IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE FORGES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Allday the younger of the Firm of William
Allday and Sons of Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers
for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE FORGES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Allday, the
younger, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th May
1883.
WILLIAM ALLDAY the younger of the Firm of William Allday and Sons of
Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PORTABLE FORGES "
My invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of portable forges
in the manner hereinafter described whereby the forge when not in use may be
folded so as to occupy a small space when stowed away or packed for transit.
I make the case of the forge much shallower than usual and hinge to the sides
and ends of the shallow frame or case flaps or plates which by being raised into
and fixed in a vertical position by bolts or other fastenings give to the frame or
case the required depth. To the sides or ends of the fixed part of the frame or
case I hinge broad legs or standards which when brought into and fixed in a
vertical position constitute the legs on which the case or body of the forge is
supported at the required height. These legs may be fixed in position by bolts
turned by handles which handles may also be used in moving or carrying the
forge. But I do not limit myself to any particular kind of fastening for fixing the
legs in a vertical position. The legs may either be hinged to the top or bottom
edge of the case; in the former arrangement when folded up they lie on the top
and form the cover of the case in the latter arrangement when folded up they lie
against the bottom of the case.
In order to protect the workman from the heat of the forge a moveable or
hinged screen may be applied to one or more of the sides.

page_text: The blowing apparatus may either be a fan a blower or bellows worked by
hand or foot or by steam or other power but the blowing apparatus constitutes no
part of my invention. A tool chest is made in the casing of the forge.
My improvements may be most conveniently applied to portable forges
rectangular in shape they may however be applied to portable forges of other
shapes.
Besides the extreme compactness when folded of portable forges constructed
according to my invention they have the advantage of being free from separate
parts that is all the parts being connected together the inconvenience arising from
the loss of any part is avoided

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Allday, the younger, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th November 1883.
•
WILLIAM ALLDAY the younger of the firm of William Allday and Sons of
Birmingham in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers " IMPROVEMENTS IN
PORTABLE FORGES
"
My invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of portable forges
in the manner hereinafter described, whereby the forge when not in use may be
folded so as to occupy a small space when stowed away or racked for transit.
I make the case of the forge inuch shallower than usual and hinge to the sides
and ends of the shallow frame, body or case flaps or plates which by being raised
into and fixed in a vertical position by bolts or other fastenings give to the frame
or case the required depth. To the sides or ends of the fixed part of the frame or
case, I hinge broad legs or standards which when brought into and fixed in a
vertical position constitute the legs on which the case or body of the forge is
supported at the required height. These legs may be fixed in position by bolts
turned by handles which handles may also be used in moving or carrying the
forge. But I do not limit myself to any particular kind of fastening for fixing the
legs in a vertical position. The legs may either be hinged to the top or bottom
edge of the case in the former arrangement when folded up they lie on the top and
for in the cover of the case; in the latter arrangement when folded up they lie
against the bottom of the case
In order to protect the workmen from the heat of the forge a moveable or
hinged screen may be applied to one or more of the sides.
The blowing apparatus may either be a fan, a blower or bellows worked by
hand or foot or by steam or other power, but the blowing apparatus constitutes no
part of my invention. A tool chest is made in the casing or body of the forge.
My improvements may be most conveniently applied to portable forges
rectangular in shape, they may however be applied to portable forges of other
shapes.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, partly in section; Figure 2 in plan and
Figure 3 in end elevation a rectangular portable forge constructed according to my
invention, the parts being arranged and fixed for use; Figure 4 represents in side
elevation the said portable forge packed for transit or storage; Figures 5, 6 and 7
represent details of some of the fastenings. I have represented in conjunction
with the portable forge a blowing apparatus of the kind known as Root's blower,
but other kinds of blowing apparatus may be combined with my improvements as
herein before stated. The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the
several Figures of the drawings,
a, a is the rectangular case, body or frame of the forge made shallower than
usual. In the said case or body a the blower and its connections are fixed ready
for use and form a permanent part of the case or body. In order to give the said
case, body or frame a the required depth when in use and to form the sides of the
fire dish or hearth plate, flaps or plates are hinged to the sides and ends of the
sballow case or body of the forge. In the accompanying Drawings I have repre-
sented the hinged flaps or plates in conjunction with a hinged screen for protecting
the workman from the heat of the forge. To the inside and near the top of the

