IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORGING OR SHAPING METALS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORGING OR SHAPING METALS."―A
communication from, abroad by Julien Laurent, Engineer, of 13,
Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
Sealed the 27th November 1868, and dated the 6th June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville.
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th June 1868. .
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR FORGING OR SHAPING
METALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to machinery for forging metal of any thickness:
by the aid of a hammer having an un-and-down motion: it also relates.

page_text: to means, herein-after described, for regulating the intensity of the blow
of the hammer on the metal to be forged.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings show front and side
elevations of the improved apparatus.
A, A, represcut two fly wheels mounted on a shaft turning in
bearings B, B, and driven by means of bands at a speed of about five
turns per second. These fly wheels are connected by a cylindrical steel
spindle C, which is placed slightly out of the centre of the fly wheels,
the degree of eccentricity being equal to about an inch in the Drawing.
In this manner, supposing the fly wheels to be fixed to their shaft, the
spindle C will form a crank pin, serving by the aid of the three coupled
rods D, d, d, to impart up-and-down motion to the hammer head E,
which is provided with slides F, F, running in vertical guides G, G, and
connected to the hammer E by arms H. The principal connecting rod D
is made of considerable strength, its upper end embracing a bearing in
which turns the spindle C, whereby the up-and-down motion is imparted
to the hammer. The two small rods d, d, serve to connect the cap I of
bearing to the hammer, their upper ends being connected to steel
spindles turning in semicircular depressions made in lugs formed on
the bearing. The lower ends of these rods are provided with similar
spindles turning in lugs rivetted to the hammer. These rods serve to
raise the hammer, and also to properly balance the same. Each rod
is composed of three parts, viz., a fork at each end embracing the
ends of the spindles and the central stem, the ends of which have right
and left screw threads fitting into the forked ends above mentioned,
and by the aid of which the length of the rods may be readily adjusted
by turning the central part. By thus regulating the length of the rods
the spindle C turning between the cap and the bearing may be adjusted
so as to have only the amount of motion required. The hammer head E
is fixed obliquely by means of a dovetailed appendage, so that it may
be used both for stretching and smoothing without the attendant
being impeded by the vertical standards of the machine. The pivots
carrying the whole of the parts, one of which is represented on an
enlarged scale in the section Figure 3, taken on the line V, X, Figure 2,
are made in two parts. The one part coinciding with the centre of the
fly wheel turns in a bearing K, which is capable of vertical motion, it
being fitted in the same slide as the guide F of the hammer. The other

page_text: portion of the axis turns in the bearing B, before mentioned, deviating
from the centre on the same side as spindle C, but to a less degree, for
a purpose to be herein-after explained. Each of the bearings B is
connected by means of spiral springs to an iron frame L, shown sepa-
rately in Figure 4, which is capable of being raised by means of
screws M turning in nuts fixed at top and bottom of frame L. The
screws are broken away for greater clearness in Figures 1 and 2. The
two frames L are connected by a bar b, so as to prevent their turning with
the screws employed for raising them.. The screws M are represented as
having their threads in opposite directions. Motion is imparted to the
screws in one or other direction by means of hand wheels mounted on
either side of the machine on a horizontal shaft P and bevil gearing in
connection therewith. The weight of the whole sliding arrangement,
before described, is counterbalanced by the aid of weights N, the chains
from which pass round the grooved, pullies O, O, and are thence attached
to, rings fixed to frames L.. The parts. being thus arranged the attendant
by the aid of one or other hand wheel may readily raise the several
parts to the height desired, and suited to the metal under treatment.
Q, anvil stock, through which the shaft P passes freely;, R, cast-iron
block, serving as an anvil, mounted on stock Q, the position of which
block may be regulated as desired. A square cavity is made in the
anvil, which may be filled up on a level with its surface by means of
a steel plate when forging flat pieces of metal, while matrices or stamps
of any form may be applied thereon when it is desired to give any
particular form to the metal under treatment. S, S, are friction rollers
mounted, two and two on either side, on which turns the shaft carrying the
pullies O, O; T; shaft receiving motion from the source of power by means
of a strap pulley U, transmitting motion to an intermediate shaft A¹, and
from thence to the two fly wheels A, A, by means of straps and pullies B¹, B.
Shaft A' is mounted in bearings on the upper ends of two rods or
arms C¹ attached to flanges. cast on the bearings of shaft T. The two,
arms C¹, C¹, are connected by a tie bar, as seen by the dotted lines. in.
Figure 2, the enlarged ends of which are bolted to the middle of said
arms in such manner that shaft A' with its pullies, may be changed in
5 position while rotating by turning on axis T and yet always remain at
a certain distance from the latter. Two rods D¹, D', connected at one
end to bearing K and at the other end to the bearings of shaft A' serve:
to keep the axis of the fly wheels A during its motion at an invariable

