IMPROVE-. MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND FORGING OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGE PROALATION INACHINERY THEREFOR
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Thomason, of Workington, in the County,
of Cumberland, Practical Forger, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND FORGING OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Thomason at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd July 1873.
I; PETER THOMASON, of Workington, in the County of Cumberland,,
Practical Forger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND FORGING OF RAILWAY AND OTHER
CARRIAGE AXLES, AND IN MACHINERY THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to
say :-
'
>
This Invention has for its object the forging and swedging of the two (
ends and journals of axles for railway and other carriages, waggons,>

page_text: $
or cars, both at the same time, in a more expeditious and economical
manner than heretofore, and by a new or improved duplex mechanical
swedging machine or hammer; the construction and arrangement of the
parts of which machine and its use for the said purpose constitute this
Invention. And the essential construction of the said duplex forging
and swedging hammer consists in arranging and erecting two tilting
T lever hammers to oscillate up and down on fulcra at the ends of their
Te ads with their hammer heads on the under side of the long levers
working over the two anvil blocks placed below them at the distance
apart suitable for the length of axles to be forged and swedged. At a
point in each long lever of the hammer, between its end fulcrums and
swedging head, a vertical stem or arm projects down over the actuating
shaft, and a raising cam to each keyed on the said shaft, preferably
carried in bearing pillow blocks in a recess below the level of the forge
floor. While an antifriction roller or other equivalent carried on the
free end of a long strong steel blade spring acts on the upper side of
each arm or head of the swedge hammer as it is raised by the cam, so as
to be forced down with a greater power and velocity than it would do by
mere gravitation when the cam passes its lifting stem or arm; the other
end of each spring is rigid and jonted to a strong stationary fulcrum
with an intermediate hand setting screw or other equivalent for regu-
lating the pressure of the spring on each hammer. The two hammer
levers and the anvil blocks would preferably be fitted on one strong sole
plate for each pair, having provision that one or both sets and their
actuating cams could be shifted nearer or further apart to suit the
length of shaft or axle, and in addition to this the forging or swedging
blocks could be made to shift, and be fixed in the dovetailed grooves of
the hammers and anvil blocks, also for the like purpose of suiting the
exact length of the axles being forged and swedged.
Although this duplex axle forging and swedging machine has been.
described as having its two hammers made preferably of the mechanical
cam-lifting class with springs, it is to be understood that these might
also be made of other mechanical constructions, or of the direct acting
class fitted with cylinders and pistons over them for the use of air or
steam in working them as in many arrangements of single hammers at
present in use, these forms and constructions of hammers being fitted in
duplicate, as described, to rise and fall at the same time by the same

page_text: prime moving shaft or valve gear, as done by the lifting cams on the one
moving or actuating shaft of the tilting T lever hammers herein-before
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Thomason in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
THOMASON, of Workington, in the County of Cumberland, Practical
Forger, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Peter Thomason, Her special licence
that I, the said Peter Thomason, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Thomason, 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 THE MANUFACTURE AND FORGING OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGE AXLES, AND
IN MACHINERY THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Peter Thomason, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 calender
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Thomason, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the

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accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention has for its object (what I believe to be new) the
forging and swedging of the two ends or journals of axles for railway
and other carriages, waggons, or cars both at the same time, effected
by a new or improved motive power or mechanical duplex swedging
machine or hammer, the construction and arrangement of the parts of
which machine, and its use for the said purpose, constitute this Invention,
and which purpose is effected in a more expeditious manner by these
improvements than has been possible by the modes and means heretofore
employed for forging and swedging the two ends of these axles at
different times.
. . And in order that the full nature, novelty, and mode of performing
my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to
.describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings, which I have
hereunto appended for the purpose of showing the best modes and means
. I am at present aware of for carrying my said Invention or improvements
into effect or practice, the same reference letters indicating the same or
like parts in all the Figures.
"
Figure 1 is an end or side elevation; Figure 2, a front elevation; and
Figure 3, a plan corresponding to Figure 1; all of one modification or
construction and arrangement of the parts of a duplex, or double
arrangement of a tilting and swedging hammer constructed in accordance
with my said Invention, and illustrative of the purpose thereof of forging
and swedging the two journal ends of a railway carriage axle at the
same time and at one heat from the rough block, whether out of
malleable iron or steel.
Referring to these Figures 1, 2, and 3, the essential construction of
the said duplex forging and swedging hammer consists in arranging and
* erecting two tilting T lever hammers A, A', made to oscillate up and
down in journals or fulcrums a at the ends of their T or cross heads A¹,
working in bushes a¹ secured by setting screws a¹¹ in pillow blocks B,
preferably cast in one shifting sole B¹ to each hammer A, A¹, having
their heavy acting hammer heads A", A², formed at the outer free ends
of the long levers A, working with their acting face at A³, secured to
-the under side over two anvil blocks B", B², below them, at the distance

