IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PUNCHES USED FOR PUNCHING THE EYES OF NEEDLES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Beard, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
D
Sealed the 13th December 1864, and dated the 20th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Beard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th.
June 1864.
I, GEORGE BEARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PUNCHES USED FOR PUNCHING THE EYES OF
NEEDLES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of improvements in the construction of the punches
used for punching the eyes of needles, so as to avoid the labour of filing down
the punching points from the solid material. With this view I form a holder
or punch head of a suitable conical shape, but in two parts or jaws at the
beak, the one jaw being removeable or hinged to the other; these two jaws
are grooved internally at the beak to receive small points or lengths of wire
formed by drawing the wire to any required section; these small points are.
placed in the grooves in the jaws, stops being provided at the base of the
grooves to regulate their position, and the jaws are closed together and secure,

page_text: by a set screw. A steady pin may be used upon the one jaw engaging in a
small hole in the other, to keep both parts firmly in position. By these means
if the punching points break others can be readily substituted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Beard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BEARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her, reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Beard, Her special licence that I; the said
George Beard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said George Beard, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF PUNCHES USED FOR PUNCHING THE
EYES OF NEEDLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Beard, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
ハ
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Beard, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following:
statement, reference, being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) —
My Invention consists of improvements in the construction of the punches
used for punching the eyes of needles, so as to avoid the labor of filing down
the punching points from the solid material. With this view I form a holder
or punch head of a suitable conical shape, but in two parts or jaws at the

page_text: beak, the one jaw being removeable. or hinged to the other; these two jaws
are grooved internally at the beak to receive small points or lengths of wire
formed by drawing the wire to any required section; these small points are
placed in the grooves in the jaws, stops being provided at the base of the
grooves to regulate their position, and the jaws are closed together and
secured by a set screw. A steady pin may be used upon the one jaw
engaging in a small hole in the other, to keep both parts firmly in position.
By these means if the punching points break others can be readily substituted.
I will now describe my Invention more fully in detail by the aid of the
annexed Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of my
improved punching tools; Figure 2, a front elevation; Figure 3, a side
elevation, shewing the loose jaw removed; and Figure 4, a front elevation
and part section with the loose jaw removed; Figure 5 shews the loose jaw,
and Figure 6, the punching points.
(a) represents the holder or punch head, to be screwed into the press in the
ordinary manner; (b) is the loose jaw, the beaks of which (c) have grooves
sunk or cut in them exactly corresponding with similar grooves cut in the
fixed jaw (d), one half the longitudinal section of the punching point being
cut in each jaw. At the upper ends of these grooves in the fixed jaw (d) are
inserted small studs (e), which studs are received in small sinkings (f) in the
loose jaw, and form when both the jaws are combined stops for the heads of
the punching points, to prevent the points from being driven into the metal of
the punch head; (g) is a steady pin securing the jaws more firmly, and pre-
venting any play of the parts when secured together, as seen in Figure 1, by
the set screw (h).
Figures 7, 8, 9, represent a modified form of constructing the punch head
by hinging the loose jaw to the fixed one, and making the parts (b and c) to
form a lap or flange to receive the heads of the punching points, instead of
providing studs or stops. At the heads of the grooves a piece of steel (i),
Figure 7), is dovetailed in, and against this the heads of the punching points
butt when in work, and this forms the stop, for, as will be seen in Figure 9, it
overlaps the heads of the punching points when the punch is prepared for use.
The jaws are in this instance also secured by a set screw.
From the preceding description it will be readily understood that punching
tools thus constructed are easily repaired and refitted for work when the
punching points break, for as these points consist merely of short lengths of
wire drawn to any desired section to form the eyes of needles, fresh points
can be inserted with very trifling delay, and with a certainty of their being
always of precisely the same size and form, and all labour of softening, then

page_text: filing down the points, and afterwards hardening and re-tempering the points,
is avoided.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I do not confine myself to any precise
details or forms for these punching tools, but that which I claim is, the
improvements in the construction of punches used for punching the eyes of
needles by making such punches with moveable jaws or beaks, and fitting
them with separate or independent punching points, substantially as herein
more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Beard, have hereunto set my 1
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
GEORGE BEARD. (L.S.)