Improvements in the Manufacture of Spades, Forks, Shovels, and the like, and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1887
Complete Left, 22nd June, 1888
Complete Accepted, 27th July, 1888
Improvements in the Manufacture of Spades, Forks, Shovels, and
the like, and Apparatus therefor.
I, PETER LIEN, of Mümling-Grumbach, in Hessian Odenwald, in the Empire of
Germany, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The novelty of the present invention lies in the fact that in shovels, forks, and
similar agricultural implements, the socket in which the handle is fixed, is rolled with
the implement itself, out of one single piece of metal. Through this, much greator
solidity is obtained than by the old method, and also the cost of manufacture is reduced
to an appreciable extent.
In carrying out the invention, an iron or steel block of elongated, rectangular or
other section is heated to red heat at one of its extremities, which is thus brought
between two dies or plates. The lower die is fixed, whilst the upper one is movable
up and down, by means of an eccentric keyed on a revolving shaft. Both dies or plates
are alike in shape.
When the upper die descends, the rod hot end of the steel block, owing to the shape
of said dies, is pressed into the form of a conical head or shank. As the cheek plates
or dies squeeze the part of the block which is to be formed into a shank, it is elongated
or drawn out. As the hollow in the dies is wider at one end, the metal may not be
sufficiently elongated to come into contact with the said dies at that end.
At the moment when the head is being formed, another eccentric moves forward
a mandril or punch. This mandril is caused to revolve rapidly on its axis by means
of toothed or other suitable gearing, and is pressed forward in the red hot metal by
the last named eccentric, so that a deep cavity or hole is made. It is sufficient to
impart to the mandril a reciprocating motion without causing it to revolve; in this
case the gearing can be dispensed with.
If the block is no longer hot enough, it can be heated again, and passed between a
pair of rolls. These rolls differ from those hitherto used, for the rolling surface is not
cylindrical, but is conical, or in other words gradually recedes towards its centre. A
shoulder is therefore formed at one part of the periphory.

page_text: The workman now places the steel block already worked (in the manner described
above), between the rolls. In the subsequent revolution. of the rolls, the above
mentioned shoulders revolve until they bear against the pressed neck of the
steel block.
At the same time, a mandril, the small end of which penetrates in the holo
previously formed, is pressed forward by an eccentric, which passes between the rolls,
while the steel head is being rolled to the shape of a socket, which shape diverges
forward into two split springing halves. The head or shank formed between the dies
or cheek plates is preferably not round but oval, so that the material round the hole in
the socket is not the same thickness, therefore at the extremity, the metal is thickest,
while the shank is widest, but it is thinner where the shank is narrower.
consequence of this inequality of thickness, the socket, when it is rolled, splits into two
halves, which have, if the metal is not too thick, a certain amount of spring.
In
For the purpose of producing a greater uniformity in the motion of the mandril, a
pinion and rack can be used instead of an eccentric. After the socket has been
produced in the manner described in the foregoing, that part of the steel block, which
has not yet been worked out, is forged in the ordinary manner into a spade, or a fork
or any other similar object.
Spades and shovels have hitherto been manufactured almost exclusively with a
socket having an opening at the bottom end. Only very few were provided with
closed sockets, but not split ones. Indeed these split or springing sockets were made
up of two pieces welded together so that they did not present, as in the above mode of
manufacture, two split or springy halves between which the handle is squeezed or
inserted.
In the sockets, which are open at the bottom, the handle holds very badly, whilst
the cost of manufacture of closed sockets without springing halves, and inade hitherto
by hand, is too high.
Did this 10th 1
1007

