IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMMERS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Eassic, of the City of Gloucester, Railway
Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMMERS."
Sealed the 16th May 1856, and dated the 16th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Eassic at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
November 1855.
I, WILLIAM EASSIE, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVELIENTS IN HAMMERS" to be as follows:-
I propose to construct a hammer to be worked vertically by means of a
friction pulley on each side. The pulleys are to be fixed in a moveable frame,
working radially from a centre in a line with the centre of hammer rod;
or the depression of the frame they are made to nip the rod, and as they aro
continually turning in an upward direction the hammer is lifted, and on the
frame being raised the hammer is let fall.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, file
by the said William Eassie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EASSIE, of the City of Gloucester, Railway Contractor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Eassie, Her special license, that I, the said William Eassie, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Eassie, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMMERS,"
upon the condition: (amongst others) that. I, the said William Eassie, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal,, 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 William Eassie, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 bad' 'to the Drawing hereunto annexed, on which Figures or
Diagrams illustrating the said Invention are designed, and similar letters of
reference are placed upon and denote similar parts in each of the Figures
respectively:-
My Invention relates to improvements in the construction and arrangement
of various parts of machinery or apparatus, by wliicli a novel description of
hammer, which I term a friction hammer, is produced. This hammer is intended
to be worked by steam, but 'other power can be used where steam may not be
available. This hammer is applicable to the various purposes of forging,
stamping, punching, shearing, rivetting, or cutting iron and other metals, and
for all purposes for which steam hammers may be applicable. The simplicity
of the construction of my hammer, while considerable decreasing the amount
of first cost, renders it little likely to get out of repair, and when repairs are

page_text: required they may be executed at comparatively little expence: The principle
carried out by my improvements is the obtaining by means of a nipping action
the elevation and release of a vertical rod or bar of iron; the lower extremity
of such rod or bar (being shaped as a hammer head) je.forms the functions
of a hammer.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of
the entire apparatus; Figure 2, an isometrical view thereof; Figure 3 shews
the friction rollers in repose; and Figure 4, their position as nippers in
lifting the hanımer rod. By reference to Figure 1, it will be observable that
the friction haminer consists of a framing a, u', the base of which is firmly
secured or built in or on masonry, brickwork, or other suitable foundation: In
the upper portion of this framing, on each side thereof, and fin the centre, are
placed fixed studs b; b; on which move levers or moveable frames c; c; these
framés carry at each side of the studs b, b, a shifting pedestal, so arranged as to
move towards the centre of the frame as the rollers d, d; wear; (this is shown
in dotted lines at Figure 1.) On each side of tlio stúds b; b; and in the
frame c, c, are placed two shafts, one carrying the pinion' and driving pulley
(or drum) with their fly wheels, the other the spur wheel and nipping roller d.
The nipping rollers d, d', invariably move in an upward direction, and are
faced with liard wood or other suitable material (or of iron), as may be found
most desirable or durable for their wearing surfaces.
The nipping action, which, as before observed, is the peculiar feature of
this hammer, is founded on the well-known. theory. that the greatest line in
a circle must necessarily be through its centre; thus, on moving the levers
up or down on the centre studs, causing the friction rollers to go respec-
tively above and below the centre, and so nip the hammer rod; rising it,
and when the horizontal position is again resumed by these rollers the hammer
rod is loosed, and falls. I work the hammer in the following manner :-
The moveable frames c, c, working on their axis b, are made to rise at one
end and fall at the other by means of the lever handle f, which being
depressed will rise that end of the frame c nearest the lever, 9. thus causing
the one roller to nip the hammer rod'h a little above the centre of the stud
while the other roller nips it a little below (as shewn at Figure 4 of the
Drawing), the hammer rod h being kept in a perpendicular position by the
friction rollers i, 1, 2, 3. The hammer rod being thus raised to the height
required, the handle f is let go, and the action or pull of the weight j will again
bring the rollers: d,.d', to their original horizontal position (see Figures 3
and 1), thereby releasing the hammer rod from their grip and allowing it to
all by its own weight. Should it be desirable to render this hammer self-

page_text: acting, by the use of an incline (marked k, Figure 1,) placed on the side of
the hammer rod in conjunction with a lever l and regulating rod m (Figure 2),
such purpose may be effected.
For crushing quartz or ores.-For this purpose a modification is required
both of the hammer head and the anvil. This latter should be made in a cup
or mortar-like form, its bottom (where the hammer stroke is receivable) be
furnished with a strong grating in its centre (the hammer head to correspond
in form therewith), on which the quartz or ores are made (by the cup-like
circle, to fall, and so receive the blows of the hammer till crushed. The ores
and water can be supplied by any known method, such as a hopper and tank,
with regulating cocks; the quartz (in gold seeking) to be washed out by side
openings, the gold sinking through the grating forming the anvil.
I
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
carry it in into practical effect, I desire it to be distinctly understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise disposition of the parts forming my friction
hammer as hercin described or shewn in the Drawing, or to the relative pro-
portions of the parts to each other, as they may be modified or varied without
departing from the principle of my Invention; nor do I claim the exclusive
use of any of the parts or portions of machinery or apparatus herein described
or shewn in the Drawing annexed, when such are taken or used as parts or
portions only, and not in combination for the purposes of my Invention; but I
claim as of my Invention, the exclusive use of the arrangement, construction,
or combination of parts, causing by their combination a nipping action on
the hammer rod, as herein-before described, and illustrated in the annexed
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Eassie, have hereunto affixed my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE, Patent Agent,
4, Wellington Street South, Strand,
London.
W EASSIE. (L.S.)