US91367A - Improved fork-blank - Google Patents

Description

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Lette/rs Patent No. 91,367, dated J'fcme 15, 1869.

' IMPnovED FORK-BLANK The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it ma/y concern:

n. Be it known that I, J. C. RICHARDSON, of Ilion, 1n the county of Herkimer, and State of New York, have invented a new and improved Fork-Blank; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specication, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a narrow strip of metal from which the blanks are produced.

Figure 2 is a perspective View of a tool which'is adapted for perforating 511e blanks, to forrn their shoulders, preparatory to splitting the metal.

Figure 3 shows the general form of two blanks which have been perforated, but not split.

Figures 4 and 5 show blanks which have been perforated and split.

f Figure o' shows. a blankready to be formed into a ork.

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

This invention relates to an improvement iu the manufacture of blanks from which to producel dung or stable-forks.

The object of my invention is to produce the shoulder or crotch between the middle tines of a fork-blank by crowding the metal which is displaced t-o form such shoulder or opening into thebody of metal att-he junction of the head and shank or tang ofthe blank, thereby greatly strengthening the metal at thenpoint which is subjected to the greatest strain in using a fork, and avoiding the necessity o f cutting out a piece of the stock, to produce said shoulder, preparatory to spreading-and shaping the prongs ofthe blank, as will be hereinafter explained.

To enable othe'sskilled in the art to understand myfinvention, I will describe its` construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings- A represents a strip of metal, which is made of the proper width and thickness to vproduce four-tined forkblanks, such as are'shown in figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6.

By means of a suitable cutter, I form, at one operation, the tang or shank B and rounded or bevelled head c. At the same time, I separate a blank from the stock, and leave the end of the strip A, from which the blank was cut,'of the exact shape required for the ends ofthe prongs, C C', of the succecding'blank; and the space which is left in the middle ofthe width of the strip A, by cutting ont/the tang or shank B, allows the prongs G C to be separated, preparatory to drawing them out into nished tines.

Previous to splitting the blanks, as shown at h h g iu-gs. 4, 5, and 6, I produce what are termed the shoulders on the blanks. To do this, I form, through each blank, at the point a, a hole, which will vary in width, according to the size of the fork to be produced, or t'he distance apart required for the middle tines of a ork.

This space or hole @has been made heretofore by cutting a piece of the metal from the'blank; also by leaving the piece cut out upon the end of the tang or shank of a succeeding blank. In the former instance, the piece is wasted, and the shoulder necessarily reduced in thickness. In the latter instance, the end of the tang or shank upon which said piece is left requires to be hammered and reduced to a finished point.

I now produce the. hole a, of any required size and A shape, by means of a tapering tool, substantially as shown in iig; 2, and lettered G, by means of which, and while the blank is in a highly-heated state, the

metal which is displaced, to produce the hole a, is

crowded out laterally, and condensed into the body of metal which is at the junction of the head c and tang or shank B.

After thus producing the openings a, the blanks are split, as shown at h h g, so that the prongs .G C O C' can be spread out, and drawn down, to form a fork, in the usual well-known manner.

l prefer to construct the blanks of the form substantially as shown in the drawing, fig. 5; that is to say, with a tang or shank, B, and a rounded shoulder, c, produced by cutting from a plate, A, substantially as above described; but I do, not confine my invention to this mode of giving shape to the fork-blank, as the head c and tau g B can be produced by hammering and drawing, or in any other suitable manner, either previousI to or succeeding the operation of forming the hole a, by crowding the displaced metal into the head of the blank.

I do not claim, under this patent, the forming of a shoulder upon a fork-blank, by cutting ont a piece of met-al therefrom, as this has been done before.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In 'the manufacture of a fork-blank, substantially such as described, crowding the metal which occupied the space c into that part of the blank constituting the head,in the manner specified, so as to condense the metal of said head, and thereby strengthen the shoulder at its junction with the tang B, all substantially as described.

2. The improved new article of manufacture herein described, to wit, the fork-blank, with the metal which occupied the space a forced into the head ofthe blank, at the junction of the head with the tang B, all as set forth.

Witnesses: J. G. RICHARDSON.

I. I. Fours, W. H. ELLIOT.

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