Improvements in Adzes, Axes, Choppers, Hatchets, and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Oct., 1898-Accepted, 23rd Dec.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Adzes, Axes, Choppers, Hatchets, and the like.
I, ROYS LLEWELLYN, of 1, Clive Terrace, Ynysybwl, near Pontypridd, in the County
of Glamorgan, Teacher of Mining and Geology, 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 :-
My invention relates to improvements in axes, choppers, hatchets, adzes, and like
implements or tools, as used by miners, carpenters, shipwrights coopers, and others, and
consists of a method of construction, whereby the steel blade or cutting portion is
detachable from the head or iron portion adapted to receive and hold the helve
or handle, the object of my said invention being to provide means, whereby such
articles may be more cheaply produced, and the life of same prolonged, by
connecting to the old lead a new blade to replace a worn out one, instead of throwing
upon the scrap heap the old head when the blade is worn out as hitherto.
In the accompanying drawings I have shewn several forms of axes, hatchets and
adzes, merely to illustrate the principle of my invention, and some forms of application
of same, but it is obvious that there are many other tools, and other forms of the
same kind of tools as those shewn, to which the principle of my invention is applicable,
and to which I claim the right of application."
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an ordinary or miners hatchet or axe, with the helve in
position therein, Fig. 2 being a plan view of the said axe or hatchet, and Fig. 3 a
side elevation of the helve therefor, while Fig. 4 is a plan view of the upper end of
Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a side view, while Fig. 6 is a plan view of a carpenters, shipwrights, or
coopers adze, and helve therefor.
Figs. 7 and 8 are side elevations of other forms of hatchets choppers or axes, all
constructed and arranged according to my invention.
Figs. 9 is a elevation of one of the many forms of serrated or grooved keys I may
employ for fixing the helves in the heads of the said and like tools.
In the hitherto manufacture of tools and implements of the type under
consideration, the head portion A thereof has been made of wrought iron, in order
that the steel blade portion B might be welded thereonto, and when the said blade
has worn away, nearly down to the said junction of itself with B, the whole as hitherto
been considered useless except as old iron, but according to my invention the said
blade B, when so worn, may be detached from the head A and replaced by a new one,
which provides that (a) the said head may wear out several such blades, and (b) that
the said head instead of being made of wrought iron as hitherto, may be of malleable
cast iron or steel, and so be produced at considerably less cost than hitherto.
In carrying my invention into effect, in so far as relates to axes choppers and
hatchets, and like implements, as illustrated by Figs. 1, 2, 7 and 8, I form the head
portion, A of malleable cast iron or steel, the hole or helve passage therein being, for
preference, of the shape and configuration shewn in Fig. 2, that is to say, with its
widest end C, of approximately circular formation, a like formation D being provided
upon the upper end of the helve E, as shewn in Figs. 3 and 4.

page_text: The foremost portion of the said head is cut away or narrowed down at F, to one
half or thereabouts of its original thickness, the extreine end a of the portion so
narrowed, and the shoulder upon the wider portion formed thereby, are both tapered
to an angle of from, preferably, 40 to 60 degrees relatively to the plane of the said
cutaway portion, and in like manner, the thicker or inner end of the steel blade B, is
cut away or narrowed down, and has its extreme end b¹ and shoulder a¹, formed by
such narrowing, angled to correspond with that of a and b on A, the said angled
portions thus forming dovetail or like joints between A and B, so that the two
narrowed parts of A and B, when placed together as at Figs. 1 and 2, are locked one
within the other, and are then firmly connected to each other by the means of screws
such as c, the heads of which are preferably so formed as to be of the same depth
as, and occupy the whole of the holes formed in, the said narrow portions of A
and B, whichever they first enter, the threaded portion of the said screws
engaging with threaded holes in the narrowed portion of the other plate, and I
may arrange that the said heads may all be at one side of the axe or the like, or some
at one side and some at the other, alternated or otherwise, but always flush with the
face at which they enter.
The helve E is adapted to be driven into the hole made for its reception from the
under surface of the head A, and when driven home, I arrange for its fixation in that
position by providing a metallic key such as G, (Fig. 9), preferably of concave-convex
formation in cross section, the said key having upon both its faces serrations or
grooves d, those upon its convex face (when the said key is driven in between the
portion D of E, and the end C of the hole in A.either from the upper or lower surface
of A, preferably the latter) engaging with like serrations or grooves e formed in the
portion C of A (Figs. 1 and 2), while those upon the concave face of G force their way
into the substance of D, and so firmly retain the helve in position, and such fixation
may (if needed) be enhanced by means of a metallic wedge driven into a slot f
(Fig. 4) formed in the head of E for its reception.
In the manufacture of adzes for the use of carpenters, shipwrights, coopers
and the like as illustrated by Figs. 5 and 6, I form the head A, and blade B in
like manner, of the same materials, and connect them in the same way as that
described with regard to Figs. 1, 7 and 8, the bole in A for the reception of the
helve or handle E, being in this case at right angles to the blade, and necessarily
of larger dimensions, and of more rectangular formation in cross section than that
in the said axes or hatchets, but while observing these necessities I prefer to form
the back portion of the said hole in A of circular formation at C, and with ridges H H,
the helve or handle E being formed to fit the said hole, the inner surface of the said
portion C having serrations or grooves e formed therein for receiving the serrations or
grooves d of the wedge G when driven in between E and C as in the case of axes
choppers or hatchets before described.
By thus forming the head A and the blade B, separate from each other, I am
enabled to construct the former of cast metal, and consequently at less cost than
when of wrought metal, and that when the blade B is worn out or broken, the
same may be disconnected from A and be replaced by a new blade, the head A thereby
serving for an indefinite number of blades.
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) The herein described method of constructing adzes, axes, choppers, hatchets,
and the like, in two parts, with the head portion of cast metal, and adapted to be
connected to the blade portion by the means of suitable screws, substantially as herein
set forth and shewn by the appended drawings.
(2) In the construction of adzes, axes, hatchets choppers and the like, the
combination of a cast metal head A, having a hole with a circular end C, and
serrated surface e for receiving a helve or handle such as E, formed at D to
correspond with C, and adapted to be retained in the said 'head by the means of

page_text: a serrated wedge such as G, the said head being reduced in substance at F, and provided
with angled ends a and b for receiving and holding, by the means of screws c, the
reduced portion a¹ and b¹ of a steel blade such as B, substantially as and for the
purposes herein described and shewn by the accompanying drawings.
Dated thie 14th dow of Ontahan 1000
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
1, Broad Street Buildings, Liverpool Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.