AN IMPROVED RIVETTING MACHINE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Shanks, Engineer, 6, Robert Street, Adelphi,
Westminster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED RIVETTING MACHINE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Shanks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th January 1864.
I, ANDREW SHANKS, Engineer, 6, Robert Street, Adelphi, Westminster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED RIVETTING
MACHINE," to be as follows:-
I employ compressed air or steam and air to operate on a rivetting hammer
as shewn by Drawing annexed, with letters of reference to the various parts.
The valve V, V, is operated on by the hand of the workman so that the speed
may be varied or stopped at will. In all cases I employ the air or steam on
one side only of the piston, using the elasticity of the air confined between the
piston and cylinder bottom as the active agent of propulsion in giving the
blow in rivetting.
This machine is intended chiefly for rivetting iron ships, boilers, and tanks, and
more especially for all kinds of work that cannot be carried to a fixed machine.
This rivetter is made portable so as to be carried by the workman, and can be
placed by the ship's side, having a flexible tube to attach it to the service pipe

page_text: leading to the air receiver or steam boiler, of a sufficient length so as to admit
of the variations of distance necessary for the due performance of the work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Shanks in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SHANKS, of 6, Robert Street, Adelphi, Westminster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Andrew Shanks, Her special licence that I, the said Andrew
Shanks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Andrew Shanks, 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 IMPROVED RIVETTING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Andrew Shanks, my executors or administrators, by an
instrament 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 Andrew Shanks, 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:
This machine is for rivetting boiler work, girders, parts of iron ships, tanks,
and similar objects, also for making rivets themselves by using a small direct-
action hammer propelled by the elastic force of air confined in a cylinder,

page_text: which is acted upon by steam or compressed air on the opposite side of the
piston similar to a single-action steam engine.
The Drawing shews the general arrangement of the machine as applied to
rivetting girders.
G, the girder; R, the rivet, operated upon by the piston and hammer (P,H,);
C, the portion of cylinder with the air confined therein; V, the valve to admit
the steam or air through the passage O, same as a steam engine; K, the cam
of several arms to operate the valve quickly by the revolving handle I; T, the
bed of the machine similar to a slide lathe; S, the travelling carriage on
which the apparatus is mounted, having a flexible tube communicating with
the boiler or reservoir n; m, the rack and pinion to traverse the carriage S
by the wheel W. A is the steam or air cylinder for forcing the dolly B hard
against the rivet bead while rivetting, when used for making rivets the
dolly B is unshipped, and the rivet heading apparatus substituted.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I do not confine myself to the exact details, nor do I
claim any of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is, the com-
bination of a hammer operated by steam, acting on compressed air confined in
a cylinder, or by compressed air only, the whole mounted on a sliding bed
with a dolly or holder-on attached thereto as herein described with reference
to Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Shanks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
ANDREW SHANKS. (LS.)