IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAPING AND PUNCHING METALLIC ARTICLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Blake, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAPING AND PUNCHING
METALLIC ARTICLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED
THEREIN."-A communication from abroad by Levi Dodge, of Waterford,
Co. Saratoga, State of New York, U. S. A.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Blake at tho
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1863.
I, DAVID BLAKE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAPING AND
PUNCHING METALLIC ARTICLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE
EMPLOYED THEREIN," a communication to me from abroad by Levi Dodge, of
Waterford, Co. Saratoga, State of New York, U. S. A., to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to the shaping and punching of metallic articles and
is more particularly applicable to the manufacture of the heads or
"polls"
of axes or hatchets although it may be applied to other articles requiring to be
swaged and punched or perforated.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in the holding or compressing

page_text: of the metal to be shaped and punched between shaping dies or matrices
whilst the operation of punching is being simultaneously effected.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention, which may be accom-
plished in various ways, the shaping is effected by means of two hinged dies or
matrices jointed to a vertically sliding block or cross head and pressed together
when brought down by the action of fixed inclines or otherwise so as to nip or
compress the metal to be shaped between them, the dies being so shaped
as to impart the desired form to the metal under treatment. The hole, when
required, is punched in the metal during the time, it is held, compressed
between the dies by means of a stationary punch, upon which the metal is
forced by the descent of the dies, or the dies may remain stationary whilst
the punch is being forced into the metal held between them. The dies or
matrices are opened or separated on rising by means of arms attached
thereto acting against fixed inclined ridges or projections in any convenient
part of the machine. The power employed to force down the sliding block
or cross head and matrices may be obtained from a bydrostatic press or from
the direct action of steam upon a piston, or by any mechanical combination
capable of giving the power required. In making the heads of axes or
batchets according to this Invention they are formed from a long length
of bar and severed therefrom when shaped and punched. The cutting
part is then welded to the head, and the lead is finally. shaped and
finished by being compressed between another pair of matrices of the
desired form..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Blake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
BLAKE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did for Herself, Her. heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said David Blake, Her special license that I, the said David Blake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Blake, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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
SHAPING AND PUNCHING METALLIC ARTICLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," a communication from abroad by. Levi Dodge, of.
Waterford, Co. Saratoga, State of New York, U. S. A., upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said David Blake, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and
scal of one of them, 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 David Blake, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to the shaping and punching of metallic articles,
and is more particularly applicable to the manufacture of the heads or "polls"
of axes or hatchets, although it may be applied to other articles requiring to
be swaged and punched or perforated.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in the holding and compressing
of the metal to be shaped and punctured between shaping dies or matrices
whilst the operation of punching is being effected.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention the shaping is effected
by means of two hinged dies or matrices jointed to a vertically sliding block or
cross head, and pressed together when brought down by the action of fixed
inclines or otherwise, so as to nip or compress the metal to be shaped between
them, the dies being so shaped as to impart the desired form to the metal
under treatment. The whole when required is punched in the metal during
the time it is held compressed between the dies by means of a stationary
punch, upon which the metal is forced by the descent of the dies, or the dies
may remain stationary whilst the punch is being forced into the metal held
between them. The dies or matrices are opened or separated on rising by
means of arms attached thereto acting against fixed inclined ridges or pro-
jections in any convenient part of the machine. The power employed to force
down the sliding block or cross head and matrices may be obtained from a
hydrostatic press or from the direct action of steam upon a piston, or by any
mechanical combination capable of giving the power required.

page_text: In making the heads of axes or hatchets according to this Invention they
are formed from a long length of bar, and severed therefrom when shaped and
punched. The cutting part is then welded to the head, and the head is finally
shaped and finished by being compressed between another pair of matrices of
the desired form.
purpose
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the corresponding
Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a side elevation of a machine for
shaping and punching the heads or "polls" of axes according to this Invention;
Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same drawn to a larger scale;
Figure 8 is a detail, also on a larger scale, of the dies and punch looking at
right angles to Figure 2; and Figure 4 represents details of a bar, one end of
which has been shaped and punched to form an axe head or "poll."
A is the base or foundation plate of the machine, and B, B, are two upright
standards secured thereon in any convenient and well known manner; near the
upper part of these standards is supported in suitable fixed bearings the main
shaft C, upon one end of which is keyed a large spur wheel D, which gears
into and.receives motion from the smaller spur wheel E fast on the driving
or first motion shaft F. This shaft works in bearings in the pillow blocks
G, G, and is provided with a fly wheel H and driving pulley I, extending from
standard to standard, and working in suitable vertical guides therein is a strong
metal sliding block or frame K, to which a vertical reciprocating motion is
imparted by the eccentrics L, L, keyed into the main shaft C of the machine.
These eccentrics work in contact with steel or gun metal bearing pieces a, a,
and b, b, respectively bolted to the upper edge of the block or frame K and to
the under edge of a cross bar M, forming a part of such sliding block or frame.
This bar M is connected at the centre by a chain to one end of a counter-
balance lever N, which works on a fixed centre O, and has suspended to its
opposite extremity a counterweight P to balance the weight of the sliding
block or frame K and the parts attached thereto. On the lower edge of the
sliding block or frame K a number of recesses are formed, as shewn at C, C,
in Fig. 3, and into these recesses are fitted so as to turn freely therein the
upper ends of the several hinged dies or shaping matrices. Q, Q, these dies
being arranged in pairs, as shewn in Figure 1. R, R, are the pins which
connect the dies or matrices with the sliding block or frame, and upon which
they work as fulera or centres; the inner faces of these dies or matrices are so

page_text: 66
shaped as to impart the desired form to the sides of the axe head or poll.
S, S, are checks or side plates bolted to the opposite sides of the sliding block
or frame K, for the purpose of retaining the hinged dies or matrices in their
places laterally. A strong bridle piece of metal T is placed across the lower
edge of the sliding block or frame between the dies or matrices forming each
pair, as shewn more clearly in Figure 2, and it is held in its place by the cross
bar U and nuts d, d. The lower part of this bridle picce imparts the thrust or
downward pressure to the metal to be punched and shaped, as herein-after
more fully explained, and in some cases it may have a recess formed therein,
as shewn at e, for the purpose of forming the enlargement on the head or
'poll" when required for picks and similar tools. This enlargement is shewn
at fin Figure 4. V, V, are the punches, which are here shewn as being fixed
to the bed plate A; they are each situate in the centre line between the dies
or matrices of each pair. W, W, are strong blocks, also secured to the bed
plate, the inner edges of each pair of blocks being inclined downwards and
inwards to any desired extent from the tops of the blocks, as shewn at 9, 9,
(Figures 1 and 3,) the remaining portion of the inner faces of these blocks
being left vertical, as at h, h. i, i, are antifriction rollers, connected by
straps k, k, to the lower ends of the dies or matrices. These rollers by running
along the inclined flanges 1, 1, when the dies or matrices are rising, causing
them to separate or open and release the metal held between them. X is a
bar attached to the sliding block or frame K, upon which the rod or bar to be
operated upon is supported or allowed to rest when placed in the machine.
66
The mode of operation of this machine is as follows:-The slide block K,
with its dies or matrices being elevated, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2, on one
end of a heated bar of wrought iron to be manufactured into axe heads or
polls," is introduced into the machine, as shewn in red lines immediately over
the punch, such bar being allowed to rest upon the support X. It is protruded
sufficiently far to bring its extremity a little beyond the stationary punch V so
as to present just sufficient metal to the action of the punch and dies as will
be required to form the axe "poll" or head. Figure 4 shews this bar with an
axe "poll" shaped and punched on the end thereof ready to be cut off and
forged out to receive the steel cutting edge, which may be welded thereon in
the ordinary or any other convenient and suitable manner. The bar having
been thus adjusted or placed in the near line the sliding block or frame K is
caused to descend by the action of the eccentrics L on the bearing pieces a on
a rotatory motion being imparted to the shaft C. This descent of the block K
and dies or matrices Q, Q, causes the latter to close inwards upon and compress
the two opposite sides of the bar, such closing of the dies being accomplished

page_text: by their sliding down the inclined surfaces 9, 9, of the fixed blocks W, the bar
being forced downwards in company with the dies by the pressure thereon of
the bridle piece T. The inner faces of the dies project slightly forward, so
that when closed, as shewn in Figure 3, the projecting part will pass slightly
under the part T, and obtain a certain amount of bearing thereon. As these
minor projecting parts of the dies Q are made slightly concave or rounded
internally, they will by their lateral pressure against the bar impart the
rounded form to the sides of the axe "poll" shewn in the lower or plan view
in Figure 4. By the time the dies have descended to the bottom of the
inclines g, and are about entering between the two parallel faces h, h, of the
blocks W, the bar will be brought in contact with the stationary punch V;
and during the remainder of this descent of the dies the bar will be forced on
to the punch, being at the same time held firmly, at the sides to prevent
bulging by the dies, which are kept closed by the parallel fixed surfaces h of
the blocks W. On the rising of the slide block K the bar will be raised from
off the punch, the dies maintaining a firm hold of it until they arrive at the
inclined parts g of the blocks W, when the roller i, by running along the
inclined flanges or ribs 1, will cause the dies.to open or separate and release
the end of the bar, which will be found to be perforated and shaped as
shewn in Figure 4, without any bulging, spreading, or splitting of the
metal.
In Figure 11 lave represented a machine provided with three pairs of dies,
and corresponding punches, which may be all of the same or different sizes
and shapes, as required.
Although I have more particularly described this Invention in relation
to the manufacture of axe heads or "polls," it is obvious that the same is
equally applicable to other articles requiring to be shaped and punched or
perforated by simply changing the form and size of the dies and punches as
required.
Other means, which will readily suggest themselves to the practical man for
producing the lateral pressure and descent of the dies, may be employed, and
the punches in lieu of being stationary may be made to rise and fall therefrom.
I do not confine myself to the precise means I have described for carrying this
Invention into effect.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―

page_text: 1st, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of machinery
or apparatus for shaping and punching metallic articles, substantially as
herein-before described.
2nd, the system or mode of shaping and punching or perforating the heads
of axes and other metallic articles wherein the metal to be shaped and punched
is compressed between moveable shaping dies or matrices whilst the operation
of punching or perforating is being effected, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Blake, have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of October One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
DAVID BLAKE. (L.S.)