CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PENS AND PEN-HOLDERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William-Deakin, Tool Maker, and William Phillips,
Strip Steel Roller, both of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
METALLIC PENS AND PEN-HOLDERS."
Scaled the 22d January 1858, and dated the 23rd July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Deakin and
William Phillips at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd July 1857.
We, WILLIAM DEAKIN, Tool Maker, and WILLIAM PHILLIPS, Strip Steel
Roller, both of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF METALLIC PENS AND PEN-HOLDERS," to be as follows (that is to
say):-
Our improvements relate to that portion of the manufacture of metallic
pens and pen-holders that is comprehended in the processes of cutting out
the blanks, and piercing and side-slitting them; and consist in an improved
arrangement of the tools and movements in connection with a fly press, by
which a girl is enabled to cut out, pierce, side-slit, and deliver such pens and
pen-holders, as may be desired to be made, in as rapid a manner as she is now
able to cut out the blanks only, and this is performed in the following way:―
A strip of steel of the usual size and thickness is pulled through a mouth-pieco

page_text: or guides, and as it is pulled under the tool for cutting out the blanks for
'pens or holders, as may be required, the tool is made to descend by the action
of the press, when the blank so cut out will fall on to a bed beneath; then by
means of a cam fixed on the top head of the press screw, a lever or arm
fixed on a fulcrum about mid-way up the press is made to work laterally, and
by a connecting rod attached to the same, the pen blank (cut out as before
named) is carried forward over a small magnet that holds it firmly in its
place, so that when the arm or carrier recedes from it, it shall remain dead in
its position.
The cutting-out tool being again raised by the reverse action of the press,
the steel strip or other sheet metal is again pulled-forward, and another.blank
is cut out, and at the same time the second blank is cut out the first blank is
being pierced and side-slitted, and (as the piercing tool rises simultaneously
with the cutting-out tool) the blank so operated on is lifted up and seized by
a.forcep (acted on by the cam before referred to), carried away and dropped
into a receiver. Thus the operations are carried on in complete rotation,
that while each succeeding blank is being cut out the preceding one is being
pierced, side-slitted, and delivered into the said receiver. And at the same
stime these operations are done with great rapidity, they are also performed
with great accuracy and precision, producing work in many respects superior
to that done by separate operations carried on or worked by human fingers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Deakin and William Phillips in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 23rd January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
DEAKIN, Tool Maker, and WILLIAM PHILLIPS, Strip Steel Roller, both of
Birmingham, of the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
William Deakin and William Phillips, Her special license that we, the said
William Deakin and William Phillips, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said William Deakin and William
Phillips, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PENS AND PEN-HOLDERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Deakin and William Phillips,
by an instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said William Deakin and William
Phillips, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
Our Invention consists in applying certain tools and motions to what may
be termed an ordinary fly press, so that we may be enabled to subinit to its
operation thin sheet steel or other metal, such as is usually rolled for the
manufacture of steel or metallic pens and pen-holders; and according to the
description of tools applied we are enabled, first, to cut out a blank from
the steel or other sheet metal before referred to, and which blank is carried
forward by a carrier that is actuated by a motion derived from the reverse
action of the press, that when the tool again descends for the purpose of
cutting out another blank, the blank first cut out will also be placed and
simultaneously operated on by one, two, or more distinct tools, so arranged
that the blank may be pierced and slit on the side or sides as desired, and at
the same time as the next or succeeding blank is moved forward to be in like
manner operated on, the last so treated is being seized by a forcep, which
holds it until the piercing tool is raised entirely free from it, when the forcep
with the blank will retire and deliver it into a receiver; thus a girl of ordinary
ability, accustomed to work at such kinds of presses, will be enabled by
simply pulling the strip of steel or metal through the guides under the cutting-
out tool, and work the press in the ordinary way, when each blank so cut out
may also be pierced, side-slitted, and otherwise treated by the succeeding
action, as rapid as if they were merely cut out in blank only, and from the
great simplicity of the arrangement the tools are by no means liable to get
out of order, or require any other than simple and ordinary attention, whilo
the work so executed will be found of the most exquisite and perfect quality.
But as a thorough comprehension of the Invention is difficult without the aid
of Drawings, we will proceed to describe our Invention, from the various plans

