Improvements in the Method of Securing Diamonds for Tool Purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 9th May, 1891-Accepted, 4th July, 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of Securing Diamonds for Tool
Purposes.
I ALBERT DITTER, of 21 Wilsnacher Strausse Berlin, in the Empire of
Germany, Science Teacher, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention for improvements in the method of securing diamonds for tool
purposes has for its object to secure the diamond, without employing any special
holding material and without splitting the steel or iron in which the diamond is to
be secured and without any soldering, which is necessary in all known manners of
setting and consists in fixing the diamond securely and firmly in the body of the steel
or iron without the aid of any other substance, and so that the steel or the iron in
which the diamonds are set can be hardened after the diamonds are secured in
place which is impossible with all known methods of setting diamonds, as the
soldering of course will melt away by employment of the heat.
The principal advantage attained by this invention is a reduction of the wear of
the tool, on account of its working head being hardened and the diamonds not
being surrounded by weak soldering substance, but set in the hardened metal and
the setting being effected, under heat, so that the diamond can not sustain any
injury, which frequently occurs in the usual process, by which the setting is partly
effected in the cold, without this injury being detected until the tool is used.
The process is as follows:-The material employed in the tools is a piece of
welding-steel or iron in the shape of a flat band of sufficient strength or a bar or a
plate or the like, provided with a bored hole in the place where the diamond is to
be set. The bored hole should have a diameter only a trifle larger than the
diamond when in its proper position. After having ascertained by experimentally
putting the diamond into the bored hole, that it has the required clear width and
depth, the diamond is taken out, the steel or iron is made glowing hot and is screwed
lightly in a vice at the end where the bored hole is. Then the diamond is quickly
placed in the bored hole its right position and by carefully screwing up the vice
is partly enclosed in the heated metal so that it is firmly held during the next
operation and cannot get loose. This first pressing of the diamond in the bored
hole serves also as a safe indication of its fitness for use as with a hidden flaw in
the diamond it would burst by the pressure exerted on it. In this way the
production of a solid and useful tool is ensured.
As soon as the diamond is set firmly in its proper position the steel or iron is
made red hot and then the diamond is firmly enclosed by careful welding and at
the same time the proper shape may be given approximately to the steel or iron
piece.
During the entire process shifting of the diamond may be avoided by carefully
administering the blows of the hammer; very often only a few hammer-blows
are required to firmly secure the diamond in the steel or iron and without any
solder.
After allowing the head to cool slowly the cutting edges of the diamond are laid
bare by filing away superfluous metal and then the steel or iron is hardened.
The principal advantages of this method of securing the diamonds are the
thoroughly simple and safe setting of diamonds, which are not loosened by any amount
of use and the increased life of the tool, as the metal is hardened and consequently
lasts longer, and a diamond secured in this way, can be laid bare to a greater
extent, without the risk of bursting or breaking, as when secured by the usual

page_text: process, in which the steel is split and then soldered together, which also prevents
an advantageous hardening.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
The method of securing diamonds for tool purposes in steel or iron without
solder and with advantageous hardening, consisting in boring the steel or the iron
with a hole corresponding to the diamond, in then heating it to a welding
temperature and introducing the diamond into the bored hole, in pressing or
squeezing the softened metal around the diamond so as to hold it firmly in its
proper position and then after renewed heating in firmly embedded it in the body
of the steel or iron by means of hammer-blows without soldering, and, when cool,
in baring the cutting edges of the diamond and finally in hardening the steel or
iron substantially as described.
Dated this 9th day of May 1891.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.