Improvement In The Manufacturing Of Axes
In 1860 axes were still largely made by hand. The process involved shaping the rough iron, drifting the eye, inserting and forge welding a steel bit & then grinding to the final shape. It was a very labour intensive process that also required a skilled workforce.
Lippincott came up with a novel idea to quickly establish the final shape of an axe. His process used a sand mold, a steel bit & a steel core for the eye. All held together using cast iron in order to form the rest of the body.
The final product was a near perfect axe head that only needed to have the bit drawn out and finished in the usual manner.
“The ax is molded in the sand by means of a pattern of suitable size and shape, having at the bit end a piece of the exact conformation of the steel bit to be used, and after the pattern is withdrawn the steel bit around which the poll is to be cast is carefully inserted in the space left for it in the mold, and a core for the eye of the ax is prepared in the usual manner and suitably placed in the mold.”
“Near the root of the bit there are one or more perforations, Z) b, of any convenient shape or size, drilled (or punched with aide) through the steel, for the purpose of permitting the metal, when cast into the mold to form the poll, to pass through from one side of the bit to the other.
“The steel bit is then drawn under a hammer or otherwise shaped, and it is then tempered in the usual way, after which the sides and face of the ax are ground down to a uniform surface, and the ax is finished by polishing, ready for market.”
Suggested Item: Nicholson 8″ Axe File
Leave a Reply