IMPROVEMENTS IN PARALLEL VICES, JOINERS' VICES, AND JOINERS' CRAMPS, AND IN ADJUSTABLE SPANNERS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Neil, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineer
15
and Tool Maker, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN PARALLEL VICES,
JOINERS' VICES, AND JOINERS' CRAMPS, AND IN ADJUSTABLE SPANNERS."
Sealed the 9th January 1880, and dated the 12th July 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Neil at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th July 1879.
CHARLES NEIL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineer and Tool Maker.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PARALLEL VICES, JOINERS' VICES, AND JOINERS' CRAMPS, AND
IN ADJUSTABLE SPANNERS."
My improvements in parallel vices are as follows:-The vice jaws may be made
of the usual materials, with slot holes through to suit a parallel bar passing through
them; the said bar carries the moving jaw, and has teeth formed on one side as far
as it works in or through the fast jaw, and the front end passing through the loose
or moving jaw is rounded down and threaded to take a screw box.
The fast jaw is made to bolt down on a bench, or pillar, or planing machine, and
the slot in it is formed to admit and fit the aforementioned toothed bar (carrying
the moving jaw) and a wedge, the wedge having teeth on one side to fit in teeth
formed in the bar.
When the teeth in bar and wedge are brought in contact in the slot of the fast
jaw, and the pressure applied when using the vice by the screw box working on
the threaded end of bar, they engage in each other and become jambed fast in the
slot, and so the two jaws of the vice grip firmly and rigidly.
On the outside of the fast jaw I fix a lever to throw the wedge in and out of
gear with the toothed bar, which when the pressure is taken off and the wedge
thrown out of gear, allows the toothed bar carrying the loose jaw to slide freely
backwards and forwards.
In the front or loose jaw is fitted a screw box, with a groove round the outside,
and a pin passes through this groove to retain the screw box on the jaw.
The threaded end of toothed bar passes through the slot in front jaw, and is there
engaged by the screw box.

page_text: machine vice.
My-improvements as applied to joiners' cramps are as follows: I-use-a-serrated
or toothed wedge (moving-loose-in-the-sliding jaw), engaging in teeth or serrations
on one side of cramp-bar, the wedge being carried backwards and forwards by the
sliding jaw.
My improvements as applied to adjustable spanners are as follows:-I use a roller
fitted in a wedge to work on the underside-of-the-movable jaw in either of the
spanners known as the "Clyburn" or the "Budding" pattern, and the same means
may also be applied to joiners' cramps and parallel vices.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Neil in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th January.
1880.
CHARLES NEIL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineer and Tool Maker.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PARALLEL VICES, JOINERS' VICES, AND JOINERS' CRAMPS, AND
IN ADJUSTABLE SPANNERS."
My improvements in parallel vices are illustrated by the accompanying Drawings,
in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a parallel vice constructed
according to this Invention; Figure 2, a plan; Figure 3, an end view, partly in
section; and Figure 4, a detail.
A and B are the vice jaws, which may be made of the usual materials; each jaw
is formed with a slot hole through to suit a parallel bar C passing through them;
the said bar carries the moving jaw A, and has teeth formed on one side, on the
lower side as shown in this case, as far as it works in or through the fast jaw B.
The front end passing through the loose or moving jaw A is rounded down and
threaded at c, to take a screw box or nut D, which is formed with a groove round'
the outside, and a pin a passes through this groove to retain the screw box or nut
D on the jaw A, but so that it can be turned round by a handle or pin d.
The fast jaw B is made to bolt down on a bench, or pillar, or planing machine;
as shown here, it is made with a flange b for fastening it by; the slot in it is formed
to admit and fit the aforementioned toothed bar C (carrying the moving jaw A) and
a wedge E, which is shown separately in Figure 4, and is formed with teeth on one'
edge to fit in the teeth formed in the bar, as shewn, and has a peg e screwed or
driven in to be acted upon by the lever F.
When the teeth in the bar C and wedge E are brought in contact in the slot of
the fast jaw B, and the pressure applied when using the vice by the screw box D
working on the threaded end of bar C, they engage in each other and become
jambed fast in the slot, and so the two jaws A and B of the vice grip firmly and
rigidly.
On the outside of the fast jaw B I fix a lever F, which turns on a pin f and has
an elongated hole, in which works the peg e screwed in the wedge E through the
slot made in side of jaw B; the lever F thus serves to throw the wedge E in and
out of gear with the toothed bar C, which when the pressure is taken off and the
wedge thrown out of gear, allows the toothed bar C carrying the loose jaw A to
slide freely backwards and forwards. As the lever F is turned to the right or to
the left the pressure is applied or withdrawn, as desired, to any article placed
between the jaws A and B when they have been brought together as described.
The base of loose jaw is dovetailed to carry a slipper when used as a planing
machine vice.
Figure 5 is a side view, partly in section, and Figure 6 a vertical cross section of
a modified arrangement of vice; the wedge E is in this case acted upon by a spring
F, which is placed in a recess in the base or flange b of the fixed jaw B. This
spring F constantly keeps the wedge E engaged with the bar C unless intentionally
held back by the peg f, when it is desired to allow the bar C to move backwards or
forwards.
My improvements as applied to joiners' cramps are illustrated in Figures 7 and 8,
the former being a side view, and the latter a vertical cross section through line
x, y, of Figure 7, and are as follows:-I use a serrated or toothed wedge E, moving
loosely in the sliding jaw B and engaging in teeth or serrations on one side of the
cramp bar C, the wedge being carried backwards and forwards by the sliding jaw.
When the pressure is applied by the screw c, which works in the other jaw a of the
cramp, to any article placed between the jaws A and B, the wedge teeth engaging
in the teeth of the bar C at once lock and jamb fast the jaw B, which can only be

page_text: My improvements, as applied to adjustable spanners, are illustrated in Figures 9,
10, and 11,. and are as follows:-
The wedge E, Figure 9, is carried in and by the movable jaw B of the spanner,
and its teeth engage with the teeth formed on the edge of the spanner bar A. The
wedge E-is held engaged with the bar by the spring F placed in a recess in the
movable jaw B, as shown. When this spring is pressed down it releases-the-wedge-
E from the bar, and allows the jaw B to be.adjusted.
Figure 10 shows a modified arrangement, in which I use a modification of or
equivalent for the wedge E, viz., the screw roller E, which with its threads engages
with the teeth in the spanner bar A, and is contained and held in a recess formed
in the wedge E¹. The spring F holds them in gear as in the previously described
arrangements.
Figure 11 shows a similar arrangement of screw roller and wedge, but applied to
another form of spanner.
The screw roller E can be revolved by the fingers through holes, as is usual in
such spanners (known as the " Clayburn" and the "Budding" spanners), and the
distance between the two jaws can thus be adjusted to the greatest nicety, which is
not the case with the ordinary serrated wedge.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in parallel vices, joiners" vices, and joiners' cramps, and in adjustable
spanners,-
A serrated wedge operating in combination with a serrated bar, and applied as
and for the purposes shown and described with reference to the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Neil, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty