IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DIES FOR SHAPING METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Thomas Andrews, of Handsworth, in the County
of Stafford, Manager of Works, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF DIES FOR SHAPING METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Thomas Andrews
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th December 1880.
JOSEPH THOMAS ANDREWS, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manager
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DIES FOR SHAPING METALS
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
of Works.
In the ordinary method of manufacturing the said dies the die sinker operates
upon masses of steel, from the plain surfaces of which he fashions the two dies, that
is, the upper and lower or male and female dies, by the use of percussive hand
worked tools. This method of manufacture is tedious and costly, and it is with
great difficulty that dies producing articles having the exact configuration of the
pattern to which the die sinker works are made.
In making the said dies according to my Invention, I make a pair of castings in
steel, the said castings having the same general shapes as those of the dies to be
manufactured. These castings are produced in the ordinary way. While the said
castings are still hot and capable of being moulded by pressure, I take a pattern of
the article which the dies are intended to manufacture, the said pattern being made
of wrought or cast iron, or steel or other hard material not injuriously affected by
heat. I place the said pattern between the acting faces of the pair of roughly
shaped dies, and by hydraulic or other pressure I forcibly press the acting faces of
the roughly formed dies upon the said pattern, and thereby give to the said acting
faces of dies the exact configuration of the said pattern. After the pressure has
been withdrawn, the said dies may, by immersion in oil or water, be hardened, or
they may be allowed to cool and be reheated for the purpose of hardening them,
after which they may be tempered to the required degree in the ordinary way.
In some cases, and particularly where it is desirable to give a particular
configuration to the faces of the dies, I place a strong metallic plate between the
heated dies before subjecting them to pressure, the said plate having a perforation
[Price 6d1

page_text: of a size and shape suitable for the passage through it of that portion of the pattern
which enters the concave or female die.
The castings which I make may be so massive as not to require any additional
external support, or they may be made, in the manner herein before described,
lighter than is desirable for use, and afterwards strengthened or supported by being
embedded in a casing of wrought or cast iron, or be surrounded with belts or hoops
of wrought iron or steel.
The roughly formed dies described may be made wholly of steel, or they may
be made when large mainly of iron, the portions in which their acting faces are
formed being alone made of steel.
I prefer to use hydraulic pressure in the compression of the roughly formed dies
and pattern, but I do not limit myself thereto, as the pressure of a screw or other
press may be employed instead of hydraulic pressure.
The acting parts of the dies may be made of wrought steel roughly shaped by
forging or stamping. These are heated to redness and compressed upon the
pattern so as to make them take the exact configuration of the pattern. They are
afterwards embedded or strengthened in the ways herein before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Thomas Andrews in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th June 1881.
JOSEPH THOMAS ANDREWS, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manager
of Works. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DIES FOR SHAPING METALS
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
In the ordinary method of manufacturing dies the die sinker operates upon
masses of steel, from the plain surfaces of which he fashions the dies, either as
single dies or in pairs, generally known as top and bottom dies, or male and female
dies, by the use of percussive hand worked tools almost exclusively.
This method is tedious and costly, and it is only with great difficulty that dies
producing articles having the exact configuration of the pattern to which the die
sinker works are made.
In making dies according to my Invention I make castings in steel either for
pairs or single dies. These castings have the same general shapes as the dies to be
manufactured. The castings are produced in the ordinary way, and whilst they are
still hot and capable of being moulded by pressure I take a pattern of the article
which the dies are intended to manufacture. I place the said pattern between
the acting faces of the pair of roughly shaped dies, and by hydraulic or other
pressure I forcibly press them on the acting faces of the pattern so as to impress
upon the said roughly formed dies the exact configuration of the pattern.
Or in a similar manner, when a die is required single or plain on one side, I
place the pattern on the roughly formed die and bring it in contact with the head
or plunger of the press and force the pattern into the heated casting until it has
the exact configuration of the pattern.
The patterns are made of wrought or cast iron, steel, or other hard metal not
injuriously affected by heat.
