IMPROVEMENTS IN PROVISIONAL SPFIC
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Victor, of Wadebridge, in the County of
Cornwall, Hydraulic Engineer, James Polglase, of Bodmin, in the said
County, Mine Agent, and William Rounsevell, of St. Breock, near
Wadebridge aforesaid, Carpenter, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Victor, James
Polglase, and William Rounsevell, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 5th May 1862.
We, JOSEPH VICTOR, of Wadebridge, in the County of Cornwall, Hydraulic
Engineer, JAMES POLGLASE, of Bodmin, in the said County, Mine Agent, and
WILLIAM ROUNSEVELL, of St. Breock, near Wadebridge aforesaid, Carpenter,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SAFETY FUSES FOR MINING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of
metallic fuses. When the fuse consists of a tube of lead or other soft metal,
manufactured. and charged by the methods already known and practised, the
tube is covered externally by a strip of hard metal, the same being wound
spirally around the tube so as to form a protection thereto.

page_text: Another improved mode of protecting lead or soft metal fuses consists in
coating them with copper or other metal suitable for such purpose by the agency
of electricity.
Another portion of this Invention consists in making safety fuses by the
employment of skelps or strips of hard metal, such strips being of a width
greater than the circumference of the intended tube and having the edges
turned up into a trough-like form by means of suitable and known machinery.
The requisite quantity of the charge having been placed in the tube thus
partially formed it is passed between suitable grooved rollers, whereby the
edges of the metal are caused to overlap and a complete tube is thereby
produced. In order to render the tube more suitable for some purposes it
should be tinned or coated with metal by the agency of electricity or submitted
to the well-known galvanizing process, or the longitudinal opening may be
soldered, or the tube may be covered by means of a strip of metal wound
spirally round the same, as before mentioned with regard to the lead or soft
metal fuses.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Victor, James Polglase, and William Rounsevell, in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
VICTOR, of Wadebridge, in the County of Cornwall, Hydraulic Engineer,
JAMES POLGLASE, of Bodmin, in the said County, Mine Agent, and WILLIAM
ROUNSEVELL, of St. Breock, near Wadebridge aforesaid, Carpenter, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Joseph Victor, James Polglase, and William Rounsevell, Her special licence
that we, the said Joseph Victor, James Polglase, and William Rounsevell, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph
Victor, James Polglase, and William Rounsevell, our 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

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SAFETY FUSES FOR MINING AND
OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph
Victor, James Polglase, and William Rounsevell, our executors or adminis
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 we, the said Joseph Victor, James Polglase, and
William Rounsevell, 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, that is to say:―
Our said Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of
safety fuses applicable to mining and other purposes, the tubes or external
portions of such fuses being constructed entirely of metal.
Fuses formed of tubes of lead or other soft metal and charged with gun-
powder or other explosive substances have been previously used, and the
methods by which the same are manufactured and charged are well known
and understood; but such fuses have always been open to very serious objec-
tions, namely, that they are brittle and liable to be injured in the operation of
tamping. These evils are obviated by the method which we have invented of.
protecting the lead or soft metal tubes, and which consists in covering the
same externally with strips of hard metal wound spirally around the tubes..
The metal employed for this purpose may be strips of thin zinc or other hard-
metals, either in their simple state or combined with other metals, as plumbic,
zinc, or other coated metals. The lead or soft metal tube being, in the first
instance, made of short length and large calibre or bore and charged while in
that state, is drawn in the well known manner between grooved rollers, aiul
then through a hollow. worral, on the side of which is placed a reel or spool
having the strips of hard metal wound thereon. The said reel or spool is set
diagonally on its axis on the side of the worral, the reel or spool and the
worral being caused to revolve. The fuse travelling. longitudinally unwinds
the strips of hard metal from the reel or spool, and thus partially or entirely
covers the soft metal tube therewith. The mechanism necessary and proper
for performing these operations being, well known and understood, and forming
no part of this Invention, need not be here particularly described.
Another portion of our Invention consists in making safety fuses by tho
employment of skelps or strips of hard metal,, the metal. employed being zine
or other hard metal in a simple state, or alloys of metal or combined metals,

page_text: such as plumbic, zinc, or other coated metals. The method of manufacture is
as follows: The skelp of the metal employed should be about one-third wider
than the circumference of the intended tube. The skelp is first passed through
a guide into a pair of tongue and groove rollers, so as to give it a partially
circular form for receiving the charge of powder or other explosive substance,
which is supplied from funnels or conductors placed near the rolls. The
partially formed tube having been charged is then passed through another
guide into a pair of rollers with grooves. The edges of the grooves in the
upper roller are uneven, so as to press on one edge of the partially made tube
first, in order to ensure the overlapping of the edges of the skelp. The tube is
then passed through grooved rollers in the usual way, and afterwards passed
between rollers having square tongues and grooves, so as to flatten the fuse,
which has hitherto been in a circular form. The fuse is then wound on a
revolving drum or mandril for the purpose of coiling it. The object of over-
lapping the edges of the skelp of which the tube is formed is to strengthen the
tube for practical purposes and to secure the joint, thus obviating the cost and
necessity of a second tube to prevent the first from opening. The fuses may
be made of considerable length, and it may be observed that the advantage of
flattening is that the fuse may be coiled and uncoiled more advantageously;
and that it may occupy less space in package and in the hole or charge when
being employed for blasting.
The hard metal fuses constructed as herein-before mentioned may also, if
desired, be tinned or coated with tin or lead or any other metal or metallic
alloy suitable for such purpose, or they may be soldered or electrotyped, or
they may be covered partially or entirely by skelps or strips of metal wound
spirally round, as before mentioned with reference to the soft metal fuses. The
mechanism and power requisite for performing the operations of rolling and
charging connected with the manufacture of the hard metal fuses, as before-
mentioned, being well known and understood, need not be hėrė more parti-
cularly referred to.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which it is to be performed, we would wish it to be dis-
tinctly understood that we do not confine or restrict ourselves in the precise
details herein-before mentioned, as variations may be made therefrom without
departing from the main features or principles of our said Invention, and that
what we consider novel and original, and therefore claim as our Invention,
are,-
Firstly, the method of covering and protecting soft metal fuses, herein-before

page_text: And, secondly, the construction and manufacture of hard metal fuses, as
and in the manner herein-before substantially described and set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Victor, James Polglase, and
William Rounsevell, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
day of
hundred and cieto turn
JOSEPH VICTOR.
JAMES POLGLASE.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)
WILLIAM ROUNSEVELL. (L.S.)