page_text: and sections in which we have illustrated it in the Drawings bercunto
annexed, observing that we have marked the same parts, as they occur in the
several Figures, with the same letters of reference.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a front view of a fly press, drawn to a scale of five
inches to the foot, arranged with our several improvements, but to avoid con-
fusion we have omitted one motion hereafter to be referred to, and the fly or
handle marked A is also partly represented in dotted lines for the same
purpose; the bolt B works between guides, and is raised and lowered by the
screw c, c, and fly A, in the ordinary way, the fly being secured by the nut d.
To the bolt B a false nose marked E is attached, by screwing, tapping, or
otherwise; to this false nose the cutting-out tool marked f is attached, also
the piercing and side-slitting tools, one of the latter being only seen in this
Figure, marked g. It may be proper to observe here, that the tools drawn
and exhibited throughout are designed, first, to cut out the blank represented
full size at H, Figure 7, and further operated on by piercing and side-slitting
the same as at I, in the same Figure.
Having explained how the cutting-out, piercing, and side-slitting action is
derived, we will now explain the manner in which the blank cut out by the
tool is carried forward to be pierced and slitted, and afterwards delivered
into a tray or receiver placed for that putpose by means of a forcep, the front
or mouth of which is only shown in this Figure, marked k; at the top of tho
screw c, c, a cam is fixed, marked 1, 2, having the part where it is attached to
the screw thickened up as at m, m, which is essential as this part regulates
the extent of the downward action of the tools; for it is evident that the
bottom surface of the part m, when in contact with the set screws n, n,
prevents the cutting-out, piercing, and slitting tools descending lower than
is necessary for performing their several requirements. 0, 0, is a lever
working on a fulcrum or pin p, which pin is supported between open ears,
and is capable of being raised or lowered for the sake of adjustment, and
which part is here represented as secured to the back of the press by the
screw q; at the top of the lever o a friction roller is attached, marked r, and
by means of an elastic cord, band, ligature, or helical spring, connected to
the top of the lever, and to any part of the top of the press or set screw or
set screws n, n, the friction roller r is kept constantly in contact with the
periphery of the cam or eccentric I, I, that as the eccentric is moved through
the range of the action of the press according to its setting, the lower end of
the lever will move through the dotted line extending from s to s, and be

page_text: stopped by the set screw t. U, U, partly shewn in dotted lines, is a carrier,
that as the lever o, o, is operated on by the cam, so the carrier is moved
from right to left, and left to right, with each successive motion of the fly
handle A, and as the carrier is moved from right to left, which always
follows the rising up of the cutting-out tool f, so the blank that had
been last cut out is carried forward by a projecting bit formed on the
nose of the carrier, which carries the blank along in a
groove until
it is stopped by two radial stops, one of which is only shewn in this
Figure, marked v, where it is left by the retirement of the carrier
ready to be operated on by the downward action of the piercing and
side-slitting tools g; at the termination of the groove before referred
to a small bar or horse-shoe magnet, with the poles upward is placed,
that when the carrier is about to retire from the blank (that it has 50 placed)
the mid steel blank is sensibly retained in that position by its immediato
contact with the pole or poles of the magnet below, and to overcome tho
attraction of the magnet, the piercing tool goes a little further than would be
necessary for making the pierce hole, the effect of which is, that as the piercing
tool rises up in the backward action of the fly A, it lifts the pen blank up with
it, thus overcoming the attraction of the magnet, and before the blank is freed
from the piercing tool, the forcep is brought forward and seizes it in its
clastic jaws, and the steel or metal of which the pen may be composed being
clastic, it allows of the pierce tool still to ascend until the pen blank comes in
contact with the lower surface of the part a, which being of two thicknesses,.
and of a suflicient distance apart to allow the piercing tool to work between
them, it is evident, that the blank will here be freed from the pierce tool, and.
in the again forward or reverse action of the fly A, the forcep retires until the-
pen blank is relieved from its jaws in a way hereafter to be described, and
drops into a hollow inclined channel, down which it readily slides into the
receiver before referred to. Y is the compound bolster, on which is secured:
the blank and pierce beds; this bolster is secured to the bed of the press by a.
bolt that passes up through the bench W, and through the bed of the press.
and up into the bolster, and the top of the bolt being formed with an eye.
through it, the pin a' is passed through the bolster and through the eye of
the pin, and the bolt being tapped on the under end, it is evident that a-
simple nut and washer is all that is required to secure the bolster in. its
proper position; the press itself being first secured to the bench in the
ordinary way. Before concluding a description of this Figure, we may add
that the part d, d, is a guide secured to the bolster by the screw e¹, and under-
neath the top part of this guide the strip of steel or other metal is pulled for-

