IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALS FOR EDGE TOOLS
Year: 1843

page_text: BOYDELL'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BOYDELL, Junior, of Oak Farm Works, near Dudley, iu the County of Stafford,
Iron Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Boydell, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said James Boydell, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Boydell, my exors, adiñors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALS FOR
EDGE TOOLS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said James Boydell, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part 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
James Boydell, 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 description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:

page_text: In the manufacture of edge tools, as heretofore practised, it has been usual,
for the most part, to form the same of steel, and, when iron has been used, steel
has been welded thereto in order to form the cutting edges; in which case the
steel has been applied in the process of manufacturing each particular edge
tool separately, but the steel and iron have not been first combined and rolled
into bars, and then cut up, and each part converted, by forging, into an edge
tool; and my Invention relates to the so carrying on the manufacture of edge
tools that steel and iron are piled together, and, when heated to a good welding
heat, the heated mass is to be passed between rollers, and by rolling the same
is converted into bars, having the steel in a thin layer, either on one of the
outer surfaces of each of the bars produced, or between two surfaces of iron,
according to the nature of the edge tools to be made therefrom, as will be here-
after more fully described.
In carrying out my Invention, I cause a slab or plate of steel to be piled on
one or more, or between two or more, similar slabs or plates of iron, according
to the greater thickness it is desired to give to the iron over that of the steel;
and I place the pile thus obtained in a suitable furnace, to be heated; and these
processes of piling and heating are similar to those practised when piling and
heating iron in the process of manufacturing bar iron. The pile being heated to
a good welding heat, I cause it to be passed between grooved or other suitable
rollers in the same manner as if it were a pile of iron to be converted into a
bar, and by these means I obtain a bar of iron and steel of a size depending
on the class of edge tools into which the metals thus combined are to be manu-
factured; and I proceed in the process of manufacture by cutting up the bars
so made, and then by forging the parts of the bars I obtain the metals
manufactured into the shapes of the desired articles, which are then to be
tempered, and the cutting edges formed by grinding as heretofore, when making
similar edge tools of steel or of iron with steel welded thereto to form the
cutting edges. In making plane iron and some other articles where the steel
for the cutting edges is only required to extend to a small length of the article,
I do not apply the steel throughout the whole surface, but only near one edge
or side of the pile, so that when cut up and made into the tools desired, the
steel will only be up a short length of the blade. In this manner I manufacture
iron and steel (first combined and formed into bars) into axes, hatchets, adzes,
choppers, hedging bills, hoes, matchets, knives of all kinds, plane irons,
chisels and gouges, cooper's and other shaves, scythes, razors, shears and scissors,
sickles, and reaping and other cutting hooks; the bars which have the steel
on one surface being suitable for those classes of edge tools where the cutting
edge of each is on one side thereof, the metal being ground off the other edge

page_text: when making, and when sharpening the cutting edge thereof, as is shown at
Figure 1, and the bars with steel between two surfaces of iron being suitable
for those classes of edge tools which have the cutting edges thereof formed by
grinding away the two sides thereof, as is indicated at Figure 2.
By this means of manufacturing iron and steel by piling them together, and
then rolling them into bars and cutting up such bars and manufacturing the
parts thereof by forging them into the proper shapes for the different classes of
edge tools herein-before mentioned, a great saving in the cost of manufacturing
those articles will be obtained, as only so much steel will be required as is
necessary for forming the cutting edges to the tools, whilst the requisite stiffness
of the tools will be obtained by the iron combined with the steel.
I will now describe the second part of-my Invention, which relates to the
manufacturing of metals used in the making of spades. In the manufacture
of spades it has been herefore usual to form iron into what are called ".moulds,"
and also "half-moulds," each mould and each half-mould being formed by
forging separately; the same have then in most cases been "steeled" for the
cutting edge, and then "plated out" by the hammer or by rollers. Now the
object of this part of my Invention is to make several "moulds" or several
"half-moulds" in the same bar, and, when required, to apply steel thereto, either
between two "half-moulds," or on the front or back surfaces of the "moulds."
In carrying out this part of my Invention, I cause bloom or a pile of iron to be
hammered into a proper shape, and then by placing the iron under a tilt hammer,
or between two pressing surfaces, formed with a series of recesses so as to shape
the mass of iron into the figure indicated by the Drawing, Figure 3, the
upper and under surfaces being flat, -I then cause this mass of iron to be passed
lengthwise between rollers, by which the same will be lengthened out into the
form, Figure 4; and by cutting the same at the dotted lines a, b, the same
will be formed into so many moulds or half-moulds according to the thickness
of the metal; and when they are half-moulds I cause two bars, such as-is shown
at Figure 4, to be welded together, taking care to keep the parts b; which are
to form the straps, from joining by placing a sheet of clay between those parts
of the two bars; and when I wish to have steel for the cutting edges-between
the two half-moulds, 'I lay a thin sheet of steel over the parts a, a, sufficiently
wide for each piece to form the cutting edges of two spades or shovels; and
wlien I wish the steel to be on the front or back surface, then I apply a slab or
bar of steel to one side of each of the "moulds" or "half-moulds". of the bar,
Figure 4, and place the whole in a suitable furnace, 'and raise them to a
welding heat, when the surfaces of the metals will go together sufficiently by
the welding heat to allow of them being taken from the furnace, and passed
between a pair of rollers, which will weld all parts together, excepting where

page_text: the clay or other material has been introduced to keep the straps of the half
moulds separate. The bar of mould thus produced is then to be cut at the
dotted lines a, b, and the moulds "plated" out in the ordinary manner.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which relates to
manufacturing edge tools of a peculiar manufacture of steel; and this part of
my Invention consists in preparing steel for the manufacture of edge tools by
melting malleable iron in a blast furnace, and again re-making it into
malleable iron by puddling, or it may be refining and puddling such cast-iron
and drawing the same into bars or rods, and converting it into steel. In
carrying out this part of my Invention, I prefer to use the strap iron (wrought
iron), which I introduce with coke into a cupola, and run into pigs, and then
proceed to puddle and convert the same again into wrought iron in the same
manner as if it had been ordinary pig-iron obtained direct from iron-stone; or
the pigs of cast iron obtained by melting wrought iron may be refined and
then puddled; I then, by means of rollers or hammers, draw the puddled iron
into bars, and then convert the same into steel, as is well understood, by which
means I am enabled to manufacture a class of steel very suitable for edge
tools, at a small cost compared with the steel now used.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I am
acquainted with for performing the same, I would wish it to be understood
that what I claim is, first, the mode of manufacturing metals for the classes of
edge tools first above described, by piling iron with steel, and rolling such piles
into bars, and then cutting up the bars of metals and manufacturing the parts
thereof by forging them into the shapes of the edge tools desired.
Secondly, I claim the mode herein described of manufacturing the metals
for that class of edge tools called spades and shovels, as described in respect to
Figures 3 and 4.
And, thirdly, I claim the mode of manufacturing steel for edge tools by
employing iron which has been melted after having been converted into
malleable iron, and again made into malleable iron as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Boydell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
Signed, sealed and delivered, by the
within-named James Boydell, the
younger, in the presence of
JAMES (L.s.) BOYDELL, Jun'.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid James Boydell, Junior, came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.