IMPROVEMENTS IN
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hesketh Hughes, of Wellington Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the 'Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MAD
Sealed the 19th March 1858, and dated the 22nd September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hesketh Hughes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
September 1857.
I, HESKETH HUGHES, of Wellington Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING, EMBOSSING,' AND STAMPING," to be as
follows:
;
My Invention, as far as the cutting is concerned, consists in the employ-
ment of hardened steel cutters fixed in a strong slide or plunger made to
move up and down, and to descend upon a flat hardened steel bed with
considerable pressure; the material is laid upon the bed for the purpose of
being cut. This part of my Invention also consists in the employment of an
endless skeleton belt armed with points to receive and feed the material
under the cutters; the onward motion of the belt is so regulated to the stroke:
of the cutters as to bring up a fresh feed for every stroke thereof. For
cutting materials which require or which are desired to be cut while in a
state of tension, I fit guides to act upon the skeleton belt and separate the.
'

page_text: outer edges thereof, to which the material is held by points to the extent
required.
My Invention, as far as it relates to embossing and stamping, consists in
the employment in connection with embossing or stamping plates of an
expansible skeleton feed and tension belt of the construction herein-before
referred to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hesketh Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HESKETH
HUGHES, of Wellington Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Hesketh Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said Hesketh
Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Hesketh Hughes, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING, EMBOSSING, AND STAMPING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hesketh Hughes, 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 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 Hesketh Hughes, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-

page_text: My Invention, as far as the cutting is concerned, consists in the employ-
ment of hardened steel cutters fixed in a strong slide or plunger made to
move up and down and to descend upon a flat hardened steel bed with
considerable pressure; the material is laid upon the bed for the purpose of
being cut. This part of my Invention also consists in the employment of an
endless skeleton belt armed with points to receive and feed the material
under the cutters; the onward motion of the belt is so regulated to the stroke
of the cutters as to bring up a fresh feed for every stroke thereof. For
cutting materials which require or which are desired to be cut while in a
state of tension, I fit guides to act upon the skeleton belt and separate the
outer edges thereof, to which the material is held by points to the extent
required.
My Invention, as far as it relates to embossing and stamping, consists in
the employment in connection with embossing or stamping plates of an
expansible skeleton feed and tension belt of the construction herein-before
referred to.
The Drawings hereunto annexed illustrate the manner in which my
Invention may be carried into effect.
Figure 1 is an end view of my cutting, embossing, and stamping machine;
Figure 2 is a side view with the fly or driving wheel removed; Figure 3 is
a section through the line a, b, of Figure 1; and Figure 4, a section through
the line c, d, of the same Figure of so much of the machine as is necessary
to explain the parts. The same letters indicate similar parts in all the
Figures. A is the fly or driving wheel, keyed on the shaft B, which works
in bearings e, e, fitted in armatures or projections formed in the sides or
uprights C, C, of the machine; D is a pinion fixed on the opposite extremity.
of the shaft B, to which the driving wheel A is keyed. This pinion gears
into the cogged wheel E on the shaft F, working in bearings formed in the
sides C, C', of the machine; G is a strong slide or plunger, through the
centre of which an oval hole or aperture H is formed, and through this hole
the shaft F passes to the bearings in the upright or side C.. That part of the
shaft F which passes through the aperture H is enlarged on one side, so that
as the shaft revolves it presses against and thereby raises a piece of metal J
placed in the aperture H, and this piece J pressing against the upper part of
the aperture causes the piston or plunger G to rise simultaneously with it;
when the projection has passed the piece J, it in turn presses on its under side
against the metal J₁, and causes the plunger to descend. To the bottom of
the plunger G, dies f, f, of any suitable form, are fitted in dovetail grooves or
otherwise; K is a steel bed on which the plunger and dies descend. The

page_text: material to be embossed, stamped, or cut is passed in between the dies and
the bed K in the manner to be hereafter explained. On the end of the
shaft Fa cam L is keyed, which, as the shaft revolves, acts on a lever or
rod M, connected at one ends to the side C of the machine, and jointed at
the other to the connecting rod N which is attached to the lever. O on the
shaft P, working in bearings formed in the sides C, C, of the machine. On
this shaft P a ratchet wheel O¹, shewn in dotted lines, Figure 2, is keyed, the
teeth of which are caught by the paul p, connected in the manner shewn to
the lever O; t is the stop spring. On the same shaft P, between the sides
C, C¹, grooved wheels or pulleys 9, 9, are fitted, round which an endless
skeleton belt or chain h, h, is passed, having pins fixed on it at suitable
distances apart. There are four of these rollers, two at each side of the
machine; the two driving rollers having steel wheels formed in them to fit
the chain, and being on the shaft P are moved or caused to revolve through
the ratchet O¹, being acted on by the lever O, which is worked, as was before
described, by the cam L acting on the lever M, and by this means a similar
motion is imparted to the rollers g, g, as that given to the piston or plunger
G. is the embosser, which is placed in front of the dies f. f, so that the
operation of embossing is performed before the stamping or cutting takes
place, but I do not confine myself to this arrangement. A tube or tubes for
gas is or are inserted in the machine through the hole i, to maintain the
required heat. A guard k is placed over the front of the rollers h, h, to
protect the person feeding the machine; a view of this guard, with a friction
pulley 9, is shewn at Figure 5.
The material is laid on the rollers h, h, the pins entering the selvages or
edges of it, and as the rollers revolve in the direction indicated by the arrows
the material is carried through the machine, wliere it is cut, embossed, or
stamped, and on arriving at the opposite side an attendant raises the material
from the pins, which have kept it distended through the whole of its course.
The state of tension on the chain or belt can be regulated by the adjusting
screw r, Figure 2.
In Figure 6 I shew a plan in illustration of the manner in which I cause
the skeleton belt to expand while passing through the machine. 9, 9, are the
grooved rollers over which the chains h, h, pass. These rollers have adjust-
able pulleys v, v, whereby the width between the chains can be regulated.
V is a guide roller with grooves set at the required distance apart. The
chains h, h, travel over these grooves, and are consequently expanded together
with the fabric carried by 'them. It will be obvious that for some descriptions
of fabrics the chain feeder may be dispensed with.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the general arrangement of machinery for embossing, cutting, or
stamping herein-before described, and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
Second, the employment of hardened steel cutters fixed in a strong slide or
plunger, and made to move up and down and to descend upon a flat hardened
steel bed with considerable pressure, as herein-before described, and repre-
sented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Third, the employment of an adjustable endless skeleton belt to receive and
feed the material under the cutters, operating in the manner herein-before
described, and represented in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hesketh Hughes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
HESKETH HUGHES. (L.S.)