IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE HAMMERS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Porter, of Salford, in the County of Lan-
caster, Engineer, and Richard Howson, of. Manchester, in the same
Паная Y
"
Sealed the 10th October 1854, and dated the 1st May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Porter and
Richard Howson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 1st May 1854.
We, JOSEPH PORTER and RICHARD HOWSON, do hereby declare the nature of
our said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE HAMMERS" to be as follows:-
We construct the hammer to rise and fall in vertical guides, causing it to be
raised by means of a toothed wheel or segment and corresponding rack, and
allowing it to fall partly by its own weight and partly with the assistance of
atmospheric pressure by means of a vacuum cylinder. The mechanism by
which we alternately raise and release it-is in the manner following:-Con-
centric with the lifting shaft, but not keyed upon it, is a toothed wheel, which
is caused to revolve continuously by means of a pinion on another shaft
driven by a belt. This wheel carries a break, which is capable of being
tightened up and slackened, and immediately within the break is a friction
pulley, upon which it is periodically brought to bear, the friction pulley being
keyed on the lifting shaft. The break is connected with a ratchet wheel'
running loose on the lifting shaft, in such a manner that when the main wheel

page_text: is in motion it carries the ratchet wheel with it; but at the same time the
ratchet wheel is capable of being checked in its motion, and when this is done
the break is tightened up. On the lifting shaft is keyed a lever, from which
projects a stud carrying a click, which takes into the teeth of the ratchet
wheel; thus, when the click is in gear the motion of the ratchet wheel will
be checked, and the break will be consequently tightened on the friction pulley,
so that the lifting shaft will be carried round with the main wheel and the
hammer raised. When such height has been attained as may be expedient, the
tail of the click is caused to strike a projection, which throws it out of gear;
the break then springs back, releasing the friction pulley, and the hammer is
free to fall. In order to give to the hammer different lengths of stroke, accord-
ing to the option of the attendant, the above-named projection is attached to a
handle, which can be adjusted in various positions, so as to release the click at
any point desired after the commencement of the stroke. As soon as the blow
is given, the click is caused immediately to fall into gear by reason of the
momentum arising from the partial revolution of the lifting shaft, and thus the
hammer is rendered self-acting. We do not in all cases adhere to the foregoing
arrangement. Instead of a rack and wheel, for instance, for raising the
hammer, we can use any of the known mechanical equivalents, and instead of
the vacuum cylinder we may substitute a compressed air cylinder or a spring,
or we may make use of the weight of the hammer alone. Moreover, in the
place of the ratchet wheel a second break wheel may be employed, or a clutch
of any kind, such as are well known; or it may be dispensed with altogether,
and the break tightened up by means of camb pieces, either moveable or
attached to the frame. In like manner a clutch may be substituted for the
break, and in the case of small hammers the whole may be driven direct, that
is to say, without the intervention of a pinion.
In those cases where we use a vacuum cylinder, we attach a valve at the
bottom, opening outwards to expel air during the down stroke, and admit it
during the up stroke, when expedient to do so..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Porter and Richard Howson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 30th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
PORTER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and RICHARD 35
Howson, formerly of Manchester, but now of Lancaster, in the aforesaid
County, Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Joseph Porter and Richard Howson, Her especial license that we, the said
Joseph Porter and Richard Howson, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Joseph Porter and Richard Howson, our
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 FORGE HAMMERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Porter and
Richard Howson, by an instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said Joseph Porter and Richard Howson,"
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly deseribed and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:―
In constructing a forge hammer according to our Invention, we adjust the
hammer head in vertical guides, so as to rise and fall therein; and we cause it
to be raised by means of a toothed wheel or segment and corresponding rack,
and allow it to fall partly by its own weight and partly with the assistance of
atmospheric pressure obtained through the medium of a vacuum cylinder. For
the purpose also of alternately raising and releasing it at the proper moments;
as well as to regulate the height of the fall and consequent force of the blow,
we apply an adjustable self-acting motion, the mechanism of which will be
best understood on reference to the Drawings, which we shall proceed to
describe.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation (the cylinder hereafter described being in section)
of our improved forge hammer; and Fig. 2, a front elevation. A is the hammer
head, which is caused to rise and fall in the vertical guides a, a; B, the anvil
block. From the top of the hammer head springs a piston rod C, which
enters through a stuffing box into the cylinder D and terminates in a piston E.
This piston is packed air-tight by means of rings of vulcanised india-rubber,

