CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF MANUFACTURING CERTAIN ARTICLES IN LEAD
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
DAVID SMITH, of the City of New York, in the United States of
America, Lead Manufacturer, and a Citizen of the said United States,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of May, in
the twelfth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said David Smith, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said David
Smith, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
David Smith, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of I years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, excr-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my
Invention of "CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
OF MANUFACTURING CERTAIN ARTICLES IN LEAD;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said David Smith, by an

page_text: instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six 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 David Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner, in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
The main feature of novelty of this my Invention consists in causing
the fused metal to fall through an ascending current of air, which is
made to travel at such a velocity that the dropping metal will, in its
descent, come in contact with as great a volume of air in a short tower
as it would meet in falling through the high towers heretofore found
necessary to such purposes; by this means the manufacture of shot
may be effected with less outlay and current expense than heretofore,
and at the same time shot of a superior quality may be produced. The
mode of using the said improvements is fully set forth in the following
description thercof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing,
which forms part of this my Specification.
Fig. 1, is a vertical sectional elevation of a sheet metal cylinder, set
up as a tower within a building, and may be of about twenty inches
internal diameter for each fifty feet of height, or nearly in such pro-
portions for other heights. Fig. 2, is a plan at the line A, B, of
Fig. 1; Fig. 8, is a plan at the line C, D, of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, is a
plan at the line E, F, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5, is a plan at the line G, H,
of Fig. 1. Similar letters of reference apply to the like parts in all
the Figures.
A, is a water cistern, forming as it were a base to a tower B. At the
lower end of this tower is an annular chest a, a, the central opening of
which forms a portion of the passage for the descending shot. b, is a

page_text: pipe proceeding from a blowing apparatus and leading to the chest,
with which it is connected, for the purpose of supplying a blast of air to
that chest, the upper face c, of which is pierced with holes, as shewn in
plan (Fig. 3), to pass and lisperse the air up the, column.B. This
column at its lower end takes the form, for a short distance, of,a trun-
cated cone; it then takes the cylindrical form, which it retains to the
height at d, e, from which point to its upper extremity it gradually
increases in diameter (like a trumpet mouth) for the purpose of passing
the ascending blast through a frame ff, as shewn in plan at Fig: 4.
This frame ff, supports a cylindrical standard g, the upper central
portion of which receives the pouring pan h; this is made changeable
for cach separate size of shot, the diameter of which is determined by
the size of the holes in the bottom of the pan, as usual, and round the
pouring pan is a circular waste trough i. The intent and effect of
this arrangement is, that the fluid metal-running through. the pouring
pan h, into the ascending current of air in a tower of fifty feet high,
when the air is passing up with twice the velocity of the descending
metal, will be operated upon to the same or even to a greater extent,.
by the air than if the metal fell through the stagnant air in a costly
tower of one hundred and fifty feet or more in height, and so on in
the like proportions, with greater or less velocities of the 'ascending
current of air.
The particles of metal fall through the open centre of the air chest u,
into the water in the cistern A, where, for convenience, a shoot k,
Figs. 1 and 2, carries the particles of metal into a tub 7, which may be
placed empty and removed when full, through a scuttle in the cover of
the cistern. Instead of forcing a blast of air up the tower B, the desired
effect may be obtained by exhausting the upper end of the tower by a
fan wheel or other suitable exhauster, as will be well understood. In
that case the air chest a may be dispensed with, and instead thereof
vents must be made at the bottom of the tower to allow of air rushing
in to fill up the vacuum created by the exhausting apparatus.
.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into practical operation, I wish it to be under-
stood that, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the

page_text: application of an ascending artificial current of air to the cooling of the
descending metal in the manufacture of drop shot.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
DAVID (L.s.) SMITH.
Taken and acknowledged by David Smith (party
hereto) at the City of New York, in the State
of New York and United States of America,
this Fifteenth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine, before me,
ANTH. BARCLAY,
Her Brit. Maj's Consul.