IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SCYTHES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HARDY, of Low Moor, near Bradford, in the County of York, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, did
give and grant unto me, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Iler especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Hardy, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within that part of the United Kingdom called England, the Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-on-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SCYTHES," communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad, during the term
of years therein expressed, and no others, without my license or consent; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Charles
Hardy, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months from the date
thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said condition, I, the said
Charles Hardy, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly ascertained
and described hereby, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the figures marked thereon, that is to say:
The Invention substantially consists in manufacturing scythes from single
bars of steel prepared for that purpose, according to the process herein-after
described. Hitherto scythes have been made from iron and steel welded
together.
I will now describe the process I employ-I take a bar of steel, which
may be of the natural or cemented kind, hammered or cast, and the weight of
the scythe to be fabricated being known, that of the steel to be employed is
easily to be proportioned. The bar is guaged and divided into portions repre-
senting the weight necessary for one scythe by placing the bar in a tube, into
which is introduced either before the bar or at the same time, and successively
once for each division, an iron or steel guage graduated, and upon which a
moveable stop is fixed at the point, corresponding to the required weight. The
tube being full of water, the guage is introduced, which displaces a quantity of
water, equal in volume to that of the guage; the bar is then introduced to
such a length as causes the water in the tube to reach the level of the orifice.
Thus, the volume of that portion of the bar introduced into the tube will bo
found to be exactly equal to that of the guage previously introduced. A mark
is made across the bar with a brass point, and the same operation is continued
until the whole of the bar be guaged. Afterwards, cach of the divisions mado
on the bar is marked with a cold chisel, and the bar is ready to be delivered to
the workman, who has to give it its first preparatory form. Under a hammer
(moved by water or steam power) of about two hundredweight, tho workman
at one heat draws out the bar of steel to about the length of the scythe of a
blade shape, and of thickness equal throughout to that of the back of the scythe.
Under the same or a similar hammer a workman draws out the handle of the
scythe and gives it its curvature. By hand, another workman forms the point
of the blade and turns up the extremity of the handle. The scythe is then
handed over to the process of bevilling. Under a hammer of about three
hundredweight the scythe is widened by the workman, in such a manner as
to retain the rib and thin off the blade gradually to the edge. This operation
is performed in about four successive manipulations, varying more or less
according to the length and width of the scythe; after which the scythe is
handed over to the workman, whose duty it is to set off the rib and to give it
the required appearance; then under a small hammer of about one and a half
hundredweight it is planished cold to trim it and give it a regular form. In
this state the edge of the scythe is cut out by the beam-cutting machine or by

page_text: the hand shears; it is thus finished and ready for hardening. The hardening
is done either with coal in a furnace of a peculiar description herein-after
described, and of which the plan is annexed, or with coke, or wood charcoal, in
open furnaces or in an open fire; in every case when the scythe has been brought
to a red heat, be it somewhat higher or lower, according to the quality of the
steel used, it is to be entirely immersed in a bath composed of beef suet and
mutton fat mixed with about an equal portion of resin deprived of water. In
this bath the scythe is hardened, and at the moment it is taken out the thin
portions of the blade are as brittle as glass; upon taking it out of the harden-
ing bath it is dried in powdered charcoal, and then, while hot, it is beaten in
water after having been slightly heated, or, better still, it is washed in boiling
water, which removes every particle of grease, and then it should be slightly
heated and beaten in cold water.
In this state it is reheated and annealed in sand, that is to say, it is
reheated and annealed by covering successively every portion of it with red-hot
sand until every portion of it becomes a blue violet or other color, according
to the degree of hardness which it is desired to give to the scythe.
If it be desired to sharpen the scythe on the grindstone, as is commonly
practised, the scythe is hardened at a somewhat greater heat, and reheated and
annealed at a somewhat less heat, by-which-it-is-rendered harder, and it is
then finished according to the processes commonly used for the ordinary scythe
of iron and steel. But if it be desired to make a scythe of much perfection,
the first reheat and annealing must in general be carried as far as the blue
color, or even somewhat farther. After this reheat and annealing, the scythe,
although it has kept its edge sufficiently hard, has acquired a certain malle-
ability and is able to support hammering without breaking. Before the ham-
mering or even before the reheat and annealing, according to the color and
appearance desired to be given to the scythe, it is scraped with a steel scraper,
and as soon as it becomes perfectly white all over, it is reheated and annealed
in sand, to bring it to the desired color; after which it is placed under a small
hammer of about one and a half hundredweight, making about three hundred
strokes per minute, having on the anvil as well as the hammer a block of cast
steel, tempered hard, and polished and shaped according to the form it is
desired to give the scythe. Under this hammering the scythe blade receives a
brilliant polish and becomes perfectly smooth. There now remains to finish it
off:-The finisher, with a small polished hand hammer and an anvil similarly
polished, goes over every portion of the scythe upon the anvil, and with gentle
blows of the hammer gives it a proper appearance, and removes any small flaws
that may have arisen. According to what is necessary with regard to the state

page_text: of perfection to which it is desired to bring the scythe, the successive operations
of planishing and finishing are repeated several times, to which also may be
added, if required, one or several reheats and annealings before the planishing.
The last of the finishing operations is performed by a more experienced work-
men well versed in scythe making, who in a few moments rectifies whatever
small defects of form may have arisen, and gives every portion the proper
definitive form. After this operation there only remain two things to be done;
the first is, to give a small touch along the edge on the grindstone to remove
any slight unevenness or inequalities which the shearing may have left, or the
planishing and finishing may have produced. The edge is given by applying
the planishing hammer to the edge only of the scythe; under this hammer it
becomes perfectly keen, and so formed as to enable the mover to use the scythe
at once, as if it had been done on the stone. When this operation has not
been performed, the mower gives the edge himself by means of a small hand
hammer with a cross end and a small portable anvil composed of a vertical
stock, from nine to ten inches long, with a head like a hammer, of about one
inch square, and finished in the middle with a cross piece of an 8 shape or
other analogous form. He places his anvil in a firm part of the ground,
entering the stock as far as the cross piece upon which it is supported, and
with the hammer taps the edge to sharpen it, which is easily done, and pro-
duces a very keen and solid edge; he then passes the handstone over the
scythe, as ordinarily practised. This scythe is much less brittle at the edge
than the common scythe sharpened on the stone. The edge can be kept equally
good, hard, and tough along the whole width of the scythe up to the point;
and when the scythe is worn out it is not a mixture of iron with a few shreds
of steel which remains, but a piece of excellent steel, which can be rendered
very serviceablo and advantageous for agricultural purposes. Lastly, to keep
the scythe from the effects of rust, it is varnished over with a coat of copal
varnish, which is spread over (the varnish being melted and the scythe heated)
by means of a small brush, and is used as thin as possible. The hardening
furnace is shewn in the Drawings, which represent a longitudinal section, a
transverse section, and a sectional plan, as indicated; the peculiarity is, that
the scythes are heated without access of atmospheric air taking place. I, fire-
place; K, ash-pit; M, lower arch through which the fire first passes; O,
orifice by which the lower arch communicates with the side passages; P, P,
side passages; Q, Q, orifices by which the side passages communicate with
the heating chamber; N, heating chamber, into which the scythes to be
heated are placed; R, heating chamber door; S, T, chimney.
In the management of this furnace the scythes are placed in the heating

page_text: chamber N, by the door R, and the current of atmospheric air passing
through this door immediately enters the chimney S, T, and consequently the
scythes will be free from its action, and thus oxidation is prevented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Hardy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-one.