IMPROVEMENTS IN MOULDING METALLIC CASTINGS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Benson James, of Derby, in the County of
Derbyshire, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOULDING
METALLIC CASTINGS."
t
Scaled the 18th November 1856, and dated tho 11th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ifenry Benson James at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th June 1856.
I, HENRY BENSON JAMES, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention'
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOULDING METALLIC CASTINGS," to be as follows:-
I propose to mould railway chairs or other castings with counter sinkings, or
with holes or cavities of any form or shape. In order to effect this, I propose
to attach to the pattern shifting pieces of metal or other substance, of any form
or shape, according to the cavity, perforation, or moulding required to be pro-
duced. These pieces are to work or slide in grooves made in the pattern, and
are to possess projections or stops corresponding with and fitting into said
grooves (or vice versa, the grooves being in the shifting pieces and the stops in
the pattern), so that when the pattern is raised from the moulding box nearly
to its full height, the stops shall catch in the ends of the grooves, and so lift

page_text: the said shifting pieces out of the mould with the pattern; or, the grooves and
stops may be dispensed with, thus allowing the said pieces to remain in the
mould after the pattern has been withdrawn, and then to be removed (by hand
or otherwise) from the moulding box, previous to the metal being poured in.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Benson James in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BENSON JAMES, of Derby, in the County of Derbyshire, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry
Benson James, Her special license that I, the said Henry Benson James,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Benson James, 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 MOULDING
METALLIC CASTINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Benson James, 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 calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Benson James, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, similar letters of reference being placed
upon and denoting similar parts where such parts appear or can be seen in
each of the Figures respectively, that is to say:-

page_text: The object of my Invention is to mould railway chairs or other castings with
countersunk or other holes or cavities therein; of any form or shape, by attach-
ing to the pattern "shifting pieces" of metal (or other appropriate substance),
which are left on the cores after the pattern is withdrawn, and subsequently
removed by hand, or, as hereafter stated, by other means. I would here
observe, that although my Invention is applicable in moulding or casting other
articles; I confine myself in the following description to those known as rail-
way chairs; and I would further remark, that having stated above that other
substances besides metal may be used to make the shifting pieces, if desirable,
I shall, to avoid repetition, confine myself to the use of the word metal in my
Specification.
The shifting pieces, above mentioned, are attached or not to the pattern, as
may be found most convenient, and are made of any number or form that may
be requisite to form the hollow or cavity required in the railway chair to be
cast; they work or slide in tapered or straight grooves, or the grooves may be
both tapered and straight, and are formed with projections or stops, curved or
otherwise, and are either fixed into the before-mentioned grooves, or vice versa,
so that when the pattern is being raised or removed from the mould, the pro-
jections or stops traverse in the said grooves until the catch at the ends thereof
lift the shifting pieces from out of the mould with the pattern; or, if it be
preferred, the grooves or stops may be dispensed with, and the shifting pieces
may remain in the mould after the withdrawal of the pattern, and then be
taken out by hand or otherwise. I also make what I term a core protector,
by causing pieces of metal to remain on cores until the before-mentioned
pieces of metal (shifting pieces) expand, by means of the grooves and stops
aforesaid, which protect the edges of the sand core during the expansion of the
shifting pieces, and by means of a nut or boss attached to the rod of the said
core protector, catching or resting on a washer or ring; it is lifted at the same
time that the pattern is withdrawn from the mould, as will be ascertained on
reference to the Drawing.
I also construct patterns for railway chairs by making two pieces of metal
shaped to and forming the opening of the rail, and the key coming.below the
bearing of the rail and the key, and having but one joint in the part of the
pattern which forms the: said opening for the rail and the key; thus, when part
of the pattern is withdrawn from the mould, the two pieces of metal aforesaid
remain therein, to be removed by hand, or otherwise..
,
In the Drawing, Figure. 1 represents a. side clevation of the Invention,
partly in section, shewing the pattern imbedded in the sand mould, and as it
would appear before being lifted therefrom; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the

page_text: same, partly in section, shewing the pattern partially removed from the mould.
Figure 3 is a side view of another mode of drawing the pattern from the
mould.
At Figure 1, A, A, is the pattern of a railway chair, with shifting pieces of
metal B, B, working in grooves C, C, and having projecting pieces or
stops D, D, on their upper ends, to prevent the pieces B, B, falling out at the
bottom of the grooves C, C; these grooves having pieces affixed to their lower
ends for that purpose. The pattern A, A, having been first placed on a moulding
board and rammed in the sand box, the sliding pieces B, B, are in their right
position (as shewn at Figuro 1), the sand thus rammed making the cores, cach
end of the pattern being made with other shifting pieces to form the counter-
sunk holes cores; pieces E, E, are placed at each end of the pattern, and made
to slide up and down as protectors to the countersunk cores. The grooves C, C,
converge towards the upper part of the pattern, so that when the pattern A, A,
is raised from the mould by means of a handle, or otherwise, tho pieces B, B, by
their own weight, slide down the grooves C, C, until the projecting pieces D, D,
shall catch in the lower ends of the grooves C, C, and so lift the shifting
pieces B, B, out of the mould without in any way injuring the said cores; but
in some cases, as aforesaid, it may be desirable to dispenso with the projecting
stops D, D, and allow the shifting pieces to remain in the mould, and to be
removed by hand, or otherwise.
At Figure 2 will be seen the pattern A, A, partly lifted out of the mould,
with the projecting pieces D, D, just coming in contact with the bottoms of
11.D.L (and as before stated the grooves C, C,) ILB.I.
the grooves C, C, A converging towards the centre, it is obvious that the shifting
pieces B, D, upon reaching the lower ends of the grooves, will be delivered
from the sand, thereby causing the countersunk holes cores to be made
without injuring the said cores, as also the centre core.
At Figure 3 is shewn another mode of drawing the centre shifting
picces B, B, which in this case are made in two pieces, the outside surfaces
being parallel or not with cach other, so that when the pattern is lifted from
the top of the moulding box in a vertical direction, the pieces B, B, are left
in the mould, and are afterwards drawn from the mould by a thumb piece on
the top thereof. The shifting pieces of metal may be made to shift or move by
the means of water or air being forced at the back of the said pieces of metal
or other substances, or vice versa.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the means by which
I carry it into practical effect, I desire it to be distinctly understood that I do
not confine myself to any particular number of the shifting pieces herein-before

page_text: mentioned and described, or to the form or shape thereof, as they may be
varied in form to suit the requirements of each particular case; nor do I
restrict myself to the employment of metal of any kind, or even of metal itself,
in the making of the various portions of my herein described improvements, as
any substance may be used for that purpose which may be found applicable
thereto; but I claim,-
Firstly, the method of moulding railway chairs or other metallic castings
with countersunk or any formed or shaped interior holes or cavities. by means
of shifting pieces of metal or other substance, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the combination herein-before described of pieces of metal or
other substance, forming a core protector.
And, thirdly, the construction of patterns with two pieces of metal or other
substance, shaped to and forming the opening of the rail, and having but one
joint, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Benson James, have hereunto
affixed my hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
HENRY BENSON JAMES. (L.S:)
THOMAS BLACKWELL,
Victoria Foundry, Derby.