IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR PUNCHING IRON OR OTHER METAL PLATES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Hodson, of West Ham, in the County of
Essex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
PUNCHING IRON OR OTHER METAL PLATES."
Sealed the 13th August 1867, and dated the 16th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Hodson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
February 1867.
I, RICHARD HODSON, of West Ham, in the County of Essex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINES FOR PUNCHING IRON OR OTHER METAL PLATES," to be as follows:-
These improvements in punching machines consist in so adjusting the punch
that the pitch of the holes is accurately gauged and the feed motion rendered
self-acting. The punch is rendered moveable and caused to work in a slot or
suitable guide placed in its proper position relative to the die.
When the
hole is punched the punch travels along in its slot the regulated distance,
drawing with it by means of the hole it has made the angle iron, plate, or.
other object under operation. The distance or pitch of the holes is regulated
by stops. When the angle iron, plate, or other object has been carried along
the required distance the punch is withdrawn from the hole and caused to
travel back in its slot into its proper position relative to the die, as aforesaid,
by suitable mechanism connected with the cam or driving parts of the machine;
the punch is lowered and the second hole made; the bar is again drawn

page_text: forward by the punch the regulated distance and again withdrawn, leaving
the object punched in its new position; the stops for regulating the pitch
are rendered adjustible by means of screws or other suitable mechanisms so
that holes of any required pitch may be punched.
The Inventor does not confine himself to one punch, or any specified number
of punches, as the same mechanism can be applied to working a number of
punches at one and the same time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Hodson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
IODSON, of West Ham, in the County of Essex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Hodson, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Hodson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Hodson, 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 Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
PUNCHING IRON OR OTHER METAL PLATES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Richard Hodson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 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 Richard Hodson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement :-
These improvements in punching machines consist in so adjusting the punch
that the pitch of the holes is accurately guaged, and the feed motion rendered

page_text: self acting. The punch is rendered moveable and caused to work in a slot or
suitable guide placed in its proper position relative to the die. When the
hole is punched the punch travels along in its slot the regulated distance,
drawing with it, by means of the hole it has made, the augle-iron plate or other
object under operation; the distance or pitch of the holes is regulated by
stops. When the angle iron or plate, or other object has been carried along
the required distance, the punch is withdrawn from the hole and caused to
travel back in its slot into its proper position relative to the die as aforesaid,
by suitable, mechanism connected with the cam or driving parts of the machine.
The punch is lowered and the second hole is made; the bar is again drawn
forward by the punch the regulated distance and again withdrawn leaving the
object punched in its new position; the stops for regulating the pitch are
rendered adjustible by means of screws or other suitable mechanism, so that
holes of any required pitch may be punched.
.The Inventor does not confine himself to one punch, or any specified number
of punches, as the same mechanism can be applied to working a number of
punches at one and the same time.
In order fully to describe the means and mechanical arrangements for the
more effectual and practical carrying out of my said Invention I have hereto
annexed Drawings thereof, of which I shall now make reference by the letters
and figures marked thereon, as follows:-
This Invention is here illustrated as applied to one of the ordinary lever
punching presses in general use, and the Figures show the position of the parts
at the bottom of the stroke or just when the hole is punched.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of one side of the entire machine; Fig. 2 a front
elevation; Fig. 3 a sectional plan on the dotted line A, B, of Fig. 1; and
Fig. 4 a view of the reverse side of the working parts of the machine, as
shown in Fig. 1, or an elevation of the right side of Fig. 2. Like letters
denote similar parts throughout all the Figures.
.
Lis the main lever working in the main centre at O; C is, the cam which
works the entire machine; by reason of the lever following its contour the
necessary, movements are obtained at the required portion of the stroke. At
a point of the lever L a bracket B is attached, see Figs. 1, 2, and 3; this
bracket B carries a rod G, which following the motion of the lever L in its
upward stroke raises the chain G, the counterweights M, M, taking up the
slack of the chain, and the pulley D turning freely on the shaft in this direction
without giving motion to the working gear and the weight W is also lifted;
this chain which works on the pulley D turns the rod D' which actuates the
rod E in the manner to be presently described, by means of the intermediate
. 1.

