IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PUNCHING, STAMPING, OR CUTTING METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Powers, a Citizen of the United States, now
residing in Florence, Italy, Sculptor, for the Invention of
IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PUNCHING, STAMPING, OR CUTTING METALS AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 1st December 1857, and dated the 6th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hiram Powers at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
June 1857.
I, HIRAM POWERS, a Citizen of the United States, now residing in
Florence, Italy, Sculptor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PUNCHING, STAMPING, OR CUTTING METALS AND
OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
It consists in the construction and arrangement of a machine by which a
simple lever is applied by its shoulder and cog or tooth to propel and withdraw
the notched shaft of a punch stamp, &c. moving in a closely fitting tube, and
thence upon the plate to be operated upon. The plate is inserted in a chasm,
or transverse opening between the tube and a corresponding socket exactly
opposite, and is thrown off from the retiring tool by coming in contact with
an abutment at the end of the tube, occupied by the tool shaft or by some
other device.
Also, in introducing a double or compound leverage to increase the power
of the machine. In this case the shoulder and cog of the single lever, above

page_text: indicated, shall cause an intermediate lever, similarly constructed, to act upon
the shaft in a similar manner. The shaft is constructed to receive tools of
*various sizes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hiram Powers in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
5th December 1857.
'
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIRAM
POWERS, a Citizen of the United States, now residing in Florence, Italy,
Sculptor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Hiram Powers, Her special licence that I, the said Hiram Powers, or my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hiram
Powers, or 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 "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR
PUNCHING, STAMPING, OR CUTTING METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hiram Powers, or 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 Hiram Powers, 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, reference being had to the Drawings:-
Fig. 1 representing a machine operated by a single lever.
2
"
دو
"
"
,, a double or compound lever.
Wherever the same letters occur in the different Figures they denote

page_text: The nature of the Invention consists in the construction and arrangement
of machines for punching, stamping, and cutting metals composed of a single
engine of cast iron or other metal, in which a lever A is so adjusted as to act
by means of a shoulder a¹ and cog a³, upon the shaft of a punch B, moving
in a closely fitting tube, and through it upon the plate to be perforated. The
plate is interposed in a transverse opening C, between the tube and a corre-
sponding socket D immediately opposite, making as it were a continuous tube,
did not the chasm interfere. The shaft is propelled by the shoulder a¹, and
withdrawn by the cog a² of the lever. The plate perforated is thrown off
from the retiring punch, by coming in contact with an abutment E, E, at the
end of the tube in which the punch slides.
By the introduction of a double or compound lever F, G, as shown in
Figure 2, the power of the machine may be greatly increased, and for this
purpose I have continued the arrangement, by which the shoulder and cog of
the lever Facts upon the intermediate lever G, by causing said lever G to act
upon the head b₁ of the shaft B.
The shaft B is so constructed as to receive within its other extremity a
stamp punch, or other tool of similar character, where it is properly secured
by a set screw or other device, while the counterpart, such as the counter die
socket, etc., is similarly received and secured in the socket D. By this
arrangement the tool can be exchanged very quickly, and the whole machine
can be taken to pieces and readjusted with great expedition.
The machine possesses over those generally in use the great advantages of
durability and simplicity, greater convenience, less weight of material, and cost
much less, and has great power. It may be used horizontal or vertical.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and its advantage, what
I claim under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the con-
struction and arrangement, substantially as described, of machines for punching,
stamping, and cutting metals and other substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hiram Powers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, on this 4th day of November, Anno Domini One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
In presence of
W. B. KINNEY.
HIRAM POWERS. (L.S.)