US1133775A - Process of producing polished spoons, forks, and other metal articles. - Google Patents

Description

A. WILZIN. PROCESS OF PRODUCING POLISHED SPOONS, FORKS, AND OTHER METAL ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 11, 1913- 1,133,775. Patented Mar.30,1915.

WITNESSES: I/Vl/E/VTOR jM ARIA/(IB- WIL Z //V WM W BY A TmRA/EY ARTHUR WILZ IN OF ST.-OUE1\T, FRANCE.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING POLISHED SPOONS, FORKS, AND OTHER METAL ARTICLES.

Application filed October 11, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR VViLzIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St.-Ouen, in the Department of the Seine, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Producing Polished Spoons; Forks, and other Metal Articles, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of flatware, such as spoons and forks, (and more particularly spoons and forks made of silver-plated German silver), one of the most expensive operations, so far as labor is concerned, is the polishing process to which the article has to be submitted, both after such article has been shaped by stamping, and again after it has been plated. The first polishing(before the article has been plated) is usually effected by means of disks or bobs coated with emery or polishing rouge; this is a somewhat diflicult operation calling for the exercise of great care by the workman in order to avoid damaging the lines of the design, and it is moreover expensive, as even a clever workman 'cannot turn out more than a certain limited quantity of work in agiven time without sacrificing its quality. The second polishing, that is, the polishing of the article after it has been silver-plated, is a yet more diflicult operation, for not only must a brilliant sheen be obtained, but the perfect adhesion of the silver coating must be assured, while the operation must be conducted in such a manner that the least possible quantity of silver shall be removed by the brush or the felt which clothes the rotating polishing disks.

The object of my present invention is to substitute, for the polishing operations hitherto employed, a method which shall enable the polishing to be effected with greater rapidity and certainty than has heretofore been possible, which shall avoid liability of spoiling the sharpness of the design, which shall not call for the exercise of special skill on the part of the workman, and which shall therefore possess the advantage of being economical.

In carrying out my present invention, the polishing is elfected, not by friction as here; tofore, but by heavy pressure applied as hereinafter described.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented'Mar. 30, 1915.

Serial N 0. 7941601.

Taking a spoon as an example, the invention may be performed in practice as hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a face view of the article at an early stage of the process; Fig. 1 is a face View of the article at a later stage of the process; Fig, 2 is a cross section of the bowl portion at the same stage as in Fig. l; and Figs.- 3, 4:, and 5- are similar cross sections at progressively succeeding stages of the process, Fig. 5 illustrating the same stage as Fig. 1. g

The sequence of operations or steps shown is as follows: First: The blank from which the spoon or other article is to be made is (as usual) brought to the required general shape by a stamping operation which produces a flash or bur around the edge of the blank as indicated at b in Fig. 1, and also, in Fig. 2, which shows a cross section of the bowl portion a. Second: The article is then trimmed olf all around so as to remove the flash or bur b, and thus produce an article having at the bowl portion a the cross sectional form shown in Fig. 3. Third: The article is then subjected, in a powerful press of any well-known or approved construction, to the action of highly burnished dies corresponding in form and design to the finished article, and as a result a flash or bur b (Fig. 4} is again produced around the edge of the now burnished article, the bowl portion then having the cross sectional shape indicated at a.-- Fourth: This bur or flash 7) is then trimmed 011? in cutting dies which at the same time remove a small portion 0 of metal, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the resulting article (Figs. 1- and 5) has a width (Z slightly less than the width d of the arti cle shown in Fig. 3, the length of the article being of course diminished by this trimming operation to a similar extent, as will be-seen by comparing Fig. 1 with Fig. 1. Fifth: This article, shown in Figs. 1 and 5, of reduced width and length, is then subjected to the plating operation, which may be performed in the usual manner. Sixth: The article, after plating, is again subjected in a powerful press of any suitable construction, to the action of highly burnished dies corresponding in form and design to the finished article, by which operation the desired polish is given to the surface while at the same time the perfect adhesion and consolidation of the plating is insured. As a result of the application of this pressure the metal is naturally caused to spread all around its contour in a surface direction but, as the superficial area of the trimmed piece is slightly less than thatof the final product to which the engraved design borne by the dies corresponds, this spreading can take place freely within the engraved space of the dies, either Without actually reaching the edge of the engraving, or just filling it, so that in any case no flash is formed. It will be understood that the width of the portion 0 which is cut off at the same time as the bur b" must be so determinedthat the amount of metal removed shall be suificient to provide space for the flow of the metal which fills the mold under the ressure of the final burnishing operation. this final burnishing squeeze no bur or flash is formed, which is very important for the reason that if any were then formed, it could not be relmoved withoutv exposing the German-silver ase.

In many cases one. stamping and one trimming operation, namely the third and fourth, will sufiice, omitting the first and second.

The burnishing dies used in the third step described above may be, and preferably are,

the same as those employed for the sixth step. The pressure, both during the initial burnishing step .and during the final burnishing', should be sulficient to cause the polish of the die surfaces to be imparted to the unplanted and to the plated article respectively.

Itwill be understood that the method described above is not limited to the polishing of spoons and forks, but may be employed equally well in the case of all other plated metal articles produced by stamping.

I claim as my invention:

1. The process of producing a finished and polished spoon, fork, or other plated article, which consists in (a) compressing the unplated article between highly burnished dies under a pressure suificient to cause the polish of the die surfaces to be imparted to the article; (b) trimming ofi the flash or bur formed by this compression, and at the same time trimming off suflicient additional metal to prevent the plated metal, when spread out under'the" subsequent final burnishing pressure from forming a flash; (c) plating the article thus diminished in surface andvvolum e; (d) compressing the plated article between highly burnished dies under a pressure sufiicient to cause'the polish of the die surfaces to be imparted to the plated surface.

2. The process of producing a finished and polished spoon, fork, or other plated metal article, which consists in first subjecting the unplated article to a burnishing pressure, then trimming off the edge of the article, thereupon plating the article, and finally subjecting the plated article to a burnishing pressure.

3. The process of making forks, spoons, and other plated metal articles, which consists in first subjecting the unplated article to a burnishing pressure, then plating the article, and finally subjecting the plated article to a burnishing pressure.

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

ARTHUR WILZIN.

Vitnesses: I

Hanson C. Coxn, JACK H. BAKER.

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