IMPROVEMENTS IN HARDENING STEEL PENS AND OTHER STEEL ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Hipkiss, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Metal Roller, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HARDENING STEEL PENS AND OTHER STEEL ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE.”
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 18th November 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Hipkiss at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1870.
I, RICHARD HIPKISS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Metal Roller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HARDENING STEEL PENS AND OTHER STEEL ARTICLES, AND IN
APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
When steel pens and other steel articles are heated in contact with
atmospheric air prior to subjecting them to the ordinary hardening

page_text: process, that is, plunging them in a heated state into a bath of oil or
other cooling medium, oxide of iron or scale is formed on their surface,
the said oxide or scale having to be removed by a subsequent scouring
process.
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described
in heating steel pens and other steel articles for hardening, and in
apparatus for that purpose, by which improvements the said pens and
articles are hardened without the formation of oxide or scale on their
surface, and the ordinary process of scouring is thereby dispensed
with.
In hardening steel pens and other steel articles according to my
Invention I proceed as follows:-I take a cylindrical or other shaped
box or receptacle in which the articles to he heated are placed. This
box or receptacle is supported in and heated by a furnace or other
source of heat. One end of the box or receptacle is closed, with the
exception of a small hole, into which hole a gas pipe opens; the other
end of the box or receptacle is open, but when in use the said open end
is partly closed by means of a cap having an opening in it. I connect
the gas pipe at the closed end of the box or receptacle by means of a
flexible tube with an ordinary gas supply pipe, and thereby convey
carburetted hydrogen or illuminating gas to the said box or receptacle.
The steel pens or other steel articles to be heated for hardening are
placed in the box or receptacle through the open end, and the said box
and the articles placed therein are heated by the furnace in which the
box is situated. During the heating of the said pens or articles the
gas from the supply pipe described is allowed to pass into the box or
receptacle, so as to fill it, the gas escaping from the box at the open or
partly open end, where it is ignited and burns. The steel pens or other
steel articles are thus heated in contact with an atmosphere of car-
buretted hydrogen or illuminating gas, and in consequence of the
absence of oxygen no scale or oxide is formed on their surface during
the heating process. After the articles have been heated to the required
temperature the open end of the box or receptacle is depressed and the
contents fall through the flame at the said open end into a bath of oil
or other hardening medium, by which the said articles are hardened,
the bath being situated immediately under the open end of the box or
receptacle.

page_text: an
I do not limit myself to the particular construction of apparatus
described in which to heat the steel articles, nor to the use of an
atmosphere of carburetted hydrogen or illuminating gas, as
atmosphere of hydrogen gas or carbonic oxide, or other gas which
will not yield oxygen to the heated articles may be employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Hipkiss in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HIPKISS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Metal Roller,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Richard Hipkiss, Her special licence that
I, the said Richard Hipkiss, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Hipkiss, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 HARDENING
STEEL PENS AND OTHER STEEL ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT
PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Hipkiss, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 Richard Hipkiss, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
When steel pens and other steel articles are heated in contact with
atmospheric air prior to subjecting them to the ordinary hardening
process, that is, plunging them in a heated state into a bath of oil or
other cooling medium, oxide of iron or scale is formed on their surface,
the said oxide or scale having to be removed by a subsequent scouring
process.
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described
in heating steel pens and other steel articles for hardening, and in
apparatus for that purpose, by which improvements the said pens and
articles are hardened without the formation of oxide or scale on their
surface, and the ordinary process of scouring is thereby dispensed
with.
In hardening steel pens and other steel articles according to my
Invention I proceed as follows:-I take a cylindrical or other shaped
box or receptacle, in which the articles to be heated are placed. This
box or receptacle is supported in and heated by a furnace or other
source of heat. One end of the box or receptacle is closed, with the
exception of a small hole, into which hole a gas pipe opens; the other
end of the box or receptacle is open, but when in use the said open
end may be partly closed by means of a cap having an opening in it.
I connect the gas pipe at the closed end of the box or receptacle by
means of a flexible tube with an ordinary gas supply pipe, and thereby
convey carburetted hydrogen or illuminating gas to the said box or
receptacle. The steel pens or other steel articles to be heated for
hardening are placed in the box or receptacle through the open end, and
the said box and the articles placed therein are heated by the furnace
in which the box is situated. During the heating of the said pens or
articles the gas from the supply pipe described is allowed to pass into
the box or receptacle so as to fill it, the gas escaping from the box at
the open or partly open end, where it is ignited and burns. The steel
pens or other steel articles are thus heated in contact with an atmosphere
of carburetted hydrogen or illuminating gas, and in consequence of
the absence of oxygen no scale or oxide is formed on their surface
during the heating process. After the articles have been heated to the
required temperature, the open end of the box or receptacle is depressed

