CERTAIN IMPROVED MACHINERY OR MECHANICAL ARRANGE- MENTS FOR RAISING OR GIVING FORM TO ARTICLES FORMED OF SHEET METAL SUCH AS KNOBS, THIMBLES, FERULES, AND PARTS OF UMBRELLA AND PARASOL FURNITURE, BUTTON SHELLS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE SMALL ARTICLES."
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Baugh, Manager of Salt's Patent Enamel
Works, Bradford Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVED MACHINERY OR MECHANICAL ARRANGE-
MENTS FOR RAISING OR GIVING FORM TO ARTICLES FORMED OF SHEET METAL
SUCH AS KNOBS, THIMBLES, FERULES, AND PARTS OF UMBRELLA AND PARASOL
FURNITURE, BUTTON SHELLS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE SMALL ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Baugh at
the "Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th August 1859.
I, BENJAMIN BAUGH, Manager of Salt's Patent Enamel Works, Bradford
Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature
of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVED MACHINERY OR MECHANICAL
ARRANGEMENTS FOR RAISING OR GIVING FORM TO ARTICLES FORMED OF SHEET
METAL SUCH AS KNOBS, THIMBLES, FERULES, AND PARTS OF UMBRELLA AND PARASOL
FURNITURE, BUTTON SHELLS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE SMALL ARTICLES," to be as
follows (that is to say) :-
My improvements in connection with the forming and shaping small articles
from sheet metal consist of an arrangement of parts deriving their motion from

page_text: any convenient power, such as steam, water, or otherwise as convenient, the
apparatus being so arranged as to maintain an up-and-down motion, which
carry the top tool or tools, the face part of which are to be of the shape of the
internal or concave part of the article I wish to make. The up-and-down
motion I regulate by the rise and fall of the bolster carrying the tool or tools
last described, or by elevating or adjusting the bed or lower part, and which
bed, in some instances, I prefer to reciprocate or revolve either vertically or
horizontally for the purpose of more readily placing on, and bringing under
the operation of the top tool or tools the required blanks, by the descending
action of which form is given to the article or articles I purpose making. It
will be seen, from this description, that I do not employ concussive force, as
the blow given by the ordinary process of raising articles by stamping hardens
and destroys the ductile condition of the metal (from which they are being
formed) before the full or complete shape is imparted to them; and in substituting
force instead of the usual blow, I also employ a single or compound pressure
plate, described in a Patent granted to William Hetherington, dated the 3rd of
August, 1852, No. 14,251. The use of this plate is indispensible to my arrange-
ments, as by this plate an annular pressure is exerted which holds and con-
fines the circular or other form blank or blanks of metal over corresponding
cavity or cavities. To the top tool or tools before described the metal blank or
blanks, being thus held and forced into form by the downward pressure of the
tool or tools, receive their shape without the use of a matrix or corresponding
cavity, as this part, which is so essential in the process of stamping, is objec-
tionable in mine, as the articles are formed and pushed down in and through
the corresponding hole or holes of the bed, a catch or catches being introduced
to free the article or articles so formed from the end or ends of the forming
tool or tools, in order that they may fall through into a proper receiver below.
