AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM HAMMER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM HAMMER."-A communication.
Sealed the 3rd November 1858, and dated the 27th August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th August 1853.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM HAMMER"
be as follows:-
This Invention relates chiefly to the use of a single valve and valve
rod, with the necessary induction and eduction ports, in place of or
substitution for the complicated system of induction and eduction
valves, slides, and rods, heretofore in use where the power of steam has
been applied directly to the helve of a forge hammer.
The valve for the admission of steam into the steam cylinder is
operated by an arm or projection from the helve of the hammer
]
Sp

page_text: striking alternately against one of two adjustable stops on the valve rod
as the hammer rises and falls, and by this means the opening and
shutting of the induction and eduction ports is effected as required.
In operating the improved steam hammer the upper stop is adjusted
to suit the height to which the hammer is required to rise, and steam
is let into the cylinder below the piston which it contains, and which is
connected to the hammer, so that the hammer will rise and fall with
the motions of the piston. This admission of steam below the piston
will drive up the hammer, and when the arm or projection from the
hammer strikes against the upper stop, the valve will be lifted and
made to open a communication between the exhaust and induction
ports. As the steam exhausts the hammer will descend until the
arm strikes against the lower stop and depresses the valve into its
former position.
-
The stops are to be so adjusted that the valve will be raised by the
last motion of the hammer helve, and the steain way beneath the piston
opened at the instant before the hammer comes in contact with the
anvil. By raising.or depressing the upper stop the exhaustion may be
made to take place sooner or later, and thus the hammer may be set to
strike light or heavy blows as required. Where it is necessary to
strike with a variable force, according to the requirements of the work,
the valve may be managed by hand through the lever attached to the
valve rod, and the exhaustion may be made to take place at any instant
after the piston and hammer commence to ascend; a light blow may
thus be given without causing the hammer to rise to its full height.
To start or stop the operation of the hammer a throttle or cut-off*
valve may be placed between the valve chest and the boiler. A small
steam cylinder may be made use of to operate the valve, if required.
Steam may also be admitted above the piston for the purpose of
increasing the force of the blow of the hammer when required. For
this purpose another valve would be required (which inight be attached
to the same valve rod), and a steam way and exhaust port similar to
those above described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
.filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license
that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
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. "AN
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM HAMMER," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):

page_text: This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to the substitution of a single valve and valve rod with the
necessary induction and eduction ports, in place of the complicated
system of induction and eduction valves, slides, and rods, heretofore in
use where the power of steam has been applied directly to the helve of
a forge hammer. This arrangement of single valve is operated upon
by the helve of the hammer as it rises and falls, whereby the opening
and shutting of the induction and eduction ports is effected as required.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1, represents in isometrical per-
spective a steam hammer with the improvement attached. Fig. 2,
is a transverse section through the steam cylinder, steam box, valve,
and valve rod; and Fig. 3, is a similar section, shewing the valve in
another position. A, is the hammer. B, the helve, which vibrates
upon trunnions in suitable bearings in the upright C, rising from the
bed plate D. E, is the steam cylinder. K, the piston. I, the piston
rod, secured as usual to the cross head F, which runs in the guides G,
and is connected in any suitable manner to the helve of the hammer.
HI, is the steam box. a, is the valve. a, the steam way to the
cylinder beneath the piston. b, the exhaust port. c, the valve rod,
which passes through a stationary guide d. e, is the lever, by means of
which the valve may be worked by the attendant. The valve rod
passes through the slotted metallic piece f, which projects from the
helve of the hammer. g, g', are nuts or stops, which are screwed upon
the valve rod c, by raising or lowering which the height to which the
valve rod is raised is adjusted.
Commencing with the operating parts in the position represented in
Fig. 2, the nut g, being adjusted to the height to which the hammer is
to rise, the steam passes from the steam box H, through the way a, to
the under side of the piston. The expanding steam now forces up the
piston, and with it the hammer, whereby the slotted piece f, is brought
into contact with the nut g, and the valve e, is raised until it covers

page_text: both the exhaust passage b, and the induction passage a, as represented.
in Fig. 3. The steam now exhausts through the open passage b, and
the hammer descends by its own gravity. This descent of the hammer
causes the armf, to strike against the nut g', and depress the valve to
the position shown at Fig. 2, when the steam is admitted as before.
The nuts g, g' are so adjusted that the valve is raised by the last
motion of the hammer helve, and the steam way beneath the piston is
opened at the instant before the hammer comes in contact with the
anvil. Thus it will appear that by raising or depressing the nut g, the
exhaustion may be made to take place sooner or later, and the hammer
may be set to stike light or heavy blows as required. Where it is
necessary to strike with a variable forec, according to the requirements
of the work, the valve a, may be managed by hand through the
lever e, and the exhaustion may be made to take place at any instant
after the piston and hammer commence to ascend; a light blow may
thus be given without causing the hammer to rise to its full height.
To start or stop the operation of the hammer a throttle or cut-off valve
may be placed between the valve chest II, and the steam boiler. A
small steam cylinder may be made use of to operate the valve x, if
required. Steam may, if desired, be admitted above the piston for the
purpose of increasing the force of the blow of the hammer. For this
purpose another valve would be required, which might be attached
to the valve rod c; a steam way a', and exhaust port, similar to those
above described, being at the same time provided, as shewn at Fig. 2.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim the application to steam hammers
(where the power is applied directly to the helve of the hammer, as set
forth,) of a single valve constructed and operating in the manner sub-
stantially as described for governing the admission of steam to and its
exhaustion from the steam cylinder.
Second, I claim, in combination with the valve so arranged, the
stop g', and lever e, by means of which I am enabled to vary the force

page_text: of the blow given by the hammer: at any instant, as required, the
hammer being raised each time a distance proportionate to the force of
Tthe blow,
ww
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, havė
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
.
66, Chancery Lane..
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.).
.....