IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HINGES, AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING THE SAME
Year: 1852

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Thomas Potts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 27th October 1852, pursuant to the 9th section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS POTTS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tube
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HINGES, AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR
PRODUCING THE SAME," and in what inanner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):
My improvements consist in making butt, stop, and other hinges
from long strips of metal of equal or unequal thickness by means of the
tools used in connection with a draw bench and fly press, as herein-
after described.
I will now, aided by Drawings, which must be taken as constituting
part of my description, describe my improvements in making hinges
according to my Invention. The mode in which I effect one of my
improvements is as follows:-I take a strip of rolled metal of any
convenient length, say twelve to fourteen feet, and of the width and
thickness to make the hinge required. A strip of metal suitable for the

page_text: purpose is shewn in Figures 1, and 2, in Drawing, Sheet A. The strip
of which the piece shewn is part is passed through planing tools attached
to and worked by a draw bench, of which Figures 3, and 4, are an
elevation and plan, the object being to make the metal of unequal thick-
ness, as shewn in Figures 5, and 6, Sheet A. My object in reducing
the metal, as shewn, is to enable me to make the knuckle or joint of
the hinge smaller and more compact than when mictal of an equal
thickness is used. The reduction in the thickness of the metal in the
parts shewn is effected by its being drawn through or between the planing
tools on cutters a, a, a, a, shewn in Figures 3, and 4, Sheet A.
When a strip of metal has been so far prepared one end thereof is
pointed to enable it to be passed through the hole b, in the die shewn,
Figure 7, Sheet A. The end so pointed is pushed through the hole in
the dic, and taken hold of by the pliers of the draw bench, which is
then set in motion, and the strip is drawn into the shape shewn b
Figure 7, Sheet A. Figures 8, and 9, on the same Sheet are a section
and plan shewing this operation. The strip of metal so far prepared is
annealed and pickled, and then passed through the closing or finishing
die shewn, Figure 10, Sheet A, which brings the metal into the required
shape, as shewn at c, Figure 10, Sheet A. Figures 11, and 12, of the
same Drawing are a section and plan shewing this operation, the result
of which is firmly to press down the outer edge of the metal forming
the knuckle of the hinge into the rabbet y, Figure 18, formed in the
strip of metal by the planing process, thus completing what is intended
to form the barrel of the hinge. The strip so drawn is annealed and
pickled, stretched at the draw bench to make it straight, and sawn into
such lengths as will make the hinge desired. In order to form the
joint or knuckle of the hinge portions of the barrel must be cut away,
which is effected by the barrel being sawn through at right angles to its
length at proper intervals, and this I accomplish by means of a series of
circular saws fixed on a spindle at proper intervals, depending upon the
length of the hinge; and when the saws are in motion I press the
knuckle or barrel of the hinge against the saws, by which means the
barrel is sawn through, as shewn at d, d, d, d, Figure 14, Sheet A. I
then take the piece so sawn and place it in the die Z, as shewn in
sections in Figures 15, and 16, Sheet A. This die and the cutting too

page_text: e, d, e, are fixed in a fly press, which cuts away those portions of the
barrel ffffff, shewn in Figures 16, and 17, Sheet A, the remain.
ing portions being left to form the joint of the hinge. A piece so cut is
shewn at Figures A, and B, in the same Drawing. The process before
described shews the mode in which the eye or knuckle of one flap or
wing of the binge is made. The other wing of the hinge is made by
the same description of tools acting in the same way, but arranged as
shewn in Figures 18, 19, and 20, Sheet B. A piece so cut by these
tools is shewn at Figures 21, and 22, Sheet B. This forms the other
flap of the hinge; the corresponding flap is shewn in Figures A, and B,
Sheet A. These flaps, which form the hinge, are then put together,
and the screw holes made and countersunk in the ordinary way. The
hinge will require little, if any, dressing, inasmuch as the parts being
joined by being drawn as described they are smooth and even. Figures
23, and 24, Sheet B, shew a hinge made in the manner described.
After this has
I will now proceed to describe another mode of making a hinge from
metal of an equal thickness. The processes in the manufacture of this
hinge differ very little from the methods before described. The metal.is
first sheared into the required width, and then passed through the hole
in the dio shewn in Figure 25, Sheet B, which process bends it into the
form shewn at 9, Figure 25, in the same Drawing. Figure 26, an
elevation, and 27, a plan shewing the same process.
been performed one end of the bent strip of metal is formed to enter
the hole in the die shewn at Figure 28, Sheet 3; it is then drawn
through, when it assumes the shape shewn at h, Figure 28, Sheet B;
in this process the knuckle of the hinge is formed of the same thickness
as the metal, but the flap or wing of the hinge is double the thickness,
and that part of the metal which is bent over to form the double
thickness makes a rabbet or shoulder on the knuckle of the hinge to
butt against, thereby attaining the same object as is produced in turning
up hinges from metal that has been planed to form the knuckle of the
hinge. Figure 29, is a plan, and 30, an end view of a piece of metal
turned up into the required shape for forming the knuckle of the hinge.
When the wing of the hinge has been so formed it is put through the
same processes as before described for forming the knuckle or joint of
the hinge. In order to form a stop hinge there is a notch in the die, as

page_text: shewn in Figure 81, Sheet B, which forms a projection or bead on the
external portion of the barrel, and which is intended to form the knuckle
of the hinge. Figures 32, and 33, Sheet B, shew a piece of a strip of
metal with the bead drawn upon it. Figures 34, 35, 36, Sheet B, shew
this hinge put together. The projection or bead forming the stop for the
flap of the hinge. For making this hinge the processes are the same as
before described for making butt hinges, except that the finishing die has
a notch cut in it for the purpose of forming the stop, as before described.
I am aware that hinges have been made of metal rolled of an unequal
thickness, but what I claim with reference to this first part of my
Invention is, the producing the unequal thickness of the metal of which
hinges are to be made by planing, as herein-before described.
Secondly, I claim making the barrel or knuckle of hinges by drawing
strips of metal through suitable dics at a draw bench, as herein-before
described, and also the tools used for the purpose of cutting out tho
parts necessary for forming the joints or knuckles of hinges, as hercin-
before described.
Thirdly, I claim the method herein-before described of making
hinges out of metal of an equal thickness.
And, lastly, I claim the mode of producing by the tools herein-before
described the bead or projection on the barrel intended to form a stop
hinge.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Potts, havo hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
(L.S.) THOMAS POTTS.
Taken and acknowledged by the said
Thomas Potts at Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, this Twenty-third
day of October 1852, in the presence of
THO" SLANEY,
A Master Extray. in Chancery.