CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING METALLIC DIES AND PLATES FOR STAMPING, PRESSING, OR EMBOSSING
Year: 1842

page_text: BAGGALY'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JAMES BAGGALY, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Seal Engraver, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John James Baggaly, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said John James Baggaly, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said John James Baggaly, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING METALLIC DIES AND PLATES FOR STAMPING,
PRESSING, OR EMBOSSING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said John James Baggaly, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John James Baggaly, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-

page_text: tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, that is
to say:
In carrying these improvements into effect, I first provide the model in bas
relief of the subject which is required to be sunk in a die, and from this model
I cast or otherwise produce in sulphur, plaster, or any other suitable material,
a counter or matrix of sufficient substance, the back of which matrix must be
made nearly parallel to the face, that is, the casting or matrix must be as a
shell nearly of the same substance or thickness in every part, the general
figure of the back of the matrix nearly corresponding to that of the face, and
it may vary from one eighth to half an inch in thickness, according to the
size and depth of the subject. From the back of this shell or matrix,
including the thickness of the edges, a cast-iron die or block is obtained in the
usual way (by means of a plaster model) of suitable substance and dimensions
for sustaining the blow or pressure in the operation of stamping. From the
face or front of this matrix I also obtain a model for casting in iron a hub or
sinker, containing the raised part of the subject. This hub or sinker should
have a staple or stud at its back for attaching it to the press or stamp hammer.
The die block and hub having been adapted and adjusted in the stamp or
press, I now take a plate of steel of suitable thickness, and of the required
shape and size, and after rendering it red hot, lay it upon the face or upper
surface of the cast-metal die block; I then strike the hub or sinker down
upon the plate of steel, and after several operations; and repeatedly heating
the plate, I bring the plate into the form of the die block on the under side,
and of the sinker on the upper side. The feather edges and other irregularities
of the steel plate being removed, it may be hardened if required. It must
then be cleaned at the back and edges, and tinned over those parts. The face
of the die block must be also cleaned and tinned, when the plate may be
fixed into the die block by soft solder, and pressed whilst hot, so as to bring it
firmly to its proper seat or bed. After thus fixing the steel plate in the block,
it is then ready to be worked upon by the tool which is technically called
getting it up, and when this has been done, the die is ready for use.
In place
of steel plates I sometimes use plates of malleable cast iron, rendered soft by
annealing, and operate upon these by means of stamping, as above described.
And I can produce dies from plates of alloys of several metals by similar
stamping operations,. the modes of treating which metals will depend upon the
nature of the alloys employed, and such plates must, after being so stamped
and prepared, be united to the die blocks by solder. Instead of sinking the
figure of the dies out of flat plates, as above described, I sometimes produce

page_text: the figures in the face of the matrix or die by casting them from molten steel,
after which the steel should be heated gradually to a glowing red heat in a
close oven or furnace, into which state it is to be placed in the die block, and
then operated upon by the sinker in a stamper or press for the purpose of
closing the pores of the vessel and bringing up the finer parts of the impression.
The die so prepared is then to be cleaned and tinned at the back, and affixed
to the die block by solder or other means; or, in place of steel, I sometimes
substitute castings of malleable iron, and after annealing treat them as above
described in reference to the cast steel, and under some circumstances I have
found castings of brass and other alloys, prepared and treated as described, to
answer the purpose.
Lastly, I desire it to be understood that the particular features of
improvements which I claim to have invented in making dies and plates for
stamping, pressing, or embossing, are intended as substitutes for the steel-faced
dies commonly produced by welding steel on to the body of a wrought-
iron block, and afterwards cutting or stamping the subject thereon, and
consist,―
Firstly, in producing from flat plates of steel, or other metal, the subject of
the required die by the means above described.
Secondly, by casting the said subjects from molten metal, and afterwards
treating such castings in the way herein-above explained; and,
Thirdly, in attaching such stamped dics to cast-iron blocks by means of
solder.
In witness whereof, I, the said John James Baggaly, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
JOHN JAMES (L.s.) BAGGALY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-sixth day of
July, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John James Baggaly canie
O before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year above written.