I do not consider this arrangement applicable or necessary for large articles,
as the force necessary will be greatly increased with the size of the diameter
or circumference of the disc of metal under operation; and by confining its
operation to the smaller class of articles before named, I am enabled to work
the apparatus at a considerable velocity from 50 to 100 revolutions per minute,
and by placing vertical tubes over a cavity or series of cavities in my recipro-
cating or horizontal revolving bed, and the tube or tubes being charged with
blanks, it is evident that as the bed moves, and the cavity or cavities pass
under the feeding tubes, a disc will be placed in one or each cavity of the
series, which in their turn are brought under the operation of the forming tool
or tools before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Baugh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
BAUGH, Manager of Salt's Patent Enamel Works, Bradford Street, Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Benjamin Baugh, Her special license that I, the said Benjamin Baugh,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Baugh, my executors, administrators, or 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVED MACHINERY OR MECHANICAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR RAISING OR GIVING
FORM TO ARTICLES FORMED OF SHEET METAL, SUCH AS KNOBS, THIMBLES, FERULES,
AND PARTS OF UMBRELLA AND PARASOL FURNITURE, BUTTON SHELLS, AND OTHER
SUCH LIKE SMALL ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Benjamin Baugh, 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 Benjamin Baugh, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 (that is to say) :-
My improvements in connection with the forming and shaping small
articles from sheet metal, consists in cutting out and forming at one operation
circular or other suitable formed shells, such as the raised metal portions of
metal and Florentine buttons, capsules, the front parts of door knobs,
thimbles, ferules, open caps, neck joints, tips, and other suitable parts of
umbrella and parasol furniture, and such like description of articles requiring
to be raised from a flat surface, nor do I purpose producing such articles
singly as it is a mere matter of adjustment of the tools to their respective

page_text: beds, to enable me to cut out and form six at a time, or more or less, as
convenient, the metal being suitably passed between self-acting feed rolls;
and in some instances, where necessary, each shell so produced may be pierced
in or near the centre, which is frequently the case in forming shells or parts
for buttons. And in the formation of these shells or such like other articles
herein-before enumerated, I apply the principle of an annular pressure plate
or ring, as described (on a large scale) in a Patent granted to William
Hetherington on the 31st day of August 1852, No. 14,251, in which Patent
the said William Hetherington describes his Invention as important in the
raising of large articles from sheet metal, nor does he comprehend the
operating on more than one article at a time; and in the application of his
principle (namely, that of holding or pressing the edge or periphery of the disc
intended to be formed during the time the desired shape is being imparted
to it,) is an essential and important quality in realising my Invention, as all
puckering of the metal shell so formed is thereby avoided. And in giving
effect to my improvements, in combination with the pressure plate, I purpose
in some instances for it to perform the double operation, namely, of cutting
out the disc as well as holding it down during the descent of a concentric
forming tool (the end of which, being of the shape intended to be imparted
to the disc,) descends and presses it into form, in doing which the article
formed will be pressed through a hole to be knocked off below the bed as the
forming tool rises for the next operation, the up-and-down action of which
being given from an eccentric or crank formed on a shaft suitably mounted
with fast and loose pulleys, in order that it may be put to work by steam,
water, or other convenient power, and I regulate the rise and fall or range of
the cutting out and pressure ring, also the centre or forming tools, by a
cam or cams, or eccentrics, or other suitable means, as also the bolster (if
required to be regulated) through which the pressure ring and forming tools
works, or the bed may be made to rise or fall for the same purpose.
And for the production of articles wherein it may not be desirable to cut out
and form at one operation, I introduce the blanks to the forming tool by
placing them in a vertical tube held above the bed, the exact thickness of a
blank, and by using a steel blade of the same thickness, brought into action
by the motion of the press, a blank is forced out and carried to a sunken
cavity for the pressure ring to descend on it before the concentric forming
tool descends to put it into shape; but instead of using a blade of steel to carry
the blanks from the feed tube or tubes, the bed may be made to revolve or
reciprocate, taking care to sink cavities in that part of the bed that passes
under the feed tube or tubes, such cavities being of the exact depth of the

page_text: (two only of which are
the glands of the eccentrics E³, E¹, and at the lower ends the rods D', D', are
attached to the part F¹, F, which is fitted at the ends with vertical glands,