page_text: distance from axis A¹. From this arrangement it results that the
fly wheel gearing and hammer may readily be raised or lowered without
varying the tension of the straps imparting motion to axis A¹ or pullies
A, A. Supposing the article to be forged is placed in the machine,
the operator first acts on shaft P in order to lowor the fly wheels and
hammer so that the latter in its up-and-down motion may strike the
article under treatment before completing its course or reaching the
dead point. Immediately after the hammer has touched the article and
penetrated it to a slight extent it will be brought to a standstill; but as
its vertical motion in regard to the axis of the fly wheels does not vary
to any great degree (the latter continuing to turn during the short
interval that the hammer is stationary) it is necessary that the axis of the
fly wheels should rise with a speed exactly equal to that of the descent.
which the hammer would have at this moment were its motion not
arrested by the article being forged. During the short interval however
which elapses before the fly wheels attain this upward rate of speed they
will oppose considerable resistance on account of their weight, producing
a pressure which is transmitted to the article being operated on by means
of the connecting rod and hammer. The resistance of the article being
forged will thus be rendered available, 1st, a small proportion for
arresting the motion of the hammer and connecting rod, and, 2ndly, the
remainder for imparting to the centre of gravity of the fly wheels, and
accessory parts an upward motion equalling that of the descent.
In order to establish a parallel between this apparatus and a steam
hammer I would observe that in the latter case the resistance of the
article being forged serves to bring the hammer to a stop on coming in
contact therewith, while in the apparatus of this Invention the principal
effect of this resistance is to communicate motion to the centre of gravity.
of the fly wheels and parts which are stationary at the moment of
contact. If I compare it further with some small forging machines now
in use it will be found that in these the reaction which the metal under
treatment opposes to the penetration of the hammer is overcome by the
weight of the bearings in which the crank shaft turns, while in the
apparatus of this Invention it is overcome by the resistance that the
fly wheels oppose to the upward motion.
From the foregoing it will be readily understood that the intensity of the
blow of the hammer will be in proportion to the square of the velocity
of the hammer at the moment of contact, as the speed is greater at this

page_text: moment from the fact of the axis C being furthest from the dead point;
and in order to increase or diminish the intensity of the blow it is only
necessary to slightly raise or lower the fly wheels and hammer by the aid
of hand wheel P. The foregoing observations apply to the first stroke of
the hammer, which presents this peculiarity, that at the moment the blow
is delivered the centre of gravity of the fly wheels has hardly any motion;
this however is not the case in succeeding strokes as the fly wheels after
the blow is delivered will rise with precisely the same speed as that of the
hammer when moving in the contrary direction. As the fly wheels rise,
and the bearings B, B, with them, the upper springs become compressed
and the lower ones expanded, from which it results that at each point of
their upward course the whole of the movable parts are subjected to a
varying pressure in a downward direction equal to the excess in weight.
of the parts augmented by the increasing tension of the lower springs over
the decreasing tension of the upper springs, this result being proportionate
to the course traversed by the point of suspension from the position.
which corresponds to equilibrium. The motion constantly decreasing
ultimately ceases at the culminating point, at which moment the parts
again descend, and when in the same positions as the upward movement
the action of the springs and weight produce the same effect as before,
thus the speed of the descent is equal at all corresponding points to that.
of the rise, consequently when the parts are in equilibrium they will
have a downward speed numerically equal to the upward motion they
possessed immediately after striking the blow, and the duration of this
double up-and-down motion is constant whatever may be the ascensional
speed at starting, the extent of the motion alone varying. The tension
of the springs may be arranged so that its duration shall exactly equal
one revolution of the fly wheels; in this case the whole of the movable
parts will occupy during the second and following strokes exactly the
same position as during the first stroke. The intensity of the blows,
however, which after the second stroke are alike is much greater than
at starting, as at the moment of striking the centre of gravity instead
of remaining stationary will have a motion exactly equal but in the
opposite direction to that obtained after striking. Thus the upward
motion produced by the hammer striking is utilized for increasing the
intensity of the following stroke. Supposing the machine to work in-
operatively the following will take place, the axis of the two fly
wheels will not be absolutely fixed when producing the rise and fall of

