IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FORGING METALS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gage Stickney, of Hanover Street, Pimlico;.
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer, for the In-
vention of IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FORGING METALS."-A
communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gage Stickney
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd September 1853.
I, GAGE STICKNEY, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FORGING METALS" to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of machinery wherein
forge hammers or dies are raised to any desired elevation, and guided
in their descent, so that by one blow the heated metal under operation
may
be struck into the required form; or, when the work is more
complex, the metal may be subjected to different dies or hammers in
succession to bring it up to shape at one heating. For this purpose a
vertical standard rising from a bed-piece fitted with dies or blocks to
withstand the blow of the descending hammers is provided, and in the

page_text: standards two, three, or more pairs of vertical guides are formed. In
these guides the ascending and descending hammers move, their upward
traverse being effected by a central screw shaft, into the thread of
which a sliding tooth attached to the hammer takes. The continuous
rotation of the shaft will lift the hammers severally into contact with
a stationary lock, by which they will be respectively held in suspen-
.sion.
The plates which hold these locks are capable of being set to any
required elevation--to suit the fall of the hammer, the depth of. which
fall will be determined according to the work in hand. When a
hammer has been raised to the required height its sliding tooth is
thrown out of contact with the screw shaft, and the hammer is sup-
ported in its raised position by the lock taking on to the outer end of
the sliding tooth. At this time the hammer is rendered independenț
of the screw shaft, and it will be capable of falling past it when the
lock which holds the hammer in suspension is withdrawn therefrom.
The descent of the hammer or die is effected either by hand or by me-
chanical means, while the heated metal is presented to the action of.the
dies, the lock for this purpose being thrown out of connexion with
the sliding tooth of the hammer.
When the hammer has fallen the central rotating screw will again
act upon it, and raise it, as before, up to the lock, which will hold it in
its elevated position ready for repeating the blow at the will of the
operator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Gage Stickney in the Great Seal Patent Office
· on the 3rd March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GAGE STICKNEY, of Hanover Street, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Engineer; send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Gage Stickney, Her special
licence, that I, the said Gage Stickney, my executors, administra
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Gage, Stickney, 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 "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR FORGING METALS," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Gage Stickney, by.
an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, 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 Gage Stickney, 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 Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
•
This Invention relates to a novel construction of machinery wherein
forge hammers or dies are raised to any desired.elevation, and guided.
n their descent, so that by one blow the heated metal under operation
may be struck into the required form, or, when the work is more com-
plex, the metal may be subjected to different dies or hammers in succes-
sion to bring it up to shape at one heating.
In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1, shews the improved machinery
for forging metals in side elevation. Fig. 2, is a sectional plan of the
samc, taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3. is a sectional eleva-
tion taken near the line 3, 4, of Fig. 1. a, a, is a cast iron bed
supported by a suitable foundation of brickwork or masonry, and carry-

page_text: four standards b, b. Bolted to the inner face of these standards arc
V guides c, formed of angle iron, as shewn in the plan view, Fig. 2.
These guides are arranged in pairs, and are intended to receive between
them traversing blocks d, d, which severally carry at their lower end a
drop-dic or hammer c, for striking up the heated metal that is placed
beneath them into the required shape, by the aid of stationary counter
<lies e, which rest on the bed a, and are set under the drop-dics, and
sustain the blow that is imparted to the metal. Mounted in a step at
the centre of the bed a, and equidistant from the standards b, b, is a
vertical screw shaft f, the upper end of which works in a bearing
formed by a horizontal bracing, which connects the standards together.
Rotary motion is communicated to this screw shaft by means of gear-
ing, as shown at Fig. 3; and by reason of a sliding bolt g, (with which
each traversing block d, is provided,) taking into the thread of this
screw shaft the traversing blocks are severally elevated to the position
from which they are required to be let fall, as will be presently more
fully described. Fig. 4, shews one of the blocks d, detached from the
machine, and on an enlarged scale. The bolt, 9, slides in a horizontal
slot cut for it in the block, and it is pressed up into contact with the
screw shaft by means of a spring h, (see Fig. 1,) which is fixed to the
block, and is made to bear against the outer end of the sliding bolt.
On its upper side this bolt carries a trip lever i, and to its under side a
spring catch, is secured (see the plan and edge views of the bolt
Fig. 6). When the traversing block d, is being raised the inner end
of the bolt lies between the coils of the thread of the screw shaft,
as shown at Fig. 5, and the trip lever is then in the position shewn by
the red lines in Fig. 4, but as soon as the block d, has risen to the
required elevation a notch in the thread of the screw shaft is presented
to the trip lever, and it is immediately caused to fall into that notch.
By the rotation of the screw shaft the trip lever is now carried forward
into the position shewn by the blue lines in Fig. 4, in effecting which
movement it presses back the sliding bolt out of contact with the
screw shaft, and allows the spring catch on the under side of the bolt to
catch on to the edge of the horizontal slot in the block d, and thereby

