CERTAIN MECHANICAL ARRANGE- MENTS FOR RAISING THIMBLES, THE SAME TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, WATER. OR OTHER POWER, THEREBY SUPERSEDING HAND LABOUR
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Pratt, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, for the Invention of "CERTAIN MECHANICAL ARRANGE-
MENTS FOR RAISING THIMBLES, THE SAME TO BE WORKED BY STEAM,
WATER. OR OTHER POWER, THEREBY SUPERSEDING HAND LABOUR."
Sealed the 16th May 1854, and dated the 16th November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Pratt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th November 1853.
I, DAVID PRATT, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN MECHANICAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR RAISING THIMBLES, THE
SAME TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, WATER, OR OTHER POWER, THEREBY
SUPERCEEDING HAND LABOUR," to be as follow, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in arranging a machine somewhat of the form
of a fly press, but instead of raising and lowering the top tool by means
of a screw (as usually applied to such presses), I use a cam, which
being fixed on an axis working through the side pieces or guides, with
a fast and loose pulley for receiving the power or motion from the

page_text: driving wheel, and the tool being connected with the cam, it is evident
that as the axis revolves the tool will rise and fall according to the
eccentricity of the cam; and as the raising from the flat disc of metal
to the finished thimble may take three or four processes, the eccen-
tricity of the cams must vary according to the depth of each process,
the shells being annealed at each stage, as required by the present
mode. In connection with the bed tool I have a slide worked by an
eccentrick fixed on the axis before described, for the purpose of receiving
and carrying the flat dise or partially raised shells under the top tool,
and also an arrangement for removing each shell from the tool after
being pressed into form.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Pratt in the Great Seal Patent Oflice on
the 16th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
DAVID PRATT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said David Pratt, Her special
license that I, the said David Pratt, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said David Pratt, my executors,
administrators, or 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 "CERTAIN MECHANICAL
ARRANGEMENTS FOR RAISING THIMBLES, THE SAME TO BE WORKED BY
STEAM, WATER, OR OTHER POWER, THEREBY SUPERCEEDING HAND LABOUR,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said David Pratt, by

page_text: an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 David Pratt, 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 (that is to say):-
My Invention for raising thimbles may be said to consist (in contra-
distinction to the common fly press now in use) in arranging the various
necessary tools in such a manner that they may be worked by steam,
water, or other power, thereby insuring a great advantage over hand-
raised work, as a machine or machines will work with more certainty,
truth, and continuity than can be obtained from hand labour; and as
that portion of the manufacturing of thimbles relating to their raising
involves one or more operations, added to the great diversity of sizes,
it is obvious that the tools necessary for operating on the disc of metal
from which the thimbles are to be formed must vary with each opera-
tion and size of thimble required, and to meet this necessary variation
it is also obvious that a great many tools must be at work at the same
time to produce a sufficient quantity to meet the demand (for so general
an article), or to pay a manufacturer for his outlay of his capital and wear
and tear of machinery and plant in producing them. And to effect this
I will describe two plans that may be adopted; the one consists in using
a long shaft set in motion by a pulley and band from the driving shaft,
the former shaft being set in a convenient situation horizontally over a
bench, and to this shaft are fixed a set of eccentrics, two being required
to each set of tools, one to work the raising tool up and down, and the
other to regulate a feeding apparatus carrying each disc forward to be
operated on, and removing it when formed; and according to the
number of tools that I wish to work or the convenience of situation, so
the number of eccentrics on the shaft will be regulated, the bed tool
and feeding apparatus being fixed on the bench perpendicularly below
the shaft. And the other mode may be said to consist in performing

page_text: the various operations by separate machines supporting the shaft or axis
for the eccentrics in a suitable frame of iron or other material, con-
necting the raising tool with the one eccentric and the feeding apparatus
with the other, while the bed tool for raising the thimbles with the
feeding apparatus is also fixed to the bed of such frame; and by means
of a fast and loose pulley, fastened to the shaft or axis last described,
the tools may be at work or at rest as desired; and as this plan presents
what I conceive to be the most practical advantages, I will proceed to
describe the Drawings hereunto annexed which represent the arrange-
ment as here lastly described.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1, represents a front view of my machine, some few portions of
which are removed or broken off to prevent confusion, but those parts
are fully represented in other Figures, the same parts being marked
with the same letters of reference as they occur in each Figure. A, A,
are two standards cast or united to the base B, B. C, is a transverse
piece working in V guide pieces at the sides, marked D, D, which said
pieces are adjusted by the set screws E, E, E, E; the part C, being
connected with the crank shaft F, by the clip G (shewn in section), and
shackle H, both being tapped right and left handed to the part I, a part of
which is removed for the purpose of showing the screw connection. J, is
simply a fly wheel on the crank shaft; and K, L, a fast and loose pulley
for receiving the band from the driving wheel, by which the machine
may derive its working power. M, is a tool screwed in to the under
side of C, and is the counterpart of the bed tool N, shewn in section
for the purpose of exhibiting the cavity into which the tool M dc-
scends in forming the blanks for the thimbles; and I will here observe
that the form of the tool M, at the lower part, and the cavity in the
bed N, will vary in the circumference and amount of tapering as the
processes go on from the flat disc to the raised thimble. The bed tool
N rests upon the bolster O, and is secured by the dove-tailed joints a, a,
and set screw ; the arm P is secured to the left hand upright by
the nut Q; the purpose of this arm is to carry a self-acting pall to
be placed on p, the pall being exhibited in a side view at R, Fig. 3.

