In- PROVEMENTS IN HAMMERS TO BE WORKED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUID
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gray Denison Edmeston, of Preston, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
"
Sealed the 10th May 1870, and dated the 12th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gray Denison Edmeston
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th November 1869.
I, GRAY DENISON EDMESTON, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN HAMMERS TO BE WORKED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUID," to
be as follows:-
My improvements relate to an arrangement and combination of
mechanism for working the valves of that class of steam hammers
termed "dead blow hammers," and whereby the force of the blow and
the length of the stroke may be regulated at pleasure, and by which

page_text: forging and swaging may be facilitated by certain arrangements in the
anvils of such hammers, and my improvements consist,-
Firstly. In jointing one end of a lever on a fulcrum on the frame,
the other end of the lever entering a slot or being otherwise connected
with the hammer or tup so as to partake of its vertical up-and-down
movements. At about the middle and on one side of this lever a fulcrum
pin is fixed, and another lever of the first order is mounted thereon, onc
end of which is weighted, and the other or lighter end comes opposite
to the fulcrum of the first-named lever connected with the hammer or
tup, and is there jointed with a rod that transmits motion to the slide
valve. With this arrangement the fulcrum of the weight lever rises and
falls with the hammer, and in its descent the weighted end keeps pace
with the hammer until the descent of the hammer is arrested and the
blow is struck; at this instant the momentum acquired by the weighted
end of the lever carries it downwards, and by this movement acts
through a rod and lever or other combination upon the valve so as to
admit the steam or elastic fluid under the piston and lift the hammer.
The valve is reversed by having a pin or stop so fixed that by the upward
movement of the hammer or tup the lighter end of the weight lever
will be arrested by it in its ascent, causing the valve to be reversed, and
the weighted end of the lever to be raised into its former position.
This pin or stop is made adjustable vertically to regulate the height of
the lift of the hammer, and horizontally to regulate the extent of move-
ment to be given to the valve so as to modify the blow by opening the
exhaust port on the under side of the piston to a greater or less extend,
also admitting steam to the upper side of the piston to augment the
force of the blow. I prefer to arrange the adjustable pin or stop so as
to slide on an arm which can be moved in an arc by a lever which can
be latched in notches in a quadrant secured to the side of the frame,
and to adjust the pin or stop upon the arm by a connecting rod jointed
with the pin, and a crank on a shaft passing through the axis of the
lever or arm upon which the pin slides, and the handle upon this crank
shaft is also latched in a quadrant secured to the lever handle provided
for making the vertical adjustment of the pin.
Secondly. In forming the upper part of the anvil detached from the
lower part and arranged so that the upper part can be turned on a
vertical axis. In this anvil receptacles are formed for two or more

page_text: faces or swages, so that by turning the upper part of the anvil upon its
axis either face or swage can be readily brought under the hammer as
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Gray Denison Edmeston in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GRAY
DENISON EDMESTON, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, givė
and grant unto me, tho said Gray Denison Edmeston, Her special license,
that I, the said Gray Denison Edmeston, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Gray Denison Edmeston, 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 HAMMERS TO BE WORKED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUID," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Gray Denison Edmeston,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gray Denison Edmeston, 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 and the accompanying Drawings (that is to
say):
My improvements relate to an arrangement and combination of
incchanism for working the valves of that class of steam hammers
known as "dead blow hammers," and whereby the force of the blow

page_text: and length of the stroke may be regulated at pleasure, and my
improvements consist in jointing one end of a lever on a fulcrum on the
frame (or on a pin or excentric which can be moved as hercin-after
explained), and arranging the other end of the lever to enter a slot in
the hammer or tup or in otherwise connecting it therewith so that the
said lever will partake of the vertical up-and-down movements of the
tup or hammer. At about the middle and on one side of the said lever
a fulcrum pin is fixed, and another lever of the first order is mounted
thereon one end of which is weighted, and the other or lighter end comes
about opposite to the fulcrum of the first-named lever (which is con-
nected with the hammer or tup) and is there jointed with a rod that
transmits motion to the slide valve. With this arrangement the fulcrum
of the weight lever rises and falls with the hammer, and on its descent
the weighted end keeps pace with the hammer until the descent of the
hammer is arrested and the blow is struck, at this instant the momentum
acquired by the weighted end of the lever carrics it downwards, and by
this movement acts through a rod and lever or other combination upon
the valve so as to admit the steam or clastic fluid under the piston to
lift the hammer. The valves are reversed by having a pin or stop so
arranged that by the upward movement of the hammer or tup the lighter
end of the weight lever will be arrested in its ascent by the stop, causing
the valve to be reversed and the weighted end of the lever to be raised
into its former position. This pin or stop is made adjustable in position
to regulate the height of the lift of the hammer and adjust the force of
the blow by opening the exhaust port on the under side of the piston to
a greater or less extent, and giving a greater or less admission of steam
to the upper side of the piston. I prefer to arrange the adjustable pin
or stop on a lever which has its fulcrum on another lever that has its
fulcrum on a stud secured in the frame. The stop lever is held when
adjusted by a pin or catch and notches or holes in a segment formed on
the lever having its fulcrum on the stud in the frame, and this latter
lever is held when adjusted by a pin or catch and notches or holes in a
segment secured to the framing. The said adjustable stop may bo
mounted on slides or in any other convenient manner. It has been
stated that the fulcrum of the lever worked by the hammer or tup may
be mounted on a crank or excentric which may be formed on a shaft or
otherwise arranged that the fulcrum may be quickly lowered or raised
for the purpose of starting or stopping the hammer when working self-
acting, and for this purpose it is most convenient to connect the shaft