page_text: ward in a progressive way at each stroke of the fly or handle, and which strip
of steel or metal may be of the usual width or widths used for metallic pens or
pen-holders, and such strip may be wide enough to make two pens in width;
such a strip of steel, with pen blanks pierced out of it (as herein-before
described and exhibited at Figure 7), is exhibited at Figure 8.
Figure 2 is a top view of the last Figure, representing the fly or handle A,
pulled around into the position it would assume when the cutting-out and piercing
tools (described in the last Figure) had descended to their extreme depth.
The excentricity of the cam being here distinctly shewn, the effect on the lever
o, o, becomes apparent; and instead of further describing this Figure, which
is merely drawn for the purpose of exhibiting the cam, and the consequence
of its effect when moved to the reverse of its present position, as indicated by
the dotted lines marked b', b', we will proceed to describe Figure 3, which is
an horizontal section of Figure I, taken through the dotted lines c', c, without
exhibiting any of the parts or tools attached to the false nose E, which it
intersects in that Figure. The dotted red lines marked f', f', f',ƒ³, indicate
the position of the strip of steel or other metal from which we may desire to
cut out our blanks, and which strip being passed under the guide d', d', it is
evident that the blank cut out will fall down the opening marked 9', to bo
afterward brought to the left by the projecting bit at the nose of the carrier
, exhibited in Figure I., until it is stopped at the inner points of the stops
marked v, v, and retained there by the magnet before referred to, but hero
exhibited, marked h¹, h', the piercing bed adjoining it being marked k'; tho
operation of side-slitting being performed by a kind of scissor action, produced
from the lower inner edges of the slitting tools, (one only of which is shown in
Figure 1, marked 9,) and the outer edges of the piercing bed ¹, in this
Figure, so that the width of the piercing bed always regulates the distance of
the side slits from the centre of the pen.
We have before observed that in the working of this press (no matter how
rapid) the blanks from the moment they are cut are constantly being moved
until dropped into the receiver in the desired condition; to clearly understand
which, this Figure will mainly conduce. At the bottom end of the lever o,
exhibited in section in this Figure, another arm is attached, marked ", ', by
means of the arms, to the left hand of which a circular lever is united work-
ing on a fulcrum at m'; the short end of this curved lever passes between two
vertical pins secured on the under side of the shaft n', n', so that as the circular
lever is moved, so the shaft advances or retires, and which shaft works in
guides at o', o, the back guide resting on a plate which is raised up for the
convenience of allowing the pan for receiving the pens to pass under it, and

page_text: which plate may be secured to the bench W by screws, as at c', ', &c., and
the hollow trough for guiding the pen blanks down into the pan or receiver
may also be formed from the same plate as here exhibited, while the front
guide may be secured to the bolster by the screw y'; the front end of this shaft
is made of steel, horizontally divided, and which forms the forcep for receiving
the pen, as before described; thus, the moment a blank is cut out and
dropped through the cutting-out bed into the channel below, the cutting-out
tool having done its work will ascend, and in ascending, the carrier u will
take the blank along to the stops v, v, where it will be held by the magnet h¹;
and simultaneous with the descent of the cutting-out tool for cutting out
another blank, the blank last placed over the maguet will be pierced and side-
slitted, and by the reverse action of the fly, another blank will be brought for-
ward over the magnet, while the one just pierced and side-slitted will have
been raised, and the shaft n', n', on which the forcep is formed will have been
brought into action and have received the blank so pierced; which, as tho
cutting-out and piercing tools again descend, the shaft and forcep will retiro
with the blank between two clips secured to the front guide o¹, so that as tho
forcep reaches the position here shown, the pen blank will have been forced
out of its mouth by the clips p',p', when the blank will fall into the channel
beneath it, marked 2', 7', from whence it will slide down into the receiver
marked R', in a regular and consecutive manner, so that by applying an indi-
cator to any convenient part of the press for receiving periodical action, the
number of blanks so cut out and treated may be at once seen. As the several
parts are somewhat small and delicate from being exhibited in a reduced scale,
we have thought it necessary to exhibit a top view of the bolster, full size, at
Figure 4, showing a pen blank resting in the groove or channel just before
that projecting part of the carrier u which works along in the slot marked
s', s', ready to be carried forward over the magnet h', h', into the position shown
by dotted lines ready to be pierced and side-slitted; to avoid confusion, the
stops shown at v, v, in Figure 3, are here removed, merely showing the
pedestals t, t, on which they are secured, the bed of the cutting-out punch is
also removed for the better exhibition of the parts, but which bed rests, when
in its position, on the part marked u', u', wedged or keyed up between the
jections v, v; the channel or groove in which the blanks slide by the action
of the carrier is formed by the two plates of steel marked u', u', secured to
the bolster by the screws w', w', w', w', while the piercing and slitting bed is
attached to a small bolster, which may be easily removed for the purpose of
grinding or sharpening without deranging the other parts, by simply with-
drawing the screws a³, al; for it is an important feature in our arrangement,
pro-

