IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFacture of BlADE OR PLATE SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY AND TOOLS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Milward Holmes, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Secretary of the International Agency,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFacture of BlADE OR
PLATE SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY
AND TOOLS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE."-A communication
from abroad by William H. Porter, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in
the United States of America.
Scaled the 12th April 1876, and dated the 30th October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Milward Holmes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th October 1875.
I, JAMES MILWARD HOLMES, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Secretary of the International Agency, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
BLADE OR PLATE SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN
MACHINERY AND TOOLS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE," to be as
follows:-

page_text: of the said blade or plate springs, commonly called the hooks or claws
and eyes, that is, the ends of the springs by which they are connected
together, and also to the links or swivels attached to the body of the
carriage.
The said hooks or claws and eyes are usually fashioned by hand
labour. This part of the said Invention consists in fashioning the said
hooks or claws and eyes by the process of manufacture and by the use
of the machinery herein-after described, whereby the said hooks or
claws and eyes are more economically manufactured and are made more
exact and uniform in shape than those manufactured by the ordinary
process.
The method of manufacture constituting part of this Invention
consists in subjecting the heated end of the strip or plate of steel
from which the spring is to be made to the action in succession of a
series of pairs of shaping or bending dies whereby the heated end of the
strip or plate is shaped or fashioned into the desired form.
I will describe the process of manufacture in conjunction with the
machinery which constitutes part of this Invention. The said machinery
consists essentially of two (or more) pairs of preparatory shaping dies, a
pair of finishing dies, and a pair of gripping tools, the said dies and
tools being arranged side by side in the same frame, or in separate
frames, so as to constitute separate machines. The lower dies of the
two pairs of preparatory dies are fixed on the bed of the machine (or
machines), and the upper moveable dies of the said pairs of dies aro
carried by levers actuated by cams on the driving shaft of the machine.
Near the second pair of dies is a pair of gripping tools, and in front of
the said gripping tools is a die moving horizontally and worked by a
cam on the driving shaft. The end faces of the gripping tools form the
fixed die for the horizontal die described. By means of the said hori-
zontal die the shape of the end of the blade or plate of steel while held
in the gripping tools is perfected.
In using the machine or machines the heated end of the blade or
plate of steel is placed on the lower die of the first pair of dies. By the
descent of the moveable die the heated end of the plate is chamfered or
bevilled and bent downwards and slightly curved. The partly-shaped
end is next placed in an inverted position on the fixed die of the second
pair of dies, and by the operation of the moveable die the said end is
further shaped. The plate is next placed and gripped between the

page_text: gripping tools, its partly-shaped end projecting beyond the inner faces of
the said tools. While the plate is so held the horizontal finishing
die advances, and by its operation finishes the said end, giving it the
figure of a hook or claw, and by completely closing the hook or claw an
eye may be formed.
By the successive operations described the hooks, claws, or eyes are
rapidly and economically produced on the blades or plates, and the
figure of the said hooks, claws, or eyes is very exact and uniform.
The arrangements for giving motion to the moveable dies may be
varied, for example, instead of working the moveable dies of the first
and second preparatory dies by means of levers they may be attached
to slides, and the latter worked by cams.
The said Invention consists, secondly, in manufacturing in the manner
and by the use of the tools herein-after described the box ends of blade
or plate springs, that is, those parts with which the hook or eye ends of
one half of the spring are engaged.
By making the said box ends according to this Invention great
uniformity in their size and shape is secured and labour economized.
In making the said box ends according to this Invention I proceed as
follows: I bend around the end of the blade or plate of steel on which
the box is to be formed two narrow strips of steel, the ends of the said
strips clipping the end of the blade and nearly meeting in the middlo
thereof. The end of the blade, together with the clipping strips, is
raised to a welding heat and subjected to the action of a pair of dies or
tools, whereby the three pieces are welded together and the thickened
end of the blade at the same time flattened and expanded laterally so as
to form upon it two cross arms or pieces, the said cross arms or pieces
having upon their upper faces swells or enlargements. By means of a
pair of cutting tools a nearly semicircular figure is given to the ends of
the cross arms or pieces. The partly-made box is next subjected to the
action of a second pair of dies or tools, by which a box form is given to
the prepared blade end, that is, the cross arms or pieces of the blade are
raised or bent at right angles to the other part of the blade so as to form
knuckle-like ends or sides to the end of the blade, and that part of the
blade between the said knuckle-like ends or side is curved to form a
curved bottom to the box.