page_text: having the crank or excentric upon it by levers and rods with a treadle
which the workmen can press down when the hammer is to strike a
weight, causing the treadle to lift when the hammer is to cease
working.
My improved hammer may be readily worked by hand when required.
Fig. 1 is a side sectional elevation; Fig. 2, a front elevation; Fig. 3, a
plan section through A-B, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a plan section through
C-D, Fig. 1.
I will first point out the ordinary and well-known parts which in
themselves form no part of my Invention. a is the stand or frame; it
is a hollow casting, the upper part of which forms the cylinder and valve
chest; b is the cylinder; at its upper end there is a cover or end (6') in
which a valve (6) is placed to open inwards as shown; the lower end of
the cylinder contains the guide and packing gland (6) for the rod (c²) of
the piston (c); c³ is the hammer, or tup; 6' is the valvo clicst, to which
steam is admitted through the tap (6) and pipe (0°). The valves (e and
e¹) are of the ordinary cylindrical class truly fitted to slide in their
facings; they are connected together by a rod (es) to which motion is
given to actuate the valves by an arm (e) which fits a slot in a part (e*)
secured to the end of the valve rod, and this arm (e³) is fastened upon
one end of a short shaft (e³) passing through and working freely in a
boss (e) secured to the frame as shown. The steam exhausts into the
hollow of the frame (a), and is taken away by means of the pipe (67).
The anvil used with the hammer may be fixed or arranged in any other
manner, but the upper part of the anvil (d) shown in the Drawings is
capable of turning upon a vertical axis and is arranged to carry two
faces or swages (d and d). This anvil (d) can be quickly turned to
change from one face or swago to the other, and when so changed it is
held steady and prevented from turning by latches (³) jointed in the
upper or rotating part of the anvil which enter notches in the lower
part (d) of the anvil. The anvil is held to the frame (a) by one or more
bolts (d³).
The mechanism to be herein-after described and its arrangement and
combination with that hercin-before described forms the subject of my
Invention. In the tup or hammer a slot (c) is formed, and the lower
part has placed in it a spring or piece of india-rubber or other material
(c) to act as a buffer, and above this material a plate (c) is fitted, one
end of which is prevented from lifting too high by a pin (c) as shown,

page_text: or other arrangement. Into the slot in the tup one end of a lever (f) is
fitted as shown, the other end turning upon an excentric (1) on the end
of a shaft (g) having bearings in the frame. The end of the shaft (9)
has an arm (g) upon it, which is connected by a rod (9) with an arm
(g) on a shaft (9) having bearings in the casting near the floor, and
upon this shaft a treadle lever (g) is fixed, by pressing on which tho
hammer is started, and by removing the foot a weight (g) on the lever
árm (93) will cause the treadle lever to lift and the hammer to stop.
This result is produced because a change in the position of the fulcrum
of the lever (f) downwards causes the valve (e') to cut off the steam
from the under side of the piston, and thus prevents the hammer from
lifting immediately; but as a small slit is made in the edge of the valvo
steam is allowed to enter under the piston to lift the hammer slowly
until the valve gear comes against the stop herein-after described, when
the valve (e) is moved so far as to entirely shut off the further
admission of steam to the under side of the piston, so that the hammer
stands up ready to strike again when the treadlo is pressed down. In
the side of the lever (f) connected with the tup a stud (f) is fixed,
which forms the fulcrum of a lever (A), one end of which forms a weight
(), which is bent over the lever (f), and this weight has a piece of
india-rubber or other material (2) secured to it to moderate the force
of the percussion of the weight when it descends upon the lever (f).
The other end of the lever (h) is jointed by a pin (³) with one end of
a rod (h), the other end of which is jointed with an arm (½³) on the
short shaft (e). The stud (f) has washers upon it, between which a
piece of india-rubber or other suitable material (f) is placed, so that
by means of the screw nuts on the end of the stud a given amount of
friction may be put upon the lever (h) to prevent it from moving too
freely. is a stud in the frame upon which a lever (k) is mounted,
this lever being arranged so as to be moved by a handle () and
secured in any required position by a pin which enters holes in a
segment (3) secured to the frame (a). In the lever (k) a stud () is
secured, upon which a lever (l) is mounted, and this lever has a handlo
(), so that it can be moved and secured by a pin which enters holes
in a segment () formed on the lever (). In the lever () which
passes between the lever (f) and lover h a stud (m) is fixed, which
forms the adjustable stop that acts upon the valve gear to cut off the
admission of steam to the under side of the piston sooner and later, as
adjusted. When the lever is in the position shown in Fig. 1 the

page_text: hammer will strike the heaviest blow, as the valves will be worked more
rapidly the admission of steam to the under side of the piston is more
quickly cut off, and the exhaust from the under side of the piston is
more suddenly opened and to a wider extent, and the steam is admitted
to the top side of the piston more quickly and the valve is opened to a
wider extent than when the lever is at the other extreme of its move-
ment, where the lightest blow will be struck, owing to the fact of the
movements of the valves being slower and of less extent, causing a more
obstructed exhaust from the under side of the piston and admitting little
or no steam on the upper side of the piston. When the lever (k) is in
the position shown in Fig. 1 the tup has the longest lift or stroke, but
when fixed at the opposite end of its segment the tup or hammer has
its shortest stroke. The position of the fulcrum (¹) of the lever () is
such in relation to the weight lever (/) that in moving it the stop (m)
changes its position both horizontally and vertically, so that the valves.
will be worked more quickly to compensate for the smaller movement
which the lever (f) has for short strokes.
I have now particularly described the nature of my. Invention and
the mode of carrying it into effect, and claim as my Invention, the
combination and arrangement of mechanism for actuating the valve
gear of steam or other motive hammers, substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gray Denison Edmeston, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
GRAY DENISON EDM ESTON
01
GRAY DENISON EDM ESTON
(15.)