When the dies are deep, some portions being much deeper than others, the outer
edges sbrink somewhat away from the pattern and leave the dies less sharp than
the pattern, in which case I sink the pattern by pressure from 1/8th to 8th of an
inch deeper than the depth required in the dies, so that when the pressure is
removed the dies can be turned down or planed on their faces to the exact depth
required.
I make the steel castings to be made into dies, either of the cubic capacity which
it is desired the finished die shall have, or I make the steel castings only of
sufficient size to form the acting faces of the finished dies, the said faces being
embedded in massive die holders for support. When the pattern to be moulded is
very light or thin or of unequal depths, I prefer to make a casting for supporting
or strengthening the pattern or forming part of the pattern, so that it will bear
the strain or pressure necessary to give it the exact shape or form.
After the pressure has been withdrawn the dies may be immersed in oil or water
for hardening them; or the dies may be allowed to cool and be reheated for
hardening them, after which they may be tempered to the required degree in the
ordinary ways.
In some cases I employ a strong plate to form part of the pattern, the said strong
plate preventing the heated steel castings when submitted to pressure from coming
into contact.
Although I have described the roughly formed masses of steel which I employ as
made by casting, yet the said masses may be made by forging or stamping.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing,
the manner in which my Invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in elevation, partly in section, a portion of a hydraulic press
arranged for making a single die according to my Invention.
a is the heated mass of steel to be made into a die surrounded and supported
by the case or support 6 of iron or steel, the parts a and b being situated on the
bed c of the hydraulic press; d is the pattern which is to be forced into the upper

page_text: surface of the heated mass a by the ascent of the bed c against the plunger e of
the hydraulic press. When the pattern is required to impress itself on two heated
masses of steel so as to make a pair of dies, the arrangement represented in Figure 2
is adopted, where the pattern is marked d, the lower mass of heated steel is
marked a, and the upper mass of heated steel is marked a².
The cases or supports of the heated masses a, a², are marked respectively b and
b² in Figure 2.
The dies a and a² may for use be fixed in holders f, f, as represented in
Figure 3.
Figure 4 represents in section the arrangement I adopt when the pattern to be
impressed upon the heated mass or masses of steel occupies only a portion of the
area of the dies to be produced, that is, when a considerable portion of the dies are
required to have plain faces. In this case I employ a strong plate 9 having a
thickness nearly equal to the thickness of the pattern h, the said plate g having in
it a hole i in which the pattern h is situated; a, a³, are the heated masses to be
impressed by the pattern h; and e, e², are the rams of the hydraulic press. The
strong plate g prevents the heated masses a, a², from coming in contact when
pressure is applied to them.
Instead of a press having two hydraulic rams e, e², a press having only one ram
may be employed.
Although I prefer to employ, as represented in the Drawing, hydraulic pressure
in the compression of roughly formed dies upon patterns, yet I do not limit myself
thereto, as the pressure of a screw press or other press may be employed instead of
hydraulic pressure.
Dies made according to my Invention, after the pressing process described, are
for many purposes sufficiently perfect for use, that is, do not require to be worked
upon by the die sinker, as, for example, when the dies are to be used for making
parts of machinery, art iron work, and other articles, but when extreme delicacy
of surface or figure is required, the dies made by my Invention may be worked
upon by the die sinker by hand, as, for example, in the case of dies for medals and
coins. The pressure to which the mass of steel exposed in making dies according
to my Invention improves its quality.
The manufacture of dies by my Invention is more economical than by the
ordinary manufacture.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention, the improvements in the manufacture of dies for shaping metals and
other substances herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing the said dies by pressing the masses of
steel of which they are to be made while in a heated and plastic state upon patterns
or models, by which pressure the required figure, or nearly the required figure, is
impressed upon the said masses, the quality of the steel being at the same time
improved by the pressure employed, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Thomas Andrews, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
JOSEPH THOMAS ANDREWS. (L.S.)
JOSEPH MORRIS CROW,
Commercial Clerk,
48, Queen's Head Lane,
Handsworth.