Process of Making Stencil Character Punches.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd June, 1895-Accepted, 15th Feb., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process of Making Stencil Character Punches.
I, STEPHEN DANIEL HARTOG, Jr., of 2712 Howard Street, St. Louis, Mo.,
U.S.A. Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention has relation to improvements in methods of manufacture of stencil-
character punches and consists in the novel series of steps more fully set forth in
the Specification and pointed out in the claims.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the completed punch for the letter or
character "I";
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the die used in connection therewith;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the character of the punch (as shown in
Fig. 1) on the line x-x of Fig. 4; and
Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line y-y of Figure 3.
The object of my invention is to construct a stencil-character punch of a single
piece of metal, at the same time subjecting the blank from which it is made to a
process that will make the punch durable and lasting. So far as I am aware the
punches now used for stamping or cutting out stencil letters or characters are
composed of a base proper to which the outlined metallic strips constituting or
making up the form of the letter are secured by brazing or other similar manner.
By my process I stamp the form or outline of the character from a sheet of flat
metal or blank the depth or extent of the punching being limited however to
express from the body of the metal only so much material that is to constitute the
character which is to serve as a punch for the formation of subsequent stencil
characters. In detail my invention may be described as follows:-
Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a sheet or blank of metal, preferably
tempered steel, from which the outline of the particular letter or character 2 is
expressed by a suitable steel punch (not shown), the depth or extent to which the
outline of the character 2 is expressed being such as not to fully punch out said
character from the original plate, but only sufficient to force or form the character,
but yet leave the latter integral with the original plate from which it was formed.
The letter "I" is here represented. The result is that a depression 3 representing
the distance or depth of the expression is left in the rear of the character thus
formed. When the character is completed, it is mounted in any mechanical manner
to a base 4 of a suitable handle 5 and used as a punch for cutting out, with the aid
of a suitable die 6, stencil characters or letters from paper or sheet metal or like
material. When sheet metal is subjected to the punching or cutting operation, the
plate 1 with its character 2 is case hardened, and then the character is ground
down so as to give its outline a cutting edge, thus making the punch hard and
durable. Instead of employing a tempered plate at the outset it is obvious that
the character may first be expressed therefrom and then the same can be tempered
and a cutting edge put on.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and .in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1 In the manufacture of stencil-character punches, the process of first expressing

page_text: the outline of a letter or character from a suitable metallic plate but integral
therewith, and then forming a cutting edge on the character so expressed, substan-
tially as set forth.
2. In the manufacture of stencil-character punches, the process of first tempering
a suitable metallic plate, and then expressing the outline of a letter or character
therefrom but integral therewith, and finally forming a cutting edge on said
expressed character, substantially as set forth.
3. In the manufacture of stencil-character punches, the process of first tempering
a suitable steel plate, and then expressing the outline of a letter or character
therefrom but integral therewith, and finally forming cutting edges on said
expressed character, substantially as set forth.
4. In the manufacture of a stencil-character punches, the process of first
tempering a suitable steel plate, expressing the outline of a letter or character
therefrom but integral therewith and then case-hardening the same, substantially
as set forth.
5. The process of forming stencil-character punches which consists in tempering
a suitable steel plate, expressing the outline of a letter or character therefrom but
integral therewith, case hardening the same, and finally grinding the expressed
-character and forming cutting edges on the same, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 22nd day of June 1895.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.