AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOXES FROM SHEET METAL
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOXES FROM SHEET METAL." A communication
from abroad by Eliphalet William Bliss, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 8th April 1879, and dated the 2nd November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd November 1878.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOXES
SHEET METAL." [A communication from abroad by Eliphalet William Bliss, of
Paris, France.]
FROM
This Invention relates to an improved box or case for sardines and other
provisions.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a perspective view of the box cover,
which is made in the usual manner; and Figure 2 is a similar view of the box
itself, which is made of one piece of metal, and is of the same form and appearance
as ordinary boxes used for the same purpose, made of several pieces soldered
together.
The box is made as follows:-The piece of sheet iron or tin plate from which the
box is to be made is first placed in a press like that for which I applied for Letters
Patent on the 1st November 1878 (No. 4427), and which is provided with suitable
punches and dies whereby a blank is first stamped out from the sheet by a
punch and bolster; then by an arrangement of cams working the punch the
latter is arrested during a certain space, and the blank punched out is drawn or
struck up to a box form between steel dies or surfaces having just the proper
interval between them, or placed in such position with regard to each other as to
prevent the blank being creased.

page_text: An upper die or plunger causes the box to descend within a hollow die, and when
at its lowest point a bottom die ascends and the bottom of the box is embossed or
stamped between the upper and lower dies, which then separate, and the box falls
out of the press, which is inclined to facilitate the discharge of the stamped boxes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th April 1879.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOXES FROM SHEET
A communication from abroad by Eliphalet William Bliss, of Paris,
METAL."
France.
This Invention relates to an improved box or case for sardines and other
provisions or substances, and is illustrated in isometrical perspective in the accom-
panying Drawing.
Figure 1 shows the box cover, which is made in the usual manner; and Figure 2,
the box body, which is made of one piece of metal, and is of the same form and
appearance as ordinary boxes used for the same purposes, made of several pieces
soldered together.
The box is made as follows:-The piece of sheet iron or tin plate from which the
box is to be made is first placed in a press like that for which Letters Patent have
been granted to me bearing date November 1st, 1878, No. 4427, provided with
suitable punches and dies, whereby a blank is first stamped out from the sheet by
a punch and bolster; then by an arrangement of cams working the punch the latter
is arrested during a certain space, and the blank so punched out is shaped or struck
up to a box form between an upper steel die or mandrel and a corresponding lower
hollow die having just the proper interval between them, or placed in such position
with regard to each other as to prevent the blank being creased in the operation.
The upper die or mandrel causes the box body to descend within the hollow die,
and when at its lowest point a bottom embossing die, forming a counterpart to the
top die or mandrel, ascends and embosses the bottom of the box between the two
dies, which then separate and the box falls out of the press, which is inclined
to facilitate the discharge of the stamped boxes.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of performing the
same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
A sardine or other box struck up from a single piece of metal, as herein shown
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)