A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CHAIN
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Pinfold Hawkins, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CHAIN."
Sealed the 11th November 1856, and dated the 1st September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Pinfold Hawkins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st September 1856.
I, THOMAS PINFOLD HAWKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A NEW
OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CHAIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the manufacture of wire chain from wire of the
form commonly called half round, that is to say, of wire having a semi-
cylindrical or nearly semi-cylindrical section. My method of manufacture is
particularly applicable to the chain called double-link chain, that is, chain each
link of which is formed of two loops, one situated in a plane at right angles to
the other; the wire being double in one of the said loops. In making the said
double loops of half-round wire, I bend the said wire, so that the convex side
of the wire shall be outwards in that loop in which the wire is single, and the
edges of the wire outwards in the other, or double loop. The two semi-
cylindrical wires are presented with the flat faces to one another in the latter

page_text: loop, and make the said loop of a nearly cylindrical section. Wire chain made
according to my Invention is stronger in proportion to the metal used than
chain made of cylindrical wire. My Invention is applicable to the manu-
facture of other than the double-link chain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Pinfold Hawkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PINFOLD HAWKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Pinfold Hawkins, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Pinfold
Hawkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Pinfold Hawkins, 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
"A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CHAIN,"
upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Pinfold Hawkins, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hand 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 Thomas Pinfold Hawkins, 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:-
My Invention consists of the manufacture of wire chain from wire of the
form commonly called half round, that is to say, of wire having a semi-
cylindrical or nearly semi-cylindrical section, as herein-after particularly
explained, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.

page_text: My Invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of the chain
called double-link chain, represented in Figures 2 and 3 of the Drawing.
The said double-link chain consists, as represented in the said Figures 2
and 3, of links, each of which is formed of two loops, one situated in a plane
at right angles to that in which the other is situated. The wire is double in
one of the loops, as shown in Figure 3.
In forming the said chain, I take wire of the semi-cylindrical form,
represented in Figure 1, and I bend the said wire into a nearly circular figure,
thereby forming that part of the link marked a, the convex side of the wire
being turned outwards. I then bend portions of the wire at either end of the
loop a so as to form the loop 6, 6, the said loop 6, 6', being composed of two
loops, marked b and 6¹ respectively, the said loops b, 61, being so bent from the
wire that the edges of the wire are turned outwards, the flat sides of the said
loops b, 61, being pressed to each other, and forming the nearly cylindrical loop
b, b. Wire chain made according to my Invention is stronger in proportion
to the metal used than chain made of cylindrical wire.
Although my Invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of
double-link chain having links of the form described and represented in the
accompanying Drawing, yet my said Invention is also applicable to the manu-
facture of chain having links of different forms.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the new or improved manufacture of wire chain herein-
before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
the manufacture of wire chain from wire having a semi-cylindrical or nearly
semi-cylindrical section.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Pinfold Hawkins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
THOMAS PINFOLD HAWKINS. (L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.