IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF BRANDING WOOD OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Richmond and Walter Whiting, both of
"
Kirby Street, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers
and Machinists, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF
BRANDING WOOD OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Richmond and
Walter Whiting at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
21st December 1880.
1
L
JOSEPH RICHMOND and WALTER WHITING, both of Kirby Street, Hatton
Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers and Machinists. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE METHOD OF BRANDING WOOD OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
This Invention has for its object the construction of a machine which will
brand indelible impressions (such as names, trade marks, addresses, designs, and
the like) upon portions of casks, cases, boxes, or other like receptacles for
merchandize, or upon boards or slabs for exhibition or otherwise, with facility
and expedition.
The name, trade mark, or other design intended to be branded is raised on a flat
metal plate forming a die which is secured face downwards to and forms the base
of a heating box or chamber hereinafter described; this heating box is secured to a
crosshead sliding between standards or uprights and is connected with cranks or
other equivalents on the driving shaft which transmits thereto a uniform rise and
fall.
Immediately below the die plate of the heating box is a bed or table forming
part of the framing of the machine; upon this table or bed the wood slabs or other
substances to receive impressions are placed. The position or distance of the
heating box or chamber from the bed or table is adjustable for the purpose of
allowing different thicknesses of wood to be placed between the rising and falling
impression surface and the said bed or table supporting the wood whilst being
branded.

page_text: The heating box or chamber is provided with an adjustable orifice or mouth,
into which enters a tuyer forming the termination of two thoroughfares or pipes,
one for air and the other for gas; the air pipe is connected with a bellows, fan,
or other blower driven from the crank shaft, which, when in action and the gas is
turned on, forcibly enters with such gas the heating box or chamber, which
when ignited is directed so as to impinge the gases of combustion direct, against
the base or plate of the heating box bearing the name, trade mark, or other
device.
The admission of air and gas being regulated and governed by suitable valves
and cocks.
In order to concentrate the heat to the base or impression plate of the heating
box and prevent the other parts of the machine getting hot we pack a space
between the heating box and its supporting cross head with asbestos or other
suitable non conducting material.
Thus it will be seen that when the machine is in action and the air and gas turned
on a fierce heat will be directed in the heating chamber against the impression
or branding plate, which soon becomes sufficiently hot for branding impressions
upon wood slabs or tablets submitted to its action; the said branding plate when
sufficiently hot is readily maintained at one uniform temperature with a minimum
expenditure of gas, and the process of branding will be expeditiously performed
with each rise and fall of the branding plate as the wood slabs are successively
submitted to its action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Richmond and Walter Whiting in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th June 1881.
JOSEPH RICHMOND and WALTER WHITING, both of Kirby Street, Hatton
Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers and Machinests. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE METHOD OF BRANDING WOOD OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE
APPARATUS. EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
This Invention has for its object the construction of a machine which will brand
indelible impressions, such as names, trade marks, addresses, designs, and the like
upon casks, cases, boxes, or other like receptacles for merchandise, or upon boards
or slabs for exhibition or otherwise.
The name, trade-mark, or design intended to be branded is raised on a metal
plate forming a die, which is secured face downwards to the base of a metal box or
chamber, in which an intense heat is maintained by the combustion of gas and air
forced therein through suitable burners or tuyers by means of bellows, air pump,
or other equivalent; a lining or packing of asbestos or other non-conducting
substance being so placed that the heat of such chamber will be confined to the
base of the heating chamber and metal die, thereby preventing the heat spreading
to the other parts of the machine.

