Improvements in the Manufacture of Forks, Spoons, and other like Household Articles, and Imitation Gold and Silver Ware.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Nov., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 17th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 12th Oct., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by LA SOCIÉTÉ FRANÇAISE D'ALLIAGES DES
MÉTAUX, of Bornel (Oise), France, Manufacturers.]
Improvements in the Manufacture of Forks, Spoons, and other like
Household Articles, and Imitation Gold and Silver Ware.
I, ERNEST DE PASS, of 78, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of forks, spoons,
and other like household articles, and is designed to simplify and cheapen such
manufacture by the employment of improved alloys possessing malleability and
ductility, and by the substitution of a direct single or double stamping, or
matrixing operation, for the costly and tedious methods now in use.
By means of this invention, the fork and spoon-machine heretofore employed,
is dispensed with, as are also the cutters for stripping off the burrs or rough
edges, the swage and die press for dishing the blanks, and the various operations
of annealing, cleansing in acids, and bending to form.
ог
In carrying out the invention I employ roughly filed pieces or blauks, formed
in any convenient manner, composed of an alloy of copper, nickel or zine, the said
alloys having preferably the following approximate proportions:
1.) 68 to 82 parts of copper.
1
9
"
"
8 25
"
2.) 80 65
وو
وو
zinc.
nickel.
"
35
"
" copper.
20 35
"
""
zinc.
"
" copper.
10 33
وو
3.) 90 67
"
"
وو
nickel.
and
These blanks, either hot or cold, are then bent and placed in the matrices or
stamps wherein they are given their general form. They then undergo a single
annealing, and are cleansed in a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids. The manu-
facture is then completed by a further operation in the matrices or stamps, but for
certain small articles this second operation is not even necessary. After stamping,
the forks have their prongs cut out by a punch, and it is then only necessary to
file, polish, and burnish the articles.
The invention may be applied to the manufacture of imitation gold and silver
ware.
Dated this 30th day of November 1894.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Forks, Spoons, and other like
Household Articles, and Imitation Gold and Silver Ware.
I, ERNEST DE PASS, of 78, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, 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 and by the following statement, that is to say :-
This invention has for its object a process of manufacture whereby an important
industrial result in the manufacture of forks, spoons, and like objects, is effected.
In the processes now in use, the roughly filed out pieces are passed to the fork
and spoon machine wherein the spoons undergo three operations, and the forks two
operations.
Each of these operations is preceded by an annealing and a cleansing in acids,
and the pieces, on leaving the machine, are still flat, the said machine only giving
to the various parts their thickness and the impression of the matrix. The burred
edges left on the pieces by the action of the machine are then removed by any
suitable means. For spoons, this necessitates two operations. The cutting of the
prongs of the forks requires a third operation. The edges of the articles are then
made even on the grindstone, after which the pieces are annealed and cleaused in
acids, and are then passed to the swage and die press, in which the bowl of the
spoon is dished by a die worked by a fly.
The stamping of the back of the pieces takes place next. The resulting burred
edges are then removed. This is followed by the curving or bending operation,
which is common to spoons and forks, and is effected by means of a bending
machine. The prongs are then stamped on the back by a fly press which produces
a rough or burred edge necessitating a chamfering or bevelling between the prongs.
After these numerous operations it is necessary to again file the pieces by hand; to
polish them on the lathe; and to give them a second bending by means of a
mallet, and by hand. The pieces are finally burnished, if not intended to be
plated.
These costly operations are for the greater part obviated by this process of
manufacture.
For the manufacture of the roughly filed pieces (which are made by any suitable
means) take an alloy composed of the three metals copper, nickel, and zinc,
preference being given to alloys whose composition is approximately as stated
below.
The alloy is composed principally of copper, which is associated either with zinc
or with nickel, or with a mixture of these two metals, employed in novel
proportions. By way of example, I give the approximate composition of these
alloys:
1
68 to 8") conner

page_text: I do not however limit myself strictly to the proportions above indicated, as they
may be modified in certain limits whilst still preserving to the alloy the properties
of malleability and ductility, which are necessary for the working of this simplified
process.
The roughly dried pieces being prepared as previously, this process differs from
those formerly in use, in that I dispense with the operation of the fork and spoon
machine, and all the subsequent operations mentioned above, in order to substitute
the following simple operations.
The pieces or blanks are cut out, as usual, by a cutting punch, then bent while
either in a hot or a cold state, and are placed, either hot or cold, in the matrices or
stamps to which, by the action of a fly or other press, a stroke is imparted, to give
the blanks their general form. They then undergo a single annealing followed by
a single cleansing in nitric and sulphuric acids, and the manufacture terminates by
a second and last operation with the same tools. This second operation imparts to
the pieces all the finish desirable. For certain small pieces this second and last
operation is not even necessary.
After the stamping, the prongs are cut by a punch, and it is then only necessary
to file, polish, and burnish, to have the marketable articles.
The practical advantages of this process may be summed up as follows:-
The application of a single or double stroke by a fly or other press whereby,
with the use of the special alloys, the fork and spoon machine is dispensed with,
as are also the cutters for removing the rough edges, the grinding, the dishing by
the swage and die press, the curving or bending to form, the last bending by hand,
as well as the several annealings and cleansings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In the manufacture of forks, spoons, and other articles of household use, the
employment of an alloy composed of about 68 to 82 parts of copper, 1 to 9 of zinc,
and 8 to 25 of nickel.
2. The process of manufacturing forks and spoons substantially as herein
described, consisting in cutting out the blanks by a cutting punch, then bending
them while hot or cold, and placing them (either hot or cold) in matrices or stamps
to which a stroke is imparted by a fly or other press to give them their general
forin, then annealing and cleansing them, and finally passing them a second and
last time through the same tools to give them the required finish.
Dated this 17th day of August 1895.