IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANTATION AND OTHER HOES AND IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING
Year: 1882

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Edwards of Wolverhampton in the County of
Stafford, edge tool manufacturer for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
PLANTATION AND OTHER HOES AND IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th October 1882.
WILLIAM EDWARDS, of Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford, edge tool
manufacturer, "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANTATION AND OTHER HOES, AND IN THE
METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME,"
This invention has for its object the attainment of strength combined with
lightness in the hoes, and also of economy in manufacturing the same.
The blade and eye of each hoe are formed, without any welding or riveting,
from one piece of sheet iron or steel (or steel and iron combined), and there is a
Auted or hollow rib running from the eye partly down the blade of the hoe in place
of the solid rib usually formed.
The sheet metal from which the hoes are to be formed is first cut into blanks,
each of which is to the size of a hoe blade baving in addition thereto a piece left on
one end from which the eye is to be formed. The tools employed to form the
blanks into hoes may be carried in a press or stainip; and consist (1) of a bottom
tool formed on the face, and internally, to the shape of the front of a hoe with the
fluted or hollow rib projecting therefrom, and also, at one end, to the exterior
dimensions of the eye, and (2) of a top tool forming the reversed counterpart of the
bottom tool, and having, therefor, a punch or force to carry down the metal to
form the eye, and a fullered part to force down the fluted or hollow rib. The
punch or force however, of the top tool for carrying down the metal of the eye is
tapered to a point at its lower end to give a lead in opening out and carrying down
the metal, and this tapered part is below the bottom tool when the punch is down
to its lowest point.
The blanks are pressed or stamped out hot, and leave the tools with the eyes
and ribs shaped and with the blades of the hoes properly dished as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd April
1883.
WILLIAM EDWARDS of Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford, Edge tool
manufacturer, IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANTATION AND OTHER HOES, AND IN THE
METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME,"
This invention has for its object the attainment of strength combined with
lightness in the hoes, and also of economy in manufacturing the same.
The blade and eye of each hoe are formed, without any welding or riveting,
from one piece of sheet iron or steel (or of steel and iron combined), and there is
also formed therewith a fluted or hollow rib running from the eye partly down the
blade of the hoe in place of the solid rib usually formed.
The sheet metal from which the hocs are to be formed is first cut into blanks,
each of which is to the size and thickness of a hoe blade, having in addition thereto
a piece left on, at one end from which, and from part of the blade-piece, the eye is
to be formed; or the blanks may be rolled down in pairs from lengths of strip as
hereinafter explained, or may be produced in any convenient manner. The tools
employed to form the blanks into hoes are carried in a press, and consist (1) of a
bottom tool formed on the face to suit the shape of the dished part of the front of a
hoe with the fluted or hollow rib projecting therefrom, and also, at one end, to the
exterior dimensions of the eye, an opening being formed right through the tool at
this end so as to receive the tapered end of the punch hereinafter described and a
shoulder being formed to receive and stop the metal forming the inner end of the
eye; and (2) of a top tool, formning the reversed counterpart of the bottom tool,
and having therefor a punch or force to carry down and shape the metal to form
the eye, and a fullered part to force down the fluted or hollow rib. The punch, or
force, however, of the top tool is tapered to a point at its lower end to give a lead
in opening out and carrying down the metal of the eye, and this tapered.part is
below the shoulder in the eye-part of the lower tool when the punch is down to its
lowest point.
The blanks are pressed out hot, and leave the tools with the eyes and ribs shaped
and with the blades of the hoes properly dished as required.
It is preferred to somewhat dish down the metal to form the eye by means of a
round-ended force previously to completing by means of the tools before-described,
hs a much deeper and better eye can thus be produced and with less liability of
spoiling the hoe.
Having thus stated the nature of my said invention I will now proceed more
particularly to describe and ascertain the manner of performing the same with
referetico to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked
thereon.
The drawings are to a scale of three inches to a foot, but of course apply only, in
the matter of scale, to the size of hoc illustrated. The same letters of reference
occurring upon any two or more of the views indicate corresponding parts.
Figure 10 is an inside face view of a hoe constructed according to this invention,
and figure 11 is a section of the same taken on the line xx. Tho rib a is formed
hollow or fluted, as shewn, by forming a corrugation in the sheet metal of which
the hoe is made. Figure. 3 is a double blank which is formed into two single
blanks by shearing across the middle as indicated by the transverse broken line.
Single blanks may be cut out of a metal sheet, but the following method of
forming the blanks is. the one I prefer, namely:-A length of strip A (figure 1)
from three sixteenths to a quarter of an inch thick, and of a width corresponding

