IMPROVEMENTS IN BUCKLES to be as follows:-
Year: 1884

page_text: I THOMAS WALKER of Brook Street Saint Paul's Birmingham in the County of
Warwick Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BUCKLES to be as follows:-
"
My invention has reference to the joints of buckles made of sheet metal and
consists in constructing the said joints in the manner hereinafter described.
In the ordinary method of constructing the said joints the barrel parts of the
joint are made in one piece with the frame carrying the prongs of the buckle
while the parts constituting short axes taking into the said barrels are trade in one
piece with the fixed part of the buckle.
The prong frame of the buckle from the metal of which the barrel parts of the
joint are made is thicker than that from which the fixed frame and short axes are
made.
In making buckles from sheet metal according to my invention I make the
barrel parts of the joint in one piece with the fixed part of the buckle and I make
the axes of the prong frame in one piece with the said frame. By this method of
manufacture the buckles are stronger than when made in the ordinary way from
the same thicknesses of metal The axes of the joint are made of the thick metal
while the barrels are made from the thin metal but as the said barrels are made of
the thin metal rolled up into a tubular form they have great strength although
made of thin metal while the axes being made of the thick metal of the prong
frane have much greater strength than when made of the thin metal of the fixed
part of the buckle as ordinarily manufactured.
I do not however limit myself to the relative thicknesses referred to of the metal
of the two parts.
My improvements are applicable to the manufacture both of prong buckles and
lever buckles.

page_text: I THOMAS WALKER of Brook Street, Saint Paul's, Birmingham in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN BUCKLES and in what manner the same is to be performed to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
"
"
My invention has reference to the joints of buckles made of sheet metal and
consists in constructing the said joints in the manner hereinafter described.
In the ordinary method of constructing the said joints the barrel parts of the
joint are made in one piece with the frame, carrying, the prongs of the buckle,
while the parts constituting short axes taking into the said barrels are made in
one piece with the fixed part of the buckle.
The prong frame of the buckle from the metal of which the barrel parts of the
joint are made is thicker than that from which the fixed frame and short axes are
made.
In making buckles from sheet metal according to my invention I make the
barrel parts of the joint in one piece with the fixed part of the buckle and I make
the axes of the prong frame in one piece with the said frame. By this method of
manufacture the buckles are stronger than when made in the ordinary way from
the same thicknesses of metal. The axes of the joint are made of the thick metal
while the barrels are made from the thin metal but as the said barrels are made of
the thin metal rolled up into a tubular form they have great strength although
made of thin metal, while the axes being made of the thick metal of the prong
frame have much greater strength than when made of the thin metal of the fixed
part of the buckle as ordinarily manufactured.
I do not however limit myself to the relative thicknesses referred to of the metal
of the two parts.
My improvements are applicable to the manufacture both of prong buckles and
lever buckles.
In the accompanying Drawings the finished lever buckle and the parts in their
several stages of manufacture are drawn double the full size.
Figure:1 represents in back elevation and Figure 2 in side elevation, a lever
brace buckle made from sheet metal according to my invention; a is the fixed part
of the buckle connected to the brace or other web and b is the lever or moveable
part of the buckle jointed to the fixed part a by joints constructed according to
my invention; c, c are the barrel parts of the joint made in one piece with the
fixed thin sheet metal part a and d d are the axes of the joint made in one piece
with the sheet metal lever part b the said lever part b being made by preference
from thicker sheet metal than that from which the fixed part a is made; e is the
book of the brace buckle and f the spring tongue of the said hook.
In making the two parts of the buckle and their joints I proceed as follows:-
In making the fixed part a and its barrels c, c, I cut out from thin sheet metal
at a press, a blank having the form represented in plan and edge view in Figure 8
and I afterwards pierce the blank. I form by a series of pressing operations from
the wings or side pieces c², c² of the pierced blank the barrels of the joint, that is,

page_text: I first bend or fashion the wing pieces c³, c into the trough forms represented in
Figure 4 and marked c³, c³ and afterwards into the nearly tubular or barrel forms
represented in Figure 5 and marked c', c' so as to make the barrel parts of the
joint. By a series of bending processes the side pieces g, g carrying the barrel
parts c, care bent at the dotted lines Figure 5 at right angles to the plane of the
blank or plate carrying them and the barrel parts c, c' are then bent into a plane
parallel with the said blank or plate as illustrated in Figure 6, where the finished
barrel parts of the joint are marked c, a At one of the stages last described,
preferably the first, the edge of the plate or blank is raised or bent inwards as
represented at h excepting the part e from which the hook of the buckle is to be
made. By the bending inwards of the edge of the blank or partly made fixed part
of the buckle, the rigidity of the said part is increased.
The hook e is next bent from the part e³ and the part f' bent out of the plane
of the buckle plate to form the spring tongue of the hook as illustrated in back
elevation in Figure 7 and side elevation in Figure 8. The fixed part a of the
buckle is now complete and is ready to receive the lever part (or prong frame) of
the buckle.
In making the lever part (or prong frame) of the buckle I cut from strong sheet
metal a blank of the form represented in Figure 9 and afterwads pierce the ends
in the manner represented in Figure 10 so as to form the axes d, d of the said
lever part. The upper edge of the blank Figure 10 is next bent at right angles to
the other part to form the gripping bar of the lever and the body of the lever is
also slightly curved. The axes d, d of the joint are by the bending of the gripping
bar situated at right angles to the plane of the body of the lever as represented in
the finished lever part of the buckle shown in front elevation, side elevation and
plan in Figure 11 where the gripping bar is marked i and the axes of the joint are
marked d, d. The lever part 6 of the buckle is now ready to be connected to the
fixed part a of the buckle. This is effected by passing the axes d, d of the lever
part through the slots in the barrel parts c, c, Figures 7 and 8, of the fixed part a
and then closing the said slots so as to give a complete tubular figure to the barrels
as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The axes d d of the lever part 6 are thereby
retained in the barrels cc of the fixed part a of the buckle and the two parts
jointed together.
In making a prong frame for a prong buckle according to my invention I form
the axes on the said prong frame in the manner described and illustrated with
respect to the axes of the lever part of a lever buckle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
Making the joints of sheet metal prong buckles and lever buckles in the manner
herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings; that is to
say, making the barrel parts of the joint in one piece with the fixed part of the
buckle and the axes to be engaged with the said barrel parts on the prong frame
or lever and in piece with the said prong frame or lever substantially as described
and illustrated, the sheet metal from which the prong frame or lever is made
being by preference stronger than that from which the fixed part of the buckle
is made.