page_text: gearing D, D, and 13; D³ is a disc, as seen in Fig. 2, which works the
connecting rod E. The rod moves the piece or casting K in the grooved
slot K¹, seen in Fig. 1, backwards and forwards the required distance,
determined by the pitch of the holes and regulated by turning the screw I
till from to I is the proper distance. The casting K has a hole to
carry the punch; the punch may be shaped thus
'
as seen Figs. 1
and 2; the upper portion Z rests on the top of the slotted guide K attached
to the under side of the head of the slide, and by which it is withdrawn from
the angle iron or plate after the hole is made, and the part is situated in
the hole of the casting K as already described.
To explain more fully the action of the machine we will follow the process
of punching holes, say, in angle iron 3"x3"x". The angle iron is
placed on the die X exactly in the position where the first hole is to be punched,
and secured in its place until the hole is punched by means of the presses P, P,
and Y, working them by hand by the lever S and Y. The weight T retains
it so fixed. The guage I¹ to I is duly set; the punch then descends and
makes the holes, the slide is then slightly raised by the shape of the cam to
allow clearance for the top of the punch while travelling with the angle iron
or plate, and the presses P, P, is slightly withdrawn from the die by the rod V,
which is attached to the sliding head raising the retaining weight T, at the
same instant also a top presser Y which had descended on to the top of the
piece to be punched is slightly raised; thus the bar of angle iron is free to
move. The top presser Y, Fig. 2, is raised by means of an eccentric 6 on
which there is a chain pulley fixed, this is partly turned just at the completion
of the down stroke of the side of the punching press by the lever Y* acted on
by the stop Ys on the slide. The pall Y falls into gear and prevents the
weight Y turning the eccentric until it is liberated by the stop Y¹ fixed on
the slide; immediately the pall is thrown out of gear the presser falls. Having
freed the bar from pressure, and the rod G being liberated from the bracket B
by the withdrawal of the bolt at Q, the disc D³ is left free to revolve by the
withdrawal of the bolt a', and the shaft D' is also acted upon by the weight
suspended on the chain pulley D. The punch Z is thus carried by K and
moves in the slot of the slotted guide K and the slot of the top presser Y, ns
above shown. The bolt Q is withdrawn by the lever of the bell crank coming
against the stop Q' on the fixed rod c. During the movement of the angle
iron or plate the slide of the punching press remains stationary owing to the
formation of the cam; after the angle iron has moved the required distance,

page_text: and previous to the punch being withdrawn from the angle iron or plate, the
presser Y falls by a quick motion on the angle iron, preventing it being lifted
from the die during the withdrawal of the punch; the top presser Y and the
front one Pact simultaneously. We suppose that I & I' are in contact
and the slide of the punching press beginning to travel up withdrawing the
punch from the angle iron, and by the time it has done so the stop I¹ is
liberated and allowed to pass under 12, and the complete revolution of the
D³ is effected; the bolt a' again drops into its place to steady the punch
in its next downward motion, and the bolt is again in gear for lifting the
weight for turning the shaft D* as before.
In punching heavy iron it is sometimes advisable to have additional
mechanism to move the bar along; this is provided by the extra lever, F.
with its weight W, which tends to drag round the wheel D and so assist
the connecting rod E. The position of the weight W is capable of being
altered to suit the size and weight of the iron to be punched by means of the
lever wheels H, H1, H2, which raise or lower W on the lever F.. The correct
motion D, D¹, &c. is secured by palls working in the teeth of the ratchet
wheel R; M, M, are counterweights; N is a guage for the accurate adjust-
ment of the position of the holes.. While the hole is being punched; and to
secure the steady movement and the accurate position of the hole, the pall a
falls into a notch in the disc D³ at the very extremity of the throw of the
connecting rod E as already explained; thus motion is obtained by bell-crank
levers a³, a', actuated by the rod a from the bracket B. Another portion of
the mechanism attending the accurate movement of the punch is shown in
Fig. 4. In the event of the punch stopping from any unforseen circumstance in
any other position except immediately over the die, which would cause damago
to some portion of the machinery or the iron under operation, the self-acting
mechanism there shown comes into operation and allows the slide of the press
to travel without pressing the punch. To the casting K is attached the piece f
shaped as shown in Fig. 2; when the punch stops in its correct position the
jointed arm f¹ of the bell crank 9 travels up and down with the slide of the
press in the position shown, by connected therewith by f³. If, however,
K does not travel sufficiently far and the punch stops in any but the required
position the arm f' of the bell crank rests on the upper portion of f, and by the
descent of the slide actuates the bell crank g and draws the bolt f* by the
connecting red f. This bolt is by preference shaped thus
the weight f rests on the spot denoted a.
distance the spindle carrying the weight falls
a
and
When drawn, however, a short
through the bolt and actuates
•

page_text: the lever g', which draws a block from the slide, or otherwise prevents the
slide from descending on to the punch. As holding the iron up by hand
will passing under the punch might lead to inaccuracies in punching the
holes, suitable supports at regular distances on both sides of the machine and
furnished with rollers should be used.
I have now fully explained the nature of my improvements in punching
machines together with the adjuncts which enable me to carry out the same
more effectually; these points are not however essential to the working of the
punch or punches, but tend to make the work thereby more accurate and
self-acting; what I claim as my Invention to be protected by Her Majesty's
Letters Patent is, the application of a moveable punch or punches for punching
machines, made and applied substantially as berein-before described and
illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hodson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, thus Sixteenth day August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
RICHARD HODSON.
L.B.)
Witness,
CHARLES S. BAKER,
General Patent Co., Limited,
71, Fleet Street, London.