page_text: When
ends of the case a, the flaps or plates b, b, are hinged and to one of the sides of
the case another flap or plate c is hinged. To the other side of the case, the
screen d is hinged. The hinges of the flaps and screens are marked e, e.
the forge is in use, the flaps b b and c and the screen d are raised into the vertical
position represented in Figures 1 and 3 thereby giving the required depth to the
fire dish or hearth plate of the forge and protecting the workman from the heat of
the forge. The flaps and screen are held in a vertical position by means of buttons
or turns on the frame, body or case a, or by any other convenient fastenings. I
prefer however to employ buttons or turns for fixing the flaps and screen as
represented in the detached side and front elevations Figures 5 and 6
In the arrangement Figure 5 the end of the flap (or screen) is cut away so as to
form a tongue c with which the turn a² on the case or body a engages and in the
arrangement Figure 6 a slot is cut in the end of the flap (or screen) into which the
turn a fits. In the arrangement Figure 7 a bolt as is used instead of a turn.
When the forge is to be packed for transit or storage, the flaps b, b and c and
screen d are turned inwards upon their hinges e and made to lie flat upon the top
of the case or body a of the forge, the said flaps and screen being kept in their
folded positions by means of the folded legs or standards of the forge; or the
screen d may form the lid or covering of the forge. The legs or standards of the
forge are marked ƒ and g and are situated at opposite ends of the case, body or
frame a and are hinged to the joint pins or axes f³, g³ carried by the sinall
brackets h h at the ends of the case or body. In order to give additional strength
to the joints of the legs or standards, the end plates may be turned over and
secured to the body of the forge so as to form continuous knuckles or tubular
eyes h², 2 for receiving the joint pins of the hinges; or instead of forming portions
of the end plates of the body into the knuckles as described, separate hinges may
be rivetted or otherwise attached to the body of the forge. It will be seen by an
examination of Figures 1 and 4 that the joint pins f2, 92 at opposite ends of the
case, body or frame a are situated at different levels so as to permit of the folding
of one of the legs or standards upon the other leg or standard as hereinafter
explained, and that the leg f is of less thickness than the leg g. I prefer to give
the standards or legs f, ga trough form in horizontal section to increase their
strength as represented in Figure 3
When the standards f, g are brought into a vertical position as represented in
Figures 1 and 3 they constitute the legs on which the forge is supported. The
said standards or legs are fixed together at bottom by the jointed stay rods i, i the
said stay rods being jointed to the bottom of the standard fand hooked into jointed
loops on the bottom of the other standard g as seen in Figure 1. The said
standards are also held to the case or body a by the screw bolts k, k taking into
screw boxes or screwed plates 1, 1 on the said case or body as well as by the
plates, These screw bolts are turned by the handles m, m which also serve
for carrying or moving the forge. The plates k³, k² are loose upon the stems of the
bolts k, and can be turned either into the horizontal position represented, or into
a vertical position. When in a horizontal position their outer ends cross the legs
or standards and when the screw bolts are driven home the said plates k³, are
bound between the body or case of the forge and the heads of the screw bolts.
The standard or leg g is also furnished with a tapped or hollow screw bolt n and
the other standard or leg f with a screwed stud p for fastening the folded legs
together.
To fold the legs f, g for packing the forge the stay rods i, i are unhooked from
the loops at the bottom of the leg g and hooked onto the joint or hinge pin f2.
The loops now fall flush with the leg g and are held in position by studs or other
fastenings. The screw bolts k, k are next partially unscrewed or withdrawn from
their screw boxes or screwed plates 1, 1 on the case, body or frame a and the
plates k³, k² are turned into a vertical position so as to permit of the legs being
'folded. The unfastened leg or standard f is first turned outwards and folded upon

page_text: the already folded flaps and screen b, b, c, d on the top of the case and afterwards
the other leg or standard g is turned outwards and folded upon the leg
or standard f. By now rotating the hollow screw bolt n, the screwed stud p
is drawn into it and the two legs f, g are fastened together and constitute
the cover of the case or body as illustrated in Figure 4, the folded flaps and screen
being enclosed between the said cover and the top of the case and the forge is.
ready for storage or transit.
Instead of forming the cover of the body of the forge by the folded legs as
described and represented, the screen d may form the cover and enclose the legs
and folding sides or flaps. In this modification, the folded screen is fastened to the
folded legs by screw bolts and studs of the kind used for fastening the folded legs
together.
Instead of hinging the legs or standards f, g to the top edges of the ends of the
case or body as described and illustrated, they may be hinged to the side of the case
or body or to the bottom edges of the case or body. In the last named arrange-
ment, the legs or standards when folded up lie against the bottom of the case or
body.
In order to adjust the height of the forge as may be required, the legs f, g may
be made adjustable, that is, the lower halves or parts may be made capable of
Bliding upon the upper halves or parts. I prefer to effect this by slotting longitu-
dinally the lower sliding halves of the legs, the slots working upon pins on the
jointed upper halves. The halves or parts of each leg or standard are clamped or
fixed together after adjustment by a screw nut or other equivalent device.
The tool chest which is made in the case a of the forge is partitioned off at s from
that part occupied by the blower as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and the said tool
chest is opened and closed by the hinged door 9 (see Figure 4) at the side of the
case or body, the door being fastened in its closed position by the flush bolts at r, r
or other fastenings.
The case or body and folding flaps and screen of the forge may be used without
the folding legs or standards.
In applying my improvements to circular forges and forges of other shapes, I
construct and combine the parts substantially as herein before described and
illustrated with respect to a rectangular forge.
Besides the extreme compactness when folded of portable forges constructed
according to my invention, they have the advantage of being free from separate
parts, that is, all the parts being connected together the inconvenience arising from
the loss of any part is avoided.
"
"
Having now described the nature of my invention and the manner in which the
same is to be performed I wish it to be understood that I claim as my invention of
'Improvements in portable forges.'
First The combination with the case body or frame of the forge, made by
preference shallower than usual, of hinged flaps or plates or of hinged flaps or
plates and a hinged screen, capable of being folded flat upon the top of the case
body or frame for transit or storage and of being raised and fixed in a vertical
position for forming the sides of the fire dish or hearth plate of the forge and for
protecting the workman from the beat of the forge, the said flaps or plates and
screen being constructed and applied to the forge and used substantially as herein
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly Supporting the case body or frame of the forge upon broad legs or
standards hinged to the said case body or frame so as to be capable of being folded
upon the top or bottom of the case, body or frame for transit or storage substan-
tially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings
Thirdly Making the said supporting hinged legs or standards adjustable in the
direction of their length for regulating the height of the forge substantially as
herein before described.
Lastly-Converting that part of the case body or frame of the forge not occupied

page_text: by the blower or blowing apparatus into a tool chest by partitioning off the said
part and forming a door to the said tool chest on the side of the body, case or
frame substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof I the said William Allday have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Thirteenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
Witness, RICHARD SKERRETT
37 Temple Street
Birmingham.
WILLIAM ALLDAY, JR. (L.S.)