IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNDATIONS FOR BODIES SUBJECTED TO BLOWS OR PRESSURE, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO ANVILS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Martyn John Roberts, of the City of Bath,
Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNDATIONS FOR
BODIES SUBJECTED TO BLOWS OR PRESSURE, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO
ANVILS."
Sealed the 26th September 1873, and dated the 29th March 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Martyn John Roberts
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th March 1873.
I, MARTYN JOHN ROBERTS, of the City of Bath, Esquire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNDA-
TIONS FOR BODIES SUBJECTED TO BLOWS OR PRESSURE, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO
ANVILS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in using sand or other material having the like
property of offering great resistance to blows or pressure as a foundation
on which to rest bodies subjected to blows or pressure.
If for the foundation for the anvils of steam hammers, one way in
which I make such foundation is to dig a pit in the ground of the

page_text: necessary area and depth, which pit I line either with walling metal or
other solid body, and into this pit I pour sand until the pit is full or
nearly full, and on the surface of this sand I place a metallic plate of
nearly the same superficial area as the surface of the sand, and on this
plate I rest the anvil. A flange at right angles to the surface of the
plate may be fixed to it, which flange entering into the sand downwards
tends to prevent any lateral or sidelong motion in the plate, And as
when a heavy steam hammer is used such plate may be cracked by the
impat of such hammer, sometimes instead of one thick plate resting on
the sand I make use of a number of thin sheet iron plates riveted or
otherwise fastened together in such numbers as may be sufficient to
support the anvil and impact of the hammer.
There are other applications to which my Invention would be useful,
the above described being only one example.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Martyn John Roberts in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARTYN
JOHN ROBERTS, of the City of Bath, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc.
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Martyn John Roberts, Her
special licence that I, the said Martyn John Roberts, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Martyn John
Roberts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNDATIONS FOR BODIES SUBJECTED TO BLOWS OR
PRESSURE, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO ANVILS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Martyn John Roberts, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their

page_text: 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 I, the said Martyn John Roberts, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say :—
My Invention consists in using sand or other material having the
like property of offering great resistance to blows or pressure as a
foundation on which to rest bodies subjected to blows or pressure.
If for the foundation for the anvils of steam hammers, one way in
which I make such foundation is to dig a pit in the ground of the
necessary area and depth, which pit I generally line either with walling
metal or other solid body, and into this pit I pour sand until the pit is
full or nearly full, and on the surface of this sand I place a metallic
plate or other solid body of nearly the same superficial area as the surface
of the sand, and on this plate I rest the anvil. A flange or some-
times a cylinder at right angles to the surface of the plate may be fixed
to it, which flange entering into the sand downwards tends to prevent
any lateral or sidelong motion in the plate, and the flange or cylinder
tends to prevent the sand being driven out of the pit by any blows given
on the plate on the top or on any anvil placed thereon. And as when
a heavy steam hammer is used such plate may be cracked by the impact
of such hammer, sometimes instead of one thick plate resting on the
sand I make use of a number of thin sheet-iron plates riveted or other-
wise fastened together in such numbers as may be sufficient to support
the anvil and impact of the hammer.
The annexed Drawing is a vertical section of an anvil foundation
constructed as above described.
A, A, is a pit dug in the ground and lined with metal B, B. The pit
is filled or nearly filled with sand as indicated. C is a metal plate or
other solid body placed upon the top of the sand, and D is a flange or
cylinder fixed to the under side of the plate, and entering into the sand

page_text: for the purposes herein-before explained. E is the anvil resting on the
plate C.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
constructing or forming foundations for bodies subjected to blows or
pressure, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martyn John Roberts, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.