marked G¹, G¹, for clipping the vertical guide rods H, H, and on the under
side of the part F, F, the bolster I' is applied for receiving the concentric
forming tools, herein-after to be referred to; but in these Drawings I have
exhibited three, as will be hereafter seen, for convenience of description, the
one being in a line, to be obscured by the other, and which tools are
marked g and a¹, and may be adjusted in any suitable way. On the top
side of the bolster I¹ a flange is applied, through which the screws J', J¹, pass,
for holding it to the part F. K' is the pressure plate holder and guide, which
extends from side to side, and is also fitted with vertical angular glands
marked L', L', for clipping the guide rods H', H'. The part K' derives its
motion from being connected by four connecting rods
seen in this view, marked M', M',) to the cross-head N', N¹, which, like the
parts F¹ and K', is fitted with vertical angle clips or glands, marked O¹, O',
for clipping the guide rods H³, H'. The cross-head N¹ has openings in it for
the connecting rods D¹, D', to work freely through, as indicated by the dotted
lines. In the centre of the top side of the part N' the projecting ears or lugs
are formed for carrying the friction roller P₁, for working against the cam Q',
and which is held to its work by a clip or ring, marked R', R', with the front
part broken away, for the purpose of exhibiting the cam Q' and friction
roller P¹. The bed marked S¹, S', is exhibited, principally in dotted lines,
standing behind the lower feed roll X. This bed or its internal part is
intended to be held and set in any convenient way, and to be removed with
the forming tools, and replaced by others as desired, or according to the size
and shape of articles I wish to make. And with this general description, we
will assume that a strip of metal of the desired width has been placed to the
mouth of the feed rolls, the same being adjusted to the thickness of the metal
desired to be used by the set screws m", m", and the band, being placed on
the fixed pulley O, will put the machine to work, and with each revolution
of the shaft L, a desired quantity of metal will be advanced by the feed rolls,
and which quantity may be regulated by adjusting the position of the pin S
on the shaft K, as well as by the lever and pall before described, as working
on the axis of the ratchet by which the feed rolls are actuated; and as soon
as the metal is in position, the cam Q' will have passed around, so that its
greatest amount of eccentricity has passed away from the top of the clip R¹,
and is pressing on the friction roller P¹, which, as a consequence from its
connection with the part K', has caused the cutting-out tools (hereafter to be

page_text: referred to) to descend and press on the blanks so cut out by its descending
action, during the descent of the forming tools, which being connected by the
rods D', D', to the eccentrics E', E', which are now exerting their force in
forming and drawing the shell blanks from under their respective pressure
plates to take them down through the bed in a finished state, the holes of
which being the exact size of the forming tools and the thickness of the metal
of which the shells are formed, not only forces them through in a true and
finished condition, but in the usual way. When the tools return by the
revolution of the machine, the shells formed will fall off and drop on an
inclined plane in the base G, marked k", k", to slide down into receivers
placed for them; and a continuation of the action of the machine will repeat
and continue the like operation, thus avoiding all necessity for sinking dies,
as also the necessity for repeated annealings, as I am enabled by this arrange-
ment to cut out or shape and form button shells or such like articles at one
operation, and produce them at a very rapid rate in proportion to the velocity
with which I work my machine, and the number of pressure plates and
forming tools that may be set in it. This advantage is gained principally
from my using pressure in counterdistinction to the concussive force of a
blow, which destroys the ductility of the metal, rendering it hard and ill-
conditioned for receiving the desired form without annealing and repeated
blows, as now commonly practised, with dies, and the use of a stainp hammer.
And before passing to the next sheet, I will observe, that the way I prefer
producing the cutting out tools, which also form the pressure plates, is by
turning cavities on the under side of the part K', or an additional portable
plate, the centre of which cavities form the holes through which the forming
tools descend, and which cavities may be the exact size of the disc I wish
to cut out, and into these cavities I apply rings of steel, the concentric holes
of which are to be the same size as the forming tools, and in the bed
corresponding sunken cavitics are formed, but larger, into which rings of
steel are also fitted with a sunken part the counterpart of the top or steel
ring last described, so that as it descends with the action of the press, the
meeting of the steel rings will not only cut out the desired blank, but will also
hold it in its place, and retain it for the descent of the top tool to form and
push it through. And should it be found in practice that the shell so formed
should not readily fall from the forming tool, as it rises up for the next stroke
any simple arrangement may be applied below the bed for knocking them off.