page_text: The first pair of tools herein described, by which the cross arms are
formed upon the end of the blade, consists of a lower tool fixed on the
bed of a stamp, and an upper tool worked by the ram of a stamp. The
lower tool has a cruciform depression made in its face in which the com-
pound end of the blade is placed, and in which the welding and spreading
out of the metal are effected. The upper tool is flat on its face, with
the exception of depressions for forming the swells or enlargements on
the cross arms.
The pair of tools for raising the prepared end of the blade into a box
form consists of a lower tool, having in it a depression of the figure of
the outer side of the box end and an upper tool having the figure of the
interior of the box end, the sides of the said upper tool having cut
away parts, in which the knuckles or side pieces of the box are
formed.
The beds in which the lower tools are fixed and the rams in which
the upper tools are worked are of the ordinary kind, and constitute no
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jaunes Milward Holmes in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th April 1876.
•
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MILWARD HOLMES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Secretary of the International Agency, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Milward Holmes, Her special license,
that I, the said James Milward Holmes, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Milward Holmes, 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,

page_text: the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BLADE OR PLATE SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY AND TOOLS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUfacture,"
(a communication to me from abroad by William Henry Porter, of Bridg.
port, Connecticut, in the United States of America,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Milward Holmes, 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 mauner 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 James Milward Holmes, 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 thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has reference, first, to the manufacture of those parts of
the said blade or plate springs commonly called the hooks or claws and
eyes, that is, the ends of the springs by which they are connected
together, and also to the links or swivels which are attached to the
body of the carriage.
The said hooks or claws and eyes are usually fashioned by hand labour.
This part of the said Invention consists in fashioning the said hooks or
claws and eyes by the process of manufacture, and by the use of the
machinery herein-after described, whereby the said hooks or claws and
eyes are more economically manufactured, and are made more exact and
uniform in shape than those manufactured by the ordinary process.
The method of manufacture constituting part of this Invention
consists in subjecting the heated end of the strip or plate of steel from
which the spring is to be made to the action in succession of a series of
pairs of shaping or bending dies, whereby the heated end of the strip or
plate is shaped or fashioned into the desired form.
I will describe the process of manufacture in conjunction with the
machinery which constitutes part of this Invention. The said machinery
consists essentially of two (or more) pairs of preparatory shaping dies a
pair of finishing dies and a pair of gripping tools, the said dies and
tools being arranged side by side in the same frame or in separate frames,

page_text: In making the said box ends according to this Invention I proceed as
follows: I bend around the end of the blade or plate of steel on which
the box is to be formed two narrow strips of steel, the ends of the said
strips clipping the end of the blade, and nearly meeting in the middle
thereof. The end of the blade together with the clipping strips is raised
to a welding heat and subjected to the action of a pair of dies or tools,
whereby the three pieces are welded together, and the thickened end of
the blade at the same time flattened and expanded laterally so as to form
upon it two cross arms or pieces, the said cross arms or pieces having
upon their upper faces swells or enlargements. By means of a pair of
cutting tools a nearly semicircular figure is given to the ends of the cross
arms or pieces. The partly made box is next subjected to the action of a
second pair of dies or tools, by which a box form is given to the prepared
blade end, that is, the cross arms or pieces of the blade are raised or
bent at right angles to the other part of the blade so as to form knuckle-
like ends or sides to the end of the blade, and that part of the blade
between the said knuckle-like ends or sides is curved to form a curved
bottom to the box.
The first pair of tools herein described, by which the cross arms are
formed upon the end of the blade, consists of a lower tool fixed on the
bed of a stamp, and an upper tool worked by the ram of a stamp. The
lower tool has a cruciform depression made in its face, in which the
compound end of the blade is placed, and in which the welding and
spreading out of the metal are effected. The upper tool is flat on its
face, with the exception of depressions for forming the swells or enlarge-
ments on the cross arms.
The pair of tools for raising the prepared end of the blade into a box
form consists of a lower tool having in it a depression of the figure of
the outer side of the box end, and an upper tool having the figure of the
interior of the box end, the sides of the said upper tool having cutaway
parts in which the knuckles or side pieces of the box are formed.
The beds in which the lower tools are fixed, and the rams in which
the upper tools are worked are of the ordinary kind, and constitute no
part of this Invention.
Having explained the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 represent elevations of opposite sides of a machine for
making the eyes on the ends of plate or blade springs constructed
according to this Invention, Figure 1 representing the preparing side
of the machine, and Figure 2 the finishing side of the machine; Figure 3
is a plan of the machine; Figure 4 a front elevation of the machine,
and Figure 5 a back elevation of the machine; Figure 6 represents a
longitudinal section of a portion of the machine taken through the first
pair of shaping dies; Figure 7 represents a longitudinal section of a
portion of the machine taken through the second pair of shaping dies;
and Figure 8 represents a longitudinal section of a portion of the
machine taken through the gripping tools and the shaping die, by which
the eye is finished, the said Figures 6, 7, and 8 being drawn to a larger
scale than the other Figures.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. a, b, is the first pair of shaping dies, the die a
being fixed on the bed c of the machine, and the die being carried by
the short arm of the lever d, d, turning on the centre d³. By the
operation of the pair of dies a, b, the heated end of the plate or strip of
steel is sheared or cut off, and the said end at the same time bevilled or
chamfered, and bent downwards and slightly curved, as best seen in
Figure 6; e, f, is the second pair of preparatory shaping dies, e being
the fixed die on the bed c of the machine, and is the moveable die
carried in the same lever d, d, as that which carries the die b.
The upper acting face of the die e is concave, and the lower or acting
end of the moveable dio fis convex, as best seen in the section, Figure 7;
g, h, is the pair of gripping tools, being the fixed tool on the bed
of the machine, and the moveable tool, the said tool g being
carried on the short arm of the lever i, i, turning on the centre d';
k is the horizontal die in front of the gripping tools g, h, by which the
finishing of the eye is effected, the said die & having the shape best seen
in Figure 8. The end faces of the gripping tools g, h, form the fixed
die for the horizontal die k to bear against. The horizontal die k is
carried in the slide or bolt working in dovetails on the bed of the
machine. The moving parts are worked in the following manner :-
m is the driving shaft carrying cams n, p, q. By means of the cam n
the lever d, d, carrying the moveable preparing dies b, f, is worked,
and by means of the cam p the lever i, i, carrying the moveable
gripping tool g is worked. The return motion of the said levers is

