IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF SMITHS' ANVILS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Sharp, of the Bolton Iron and Steel Company.
Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, and Francis William Webb, of the
same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF SMITHS' ANVILS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Sharp and Francis
William Webb at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 18th October 1867.
We, HENRY SHARP, of the Bolton Iron and Steel Company, Bolton, in the
County of Lancaster, and FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBB, of the same Place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SMITHS' ANVILS," to be as follows:-
Smiths' anvils now in use are generally forged of iron and faced with steel,
the horns being welded on; now our Invention consists in casting anvils of
Bessemer or other cast steel. We first prepare a pattern of the size of anvil
required, but with the face deeper and wider than required on the envil and
with the horn or horns shorter and blunter; this pattern is then moulded in
a composition or other mould, with the face downwards by preference, and
when the mould is ready and the pattern removed the cast steel is run in.
The rough anvil so made is then finished by hammering the face and the
top edges and drawing out the horns, thereby bringing all the working

page_text: surfaces of the anvil into the condition of forged steel, the faces may be
tempered in the usual manner.
This Invention may be modified by making the parts of the mould
corresponding to the working faces of the anvil of cast iron or other suitable
metal in order to obtain a cleaner surface.
Another modification consists in laying plates of steel corresponding to the
faces of the anvil in the mould, which plates have V shaped or other projections
around which the molten metal runs, and the plate is thus united both
mechanically and by fusion to the mass of metal, or a heated steel plate may
be inserted into the mould immediately before the molten metal is run into
it, in this case it is desirable to allow the metal to flow through the mould
until the plate is sufficiently hot to adhere to the metal. When plates of steel
are inserted in the mould the subsequent operation of forging is or may be
dispensed with.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Sharp and Francis William Webb in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
SHARP, of the Bolton Iron and Steel Company, Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, and FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBB, of the same Place, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
caid Henry Sharp and Francis William Webb, Her special license that we,
the said Henry Sharp and Francis William Webb, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Sharp and Francis
William Webb, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, froin 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SMITHS' ANVILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Henry Sharp and Francis William Webb, our executors or
alministrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our

page_text: or 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 we, the said Henry Sharp and Francis William
Webb, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (that is to say):-
Smiths' anvils now in use are generally forged of iron and faced with steel,
the horn or horns being welded to the body of the anvil; now this Invention.
consists in casting anvils either wholly or partially of Bessemer or other cast
steel, thereby cost and labor are greatly economised and a better anvil is
produced.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation of an anvil constructed according to our Invention ;
Figure 2 is a plan; and Figure 3 an end view. of the same.
In performing our Invention the first operation is to prepare a wood or
other pattern or mould of about the size of the anvil required, but with the
face deeper and wider than that of the anvil and with the born or borns
shorter and blunter, as shewn by the full lines on the Drawing (the dotted
lines representing the finished anvil); this pattern is then moulded in a
composition or other mould with the face downwards, by preference. When
the mould is ready and the pattern has been removed the Bessemer or other
cast steel in a molten state is run into the mould. The rough anvil so made
is then finished by hammering or compressing the face and top edges and
drawing out the born or horns. These operations can be performed by a
Nasmyth or other hammer mechanically worked or by hydraulic or bydrostatic
pressure or by hand labour. By this means all the working surfaces of the
anvil are brought into the condition of forged steel and the faces may be
tempered in the usual manner to complete the anvil.
section of an
In this case
Figure 4 is an elevation, Figure 5 a plan, and Figure 6 a
anvil constructed according to a modification of our Invention.
the face of the anvil consists of a detached plate of cast or other steel, which
is forged or made of the required dimensions and then laid in the mould in
which the anvil is to be cast, and in order that the plate may become firmly
united to the molten steel forming the rest of the anvil we make the plate
with a V-shaped projection on its under side, as shown in Figure 6; we also

page_text: by preference plane fine grooves and ridges on the under side of the plate,
which ridges are fused by the molten metal, and consequently the plate
becomes united both mechanically and by fusion to the mass of metal forming
the anvil or the V-shaped projection may be dispensed with, the junction
being effected by fusion alone; or the steel plate forming the face of the anvil
may be heated immediately before it is placed in the mould. It is desirable
to allow the molten metal to flow through the mould until the plate is sufficiently
hot or partially fused in order that the adhesion of the plate to the body of
metal may be perfect. When plates of steel are inserted into the mould the
subsequent operation of forging the faces is or may be dispensed with.
Figure 7 is an elevation, Figure 8 is a plan, and Figure 9 an end view
of an anvil constructed according to another modification of our Invention.
In this case the whole of the upper portion of the anvil is forged of steel or of
iron and steel, and when finished it is laid in the mould, the molten inetal
forming the lower portion of the anvil is then run into the mould, the adhesion
or junction of the upper and lower portions of the anvil being effected in the
manner above described in reference to Figures 4, 5, and 6.
Our Invention may be further modified by making the parts of the mould
corresponding to the working faces of the anvil of cast iron or other suitable
metal in order to obtain cleaner surfaces for the working faces of anvils; or the
entire anvil may be cast in a mould of cast iron or other suitable metal put
together in two or more parts according to the shape of the anvil as shewn in
Figures 10 and 11. In this case the pattern of the shape of the anvil is
dispensed with and the same mould may be used for casting any number of
anvils till worn out.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we declare that what we claim herein as new is,-
First, the manufacture of smiths' anvils made of Bessemer or other cast
steel in a molten state and run into suitable moulds as described.
And secondly, the manufacture of smiths' anvils composed partly of wrought
steel and partly of molten Bessemer or other cast steel as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis William Webb, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight.