CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT AT MATTIA CURE OF WDAHAHM ZROY STICKY DO "
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Whitehouse, of Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENT AT MATTIA CURE OF WDAHAHM ZROY STICKY DO "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Whitehouse at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th October 1863.
I, EDWIN WHITEHOUSE, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON SHACKLES," to be as
follows (that is to say):-
The object of my Invention is to manufacture wrought-iron shackles of all
kinds by means of the oliver or steam hammer (or by both) instead of the
present manner of making them by hand labour. By my improvements it is
possible to produce an article of much greater strength, and at a less cost than
by the ordinary method.
In making the shackle it has hitherto been customary to form the eye by
turning the ends of the iron and afterwards welding them. Now by my
improvements I form the eye solid, and punch the hole which is to receive the
pin by the means herein-after described. In making the pin for screwed.and
foreloch shackles it has been customary to form the collar by welding it on to
the pin; by my improvements I construct the whole of the pin in one piece.

page_text: I now proceed to describe my improvements in constructing the shackle.
I first take a piece of round iron of the required length and strength, and
collar the ends thereof in manner following:-I provide two pieces of half-
round iron of the proper length and suitable thickness, and having bent them
into a semicircular form, I proceed to beat one end of the first-named round
piece of iron, and when at the required heat one of the pieces of half-round
iron, which is to form the collar, is wrapped round the same, and affixed thereto.
in the usual manner, and, as is well understood, the whole is then again heated
to a welding heat. When the end is rounded or made to assume a spherical
form by means of an oliver, at the same heat this round end is flattened to
form the eye, and a hole punched through the same by a steam hammer or
an oliver, as may be most suitable. The other end of the shackle is formed
by a repetition of the operation just described.
I will now describe the means proposed for constructing the pin :-I first
take a piece of round iron of the required length and strength, and having
heated one end thereof I place the cold end in the bottom die of an oliver; the
head of the oliver is provided with a die of the shape and size of the collar to
be formed; and the collar being produced in this manner, the head of the pin
is next formed, by a blow from a steam hammer or an oliver at the same heat,
suitable dies being provided.
It will be readily understood that for the heavier description of work a
steam bammer must be used, but for the smaller kind of shackles and pins
an oliver may be employed.
I propose to adopt this Invention to the manufacture of all kinds of
shackles, whether screw, forelock, D, harp, or any other kind used in con-
necting chain, and also for connecting bars of iron, or in any other manner in
which the same may be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Whitehouse in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
WHITEHOUSE, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edwin Whitehouse, Her special licence that I, the said Edwin Whitehouse,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edwin
Whitehouse, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON SHACKLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edwin Whitehouse, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Edwin Whitehouse, 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 (that is to say) :-
The object of my Invention is to manufacture wrought-iron shackles of all
kinds, either by means of the oliver or by the steam hammer (or by both),
instead of the present manner of making them by hand labour. By my
improvements it is possible to produce an article of much greater strength
and at a less cost than by the ordinary method.
In making the shackle it has hitherto been customary to form the eye by
turning the ends of the iron and afterwards welding them.
Now by my
improvements I form the eye solid, and punch the hole which is to receive
the pin by the means herein-after described. In making the pin for screwed
and forelock shackles it has been customary to form the collar by welding it
on to the pin; by my improvements I construct the whole of the pin in one
piece.
I now proceed to describe my improvements in constructing the shackle.
I first take a piece of round iron of the required length and strength, and
collar the ends thereof in manner following:-I provide a piece of half-round
or other suitable description of iron of the proper length and suitable thick-
ness, and having bent it into a semicircular form I proceed to heat one end of
the first-named round piece of iron, and when at the required heat the piece
of half-round or other iron, which is to form the collar, is wrapped round the
same, and affixed thereto in the usual manner, and as is well understood

page_text: The whole is then again heated to a welding heat, when the end is rounded
or made to assume a spherical form by means of a top and bottom die fixed
respectively in the head and anvil block of an oliver or steam hammer; at
the same heat this round end is flattened to form the eye, and a hole partially
punched through the same by a steam hammer or by an oliver, as may be
most suitable, which hole is finished by means of a hand punch or drift, or
both, as may be most convenient. The other eye of the shackle is formed by
a repetition of the operation just described. Having completed the formation
of both eyes of the shackle, as herein described, the whole is again heated,
and the intermediate length between the eyes worked under the oliver or
steam hammer, (whichever may be. most suitable, according to size,) in dies
properly constructed to reduce the same to a proportionate thickness, which
being done I proceed to bend the same to the required shape by means of a
machine provided for the purpose, which I will now describe. The machine
I propose to use for the purpose of bending my shackle to the required shape
consists of a cast-iron bed plate provided with a slot or groove to receive a
moveable slide fitted with a pin carrying a roller. On the bed plate is also
fixed a pin whereon a block of the required size and shape of the shackle may
be revolved. This block is provided with a side piece on which is fixed a
pin, and upon this pin is centred a lever having a flat end capable of gripping
the shackle to be bent between the lever and the side of the cast-iron block.
The shackle to be bent is placed upon the cast-iron block, a movement of the
lever secures it firmly, and a further movement causes the block to revolve,
bringing the shackle in contact with the rollers, whereby the shackle is
gradually pressed to the block, and is thus formed of the required shape. The
shackle is now taken off the block, and the two holes being now opposite
or nearly opposite each other, a steel drift is driven into them to make them
perfectly parallel, so that the pin may fit with accuracy.
That this part of my Invention may be better understood I have annexed
Drawings thereof, which I now proceed to describe.
Figs. 1 and 2 show a screw shackle and pin complete; Fig. 3 is a plan;
Fig. 4, a side elevation, and Fig. 5, an end elevation of the shackle bending
machine.
A is the bed plate, having a groove B, in which the slide C may be
adjusted and secured in any position by means of the bolt, nut, and washer D;
E is a roller carried upon the pin F; a pin G is fixed in the bed plate A, and
receives the block H of the required shape of the shackle, having a side
piece I, with a pin K and lever-L; a shackle is shewn at M gripped between
the lever L and block H, preparatory to its being bent to the shape of the

page_text: block H, by a further revolution of the lever L in the direction of the
arrow N.
I will now describe the means proposed for constructing the pin:-I first
take a piece of round iron of the required length and strength, and having
heated the same, I place one end thereof in the bottom die of an oliver; the
head of the oliver is provided with a die of the shape and size of the collar to
be formed, and the head of the oliver then falling on the upper end of the
aforesaid piece of round iron the collar is formed; the head or eye of the pin
is next formed by a blow or blows from a steam hammer or an oliver at the
same heat, suitable dies being provided.
It will be readily understood that for the heavier description of work a steam
hammer must be used, but for the smaller kind of shackles and pins an oliver
may be employed.
I propose to adapt this Invention to the manufacture of all kinds of
shackles, whether screw, forlock, D, harp, or any other kind used in con-
necting chain, and also for connecting bars of iron, or in any other manner in
which the same may be used.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I desire it to be understood that I
do not limit myself to the precise means or appliances herein-before described,
as these may be varied or modified without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the mode or manner of making
wrought-iron shackles by machinery, instead of by hand labour, substantially
as herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Whitehouse, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
0 Witness,
G. R. HOLLAND, Patent Office,
Birmingham.
EDWIN WHITEHOUSE. (L.S.)