block or plate of
the same dimensions, but perforated throughout from its upper to its lower
face by a hole of any required shape or size. This upper plate may also be
furnished with a hinge on one of its lateral faces, and with screws or bolts on
its opposite face, so as to allow of its being opened laterally to remove the
object forged; while in the operation of forging it is held fast by its screws or
bolts. The two blocks or plates may either be securely bolted together, or the
upper may simply be kept in place, but in contact with the lower, by dowel
pins attached to one plate and penetrating or even perforating the other.
When thus united an open box is formed with strong sides and bottom. In
this "box" are to be arranged separate pieces of metal shaped as "reverses"
of the corresponding parts of the object to be produced. The interior of the
"box" is thus converted into a mould the exact counterpart of all the faces of
the desired object, except the upper one. Into the mould thus formed the hot
iron is now to be introduced, and a driver, whose under surface is made the
counterpart of the remaining face of the object wished, is stamped, hammered,
or compressed upon it. As all the parts are easily divisible into sections, though
kept in place by the box, while the apparatus is in use the operator can easily
"

page_text: release the forging, though depressions, undercuts, and projections may exist
on or in the various surfaces of the mould.
For illustration of this Invention I have selected an apparatus which
embodies it, and which constitutes an application of it to the manufacture of
horse-shoes. In the Drawings on Sheet 1, Figure 1 represents a cross
vertical section of this apparatus, the section being taken in the line 2, 2,
of Figure 2; Figure 2 represents in plan the lower portion of what is
embraced in Figure 1; Figure 3 represents a modification of what is shown
in Figure 2.
The "box" is represented by a, the lower block or plate by b, while the
plunger or driver is represented by c. a and b are made separate from each
other to facilitate the easy, accurate, and economical construction of the parts,
and the two are kept in contact either by bolts or dowel pins, as before described.
The line m, m', shows the lateral division of the upper block or plate, the
hinge being at m and the screws or bolts at m'. The shape of a corresponds
to and gives the contour of the outside edges of the shoe, while the piece d
forms the boundary to which the inner curve of the shoe is made to conform.
The piece e rests on b, and has its upper face shaped as the reverse of the
wearing face or "tread" of the shoe required to be made. The toe of this
piece is cut off as shown, so as to let the hot metal be forced into the recess
thus formed, and thus make the toe cork of the shoe, and the heel part of each
bar of e is cut bevelling to form recesses, bounded one way by the piece f, into
which recesses the hot metal is forced, thus making the heel corks of the shoe.
The ridges g on e form the nail-head grooves on either side of the shoe, the
hot metal being forced down over said ridges by pressure or blows exerted
through c. In preparing for operation, the pieces c, f, d, are placed in position
within a, upon b; and in the instance illustrated their shape is such that they
cannot be misplaced, and cannot be forced out of place by blows or pressure.
Whenever in forging other articles the equivalents of said pieces would be
liable to displacement in the forging or pressing process, they should be secured
in position by set screws or other suitable means of adjustment. That face of
c which is to be brought into contact with the hot metal is shaped the reverse
of that part of the shoe which comes into contact with the hoof. This driver
or plunger c is shown as provided with a carrier or holder h, which, though
not specially useful or needed in this case, is needed whenever the driver is
made in parts, for then the parts are confined in the holder by set screws or
other equivalent means. To make a shoe of smaller outline it is only needed
to fit within a a reducing piece a¹, and to make the obviously necessary changes

page_text: in c, and e, d, and f, as illustrated in Figure 3, which is shown as arranged to
make small plain shoes, without toe or heel corks. To make a "bar" shoe,
the piece e and the driver c should be continuous, corresponding to the shape
of the shoe to be made; and the pieces d and ƒ must be modified in shape to
the obvious requirements of the case; and if a has been made with a view to
the manufacture of "bar" shoes of a certain size and form, f may be entirely
dispensed with. A toe cork can be produced as before described, and other
corks can anywhere be made by depressions in or even by perforations through e.
In operating to make horse-shoes in accordance with this Invention the parts
a, b, d, f, and e, being in the position shown, the metal should be made ready
in bars which are narrower and thicker than the intended shoe; these bars are
heated and bent approximately to the general curve of the shoe, and when at
the right heat they are dropped within a, and the plunger or driver is then
inserted in a over the hot iron. Blows from a hammer or "drop" or pressure
being then applied to c, it is forced upon the hot metal, which expands and is
driven into all the unoccupied space, thus taking the desired shape. As the
part c fits the other parts like an annular piston, there is no formation of
"fins or thin pieces extraneous to the object which it is desired to form ;
and where there is no check or stop to the driver, the formation of the shoe
will always be perfect, though its weight and thickness will depend upon the
amount of hot metal subjected to be wrought. Whenever projections or
depressions are to be formed on the sides of an object of such a form or
location as to come in the side part of the mould, it is well, instead of making
a in pieces in order to disengage the object from the mould, to introduce
within a a piece or pieces corresponding to a', secured in any suitable manner,
so as to not weaken unnecessarily the "box"
"
a.
In the application of the Invention to the rolling of metal into regular or
irregular shapes, I propose to apply changeable rings or collars to the over-
hanging ends of rotating spindles or shafts in such a way that an opening or
groove is formed by and at the junction of the collars, into and through which
groove metal can be passed and shaped when the spindles are rotated. The
junction of these collars may be regarded as the "box" already described, and
projections and depressions may exist on its interior surface, formed in either
of two ways; they may either be formed on the surfaces of the collars them-
selves, where they meet to form the groove, or pieces may be inserted as in
the "box" already described, but they must be securely fastened by dove-
tailing, or otherwise, to such of the surfaces which form the groove as the
case may require. The arrangement of the collars on the spindles is as

page_text: follows: One of them forms the bottom and another the top of the groove, and
two other collars form the sides thereof. Between these side collars one of
the first named is clamped, and the other rotates, the arrangement being such
that the rings or collars, or any of them, or parts inserted therein, or clamped,
or held thereby, may be changed at will for others, in order to vary the size
and form of the object to be produced by rolling, without removal of the spin-
dles from their bearings in the frame or housing of the rolling mill. The
collars forming the top and bottom of the groove may be made eccentric or
cam shaped instead of cylindrical, for the formation of bodies which are not
parallel throughout their length. Sudden projections and depressions, within
certain limits, may be made in the upper and lower surfaces of the object
rolled through the groove by depressions in or projections on the collars
forming the top and bottom of the groove. Depressions may also be made
in the sides of the rolled object by projections. from the collars forming the
sides of the groove, but these projections must meet the periphery of the
collars forming the top and bottom of the groove, or one of them, and must
be largest there, otherwise the metal will not deliver from the groove, but
will jam therein. Depressions cannot be made in the collars forming the
sides of the groove, for the purpose of making projections on the side of the
rolled object, because the metal cannot be delivered from depressions in the
side collars as it is from the top and bottom ones.
On Sheet 2, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a rolling mill embodying my
Invention; Figure 2 is an end view of the same; and Figure 3 is a section
taken in the plane of the line z, z, in Figure 2, passing through the axis of
the rolls and overhanging spindles.
The "housings "of the mill or the frame is represented by a, the rolls by
b, b', the journals by c, and the overhanging spindles, which are continuations
of the journals beyond their boxes, by d, d'. Any desired number of collars
may be secured upon the spindles, but if in practice many grooves are formed,
one beyond the other, on the overhanging ends, provision should be made for
their support, as will be described beyond, because of the liability of the
spindles to spring as the distance is increased from the support to the point
where the work is done. One working groove is formed by the collars e, f, g,
on the upper spindle d, and by the collar h on the lower spindle d'. Two
working grooves are formed by the collars i, h, j, k, and lon d', and by the
collars e and 9 on d. These collars are firmly secured on the spindles by
being clamped between nuts m on screws n cut on the spindles, and shoul-
ders formed on the spindles near their bearings; and keys may be added to

page_text: prevent rotation of the collars on the spindles. Should it at any time be
deemed desirable to have so many collar-formed grooves on the overhanging
ends of the spindles as to render them liable to spring, said ends can be sup-
ported and yet not have the facility of access to them and the collars impaired,
and this can be accomplished as follows:-A frame, with suitable bearings
therein for the overhanging ends of the spindles, is arranged opposite said
ends, and so as to be capable of movement toward and from them, and so also
that it may be firmly clamped in that position in which it sustains the spindles.
When it is desired to have free access to the spindles, to change or adjust the
collars thereupon, the supplemental frame can be moved back upon its ways
or slide, and can again at any time be moved up into supporting position.
Prior to this Invention rolling in grooves has been performed between
the frames of the mill, grooves being made in the solid metal of the rolls, so
that when these are injured by wear or accident the rolls have to be changed
for others at heavy expense, and when new shapes are required to be rolled
new rolls have to be substituted, or else, when possible, the old ones have to
be turned to the desired form. By my Invention new shapes may be rolled
without disturbing the spindles in their bearings either by changing some or
all of the collars thereon, or retaining the same collars by a change of the
parts attached and fastened to their surfaces, both ways serving to vary the
form of the groove.
It would be impossible to enumerate all the applications of this Invention.
They may all be comprised, however, in the following concise but general
statement: "The Invention is applicable to forging hot or cold metals,
and to compressing plastic substances into regular or irregular shapes." For
these purposes dies have hitherto been used, over any and all of which these
moulds have decided advantages, in that, 1st, they render possible in.forging
certain forms which can never be produced by dies, and 2nd, their compara-
tive cost is but trifling, owing to the separate and independent fabrication of
the parts. In dies, depressions are cut in the solid material, which is always an
expensive process; in this Invention, by a simple insertion of cheaply con-
structed pieces, a void space is created in the "box" corresponding in shape
to the costly depressions in dies. A die, too, is only useful for its one parti-
cular form of product, while in this Invention slight and cheap changes in
the interior construction of the "box" enable one to make a variety of forms
in the same mould. A die, too, when worn or broken, is valueless; in this
Invention wear or fracture of a part does not necessarily impair the integrity
of the other parts.
In fine, what is claimed is the improved variable and solid mould, con-

page_text: structed and operating substantially as described, which facilitates the produc-
tion in solid and plastic substances of much the same results that an ordinary
sand mould does in casting melted substances.
Also the method of turning this Invention to account in the rolling of
metals, by the application of changeable collars to the overhanging ends of
rotating spindles.
Also the methods of supporting the overhanging ends of such collar bearing
spindles while in operation in bearings formed in a movable frame, so as to
operate as described.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh
Witnesses,
S. M. MINTIRE,
FRANCIS GOULD.
FRANCIS STANTON WILLIAMS. (L.S.)