IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC STAMPS AND HAMMERS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR DRIVING PILES, CUTTING, SPLITTING, OR DRESSING STONE, AND FOR BORING ROCKS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Husband at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
July 1870.
I, WILLIAM HUSBAND, of Hayle, in the County of Cornwall, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PNEUMATIC STAMPS AND HAMMERS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR DRIVING
PILES, CUTTING, SPLITTING, OR DRESSING STONE, AND FOR BORING ROCKS," to be
as follows:-
My Invention has reference to that class of pneumatic stamps and
hammers in which the lifting and striking power actuates the stamp
or hammer through the medium of an elastic cushion afforded by confined
air inside a cylinder having a piston, the rod of which is either connected
to the hammer block, the cylinder being actuated by the driving power,
or the cylinder is connected to the hammer block and the piston rod
actuated by the power.
One part of my present Invention consists in connecting either the
cylinder or the piston rod directly to the driving crank, while the piston
rod or the cylinder is hinged to the hammer block or stamp head

page_text: .
working between guides, so that the cylinder with its piston and rod
together constitute an elastic connecting rod connecting the driving
crank with the hammer block or stamp head. The cylinder is provided
at a point either above or below, or both above and below, the piston
with one or more cocks or valves, by opening or closing which more or
less the action of the air cushions may be regulated so as to diminish or
*suspend the blow. A further power of control may be afforded by the
application of a brake worked by a treadle as also by the usual con-
trivance for slackening the driving belt. The above-described arrange-
ment of regulating cocks or valves may also be applied to other known
arrangements of the air cylinders. The cylinder may be furthermore
provided with a water jacket, through which cold water is made to
circulate, it being supplied thereto and conducted away therefrom by
means of elastic or flexible hose or piping, or by jointed pipes.
Another part of my Invention consists in the application of the above
described arrangements of pneumatic stamps or hammers, as also the
arrangements described in the Specification to my former Patent,
No. 749 of 1870, as also all other known arrangements for mechanically
actuating stamps or hammer heads through the medium of an air
cushion, such as those described in the Specifications to Hotchkiss's
Patent, No. 2581 of 1862, and Newton's Patent, No. 3573 of 1868, to
the driving of piles, the cutting, splitting, or dressing of granite and
other stone, and to the boring of rocks. For the purpose of applying
such contrivances to the driving of piles I prefer to fix the hammer
frame at or on the top of the pile to be driven, and to actuate the same
by means of an endless band passing over a pulley by preference such
as described in the Specification to Fowler's Patent, No. 216 of 1859,
and driven by an engine from below on the pneumatic cylinder may be
arranged in an intermediate position between the steam engine on the
ground and the hammer head acting on the piles.
In applying the arrangements of pneumatic stamps or hammers to
the cutting, splitting, or dressing of' stone and boring of rocks, suitable
tools such as are at present used for these purposes are substituted for
the stamp or hammer head of the machine for cutting, splitting, or
dressing stone, either the stone may be moved so as to bring different
parts thereof under the action of the tool, or the machine itself may be
moved for this purpose, and in applying the arrangement to the boring
of rocks rotary as well as reciprocating motion is imparted to the boring

page_text: tool by any suitable known' contrivance worked either by hand or
mechanically.
Another part of my Invention consists in making the aforesaid
pneumatic cylinders of compressed cotton or linen cloth, leather, or
vulcanized india-rubber with hardened surfaces, enclosed in a metal
casing or otherwise supported and rendered rigid. The cylinder cover
and piston I also sometimes construct of the same materials, strengthened
with metal plates.