page_text: The heating chamber or box and die plate are mounted in suitable framing above
a table or bed upon which the wood to receive the burnt impression is placed, a
rise and fall being given to the said heating chamber or box and metal die plate by
eccentrics or other equivalent; and
In order that the Invention may be well understood and explained in detail we
have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of about two inches
to the foot, similar letters of reference being marked on corresponding parts on all
the Figures alike.
Fig. 1 represents in elevation a right hand side view of our improved construction
of branding machine.
Fig. 2 represents a back elevation of the same; and
Fig. 3 represents a vertical section of the left hand side of the machine taken
through the line x, x, of Fig. 2.
In these Figs. a, a, is the framing of the machine supporting the adjustable table
or bed b, pillars c, and entablature d. The shaft e driven by the pulley fand fly
wheel g communicates motion through the wheels h to the shaft i, on which are
formed two eccentric blocks; the straps i, ', of these eccentrics are connected by
the pins with the chamber or box k which they support, and which through the
medium of such eccentrics when the machine is at work receives a regular rise and
fall, the parallel and direct action of which is maintained by means of the slides 1, 1,
and stretcher rods m, m. The adjustable table or bed 6 is supported by and rests
upon the inclined surfaces of the sliding bearings n. These bearings n, according
as the screw and wheel o is turned, raises or lowers the table b, and so adjusts or
regulates its position relative to the under-surface of the branding plate p. The
bars p', to which the branding plate is secured by screws, slide in and are retained
by the dovetailed grooves or channels formed in the undersurface of the base of
the heating box k. These bars offer a ready means for changing the branding
plate.
The heating box, according to the arrangement shewn on the Drawings, is
divided into upper and lower compartments; the upper compartment or space k¹ is
packed or filled in with asbestos or other non conducting substance, and the lower
compartment. or space k² forms a heating chamber, into which is inserted the
burners or tuyers 9; these tuyers are in direct communication with the exhaust or
blast pipe 8 of the air pump t and the gas pipe r.
When the gas is turned on and the pump is in action a mixture of air and
gas is forced through the tuyers or burners q, which being ignited direct the force
of their flames against the base plate of the box k, which supports and is in contact
with the branding plate bearing the name, trade-mark, or device.
The action or working of the air pump t is transmitted from the driving shaft e
through the crank and connecting rod u, and the supply of air and gas to the
heating chamber ³ is regulated by suitable cocks and valves; and air to assist the
combustion of the gas in the said chamber k² is admitted by the door v or other
equivalent. A flexible pipe s' forms the coupling between the pump t and pipe s
which allows the box k to rise and fall without interfering with the blast, forcing
the mixture of air and gas into the chamber k².
Thus it will be seen that when the machine is started and the gas turned on and
ignited an intense heat will be directed in the chamber against its base supporting
and in contact with the branding plate, which soon gets sufficiently hot for branding
impressions on wood or substances of a like nature.
The process of branding the wood is now effected with each and every descent
of the box as the pieces of wood are successively placed under it on the table or
bed b; the adjustment of pressure given by the branding plate to the various thick-
nesses of wood submitted to its action is obtained by raising or lowering the table
or bed b in manner as before described.

page_text: In lieu of forcing the mixture of air and gas direct from the pump, bellows, fan,
or other equivalent, into the heating chamber, as shewn and described, the said
mixture may if desired be first forced or discharged into an expanding receptacle,
which being loaded and connected by a pipe with the tuyers of the heating
chamber will give a steady pressure to the blast, injecting the gases of com-
bustion through the tuyers into the heating chamber.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, together with the
manner of performing the same, we would wish it to be distinctly understood in
conclusion that although we have shewn and described one method by which we
carry out our Invention into practical effect, we do not wish to confine ourselves
to the exact details shewn, but what we do claim as new, and as of our Invention,
is,―
First. The arrangement and construction of the heating chamber or box k and
the adaptation thereto of asbestos or other non-conducting material to be employed
in combination with the machinery actuating the rise and fall of the said box, in
the manner and for the purpose as herein substantially described and set forth in
the Drawings annexed.
Second. The employment and use of a mixture of air and gas when injected by
air-pump, bellows, fan, or other equivalent through tuyers into the heating chamber
of the box k for giving and maintaining the branding plate carried by such box,
a uniform heat whilst branding names, trade-marks, or the like, on wood or other
like substances, in the manner as herein substantially described and set forth in
the Drawings annexed, and
Third. The novel construction, arrangement, and combination of the several
parts of the machine designed for branding indelible impressions on wood or other
like substances, as herein substantially described, set forth, and fully illustrated in
the Drawings annexed,
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Richmond and Walter Whiting,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this the Twenty seventh day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
THOS. WRIGLEY,
75, Chancery Lane,
London.
JOSEPH RICHMOND. (L.S.)
WALTER WHITING. (L.S.)