CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON SHOVELS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON SHOVELS."-A communication.
Sealed the 31st June 1855, and dated the 8th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
...de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 8th June.1855.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of No. 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON SHOVELS" to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in manufacturing two shovels
at one single operation. Bars of three to four inches wide and half an inch
thick-are-passed-between-rollers,-and-afterwards cut transversely at suitable
distances; when separated they are ready to be manufactured into shovels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 8th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license that I, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON SHOVELS," communicated to me from
a certain foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:
The Invention consists in a new mode of manufacturing iron shovels for
agricultural purposes. To this end I forge two shovels at the same time, in
the manner herein-after described..
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 represent edge views and plans of the iron bar in
the different processes of manufacturing the shovel.
To form these shovels by hammering, I prepare the iron in the following

page_text: manner-Transversal incisions are made in bars of iron, as shewn in Figure 1.
These incisions a, a, a", are made at equal distances in such a manner that
each part of the bar thus cut may form a shovel. These incisions may be
made by the adaptation of one or more knives to the surface of one of the
flatting rollers employed, or by means of a lever carrying a knife, which cuts
by a strong pressure at the instant in which the iron leaves the flatting machine.
The incised bars thus prepared are cut when cold at every second division; a
number of short bars, as represented in Figure 2, are thus obtained, each
having an incision in the middle of their length. I next bend each short bar
in the manner represented in Figure 3. If the iron is of good quality for this
operation, the iron is bent when in a cold state, but if it is of inferior quality,
I heat it to nearly red heat. The two ends b, c, of every piece is heated to red
heat, and with five or six strokes of the hammer I give it the expanded form
represented in plan Figure 4. I afterwards heat these pieces to a white heat,
without, however, carrying it to a welding heat, and with pincers I place the
bars under the hammer, by which means I give to them the form represented
in Figures 5 & 6. The shovels may be made with a round or square edge,
as desired, and with shoulders or ribs to strengthen them in the middle, as
represented at c, c, Figure 5, or on the edges d, d, d', d, g, g, Figure 6. After
the above operations, the lower edge b, b, b, is cut to separate the shovels,
and the small end is heated to red heat to form the socket to receive the
handle.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that what I
claim is, the method of manufacturing two shovels at once from bar iron, as
herein-before described, and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)