CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BAYONETS, SWORDS, AND OTHER CUTTING INSTRU MENTS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES REEVES junior, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at. Westminster, the
Twenty-seventh day of February (One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
two), in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Reeves, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Charles Reeves, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Charles Reeves, my exors, adñiors, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF BAYONETS, SWORDS, AND OTHER CUTTING INSTRU-
MENTS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Charles Reeves, shall cause a particular description of the nature

page_text: of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in
Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said 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 Charles Reeves, do hereby declare that 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 statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:
My Invention consists of methods herein-after particularly described
of partly forming bayonets, swords, knives, matchets, and sycthes by the
process of rolling, instead of by the process or processes commonly used
in the manufacture of the same.
I
In manufacturing bayonets according to my Invention I proceed as
follows: I roll iron or steel into bars, having a triangular section,
as represented at a, Figure 1, or having any other suitable section.
cut the said bars into such lengths as are suitable for bayonets of the
size to be manufactured. The said short bars are then heated and
rolled in rolls, having the series of grooves represented at b, c, d, e,
Figure 1, the said grooves being taper, and the circumference of the
rolls on which they are formed being somewhat greater than the length
of the bayonet. Although I prefer using not less than three grooves,
and making the said grooves of the forms represented and described, I
do not confine myself to any particular number of grooves, nor to the
forms of groove represented.
In making the blades of swords according to my Invention I proceed
as follows: I roll iron or steel into bars of the section represented in
Figures 2, and 3, or into such other forms as the particular kind of
sword to be manufactured may render necessary, and cut the same into
"pieces of suitable length. I pass the said pieces through rolls having
suitably formed grooves. The said grooves are close or collared and
taper from that part at which the heel of the sword or blade is formed

page_text: to that part at which the point is formed. I sometimes make the
planishing or finishing grooves without collars.
In making knives according to my Invention I proceed as herein
described with respect to swords, excepting that I use rolls of such
sizes and having such grooves as are suitable for the manufacture of
knives.
In making scythes according to my Invention I proceed' as follows:
I roll bars of iron or steel,, or bars made of two pieces of iron with
steel inserted between them, into the shape represented in section in
Figure 4, or into such other shape as the particular form of the scythe
to be manufactured may render desirable. I then cut the said bar into
pieces of such lengths as are suitable for the scythes to be manufactured.
The said pieces are then heated and subjected to the operation of the
rolls, represented in Figure 5., I prefer constructing the rolls with close
or collared grooves, excepting in the case of the finishing groove, which
may be either with or without collar. The said grooves are tapered so
as to form the point of the scythe or blade, and the circumference of the
rolls is somewhat greater than the length of the scythe or blade to be
made. A space is cut out of each groove to admit of as much metal
as will be required for tanging.
In making the blades of matchets according to my Invention I
proceed as in the manufacture of swords, excepting that instead of using
steel or iron of the section represented at Figures 2, and 3, I use steel
or iron of the section represented at Figure 6. The object of the
convexity on one edge of the steel used for making swords, according to
my Invention is, to make the back of the blade round (when, however,
I wish to make swords having a flat back I use iron or steel, in which
the edge to be converted into the back of the sword is flat), and the
object of the concavity on one edge of the steel used for making
matchets according to my Invention is, to make the back of the blade
flatter than it would be if the edge of the steel were flat. On com-
mencing the rolling of the matchet I sometimes use steel of the form
represented in Figure 6, for the manufacture of swords.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-

page_text: stood that I do not limit myself to the precise methods of carrying my
Invention into effect herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention. But I claim
the methods herein described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings of forming or partly forming bayonets, swords, knives, and
scythes, that is to say, by first rolling bars of iron or steel, or mixtures
of iron and steel, into convenient forms, and cutting the same into
pieces, and afterwards completing or nearly completing the form of the
said bayonets, swords, knives, and scythes, by passing the said pieces
through rolls tapered or otherwise formed, as described: Also the use
of iron or steel, or mixtures of iron and steel, having the form herein
described, and represented in the accompanying Drawings, for the
manufacture of the blades of matchets.
In witness whereof I, the said Charles Reeves, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
INDLETAL, ALI
CHARLES (L.s.) REEVES jr.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of
August, in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Charles Reeves
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for
that purpose.