IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPADES AND SHOVELS PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Sidaway of Halesowen in the County of
!
Worcester Manufacturer for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SPADES AND SHOVELS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said Joseph Sidaway at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd June 1883.
JOSEPII SIDAWAY of Halesowen in the County of Worcester Manufacturer
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPADES AND SHOVELS
"
i
My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the
manufacture of spades and shovels whereby the blade. tang and socket of the
spade or shovel are made from one piece of iron or steel or from one piece of iron
and steel.
I will describe my invention as applied to the manufacturo of a spade
from iron.
I take a thick oblong blank of iron and heating one end of it operate upon it by
tilt hammers so as to form at the heated end a projecting piece from which the
solid tang and the socket are to be afterwards made. I heat the said projecting
piece and by haminering draw it out in length and give to it a considerable breadth
at that part from which the socket is to be made. I next operate upon the portion
of the blank from which the blade of the spade is to be made by heating it and
plating it out by hammering to the required size and shape and at the same time
and by the same process form the rib at the top of the inner face of the blade.
The edges of the blade are sheared in the ordinary way and the flattened part
from which the socket is to be made is also sheared into the proper shape. I reheat
the last named part and convert it into the socket by hammering on a mandril the
two edges of the said part being welded together so as to form a slightly tapering
socket. Or the said edges may be left unwelded so as to form an open or open
jointed socket.
In flattening out the part from which the socket is to be made I prefer to flatten
out that portion of it immediately joining the tang to so limited an extent that
when the socket is formed in the way described the edges of that part will not be

page_text: connected so that in the finished blade tang and socket there will be left an
elliptical opening on the underside of the socket where it joins the tang. By this
arrangement the junction of the tang and socket is considerably strengthened the
socket may however if desired be closed through its whole length.
Owing to the absence of the ordinary welding of the shank to the socket spades
and shovels made according to my invention are much stronger than spades and
shovels made in the ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters-Patent filed by
the said Joseph Sidaway in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th December
1883.
JOSEPHI SIDAWAY of Halesowen in the County of Worcester, Manufacturer.
“IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPADES AND SHOVELS.”
"
My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the
manufacture of spades and shovels, whereby the blade, tang and socket of the
spade or shovel are made from one piece of iron or steel or from one piece of iron
and steel.
I will describe my invention as applied to the manufacture of a spade from iron
or steel.
4
I take a thick oblong blank of iron or steel and heating one end of it operate
upon it by tilt hammers so as to form at the heated end a projecting piece from
which the solid tang and the socket are to be afterwards made. I heat the said
projecting piece and by hammering draw it out in length and give to it a con-
siderable breadth at that part from which the socket is to be made. I next operate
upon the portion of the blank from which the blade of the spade is to be made by
heating it and plating it cut by hammering to the required size and shape and at
the same time and by the same process form the rib at the top of the inner face of
the blade.
The edges of the blade are sheared in the ordinary way and the flattened part
from which the socket is to be made is also sheared into the proper shape.
I reheat the last named part and convert it into the socket by hammering on a
mandril the two edges of the said part being welded together so as to form a
slightly tapering socket. Or the said edges may be left unwelded so as to form an
open or open jointed socket.
In flattening out the part from which the socket is to be made, I prefer to flatten
out that portion of it immediately joining the tang to so limited an extent that
when the socket is formed in the way described the edges of that part will not be
connected so that in the finished blade tang and socket there will be left an
elliptical opening on the underside of the socket where it joins the tang. By this
arrangement the junction of the tang and socket is considerably strengthened; the
socket may however if desired be closed through its whole length.

page_text: I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in back elevation and Figure 2 in longitudinal section, a
shovel in which the blade, tang and socket are made from one pieco of iron or steel.
according to my invention.
In the said Figures 1 and 2, a is the blade; b the tang; c the tapering socket
for receiving the handle and d the rib on the inner face of the blade, the said parts,
a, b, c and being made from one piece of iron or steel; e is a nearly elliptical
opening in the socket c for the purpose hereinafter explained.
In making the said shovel Figures 1 and 2, I proceed as follows; I take a thick
oblong blank or piece of iron or steel and heating about one half of it operato
upon it by a tilt hammer so as to compress the opposite edges near the middle and
plate out the heated end and thereby give it the form represented in Figure 3.
I next reheat the plated part 6 of the blank Figure 3 and by hammering further
plate it out so as to give it the form represented at c in Figures 4 and 5, thereby
leaving a contraction b between the plated out part cand the unoperated part à.
From the plated out part c the socket is afterwards made and from the contraction b
the solid tang of the shovel is afterwards made.
The part a of the blank Figures 4 and 5 is next heated and by hammering is
plated out to the size and shape required for the blade of the shovel and at the
same time and by the same process the rib at the top of the inner face of the blade
is made. Figuro 6 represents in front clevation and Figure 7 in longitudinal
section, the partly made shovel at this stage of its manufacture. In the said Figures
6 and 7, 6 is the solid tang; c tho plated part from which the socket is to be made
and a the plated part from which the blade of the shovel is to be made and d is
the rib of the said blade.
The socket portion of the blank at c whero it joins the solid tang b is flattened
out to a less extent than the other part for the purpose hereinafter explained.
After the partly made shovel has reached the stage represented in Figures 6
and 7, the tang part bis elongated and a cylindrical figure given to it. The edges
of the blade part a and socket part care next sheared as indicated by the dotted
lines in Figure 6 and the socket part is perforated with the required holes for
fixing the wooden handle in the socket. The sheared and perforated socket part c
is next reheated and converted into an open jointed tapering socket by haminoring
it on a mandril in the ordinary way.
The shovel at this stage of its manufacture is represented in back elevation in
Figure 8 and longitudinal section in Figure 9, in which Figures 8 and 9 the blade
A nearly
is marked a the rib d, the solid tang b and the tapering socket c.
elliptical opening e is left on the underside of the socket c where it joins the solid
tang b. A cross section drawn to a larger scalo of the socket c taken through the
nearly elliptical opening e is represented in Figure 10. By an examination of the
said Figure 10 it will be seen that the said opening e is left in consequence of
the limited flattening out of the socket part at c Figures 6 and 7, the part at c²
being insufficient in width for its edges to be connected together when the plated
out socket part c is fashioned into the socket. The junction of the tang and socket
is consequently stronger than it would have been if the socket part at c³ had been
thinned sufficiently to make its edges meet.
Instead of making a rib on the inner face only of the blade a a rib both on the
inner and outer faces may be made during the plating out of the said blade from
the part a Figures 3 4 and 5; and instead of leaving the edges of the socket o
unwelded so as to form an open jointed socket as described and represented tho
said edges may be welded together. The socket c may be formed without the
elliptical opening e by plating out the part c³ of the blank to the required extent
to bring the edges together.
In making spades according to my invention I proceed in the manner herein
before described and illustrated with reference to a shovel, the blades of the spades

page_text: having the required figure given to them instead of the figure represented with
respect to a shovel.
Owing to the absence of the ordinary welding of the tang to the socket, spades
and shovels made according to my invention are much stronger than spades and
shovels made in the ordinary way and are not liable to fracture at the tang.
Having now described the nature of my invention and the manner in which the
same is to be performed I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to
the precise details herein described and illustrated as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my invention.
But I claim as my invention-The improvements in the manufacture of spades
and shovels herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings;
that is to say, making the blade tang and socket of a spade or shovel from one
piece of iron or steel or from one piece of iron and steel by the process or combi-
nation of processes substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof I the said Joseph Sidaway have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty ninth day of November in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred-and eighty three.
Witness, GEORGE SHAW