IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOLLOW CUTTING TOOLS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Simpson, of Northampton, in the County
of Northamptonshire, Engineer, and John Hutton, of the same Place,
Accountant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF HOLLOW CUTTING TOOLS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Simpson and
John Hutton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 20th July 1863.
We, WILLIAM SIMPSON, of Northampton, in the County of Northampton-
shire, Engineer, and JOHN HUTTON, of the same Place, Accountant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF HOLLOW CUTTING TOOLS," to be as follows:-
These improvements in the manufacture of hollow tools, such as punches
for cutting out paper, leather, linen, or other materials for the use of envelope
makers, shoemakers, artificial florists, and others (some of which tools are of
very intricate design) consist in producing them by casting instead of forging
as heretofore done. For this purpose a pattern is prepared of the exact form
of the tool required, which pattern is moulded in sand or loam or in iron to
form a chill. Highly carbonised pig iron is then melted in a crucible with
black oxide of manganese (or other decarbonising agent,) and poured into the

page_text: mould, when it receives the required temper in the process of casting, or cast
steel may be used in lieu of the pig iron if preferred. The cutters thus formed
are afterwards ground and sharpened in the usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said William Simpson and John Hutton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
SIMPSON, of Northampton, in the County of Northamptonshire, Engineer, and
JOHN HUTTON, of the same Place, Accountant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said William Simpson and John Hutton, Her special licence that
we, the said William Simpson and John Hutton, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Simpson and
John Hutton, our 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 HOLLOW CUTTING TOOLS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Simpson and John Hutton, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 John Hutton, on behalf of myself and
the said William Simpson, 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:-
These improvements in the manufacture of hollow cutting tools, such as
punches for cutting out paper, leather, linen, or other materials for the use

page_text: of envelope makers, shoemakers, artificial florists, and others, some of which
tools are often of very intricate design, consists in producing them by casting
instead of by forging, as heretofore done; for this purpose a pattern of the
required tool is prepared in wood or metal.
One of the methods which we have adopted for making patterns is by
running lead in a mould of an angular form in strips of about three feet long,
one side being of the bevil to be given to the cutter, thus
These
lead strips are very easily bent into the form of the cutter required, and are
then moulded in sand or loam in the usual manner, either with or without n
chill. Highly carbonised pig iron, holding fifty per cent. of carbon, is melted
in a crucible with black oxide of manganese, rock salt, and clay in powder in
the proportion of about ten pounds of this mixture to one hundredweight of
iron, but the proportions will vary slightly with different qualities of iron, or
cast steel may be used. The crucible is luted air-tight, and placed in the
furnace until the iron is thoroughly melted and decarbonized, when it is
poured into the mould and left to cool. After being taken from the mould
the tool is annealed until it acquires the proper temper, when it is ground and
finished to a sharp cutting edge of the required design fit for use.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hutton, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, this Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
W. BADDELEY,
Patent Agent,
Islington.
JOHN HUTTON. (L.S.)