IMPROVEMENTS IN VICES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of the firm of
J. C. Robertson and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City
of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VICES"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th October 1852.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of J. C. Robertson and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VICES" to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in so constructing a vice that one of its
jaws shall readily adapt itself to an equal pressure throughout its length
upon a wedge formed or other irregularly shaped article, the other jaw
being of usual construction and operation.
As generally constructed, vices have one jaw stationary and the other
approaching to or receding from that by suitable mechanical means, as
a screw, &c., but always parallel to each other along their upper edges.

page_text: This is objectionable when an article of irregular form is to be held, as
say a wedge. To obviate this the vice is constructed with an oscillatory
jaw, the form being varied in several ways, as may be most convenient.
One method, and which the inventor prefers, is, to attach to the back or
stationary jaw a clamp b, Fig. 1, secured to the vice by the screw c, and
to this clamp a jaw a, is affixed by a pivot or step d, upon which it may
have vibratory motion. The back of the jaw a, is enlarged at the
centre, as shown, so that it bears against the face of the usual back or
stationary jaw only by a point, and thus it is self-adjusting, for when
the vice is employed to hold an irregularly shaped piece, as in Fig. II.,
the act of closing the jaws adapts the compound back jaw to the form
of the embraced article, as evident in Fig. II.
It will not be essential that the jaw a, should be attached to the
clamp,. as it may be continued downward and be supported by clasping
the screw case f, and in this form is more readily removed if it is
desired to use the vice as one of ordinary construction.
Another form of application is shewn in Fig. III. In this the back
or stationary jaw is removed above the screw, and a jaw e, is put upon
the solid metal of the vice, being fixed upon a vertical pivot, upon which
it may have the requisite vibratory motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent,
filed by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th April 1858.
:
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of J. C. Robertson and
.Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
send greeting.
{
...WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,

page_text: b
Ier special licence that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others. as I, the. said
Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 VICES," Communicated
to me by a foreigner residing abroad, upon. the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Archibald. Brooman,.by an instrument
in-writing under my hand and scal, 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
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW.YE, that I, the said Richard .Archibald Brooman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what mannér
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being. häd
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
M
The said improvements consist in so constructing vices that one of
the jaws-thereof shall exert throughout its length an equal pressure or
holding power upon a wedge shaped or other irregularly formed article
placed. between the said jaw and the other jaw of the vice, the latter
being of the usual construction. According to the usual. method.of
constructing vices, one of the jaws is stationary and the other jaw causéd
to approach to or recede from the stationary-one by-means of a screw
or other equivalent contrivance, but always so as to preserve parallelism
of the faces and upper edges of the jaws. By this arrangement, although
an object of, a regular form; possessing parallel sides is securely held,
one of an irregular shape, such, for instance, as a wedge, does not receive
an equal pressure on its sides, and therefore cannot be clamped in the
vice firmly. Now the object of the present Invention is, to obviate the
difficulty, which is overcome by making the vice with an oscillatory jaw,
which may be varied in form to suit particular circumstances.

page_text: Figures 1, and 2, exhibit one method of constructing a vice so as to
secure the above object, and the arrangement therein shewn is that
which is preferred by the Inventor. A, is the back or stationary jaw of
the vice, to which is secured a clamp b, by means of the screw c; a, is
an additional jaw, which is connected with the clamp b, by means of a
pivot or step d, upon which it has a vibratory motion. The back of the
jaw a, is enlarged at the centre, so as to bear against the face of the
back or stationary jaw A, but at a single point only, and thus to be
capable. of shifting, so as to adjust itself to the holding of an article of
irregular or wedge form, as shewn in Figure 2; the act of closing the
jaws adapting the compound back jaw to the form of the embraced
object. It is not essential that the additional jaw a, should be attached
to the clamp b, as it may be continued downwards, and be supported by
clasping the screw case f, which would admit of its being more readily
removed when it is desired to use the vice as one of ordinary construction.
Another mode of constructing vices according to the improvements is
shewn in Figure 3. In this case the usual back or stationary jaw,
instead of being constructed in the ordinary manner, is replaced by a
vibratory jaw e, which works in a vertical pivot, which is
socket in the solid metal of the vice above the screw case. The jaw e,
is capable of turning on this pivot as a centre, and thus of adjusting
itself to the form of an irregularly shaped article, so as to embrace it
firmly when the moving jaw is brought up to it.
fitted into a
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
'what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,―
The construction of vices with an oscillatory jaw, so as to adapt the
same to the holding of articles of irregular form.
In witness whercof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hercunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.