CERTAIN NEW METHODS OF MAKING NAILS AND SPIKES OF IRON, COPPER, AND OTHER METALS," BY MEANS OF CERTAIN MACHINERY PUT IN MOTION BY THE FORCE OF ANIMALS, WATER, WIND, OR STEAM, INSTEAD OF MAKING THEM BY HAND LABOUR
Year: 1790

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FINCH, of Woombourne, in the County of Stafford, Iron Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by Elis
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date.at 'West-
minster, the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the thirtieth year of His: reign,, did
give and grant unto me, the said William Finch, His especial licence that 1,
the said William Finch,, during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN NEW METHODS OF
MAKING NAILS AND SPIKES OF IRON, COPPER, AND OTHER METALS," BY MEANS OF
CERTAIN MACHINERY PUT IN MOTION BY THE FORCE OF ANIMALS, WATER, WIND,
OR STEAM, INSTEAD OF MAKING THEM BY HAND LABOUR;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, öbliging me, the said William Finch,
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of":
my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Finch, do hereby declare that my said Invention of certain new

page_text: methods of making nails and spikes of iron, copper, and other metals, by
means of certain machinery put in motion by the force of animals, water, wind,
or steam, instead of making them by hand labour, is described in manner
following, that is to say :-
My machinery for working the hammers, by which all manual labour will
be saved, consists of oue main shaft, cause to turn round in either a horizontal
or perpendicular direction by means of a water wheel, or the effects of fire by
a steam engine; such main or principal shaft will put in motion, by means of
cog and round or tooth and pinion wheels, other counter shafts or barrels,
whereon is fixed coggs, tappets, or arms, which coggs, tappets, or arms,
striking upon the helves or shafts whercon the hammers are fixed, work the
same in either a lift or tilt manner. Also, to make three divisions of hands in
the manufacturing of headed nails, namely, one man, woman, or child to
carry the licated rod to the man; woman, or child stationed before the hammer,
which man, woman, or child, by mero activity, will with one hand not only form
the largest size nail, but a far greater number in the same given time; when the
third man, woman, or child will, with the same kind of hammer, head and finish
a number of the said shanks together, leaving them truer made and better for
use than the prescut mode.. Also, by a division of hands, will make such nails
as require no tool or frame to be headed in; namely, the one, as heretofore
mentioned, to carry the iron from the fire, and the other, as stationed before
the hammer, to finish them. Also, by heating many rods in one fire there
will be a saving of coal. Also, by the more speedy motion of the machine
hammers, several nails will be made at once heating of the rod, whereas by
the old method only one is made, consequently there will be a great saving of
yield. Also, the motion being regular, independent of strength, a child will
be able to make the largest nail or spike. And a further and considerable
benefit will arise to the manufacturer by this mode, namely, that he will have
his business done at one place or under one roof, whereas by the old method
the workinen live many miles asunder, and cannot be overlooked; likewise, by
this method the limbs of those employed in the manufactory will be preserved
to the end of life, whereas in the old method of working, men are frequently
lamed in seven or ten years, and obliged to be maintained by the parish.
In witness whereof, I, tho said William Finch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal; this Twenty-sixth day of August, One thousand seven
hundred and ninety.
WILL FINCH. (L.S.).

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of August,
in the year above written, the aforesaid William Finch came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year above mentioned.