page_text: the connecting rod and hammer, which latter will react and so cause
the up-and-down motion of the fly wheels and parts. In fact the
motion imparted from one part to the other being considered as a whole
to be reciprocal forces will not change the centre of gravity of the parts,
hence if one part descends another part rises reciprocally, and the speed
of the parts having motion in opposite directions will be in an inverse
relation to the said parts. The weight of the fly wheels and accessory
parts being much greater than that of the hammer, and in the proportion
of nearly 8 to 1, the to-and-fro motion of the fly wheel shaft will be very
slight. For this reason the pivots turning in bearings B deviate slightly
on the same side as spindle C, so that while the axis of the fly wheels
rises and falls the axis of pivots B neither rises nor falls, but only moves
slightly in a horizontal direction to which the springs readily adapt
themselves without being required to move in the direction of their
length, their action being the same as if they were applied at the
centre of gravity of the system composed of the fly wheels and accessories,
connecting rods, and hammer.
The chief features of the Invention are the combination and arrange-
ment in machines for hammering or shaping metals, 1st, of a hammer
or striking part; 2ndly, of a crank shaft attached to a considerable
weight, turning therewith, either balanced or not, by means of weights
or springs and without any fixed support; 3rdly, of a connecting rod
for transmitting the crank motion to the hammer. At the moment of
striking the centre of gravity of the shaft, fly wheels, and the parts fixed
thereto may either be stationary or moving at a certain speed in the
same direction as the hammer for the purpose of augmenting the
intensity of the blow as herein-before described.
The Invention further comprises the improved machinery for working
metals, herein-before described.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORGING OR SHAPING METALS," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Julien Laurent, Engineer, of 13,
Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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, reference being had to the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to machinery for forging metal of any thickness
by the aid of a hammer having an up-and-down motion; it also relates
to means herein-after described for regulating the intensity of the blow
of the hammer on the metal to be forged.
The annexed Drawings show a forging machine constructed on the
above principle.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a front elevation of the.
machine; Figure 3 a partial plan of the parts for transmitting motion

page_text: to the machine; Figure 4 shows a separate plan and elevation of 'the
frame herein-after described; Figure 5 a horizontal section on an
enlarged scale taken on line V, X, Figure 1, while Figure 6 shows a
transverse section of the lower part of the machine taken on the line
Y, Z, Figure 2. The same letters apply to all the Figures.
A, A, represent two fly wheels mounted on a shaft turning in
bearings B, B, and driven by means of bands at a speed of about five
turns per second. These fly wheels are connected by a cylindrical
steel spindle C, Figure 5, which is placed slightly out of the centre of
the fly wheel, the degree of eccentricity being equal to about an inch
in the Drawing. In this manner supposing the fly wheels to be fixed
to their shaft, the spindle C will form a crank pin serving by the aid
of the three coupled rods D, d, d, to impart up-and-down motion to the
hammer head E, which is provided with slides F, F, running in vertical
guides G, G, and connected to the hammer E by arms H. The principal
connecting rod D is made of considerable strength, its upper end
embracing a bearing in which turns the spindle C whereby the up-and-
down motion is imparted to the hammer. The two small rods d, d,
serve to connect the cap T of bearing to the hammer, the upper ends
being connected to steel spindles turning in semicircular depressions
made in lugs formed on the bearing. The lower ends of these rods
are provided with similar spindles turning in lugs rivetted to the
hammer. These rods serve to raise the hammer, and also to properly
balance the same. Each rod is composed of three parts, viz., a fork at
each end embracing the ends of the spindles and the central stem, the
ends of which have right and left screw threads fitting into the forked
end above mentioned, and by the aid of which the length of the rods
may be readily adjusted by turning the central part. By thus regulating
the length of the rods the spindle C turning between the cap and the
bearing may be adjusted so as to have only the amount of motion re-
quired. The hammer head E is fixed obliquely by means of a dovetailed
appendage so that it may be used both for stretching and smoothing
without the attendant being impeded by the vertical standards of the
machine. The two pivots carrying the whole of the parts (one of which
is represented on an enlarged scale in the section Figure 5) are made
in two parts. The one part coinciding with the centre of the fly wheel
turns in a bearing K which is capable of vertical motion, it being fitted

