IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR MAKING METAL HINGES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
BATES, of Bishopsgate Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of September, in the seventh year of His
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joshua Bates, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joshua Bates, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Joshua Bates, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
OR MACHINERY FOR MAKING METAL HINGES," being a communication from a
Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Joshua Bates, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Joshua Bates, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of Improved Apparatus or Machinery for Making Metal
Hinges consists in a peculiar, novel, or improved construction of apparatus or
tool for turning over or shaping the projecting parts or tongues of the pieces
of metal which form the knuckles of the two sides, butts, or wings of the
hinge, the knuckles of the two parts when placed together, as in a complete
hinge, taking into the spaces between each other, and forming the hinge joint,
such improved construction of tool or mechanism being only applicable to the
making or manufacturing of such hinges as are formed out of rolled sheet
iron or other ductile sheet metal. The sheet iron or other ductile plate metal,
after being prepared by rolling or otherwise to the required thickness, is first
cut into strips or narrow lengths of the required breadth to form the two
parts of the hinge, and then operated on by proper shaped punches and dies
or cutters so as to cut or sever the plate metal into two pieces having tongues
or parts to form the knuckles projecting from their edges, and which pieces
may either before or after this operation be severed by shears into the necessary
lengths for the required size of the hinge, as are represented in Fig. A or
B of the accompanying Drawing. The pieces of metal being thus prepared
by any of the well-known modes of cutting out or shaping metal, then are
to be brought under the operation of the tool or mechanism herein-after
particularly described, for the purpose of turning over or bending the projecting
tongues or parts a, a, so as to form the knuckle joints of the hinge into
the proper figure or shape, as shewn in the face and end representations,
Figures C and D, thus forming the two sides or wings of the hinge with
their knuckles or joints, which are afterwards to be fitted to each other by
filing or otherwise, and put together, and the centre pin or wire passed
through them so as to form the complete hinge, as shewn at Fig. E, the
screw holes being made at a subsequent operation. And I would here remark
that the previous process, method, or operation of cutting up the plate metal
so as to form the two sides of the hinge, as at Figures A or B, and the after
process of completing the hinge from the parts C and D, does not form any
part of these present improvements or the subject of the above recited Letters
Patent, the improved construction of tool or mechanism being only applicable
to and intended to perform the operation of turning over the tongues or parts

page_text: of the two sides of the hinge so as to form the knuckle joints, and I shall
proceed to particularly describe its construction and operation.
Fig. 1 is a side view or end elevation of the apparatus in its position
previous to commencing an operation; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section
of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan or horizontal view, the lever handle and
bending tools being brought up to the horizontal position as when in the act
of turning over and forming a knuckle joint; Fig. 4 is a vertical section of
the same; and Fig. 5 is another section shewing the position of the parts
after the bending tools and lever has been turned over and the knuckles
formed. The mechanism consists of a strong metal foundation plate a, a,
firmly secured
bolts to the work bench, and has a projecting part or bed b, b,
made of steel or other hard metal furnished with a series of hooked pieces
or fingers c, c, c, through which a hole or cylindrical aperture is bored to
receive the steel wire, mandril, or pin d, d, which is passed through the whole
length of the apparatus, and projects through the ends a sufficient distance to
allow of its being withdrawn after each operation of turning over the knuckles.
The outer ends of the part 6 are formed into two hollow axes e, e, around
which the other or moveable parts of the apparatus turn as their centre of
motion. The tools or pressers which bend the tongues of the plate metal (a, a,
Figs. A, B, over and around the mandril or wire d, are shewn at f, f, f, and are
formed of steel or other hard metal projecting from a main plate or piece g,
which has a sliding motion given to it backwards and forwards for the purpose
herein-after described. The plate g is mounted in a framework of metal h, h,
its inner extremities terminating in two adjustible bearings at i, i, which turn
on the two hollow centre pins e, e, of the stationary part of the apparatus;
the outer extremity of the frame h is connected to a lever or handle k by
means of which the workman raises the bending tools and turns them over
with the tongues of the metal upon the mandril in forming the knuckle joints.
The other parts of the apparatus consist in the means of regulating the
position of the bending tools f, f, with respect to the ends of the tongues of
the pieces of metal to be operated upon, and also the means of gradually
drawing inwards the said bending tools as the tongues or pieces of metal are
being turned over and wrapped around the mandril, so as to cause a travelling
or rolling motion instead of rubbing on the surface of the metal. The sliding
motion of the bending tools and plate g is effected by the edges of the plate
being mounted in grooves in the side pieces of the frame h or ribs projecting
therefrom, and is connected by a bridle piece l embracing an excentric roller m
turning in bearings in the side frame h, the bridle piece being connected to a
bar which carries the plate; one end or axis of the excentric is furnished-

