IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLSTONE PICKS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Oldfield Wilson, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Miller, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MILLSTONE PICKS."
Sealed the 6th September 1870, and dated the 9th March 1870.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Oldfield Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 9th March 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT KNOWN,
that I, WILLIAM OLDFIELD WILSON, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Miller, having invented "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLSTONE PICKS,"
do hereby declare the following to be a full and complete description
of this my said Invention, and the best means I am acquainted with
for carrying the same into practical effect, reference being had to the
annexed Drawings, and the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
This my said Inventlon has for its object improvements in the
construction of the millstone picks or "bills" now commonly used,

page_text: which consist of a steel head of a double wedge form tapering from the
centre, held in a rectangular collar on which is formed a socket to
receive a short wooden helve.
The chief objections to the present form of "bill” are that after it
has been used some time it requires to be sharpened, which in the first
instance is done by grinding, but after a comparatively small portion of
the metal has been consumed by use and grinding it is requisite to
have them drawn out at the forge, which obviates the necessity of
retempering, a delicate and risky operation, as the "bill" requires a
peculiar temper to make it practically useful, and which is not generally
attainable by a general smith, consequently considerable expense and
inconvenience is incurred by most millers in having to send these pick
heads a considerable distance to be "drawn out" and tempered, and
after a time the "bill" having lost weight by use becomes worthless
to the miller, by which the greater portion of the steel becomes simply
scrap. To obviate these objections I use a taper or wedge-shaped
cutter of steel, which in the first instance may be of any required
length, and of, say, the usual width of the cutting edge of the ordinary
mill “bill,” five-eigths of an inch thick at the butt, and varying in
taper to one-sixtieth of an inch at the thin end. On the thick end
of this wedge-shaped cutter I grind or otherwise form the cutting edge
of the tool. This novel cutter I place between two holders or plates,
which much resemble the head of the ordinary millstone pick, divided
longitudinally at right angles to the helve, and so formed as to act
in combination with the tapered steel cutter on the fox-wedge"
principle," when used with the ordinary mill pick helve. When the
inverted wedge-shaped cutters become reduced in length by use and
grinding I then prefer to use a pair of single or double nipping jaws
for holding the cutters constructed of the required form and dimensions
to give the required weight and contour to the "bill" or pick head,
and which jaws I construct with a socket on one or both sides at about
the centre of their length to receive the wooden helve, and I hold the jaws
closed by garter pieces and wedges, as will be the more fully explained
hereafter on reference to the annexed Drawings.
ઃઃ
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When I use the ordinary millstone pick helve for carrying the com-
bination pick head herein-before described on the top of the rectangular
frame I forge, cast, or otherwise form a stud or projection for the
purpose of withdrawing the several parts from their holder when

page_text: required, which is done by striking it with or against some hard
substance.
That this my said Invention may be the more readily seen and
understood I have hereunto annexed outline Drawings illustrating the
mode of carrying out the same, like letters and figures marked thereon
being used to denote similar parts.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of my improved wedge-shaped
cutters drawn full size.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of one of my millstone picks or "bills "
seen with the handle broken off for convenience of space; and Figure 3
is a top view or plan of the same.
A, the inverted wedge-shaped cutter blade; B, the upper holding
plate or clamp constructed of metal, hard wood, or other suitable
material or combination of materials formed with a shoulder or collar
at a to prevent it passing too far through the rectangular garter piece
on the head of the -helve; O, the lower clamp or holding piece also
formed of hard wood, metal, or other suitable material or combination
of materials, which when in combination with the cutter A fox
wedges the combination "bill" in the mortice head of the helve;
D, a solid stud or projection on head of the square eye on the crown of
E, the pick handle or helve.
Figure 4 is the side elevation of a single-ended jaw pick head shown
without handle or socket, and Figure 5 is a plan of the same, which
consist of two pieces of metal jointed together at or near the centre of
their length, like unto an ordinary pair of pliers, and which are kept
closed and caused to securely grip and hold the cutter A by means of
collars and wedges.
F and F (Figures 4 and 5), the upper and lower jaws of nipping
head, which hold G, the cutting tool (after it has been), say, reduced in
length by wear or in construction; H, retaining ring or garter on the
reverse or non-cutting end of the pick head; I, a garter on the cutting
end of the pick head, which is held in position by K, short metal wedge.
Figure 6 is a side elevation of one of my jaw pick heads for carrying
a cutter blade at each end, and which are retained in by the garters
and wedges in the same way as the single-ended jaw pick illustrated
by Figures 4 and 5, shown with the helve sockets at the top and bottom
broken off.

page_text: Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said
Invention, and the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details, relative proportions or dimensions
of the various parts herein-before described, set forth, and illustrated,
as it will be readily seen that the same may be considerably varied
without departing from the Invention; but what I claim as new and my
Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,—
1st. The use of the tapered cutter blade.
2nd. The clamp or wedge plates A and C in combination with the
tapered cutter A and the rectangular garter on the head of the helve,
substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein-before described
and set forth.
3rd. The peculiar form of single jaw-end pick head herein-before
described and set forth.
4th. The double jaw-ended pick head herein-before described and set
forth.
5th. Welding on to or casting with the movable jaws a socket or
sockets to receive the wooden helve, as herein-before described and set
forth.
6thly. The fixed stud or projection (D) on the crown of the frame on
the top of the helve, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
set forth.
And, lastly. The general arrangement and combination of the several
parts of the apparatus substantially in the manner and for the purposes
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Oldfield Wilson, have here-
unto set my hand and affixed my seal, this Eighth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM OLDFIELD (L.S.) WILSON.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
of 44, Castle Street,
Liverpool.