IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BOXES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rollason, the younger, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BOXES."
Sealed the 21st July 1863, and dated the 27th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rollason at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
January 1863.
I, WILLIAM ROLLASON, the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BOXES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to such metallic boxes as are usually made by cutting
blanks from sheet metal and bending up the sides of the blank, the corners of
the box being completed by soldering together the ends of the bent up
sides.
Instead of connecting the sides together by soldering, I make and connect
the sides in the following manner :-I cut out the blanks of such a figure that
the parts which when bent up form two opposite sides of the box are somewhat
longer than the sides to be formed.
The said sides have also tongues or projecting pieces at or about their
middle, or near their top. When the sides of the blank are bent up at right
angles to the bottom, and the ends of the sides described are bent inwards at

page_text: right angles to the other portions of the sides, the said bent in portions
form abutments for the ends of the adjacent plain sides to bear against.
The said plain sides have openings pierced in them, in which the tongues
formed on the first described sides engage. By clenching the said tongues
the sides of the box are securely fastened together. In place of the
tongues described the turned in ends of the first described sides may be
perforated with holes which, when all the sides are bent into their proper
places, coincide with the holes in the plain sides which abut upon the
said ends. Small strips or pieces of sheet metal being passed through the
said holes and clenched securely, fasten the sides of the box together. Or
the adjacent sides may be made with projections or tongues on them, the
projecting parts on one side being situated opposite the plain parts of the
other side. When the sides are bent up the projections on one side are bent
up on the other side, and the two sides thus firmly secured together. Or one
side may be made to engage in a groove formed in the other side and held in
the said groove by a tongue turned down upon the said grooved side. When
strips or plates require to be fixed inside the box they may be fixed by the
methods described with reference to the sides of the box.
My Invention is particularly applicable to the small metallic boxes used
for holding matches but may also be applied to boxes made of sheet metal of
any size and for any purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rollason in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROLLASON, the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufac-
turer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Rollason, Her special licence that I, the said William
Rollason, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Rollason, 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,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP METALLIC BOXES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Rollason, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
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 William Rollason, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in metal boxes, cases, or
holders for containing lucifer matches, vestas, and other lights, and for
other purposes, and consists in so shaping and forming the plates, of which
the said boxes are made that the joints at the angles formed by the
junctions of the sides and ends are self-attaching or self-securing when
fitted and pressed together, forming a box or case without requiring the
angles to be soldered or otherwise fastened by any additional matter. In
order to accomplish this I take a piece of any suitable rolled or other
metal or combination of metals, and punch or cut out with press or
other suitable tools a blank of the shape and size adapted to the form of
the holder required, and the angles or corners (where the box formed
in the ordinary way is soldered together) I make of the shape shewn at Fig. 1
on the Drawing.
The portion of metal bounded by the dotted lines a, a, a, a, form the
bottom, and the other parts marked b, b, and c, c, the sides and ends
respectively when bent up at the lines a, a. At the two ends of the side
pieces I form the flanged tongues d, d, and at the two angles of the
sides I cut or pierce the slits e, e. (The two notches f, f, are cut out for
forming the hinge in the usual way.) With the metal blank thus shaped
and pierced I proceed to form the box. In this process the portion of metal
(between the dotted lines d' and d"), additional to that which would be
required for making boxes with soldered angles, is bent to a right angle with
the side so as to form a flange or butting piece for the pierced end. to close
to and rest against, when the angles are joined, and this flange improvement
gives the box strength at the angles which it would not possess if formed with

page_text: a simple tongue and slit joint. The flange is turned down by a slotted bed
and punch worked in a hand press, or by any other suitable means; the
tongue on the edge of the flange is also bent so as to stand parallel with
the side, or bent to such an angle as will cause it to enter the slit e before
mentioned in that portion of the blank which forms the end. The blank is
now ready for the angles being closed so as to form the box, and this may
be done either upon a mandril, or by squaring up in a bed or matrix
of the required shape and size, when the projecting tongues on the edges
of the flanges of the sides will enter the slits in the ends which are
exactly placed to receive them; the box is then put upon a press tool
made to fit the end of the box, and a punch being brought down upon it
the projecting tongue is drawn through the slit and partially closed down; it is
then put upon a second pair of tools which finally close the tongues, rivet
the corners together, and complete the joining. The ends may of course be
formed with the tongues, and the sides with the slits if preferred, and when
required two or more slits and flanged tongues can be formed in the blank
piece of which the box is made, and these flange and tongue fastenings may be
formed wholly on the ends, wholly on the sides, or partly on each, so as to
give a dovetailed joint.
For shallow boxes I prefer the method first above described, but I also
effect the same object by cutting slits only in the abutments and angles of
the ends and sides, and through both of which a bent piece of metal is
passed, and thus securing the angle joints without solder, as before described.
Another mode in which I propose to make the self-fastening angle joint
is by cutting out the blank in the shape shewn at Fig. 2, the ends and sides
are then squared up, the tongues marked 1, 1, being closed upon the ends, and
those marked 2, 2, upon the sides. In forming these tongues when cut in
square form, I give the upper edges sufficient curve to allow them to pass
each other, both the ends and sides can then be squared up in the bed or
matrix or upon the mandril together or separately. The dovetail joints which
now project beyond the sides and ends are turned down thereon respectively,
and the joint is completed, forming a box with self-securing sides and ends, as
before described.
Having thus described the nature of my said improvements, and explained
and illustrated the manner in which the same may be carried into effect in
practice, I hereby further declare that I do not absolutely restrict myself to
the precise applications of the principle of my said Invention explained and
described, as there are various other modifications in the details of the forms
of the flanged and dovetail tongues which may be made without departing.

page_text: from the principle of construction hereby ascertained, and upon which
principle my said improvements are founded; I therefore include all such
modifications, as well as the particular forms more particularly described, as my
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rollason, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM ROLLASON, JUN. (L.S.)