page_text: the like, and Apparatus therefor.
I, PETER LIEN, of Mümling-Grumbach, in Hessian Odenwald, in the Empire of
Germany, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
The novelty of the present invention lies in the fact that in shovels, forks, and
similar agricultural implements, the socket in which the handle is fixed, is rolled with
the implement itself out of one single piece of metal. Through this, much greater
solidity is obtained than by the old method, and also the cost of inanufacture is
reduced to an appreciable extent.
My invention is represented on the accompanying drawing.
In carrying out the invention, an iron or steel block A of elongated, rectangular or
other section is heated to a red heat at one of its extremities, and is thus brought
between two dies or plates B B¹. The lower die B is fixed, whilst the upper one B
is movable up and down, by means of an eccentric C keyed on a revolving shaft D.
Both dies or plates are alike in shape.
When the upper die B descends, the red hot end of the steel block A, owing to the
shape of said dies B B₁, is depressed into the form of a conical head or shank. As the
cheek plates or dies B B¹ squeeze the part of the block A which is to be formed into
a shank, it is elongated or drawn out. As the hollow in the dies B B¹ is wider at its
one side, the metal does not come in contact with the said dies at this side.
At the moment when the head is being formed, another. eccentric E moves forward
a mandril or punch F. This mandril is caused to revolve rapidly on its axis by means
of a toothed or other suitable gearing G, and is pressed forward in the red hot metal
by the last-named eccentric E, so that a deep cavity or hole e Figure 6, is made. It
is sufficient to impart to the mandril a reciprocating motion without causing it to
revolve; in this case the gearing can be dispensed with.
In Figure 1 a mothod is shown for holding the block of steel A between two
dies B B the latter being operated by the wheel and screw H in place of eccentric C,
while the mandril or punch F is operated by the eccentric E.
If the block is no longer hot enough, it can be heated again and is then passed,
between a pair of rolls W W Figures 3, 4, and 4º. These rolls differ from those
hitherto used, for the rolling surface is not cylindrical but is eccentric, or in other
words, the rolling surface gradually approaches the centre of the roller.
A shoulder Q is therefore formed at one part of the periphery.
The workman now places the steel block A already worked (in the manner described
above) between the rolls W W¹. In the subsequent revolution of the rolls, the
above-mentioned shoulders Q revolve until they bear against the pressed neck of the
steel block A.
These rollers can be provided. with a series of graduated grooves in which the
block A is successively operated, each groove rolling it more than the one before, in
the manner afterwards described, or else if the article being manufactured is not heavy,
a pair of rolls with only one groove each can be employed.
At the same time, a mandril D, the small end of which penetrates in the hole e
previously formed, is pressed forward by an eccentric H, which passes between the
rolls W W while the steel head is being rolled to the shape of a socket, which

page_text: shape diverges forward into two split springing halves S S. The head or shank
formed between the dies or cheek plates B B is preferably not round, but oval, so
that the material round the hole in the socket is not the same thickness; therefore at
the extremity, the metal is thickest, where the shank is widest, but it is thinner where
the shank is narrower. In consequence of this inequality of thickness, the socket,
when it is rolled, splits into two halves, which have, if the metal is not too thick, a
certain amount of spring; see Figures 7, 7 and 8.
-
For the purpose of producing a greater uniformity in the motion of the mandril, a
pinion and rack can be used (see Figure 4) instead of an eccentric. After the
socket has been produced in the manner described in the foregoing, that part of the
steel block which has not yet been worked out, is forged in the ordinary manner into
a spade, or a fork or any other similar object.
Spades and shovels have hitherto been manufactured almost exclusively with a
socket having an opening at the bottom end. Only very few were provided with
closed sockets, but not split ones. Indeed these split or springing sockets were made
up of two pieces welded together so that they did not present, as in the above mode
of manufacture, two split or springy halves between which the handle is squeezed or
inserted.
In the sockets, which are open at the bottom, the handle holds very badly, whilst
the cost of manufacture of closed sockets without springing halves, and made hitherto
by hand, is too high.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In the manufacture of spades, forks, shovels and similar implements, the method
of forming out of the same block of iron or steel, as that used to make the implement,
a hollow socket closed at the rear end and open at the front one, said method
consisting in first forging roughly between press dies the part of the block which is to
constitute the socket, whilst a mandril is at the same time pressed into the metal
between the dies for the purpose of forming in it a conical hole, and second by
passing the part thus roughly forged between rollers provided, with grooves eccentric
with the periphery of the roller, and pressing into it a mandril to enlarge the hole
already made, whilst it is being rolled out for the purpose of imparting to the socket
its final shape, the unworked part of the block being afterwards forged into the
requisite shape of the implement, substantially as described.
2. The apparatus for manufacturing spades, forks, shovels, and the like, which
consists essentially,
(a) In the combination of dies B, B¹, with a mandril F turning on its axis in such
a manner that whilst the said dies form a head of suitable shape on the metal placed
between them, a conical hole is formed in the said head by the simultaneously
advancing and rotating mandril F, substantially as described.
(b) In the combination of the roller W, W, having grooves, the surfaces of which
are eccentric with the periphery of the roller, so as to present varying sections to the
advancing mandril, and in which the head (produced by the mechanical arrangement
set forth in the foregoing) is passed and rolled out into handle or socket, substantially
as described.
1000