A CERTAIN METHOD OF CUTTING SCREWS OF IRON, COMMONLY CALLED WOOD SCREWS, IN A BETTER MANNER THAN HATH BEEN HERETOFORE PRACTISED
Year: 1760

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOB
WYATT, of Tatenhill, and WILLIAM WYATT, of Burton-upon-Trent, both in the
County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fourteenth day of May, in the thirty-third year of His reign, did
give and grant unto us, the said Job Wyatt and William Wyatt, His especial
licence that we, the said Job Wyatt and William Wyatt, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of
"A CERTAIN METHOD OF CUTTING SCREWS OF IRON, COMMONLY CALLED WOOD
SCREWS, IN A BETTER MANNER THAN HATH BEEN HERETOFORE PRACTISED;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe, obliging us, the said
Job Wyatt and William Wyatt, under our hands and seals, to cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of the said Invention, and how the same is to
be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
four kalendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same (relation being thereunto had), may more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said provisoe, we, the said
Job Wyatt and William Wyatt, do hereby declare that our said Invention of
a certain method of cutting screws of iron, commonly called wood screws, in a
better manner than hath been heretofore practised, is to be performed in the
manner following (that is to say):-
First, for preparing; a pair of clams, fixed at the head end of a spindle, the
chops or sides of which clams move equally at the same time to or from the
center of the spindle, and hold the blank screw whilst preparing; on the other
end of the said spindle is a pulley, and in the same tap that the tail end of the
said spindle moves with another tap, at the distance of about four inches,
moves another short spindle and pulley, which receives a band of leather from
the first-mentioned pulley occasionally as the worker may require to stop,
which band is moved from one pulley to the other by applying the hand to a
small leaver for that purpose.
The second part is that for slitting the heads; the blank screw being fixed
in a dye, by means of a perpendicular screw, and forced to a sett of cutters
fixed in a spindle, by a screw acting horizontally, which cutters are small bits
of steel, to be taken out, ground, and repaired, as occasion requires.
The third part is that for forming the thread which compleats the screw; a
spindle and two collars being fixed in two poppet heads, in the head end of
the said spindle is fixed a kind of dye, and there is a sliding piece of steclo
forced by a spring with three centers, in order to fasten the screw in the said
dye whilst turning; in the tail end of the said spindle is fixed a screw, by means
of which the screw to be made or turned is regulated. There are also two
frames of iron, one before the head and the other behind the tail end of the said
spindle. In the frame before the head end are fixed two cutters and two fences,
which cutters and fences turn the iron out of the grooves or channells betwixt
the threads of the screw, and are so contrived as to approach each other at the
same time. They are made of small bits of steel, to be taken out, ground, and
repaired occasionally. In the frame at the tail end of the spindle are two
upright pieces of steel moving on centers at the bottom, and in the inside of
the heads of them is worked a female screw, which upright pieces, by applying
the hand to a small leaver, are made to clasp the aforesaid regulating screw,
and by the same motion the cutters are brought to the pin of the screw in-
tended to be cut or turned; then the said spindle being set to work (by touching
a small leaver), the thread is in part formed, and by means of a small più or
leaver fixed in the spindle, and striking another pin or leaver, opens the said
upright pieces of steel, sets the said spindle at liberty, and prepares it for a

page_text: second operation, which is repeated until such time as the thread of the screw
is sufficiently formed. The aforesaid spindle and the axis of the great wheel on
which the band goes do not lye in a paralell direction.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twenty-third day of August 1760.