AN IMPROVE- MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAPING METALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Foxall Griffiths, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAPING METALS."
Scaled the 23rd September 1857. and dated the 17th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Foxall Griffiths
at tho Oflice of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th July 1857.
I, THOMAS FOXALL GRIFFITHS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAPING METALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the process or combination of processes herein-
after described, and has for its object the production of annular or ring-like
feet to vessels made of sheet metal, and also the production of ring-liko
projections in sheet metal for other purposes, for which the same are or may
be applicable. I will describe my Invention as applied to the manufacture
of dishes or pans with ring-like feet made from sheet copper. I first form
the dish or pan by stamping, in the ordinary way; the dies used being so
formed as to cause the central part where the foot is to be made to protrude
to a depth nearly equal to the depth of the foot to be made. I next place
the dish in an inverted position upon a bed or die having an annular pro-
jection of a figure nearly resembling the foot to be produced. By the descent

page_text: of a die or force, the central part of the dish is pressed into the depression
in the lower dic, thus forming an aunular foot or projection on the bottom
of the dish. The dish is then placed in an upright position upon another
bed or die having an annular groove on its face, and a force or plunger with
an annular projection on its face descends, and forces the annular foot into
the annular groove in the fixed bed or die. The dish is next subjected to
the action of another pair of dies similar to the last, excepting that the
moveable one is plain and the annular groove in the fixed one is narrower.
The annular foot is thereby contracted, and the bottom of the dish flattened.
The closing of the said annular foot is completed by the use of the machine
called an edging or beading machine. By operating upon the annular foot
by means of the said machine, the sides of the said annular foot are brought
into close contact at or near the plane in which the bottom of the dish is
situated. Thero is thus produced a dish having an annular foot, which said
foot is hollow, but into which any liquid poured into the dish cannot enter.
The dish is completed by its bottom being placed in an iron or steel chuck
in a lathe; the said chuck has a circular groove into which the annular foot
enters, and by burnishing or pressing tools applied to the interior of the dish
the bottom of the dish is pressed into contact with the face of the chuck and
flattened.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Foxall Griffiths in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
FOXALL GRIFFITHS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Foxall Griffiths, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Foxall Griffiths, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas Foxall Griffiths, 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

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAPING METALS,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Foxall Griffiths, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 bo
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 Thomas Foxall Griffiths, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertuined in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists of the process or combination of processes
herein-after particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, my said Invention having for its object the production of annular
or ring-like feet to vessels made of sheet metal, and also the production of
ring-like projections in sheet metal for any other purposes to which the same
may be applicable. I will describe and illustrate my Invention as applied
to the manufacture of dishes or pans with ring-like feet made from sheet
copper, by which description and illustration I believe my Invention will bo
sufficiently understood.
Figure 1 of tho accompanying Drawing represents in vertical section one
of the dishes or pans to be made by my Invention. I first form the dish or
pan by the ordinary process of stamping, the dies used being so formed as to
cause the central part of the dish where the foot is to be made to protrude
to a depth greater than the depth of the foot to be made. Figure 2
represents in vertical section the dish or pan in this stage. I take the dish
or pan, Figure 2, and place it in an inverted position between the pair of dies
represented partly in section in Figure 3, and operate upon the said dish,
Figure 2, by the said dies Figure 3. The lower die a has an annular
projection of a figure nearly resembling the foot to be produced; by the
descent of the upper die or force c the central part of the inverted dish is
pressed into the depression included in the ring 6 of the lower die a.
There is thus produced an annular foot or projection on the bottom of the
dish; the said dish, when removed from between the dies, Figure 3, and
restored to its upright position, having the form represented in vertical
section in Figure 4, the foot being maked e in the said Figure 4. The dish,
Figure 4, is next operated upon in an upright position by a pair of dies

page_text: of the form represented in vertical section in Figure 5. The bed or lower
dief has an annular groove g in its face, into which the foot e, Figure 4 is
forced by the annular projection h on the 'upper die i. By this treatment,
the form of the foot is further perfected, the said foot having the figure
represented in vertical section in Figure 6, and marked in the said
Figure 6.
The dish Figure 6 is next subjected to the action of another pair of
dies, represented in vertical section in Figure 7; the said dies, Figure 7,
resembling the dies Figure 5, excepting that the upper die has no ring-like
projection on its face and that the annular groove m in the lower die n is
narrower than the annular groove g in the die f, Figure 5. By operating
upon the dish Figure 6 with the dies Figure 7, the annular foot k is contracted
and the bottom of the dish flattened; the dish having now the form repre-
sented in vertical section in Figure 8. The closing of the annular foot o
Figure 8, so as to make the said foot resemble the foot p in Figure 1, is
effected by means of the machine called an edging or beading machine.
Figure 9 represents the said machine in side clevation. The foot to be
closed is operated upon by the rolls q, r, Figure 9, and the sides of the said
foot are pressed into close contact at or near the plane in which the bottom
of the dish is situated. As the machine, Figure 9, is well known and
commonly used and constitutes no part of my Invention I do not think a
further description of the sanie nccessary. By the method described a dish
is produced having an annular foot, which said foot is hollow, but into which
said foot any liquid poured into the dish cannot enter, or can only enter to
so small a degree as not to interfere with the use of the dish for culinary
purposes. The dish is completed by its bottom being inserted in an iron or
steel chuck in a lathe, the said chuck having a circular groove into which the
annular foot enters. By giving to the said dish a rotatory motion by the
lathe, and by the use of a pressing tool, represented in elevation in Figure 10,
and a burnishing tool represented in elevation in Figure 11, the said tools
being applied to the interior of the dish, the said bottom of the dish may be
pressed into contact with the face of the chuck and thereby flattened and
finished.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention.
But I claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in shaping
metals herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,

page_text: that is to say, producing annular feet in vessels made of sheet metal, or
annular projections in sheet metal, for any purpose to which the same are or
may be applicable, by the use of dies or percussive instruments of the kind
herein described and represented in Figures 3, 5, and 7, whether the use of
the said dies be combined with or uncombined with the use of the pressing
instruments herein described and represented in Figures 9, 10, and 11.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Foxall Griffiths, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
)
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS FOXALL GRIFFITHS. (L.S.)