Patent GB-191412274-A (GB)
Title: Automatic Button Machine.
IPC: B21D53/48
Filed: 1914-05-18
Abstract: 12,274. Soc. Tourneur fils. May 19, 1913, [Convention date]. Punching; stamping; metal-sheet feeds.- Consists of a machine for making buttons and like articles which may operate on and be fed on each side with (1) articles partly shaped, the articles being supplied automatically from hoppers or by hand, (2) strips of great length, (3) large size sheets which may be composite sheets of metal and cardboard, a safety device for avoiding damage to the tools in case of blocking being provided. The machine comprises two plates 1, 2, Fig. 3, rotatable towards each other for supporting the body portions and the covers of the button respectively, the plates being turned through onesixth of a revolution at a time in a block 11 by pawls 25 actuated by horizontal rods 26 connected with the main shaft 13 through weightcontrolled levers 27, 28 a slotted link 30 and a crank pin 31, Fig. 2. The body blanks are received by the plate 1 on one side of the machine at the point 3 and are perforated and stamped by tools at the points 4 and 5 while the covers are received and shaped at the other side of the machine at the point 7 on the plate 2, being further stamped at the point 8 if necessary and then passed above the body blank at the point 6 where they are assembled. The button is closed at the point 9 and falls down finished a,t the point 10. Above the plates is a vertically sliding block 14 connected by a crank to the shaft 13 and carrying tools for performing the various operations, these tools co-operating with others which are actuated from the shaft 13 through the link 19, 20 or from the block 14 through links 37, 38, 39, 40. To prevent accidents in case blocking by defective parts prevents full movement of the plates 1, 2, an automatic unclutching device is provided. The movements of the plates 1. 2, are controlled by spring pressed stop fingers 47 engaging in peripheral notches and having holes which receive spindles 52 hinged to levers 53 keyed on a shaft 54, Fig. 2. The shaft 54 has an arm 55 which operates a pawl 58 through links 56, 57, 57<1> to withdraw it from the path of the operating projection of an unclutching device when the system is moved by a spring r to insert the spindles 52 in the holes of the stop-fingers 47. If one of the plates 1, 2 has not completed its movement, the system 53, 55, 56, 57 cannot be rocked and the pawl 58 operates the clutch to stop the machine. The further rotation of the shaft 13 due to the inertia of the flywheel is taken up by a pin-and-slot connexion between the lever 28 and link 30. The spindles 52 are withdrawn by means of a cam 59 acting on a nose 60 on the lever 53. When the machine is fed with previously partly-shaped body blanks and covers these parts are distributed bv endless bands 61, Fig. 2, on which they are placed by hand or delivered by belt driven hoppers 70. The bands are driven by pulleys 63, 64, 65, with tension wheels 66 and carry the body blanks and covers to channels 71, Fig. 3, where they accumulate and are then passed by plungers 72, operated by the block 14, to the points 3 and 7 respectively. The body blank at the point 3 is seized by spring controlled jaws 77 which hold it until a plunger 15 on the block 14 forces it into the plate 1. The cover at the point 7 is seized by a shaping punch and caused to engage in the plate 2. The Specification as open to inspection under Section 91 (3) (a) comprises also mechanism for feeding the machine with strips of great length or with composite sheets of metal and cardboard. When the machine is fed with strips of material of great length, Figs. 7 (Cancelled) and 8 (Cancelled), the hoppers and the endless band are taken off and replaced by the strip feeding mechanism and punching tools for preparing the body blank. The strip 81 is fed from a reel on the left of the machine onto a reel on the right by a bar 86 having spring gripping jaws 85, the bar being reciprocated by means of a link 87, crank 104, shaft 102, and a return spring 92, a leaf spring brake 98 holding the strip when the bar 86 moves to the left. 'T'he shaft 102 is rocked by the crank 132 and link 133, Fig. 2, the spacing of the perforations being obtained by a stop screw 90 and a movable wedge 99. The edge of the strip is perforated by a punch 113 operated by a part 83 integral with the block 14, and a "hammering punch " 80 operated by a cam 17 through the rod 84 hammers out the body blank and pushes it into the plate 1. The reels are then interchanged and the other edge of the strip perforated, these perforations being arranged in quincunx relatively to those of the first series. In the second and subsequent passages of the strips the jaws 85 are not used, the strip being fed by a pawl 93 adjustable on an arm 94 adjustably mounted on the bar 86, the pawl engaging in the previously formed holes. A knife 96 continuously cuts off the waste pieces 97. When the machine is fed with sheets of metal, Figs. 10 and 11 (Cancelled), the sheet is held by the jaws 112 of a carriage sliding on a bar 111, the carriage being moved step-by-step to the left and then to the right by pawls 105, 106 carried by the arm 104 of the rocking shaft 102 engaging a double rack 103 on the back of the carriage. The end tooth on each side of the rack is spaced a halfdivision apart from the others so that the perforations 136 of each series are arranged in quincunx to the perforations 135 of the previous series, the perforations being made by a " cutting and assuaging " tool 113 and the waste being cut off by punches 129, 130. Each pawl 105, 106 is held out of engagement when the other is driving the rack by strips 114, 115 respectively. The carriage with attached sheet is moved towards the machine at the end of each travel of the carriage through an amount equal to the distance between two series of perforations by weights 117 acting through chains 118 attached to vertical rods 120, 121 integral with the rod 111 and contacting with a bar 122. The carriage is retained in position against the action of the weights 117 by double pawls 123 on the ends of the bar 122 engaging with fixed racks 124. The carriage at the end of its travel encounters an adjustable stop, thereby rocking the double pawls 123 and allowing the weights to move the whole system a distance equal to half the distance between the teeth of the racks 124. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.