CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STAMPING UP AND COMPRESSING METALS OR OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
GYBBON SPILSBURY, of Newman Street, Oxford Street, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of March, in the sixth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STAMPING UP AND COMPRESSING
METALS OR OTHER SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):-
My Invention consists in replacing by a surface of liquid, whether water or
other fluid, one of the metallic dies by which impressions are usually raised
upon plates of metal. The ordinary mode of striking up impressions upon
thin metallic plates is to interpose the metal to be stamped between two dies
of metal which correspond to each other, the one being concave and the other
convex, as the wax impression of a seal is to the seal itself. The superior die
being then struck by any sufficient force is driven into the lower one, carrying
with it the interposed sheet of metal, and communicating to it a fac simile of
whatever device it bears. My Invention consists in supplying the place of
one of these dies (and it is most convenient that the superior die should be
dispensed with) by a body of water or other fluid confined in a closed vessel,
with which a piston communicates; power being then applied to this piston
forces the water or other fluid against the metallic plate and compels it to
enter into and take the impression of the metallic die on which it rests.
I will now describe the arrangement of machinery or apparatus which I
believe to be the most convenient method of carrying my Invention into
practice. Figures 1 and 2 are sectional representations of the same press.
Figure 1 represents the press when the die is depressed, ready to receive the
plate to be stamped. Figure 2 represents the same press, but with the die
and plate brought into contact with the liquid just on the point of receiving
the blow which is to force it and the metallic plate into the impression
sunk on the die. Similar letters in either denote similar parts. A, A, is s
a flat bed of metal, which forms the foundation of the press, and is to
be fixed solidly on any adequate support. Out of the centre of this bed,
and of a piece with it, rises a strong hollow cylinder B, B, having a
stuffing box C at its upper extremity, through which traverses a piston D, D,
capable of being struck by the fall of a weight, such as a ram or monkey, s
suspended by a rope F, running over the pulley G, and working between two
uprights H, H, II, H, exactly in the manner of an ordinary die press. The
lower end of the piston D is conical, and acts by a corresponding contraction I,
as a valve to shut off the communication between the liquid in the upper

page_text: In
cavity of B, B, and that contained in the conical enlargement K. This latter
cavity perforates, as is seen, the bed of the press A, A, but that the liquid
may not escape out of it a sheet of india rubber M, or any other thin, elastic,
water-tight material, is stretched over its mouth and confined in that situation
by a circular ring, of which L, L, are the opposite sections. This ring is
screwed against the plate A, A, the india rubber being included between them
so as to make a perfect joint. N, N, are two strong cast iron puppets
attached to the under surface of the bed A, A; they are united to and carry
the hollow cylinder O, O, O. In this cylinder is also a stuffing box R and a
cavity S containing water or other fluid. Through the stuffing box traverses a
solid piston Q, whose superior extremity P is enlarged for the sake of strength,
and slides easily in the upper part of the interior of O, O, O. T, T, is a
strong disk of metal, having its superior force turned very flat and true.
the centre of this disk is a cavity to contain the die U, allowing the engraved
face of the latter to be so much lower than the flat face of T, T, as the
thickness of the metal V, which is to be stamped. W, X, Y, Z, is the
section of the pump of an ordinary hydraustatic press, of which W, W, is the
working handle, Z, Z, the piston, X, X, the body, and Y the pipe and valve
communicating with the reservoir, from which water enters when the
piston is elevated. & is a pipe, one of whose extremities communicates with
the interior S of the cylinders 0, 0, O; the other extremity communicates
with the pipe B, 6, which again communicates with a pipe &, . This latter
also communicates on one side with the interior of the cylinder B, and by its
other with the interior of the pump X. Thus, by these three pipes &, ß, d, a
free communication is maintained between the three cylinders S, B, and X
at 8. In the pipe is a valve, so situated as to permit fluid to be driven from
the pump X into the other two cylinders B and S, but not any to return to it;
also in the pipe 8, 8, but not seen, is a valve similar to y, permitting the
liquid to flow towards. S, but not to return. Matters being thus arranged,
and the press in the situation shewn in Figure 1, a plate of metal V is first
laid on the die U and the pump X, X, then set to work by the handle W, W.
The effect of this is to drive water into the two cylinders B and S through
the communicating tubes &, B, &; as these cylinders are supposed previously
filled with water something must give way, either the piston Q will be
elevated or the piston D, but as this latter is smaller in diameter than Q,
and has a heavier mass E resting upon it, the piston 2 will rise by preference.
The pump is worked until the disk T, T, is brought into contact with the
under surface of the press bed A, A, forcibly squeezing the interposed sheet
of india rubber so as to make a sound joint, as shewn in Figure 2. It is

page_text: now obvious that if a further quantity of water be injected, as tho piston Q
can rise no higher, something else must give way. As soon, therefore, as the
force used is adequate the piston D. will begin to rise, opening the orifice at I,
which communicates with the bell-shaped chamber K. The first effect of this
will be to direct the force of the pumps upon the india rubber M. and plate
of metal V under it; and force them both into the cavities of the die. U; a
further elevation of the force pump lifts the piston D into the situation
seen, Figure 2. The metallic plate which is to be stamped having thus
been made to assume by simple pressure the rough impression of the dye,
it is now in a state to be subjected to the effects of percussion, by which the
impression can alone acquire the requisite sharpness. The pump is now to
cease from working, and instead, the cord F, which stretches over pulley G,
is to be drawn down, which elevates, the monkey E, which, on the cord being
loosed, will tumble on the head of the piston D, which is driven as a wedigo
into the water contained in the cylinder B; and as this body of water is.
separated from the metallic plate only by a thin elastic surface of india
rubber M, the whole compression thus communicated to the water, will of
necessity be distributed over the surface of the metallic plate lying on the
die U, provided always the sides of the cylinder B are sufficiently strong to resist
the compression without fracture. The strokes of the ram or monkey E may
be repeated as often as required. u, in the pipe 6, 8, is a stop valve, which,
on being opened, allows the liquor to escape, when the piston D will first
descend to its place, stopping up by its conical end the orifice I, preventing
the weight of water in K from bursting the india rubber, when T, T, returns
to its situation, and then the. piston P, Q, will also by its weight descend
until it gains its original position, Figure 1. The stamped metal. V is now
to be taken from off the die, and another plate put in its situation. The
disk T, T, screws on to the piston P, and may be removed and anotlier
'similar one substituted for it (when dies of different sizes are employed),
whose cavity shall fit the dies employed. The pump X, X, may be detached
_from_the_end_of_the-press-and-placed-at-any-convenient-distance, and one-
pump with proper branch pipes and valves of communication may be made
to work several presses.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty civ
FRANCIS GYBBON (L.S.) SPILSBURY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Francis Gybbon Spilsbury came
before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.