IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE HANDLES OF SAD IRONS AND OTHER SMOOTHING AND 'TAILORS' AND 'HATTERS' IRONS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Silvester, of the Firm of George Salter and
Company, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE HANDLES
OF SAD IRONS AND OTHER SMOOTHING AND 'TAILORS' AND 'HATTERS'
IRONS."
Sealed the 15th February 1867, and dated the 8th September 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Silvester at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th September 1866.
I, JOHN SILVESTER, of the Firm of George Salter and Company, of
West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturers, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
THE HANDLES OF SAD IRONS AND OTHER SMOOTHING AND TAILORS' AND HATTERS'
IRONS," to be as follows:-
The said handles are ordinarily made from one or more pieces of iron, by
the process of forging.

page_text: My Invention consists in manufacturing the said handles principally from
sheet and bar iron by cutting out blanks, and raising or shaping the said
blanks into the required form, and afterwards joining the parts together by
rivetting or by rivetting and brazing. I make that part of the handle which
is gripped by the hand by preference of a circular figure in cross section or
of an elliptical figure in cross section. This part of the handle I will call
the grip. The said part or grip is made from a blank cut out of sheet metal,
the said blank being nearly rectangular in figure, but having at its short sides
two depressions or cut away portions near the longer sides of the said blank.
These depressions or cut away portions leave small projections or ears at each
angle of the blank. The said blank is bent or rolled up into a cylindrical
or elliptical or other figure by press tools worked in a press in the ordinary
way. The sides of the handle are cut from bar iron and have their upper
ends made of a nearly semicircular or semi-elliptical figure, or of a figure
corresponding with that of the grip. A square hole is also made near the top
of each of the side pieces. In connecting the side pieces with the middle or
grip part of the handle, the curved tops of the side pieces enter the open ends
of the grip, the ears described entering the holes in the said side pieces.
A rod of iron is passed through the interior of the grip of the handle, and
also through the holes in the side pieces, and by rivetting the ends of this
rod against the said side pieces, the several parts are held securely together.
In order to fix the parts still more securely the side pieces may be brazed as
well as rivetted to the grip portion of the handle. The irons are cast on
handles made according to my Invention in the usual manner. The handles
of sad irons and other smoothing and tailors' and hatters' irons made according
Invention are more smooth and convenient in use and more economically
manufactured than handles of the ordinary construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Silvester in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SILVESTER, of the Firm of George Salter and Company, of West Bromwich,
in the County of Stafford, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Silvester, Her special licence that I, the said John Silvester,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Silvester, my executors, administrators, 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 THE MANUFACTURE
OP THE HANDLES OP SAD IRONS AND OTHER SMOOTHING AND TAILORS' AND
HATTERS IRONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Silvester, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their bands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 John Silvester, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The said handles are ordinarily made from one or more pieces of iron by
the process of forging.
My Invention consists in manufacturing the said handles principally from
sheet and bar iron by cutting out blanks and raising or shaping the said blanks
into the required form, and afterwards joining the parts together by rivetting,
or by rivetting and brazing. I make that part of the handle which is gripped
by the band by preference of a circular figure in cross section, or of an
elliptical figure in cross section. This part of the handle I will call the grip.
The said part or grip is made from a blank cut out of sheet metal, the said
blank being nearly rectangular in figure, but having at its short sides two
depressions or cut away portions near the longer sides of the said blank.
These depressions or cut away portions leave small projections or ears at each
angle of the blank. The said blank is bent or rolled up into a cylindrical or
elliptical or other figure by press tools worked in a press in the ordinary way.
Or the grip portion of the handle may be made from tubing cut into pieces of
the required length. The sides of the handle are cut from bar iron, and havo
their upper ends made of a nearly semicircular or semi-elliptical figure, or of

page_text: a figure corresponding with that of the grip. A square hole is also made
near the top of each of the side pieces. In connecting the side picces with
the middle or grip part of the handle the curved tops of the side pieces enter
the open ends of the grip, the cars described entering the holes in the said
side pieces. A rod of iron is passed through the interior of the grip of the
bandle, and also through the holes in the side pieces, and by rivetting the ends
of this rod against the said side pieces the several parts are held securely
together. In order to fix the parts still more securely the side pieces may
be brazed as well as rivetted to the grip portion of the handle. The irons are
cast on bandles made according to my Invention in the usual manner. The
handles of sad irons and other smoothing and tailors' and hatters' irons made
according to my Invention are more smooth and convenient in use, and more
economically manufactured than handles of the ordinary construction.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe
with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
In making the grip of a handle of a sad iron according to my Invention, I
cut out from sheet metal by means of cutting tools worked in a press or stamp
a blank of the form represented in plan and end elevation in Figure 1 of the
Drawing. At each of the short sides of the said blank two depressions or
cut away parts marked a, a, are made, the said depressions leaving a small
projection or ear b at each angle of the blank. I take the blank, Figure 1,
and by means of press tools worked in a press of the ordinary kind, I bend or
shape it into a cylindrical figure, as represented in side and end elevation in
Figure 2, and plan in Figure 3, the said Figure 3 showing the junction of
the longer sides of the blank. The grip is thereby finished. By the bending
or shaping of the blank, Figure 1, the two ears 6, b, on each end of the blank
are brought together, the spaces or cut away parts a, a, being situated on either
side of the said ears, as best seen in Figure 3. In making the sides of the
bandle which are to carry the grip portion, Figures 2 and 3, I cut out from
bar iron strips of the required width and length, and by shaping tools (or by
forging) I give them the required shape; Figure 4 represents the sides of a
grip made as described. The upper ends of the side pieces c are made of a
nearly circular figure to fit in the ends of the grip, and a nearly square hole d
is also made near the top of each of the side pieces c. Figure 5 represents
partly in longitudinal section and partly in elevation a complete sad iron, the
handle of which is made from the grip Figures 2 and 3, side pieces Figure 4,
and the rod of iron represented in Figure 8; Figure 6 is a plan of the iron,

page_text: and Figure 7 is an elevation of a portion of the handle. In connecting the
grip, Figures 2 and 3, to the side pieces Figure 4, so as to form a handle, I
introduce into the hollow cylindrical grip e a bar of iron f (represented
separately in Figure 8) and place the curved tops c³ of the side pieces c into
the open ends of the grip, the ears 6 entering and the ends of the rod f passing
through the holes d in the side pieces c. By means of the cut-away parts or
side openings a in the ends of the gripe the side pieces c can enter the ends of
the grip and lie flush with the uncut away portions of the ends of the grip, the
shoulders of the curved ends bearing against the said uncut away parts of
the grip (see Figure 7). After the ends of the side pieces c have been fitted
in the open ends of the grip the projecting ends of the rod fare rivetted
against the said side pieces, and the several parts are thereby held securely
together; a complete handle is thus formed. In addition to rivetting the ends
of the rod fupon the side pieces c the said side pieces may be brazed to the
grip portion of the handle. The iron g is cast upon the bottom ends of the
side pieces c, c, in the usual manner. Instead of giving the grip portion of
the handle a circular figure in cross section as described and represented in
the Drawing, the said grip portion may be made of an elliptical or angular
figure in cross section. In this case the top ends of the side pieces are
made semi-elliptical, or of a figure corresponding with that of the section of the
grip. Instead of making the grip of the handle from a blank cut out and bent
into a tubular form as described, the said grip of the handle may be made
from welded or brazed or open-jointed tubing cut into pieces of the required
length. The sides of the handle may be secured to the grips made in the
last described mauner either by brazing or by rivetting.
In manufacturing the handles of tailors' and batters' and other smoothing
irons I proceed in the manner herein-before described with respect to the
handle of the sad iron.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated in tho Drawing,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion; but I claim as my Invention the improvements in the manufacture of
the handles of sad irons and other smoothing and tailors' and batters' irons
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, making the grips and sides of the said handles from sheet and bar iron
by cutting out blanks and raising or shaping the said blanks into the required
form, and afterwards joining the parts together by rivetting, or by rivetting

page_text: and brazing, or making the grips of the handles from welded or brazed or
open-jointed pieces of tubing, and fixing them to the sides by brazing or
rivetting, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Silvester, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN SILVESTER. (L.8.)