IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF ANCHORS, SHAFTING FOR MILL AND ENGINE PURPOSES, AXLES, CRANKS, AND SPINDLES, AND IN THE FURNACES OR MUFFLES USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Fisher, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ANCHORS, SHAFTING FOR MILL AND ENGINE PURPOSES, AXLES,
CRANKS, AND SPINDLES, AND IN THE FURNACES OR MUFFLES USED IN THE SAID
MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 3rd October 1856, and dated the 4th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Fisher at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th April 1856.
I, SAMUEL FISHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE:
MANUFACTURE OF ANCHORS, SHAFTING FOR MILL AND ENGINE PURPOSES, AXLES,
CRANKS, AND SPINDLES, AND IN THE FURNACES OR MUFFLES USED IN THE SAID
MANUFACTURE," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing the above-named articles by
casting them in malleable iron, and afterwards annealing them in a peculiar
kind of muffle; this muffle I build of the requisite shape to suit the article to
be annealed of fire bricks, moulded to a suitable form, instead of using an iron
muffle, which rapidly burns through. I thus economize greatly the cost, as
the fire brick muffle will last for numerous annealings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Fisher in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
FISHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
tho said Samuel Fisher, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Fisher,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sauinel
Fisher, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ANCHORS, SHAPTING FOR MILL AND ENGINE PURPOSES, AXLES,
CRANKS, AND SPINDLES, AND IN THE FURNACES OR MUFFLES USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Fisher, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
SAID
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Fisher, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is the manufacture of anchors, shafting, axles,
cranks, and spindles of the.description of iron commonly known as malleable
iron, which admits of being cast .in moulds or sand into any desired form, and
which after being annealed is capable of being drawn under the hammer,
forged and wrought with all the facility of wrought iron, from which these
articles are ordinarily made; but I would here remark, that since the filing of
my Provisional Specification I have ascertained that Mr. Henry Bessemer
claims the founding or casting of anchors in malleable iron, under a Patent of
his, which was unspecified at the time of the grant of my Provisional Protection.
1 can therefore lay no claim to the manufacture of anchors in malleable iron,

page_text: excepting as far as regards the improvements hereinafter described in the
process of annealing the same.
The second head of my improvements relates to the furnace or muffle in
which this operation of annealing is to be performed, and as it is mainly in the
use of this furnace or muffle that the value of my Invention is comprised, I
shall proceed to describe its construction. The ordinary annealing furnaces or
niffles are made of cast iron, and are consequently expensive to crect, and
liable to be very soon worn out or burnt through, so that in annealing-balky
articles, such as those enuinerated in my title, the cost of the muffle, which
would thus be required to be renewed with every article or batch of articles to
be annealed, would considerably overbalance any advantage of cost that might
be supposed to accrue from the fucility of founding or casting such articlès
instead of forging them of wrought iron. It becomes necessary, therefore, in
order to make this operation pay, that a muffle should endure many processes of
aunealing, and should also in first cost be considerably less than that of iron:
My muffle is thus constructed:-I employ two retorts of fire brick or fire clay;
the one placed concentrically inside the other immediately above the fire-bars;
the outer retort is simply an iron case, lined inside with fire brick, with à dome-
shaped lid, and a flue at the top, having an.outlet immediately under this lid
communicating with the stack. Into the inner retort is placed the article or
articles to be annealed, and which have been previously cast or founded into
the required form; the whole of the vacuum remaining in this retort is then
charged with the same description of iron ore as that which furnished the iron
from which the articles have been cast, after which the top of the inner retort
is built over in fire brick. It is essential that this inner retort should be
hermetically sealed, or as nearly so as possible, that no air may be admitted
to the casting whilst under process of annealing; should this occur, it will
probably cause the outer surface or skin of the article to laminate and scale
off; to guard against this, I sometimes build a third retort, occupying a
portion of the space between the inner and outer ones already described, and
fill in the space between the two inner retorts with sand. The space between
this middle retort and the outer one is left for the flame from the fire, which
is thus caused to play around and about the inner retorts, keeping the article
under operation and the annealing ore at a fixed heat for as long a time as
may be necessary without any destruction to annealing pots. When I require
a circular cylindrical muffle I usually have the fire bricks moulded for me,
each forming on its plan an arc of a circle, and with a dovetail or mortice on
each end, so that on bedding two bricks together space is left between their
ends, which space I fill in with fire clay, dovetailing the whole, so that I can

page_text: thus put this muffle together and take it down again with the greatest ease and
without any perceptible loss after it has undergone repeated firings. The
casting, upon being removed from the muffle, will be found to possess the
strength and tenacity of forged or wrought iron, and is capable of being
worked by the chisel or in the lathe as the finest brands of wrought iron.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be clearly understood that I
do not confine myself to these precise details, nor do I claim the founding or
casting of anchors in malleable iron, for the reason herein-before stated; but
that which I do claim, and desire to have secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent, is, the founding or casting of shafting for mill and
engine purposes, axles, cranks, and spindles of the description of iron com-
monly known as malleable iron and afterwards annealing them; and I. also
claim the use of a fire-clay or. fire-brick muffle for the purpose of annealing
the above-named articles and anchors, as herein more fully set forth and
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Fisher, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
SAMUEL FISHER. (L.S.)