IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AUGERS, BORING BITS, AND OTHER SIMILAR TOOLS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cornclius Whitehouse, of Bridgtown, near
Cannock, in the County of Stafford, Edge Tool and Auger Maker,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AUGERS,
BORING BITS, AND OTHER SIMILAR TOOLS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cornelius Whitehouse
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th October 1868.
I, CORNELIUS WHITEHOUSE, of Bridgtown, near Cannock, in the
County of Stafford, Edge Tool and Auger Maker, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
AUGERS, BORING BITS, AND OTHER SIMILAR TOOLS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described
in the manufacture of augers, boring bits, and other similar tools.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the manufacture of augers.
In manufacturing the said augers according to my Invention I mould
in sand or other material in the ordinary way upon a pattern auger

page_text: parts of a mould, and having put the parts of the mould together I
pour melted steel, homogeneous iron, or other compound of iron and
carbon into the mould. The tool having been removed from the
mould is annealed by being heated in hæmatite or Cumberland iron
orc, and is thereby decarbonized and softened. When the tool is in
this soft state I bend any parts which may require bending. For
example, in augers having curved or angular wings, the said wings are
cast without curvature or angle, which curvature or angle it would be
inconvenient to produce by casting; I therefore cast the said wings
without the required curvative or angle, and give
curvature or angle after the annealing process. I also file smooth the
said wings and form the screw on the end of the auger, while it is in
the soft state described. I afterwards harden or reconvert the tool into
steel by heating the said tool in contact with prussiate of potash, or by
any other of the well-known processes employed for hardening iron or
steel. I finally polish the tool in the ordinary way.
them the said
In manufacturing boring bits and other similar tools according to
my Invention I proceed in the manner described with reference to an
auger, with only such modifications as the different shapes of the tools
'may require.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Cornelius Whitehouse in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th April 1809.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CORNELIUS
WHITEHOUSE, of Bridgtown, near Cannock, in the County of Stafford,
Edge Tool and Auger Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Cornelius Whitehouse, "Her special
licence that I, the said Cornelius Whitehouse, 'my executors, 'adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the 'said 'Cornelius Whitehouse,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVE-.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AUGERS, BORING BITS, AND OTHER SIMILAR TOOLS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Cornelius White-
house, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing.
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Cornelius Whitehouse, 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 improvements herein-after described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in the manufacture of
augers,. boring bits, and other similar tools.
I will describe and illustrate my Invention as applied to the
manufacture of augers, by which description and illustration I believe
the application of my Invention to boring bits and other similar tools.
will be readily understood.
In manufacturing augers according to my Invention I form in
the ordinary way of sand or other material parts of a. mould, the said
parts of a mould being formed upon a pattern auger; I prefer to
make the mould in two parts; but I do not limit myself thereto, as
where the form of the auger requires it the mould may be made in
three or more parts: Having put the parts of the mould together
and secured them in position I pour into the said mould melted steel,
homogeneous iron, or other compound of iron and carbon having the
nature of steel, or which by subsequent treatment can be converted
wholly or superficially into steel.. After the solidification of the
melted metal the mould is opened and the auger .cast therein is.
removed therefrom. The said auger is afterwerds annealed by being
heated in contact with the haematite iron ore, or other iron ore of similar
composition. The steel or iron of which the auger is made is thereby

page_text: wholly or partially decarbonized or softened. I next shake a number
of the cast augers in an ordinary shaking tub, by which shaking the
particles of sand or iron orc attached to them are removed and the
augers partially brightened. While the auger is still in a soft state
bend, bore, file, or otherwise fashion any parts of it which may
require a change of form. For example, when the auger has curved
wings of the kind represented at a, Figure 1 of the Drawing, I cast the
auger in the form represented in Figure 2, in which the wings marked
a², a, are cast without the curvature they have in the finished auger,
Figure 1, and I give them the required curvature and file them into
proper shape before proceeding to the next or hardening process.
When instead of curved wings the auger has angular wings I cast
the wings straight, as represented in Figure 2, and bend or fashion them
into the required shape before filing and hardening. When the auger
has solid wings, that is, wings. the ends of which are not detached from
the auger, as represented in the auger, Figure 3, in which Figure the
said wings are marked b, b, I cast the said wings in the manner
represented in Figure 4, that is, without perforations, and while the said
auger, Figure 4, is in a soft state I make or bore therein at the parts
marked, c, perforations similar to those marked c, c, in Figure 3.
I also, while the augers are in a soft state file into shape the wings
and form the screw or point d upon the ends e, e, of the augers.
Figure 3 represents an auger of the kind described and represented
in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, dated June 13th,
1868, No. 1933. In manufacturing this kind of auger according to my
present Invention I cast it as previously described and, after the
annealing or softening process I fashion the cutting edge or edges f
and screw or point g. After the required form has been thus given to
the several parts of the augers I then harden the said augers. When
the said augers are made of steel, or of a quality of iron capable of
being hardened by the ordinary hardening process, I harden them by
the said hardening process, that is to say, I heat them to redness and
plunge them into oil or water. When the augers are made of iron
which will not harden by this the ordinary hardening process, or in which
the hardening property has been destroyed by the process of annealing, I
case-harden or convert the auger partially or wholly into steel by
heating the said auger in contact with prussiate of potash, or by any
of the well-known processes employed for communicating the hardening

page_text: property to iron or steel. After the case-hardening or converting process
last described I harden the augers by the ordinary hardening process of
beating and plunging them into water or oil. After hardening the
augers may be brought to the required temper in the ordinary way.
The augers are polished and finished in the same manner as wrought
steel augers are polished and finished.
or may
I make the moulds by which I carry my Invention into effect either
of sand or other non-metallic material of which moulds are
be made, or I make the said moulds of metal. When I employ metal
moulds I prefer to make the said moulds of cast steel or cast iron. The
kind of cast iron which I prefer is that which can be annealed or
decarbonized by being heated in contact with hæmatite, and which
is commonly called malleable cast iron. In using metal moulds they
may be heated before casting the metal in them to prevent the too
sudden cooling or chilling of the cast metal. When I make the
augers of homogeneous iron or malleable cast iron I prefer to uso
sand moulds, but when I make the said augers of cast steel I prefer to
use metal moulds. In the latter case the cast steel augers are more
dense and free from the honeycomb structure which frequently arises
when steel is cast in sand moulds. Although I have only described
the manufacture of a single auger, yet I wish it to be understood
that several augers of the same or different sizes and several different
kinds of boring tools may be made in the same mould.
I do not think it necessary to describo my Invention as applied to
the manufacture of boring bits and other similar boring tools, as the
application of my Invention to the said articles differs in no essential
respect from its application to augers.
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 manufacture
of augers, boring bits, and other similar tools by the process or
combination of processes herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making the said augers, boring
bits, and other similar tools by first casting them of steel or iron;
and subsequently softening or annealing the same, and where necessary
bending and shaping into the required form such parts as could not

page_text: be conveniently cast of the required form, and finally hardening and
finishing the said tools, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cornelius Whitehouse, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
CORNELIUS WHITEHOUSE. (L.S.)
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.