page_text: hold back the sliding bolt free of the shaft f. The fall of the trip
lever into the notch is effected as follows:-On the lever is a pin which
projects through a slot cut in the top of the block d, to allow of its
free play; and bearing against one side of this pin is a spring 7, (affixed
to the bolt g,) which has a tendency to keep the lever in the position
indicated by the red lines, Fig. 4. Situate at the opposite side of this
pin and carried by the block d, is a lever m, the tail of which is
brought into contact with a stud n, (see Fig. 1,) when the block has
reached its highest elevation, and the lever is thereby rocked on its
fulcrum, and made to bear against the pin in the opposite direction to
the pressure of the spring 7, by which means the trip lever is thrown
into the notch of the thread, as explained, for the purpose of being
carried forward to effect the driving back and locking of the sliding
bolt, as above explained. The traversing block is now held up between
its guides by the catch of a crank lever o, carried by a plate p, at the
top of the machine taking on to the outer end of the bolt at the part g*,
which is chamferred for that purpose. When, therefore, it is required
to let fall the block it will only be necessary to disengage the catch
from the bolt, which may be done by means of a rod connected to the
opposite end of the lever o. In order to disengage the spring catch k,
from its hold when the dic has fallen, and permit the bolt to enter the
thread of the rotating screw shaft f, the block d, is provided with an
arm q, situate immediately below the spring catch, which arm as the
block falls strikes against a pin 7, projecting from the standard b, and is
thereby.driven upwards, and made to lift the spring catch from its hold.
The spring h, will now come into action, and drive forward the sliding
bolt into the thread of the screw shaft, and the continued rotation of
that shaft will carry up the block again to the catch lever o, by which
it will be retained in an elevated position until it is required to be again
brought into action. The arrangement of machinery shewn in the
Drawing is suited for acting upon four different kinds of work simul-
tancously, or of being used by four workmen at the same time; but
as the various kinds of work for which it is applicable require blows of
greater or less severity, it is necessary to provide a ready means of

page_text: .
determining the height which, the blocks shall be carried.. For this
purpose the plates p, which carry the levers o, are made adjustable, so
that the blocks may be suspended at any required elevation; and
potches corresponding to the different heights of suspension of the
blocks are cut in the. thread of the screw shaft to permit of the dis-
engagement of the sliding bolt at the proper time, as already explained.
The plates p, are bolted to the standards at certain given heights, and
potches are cut in the standards to admit, of the insertion of a bar to
support the plate in position, while the bolts are being inserted in the
bolt holes. The dies and counter dies are dovetailed, and held in their
places by wedges, as shewn in the Drawing. It will be obvious that
the improved-machine which forms the subject of the present Patent
may be arranged with a greater or less, number of traversing blocks,
according to the requirements of the work to which it is applied..
Having now described my Invention of improved machinery for forging
metals, I. wish it to be understood, that under the above in part recited
letters patent I claim the general arrangement of machinery, as above
described, which will admit of consecutive blows being given in rapid
succession to one and the same piece of metal by dies or hammers
having different surface forms,, whereby the necessity for reheating the
metal to produce an article of a given form will be in many cases avoided.
And particularly I claim,
First, traversing the drop-dies or hammers upwards by means of a
rotating vertical screw shaft, as herein described..
Secondly, I claim connecting the drop dies or hammers with the
lifting
screw shaft by means of a sliding bolt.
Thirdly, I claim the arrangement for disconnecting the dies or ham-
mers from the lifting screw shaft when they have attained their desired
elevation, as above explained.
Fourthly, I claim the mode of determining the elevation to be given
to the drop dies or haminers, and of retaining them at that elevation
ready to be released by the hand of the operative or otherwise, as above
explained.
And, lastly, I claim arranging the vertical guides between which

page_text: the drop dies or hammers work in such a manner with respect to
the lifting screw shaft that several dies or hammers may be simulta-
neously raised by the action of the same screw shaft.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gage Stickney, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
GAGE STICKNEY. (L.B.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the above-named Gage Stickney
in the presence of
A. P. BOWER, Sol",
46, Chancery Lane, London.