AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HAMMER
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Stacy, of Guildford Street, Russell Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HAMMER.”
Sealed the 17th March 1874, and dated the 22nd January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Stacy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd January 1874.
I, GEORGE STACY, of Guilford Street, Russell Square, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HAMMER," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a hammer that will deliver
a series of elastic blows in rapid succession on to bars, shafts, rods,
plates, sheets, and other forms of metal, with the view of bringing the
same to shape, or of condensing the fibre of the metal, or of hardening
the surfaces of the same where required. To this end I adopt a

page_text: modified arrangement of the mechanism constituting a stone-cutting
machine, for which I obtained Letters Patent dated June 5th, 1873, in
the name of my correspondent Alexander Melville Clark (No. 2012).
My Invention may be described as an improved revolving hammer, and
as consisting mainly in the combination of a rotary shaft or axle with a
hammer or series of hammers hinged to said shaft or axle at a point or
points some distance radially from the axis of rotation, and capable of
swinging backward on their hinges in the direction opposite to that of
the rotation, and a stop revolving around the same axis with the
hammer, which stop serves to limit the distance from the axis of
rotation, beyond which the outer or rear end of the hammer shall not be
carried.
The stops revolving with the hammers serve to limit the movement
of the latter outwards or away from the axis of rotation during their
entire revolution. The blow is delivered while the hammer is at its
outermost limit against the stop, and it then recoils inwards from
contact with the object struck.
An anvil is placed underneath the shaft at a proper distance there-
from to receive the work and support it under the action of the.
hammers, which in revolving will reduce the work to any required
thickness determined by the position of the anvil relatively to the throw
of the hammer or its lowest limit of striking. Or the shaft may be
adjusted to produce the like result.
The anvil may be stationary or it may have a slow automatic
traverse motion to pass the work under the hammers.
Provision may be made for giving an automatic axial motion as well
as a traverse motion to shafts or rods submitted to the action of the
· hammers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Stacey in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
STACY, of Guildford Street, Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
!
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by. Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-·|
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Stacy, Her special licence
that I, the said George Stacy, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Stacy, my 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 "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION
OF HAMMER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Stacy, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 George Stacy, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
:―
The object of this Invention is to provide a hammer that will deliver.
a series of clastic blows in rapid succession on to bars, shafts, rods,
plates, sheets, and other forms of metal, with the view of bringing the
same to shape, or of condensing the fibre of the metal, or of hardening
the surfaces of the same where required. To this end I adopt a

page_text: modified arrangement of the mechanism constituting a stone-cutting
machine, for which I obtained Letters Patent, dated June Fifth, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the name of my corre-
spondent Alexander Melville Clark (No. 2012).
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation and
Fig. 2 in front elevation a revolving hammer constructed according to
my Invention and capable of adjustment vertically to suit various
thicknesses of work.
B¹, which rock upon a
The radius arm B¹ is
screw E which screws
A is a rotary shaft mounted in radius arms B,
dead axle C carried by pendent brackets D, D.
cast with a lug to receive a pendent adjusting
into a threaded box E¹ made fast to the timbers, to which the pendent
brackets D are attached. This pendent screw E serves to support the
shaft A at any desired level, and it is furnished with a hand wheel E²
for turning the screw, and thereby adjusting the hammer to its work.
F is a boss cast with curved arms F¹, to the ends of which the
hammers G, G, (three in number) are respectively hinged. The joint
pins of these hammers are equidistant from each other and from the
axis of rotation. The arms F¹ are cast with a "swell" at about the
middle of their length for a screwed stop pin H to play freely therein.
These stop pins are respectively screwed into or otherwise secured to the
back of the hammer heads and their free ends are fitted with adjusting
nuts for determining the distance the hammers shall fly out when
impelled by centrifugal action.
The hammers may be fitted with steel faces G₁ of any suitable form,
the same being dovetailed into the hammer heads and secured preferably
by a key or wedge, similar to that claimed under the before-mentioned
Patent of One thousand eight hundred and soventy-three.
I is a fixed anvil for supporting the work K under the blows of the
hammer. The shaft A is driven by spur wheels L, L', actuated by a
band and pulley M, M³, the spur wheel L being keyed to the shaft A,
and the wheel L' and pulley M¹ being keyed to a sleeve shaft on the
shaft C. When the shaft A is slowly rotated in the direction of the
arrow Fig. 1 the hammers will be drawn over the work, pressing thereon
with a force due to the weight of the hammer, controlled however by
its stop pin H, but as soon as the proper speed is attained this dragging
pressure will be converted into a smart blow, the recoil from which will
carry the hammer clear of the work.

page_text: und of the nammer and when reaching its utmost
limit of radius motion.
When constructing heavy hammers I may find it desirable to provide
air cushions (consisting of a piston working in a cylinder) for checking
the rebound of the hammers and retarding their centrifugal action.
An anvil is placed underneath the shaft at a proper distance therefrom
to receive the work and support it under the action of the hammers,
which in revolving will reduce the work to any required thickness
determined by the position of the anvil relatively to the throw of the
hammer or its lowest limit of striking.
The anvil may be stationary or it may have a vertical adjustment by
by being connected say with a hydraulic ram or lifting screw, or it may
have a slow automatic traverse motion to pass the work under the
hammers. Provision may also be made for giving an automatic axial
motion, as well as a traverse motion to shafts or rods submitted to the
action of the hammers.
When round rods are intended to be operated upon I prefer to shape
the hammer and anvil faces as shewn at Fig. 7.
For flattening bars and other work it may be sometimes convenient
so to shape the hammer face as to make it perform the duty of a stop;
thus at Fig. 8 I have shown the hammer face as in part flat with a
rounded projection. In using this hammer, if the proper force is imparted
thereto the projection on the face will act to reduce the thickness of
the work, and the flat portions of the face will prevent the hammer
striking too deeply into the metal.
I would remark that the stops for limiting the outward throw of the
hammers should be so situated with respect to the hinge joint as to
balance the hammer as nearly as may be when revolved rapidly, for the
reason that the nearer this result is attained the less will be the wear
and tear of the machine; and I would further state that the more nearly 3
the hammer is balanced on the work operated upon whilst actually
striking the less will be the strain on the machine.
It is obvious that the machinery described may be used in many
operations where a continuous succession of blows, as of a hammer or
beater, is required.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention of "an improved
construction of hammer and its adaptation to various kinds of work, I
would have it understood that I do not wish to claim generally revolving
hinged or pivotted hammers, which are presented to their work by the
aid of centrifugal force, as various plans have been proposed for effecting
the like object, but so far as I am aware, with little or no practical
result, but what I claim is, a revolving hammer, constructed and
operating substantially in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Stacy, have hereunto set
.
my hand and seal the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.