US1015654A - Process of manufacturing plasterers' trowels. - Google Patents

Description

. J. G. THATFORD. PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING PLASTERERS TROWELS.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 19. 1910.

1,015,654, Patented Jan.23,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHBET 1.

J. G. THATFORD. PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING PLASTERERS TROWELS.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 19, 1910.

1,015,654. Patented Jan.23,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH Gr. THATFORD, 0F SHARON HILL, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING PLASTERERS TROWELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 23,1912.

Application filed July 19, 1910. Serial No. 572,698.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH G. THATFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing in Sharon Hill, county of Delaware, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Plasterers Trowels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of plasterers trowels.

It has been the usual practice heretofore to make the blade of plasterers trowels separate from the shank and tang section. Efforts have been made to make the tang on which the handle is fitted in a single piece with the blade, but trowels of this type have not been produced commercially. Prior attempts to make a trowel with an integral shank and tang were failures, owing to the fact that the blade was first forged and reduced to the finished thinness prior to the slitting and bending of the projection to form the shank and tang, and it was also impossible to give the shank and the rib of the plate the form desired, owing to the fact that the extreme thinness of the blade would forging of the blade.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure 1, is a perspective view of a plasterers trowel illustrating my invention; Fig. 2, is a perspective view of the blank from which the trowel is formed; Fig. 3, is a perspective view showing the rib of the blank cut to form the tang portion; Fig. 4C, is a view showing the tang portion bent into a position at right angles to the blade and partly formed; Fig. 5, is a view showing the blade rolled .to the thickness required; Fig. 6, is a perspective view showing the shank and tang completed and the blade of the trowel reduced to the proper thickness.

While I have illustrated my invention in a plasterers trowel of a certain size and shape, it will be understood that the invention can be applied to the various forms of trowels, without departing from the essential features of the invention.

Referring in the first instance to Fig. l, A is the blade of the trowel; B is the shank projecting from the back of the blade and shaped in any manner desired. In the present instance, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the shank is wide and narrow, being greater in width at the center 6 and tapered slightly toward the point where it joins the blade, and also where it joins the tang I). handle C is driven on the tang. Onthe blade A is a longitudinal rib a, and in this instance, this rib extends substantially the full length of the blade and acts to stiffen it. The rib illustrated in Fig. 1, is narrow and is beveled at the end, but it will be understood that the rib may be of any shape desired and may terminate any distance from the shank, as it will be understood that plasterers trowels vary in different localities. Some plasterers want trowels with stiff and heavy blades, others wish very light blades and difierent forms of shanks and handles, and these slight variations can be made without departing from the main features of the invention.

In Fig. 2, I have illustrated a blank D, from which the trowel is made. This blank is made by rolling or forging and has a heavy rib d projecting from one surface. The blank is cut from a bar, and in proper lengths to form trowels. The ribis of such a height that the shank and tang can be formed from it. The first operation is to indent the rib on each side, as at c, Fig. 3, from one end to substantially the point where it is desired to have the shank project from the blade. These indentures extend half way through the rib from each side, so as to meet at the center, and thus the portion 0? is severed from the portion 6F, and this portion d forms the rib at the back of the blade. The portion 03 is cut entirely away, as shown in Fig. 3, and discarded. If a rib is not desired, then I form the incisions e as near the blade as possible, so that when the blade is rolled or forged the rib is obliterated. The next step in the process is to bend the portion d of the rib The I away from the blade, preferably to a posiweb or body portion of the blank is next reduced to the required thinness to form the blade of the trowel. This reduction can be made by rolling, forging or pressing, as desired, but I preferably roll one half and then the other half in two heats, the rolls being so shaped as to avoid the projecting shank B and to reduce the rib to the form desired. After the blade has been reduced it is trimmed, as illustrated in Fig. 5, and the shank and tang are finished, the tang being bent to a position substantially at right angles to the shank and substantially parallel to the blade, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The blade is finally finished by being ground and polished in the ordinary manner.

From the above description it will be seen that I can accurately and economically make a plasterers trowel in which the shank and tang are integral with the blade and the rib can be made of any shape and size desired, and I can also form the blade without the central rib, if desired.

The great objection to the trowels made in the ordinary manner, that is by riveting the ribbed handle portion. to the blade, is

' that the blade is often torn from the handle considerably less in height than the portion necessary for a complete shank and tang, and finish such shank element for the application of a separate tang, or a shank member carrying the usual tang to which the handle is secured; such separate tang, or shank member with tang, being attached to the shank element formed up from the rib by any welding operation suited for the purpose, electrical or otherwise.

I claim 1. The process herein described of manufacturing plasterers trowels, said process consisting in forming a blank with a rib projecting from one surface, cutting away a portion of the rib to form the shank, and then reducing the body portion of the blank to form the blade of the trowel.

2. The process herein described of manufacturing plasterers trowels, said process consisting in forming a blank with a rib on one surface thereof, cutting away a portion of the rib at one end of the blank, leaving a central connect-ion with thebody portion of the blank, cutting the rib entirely away on the other side of the blank, bending that portion of the rib which remains integral with the blank, then reducing the body portion of the blank to form the blade, and finally shaping the cut away portion of the rib to form the shank. I

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH G. THATFORD.

Witnesses MURRAY C. BOYER, VVM. A. BARR.

.copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

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