page_text: with a lever or handle n, by means of which the advancing or retiring motion
is given to the plate and binding tool on turning the excentric. The drawing-
in or advancing movement of the bending tools when the apparatus is in
operation is effected by the following means:-On to the sides of the plate g
two curved or bent arms o, o, are affixed, each carrying a pin or stud P which
take into and work in excentric grooves q, q, formed in circular pieces r, r,
fixed on to the piece b, and it will be clearly seen by inspection of the Drawings
that as the lever or handle is turned over from the position shewn in Fig. 2
to that in Fig. 5, the bending tools will, by means of the excentric grooves q
and pins p be made to follow the tongues of the piece of metal as they are
wrapped round the mandril or centre pin. The operation is as follows:-A
number of pieces of sheet metal having been prepared by punching or cutting
them into the shape represented in Figures A or B, or any other suitable
Figure, according to the size or the nature of the intended hinge, they are to
be placed by the workman side by side in the apparatus, the tongues or
projecting parts being placed between the hooked pie ces c, c, as shewn by the
portions at 8, 8, in the Figures, the inner edges of the wings of the hinge
being pushed up into the grooves or notches u formed in the pieces c, c,
the tongues of the sheet metal projecting horizontally under the wire mandril.
And I may here remark that the line of perforation through the fingers
c, c, should be so much elevated above the top of the part 6 as to allow
the tongues of the piece of metal, (while its wing part rests upon the surface
of the bed plate, to pass horizontally under the mandrel, but in contact with it
or nearly so, and should be placed about as far from the edge of the bed plate
as it is raised above its level. The piece of metal is then held tightly in
this situation by forcing under it the wedge-shaped tool t, t, which brings the
upper surface of the wing part of the piece of metal against the upper side of
the grooves or notches u, see Fig. 2, in the parts c; the excentric roller m is
then turned round so as to force forward the bending tools until they press
the tongues of the piece of metal against the mandril wire. This being done,
the operator lifts the lever handle from its suspended position and turns it
over clamp-like towards the bed plate, in which operation the tools c, c, bend
the tongues of the metal round the wire mandril, and thus form the knuckle
joint, after which the excentric roller is to be turned back, when, by means
of the bridle piece, it will withdraw the bending tools from the knuckle joints
of the now partly formed hinges, when the moveable part of the machine is
to be again turned over to its suspended position. The wire mandril is then
withdrawn from the aperture, and the parts of the hinge taken out. It will
be seen that the outside surface of the knuckle thus turned round the wire

page_text: mandril must be in the line of a circle concentric to that described by the
handle when turned over to the bed plate; it follows that if the bending tools
with their plate were also carried round, extended, or situated from the wire
mandril in the direction of the radij of the same circle throughout their motion,
the consequence would be, that as the tools bent the tongues round the
wire they would of necessity slide upon their surface, which would produce
friction and flaws, if not break or elongate the parts, besides exposing the
mandril and machine to unnecessary strains, to avoid which the ends of
the bending tools, by means of the pins and excentric grooves, instead of
sliding are made to roll upon the tongues as it were from heel to point, their
thickness being such as to give an extent of surface sufficient for the purpose,
so that the line of pressure between them and against the wire shall advance
equally upon the surface of each as the lever handle is passed over to the bed
plate, and in such manner that as the ends of the tongues are bent over
to the surface of their own plate, the forward or extreme edge of the bending
tools shall close down upon their edges and finish the pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Bates, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of March, One thousand eight