IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS OF SADDLETREES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Edwards and Heber
Edwards at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 25th August 1875.
We, SAMUEL EDWARDS and HEBER EDWARDS, both of Balsall Heath,
in the County of Worcester, Saddletree Manufacturers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF CERTAIN PARTS OF SADDLETREES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SAID
MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
or
Our Invention has reference to the wooden heads of saddletrees, and
also to that part of saddletrees for ladies' saddles called the "bunch "
"curl;" and our said Invention consists of the improvements herein-after
described in making the said parts, and in the apparatus employed
therein.
•
We will describe our Invention as applied to the manufacture of the
wooden head of a saddletree, the apparatus constituting part of our
Invention being described in connection with the process of manufacture.
The wooden head of a saddletree consists of an arch or bow-shaped
piece, the said head being ordinarily made in two parts or halves.

page_text: joined together at their upper ends:The said parts-or halves are.
formed by cutting or fashioning blocks of wood into the required shape
by hand.
Our Invention consists in making the said heads from one piece of
wood by the process of manufacture and by the use of the apparatus
herein-after described. We take a piece of wood of the required length,
breadth, and thickness, and by means of a steaming bath, into which
steam is passed, we soften the piece of wood so that it may by pressure
be made to take the desired shape.
The apparatus by which we shape the softened piece of wood into the
head of a saddletree consists of a fixed metal block or mould, having the
figure externally of the interior of the head to be made. This block or
mould is supported on a foundation plate. Above the said fixed block or
mould is a moveable block or mould having a sliding motion in guides
in the framing of the apparatus. The said moveable block or mould has
a rising and falling motion given to it by means of a screw and hand
wheel, whereby the said moveable block or mould may be raised from
or lowered upon the fixed block or mould. The inner or acting face of
the moveable block or mould is hollow or concave, and corresponds in
figure to the exterior of the saddletree head to be made.
In addition to the fixed and moveable blocks we employ a shell or
casing which fits the lower block; the moveable block or mould having
been raised from the fixed block or mould, the said shell previously
heated is placed on the fixed block, and the piece of softened wood is
laid across the said shell and fixed block or mould, the middle of the
said wood lying upon the summit of the said shell and fixed block; the
moveable block or mould being brought down upon the softened wood
laid across the fixed block or mould the said softened wood is gradually
bent upon and made to take the figure of the said fixed and moveable.
blocks or moulds; the softened wood is fixed to the shell by means of
clamps and the upper mould is raised; the shaped wood clamped to
the shell is removed and allowed to dry either spontaneously or in a
stove.

page_text: shape it while it is in a softened state between a pair of metal blocks or
moulds and shell or casing having the required figure.
By our improvements the manufacture of the wooden heads and
"bunches
ઃઃ
or curls "of saddletrees is simplified and much labour and
"
material saved.