page_text: and the contents fall through the flame at the said open end into a
bath of oil or other hardening medium, by which the said articles are
hardened, the bath being situated immediately under the open end of
the box or receptacle.
I do not limit myself to the particular construction of apparatus
described in which to heat the steel articles, nor to the use of an
atmosphere of carburetted hydrogen or illuminating
gas as an
atmosphere of hydrogen gas or carbonic oxide or other gas which will
not yield oxygen to the heated articles may be employed.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation and Figure 2 in end elevation
an apparatus for heating steel pens and other steel articles for hardening,
the said apparatus being constructed according to my Invention;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 4 a transverse
vertical section of the same; Figure 5 represents a plan of the same
with the cover removed, and Figure 6 represents in elevation the cover
detached. The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the
several Figures of the Drawings.
The said apparatus consists of a furnace a and moveable cover b, the
said furnace and cover being made of plates of iron lined internally with
fire-brick or other protecting material; c are the fire-bars of the furnace,
and d is the ash-pit. The furnace a is fed with fuel by the doors e, e,
at each end of the furnace, and the ash-pit d is closed by the doors ƒ, f,
at each end of the furnace. Air for supporting the combustion of the
fuel on the fire-bars c, c, is supplied to the ash-pit d by perforations g, g,
in the sides of the said ash-pit. These perforations are opened or partly
closed, so as to regulate the quantity of air passing to the furnace by
the sliding perforated plates h, h, moved by the handles i, i. The
heated air and products of combustion escape from the furnace a by
the chimney or flue & in the cover b. I do not however confine myself
to placing the chimney in the cover. Across the top of the furnace a
a series of cylindrical boxes or chambers k is supported. In these
boxes or chambers the steel pens or other steel articles to be heated
are placed. The said boxes or chambers k, k, fit closely in semicircular
openings in the sides of the furnace (see Figures 1 and 3), the moveable

page_text: to the required temperature the several boxes or chambers are tilted so
as to depress their open ends. The contents of the boxes or chambers,
thereby fall through the flames at the said open ends into the bath or
baths of oil or other hardening medium q, q, situated under the said
5 open ends of the boxes or chambers. The heated articles are thus
bardened. During the heating process the boxes or chambers k, k,
may have a slow rotatory motion given to them in order to equalize the
heat. This motion may be given to each of the boxes or chambers by
hand, or the whole of the boxes or chambers may be geared together
and driven by hand or power, but ordinarily a rotatory motion is not
necessary.
Instead of heating the articles in the boxes or chambers in an
atmosphere of carburetted hydrogen or ordinary illuminating gas,
hydrogen gas, carbonic oxide, or other gas which will not yield oxygen
to the heated articles may be employed.
In place of the series of heating boxes or chambers represented one
or more large boxes or chambers may be employed, and instead of
making the heating boxes or chambers of a cylindrical figure they may
be square or rectangular in cross section.
The articles to the heating of which for hardening my Invention
is specially applicable are steel pens, penholders, needles, fish hooks, and
awl blades, but my said Invention may also be applied to the heating of
other steel articles for hardening.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same it is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly. The improvements in hardening steel pens and other steel
articles herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say, hardening the said steel articles without
the formation of oxide or scale on their surface by heating the said
articles in a box, chamber, or receptacle filled with an atmosphere
of carburetted hydrogen or illuminating gas, hydrogen gas, carbonic
oxide, or other gas which will not yield oxygen to the heated articles.

page_text: Secondly. The arrangement or combination of parts substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings
of apparatus to be used in heating steel articles for hardening.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hipkiss, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
RICHARD HIPKISS. (L.S.)