IMPROVEMENTS IN BLACKSMITHS' BELLOWS, MORE ESPECIALLY THOSE USED IN PORTABLE FORGES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bowden, Machinist, of Mitcham, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLACKSMITHS' BELLOWS,
MORE ESPECIALLY THOSE USED IN PORTABLE FORGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bowden at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st August
1865.
I, JOHN BOWDEN, Machinist, of Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLACK-
SMITHS' BELLOWS, MORE, ESPECIALLY THOSE USED IN PORTABLE FORGES," to be as
follows::-
The objects of this Invention are to gain a considerable saving of leather,
say one-half; to enable the Inventor to place double or single action bellows
in portable forges, and also obviate the objection of raising the leather edge-
wise; and it consists of a box divided horizontally into two chambers or
compartments, in the lower one of which is fitted a piston, to which is nailed
or otherwise fastened one or more strips of leather, the outer end or ends of
which is or are fastened to the sides of the box, a sufficient allowance being
made for the rise and fall of the piston. Motion is given to the piston by a
horizontal shaft or bar of iron (having one or more cranks) passing. lengthwise
in suitable bearings through the box. Levers or rockstaffs can be placed at
each end of this shaft.. Two, four, or any number of valves are fitted in the

page_text: lower chamber for the ingress of air, which, when the bellows are in opera-
tion, passes through other valves fitted in the partition into the upper
chamber, which as far as the leather is concerned, is of similar construction
to the lower one, but instead of being worked by a piston, is collapsed by a
heavy weight placed on the top or otherwise. These bellows can be made
single or double actioned, and constructed of wood or iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Bowden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
February 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BOWDEN, Machinist, of Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Bowden, Her special licence that I, the said John Bowden, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Bowden, 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 BLACKSMITHS'
BELLOWS, MORE ESPECIALLY THOSE USED IN PORTABLE FORGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Bowden, executors or adminis-
trators, 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 John Bowden, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
.
The objects of this Invention are to gain a considerable saving of leather,
amounting in some cases to one-half, and to enable double or single action

page_text: plate 6*, and also to the inner sides of the chamber 6, 6, as shewn. In the
upper chamber c is formed in like manner the diaphragm b, by connecting
the central board or plate c* by means of leather or other flexible material
with the sides of the chamber c, the leather or flexible material being fastened
by nails or otherwise. When the parts are at rest, as shewn in the Drawing,
the diaphragms 61, c', sink by their own gravity nearly to the bottom of the
chambers b, c, the diaphragms c¹ being weighted in order to cause it to
descerid, and thus expel the air with sufficient force from the upper chamber c
through the blow pipe d and nozzle d', which directs it on to the hearth of the
forge; e is a rocking shaft or axis moving in suitable bearings at each end of
the box a, a, the shaft e being connected to the diaphragm 6¹ by the cranked
lever arms e', e, as shewn. When motion is communicated to the shaft or
axis e by means of the levers or rockstaffs e³, e, fixed on or connected with its
outer ends, the diaphragm 6 will be caused to move up and down within the
chamber b. The rising or upward movement of the piston or diaphragm b¹
causes air to be drawn into the lower chamber 6 through the valves 63, 63,
which close when the piston descends. As the diaphragm brises it forces
the air above it through the valvular opening a² in the plate or partition a
into the upper chamber c, thus causing the diaphragm c¹ to rise also. The
air contained in the lower chamber 6 is then forced by the downward move-
ment of the diaphragm 6¹ up the passage 63 (formed on the side of the box, as
shewn by Figures 6 and 7), and through the valve 6* into the upper
chamber,
.air being admitted to the upper side of the diaphragm b¹ through the valves
6s, 65, which close when the diaphragm 6¹ again begins to rise. By this means
the upper chamber c is rapidly charged with air, which is discharged there-
from through the blow pipe d and nozzle d' on to the hearth of the forge, the
board or plate c of the diaphragm c¹ being weighted to assist in discharging
the air from the chamber c. Several discharge or blow pipes d, d', may be
applied to the chamber c.if desired. The bellows arranged to act as previously
described are what I term double acting, but they may be readily converted
into single action bellows by keeping the valves 62, 62, constantly open; which
may be readily accomplished by moving the hinged arms a* inwards, as
shewn at Figure 8, so as to prevent the valves 63, 6, from closing, by which
means the air will only be forced from the upper side of the piston. or
diaphragm 'b' into the upper chamber c in place of from both sides alternately
when in double action, as first herein described. Or instead of converting the
double-action bellows into single-action bellows the apparatus may be readily
constructed upon the same principle, so as to act as single-action bellows.
The
passage to conduct the air from the lower to the upper chamber may

page_text: for convenience be formed by means of an external pipe or passage connecting
the two chambers b, c, together, and the capacity of the upper chamber c may
if desired be greater than that of the lower chamber b. The space between
the upper edge of the box a and the under side of the hearth of the forge I
prefer to close in, as shewn, with the exception of a narrow space below the
hearth plate for the escape of the current of air caused by the rising of the
cover or diaphragm c'. By thus closing in the space below the hearth the
leather of the upper diaphragm is protected from being burnt or injured by
sparks from the forge or other damage. A hinged cover may be placed over
the openings to the valves made of perforated zinc wire, gauze, or other
perforated material to prevent rats, mice, or other vermin from entering the
interior of the bellows.
Having now described my Invention I claim the combination and arrange-
ment of the parts constituting the improved bellows, constructed as herein
described and shewn in the 'Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bowden, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
o Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, W.C.
JOHN BOWDEN. (LS.)