Year: 1886

page_text: I, HENRY HAMMOND, residing at 156 Dixwell Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut,
one of the United States of America, blacksmith, 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 the following statement :-
This invention is a new and peculiarly formed ax-blank, used in making axes
according to the process hereinafter described.
The first ten Figures, of the accompanying drawings, represent the process when
executed in the manufacture of a steel ax; while the last ten Figures, illustrate
the process when performed in the manufacture of an ax-poll of iron or other metal,
which ax-poll may be furnished with an ax-bit, and thus be made into an ax in
any proper manner.
Figures 1, and 2, are a side view and cross section, respectively, of a bar of steel,
made preferably by rolling, and having a uniform cross section throughout its
length. Figures 3, and 4, represent an ax-blank, made by cutting off the bar of
Figures 1, and 2, on the left hand dotted line of Figure 1. Figures 5, and 6,
illustrate the blank of Figures 3, and 4, after its lower portion has been drawn
down into the form of the blade of an ax, and its upper part has been slightly
changed in contour to make it correspond with the ordinary form of the head of
an ax. Figures 7, and 8, show the blank of Figures 5, and 6, after a chisel has
been forced into one of its edges, and a tapering recess has been thus formed
therein, in the place where the eye is to be located, and extending nearly through
the blank from edge to edge. Figures 9, and 10, depict the blank of Figures 7,
and 8, after a chisel has been forced into the other edge thereof, and through it
into the tapering recess in the opposite edge, and thus through the entire blank
from edge to edge, and after the eye of the ax has been completed, and the cheeks
of the ax expanded to the ultimate position and contour desired.
Figures 11, and 12, are a side view and cross section, respectively, of a bar of
iron, or other metal, manufactured preferably by rolling, and having a uniform
cross-section throughout its length, and which bar, for axes of the same size, will
be narrower than that of Figures 1, and 2. Figures 13, and 14, represent an
ax-poll-blank made by cutting off the bar of Figures 11, and 12, on the left hand
dotted line of Figure 11. Figures 15, and 16, illustrate the blank of Figures 13,
and 14, after its upper part has been slightly altered in contour to make it
correspond with the common form of the head of an ax, and its lower portion has

page_text: been curved and thinned as represented in those Figures. Figures 17, and 18,
show the blank of Figures 15, and 16, after a chisel has been forced into both of
its edges, and a tapering recess been thus formed in each, in the place where the
eye is to be located. Figures 19, and 20, depict the blank of Figures 17, and 18,
after a chisel has been forced into one of those recesses, and through the metal that
separates it from the other, and then through that other, and thus through the
entire blank from edge to edge, and after the eye of the ax-poll has been completed,
and its cheeks expanded to the ultimate position and contour desired.
To manufacture axes according to my new process, steel bars may be rolled or
otherwise made, into the form shown in Figures 1, and 2, and may be cut up into
blanks, of uniform length, somewhat shorter than the width of the ax to be made.
Then such a blank may be forged into the form of Figures 5, and 6, and then the
eye is made with one or more chisels or punches having inclined sides, which, as
they penetrate the metal, force the sides of the blank apart, at the eye portion, to
the ultimate thickness desired for the ax at that place.
Or, bars of iron, or other metal may be rolled, or otherwise made into the form
shown in Figures 11, and 12, and may be cut up into blanks and made into
ax-polls, in substantially the same way that the blanks of Figures 3, and 4, are
made into axes. Then those ax-polls may be made into axes by the application of
ax-bits thereto, in any proper manner.
The blank of Figures 5, and 6, or that of Figures 15, and 16, may be produced
otherwise than as stated above, and the eye of the ax or the ax-poll may be made
before the described forming of the lower portions of those blanks, respectively.
I recommend that the eye be formed without expelling any metal from the
blank, but the penetrating instrument may have a blunt edge, which will expel
a small amount of metal, while it also makes room for itself, by forcing the metal
side wise, and thus expanding the cheeks as described. I also recommend that one
or more tapering recesses be first formned, and afterward enlarged into the eye; but
the eye may be made without any preliminary punching. So also I recommend
that the indicated cutting and forging be done with dies and chisels operated by
machinery, but the whole may be done with hand tools.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
A blank for an ax, ax-poll, batchet or other analagous article, the head of which
is substantially identical in thickness with the head of the article to be made, and
the eye portion of which is as thick as any other portion except the head, and as
thick as the aggregate of the two cheeks of the article to be made; all substantially
as described in the foregoing specification, and as illustrated in Figures 3, and 4, 5,
and 6, or Figures 13, and 14, 15, and 16, of the accompanying drawings.
T
1000