page_text: S, is a square or round bolt working through C, having a cross head
at the top, as exhibited in the side and detached view of the same at
Fig. 7. We will now pass down to Fig. 2, which is a sectional view
taken through T, T, of the last Figure. U, is a support attached to
the bolster O, by the screw V, shewn in Figs. 1 and 3. W, is a screw
forming the double purpose, first, of holding down the feeder X, and
passing down, terminating into a pin, which passing down through the
slot Y, takes into a socket formed at the end of the arm Z. The part
C', represented detached at Fig. 4, is what I call the table, and is
secured on the top of U, Figure 3, by the screws c. c, c, c, taking into
the corresponding holes of U, in the same Figure marked d, d, d, d,
the feeder X, being also represented in its right place, resting on the
bed, and working in the sunken cavity e, e. f, is a balance leveller,
partly shewn in this Figure in dotted lines, and in side view at Fig. 3.
This leveller is attached by the screw g, Figure 3, and hinge joint h, to
the bolster O. H, Figure 2, is the delivery pan working on the up-
right support I', and is retained in its position by the helical spring J',
attached to the corresponding upright support K', shewn best in plan,
Figure 2, and elevation, Figure 3, which may be said to be a vertical
section, but with all the parts removed above the cross piece C, shewing
that part of the main shaft F, that works in the side journeys in
section, and the cranks or cams L', and M', in dotted lines in their
respective positions. And Fig. 5, is a back view of Figure 1, with the
driving shaft and its attendant parts removed, but the parts that are
shewn are marked with the same letters as they occur in the other
Figures; and my object in shewing this view is to represent the part
N', attached to the cross piece C, by the screw O¹. This part is also
provided with a hanging strap P¹, attached to N¹, by a hinge joint, and
is so contrived at the bottom that when it descends the part Q¹ passes
down outside the lever R', and when it rises by the revolution of the
crank the part Q¹ passes up inside the lever R', suddenly liberating
the delivery pan H', with a jerk, so as to throw the work off the pan.
Fig. 6, is a side view of the connecting rod S¹, shewn in Figures 1, 2,
and 5, and in dotted lines in Figure 3. The end of this lever takes
into a slot t, t, of the cross piece U', to which the arm Z is attached, as

page_text: shown in the front elevation, Figure 1, and transverse section or plan,
Figure 2.
Having thus gone through the several parts of my machine, I will
now explain their several uses. The band being placed upon the fast
pulley, causing the main shaft to revolve, the tool M, with all its atten-
dant parts, will be made to rise and fall according to the amount of
eccentricity given to the crank or cam M¹; and it will also be seen that
the lower end of the connecting rod S, from its working on its fulcrum
at V', the lower end will be made to oscillate by the upper end being
forced from side to side by the eccentric L¹. This will give motion to
the cross piece U', which being connected with the arm Z, and feeder X,
by the pin W, it is evident that as the machine is in motion the feeder
X will be made to advance and retire at each revolution of the main
shaft F, and the round disc from which the thimble is to be formed, has
only to be laid in the sunken channel e, e, Figure 4, at the time the
feeder is back, when it will be taken forward by the feeder and dropped
into its proper position underneath the front part of the leveller marked
W¹, shewn in dotted lines, Figure 2, and side view, Figure 3, ready for
the top tool M, to descend; but before it can touch the thimble blank
or enter the cavity, the bolt S strikes the leveller down on the blank,
thereby making it certain that the blank is in the right position to
receive the pressure from the tool M, but it must be borne in mind that
the feeder would have been withdrawn, having done its work, before the
leveller was struck. The thimble blank or disc of metal having now
been put into the form required, by the descent of the tool M, is
brought out of the cavity by its adhesion to the end of the tool M,
which in its rising causes the part Q', Figure 5, to be at that moment
passing behind the lever R', thereby bringing the delivery pan H', right
under the tool, which, as it continues to ascend, will be slightly touched
by the pall R, shewn best at Figure 3, the inuer end of which will strike
off the thimble blank from the end of the tool as it passes up; and
by this time the part Q', will have passed fully up and free of the lever
R, when the delivery pan will return with a jerk to the position shewn
in Figure 2. The revolution of the shaft will now have been completed
and the several operations performed, the feeder X having advanced

page_text: with another blank to be operated on, and to continue the same
operations.
And having thus described my Invention, and the means of carrying
the same into effect, I will further add that the details are capable of
some modification; as, for instance, one eccentric may be used, and the
motion for working the slide or feeding apparatus may be obtained
from the vertical action of either of the parts II, or I. And I may
further observe, that in some instances it may be useful to introduce
into the bed tool or cavity N, an helical spring for forcing out the
thimble after being formed; and I wish it understood that I do not
confine myself to the exact details as here represented, although they
exhibit the best results of many long and tedious experiments, but
what I do claim as my Invention is, the raising of thimbles by a me-
chanical arrangement, the same being worked by steam, water, or other
power in contradistinction to hand labour.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Pratt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
DAVID PRATT. (L.S.)