IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BELLS, AND
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Benton, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BELLS, AND
"
Sealed the 15th March 1861, and dated the 24th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Benton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1860.
I, THOMAS BENTON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BELLS,
AND IN ALLOYS OF METALS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BELLS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of bells,
and in alloys of metals to be used in the manufacture of bells.
The first part of the Invention consists in making bells of sheet steel or iron
alone, or alloyed in small proportion with some other metals, such as nickel,
manganese, tungsten, and other metals. In carrying out this part of my
Invention, I use discs of steel or iron of a plano-convex shape or other section;
these I draw or force into or through dies or moulds, either cold or at a red
heat, by hydraulic, steam, or other power. If the bell is deep, I prefer to
raise or form the same by passing it several times through or into the dies or
moulds, and annealing after each operation.

page_text: I also make bells by taking flat discs of steel or iron and forcing or drawing
them into or through dies or moulds at a red heat; by these means I greatly
facilitate the manufacture of such articles.
I make the clapper or hammer for bells of a slightly soft metal or elastic
substance, such as india-rubber alone or combined or vulcanized by coating an
iron or other metal core to form the clapper or hammer with the metals or
other substances.
The alloy I use for making bells is composed of equal parts of copper and
zinc; this proportion may be varied, so that a little more of either of the
metals may be used, but not greatly to alter the proportions of the alloy.
And I have found small quantities of tin and some other metals may be used
with advantage when making bells. This alloy is made in pots or other
vessels in the way usually practised when melting alloys of copper and zinc.
I also cast bells of alloys and combinations of steel and iron with phos-
phorous, with nickel, manganese, tungsten, titanium, copper, tin, or other
metals, in comparatively small proportions to the steel or iron used in such
manufacture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Benton, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BENTON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Benton, Her special licence, that I, the said Thomas Benton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Benton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BELLS, AND IN ALLOYS OF METALS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BELLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Benton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,,

page_text: 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 Thomas Benton, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of bells,
and in alloys of metals to be used in the manufacture of bells.
The first part of the Invention consists in making bells of sheet steel or iron
alone or alloyed in small proportion with some other metals, such as nickel,.
mangenese, tungsten, and other metals. In carrying out this part of my
Invention, I use discs of steel or iron of a plano-convex shape or other section;
these I draw or force into or through dies or moulds, either cold or at a red
heat, by hydraulic, steam, or other power. If the bell is deep, I prefer to
raise or form the same by passing it several times through or into the dies or
moulds and annealing after each operation.
I also make bells by taking flat discs of steel or iron and forcing or drawing
them into or through dies or moulds at a red heat; by these means I greatly
facilitate the manufacture of such articles.
I make the surface of the clapper or hammer for bells of a somewhat soft
metal or of an elastic substance, such as india-rubber (either alone or com-
bined or vulcanized); and this I do by coating an iron or other metal core
to form the clapper or hammer. In carrying out this part of the Invention,
when vulcanized india-rubber is used, the hammers are made of iron or other
suitable material, as heretofore, but the striking surface is clothed or coated
with vulcanized india-rubber, or the hammer may be of vulcanized india-
rubber.
Another part of the Invention consists in making bells of an alloy composed
of equal parts of copper and zine; this proportion may be varied, so that a
little more of either of the metals may be used, but not greatly to alter the
proportions of the alloy. And I have found small quantities, say a half per
cent. of tin, and some other metals, as antimony, nickel, and aluminium, may
be used with advantage when making bells of the alloy above described. This
alloy is made in pots or other vessels in the way usually practised when
melting alloys of copper and zinc.
Another part of the Invention consists in casting bells of alloys and con-

page_text: binations of steel and iron with phosphorous, with nickel, mangenese, tungsten,
titanium, copper, tin, or other metals in comparatively small proportions to the
steel or iron used in such manufacture. In carrying out this part of my
Invention cast steel or malleable cast iron is used, and when in a melted state
from one to three per cent., preferring about two per cent. of phosphorous or
of one of the metals above referred to, is added before pouring the metal into
the mould.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Benton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
THOMAS BENTON. (L.S.)