AN IMPROVEMENT OR THDRAWING THE MANNRACTURE OF BAYONETS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edgar Brooks, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
THDRAWING THE MANNRACTURE OF BAYONETS"
Sealed the 31st December 1861, and dated the 5th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edgar Brooks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
November 1861.
I, EDGAR BROOKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BAYONETS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in, manufacturing the blades of bayonets by
the process of stamping, in place of the processes of forging by hand or by
tilt hammers, or by rolling. By manufacturing, bayonet blades according to
my. Invention greater uniformity in form and size is secured, as well as great
rapidity of manufacture. The grinding required to finish bayonet blades made
according to my Invention is much less than that required to finish bayonet
blades. made by the ordinary method of manufacture. In making bayonet
blades according to my Invention, the steel of which the blade is formed is
shut on to the iron of which the. socket is made, and the socket, neck, and
shoulder of the blade, are formed in the ordinary manner. I then form the

page_text: blade of the bayonet in the following manner:-I take a pair of dies, the
interior configuration of which resembles a bayonet blade. One of the said
dies is fixed on the bed of a stamp, and the other is fixed to the hammer of
the said stamp. By the operation of the said dies and stamp upon the roughly
formed and heated bayonet blade the figure of the said blade is completed
ready for the hardening process. The stamp may be made to operate once,
twice, or oftener on each bayonet blade. Instead of forming the whole blade
by the use of one pair of dies, the said blade may be formed by the use of
several pairs of dies made to operate in succession on the different parts of
the blades.
My Invention consists, secondly, in manufacturing the whole of the bayonet,
that is to say, the socket, neck, and blade, by the process of stamping by the
use of a stamp and dies. The stamps I employ may either be band or power
stamps.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edgar Brooks in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
30th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDGAR
BROOKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edgar Brooks, Her special licence that I, the said Edgar Brooks, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edgar
Brooks, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BAYONETS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Edgar Brooks, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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

page_text: 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 Edgar Brooks, 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
thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, firstly, in manufacturing the blades of bayonets by
the process of stamping, in place of the processes of forging by hand or by
tilt hammers, or by rolling, as ordinarily practised. By manufacturing bayonet
blades according to my Invention greater uniformity in form and size is
secured, as well as great rapidity of manufacture. The grinding required to
finish bayonet blades made according to my Invention is much less than that
required to finish bayonet blades made by the ordinary method of manufacture.
In making bayonet blades according to my Invention, the steel of which the.
blade is formed is "shut" or welded on to the iron of which the socket is
made, and the socket and neck of the bayonet and the shoulder of the blade
are formed in the ordinary manner: Instead, however, of making the blade
of a piece of steel of the ordinary figure, that is, nearly square in cross section,
I take a piece of steel of the form represented in side elevation in Figure 1,
and transverse section in Figure 2, of the accompanying Drawing, that is, of
a nearly triangular figure in cross section. I form the blade of the bayonet
by means of dies and a stamp in the following manner :-I take a pair of dies
of the kind represented in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, Figure 3 representing in
elevation, and Figure 4 in plan, the upper or moveable die, and Figure 5
representing in elevation, and Figure 6 in plan, the lower or fixed die. The
acting surfaces of the dies have such a figure that when the upper die is
brought down upon the lower one, the space enclosed between them bas very
nearly the figure of part of a bayonet blade, the projection a of the upper
die, Figures 3 and 4, forming one side of the triangular bayonet blade, and.
the depression of the lower die, Figures 5 and 6, forming the other two
sides of the bayonet blade. The die, Figures 5 and 6, is fixed to the bed of
a stamp, and the die, Figures 3 and 4, is fixed to the hammer or ram of the
said stamp. The roughly-formed bayonet blade being heated to redness is
placed in the depression 6 in the lower die, Figures 5 and 6, and the upper
die, Figures 3 and 4, being raised with the hammer or ram of the stamp, is
allowed to fall in the usual manner. The upper die, Figures 3 and 4, may
be allowed to fall several times upon the blade, in order the more accurately
to make it take the impression of the parts a and 6 of the dies. The stamp
which I employ differs in no respect from stamps ordinarily used for stamping

page_text: in other manufactures, and I have therefore not thought it necessary either to
describe or to represent the said stamp. Either a stamp worked by hand, or
by steam or other power, may be employed. In carrying this part of my
Invention into effect, I either use a pair of dies of sufficient size to operate
upon and fashion the whole of the blade at the same time, or I use two or
more pairs of dies, which I make to operate in succession upon the different
parts of the blade. The dies I have represented in the Drawing are a pair
of dies with which I operate upon and fashion the middle of the blade. The
dies by which the larger and smaller ends of the blade are operated upon
and fashioned resemble those represented in the Drawing, excepting that the
parts a and b are made of a size suitable to fashion that end of the blade upon
which they are made to act.
Figure 7 represents in side elevation, and Figure 8 in transverse section,
a partly formed bayonet after the blade has been fashioned by stamping
according to my Invention. The bayonet blade, Figures 7 and 8, is finished
by being bent at right angles at the part c, and ground in the ordinary
manner.
My Invention consists, secondly, in manufacturing the whole of the bayonet,
that is to say, the socket, neck, shoulder, and blade, by the process of stamping
by the use of a stamp and dies. In carrying this part of my Invention into
effect, I employ, in addition to the dies herein-before described, and illustrated
in the Drawing, a pair of dies for shaping the socket, neck, and shoulder of
the bayonet, that is to say, the parts marked respectively d, e, and f, in
Figure 7. Each of the said dies is sunk with the figure of one half of the
parts d, e, and f, and the dies are used in the stamp in the ordinary manner.
After having "shut" or welded together the roughly-formed pieces of iron
and steel, of which the socket, neck, and shoulder and the blade respectively
are to be formed, I first operate upon the blade in the manner herein-before
described under the first head of my Invention, and I afterwards form the
socket, neck, and shoulder of the bayonet by means of the pair of dies last
described worked by a stamp.
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 do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the
Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, the improvement or improvements in the manufacture of bayonets
herein first described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to
say, fashioning or shaping the blades of bayonets by means of dies worked by

page_text: a stamp, whether the whole of the blade be operated upon at the same time
by one pair of dies, or different parts of the blades be operated upon in
succession by different pairs of dies.
Secondly, the improvement in the manufacture of bayonets herein last
described, that is to say, fashioning or shaping the socket, neck, and shoulder
of bayonets by means of a pair of dies worked by a stamp.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edgar Brooks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
THOMAS LAWRENCE.
EDGAR BROOKS. (L.S.)