IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIFTING: AND RIVETTING MACHINES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Theophilus Wood Bunning, of the Town and County
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIFTING:
AND RIVETTING MACHINES."
Sealed the 15th March 1867, and dated the 27th September 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Theophilus Wood Bunning
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th September 1866.
I, THEOPHILUS WOOD BUNNING, of the Town and County of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRIFTING AND RIVETTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention more particularly relates to machines for drifting and
rivetting a class of work which from its dimensions precludes the opposing
support from being in one piece or from being permanently connected with
the closing force, at the same time this improved arrangement of machine
from its extreme simplicity and lightness will be found advantageous for other
descriptions of work. The plates which require to be rivetted being all punched
and cottered in their places, I utilize these rivet holes to enable me to obtain
the necessary connection between the holder up and the heading force, and to
do this I employ a steel drift or drifts as large as can possibly be passed through
the rivet holes. This drift, where one only is employed, is attached to the centre
of a bow of iron or cross head of length sufficient to cover at least three rivet

page_text: holes, and constituting the holder up in such a way that the two extremities
of the cross head may accommodate themselves to the unevenness or inequality
of the work to be operated upon without throwing any twisting strain on the
drift, which is of some length, and a slot is formed for a cotter at its extreme
end. Some of the better classes of steel possess a tensile strength of 65 tons
per square inch, taking 16ths of this as a fair working strain for an object where
fracture under its load is not a very serious matter, and supposing the rivets to
be inch diameter the drift passing through the inch full hole could be inch
diameter, and possess a useful tensile strength of 65 × 7X-44.or twenty tons or
thereabouts, which force is sufficient to close the plates and head a inch rivet,
provided it could be applied direct and the whole force be utilized; to do this
I prefer to employ two bydraulic rams, each capable of giving out a force of ten
tons or thereabouts; these rams to be at the same distance from centre to centre
as that taken up by two rivet spaces in the work, that is to say, there will be a
rivet hole exactly between the two rams which will each cover the hole imme-
diately adjacent to this centre hole. In the framework connecting these two
rams an opening is arranged to receive the end of the steel drift above referred
to, which is secured by a cotter after being passed through the opening. A
die is let in over the drift, there being a third hydraulic ram connected with
is
the aforesaid rams, and operating direct on this die. When the holder up
arranged in position, and the drift passed through the rivet hole and press
(being held in position by the cotter), and the rivet inserted, the water is then
admitted into the three cylinders, and the two rams first described press
outwards and bed themselves on the work, the ram not on the rivet end passing
onward to the plates themselves and clipping them against that part of the
cross head or holder up in juxtaposition with it, and the third ram jamming
the die fast against the drift, and in conjunction with the cotter preventing the
strain from detaching the rams from the holder up. It will be seen that this
arrangement prevents any side strain or leverage coming on the drift, the rams
being independent and at equal distance from the drift act or press equally on
each side of it as also do the abutting ends of the cross head or holder up,
which as before described is so attached to the drift as to admit of adjustment.
It will be seen that although only a strain of 10 tons or thereabouts-is brought
directly on the rivet to close it, yet nevertheless the whole force of 20 tons is
brought on the plates to close them, and it will be also seen that the greater
the force of the water tending to separate the rams from the holder up the
greater will be the pressure exerted on the drift by the third ram tending to
keep them in their proper positions. Should one drift not afford sufficient
strength to form the connection I can by an extension of the above inean's use

page_text: The hydraulic pump giving the pressure may be either attached
to the rams or be separated and connected thereto by a pipe as may be found
most convenient.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Theophilus Wood Bunning in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th March 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEOPHILUS
WOOD BUNNING, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Theophilus Wood Bunning, Her special licence that I, the said
Theophilus Wood Bunning, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said. Theophilus Wood Bunning, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIFTING AND RIVETTING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Theophilus
Wood Bunning, my executors. or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my or their hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Theophilus Wood Bunning, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly. described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to machines for drifting and rivetting in which the
pressure of one or more hydraulic rams is employed in the manner and for
the purposes herein-after, described and illustrated in the Drawings annexed.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of a drifting and rivetting machine

page_text: employed for closing rivets by continuous pressure, and arranged in accordance
with my improvements taken through the centres of the hydraulic rams a, b.
Figure 2 is another longitudinal section of the same machine taken through
the clamps c, d, and the main drift e; Figure 3 is a transverse section taken
through the lines f, f, Figure 2; Figure 4 is a section taken through the ram
a, shewing the mode of bringing the rams back at the completion of the
rivetting; equidistant from the main drift e the two rams a, b, of equal
diameter are arranged to work, so that the pressure on the ram a heads the
rivets, while that on the ram 6 closes the plates and balances the pressure of
the heading ram a on the main drift e; these rams are provided with leathers
or other packing 9, 9, and tools h, i; the tool i may be either plain on its face
or provided with a second drift k to assist the main drift in keeping the rivet
holes fair; the tool h, carried by the ram a, is the heading tool; the screwed
ends 1, 2, with their packing leathers 9, 9, close the cylinders m, n, and o shews
the provision made for the pipe leading from the force pump, which in this
arrangement is separate, and being of ordinary construction need not be
further described; e is the main drift which I make of steel hardened in oil,
it forms a resisting medium between the holder up p and the continuous
pressure employed to head the rivets and force the plates close together. This
drift is grooved as shewn in such a way as not to weaken it at Q, where
the whole pressure exerted has to be resisted; r is a projection or enlargement
on the drift e of such a shape as to allow the holder up some liberty of
motion; s is a handle to assist in placing and removing the drift; p is the
holder up formed with a cup or recess at one end for receiving the rivet head,
and a hole at the other end to allow the second drift k to pass, or if no second
drift is used, it may be solid and flat; the main drift e is held by two clamps
c, d, which are pressed together on the drift by the ram t and the screw. u. The
ramt is provided with leather or other packing 9, 9, in the cylinder v, closed
by the screwed end w, with its packing or leather 9; is a ring for supporting
the apparatus when in use; y, y, are two springs for lifting the ram t with
the clamp c fixed thereto, and allow the main drift to pass freely in and out
when the pressure on the ram t is removed. It will be seen by reference to
Figure 3 that the three rams when in action receive simultaneously a con-
tinuous pressure from the force pump through the passages z, z; a¹ is a lever
fixed on the shaft or axis b¹, and c, c, are two curved levers also fixed thereon
for bringing back the rams a, b, after each stroke. It will be seen from the
above description that in the machine constructed with my improvements a
continuous pressure sufficient to close the rivet and bring into close contact
the plates to be rivetted together is so employed that this pressure is resisted

page_text: by the main drift e, that it is divided by the employment of two equal sized:
hydraulic rams a, b, one of which a closes the rivet and the other b forces
together the plates, and that these rams being equidistant from and on each
side of the resisting medium or main drift e their pressure on that main drift
is balanced.
I will now describe the operation of the machine:-The plates e¹ being all
punched and cottered in their places the main drift e with the holder up p.
attached is inserted through a rivet hole, the rivet g¹ is then inserted, as shown.
in Figure 1, and kept in its place by the holder up p; the machine on the
other side is pushed towards the plates, so that the main drift, enters between.
the two clamps c, d. The pressure exerted on the clamp c by the springs y, y,
tending to keep the clamps c, d, asunder and permit the main drift e to enter.
freely between them, is then overcome by the screw u which closes con to.
the main drift and partially holds it, when the pressure which is now admitted.
acting on completes the holding. If the heading ram is the same distance
from the main drift as the closing ram they are both of the same area,
whereby the main, drift is pulled fairly in the direction of its axis, the pressure
on the one ram balancing that of the other, and as the pressure is continued
the plates are closed together by the ram b, and the rivet headed by the ram a
and the tool with adequate force (for by hardening the steel drift e in oil
I get an excess of strength more than sufficient for the purpose). The water
is now withdrawn, the screw u slackened, so that the main drift e can be
separated and passed through the adjacent hole when the operation is
repeated. It will be understood that for convenience the main drift e should
pass freely between the clamps c, d, before the pressure is admitted, and as a
less pressure would cause the rams a, b, to move out than would overcome the
resistance of the springs y, y, to the motion of the ramt it follows that no
resistance to the outward motion of the rams a, b, would be offered, unless the
main drift was temporarily held by some other means.
For this purpose I
use the screw u, but a cotter or a nut at the end of the main drift will effect
the same result. The screw may even be dispensed with by holding the lever
handle a by hand, or applying a spring to it so as to resist the outward
motion of the rams a, b, until pressure sufficient to overcome the resistance of
the springs y, y, to the motion of the holding ram is produced, so that the
main drift may be securely held before the rams a, b, acquire motion. In
applying my Invention to certain descriptions of work, it may be found con-
venient to employ two main drifts, as shown at Figure 5, or three or more may
be used if requisite; also, the rams a, b, may not be placed equidistant from the
drift e, in which case the one furthest therefrom should be reduced in area so

page_text: as to balance as far as possible the strain on the main drift e. In some cases
a screw f¹, as shewn at Figure 6, may be substituted for, the closing or
balancing ram b, Figure 1, and placed at any distance from the main drift e
on the opposite side to the heading ram. In all these modifications it will be
observed that the continuous pressure exerted by the ram that closes the rivet
is made to act in such a way that it is practically counterbalanced or resisted
on the principle carried out in the first-described; arrangement. From the
above description it will be seen that the practical application of my improve-
ments in drifting and rivetting machines may be varied in the details of its
parts without departing from the true character of my Invention.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which it is to be
carried out and performed, I claim the combinations of parts so arranged as to
form drifting and rivetting machines in which a continuous pressure is applied
and counterbalanced, or resisted as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theophilus Wood Bunning, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
year of
THEO. WOOD BUNNING. (L.s.)