CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING NAILS OR TACKS FOR ORNAMENTING BOXES AND ARTICLES OF FURNITURE
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
PROSSER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of July, in the second year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant upto me, the said
Richard Prosser, His special licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Richard Prosser, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Prosser, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
NAILS OR TACKS FOR ORNAMENTING BOXES AND ARTICLES OF FURNITURE;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard
Prosser, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Prosser, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained by the following description thereof (reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon),
that is to say:-
My improvements in manufacturing nails or tacks for ornamenting boxes
and articles of furniture consist in constructing or making the said nails or
tacks by combining or uniting several pieces of metal without employing
solder or other fusible compound, which improvement I effect in the following
manner-The shank or stem of the nail or tack which is intended to pene-
trate or enter the wood or other substance to which the nail or tack is to be
affixed is made or formed separately from the head or upper surface of the
nail or tack, and that part of the nail or tack which constitutes the back or
underpart of the head of the nail or tack is also formed separately and distinct
from the head or the shank. These several parts, when properly made, are
put together, and by pressure united, so as to form a complete nail or tack,
as shown in the accompanying Drawings at Figs. 1 and 2. All the other
Figures represent the separate parts of the nail or tack in different positions.
In forming the shank or stem a of the nail or tack shown at Fig. 3, I employ
iron or other metal which may be sufficiently stiff to allow of the operation
of driving. This shank may be made from wire cut off pointed, and the
knobbed part at top formed in a machine, or it may be made from metal by
the hand, as may be found most desirable. The head or upper surface b, b, of
the tack or nail I form out of rolled sheet metal of any description applicable to
the
purpose by first cutting out a disc of suitable diameter, and then pressing
that disc first into the cup form, shewn edgewise at Fig. 4, and the same in
section at Fig. 5, and as seen on the concave or under side at Fig. 6. I then
by further pressure bend inwards, that is towards the concave, the edges of
the said cup, as shewn by the representation of the under side at Fig. 7, and
edgewise at Fig. 8. In preparing that portion of the nail or tack which
is to constitute the back or under part of the head c, I in like manner cut
a disc of suitable diameter of thin sheet tinned iron or other metal, and press
it into the dish shape, as shewn at Fig. 9; that is, I form the disc concave

page_text: near its periphery, and convex or rising in the middle, with a hole through
the centre, as shewn.
.
I do not claim any particular apparatus for or method of forming the said:
discs into a cup and a dish as described, but employ any of the apparatus.or
means at present in use for effecting such forms from sheet metal. When.
the stem or shank a, the, head or face b, and the back or under part c, are
prepared in the way described, I combine them by first introducing the shaft of
the stem a into the central hole of the disc c, which it is prevented from passing
through by the knob or enlargement at its upper end, and then place the
head or cup 6 over the boss or knob of the shank and over the dish, as shewn
in the sectional Figure 10. I then, by means of a suitable press, with a
matrix and punch, apply force against the under surface of the dish c and the
upper surface of the head 6, by which pressure I bring the parts into close
contact, as shewn at Fig, 10, and close in the edge of the cup b upon the
dish c, so as to cause it to embrace the edge of the dish, and thereby to fix
the three parts firmly and securely together, which constitutes my improve-
ment in the manufacture of nails or tacks. The construction of nails or tacks
above described may be varied, when the top end or knob of the shank or
stem can be conveniently spread out as large as the head of the nail or tack,
for in that case the dish or part c at the back or under part of the head may
be dispensed with, by bending in or turning under the edge of the face or top
piece b as above described, and causing it to embrace the enlarged knob or
head of the shank.
Lastly, let it be observed, that the separate parts which, when combined in
the manner above described, constitute my improvements in manufacturing
nails or tacks for ornamenting boxes and articles of furniture, may be made of
various sizes, according to the intended size of the nail or tack, and they may
be prepared by any of the known ordinary means at present in use for cutting
and pressing metal, none of which form any part of my Invention. But I
claim as my Invention the combination of parts in the manner described to
constitute a nail or tack for ornamenting boxes or articles of furniture, and
which I believe to be entirely new, and never before to have been practised
by any other person whomsoever.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Prosser, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
RICHARD (L.S.) PROSSER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of September, in
the second year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Richard Prosser came before our said Lord the King in Ilis Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-one.