page_text: apart suitable for the length of axles Z to be forged and swedged, as
indicated in red lines in all the Figures.
At a point A, in each long lever A of the hammers, between their
end fulcrums a and swedging heads A", A³, a vertical stem or arm A¹¹
projects down over the actuating shaft C, and raising three stepped or.
other equivalent cam C¹ keyed on the said shaft C below each hammer.
The shaft C is preferably carried in brass bearing pillow blocks C", either
close above, or it might be in a recess below the level of the forge floor
and main carrying sole plate D. The hammer levers A, A¹, their carrying
pillow blocks B, B', and the anvil blocks B, B³, would preferably be
fitted and secured by their sole plates B¹, B¹, on the one strong sole
plate D, for the whole machine or each pair of hammers having provision
made that one or both hammers A, A', with their respective anvil
blocks B or B³ and their actuating cams C could be shifted and fixed
nearer to each other or further apart, as by the wedges D¹ and bolts with
slotted holes Du to suit the different lengths of the shafts or axles Z to
.be formed; and in addition to this shifting of the hammers A, A¹, and
their blocks B, B2, the forging or swedging blocks A³, B³, could be
made to shift and be fixed in the dovetailed grooves of the hammer face
and the anvil blocks B1, B2, as by the wedges A*, B', also for the like
purpose of suiting the exact length of the axles being forged and
swedged at the time being, the pinching screw a" in the pillow blocks B
also assisting to set the bushes a¹ and the hammers A, A³, to a nice
adjustment of their position to suit the collars and journals of the axles
to be so forged and swedged. The two three stepped scroll cams C, C¹,
'below the two hammers A", A³, are equally divided, and set and
keyed on the actuating shaft C to coincide in line with each other, so
that when the shaft is turned in the direction indicated by the arrows
in Figure 1 by any adjacent motive-power engine or shaft (for the
purpose by gearing wheels in the usual manner that single tilting
hammers are worked) both hammers A" and A² are raised and allowed
to fall at the same time or simultaneously with each other, and so forge
or 'form and swedge down the two journal ends of the hot block or
axle Z at the same time, while it is being turned round by the central
part at Z¹ by suitable tongues or friction pall gripers, such as used for
catching and turning other hot or cold round articles at present, as pipes,
and which might also be made to carry the hot blocks from their heating

page_text: furnace by ordinary chains and swivelling or carrying cranes, or this
and ordinary tongues or gripers may be made to remove the blocks
equally heated all over in succession from any ordinary construction of
heating furnaces. But when the blocks are only plain, rolled, or forged
bars, cut to near the proper length required to allow as little waste as
possible when finished, they would first be taken to any ordinary suitable
single hammer to have the central part Z' reduced down and swedged
into the shape desired, and be then, while yet hot enough, carried and
put into the swedging blocks B³ under the new duplex forging and
swedging hammers A", A³, and A³, A³, described in reference to
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings, and be turned round (while the
hammers were up) against a stop guide 63 at one end swedge B³ until
reduced and finished thus at one heat, and at so regular a heat at
finishing that all the axles would be as near one length as when both
ends were made in the ordinary way at different heats and times, while
any overplus or waste length projecting past the opposite end swedges.
to that of the guide 63 might be cut off the finished axle Z by the
ordinary circular saws for cutting hot bars, or by other suitable cutting
machinery for the purpose with a lower semicircular cutter or bolster.
It will be understood also that the central parts of the blocks might
be reduced and shaped either before or after coming out of the heating
furnace for so making them into axles under duplex hammers (as indi-
cated in a diagram transverse section and plan with top roller removed
in Figures 4 and 5 respectively, to be presently described), or by rolling
them through rollers with undulating or conical grooves of a circum-
ferential length nearly equal to that required to form or cut the blocks
to; or Figures 4 and 5 (for so shaping the blocks for axles), the individual
blocks might be rolled on their circumferential surface and longitudinal
axis on or between that of two or three barrel-shaped rollers, rather
longer than the block to be rolled, until they were reduced to the
proper shape and size desired, regulated by the distance of the two under
rollers apart, when they would tumble through the space between them
ready for being carried to the new duplex swedging hammer to be
finished as before described.
To give greater force to the hammers cams C with fewer and higher
lifts may be substituted for those shown, or otherwise for the like purpose,
and to give a quicker and more elastic action when desired a strong

page_text: spring E might be employed and fitted above each hammer A", A³, as
indicated in red lines in Figures 1 and 3, an antifriction roller e or other
equivalent carried on the free end of the long strong steel blade spring E
acts on the upper side of each arm A or head of the swedge hammers A"
and A³ as they are raised by the cams C, C, so as to be forced down with
a greater power and velocity than it would do by mere gravitation when
the steps of the cams successively pass the lifting stem or arms A¹¹¹ of
the hammers. The other end of each spring is rigidly fixed to a strong
stationary frame For jointed to a stationary fixed fulcrum frame or other
equivalent fixing, or with an intermediate hand setting screw F¹ or other
equivalent to give and regulate a differential pressure on or to the
springs over each hammer.
Although this duplex axle, forging, and swedging machine, Figures 1,
2, and 3, has been shown and described with its two hammers A", A²,
made preferably of the mechanical cam lifting or tilting class, either
with or without springs, yet still it is to be understood that these might
also be made of other mechanical constructions, or of the direct acting
class, fitted with cylinders and pistons over them for the use of air or
steam in working them, as in many arrangements of single hammers at
present in use, only they would require to be fitted up in pairs as one
machine to act simultaneously by one hand or automatic gearing to open
and shut the valves, at the same time controlling the acting fluid of both
hammers.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would obscrve in conclusion that what I consider
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―-
First. The construction and arrangement of the parts of motive-power
duplex hammers to work simultaneously as one machine for the purposes
of forming or forging and swedging the two ends of railway and other
axles at the same time in one heat, all substantially in the new or
improved manner herein described and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second. The making or forging and swedging of the two ends of
railway and other carriage axles at the same time in one heat with or by

page_text: duplex hammer machines, substantially in the new or improved manner
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Thomason, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three
Witness,
JOHN THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
PETER THOMASON. (L.s.)