AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF METALLIC SPOONS, FORKS, AND LADLES.
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Swingler, of the Parish of Aston-juxta-
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN
KINDS OF METALLIC SPOONS, FORKS, AND LADLES.".
Sealed the 28th August 1855, and dated the 13th March 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Swingler, at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1855.
I, SAMUEL SWINGLER, of the Parish of Aston-juxta-Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
CERTAIN KINDS OF METALLIC SPOONS, FORKS, AND LADLES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to such spoons, forks, auid'ladles as are made of
iron, and are coated with tin or other easily fusible metal or alloy."
My said Invention consists in preparing the surfaces of the said spoons,
forks, and ladles for receiving their coating, so that the said coating shall have
a smoother appearance than that effected by the ordinary method. I effect
the said preparation of the surface by combining the processes of rolling and
"pickling," that is to say, I roll the blanks, of which the spoons, forks, and

page_text: ladles are made, both longitudinally and transversely, and I pickle them or
treat them with dilute sulphuric, hydrochloric, or other acid. By a repetition of
the processes of rolling, cross rolling, and pickling, I produce a smooth surface
on the iron blanks which gives to the finished spoon, fork, or ladle a very
superior appearance to spoons, forks, and ladles made by the ordinary process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Swingler in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, 'SAMUEL
SWINGLER, of the Parish of Aston-juxta-Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Swingler, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Swingler,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Swingler, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF METALLIC SPOONS,
FORKS, AND LADLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Swingler, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Samuel Swingler, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
My said Invention relates to such spoons, forks, and ladles as are made of
iron, and are coated with tin or other easily fusible metal or alloy.

page_text: My said Invention consists in preparing the blanks for making the said
spoons, forks, and ladles by the method herein-after described, and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing. I will illustrate my Invention by describing
the manufacture of a spoon according to my said Invention, from which said
description the manufacture of forks and ladles will be sufficiently understood.
I take a flat bar of iron, Figure 1, and subject it to the process called "cross
rolling," which said process will be understood by reference to Figures 2 and 3,
that is to say, I pass the bar of iron, Figure 1, and marked a in Figures 2
and 3, between the rolls b, c, the said bar of iron a being introduced between
the rolls at their ends, as seen in Figure 2, and in a line parallel to the axes
of the said rolls. The pressure to which the bar a is subjected spreads out
the said end into the form represented at d, in Figure 4, and by afterwards
subjecting the other end of the bar a to the action of the rolls b, c, in the
manner described, the said other end becomes expanded into the form repre-
sented at e, Figure 4. The said ends d, e, are subjected to the action of the
rolls as often as may be requisite to produce the necessary amount of flattening
therein; but as the process of cross rolling is well known and commonly
practised in other manufacturing processes, I do not think it necessary more
particularly to describe the same. After the cross rolling described, I also
subject the blank, Figure 4, to longitudinal rolling, that is to say, the blank,
Figure 4, is passed between the rolls b, c, in a direction crossing the axes of
the said rolls. By this longitudinal rolling the transition from the thick to
the thin parts in the blank, Figure 4, is made more gradual than it is left
by the cross rolling, and a smooth surface is given to the middle of the blank
which has not been subjected to the cross rolling. Between the rolling pro-
cesses I subject the blanks to the process called "pickling," that is to say,
I immerse the said blanks in dilute sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, or such
other acid or mixtures of acids as will remove the scale from the surface of
the said blanks. By combining the processes of cross rolling, longitudinal
rolling, and "pickling," I produce on the blanks a smoother surface than can
be produced by the ordinary method of manufacture; and the finished spoons,
forks, and ladles, after they are tinned or coated with other metal, have a much
better appearance than when manufactured by the ordinary process. The
number of times to which I subject the blanks to the alternate processes of
cross rolling, longitudinal. rolling, and pickling, varies with the quality of the
iron used, and the degree of finish which I wish to produce.
Between the rollings the blanks are annealed from time to time as occasion
may require. The blank prepared as described is cut into the form of a spoon,
Figure 5, and the bowl is afterwards raised and the handle bent by the ordinary

page_text: methods. The manufacture of forks and ladles according to my Invention
resembles in all essential respects the manufacture of spoons as described, and
will be sufficiently understood from the description given.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention, the improvement or improvements in the manufacture of iron
spoons, forks, and ladles, herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, preparing the blanks from which the said spoons, forks,
and ladles are made by the combination of cross rolling, longitudinal rolling,
and pickling.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Swingler, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five..
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW..
SAMUEL SWINGLER. (L.s.)