US31555A - Improvement in manufacture of spoons - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT CEEICE.

G. I. MIX, OF IVALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURE OF SPOONS.

, Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 31,555, dated February 25, 1861.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, G. I. MIX, of Wallingford, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Wiring and Strengthening Cast-Metal Spoons; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this speciiication, in which- Figure 1 is aface sectional View of myinvention. Fig. 2 is a face sectional view of a spoon wired in the ordinary way. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of Fig. 1, taken in the line x x. Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the wire used in my invention. Fig. 5 is atransverse section of Fig. 2, taken in the line y y. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of Fig. 3, taken in the line z e. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a spoon wired according to my invention. Fig. 8 isa perspective View ofthe handle of a spoon wired in the ordinary way. Fig. 9 is a plan or top view of the lower part of the mold in which the spoons are cast, showing the manner in which the wire is inserted in the mold.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

Spoons which are cast oi soft metal require to have their handles strengthened by a wire, andA these wires have hitherto been round and iitted in the mold by means of pliers, the metalbeing cast around the wire in the mold. The ordinary mode of wiring is attended with some disadvantages. The first is, that the wire being round or cylindrical weakens the handle at its upper part,where it is broad and flat, as the wire allows but a small mass of metal at that point, and nearly divides the handle for a distance of half its width. The second disadvantage is, that the round or cylindrical rod or wire admits of the handle of the spoon bending after being cast, as the metal will slip over or around it, and consequently a cavity willbe left or allowed in the handle at its junction with the bowl, and this` cavity greatly weakens the spoon at the point specified. The third disadvantage is, that the wire being adjusted in the mold by pliers considerable time is eX- pended in the proper prosecution of this work. My invention obviates all of these difficulties, as will hereinafter appear.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, Iwill proceed to describe it. j

A represents a piece of wire of suitable dimensions and bent in a zigzag form, as shown clearly in Fig. 4. This wire is of -iiat form, and its ends a a are flattened out broader than 4at points b above it, and the center part, c, of

the wire is also made flatter. This piece of wire A forms the wire for two spoons, but it is not divided until after the spoons are cast. The mold B, which is shown in Fig. 9, may be of the usual construction, and one-halfof the wire is adjusted in the mold, as shown in the said figure, one of the ends c being at the junction of the handle and bowl, and the dat part c passing out at the side of the mold. By this arrangement it will be seen that one part of the wire A will serve as a handle to adjust the other part in the mold B, and when a spoon is cast on one part of the wire A, the spoon will serve as a convenient handle to adjust the other part ofthe wire in the mold to casta succeeding spoon, as will be fully understood by referring to Fig. 9. The wire A may be held in proper position in the mold by a clamp, el, arranged in any proper way. The flat parte of the wire, it will be seen, passes out at the upper and i'lat part, el', ofthe handle, and consequently does not weaken the handlein theleast, (see Figs. 6 and 7 whilethe round rod or wire e hitherto used greatly weakens said part d', as will be seen by referring to Figs. 5 and 8. The central part, f, of the handle of the spoon being thicker and approximating lo a spherical form, the wire A has its part b rather thicker than elsewhere, in order to give the handle of the spoon the requisite degree of stiii'ness.

Vhen a spoon is cast with my improv ed form of wire, it will be seen that the handle cannot slip longitudinally over the wire, for the broad terminals a will prevent it. This result generally adds to the stiffness of the handle. The round or cylindrical wire e being of equal diameter throughout, will admit ofthe metal of the handle slipping over it longitudinally as the handle is bent. This result causes an opening or cavity at the lower part of the handle at its junction with the bowl, as shown at g in Fig. 2, and consequently the spoon will be much weakened at this point as well as at the upper part of the handle, d. My invention not only obviates these difficulties, but also greatly faeilitates the casting` of the spoons, as the wires A may be adjusted in the mold Very expeditiously and in a very accurate manner. rlhe wires being struck between two steel-tempered dies to give themtheirthin form, are of course perfectly uniform, the mold being fitted to them so that when the beak or clainp is brought down on the wire it uniformly finds a central position in the mold without any adj iisting,wliich enables the caster to throw out at least onethird more spoons per day than by the old way, in which each wire has to be very carefully fixed after it is put into the mold before the caster is preparedto pour the metal. It may be too high ortoo low, and frequently so much time is lost that the mold cools off so much that the casting will be imperfect. By my invention the spoons need no other manipulations after theyare Cast than to out olf the flattened wire close to the handle before they go to be polished and finished in the ordinary way.

Spoons have been east with a wire or rod round, square, or flat, running` the wholelength of the handle, and they have been cast hollow and a wire afterward put into the cavity. In

all the above modes it was necessary to east the handle larger than the finished article was designed to be, and the handle pressed into shape with dies, and the excess of metal driven ont at the sides and then clipped off.

In all the old modes, including the old way of turning the wire out at the sideshort of the end of the handle, there is at least from threefourths of an inch in length to one-fourth inch more wire wasted than in my improved way, which makes a Very imperfect stem.

g I do not claim, broadly, the casting of spoons with strengthening-wires in the handles; but,

Having` thus described my invention,wliat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Iatent, is-

The employment, in the manner and for the purpose herein shown and described, of the zigzag wire A, formed as set forth, in vcombination with the molds B and spoons ff, all as i specified. t G. I. MIX.

Vitnesses:

EBENEZER H. INES, i THEoDoRn F. LANE.

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