Fig. 2, Sheet Two, is a side view of Figure One, with the pinion R on the
shaft L, as well as the cog wheel Q on the shaft K, shown in dotted lines,
resting on the side supports H, and to avoid confusion, the eccentrics and

page_text: cam, as well as the part R' Figure One, for clipping the cam are not shown,
and the axis of the feed rolls, the bottom one of which is marked Y and
shown in section as the means for actuating is also omitted, and the periphery
of the rolls is indicated by dotted circles. And T¹ and U¹ are the axes of a
pair of rolls put behind, working simultaneously, and in unison with the feed
rolls; the use of these rolls is for pulling through the strip of metal after the
blanks have been cut from it, and if necessary a simple self-acting cutting
apparatus may be applied for dividing up the waste or perforated strip as
advanced through the pulling through rolls, but which apparatus I have not
thought it necessary to show as it is not essential to my Invention.
And as
the other working parts are principally obscured in this view as well as the
connecting rods marked D', D' in Figure One they are entirely omitted, but
the parts that are seen are marked with the same letter as in the former
Figure. Fig. 3 represents a detached view of the parts for actuating the feed
and pulling through rolls showing the eccentric pin S, and shaft K, K, the
latter being shown partly in dotted lines, the connecting rod T with a slot and
set screw at the bottom end, as also a slot in the lever at which works on
the axis of the ratchet U, and to the lever the pall 6 is attached, and held
to its work by the spring c", so that as the eccentric pin S is carried around
by the shaft K, so the lever is worked and thereby causes the ratchet to
revolve. V, V, is a cog wheel shown in dotted lines also working on the same
axis as the ratchet wheel U, and which wheel is geared to the pinions W',
and V, and which pinions are also shown in dotted lines in connection with
corresponding ones below, and the axes of these pinions which are shown in
section also form the axes of the feed and drawing through rolls, the true
working of which this Figure is intended to represent, with this exception, that
supposing the centre wheel V, V, to be moving in a contrary direction to that
here shown it would be necessary for it to gear with the lower side pinions
instead of the top ones, and in which position they are represented in Figure
One.
Fig. 4, Sheet Three, represents an irregular vertical section of Figures One
and Two taken through the dotted lines X, Y, showing one of the eccentrics
working within the gland E¹ for actuating the bolster F, while the cam and
friction roller described in Figure One as marked P', Q', are here shown
in dotted lines, and by referring to the part marked A", A", as set and held
to the part K, K, it will be seen that the parts or projections d" and ell
stands right over corresponding cavities in the portable or adjustable bed S',
and it is by the descent of the part A", A", and the metal in the position
here shown marked B", C", passing between the rolls and resting on the bed,

page_text: that the blanks are cut out to be afterwards formed by the descent of the
forming tools f and 9", which will take the shells as formed through the holes
and to fall down on the inclined plane k", k", as before described; the
screws and m¹ are for adjusting the feed and pulling through rolls to the
thickness of metal that may be under operation. Fig. 5 is a transverse
section of the bolster as taken through the dotted lines E and F, drawn to a
large scale, showing the forming tools f, g, and p", as also the means of
adjusting them, which is effected on the outside by the set screw q", and s
and laterally by the wedges t", u", and v, with their respective screws w¹l, xll
and y", and from this Figure it will be readily seen that by the slackening
or tightening up of either of the screws the greatest delicacy of adjustment
may be obtained.