page_text: that we are able to remove and reset any one of the important parts that may
require sharpening or resetting without disturbing the other parts. The guide,
marked d', d', on Figure 3, is here removed for the purpose of avoiding
obscuring the bolster. The stop exhibited in Figure 8, marked a", but not
described, is hero again shewn in full size, the use of which is for a guide to
the girl or operator, as the distance between the inner end of the stop regulates
and determines the amount of steel left in the strip between the spaces where
the
pens have been cut out, as exhibited at Figure 8.
Figure 5 represents a vertical section of Figure 4, taken directly through its
centre, exhibiting the magnet h', the carrier U, and the bit of the carrier that
works along in the slot marked s', s', in the last Figure. The cutting-out
bed is also shown in section, and part of the cutting-out punch marked f, for
the purpose of exhibiting a simple but important part of our Invention.
Through the cutting-out punch two vertical holes are drilled, countersunk on
the top, into which two pins are placed, fitting loosely and projecting down on
the under side of the punch, say about the sixteenth of an inch; through tho
shank of the punch a slot is formed, into which a little spring is passed,
marked ",", the use of which is, that as the cutting-out punch descends on
its bed and cuts out the blank the two pins will rise, lifting up the ends of the
spring, but the moment the pressure necessary upon the cutting-out ceases,
the spring b", ", will react, and force or throw the blank off the face of the
punch. The red dotted line in this Figure represents an end view of the strip
of metal that may be under operation. The piercing bed ¹ is here
represented in section resting on its own bolster, the arrow indicating the way
in which the small bits will fall and clear the tools.
Figure 6 represents, in full size, the false nose exhibited in Figure 1,
marked E, attached to the bolt B (here represented broken off). We
introduce this Figure because we are enabled to exhibit the slitting tools g, g,
which, as they require nice adjustment, are first held by the screws c", c", and
forced down to their respective exact positions by the set screws d", d", while
the lateral set screws ell, el, are for forcing the slitters into the position
required in relation to the sides of the bed of the piercing punch, which forms
the necessary scissor action for producing the slits. f" represents the piercing
punch, which may be set and held by the screw 7". The part marked a in
Figure 1, for relieving the blank from the piercing tool, is here shown in
section, marked a.
Figure 9 simply represents a full-size side view of the forcep, partly broken
off for convenience of space.
Having thus given a general description of our Invention as arranged for

page_text: making pens of the shape and description exhibited at Figure 7, it must be
obvious that the same arrangement, properly computed and adjusted, may be
made with equal facility to operate in like manner on any shaped pen or
penholder, arranging and adapting the piercing tool, piercing and slitting
tools, or slitting tools only in such a way as we may require for producing the
particular description of pen or holder we may desire; for it is obvious that by
raising an lowering the set screws n, n, and turning in or out the set screw t
in Figure 1, and setting our piercing punch and bed nearer to or further from
the slitting and piercing tools herein-before described, we are enabled to make
pens and holders of every variety of shape; nor are we compelled to work this
machine by hand labour, as, by attaching an excentric of sufficient throw upon
a shaft, with a fast and loose pulley in the ordinary way, the fly instead of
extending down for the convenience of the hand, as exhibited in dotted lines
in Figure 1, an arm may be connected to the fly and the excentric, when the
fly may be made to take the same backward and forward motion as may be
now imparted to it by the hand, the cam or excentric producing this motion
being altered to suit the particular pen or holder we may require; and in that
case we should prefer passing the sheet of steel or metal between feed rollers
with a suitable ratchet and pawl, by which means the metal may be presented
or advanced at regular intervals with each descent of the cutting-out tools,
thus avoiding hand labour altogether; nor are we limited to the cutting out
of one pen or holder at a time, for by applying another cutting-out punch and
bed, and a double series of tools, and the arm, exhibited at Figure 3, being
extended on this side of the lever o, the action that gives motion to the
forcep, as here exhibited, may be placed on the front side of the press, together
with its attendant trough and receiver, so that by the same action or working
of the press two blanks may be simultaneously cut out, carried forward,
pierced, slit, and delivered into their respective receivers, with but very little
additional cost to the machine here exhibited, as such an arrangement may be
easily effected by increasing the width of the bolster and false nose, and so
forming the back of the press that there may be room for an additional carrier
to work.
We have not thought it necessary to make Drawings illustrating this
double action, because men of ordinary capacity understanding the general
tool making connected with the manufacture of steel pens, will fully com-
prehend the several improvements for which we in these our in part recited
Letters Patent claim protection; notwithstanding, we wish it understood that
we do not claim for any shape, size, or proportion of all or any of the parts
herein exhibited and described: but what we do claim as our Invention is,

page_text: the general adaptation to a common fly press or other machine worked by
steam or hand power of the tools and motions, or their equivalents, as herein
described and exhibited, for cutting out, piercing, and side-slitting of pens and
penholder blanks, without any regard to the shape or size of such blanks,
whether the tools and press or machine be arranged for cutting out and
operating on one or more blanks at the same time.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Deakin and William Phillips,
bave hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-second day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-eight
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham,
(LS.)
WILLIAM DEAKIN.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS. (L.S.)