page_text: in the same slide as the guide F of the hammer; the other portion
of the axis turns in the bearing B before mentioned, deviating from the
centre on the same side as spindle C but to a less degree for a purpose
to be herein-after explained. Each of the bearings B is connected by
means of spiral springs to an iron frame L, shown separately in Figure 4,
which is capable of being raised by means of screws M turning in nuts
fixed at top and bottom of frame L. The screws are broken away for
greater clearness in Figures 1 and 2. The two frames L are connected
by a bar so as to prevent their turning with the screws employed for
raising them. The screws M. are represented as having the threads
running in opposite directions. Motion is imparted to the screws in
one or other direction by means of hand wheels mounted on either side
of the machine on a horizontal shaft P and bevil gearing in connection
therewith. The weight of the whole sliding arrangement before
described is counterbalanced by the aid of weights N, N, Figure 1, the
chains from which pass round the grooved pullies O, O, and are thence
attached to rings fixed to frames L. The parts being thus arranged
the attendant by the aid of one or other hand wheel may readily raise
the several parts to the height desired and suited to the metal under
treatment. Q, anvil stock through which the shaft P passes freely;
R, cast-iron block serving as an anvil, mounted on stock Q, the position
of which block may be regulated as desired. A square cavity » made
in the anvil may be filled up on a level with the surface by means of a
steel plate when forging flat pieces of metal, while matrices or stamps
of any form may be applied thereon when it is desired to give any
particular form to the metal under treatment. S, S, are friction rollers,
mounted two and two on either side, on which turns the shaft
carrying the pullies O, O; T, Figure 1, shaft receiving motion from
the source of power by means of a strap pulley U transmitting motion
to an intermediate shaft A', and from thence to the two fly wheels A, A,
by means of straps and pullies B', B'. Shaft A' is mounted in bearings
on the upper ends of two rods or arms G' attached to flanges cast on
the bearings of shaft T. The two arms G', G', arc connected by a tie
bar, as seen by the dotted lines in Figure 2, the enlarged ends of which
are bolted to the middle of said arms in such manner that shaft A¹
with its pullics may be changed in position while rotating by turning
on axis T and always remain at a certain distance from the latter. Two
rods D', D', connected at one end to bearings K and at the other end

page_text: to the bearings of shaft A' serve to keep the axis of fly wheels A during
its motion at an invariable distance from axis A¹. From this arrange-
ment it results that the fly wheel gearing and hammer may readily be
raised or lowered without varying the tension of the straps imparting
motion to axis A¹ or pullics A, A. Supposing the article to be
forged is placed in the machine the operator first acts on shaft P in
order to lower the fly wheels and hammer so that the latter in its
up-and-down motion may strike the article under treatment before
completing its stroke or reaching the dead point. Immediately after
the hammer has touched the article and penetrated it to a slight extent
it will be brought to a standstill, but as its vertical motion relatively
to the axis of the fly wheels does not vary to any great degree (the
latter continuing to turn during the short interval that the hammer is
stationary) it is necessary that the axis of the fly wheels should rise
with a speed exactly equal to that of the descent which the hammer
would have at this moment were its motion not arrested by the article
being forged. During the short interval however which elapses before
the fly wheels attain this upward rate of speed they will oppose con-
siderable resistance on account of their weight producing a pressure
which is transmitted to the article being operated on by by means of the
connecting rod and hammer. The resistance of the article being forged
will thus be rendered available, 1st, a small proportion for arresting
the motion of the hammer and connecting rod, and 2ndly, the remainder
for imparting to the centre of gravity of the fly wheels and accessory
parts an upward motion equalling that of the descent.
In order to establish a parallel between this apparatus and the steam
hammer I would observe that in the latter case the resistance of the
article being forged serves to bring the hammer to a stop on coming in
contact therewith, while in the apparatus of this Invention the principal
effect of this resistance is to communicate motion to the centre of gravity
of the fly wheels and parts which are stationary at the moment of contact.
If I compare it further with some small forging machines now in use it
will be found that in these the reaction which the metal under treatment
opposes to the penetration of the hammer is overcome by the solidity of
the bearings in which the crank shaft turns, while in the apparatus of this
Invention it is overcome by the resistance that the fly wheels oppose to
the upward motion.