Fig. 6, Sheet Four, represents a transverse section of Figure One taken
through the dotted lines A and B showing the openings for the connecting
rods marked D¹ in connection with the eccentrics E', E', to work through,
and the position of the vertical rods M³, M³, are indicated by the circles
marked with the same letter, and the part R', R', is a section of the clip
secured to the part N¹ by screw bolts or other convenient way; this part is
represented in vertical section in Figure One with the front part broken off for
the purpose of showing the friction roller P¹ and cam Q. Fig. 7 is a
transverse section taken through the dotted lines C and D of Figure 1
showing the part F, F, extending from side to side for working in the guide
rods H¹ and clips G¹, and in this view the connecting rods D', D', are shown
in section, as also the vertical rods M², M³, which are united at the top to the
part N, N, Figure Six, and at the bottom to the part which, for general
description, has before been marked K', on the under side of which the
cutting out and pressure plates are either formed or applied as exhibited in
the section, Figure Four marked A", and Fig. 8 is a transverse section of
Figure One taken through the dotted lines E and F, showing the side supports
or standards H as united to the bed I by screw bolts, which are also here
shown in section; and in this Figure we have a perfect top view of the
ratchet U, U, and cog wheel V working on the same axis, and geared to the
pinion V and W for giving motion to the feed and drawing through rolls as
before described, and this view also enables me to exhibit the adjustable
bed S' with the sunken cavities corresponding with the projections marked
d and e, Figure Four, as also the concentric holes for the forming tool to
descend with the shells produced. The bed S' as before described is capable
of being replaced and adjusted by the set screws 2", "; and Fig. 9
represents a forming tool, say for distinction f", Figure Four, drawn to full

page_text: size as suitable for raising the front shells of buttons passing through the
pressure plate or pressure plate holder represented in section marked A",
but instead of forming the pressure plate out of the same, I prefer fitting in
(as here exhibited) a steel ring marked du, d". The bed S¹, S¹, is also
represented in section with a steel "pulling through ring" let into it as
at a, a, and 6, 61, is also a steel ring which forms the cutting out bed,
as the opening on its top side is the exact size of the angles c¹¹, cl, of the
cutting out ring d¹¹; and in a general way I prefer using the steel rings as
here represented, as they may be easily removed or changed as required; thus
the ring d¹¹¹, by its descent, and as it enters the hole in the ring 6 cuts out
the blank from the metal resting on it marked C and B", and at its full
descent the annular surface of the ring d holds the blank on the top of the
ring a, for the descent of the forming tool f" to form the blank into the
desired shape, and push it down through the ring a.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention for the production of the
general class of small articles raised from sheet metal at one operation without
the expense of dies, annealing, and the repeated operations now in use, and the
manner in which the same may be carried in effect, for the producing the
description of articles berein-before named, I wish it understood that I do not
purpose confining myself to the general arrangement or form or construction
of the machine herein-before described and exhibited, as the whole may be
considerably altered or modified, as, for instance, the machine may be worked
(without departing from the spirit of my Invention) horizontally instead of a
vertical position, or the eccentrics and cams may be placed at the bottom, and
the work produced and delivered at the top, and again, when the constructing
of the working parts of the machine does not comprehend the double action of
cutting out and forming the feed, and drawing through rolls are not required,
as I purpose using what I have before termed feed tubes, in which case the
bed may be made to revolve or reciprocate for the purpose of placing the
blanks in the right position to be carried to the forming tool or tools, the
action of the bed being moved and timed with and in unison with the
ascending and descending action of the forming tool or tools, or the blanks
may be carried to the forming tools by other means, and a fixed bed used,
but what I claim and wish to protect by these my in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
Firstly, the general arrangement of machinery herein-before described in
connection with the use of the pressure plate, the same being used for the
double purpose of cutting out and holding the metal during the time of
forming, by which means button shells and such like articles may be pro-

page_text: duced at one operation, of great truth and superior quality, at the rate of sixty
per minute, or more or less according to the number of tools used.
Secondly, I claim the general use of the pressure plate in the production
of small articles not comprehended in the Specification of the original Patentee,
wherein two or more such like articles are held and pressed into form at one
operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Baugh, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent, Birmingham.
BENJAMIN BAUGH. (L.S.)