IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKS WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO AXES, ADZES, RAKES, HOES, SHOVELS, AND OTHER LIKE INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKS WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO AXES, ADZES, RAKES, HOES, SHOVELS, AND OTHER LIKE INSTRUMENTS."-
A communication from abroad by Charles Atwood Hardy, of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Sealed the 9th October 1869, and dated the 17th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th June 1869.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO AXES, ADZES, RAKES, HOES, SHOVELS, AND OTHER LIKE INSTRU-
MENTS," a communication from abroad by Charles Atwood Hardy,
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in making picks with bills or picking tools
capable of being readily fitted to and detached froin their handles.

page_text: In carrying out this Invention the handle is provided with a metal
socket for the reception of the bill or picking tool which is recessed and
provided or not with a projection in the said recess at the part where
it fits into the socket. The tool is secured in its place by a screw plug
inserted into any convenient part of the socket, and caused to bear
upon the tool, and thereby hold it securely in its place. It is obvious
that other tools or instruments, such as axes, adzes, rakes, hoes, shovels,
and the like may be secured to their handles in the manner above
described.
The advantages obtained by this Invention are economy as regards first
costs of the tool, durability and facility for making repairs, ease of
transportation, the retention of the tool or instrument in proper position
in respect to its handle, and (when applied to a pick) the enabling more
rigid and solid blows to be given.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her
special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN PICKS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO AXES, ADZES,
RAKES, HOES, SHOVELS, AND OTHER LIKE INSTRUMENTS," a communication from
abroad by Charles Atwood Hardy, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United

page_text: States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the-said
John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:-
The said Invention consists in the making of picks with bills or
picking tools detachable from the handles, substantially in the manner
described hereafter, the handle being provided with a metal soeket for
the reception of the bill which is confined to its place by a screw plug.
The objects of the Invention are economy as regards the first cost of
the pick, durability and facility for making repairs, ease of transportation,.
the retention of the bills in proper position in respect to the handles,
and the picks are more generally effective as regards the imparting of
rigid blows.
This Invention is also applicable to securing the blades of rakes, hoes,
shovels, and other instruments to their handles.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in
all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is an exterior side view of the improved
pick; Figure 2 is a sectional view; Figure 3 is a transverse section on
the line 1-2, Figure 1; Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views of the
detachable bill of the pick; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the socket;
Figure 7 is a perspective view of the screw plug for securing the bill to
the socket; and Figure 8 is a perspective view of a modification of the
Invention.

page_text: Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are drawn to a scale of six inches to a foot,
and Figures 6 and 7 are full size.
On reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, A represents a portion
of the shaft or handle of the pick; B, a metal socket secured to the
handle; D, the detachable bill or picking tool, and E the screw plug.
The peculiar shape of the socket B will be best understood by referring
to the perspective view, Figure 6, in which it will be seen that the socket
terminates at the top in the central hub or hoss a, to which is adapted
the screw plug E, the latter having in the present instance a square
recess å for receiving a suitable instrument by which the plug may be
screwed into and unscrewed from the said boss a. Below this boss an
eye or opening e is formed in the socket for receiving the bill D, which
consists of a simple bar of steel suitably pointed at each end, and having
at the middle and under side a recess f, so as to fit to the socket, as
in Figure 2, the recessed portion of the bill bearing on the edges m, m,
of the socket, and the shoulders n, n, formed by recessing the bill bearing
against the outer sides or faces p, p, of the socket, while the screw plug
securely confines the hill to its place. Below the bill the socket is
formed to receive the end of the handle A which is wedged to its place,
as shown in Figure 2, and the two legs 7, 9, of the socket may be
continued downwards to any desired extent, and may be caused to
embrace the handle with a tight grip by a rivet h, Figure 2. When
the bill has to be disconnected from the handle all that is necessary is
to unscrew the plug E so far as to permit the bill to be elevated until its
shoulders n, n, are clear of their bearings on the socket, when the bill
can be withdrawn longitudinally from the latter.
The advantages of the improved pick may be briefly enumerated and
described as follows:-
First. It is more economical than ordinary picks as regards first cost
for the socket can be made cheaply of cast iron and rendered tough by
the usual annealing process. Moreover the expensive forging of the
eyes of ordinary picks is avoided, and the hill consisting of a plain steel
bar pointed at the ends demands but little forged work. The recesses.
may be simultaneously formed in a number of bills by placing them
together on the bed of a planing machine and bringing the cutting tool
of the latter to bear on the bills.
Second. The improved pick is more economical than those in common
use as regards durability and facility for making repairs for the bill can

page_text: be readily removed, sharpened, and replaced, or if so damaged as to be
unfit for use can be more readily replaced with a new one than can the
bill of an ordinary pick.
Third. The improved pick is easy of transportation for the bills
detached from the handles can be packed with the latter in a com-
paratively small compass, and this advantage is of especial importance in
the mining districts where quantities of picks have to be conveyed from
place to place.
Fourth, In common picks the bills by constant strains and shocks
frequently lose their proper position in relation to the handles, and
however slight this loss of position may be it is a matter of inconvenience
to the operator. In the improved pick the bill when secured to its place
may be considered a permanent fixed part of the handle, for as it fits
snugly to the socket, and as the latter is securely attached to the
handle lateral displacement or torsion under ordinary circumstances
is impossible, whilst the' screw plug so effectually confines the bill
to its place that no ordinary strains can displace it vertically.
Fifth. The blows imparted by the improved pick are of a more rigid,
unyielding, and effective character than those of common picks, for in
the latter every blow is communicated directly to the wooden handle
which forms as it were a cushion to partly absorb the effects, whereas in
using the improved pick the effect of the blow is in the first instance
communicated to the metal socket which is thus the medium for
producing the desired effect.
Although the Invention has been desoribed above as applied to
picks it may be used to advantage in hoes, shovels, and other instru-
ments. In Figure 8, for instance, the Invention is illustrated as applied
to a hoe.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The making of picks with bills or picking tools, and the blades
of other instruments detachable from the handles, substantially as and
for the purpose set forth.

page_text: Second. The socket B secured to the handle and arranged for the
reception of the recessed detachable bill or other tool D, substantially as
specified.
Third. The combination substantially as set forth of the socket B
secured to the handle, the bill D, and screw plug E.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of
December One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.