Precious metal wire drawing apparatus

Wire drawing apparatus for ease in manually drawing precious metal wire is formed by an elongated base having a forward end portion transversely supporting a draw plate through which wire stock may be drawn and a downturned rearward end portion having a pivotally connected upstanding lever moveable at its upper end portion toward and away from the draw plate by pivoting about a horizontal axis. A wire grip for grasping wire dawn trough the draw plate is attached to the lever by a link chain extending through a keyhole slot in the depending end portion of the lever for edgewise nesting one link of the chain prior to manually moving the lever in a direction opposite the draw plate.

This invention relates to jewelry fabrication and more particularly to 
drawing precious metal wire. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
In the fabrication of jewelry, it is frequently necessary to reduce the 
diameter of wire being used, such as gold or silver. This is presently 
accomplished by utilizing a jeweler's wire drawing plate having a series 
of transverse graduated size holes through which the wire is manually 
pulled in a wire drawing action which is time consuming and stressful. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,551 issued Oct. 26, 1993 to Vetter for PRECIOUS METAL 
WIRE DRAWING MACHINE AND METHOD discloses a motorized precious metal wire 
drawing machine. A wire-end clasp plate for gripping a wire being drawn is 
slidably mounted on a pair of parallel rods extending between a draw plate 
and a motor mount block. A threaded hole in the clasp plate threadedly 
surrounds a motor driven shaft interposed between the support rods which, 
when angularly rotated, moves the support plate toward the motor by 
operation of the latter and draws wire through the draw plate. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,766 issued Mar. 11, 1969 to Deardorff for DEVICE FOR 
DRAWING WIRE WHICH ELIMINATES CHATTER discloses a wire to be drawn held at 
one end by pliers. The opposite end portion of the wire passes over a cam 
from a die vertically reciprocated toward and away from the cam opposite 
the position of the pliers. The cam is moveable at one end portion toward 
a cam follower to impinge the wire at the plier held end portion whereby 
further movement of the die draws the wire a limited distance, and when 
the die is moved toward the pliers, the wire is drawn over the cam and the 
cycle repeated. 
This invention is believed distinctive over these and similar patents by 
providing a lever manually moved toward and away from a wire drawing plate 
with the lever gripping a drawn end portion of the wire and pulling it 
through the draw plate on each pivoting action of the lever. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An elongated generally horizontally disposed base vertically supports a 
wire draw plate at one end and pivotally supports, at its other end, the 
depending end portion of an elongated generally upright handle for 
vertical pivoting movement about a horizontal axis of the other end 
portion of the handle toward and away from the draw plate. Adjacent the 
pivotally connected end, the handle is provided with a transverse chain 
link gripping aperture. A wire end clasping member grips one end of a wire 
to be drawn extending through the draw plate. An elongated chain connected 
with the clasp member projects through the chain link gripping aperture of 
the handle whereby manually pivoting the handle from a position inclined 
toward the draw plate, draws a length of the wire through the draw plate 
for one cycle of operation. 
The principal object of this invention is to provide a manually operated 
apparatus which will quickly and easily draw successive lengths of 
precious metal wire.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures of the 
drawings in which they occur. 
In the drawings: 
The reference numeral 10 indicates the apparatus as a whole comprising a 
generally horizontal channel like base member 12 having a transverse draw 
plate support 14 at its forward end portion, the plate having forward and 
rearward planar surfaces 16 and 18 and a top surface 20. The rearward end 
portion of the base 12 angularly extends longitudinally downward and 
outward from the plate 14 as at 22. A pair of line drilled lugs 24 are 
transversely secured to opposite sides of the down turned end 22 of the 
base for receiving an elongated pin 26 which journals the depending end 
portion of a generally upright elongated lever 28, having a handle 29, for 
vertical pivoting movement about the horizontal axis of the pin 26 in the 
direction of the arrows 30. Adjacent its depending pivoted end portion, 
the lever 28 is provided with a keyhole-like slot opening defined by a top 
circular portion 32 dimensioned, for free sliding movement of the links of 
a chain 34 therethrough, and a depending narrow slot-like portion 36 
intersecting the circular portion for gripping a vertically edgewise 
disposed link of the chain 34 when disposed therein for the purposes 
presently explained. 
The plate support 14 is provided with an upwardly open U-shaped recess 40 
in its top surface 20 which freely receives the drawn end portion of a 
wire 42 passing through one of a series of die holes 43 in a draw plate 
44. The draw plate 44 flatly contacts the forward surface 16 of the plate 
14 and is gripped by spring means such as clips 48 secured to the forward 
surface 16 of the plate 14. 
A wire grip means 50 is connected at one end portion with the wire being 
drawn 42, and is connected at its other end portion to the forward end 
portion of the chain 34. The grip means 50 is plier-like in general 
configuration, and includes a pair of gripping jaws 52 forced toward each 
other by handle members 54 connected to the chain 34 and similarly biased 
together by tension on the chain as presently explained. 
The jaws 52 are further secured in wire 42 gripping relation by a clamp 
member 56. Obviously, a toggle link secured plier-like member, presently 
marketed under the trademark Vise Grip, may be used if desired, for 
gripping the wire 42. 
The base member 12 further includes a depending plate-like transverse 
member 58 to be gripped between the jaws 60 of a vise, not shown, for 
rigidly supporting the base 12. 
Operation 
In operation, assuming the apparatus 10 is arranged as described 
hereinabove and supported by vise jaws with the wire drawn end portion 42 
projecting through the draw plate 44 and clamped by the grip means 50. The 
handle 30 is disposed in a forward direction and the chain 34 is manually 
positioned tautly with one of its links disposed edgewise in the slot 36 
of the keyhole opening. The lever is manually moved by its handle 29 in a 
rearward direction, which draws the wire through the draw plate 44 die 
opening 43, completing one cycle of operation. 
Obviously the invention is susceptible to changes or alterations without 
defeating its practicability. Therefore, I do not wish to be confined to 
the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein.