IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION OF BAYONETS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE- WITH
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgins, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, of the same Place,
Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgins and Thomas
Schofield Whitworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 9th December 1854.
We, JAMES HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, and THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Mechanic, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BAYONETS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH," to be as follows:-
Our Invention has reference to a system of making bayonets by certain
consecutive operations; one important feature thereof is that the blade and
its socket are made in one piece of steel without welding. The completed
shape is effected by forging, and by the action of cutting instruments.
The principle of the several operations may be illustrated as follows:-We

page_text: EL
first roll a bar of steel with a boss upon each side; this bar we separate trans-
versely into certain lengths, and these lengths into two parts, in such manner
that a boss extends from each, suitable for the socket. One of these portions
is a foundation for being shaped into a bayonet by subsequent operations,
and we so arrange this rolling and severance that the right quantity (or
nearly so) of metal for forming bayonet is in each part; this forms one
division of the manufacture: we then, by means of tilting or other such pro-
cess, draw out that portion of the metal to form the blade, after which,
by means of forging, the blade is brought into the required triangular form.
The boss is now placed in suitably formed swaging tools,, and its exterior
shape thereby completed, the socket being drilled out by any ordinary
method. From this triangular blade thus formed, we remove the edges, so
as to form flat sides at the. angles thereof, whereby the irregularities and
unsound metal are removed. The machinery we employ for effecting this is
as follows-Upon the bed of a planing machine is a frame provided with two
centres to which the bayonet is adapted; one of these centres is above the
level of the other, so that a tapered side of the blade is formed by passing in
contact with the cutter; one side having been thus planed, the blade is turned
upon its centre, and the operation repeated upon the two others.
.
In order to gain a support during the action of cutting, we adapt a sliding
plate, provided with three projecting parts, each one being suitably formed as
a bed for the bayonet under its several stages of manufacture; these pro-
jections being, therefore, consecutively adapted, will constitute the required
supports.
We adapt a number of apparatus above described side by side, and connect
the centres by toothed wheels, so that upon motion being communicated to
them, a series of bayonets are simultaneously turned for a fresh cut. The last
operation of our improvements is to hollow out the sides of the tapered tri-
angular metal. In order to effect this, we place it upon an adjustable part
of a travelling frame, the bayonet resting upon a suitably formed bed, which
moves onward beneath a rotatory cutter; the travelling frame is mounted
upon centres at one end, and the other, during the operation of cutting, is
caused to rise by a cam or inclined plane, by which means the metal is re-
moved in the proper fluted form. The travelling frame is also capable of
being adjusted in a vertical direction, so as to enable it to be moved upward
as the cutters become worn. This constitutes the operation upon one side of
a bayonet; but we adapt a number of such apparatus side by side, in sets of
three, each one being provided with a suitable bed or support for the blade,
upon its being turned over for a fresh cut.

page_text: Another part of our Invention consists in a method of making cutters to be
employed in hollowing out the blades of bayonets, the main feature of which
consists in the employment of a cutting tool, which is caused, as it revolves
upon its axis, to travel in the required curve upon the surface to be cut. The
following arrangement will illustrate this part of our Invention:-A blank,
intended to form a bayonet cutter, is placed upon a vertical spindle, on
either side of which is a frame, capable of turning upon centres and carrying
a revolving spindle provided with a cutter, which, as it rotates in contact
with the blank, is caused to turn bodily upon the centres of its frame. A.
tool will by this means be produced, the cutting edge of which is a portion
of a circle; if desired, however, another curve may be formed by shifting the
relative positions of the parts during the operation of the cutting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, fileḍ
by the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 8th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and THOMAS
SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, Her especial
licence that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our executors, administra-
tors, 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 OF BAYONETS, AND IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of

page_text: our 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 James Higgins, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
and accompanying Drawing, that is to say:-
The main feature of our Invention consists in manufacturing bayonets from
severed portions of rolled or otherwise produced bar metal, whereby we are
enabled to produce the blade and socket in one piece without welding, and
each of these severed portions we so regulate that it shall contain the right
quantity of metal (or nearly so) for the completed arm.
In order to explain this principle of operation, we will refer to a sheet of
Drawings accompanying this our Specification.
Fig. 1 exhibits the sectional form of a bar of metal which we roll or other-
wise produce in convenient lengths; this bar we divide transversely, according
to the dotted lines a, b, in Fig. 2, whereby a rectangular piece of metal is
obtained, having bosses at c, d, shewn particularly in Fig. 1; this portion of
the bar is now placed in a punching machine, and is there divided, according
to the dotted line e, f, Fig. 3, by which means two lumps are produced, each
one answering in form to Fig. 4; by another punching operation, or simul-
taneously with that above mentioned, the metal is removed at that part repre-
sented by the dotted line g, h, the result of which is shewn at Fig. 5. This
constitutes the foundation for a bayonet, the boss c being the intended socket,
and the part i the blade; the subsequent operations for shaping and finishing
may be conducted by any ordinary means. We have described the material
as being originally in the bar form, which would perhaps convey the idea of
length beyond a certain point; it will, however, be evident that the spirit of
our Invention may be carried into effect by using short pieces, as at Fig. 3,
moulded into the required form by pressing or otherwise. We would also
observe, that instead of severing the bar along the dotted lines a, b, of Fig. 2,
the forms shewn at Fig. 4 may at once be cut therefrom consecutively.
Another part of our Invention, according to our Provisional Specification,
consisted in certain arrangements of machinery for shaping and finishing
bayonets, but since the filing thereof we have ascertained that the same was
not new, and consequently lay no claim thereto.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be understood

page_text: that we claim, as secured to us under the above in part recited Letters Patent,
the production of bayonets from severed portions of rolled or otherwise pro-
duced bar metal, such portions being separated so as to possess projecting parts
for the sockets.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Higgins, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JAMES HIGGINS. (L.S.)