page_text: From the foregoing it will be readily understood that the intensity of
the blow of the hammer will be in proportion to the square of the
velocity of the hammer at the moment of contact, as the speed is
greater at this moment from the fact of the axis C being furthest from
the dead point. Thus in order to increase or diminish the intensity of
the blow it is only necessary to slightly raise or lower the fly wheels
and hammer by the aid of hand wheel P.
The foregoing observations apply to the first stroke of the hammer
which presents this peculiarity that at the moment the blow is delivered
the centre of gravity of the fly wheels has hardly any motion; this,
however, is not the case in succeeding strokes, as the fly wheels after
the blow is delivered will rise with precisely the same speed as that of
the hammer in the contrary direction. As the fly wheels rise and the
bearings B, B, with them the upper springs become compressed
and the lower ones expanded, from which it results that at each
point of their upward course the whole of the movable parts are
subjected to a varying force in a downward direction equal to the
excess in weight of the parts augmented by the increasing tension
of the lower springs over the decreasing tension of the upper springs,
this result being proportionate to the course traversed by the points
of suspension from the position which corresponds to equilibrium.
The motion constantly decreasing ultimately ceasos at the culminating
point, at which moment the parts again descend, and when in the same
positions as in the upward movement the action of the springs and
weight produce the same effect as before. Thus the speed of the descent
is equal at all corresponding points to that of the rise, consequently
when the parts are in equilibrium they will have a downward speed.
numerically equal to the upward motion they possess immediately after
striking the blow, and the duration of this double up-aud-down motion
is constant whatever may be the ascensional speed at starting, the
amplitude of the motion alone varying. The tension of the springs may
be arranged so that this duration shall exactly equal one revolution of
the fly wheels; in this case the whole of the movable parts will occupy
during the second and following strokes exactly the same positions as
during the first stroke. The intensity of the blows, however, which
after the second stroke are alike, is much greater than at starting, as
at the moment of striking the centre of gravity instead of remaining
stationary will have a motion exactly equal but in the opposite direction

page_text: to that obtained after striking. Thus the upward motion produced by
the hammer striking is utilized for increasing the intensity of the
following stroke. Supposing the machine to work inoperatively, that
is to say, without any metal being placed on the anvil, the following
will take place, the axis of the two fly wheels will vary in position
when producing the rise and fall of the connecting rod and hammer, as
the latter will react and so cause the up-and-down motion of the fly
wheels and parts. In fact the motion imparted from one part to the
other being considered as a whole to be reciprocal forces will not change
the centre of gravity of the parts, hence if one part descends another
rises reciprocally, and the speed of the parts having motion in opposite
directions will be in an inverse relation to the said parts. The weight
of the fly wheels and accessory parts being much greater than that of
the hammer, in the proportion of nearly eight to one, the to-and-fro
motion of the fly wheel shaft will be very slight. For this reason the
pivots turning in bearing B are caused to deviate slightly on the same
side as spindle C, so that while the axis of the fly wheels rises and falls
the axis of pivots B neither rises nor falls, but only moves slightly in a
horizontal direction, to which the springs readily adapt themselves
without being required to move in the direction of their length, their
action being the same as if they were applied at the centre of gravity of
the system composed of the fly wheels and accessories, connecting rods,

page_text: Secondly. I claim the improved machinery for working metals,
crein-before described and illustrated in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)