IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW AND RATCHET WRENCHES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO PIPE CUTTERS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wilson, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SCREW AND RATCHET WRENCHES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO
APPLICABLE TO PIPE CUTTERS."
Sealed the 11th February 1870, and dated the 1st September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st September 1869.
I, THOMAS WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW AND RATCHET WRENCHES, PART OF WHICH IM-
PROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO PIPE CUTTERS," to be as follows::
My Invention consists of the arrangements or combinations herein-
after described of. the parts of screw and ratchet wrenches, one of the

page_text: My Invention consists, firstly, of the following improvements in screw
wrenches:-According to this part of my Invention one end of the
adjusting screw of the screw wrench is attached to and supported by
the solid or fixed jaw of the wrench. The opposite end of the adjusting
screw is made to engage with the moveable jaw of the wrench. On
turning the adjusting screw by a milled head or collar the moveable
jaw is made to advance to or retire from the fixed jaw as may be
required.
My Invention consists, secondly, of the following improvements in
screw wrenches:--I make the fixed jaw of the wrench in one piece with
the body and handle of the wrench, and form a mortice in the said
body. In the said mortice a moveable bar slides, the said moveable bar
carrying the moveable jaw of the wrench. I attach one end of a screw
pin to the rear of the moveable bar and cause the opposite end of the
screw pin to engage in a screwed hole formed in the body of the
wrench. By rotating the screw pin the moveable bar with its jaw its
made to advance to or retire from the fixed jaw on the body of the
wrench and thus adjust the said jaws.
My Invention consists, thirdly, of the following improvements in
ordinary pipe screw wrenches or tongs:-I make the outer bent jaw of
the wrench or tongs separate from the handle and body of the wrench
or tongs, and I connect the said outer jaw to the wrench by a collar
having internal right and left handed screw threads, the said collar
engaging with corresponding screw threads formed on the bent jaw and
the body respectively of the wrench. The said collar thus serves to
connect the two parts together and to adjust the bent moveable jaw
as may be required in use. By attaching a circular cutter to the fixed
jaw of the wrench or tongs the said wrench is converted into a pipe
cutter, and thus answers the double purpose of a pipe screw wrench and
pipe cutter combined.
My Invention consists, fourthly, of the following improvements in
ratchet wrenches-I form the ratchet wheel of the wrench with radial
teeth on its opposite faces instead of on its circumference or periphery as
usual so as to form a double ratchet wheel, and I attach levers to work
above and below the said ratchet wheel. I fix tongue pawls in slots in
the body of the said levers, which said palls have a vertical movement
and are pressed upon the teeth of the ratchet wheel by flat springs.

page_text: On moving the said levers backwards and forwards a continuous or
nearly continuous rotary motion is given to the ratchet wheel, which
movement may be applied to a variety of purposes. By connecting the
two levers together and working them with one hand the ratchet wrench
becomes an ordinary ratchet wrench.
In cases where a nearly continuous rotary motion is not required an
intermittent rotary motion may be obtained by the use of one of the
said levers and palls and ratchet wheels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Wilson, Her special licence that
I, the said Thomas Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Wilson, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 SCREW AND RATCHET
WRENCHES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO PIPE HOLDERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Wilson,
ny executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Wilson, 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 :-
My Invention consists of the arrangements or combinations herein-
after described of the parts of screw and ratchet wrenches, one of the
arrangements being also applicable to pipe cutters.
My Invention consists, firstly, of the following improvements in screw
wrenches: According to this part of my Invention one end of the
adjusting screw of the screw wrench is attached to and supported by
the solid or fixed jaw of the wrench. The opposite end of the adjusting
screw is made to engage with the moveable jaw of the wrench.
turning the adjusting screw by a milled head or collar the moveable
jaw is made to advance to or retire from the fixed jaw, as may be
required.
On
My Invention consists, secondly, of the following improvements in
screw wrenches-I make the fixed jaw of the wrench in one piece with
the body and handle of the wrench, and form a mortice in the said
body. In the said mortice a moveable bar slides, the said moveable
bar carrying the moveable jaw of the wrench. I attach one end of
a screw pin to the rear of the moveable bar and cause the opposite end
of the screw pin to engage in a screwed hole formed in the body of the
wrench. By rotating the screw pin the moveable bar with its jaw is
made to advance to or retire from the fixed jaw on the body of the
wrench, and thus adjust the said jaws.
My Invention consists, thirdly, of the following improvements in
ordinary pipe screw wrenches or tongs-I make the outer bent jaw of
the wrench or tongs separate from the handle and body of the wrench
or tongs, and I connect the said outer jaw to the wrench by a collar
having internal right and left handed screw threads, the said collar
engaging with corresponding screw threads formed on the bent jaw and
body respectively of the wrench. The said collar thus serves to connect
the two parts together and to adjust the bent moveable jaw as may be
required in use. By attaching a circular cutter to the fixed jaw of the
wrench or tongs the said wrench is converted into a pipe cutter, and
thus answers the double purpose of a pipe screw wrench and pipe cutter
combined.

page_text: My Invention consists, fourthly, of the following improvements in
ratchet wrenches-I form the ratchet wheel of the wrench with radial
teeth on its opposite faces instead of on its. circumference or periphery
as usual, so as to form a double ratchet wheel, and I attach levers to
work above and below the said ratchet wheel. I fix tongue palls in
slots in the body of the said levers, which said palls have a vertical
movement and are pressed upon the teeth of the ratchet wheel by flat
springs. On moving the said levers backwards and forwards a con-
tinuous or nearly continuous rotary motion is given to the ratchet
wheel, which movement may be applied to a variety of purposes. By
connecting the two levers together and working them with one hand
the ratchet wrench has the action of an ordinary ratchet wrench.
In cases where a nearly continuous rotary motion is not required an
intermittent rotary motion may be obtained by the use of one of the said
levers and palls and ratchet wheels.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in cross section a
screw wrench constructed according to one of my improvements. a is
the bar or body of the wrench made in one piece with the fixed jaw b;
c is the handle of the wrench; d is the moveable jaw sliding on the
bar a; e is the adjusting screw for adjusting the position of the moveable
jaw. The back part 2 of the fixed jaw projects beyond the bar a and
constitutes a bearing or support, in which the plain cylindrical end e³
of the adjusting screw e is supported and turns. The cylindrical end e²
of the screw e is expanded to prevent its withdrawal from the said
part be.
Hence the screw e is only capable of a rotary motion. The
screw e works in a screw box d in the moveable jaw d.
The adjusting
screw e is turned by the milled head or collar f. A stop g passed
through the bar a of the wrench limits the back motion of the moveable
jaw d.
By turning the milled collar f in one or other direction the
moveable jaw d is made to advance to or retire from the fixed jaw b,
and thus adjust the distance between the two jaws. Instead of the
support or bearing for the adjusting screw being situated at the outer
edge of the fixed jaw b, the said support or bearing may be made at the
inner edge of the said fixed jaw, as represented in Figure 3, where the

page_text: said support or bearing is marked b². In this arrangement sufficient
room is. left behind the bearing or support b for the milled head f of
the adjusting screw e.to work in, so that the said head f does not project
beyond the outer edge of the fixed jaw. The screw e is prevented from
sliding in its bearing 6 by the cross pin represented at one side, and the
head on the other side.
The action of the wrench, Figure 3, is the same as that of the wrench
represented in Figures 1 and 2.
Figures 4 and 5 represent longitudinal sections of a screw wrench
constructed according to another arrangement of my Invention, and
Figure 6 is a cross section of the same. The jaws of the wrench in
Figure 4 are represented closed, and in Figure 5 open. h is the fixed
jaw made in one piece with the body i and handle k. In the said
body a longitudinal mortice is made, in which a moveable bar m
slides. To this bar m the moveable jaw n is fixed. The two jaws h, n,
are adjusted by means of the screw pin p. One end of the said screw
pin p is connected to the moveable bar m by means of the collar q, by
which it is turned, working in a recess in the said bar m, and the
body of the screw pin p works into and out of the screw box h² made
at the back of the fixed jaw h. In securing the adjusting screw p to
the wrench the milled collar q is first placed in the groover and against
the shoulder t of the bar m, and the said screw p is then passed through
the screw box h² and collar q, the end of the screw taking into a hole
in the shoulder at t.. The collar q is then fixed on the screw p by a
cross pin. The screw is put in its place before the moveable jaw n
is fixed on the bar m. By rotating the screw pin p by its collar the
said screw pin is made to advance into or retire from the screw box h
of the fixed jaw h, and thereby cause the collar q to propel the bar m
in one or other direction and adjust its jaw n the required distance from
the fixed jaw h, as represented in the Drawing.
Figure 7 represents in side elevation a pipe screw wrench or tongs
made according to my Invention, and Figure 8 represents a portion of
the same in longitudinal section. a is the outer bent or angular jaw
of the wrench or tongs, and b is the inner jaw. The two jaws a, b,
turn on the centre 'c. The bent outer jaw a is made separate from the
handle and body d, as best seen in the section Figure 8. The jaw a
is connected to the body d by means of a milled collare having internal

page_text: in Figure, 10, the pall of each lever bearing upon its respective ratchet.
In using the wrench or brace the handles e, f, of the levers e, f, are
grasped by the hands of the workman, or the levers may be worked by
two workmen. By opening and closing the two levers e, f, after the
manner of working the handles of a pair of shears a continuous or
nearly continuous rotatory, motion is communicated to the barrel a and
to the tool carried by the said barrel; that is to say, when the two
levers e, f, are moved towards each other the pall h of the lever e drives
forward its ratchet c, the pall i of the lever f slipping over the teeth of
its ratchet d without giving motion to the said ratchet, and when the
two levers e, f, are moved from one another the palli of the lever f now
drives forward the ratchet d, while the pall h slips over the teeth of the
ratchet c without operating upon the said ratchet, and so on, the lever
which for the time being is moved in the direction indicated by the
arrow in Figure 10 operating upon its ratchet, while the lever which
for the time being is moved in the contrary direction has no action on
In this way the opening and closing of the levers com-
municate a continuous or nearly continuous rotary motion to the
barrel a and tool carried by it. By connecting together the two
levers e, f, by the screw n, as represented in Figure 9, and working
the connected levers with one hand the ratchet wrench or brace has
the action of an ordinary ratchet brace, that is, the two palls of the
levers operate simultaneously upon the two ratchets c, d, and drive
forward the said ratchets only when the levers are moving in the
direction of the arrow, Figure 10 (the said ratchets being stationary
during the back motion of the levers), and thereby communicate an
intermittent rotary motion to the barrel a.
its ratchet.
Figure 11 represents in side elevation, Figure 12 in plan, and
Figure 13 in vertical section a ratchet wrench or brace constructed
according to my Invention, in which only a single lever pall and ratchet
wheel are employed. In this arrangement the working of the single
lever e produces an intermittent rotatory motion in the barrel a. The
parts of this arrangement are marked with the same letters of reference
as corresponding parts in Figures 9 and 10.
The construction and arrangement of the parts of ratchet wrenches

page_text: teeth on one of its faces with a single lever and spring pall for obtaining
an intermittent rotary motion, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS WILSON. (L.S.)