Patent GB-190410149-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Button-making Machinery.
Inventor: BARRY NICHOLAS
Filed: 1904-05-03
Granted: 1905-03-16
Abstract: 10,149. Barry, N., and Barry, P. J. May 3. Buttons. - Relates to machines for making buttons, in which blanks are gripped by a series of chucks and carried by an endless carrier first to a series of facing and centering tools, and afterw a r d s to a series of drilling-tools. The blanks are held by chucks 8<b>, Figs. 1, 6, 9, and 10, revolving with and sliding in tubes 8 and connected sleeves 7<d>, 7, which are pivotably connected by links 7<h>, 7<i>, the sleeve 7 being supported by the upper discs 6 of double sprocket-wheels on the shafts 2, 5. and the sleeves 7<d> by the lower discs 6<a>. The facing &c. tools 11<a> turn on the shaft 2 above the chucks, and the drills 16<c> on the adjustable shaft 5. The chucks are rotated by a belt 19 driven from a pulley 19<a> on the shaft 18<b> and passing over idle pulleys 19<b>, 19<c>, the latter carried on an adjustable shaft 19<f>, and the driven pulleys 8<e> bearing with friction rollers on the sleeves 7. The upper ends of the chucks 8<b> are split and have a conical shoulder, and the lower ends bear on a cam track 9. A spring 8<i> presses the conical shoulder at the upper end of each sleeve 7 against the clutch 8<b>, and closes the split end on to the blank. By variations in the height of the track 9, the chucks are lowered before they reach the facing-tools, releasing the finished blanks and allowing the insertion of fresh ones, raised again to the facing-tools, lowered slightly after they pass them, so that they still hold the blanks, and are raised again to the drills. Inverted guards 8j prevent the entry of dust between the parts. The facing or centering tools 11<a> are pressed down by weights 11<b> and may be adjusted by screws 11<c> within sleeves 10<b>, which may be adjusted radially upon the disc 10 and hub 10<a>, feathered on the shaft 2. The tools turn at the same time as the chucks 8<b> and the sprocket-wheel, to which the disc 10 may be secured by bolts 6<e>, engagement of the tools and blanks taking place during half a revolution of the shaft 2. To adjust for wear of the tools, the shaft 2 is made hollow, two pins 12 secured to the screwed bolt 12 passing through slots in the side of the shaft. To an internallyscrewed and rotatable sleeve 12<b> is attached a large ratchet-wheel 12<e>, a lever pawl 12<f>, 12<g>, carried 'by the shaft 2, striking a stop 12h as the shaft revolves and moving the wheel 12<e> one or two teeth, so that the bolt 12 and the hub 10<a> are pressed down a little. After each operation, the facing-tools are sharpened by rubbing against an emery wheel 30, Figs. 1 and 9, carried in an adjustable bearing 32 on the frame, and rotated by a belt 34 from the pulley 4e on shaft 4. The dust caused by the cutting is sucked through tubes 10<m> into the chamber 10<k> on the disc 10, and through the nozzle 13<a> carried by a stationary cylindrical piece 13. As the tools which are, for the time, revolving nearest the shaft 5 are not cutting, the piece 13 may be elongated on that side to cover the openings to the pipes 10<m> as they revolve. The drills 16<c>, Figs. 1 and 9, are carried by spindles 16 which are normally upheld from the work by springs 16<b>. The spindles are carried by holders 15 secured to the cylinder 14<a> which rotates with the piece 14 secured to the shaft 5 but may be rotatively adjusted by two screws passing through lugs on the cylinder 14<a> and bearing on a lug on the piece 14. The drills are first set to the centres of the blanks, and are then adjusted according to the distance required between the holes, the chucks and blanks being partly rotated after each hole is drilled. The drills are rotated from a pulley 18<a> on the vertical shaft 18<b> by a belt 18 bearing on the pulleys 16<a>. The drills are brought down to the work by the upper ends bearing on a number of curved plates 17 pivoted at one end on a stationary vertically-adjustable ring 17<a>, and adjustable by screws 17<d> at the other end, the number varying with the number of holes required. Fresh drills are set in the spindles with the assistance of a swinging arm turning on a vertical tie-rod on the machine and upon which the drills are rested during the setting. To obtain the partial rotation of the blanks after each hole is drilled, a curved guide 20, Figs. 6 and 15, is employed. A square block 8<f>, below the pulley 8<e> on each chuck, strikes against a spring 20<a> and slides along the guide 20 without rotation until a projection 8<i> on the pulley side strikes a pin 21 on the guide, when the chuck turns over in the recess 22 and another square side slides along the guide. The shaft 2 is provided with a worm-wheel 2<a> meshing with a worm 3<a> carried by a shaft 3, on which slides a clutch 3<d> which is moved into engagement with the clutch 3<c>, carrying the pulley 3<b>, by a hand-lever 3<e>. The pulley 3<b> is driven by a belt from the pulley 4<a> on a shaft 4 which receives the main driving-belt. The shaft 18<b> is driven by bevel gearing from the shaft 4.