page_text: to the part B (figure 3) is rolled so as to produce the double blank figure 3: This
rolling is effected through a pair of rolls constructed so as to leave an opening
between them corresponding to the view illustrated by figure 4, which is an edge
view of figure 3. This edge view, figure 4, shews the double blank to be at its
centre of the original thickness of the strip A, and to gradually thin down on
either side thereof, to abcat the points a a which correspond to the shoulders of the
finished hoe. From these points to the ends of the double blank the reduced
thickness at a a is continued throughout. The proper thickness of the hoe blade
is thus obtained in the blank itself, and such blank therefor requires no further
reduction of thickness for the production of the hoe blade. The bottom roll is
preferably plain and therefor answers for any size of blank, and the top roll is
turned to give the required shape to the blank in edge view. One edge of the
strip A is first entered between the rolls, which widen out the strip on the opposite
edge, excepting at the middle thereof. The strip is then turned over and the
opposite edge to that first mentioned entered between the rolls which thus widen
out the strip on the first mentioned edge, excepting at the middle thereof, these
operations being repeated and the rolls operated as may be necessary to produce
the double blank shewn by figures 3 and 4; as will be readily understood by persons
skilled in the manufacture of rolied iron. The double blank is then sheared into
two single blanks as before-described. Figure 2 is a side elevation of the length of
strip illustrated by figure 1 and shews such strip to be of equal thickness
throughout. Figure 5 is a transverse section through a pair of tools employed for
producing an initial depression in the part of the blank where the eye is to be
formed. C is the top tool and D the bottom tool. The lower end of the top tool C
is rounded as shewn and a hole d is formed right through the bottom tool D. e is
the end of a blank in which the eye is to be formed. The blank, in a highly
heated state, is held with this end over the hole through the tool D, and the tool C
then descends into the position shewn at figure 5, carrying down with it into a
domical shape, as shewn, the metal at the end of the blank. The edge or corner.
formed around the top of the hole d is rounded off, as shewn, to facilitate the
drawing of the metal. Figure 6 is a plan of the tool D. The tools just described
turn out. the blank as shewn in plan by figure 7. The blank is then removed
whilst still hot, for completion by the finishing tools illustrated in transverse
section by figure 8 and in plan by figure 9. E is the top tool and F the bottom
tool. The face b b of the bottom tool F is formed to dish the inner face of the hoe,
except for the part G of the hoe which is quite plain and does not therefor require
shaping. A part f is sunk in the face of the tool F to the exterior dimensions of
the hoe eye, and a part g is also sunk in the face of the tool F to the dimensions of
the front or inner face of the fluted rib a¹ (figures 10 and 11). The top tool E
consists of a punch or force and a projecting part kk. The part is of the
interior dimensions of the hoe eye, and in addition thereto has a tapered lower end,
as shewn, which in descending pierces through the domical part of the blank
shewn at figure 7, and, when the top tool is down to its lowest point, projects
below the eye as shewn at figure 8. A hole is formed through the tool F in the
position shewn to admit of the lower end of the punch h descending, as shewn at
figure 8. The lower face of the projecting part k k of the tool E is shaped so as to
press the metal of the blank lying under such top tool upon the face of the lower
tool, and thus properly dishes the hoe and squares the top edge of the eye. A
fullered part m projects from the lower face of the part kk so as to produce the
fluted or hollow rib a' (figures 10 and 11). As the top tool presses the metal
firmly upon the bottom tool the two corners n n, figure 7, are pressed down flat as
shewn at n' n¹ figure 9, and as the tool E rises, carrying up the hoe around the
punch h, the two corners n' n' are caught by releasers and the hoe thus removed
from the punch. A shoulder o is formed around the bottom of the recessed part f
so as to stop and square the lower edge of the eye, as shewn at figure 8. After
leaving the tools illustrated by figures 8 and the parts n n', and any other
superfluous parts, are sheared off in the usual or any convenient manner.

page_text: Having now stated the nature of my said invention for "Improvements in
plantation and other hoes, and in the method of manufacturing the same," and
particularly described, and ascertained the manner of performing the same; I declare
that what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by the liercinbefore in-part-
recited Letters Patent, is::-
First Plantation and other hocs formed from blanks of sheet iron or steel (or
iron and steel combined) and having a hollow or fluted rib extending from the oye
partially along the blade of the hoe in place of the solid rib usually omployed,
substantially as herein described and shown.
Second-The method of manufacturing plantation and other hoes from blanks,
of sheet iron or steel (or steel and iron combined) substantially as herein described
and shewn.
Third Forming a hollow or fluted rib extending from the eye partially along.
the blade of plantation and other lioes made from blanks of sheet iron or steel (or
steel and iron combined) in place of the solid rib usually employed, substantially as
herein described and shewn.
In witness whereof I the said William Edwards have hereunto set my hand
and seal this second day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
Witness:
STEPHEN WATKINS Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.
Office for Patents,
Wolverhampton.
WILLIAM EDWARDS (L.S.).