page_text: effected by the weight of their long arms; 7 is the cam for giving the
advance motion to the horizontal slide carrying the horizontal shaping
die k, the said cam 9 operating upon a roller on the said slide 1. The
return motion of the slide is effected by the screw rod r operated upon
by the springs (see the plan, Figure 3). In front of the pair of dies
a, b, is a gauge or stop t, and in front of the gripping tools g, h, is a
similar gauge or stop u. These gauges or stops consist of horizontal
rests, against which the opposite end of the steel plate to that to be
operated upon by the machine bears. By means of the said gauges the
fashioned plates are made of uniform length.
The machine is thrown into and out of gear with the driving power
by the following mechanism. On the face of the driving pulley v,
which is loose on the shaft m, is a pin or stud o², and on the said shaft m
is a sliding clutch 10, the face of the said clutch being furnished with a
pin or stud to. By sliding the clutch to towards the pulley v, the two
pins 3, 10, are engaged together, and the motion of the pulley is
communicated to the shaft m, and the machine is put into operation.
By sliding the clutch w in the opposite direction the two pins or studs
v², to³, are disengaged from one another and the motion of the machine
is arrested. The sliding clutch 10 is worked by the forked lever x
through the chain *, guide wheel a³, and treadle x'. On removing the
foot from the treadle x' the spring acting on the forked lever
the sliding clutch w out of gear with the driving pulley v.
throws
In using the machine the heated end of the blade or plate of steel to
be made into an eye is placed on the lower die a of the first pair of dies
a, b, the opposite end of the said blade or plate of steel being made to
rest on the horizontal ledge or shoulder of the gauge t, as represented in
Figure 6, where the plate of steel is marked x'. By pressing upon the
treadle the workman throws the machine into gear with the driving
power as before described, and the moveable die descends by the
action of the cam n upon the longer arm d of the lever d, d³, as
represented in Figure 6. By the descent of the die the end of the
plate a situated beyond the inner edge of the fixed die a is sheared
from off the said plate, and the end of the said plate at the same time
chamfered or bevilled and bent downwards, and slightly curved as
represented. The gauged plate having its cnd thus shaped and
bevilled is next passed to the second pair of dies e, f, and its heated end
placed in an inverted position on the fixed die e, and by the operation of

page_text: the moveable dief carried in the lever d, d², the said end of the plate
is shaped of the form represented in Figure 7, where the shaped end of
the plate is shown after it has been shaped by the said dies e, f. The
plate is next placed on the fixed gripping tool of the pair of tools
g, h, the partly shaped end of the plate projecting beyond the inner
faces of the gripping tools g, h.
I
The exact position of the partly shaped end of the plate with
respect to the gripping tools g, h, is determined by the gauge u, against
which the opposite end of the plate is placed, as represented in Figure 8.
By the action of the cam p upon the lever i, , the moveable gripping
tool descends, and the partly shaped plate is gripped firmly between
the said tools near its shaped end. While the plate ¹ is thus held the
horizontal finishing die k advances by the action of the cam q upon the
slide, and by its operation coils or bends up the partly shaped end of
the plate into the Figure of an eye, as represented in Figure 8. Lateral
motion in the die is prevented as it advances to bend
end of the partly shaped plate 2 by the contracted end
carrying the said die k, entering a corresponding recess
gripping tool h, as seen in Figures 3 and 8. The eyo is thus by the
successive operations described formed on the end of the blade or plate,
and the figure of the said cyc is very perfect. The plates thus fashioned
at their ends are of uniform length.
or coil up the
of the slide
in the fixed
When a hook or claw is required to be made on the end of the blade
or plate instead of an eye, the end of the coil formed by the last or
finishing die is not closed upon the blade or plate.
I will now describe the improvements in the manufacture of the box
ends of blade or plate springs.
Figure 9 represents the end of the blade or plate from which the box
end is to be formed. On the end a of the blade two narrow strips of
steel b, b, are bent.
The end of the plate a together with the clipping parts b, b, being
raised to a welding heat, the combined parts are subjected to the action
of the pair of dies represented in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13, whereby
the parts a, b, b, are welded together, and the thickened end of the
blade at the same time flattened and expanded laterally into the general
Figure represented in section plans of upper and lower sides and edge
view in Figure 14; that is to say, two cross pieces or arms c, c, are

