IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR BENDING METAL PLATES INTO THE VARIOUS FORMS REQUIRED IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Galloway and John
Galloway at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 10th December 1863.-A communication from abroad
by John Cochrane, of the City of New York, in the United States of
America.
We, WILLIAM GALLOWAY and JOHN GALLOWAY, both of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR BENDING METAL PLATES
INTO THE VARIOUS FORMS REQUIRED IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in so constructing presses for bending
plates, that the "cope" or upper resisting table, instead of being made as
heretofore of a solid inflexible and unchangeable form, shall be capable of
being altered and adapted to any required form within the range of its
mechanical capacity by being composed of a number of resisting lines or
points that can be individually elevated or depressed at pleasure, and thereby
be so arranged and set as to fit or suit the curves and lines of the particular
form which the plate is required to assume.
Secondly, this Invention consists in forming the lower table or "platen" of
as many parts and having the same order of arrangement as those of the
cope," so that the parts of the former shall be opposite the latter or nearly so.
And thirdly, this Invention consists in operating the several parts of the
said "platen" simultaneously by means of hydraulic pressure in such wise
that each part shall be forced against or towards the corresponding parts of
the "cope," the aggregate form produced by the parts of the platen being
.

page_text: thus made to adapt itself to the form of the "cope," and consequently to
impart such form to any metal plate that may be situated between the
" cope " and the "platen."
The manner in which it is preferred to arrange the press for carrying
out the above described principles of the Invention is as follows:-The
entablature or head of the press and the base of the same are made of such a
length and breadth as may be required for the dimensions of the plates to be
operated upon, and are connected together at the corners by suitable columns
or supports. The entablature carries two rows of screws passing through it,
the position of each of which screws is capable of separate regulation by
means of nuts bearing against the surface of the entablature. Each two of
the screws are connected at their lower or inner extremity in an articulated
manner to one of a series of transverse bars that together form the cope, so
that by altering the position of the screws these transverse bars are placed in
any required position. The screws are by preference all made of uniform
length, so that by screwing them into such positions that the upper or outer
extremities of the same correspond with the form that the plate is required
to assume, the lower or inner ends of the same, and consequently also the
transverse bars, are also made to assume a corresponding position for forming
the mould for the plate. The upper or outer extremity of each pair of the
screws may also be connected by means of bars or strips. To the base of the
press are attached a series of hydraulic cylinders corresponding in number
and position to the before-mentioned screws. The heads of the plungers to
each two of these cylinders are connected by means of a ball-and-socket joint
to one of a series of transverse bars forming together the platen, which conse-
quently correspond in position to the transverse bars forming the cope. The
hydraulic cylinders all communicate with one pump or set of pumps, so that
when in operation their plungers together with the transverse bars forming the
platen are all made to advance towards the transverse bars forming the cope,
and consequently when the transverse bars forming the platen arrive in close
proximity to the cope, (the metal plate that requires to be bent having been
placed upon the same,) they adjust themselves to the form that has been
given to the cope, and by the pressure exerted upon them also bend the metal
plate into that form. The strain upon the entablature resulting from the
pressure exerted by the platen against the cope is taken by means of strong
holding bars connecting each side of the hydraulic cylinders to the entablature,
which holding bars are by preference hinged to the cylinders, and are capable
of being disconnected from the entablature, so that they may be removed
before or after the operation of bending has been performed for the con-

page_text: venience of introducing the metal plate into or removing it from the press.
These holding bars also serve as guides to the transverse bars forming the cope
and platen, which are for that purpose provided with notches or grooves, into
which the holding bars fit. When in position the holding bars are prevented
from slipping by means of a locking plate connecting each pair together. In
some cases the transverse bars forming the cope and platen may be dispensed
with and the requisite mould formed by the lower or inner ends of the screws
and the ends of the plungers themselves.