page_text: and the cylinder is open at top; thus, when the hammer rises it pushes the
piston with it, forming a vacuum on the under side, so that when the hammer
is allowed to fall it gains additional force of descent by means of the pressure
of the atmosphere acting on the top. In order to expel any air which may
come underneath the piston, by leakage or otherwise, we attach to the bottom
of the cylinder a valve opening outwards, which the descent of the piston will
act upon to blow out the air whenever the latter is compressed thereby to a
greater tension than that of the surrounding atmosphere. This valve is seen
at B, in Fig. 3, and also to a larger scale and in section at Fig. 4. To the
same valve also may be applied, when thought proper, a handle for actuating
the valve by hand, in any way which may be expedient; as, for instance, to
check the descent of the hammer, by admitting air during the up stroke and
shutting it off during the down stroke. We shall now proceed to describe
the mechanism by which the hammer is actuated. It will be seen that the
lift is effected immediately by a toothed segment S, seen in dotted lines in
Fig. 3, working in a rack, which is cast fast to the back of the hammer head,
the segment being keyed on the vibrating shaft. F. The mode in which this
shaft has its proper motion communicated to it is as follows:-G is a fly-wheel
shaft, driven by a pulley and band, and having a pinion keyed fast on it, which
works into the spur wheel H. This wheel runs loose on the shaft F, but it is
made to act upon it periodically in its motion by the tightening and slackening
of the break band d, which connects it with a break wheel I, keyed fast on the
shaft, so that when the break band is tightened, motion in the direction of the
arrow is communicated to the shaft and the hammer rises, and when it is
slackened the shaft is free and the hammer descends. The break is alternately
tightened and released in the manner following:-The band is attached to a
segment (which is centered on a stud in the wheel H) in such a manner that
when the segment is turned in the direction of its arrow the band is tightened,
and vice versa. This segment takes into another segment f¹, which runs
loose on the shaft F; thus, as the wheel H revolves, the break segment f
carries with it the other f¹, and they revolve altogether, while the break is kept
slack by an india-rubber spring band g, which it will be seen connects them
together in such a manner as to effect that object; so long, therefore, as the
segment is allowed-to-revolves freely, the hammer will be at rest; and in
order to cause the break to be tightened and the hammer to rise, all that is
necessary is to arrest the motion of f¹, when f, by reason of its being geared
into f, will immediately turn on its stud and effect the object desired. Now
this action of arresting the motion of f¹ is caused to occur at every stroke as
soon as the blow has taken place by the following arrangement:-Fixed to the

page_text: segment F is a ratchet wheel h, and adjacent to this is a lever k (keyed on
the shaft F) carrying a weighted detent l. Bearing in mind that the wheel H
is continually revolving, it will now be clearly understood, that when the.
hammer head has fallen and given its blow, the sudden stoppage of motion in
the lever k will cause the detent by its momentum to fall into the teeth of
the ratchet wheel h, which will consequently cease to revolve, the break will
be tightened up, and the hammer will rise. It now only remains to show how
the haminer is caused to fall after it has risen to the required height. This is
simply effected by a pin on the detent / striking an inclined plane m, to throw
the detent out and release the break; and in order to give any height of stroke,
at the option of the attendant, the inclined plane is attached to an adjustablo
handle M; the hammer thus becomes self-acting, while its force of blow may
be adjusted to any extent. It will be observed, in reference to the foregoing
description, that many parts of the mechanism are capable of modification;
we do not, therefore, confine ourselves precisely to the described arrangement.
Instead of a rack and wheel, for instance, for raising the hammer, we may
use any of the known mechanical equivalents, and instead of the vacuum
cylinder, if thought expedient in any case, we may substitute a compressed air
cylinder or a spring, or we may make use of the weight of the hamíner-head'
alone. In respect to this part of the mechanism, however, we claim the use of
the vacuum cylinder, as being new, when applied in the manner described.
With regard to the self-acting motion also, although we claim the system as
described, we do not confine ourselves precisely to such system; but we claim
such modification thereof as may involve the alternate tightening and releasing
of a break, of whatever construction such break may be. In illustration of
this we have shewn a modified motion differing in detail from the preceding,.
but producing a. like effect, and maintaining the same leading feature. Fig. 3
is part of a' side elevation, as before, shewing the hammer-head A and
cylinder D. Fig. 5 is a section of the frame, shewing the vibrating shaft F;
on one side of the frame revolves the spur wheel H loose, as described in the
former case; but here the wheel constitutes a part of the break itself, being
formed in the shape of a double interior cone, into the cavities of which fit
two exterior cones P, P₁, one of which is keyed to the shaft F and the other
to the end of a rod r, passing through the axis of the shaft F and terminating
in a fixed collar 7. This collar is embraced by a bush t, which is also fitted to
a screw on the shaft F; on the bush is keyed a toothed wheel u with a
handle attached. The effect of this arrangement is, that when the handle
or wheel is turned in the direction marked by the arrow, the rod r is pulled
endwise by the action of the screw and the cone clutch tightened up; conse-

page_text: quently the shaft F turns round and the hammer rises; on the contrary, the
reverse action releases the cone clutch and allows the hammer to fall. The
mode in which a suitable alternate action for successive blows is effected is as
follows:-V is an upright bar, capable of sliding to a limited extent vertically,
and is at one part supplied with teeth v taking into those of the wheel u,
and at another part with ratchet teeth ", corresponding to other similar teeth
on the weighted segment lever W. This lever oscillates on a stud w, which is
fixed to a projection from the hammer, and consequently it rises and falls with
the motion of the hammer. X is an adjustable handle, having a projection a¹,
against which a pin y on the handle u¹ may strike. Thus, supposing the
hammer to have reached near the termination of its upward stroke, the pin y
will strike the projection a¹, the handle and wheel will thereby be thrown back,
and through the medium of the screw the clutch will be released and the
hammer will fall. Again, during the action of falling, the shaft F will turn
partly round in a direction contrary to the arrow, but the handle u', acting as
a counterbalance in the other direction will tend to keep the bush t in a
stationary position, or rather to turn it in the direction of the arrow; by this
means acting on the screw, the clutch will be partially tightened up by the
time the hammer has reached the bottom of its stroke, while, to complete the
action, the moment the hammer strikes, the weighted end of the segment
lever W falls with its own momentum, thereby throwing up the ratchet bar V,
which again acts on the wheel w, and effectually screws up the break. Any
number of successive blows will thus be repeated by self-acting means, while
the height to which the hammer rises for each blow may be regulated in the
same way as described in the former case, namely, by the manipulation of the
handle u¹.
•
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Porter and Richard Howson,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth day
of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.