page_text: made on the end of the blade, the said cross pieces or arms o, c, having
upon their upper faces swells or enlargements marked d, d. The pair
of tools by which the end of the blade, Figure 9, is flattened and shaped
into the form of Figure 14 consists of an upper tool e shown in plan in
Figure 10, and elevations taken at right angles to one another in
Figure 11, and a lower tool shown in section and elevation in Figure 12,
and plan of upper side in Figure 13. The tool e is carried by the
ram of a stamp, and the tool is fixed on the bed of the stamp. The
lower tool has a cruciform depression g in its acting face, in which the
compound end of the blade a, b, Figure 9, is placed, and in which the
welding and spreading out of the metal arc effected. It has also
depressions h, h, in which the parts i, i, on the lower face of the shaped
end, Figure 14, are made. The upper tool, Figures 10 and 11, is flat
on its acting face with the exception of the depressions k, k, for forming
the swells or enlargements d, d, on the cross arms c, c, and the cutaway
part for receiving the plate a. After the end, Figure 9, leaves the pair
of tools, Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13, the ends of the cross arms c, c, have
a nearly semicircular figure given to them by cutting tools, as seen in
Figure 14. The prepared end blade, Figure 14, having been reheated is
next subjected to the action of the pair of tools represented in Figures
15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, by which a box form is given to the said cud
blade as represented in Figure 20. By the operation of the said tools,
Figures 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, the cross arms or pieces c, c, Figure 14,
are raised or bent at right angles to the other part of the blade so as to
form parallel knuckles or sides m, m, to the end of the blade, the part n
between the arms c, c, being curved to form a curved bottom to the box,
as seen in Figure 20. The lower tool is marked p, and is represented
in cross section and end elevation in Figure 17; in longitudinal section
in Figure 18, and in plan in Figure 19. The said lower tool p is fixed
on the bed of a stamp. The upper tool q which is carried in the ram of
the stamp is represented in plan of under side in Figure 15, and side
and end clevation in Figure 16. The lower tool p has in it a depression
of the figure of the outer side of the box end to be made, and the upper
tool 4 has the figure of the interior of the box cnd, the sides of the said
upper tool being cutaway at q, in which cutaway parts the parallel
knuckles or sides m, m, of the box end, Figure 20, are formed, as will be
understood by an examination of the Drawing.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
ha nasformid Th it to ha und

page_text: I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of the said Invention; but I claim as the said Invention,―
First. The improvements in the manufacture of those parts of blade
or plate springs for carriages, and for other purposes commonly called
the hooks, claws, and eyes, hercin-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say, subjecting the heated end of
the strip or plate of steel from which the hook, claw, or cyc of the
spring is to be made to the action in succession of a series of pairs of
cutting and shaping or bending dies, whereby the heated end of the
strip or plate is shaped or fashioned into the desired form without the
use of hand labour, substantially as described and illustrated.
Secondly. The construction and combination or arrangement of the
tools and machinery herein-before described and illustrated in Figures
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, of the accompanying Drawings to be used in
the fashioning of the heated ends of the strips or plates into hooks,
claws, or eyes.
Thirdly. The improvements in the manufacture of the box ends of
blade or plate springs, and in tools to be used in the said manufacture
herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 9 to 20, both inclusive,
of the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, forming the box end of
the said springs by bending around the end of the blade or plate narrow
strips of steel, heating the compound end, and by means of a pair of
tools of the construction described and illustrated welding the parts
together, and forming two cross arms or pieces, which cross arms or
pieces, and the part between them, are by the subsequent operation of a
second pair of tools of the construction described and illustrated raised
and fashioned into a box, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Milward Holmes, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
EDWARD MORTON.
JAMES MILWARD HOLMES. (L.s.)