IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE. OF PRESS PLATES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Holiday, of the Union Foundry, Bradford,
in the County of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE. OF PRESS PLATES."
Sealed the 19th September 1862, and dated the 22nd March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Holiday at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
March 1862.
I, WILLIAM HOLIDAY, of the Union Foundry, Bradford, in the County of
York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESS PLATES," to be as follows:
The improvements relate to a method of manufacturing hollow press plates
of wrought iron by welding. Upon a plate of wrought iron of about the size
of the intended plate I place first a quadrangular frame. of about the same
size of wrought metal, and within this frame I apply transverse bars of thick-
ness similar to that of the quadrangular frame. Each of these bars is at one
end fitted into a recess formed in the side of the quadrangular frame,, whilst
their opposite ends extend to within a short distance of the opposite side of
such frame.
The points of connections of these bars with the side of the frame alternate
so as to leave a continuous but circuitous course from one angle to the
opposite. Upon this frame and the intersecting bars I then apply another

page_text: plate, and subject the whole to a welding heat, when I subject it to mecha-
nical pressure sufficient to produce a welding of the surfaces in contact, yet so
as to leave the channel referred to clear. I then finish the surfaces of such
plates as may be required, and apply suitable nozzles to the opposite extre-
mities of the channel for the conduct thereto and from of heating or cooling
media.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Holiday in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HOLIDAY, of the Union Foundry, Bradford, in the County of York, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto
me, the said William Holiday, Her special licence that I, the said William
Holiday, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Holiday, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESS PLATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Holiday, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Holiday, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by, the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The improvements relate to a method of manufacturing hollow press plates
of wrought iron by welding. Upon a plate of wrought iron of about the size
3

page_text: of the intended plate I place first a quadrangular frame of about the same
size of wrought metal, and within this frame I apply transverse bars of thick-
ness similar to that of the quadrangular frame. Each of these bars is at one
end fitted into a recess formed in the side of the quadrangular frame, whilst
their opposite ends extend to within a short distance of the opposite side of
such frame.
The points of connection of these bars with the side of the frame alternate
so as to leave a continuous but circuitous course from one angle to the
opposite. Upon this frame and the intersecting bars, I then apply another
plate, and subject the whole to a welding heat, and then to mechanical
pressure sufficient to produce a welding of the surfaces in contact; yet so as to
leave the channel referred to clear. I then finish the surfaces of such plates
as may be required, and apply suitable nozzles to the opposite extremities of
the channel therein for the conduct thereto and from of heating or cooling
media.
But that the Invention may be better understood, I will proceed to describe,
by the aid of the accompanying Drawing, means which I adopt in carrying
the same into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows an external or face view, and Figure 2 an edge view of a
press plate constructed according to my Invention. The dotted lines show a
circuitous passage therein for the passage of heating or cooling media for the
purpose of heating or cooling such plates; Figure 3 shows an interior view of
one of such plates, or, as it would appear before one of the surface plates has
been applied; and Figure 4 is a transverse section thereof.
a is a plate of wrought iron, upon which is placed the quadrangular frame
b, b; c, c, c, are bars of similar thickness to that of the quadrangular frame b,
and each fitted at one of their ends c¹ into the frame b, whilst the opposite
ends c of such bars c are somewhat short of the frame 6 at the parts thereof
they come near to. The points of connection of the respective bars c with the
frame b, it will be seen alternate so as to leave a continuous though some-
what circuitous course d; e is another plate in form corresponding with the
plate a, and placed over the whole so that the parts b and c may be between
the plates a and e. I then subject the whole to a welding heat and then to
mechanical pressure by passing the combined parts between pairs of rollers or
under the influence of a powerful press. The pressure being so regulated or
adjusted as to produce a welding of the surfaces of the parts b and c in contact
with the respective plates a and e with such plates, thus leaving a clear

page_text: channel d through plates thus formed for the passage of heating or cooling
media to heat, and then when desired to cool them. Such plates, after the
parts thereof have been welded together, may then be planed or otherwise
finished, and have suitable nozzles or connecting means applied to the ends
d', d', of the channel d to facilitate the conduct thereto by suitable pipes, as
is well understood, in using hollow press plates in pressing various fabrics to
obtain surface finish thereto by heat obtained by means of steam or other
heating media applied to such plates; and then a cooling of them, if desired,
may be effected by the flow therethrough of cold water or other cooling
media.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
which I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details referred to, so long as the
peculiar character of the improvements be retained, substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Holiday, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM HOLIDAY. (L.S.)