IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING NAILS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes
and Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
NAILS."A communication from abroad by Daniel Reed, Royal
Moulton Bassett, and Theodore Sheldon Bassett, of Birmingham,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas
Hughes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his.
Petition, on the 24th February 1870.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent
Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
NAILS," a communication to me from abroad by Daniel Reed, Royal
Moulton Bassett, and Theodore Sheldon Bassett, of Birmingham, in the
County of New Haven, United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in machinery for the
manufacture of nails known to the trade as "cut nails," the object. of

page_text: the Invention being to feed the sheet from which the nails are cut
nail
without the necessity of reversing the plate as in common
machines, and the Invention consists in the arrangement of a plate
guide or holder, which has imparted to it automatically a movement so
as to present the plate to the straight vibrating cutter, so that not only
will the taper be given to the nail, but a sufficient quantity of metal
Also in the
will be left upon the broader end to form the head.
arrangement of a double guage, one part of which gives the width of
the first nail, and the other of the second, and so on alternately. Also
in the arrangement of a spring attachment to the feed so as to
automatically feed the plate as fast as the nails are cut therefrom.
To enable others to construct_and_use-these-improvements-I-will-
proceed to describe the same as illustrated in the accompanying two
Sheets of Drawings.
A is the bed plate supporting in bearings B the driving shaft C,
which is caused to revolve by the application of power thereto in any
convenient manner; D is the cutter head arranged upon bearings E, and
operated by excentrics F on the driving shaft through levers G attached
to the cutter head and connecting rods H, which give a vibrating move-
ment to the cutter head, upon the face of which the cutter I is fixed,
which is so far forward of the centre movement of the cutter head that a
sufficient movement is given to the cutter for it to perform the operations
required. On a part J of the frame and over the three dies a, a, b,
a corresponding cutter L is placed, so that the cutter in the cutter head
vibrating across the edge of the cutter L act together to cut from the
sheet in similar manner as in other nail machines. After the nail has
been cut it passes down and is turned by the lever c, see Fig. 4, and in
broken lines Fig. 2, so as to present the blank between the dies a and a¹
in one part, and the dies d and d¹ upon the end of the lever N actuated
by a cam P on the said lever, which firmly grasps the blank between
the said dies, that is to say, when the broader or head end of the blank
is at the side d and a of the dies, and upon those dies the head is
formed. The next nail cut will present the head in like manner between
the other two dies a', d' cand fare the two heading dies fixed upon
the holders Rin proper relative position to the dies a and d, and a' and d¹
the die holders pivoted respectively at 9, and operated by the same
excentric, as the cutter, but are raised so as to operate after the cutter
has performed its operation and is returning, and this by a connection

page_text: upon the shorter arm of the lever G, which operates upon arms S upon
the die holders R. Thus far the machine does not differ materially
from nail machines of common construction; but in such machines
heretofore it has been necessary to reverse the plate, so that the head of
the nail should alternately come upon opposite edges of the plate. To
avoid this I arrange the plate guide T supported upon bearings i at one
end, and resting near or upon the cutter holder upon the lower end, and
from which extend connecting rods and m to adjustable excentrics n
and upon a shaft U, being caused to revolve by connecting with the
driving shaft, as shewn in Fig. 1, or otherwise the two excentrics
imparting a different motion to each end of the holder T, so that while
the lower end is only carried to the right and left sufficiently far to
properly place the head, the other or outer end is carried so much farther
in the same direction as will give the proper taper to the nail, and this
is adjusted either by the excentric or by an adjusting nut on the rod.
Thus the proper vibrating motion is given to the plate holder T to
properly present the plate to the cutters to have a blank cut therefrom,
and when so cut the nail is turned down between the dies and headed, as
before described, in the usual manner.
Herctofore the plate from which the nail has been cut has been fed in
by hand, which requires the constant attendance of a person at the
machine. I fix at any convenient point upon the plate holder T a spring
wheel W, that is, a wheel or cylinder to which a spring is applied to
operate in similar manner as clock springs, and in the said holder I
arrange a jaw or clamp Y, its lower end formed so as to be firmly
clamped upon the sheet of metal, and to its outer end a cord or other
device from the spring cylinder W is attached, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2,
so that when the clamp V is drawn out or away from the cutters the
spring is moved up so that it tends to force the clamp Y back to its
first position. The plate being cut to the proper width is laid in the
plate holder, and the clamp Y drawn out so as to grasp the outer end of
the plate, and thus constantly bear the plate toward the cutters;
therefore when one nail has been cut from the plate and the cutters are
open the plate will be automatically forced forward for a second cut,
5 and so on until the plate has been consumed by successive cuts there-
from. To thus operate it is necessary that a guide be arranged so that
the plate will be forced between the cutters to a proper distance. To
this end I arrange in the rear of the cutter I and through the cutter

page_text: head D a pair of guides f¹ and f, the said guides adjusted by a screw in
the rear, and forced forward so as to lie close up to the cutter by a
spring in the rear. The set or adjusting screw prevents either of the
guides from being forced farther back than a certain given point, and
this given point for both the guides is the width of the nail at that
point, that is to say, looking at Fig. 7, if the head end of the nail be to
the right then the guide will lie at the wider portion of the nail than
the guide f, therefore in that position the guide is the adjusting
guide, and the plate is forced by the spring wheel W against the guide f
until the said guide f² comes to a bearing against its adjusting screw in
the rear; the other guide f¹ will at the same time be forced back, but
the nail being narrower at that point it will not strike its own adjusting
At-the-next-cut-the-head-end-of the nail will be to the left, then
the guide f¹ will become the adjusting guide and operate in like manner
as described for the other, thus alternately acting the two guides
respectively adjust the width of the nail to be cut. I arrange a clutch Z
upon the shaft U, which is operated by a lever B₁ to connect or
disconnect the plate holder T from the power so that the feed may at
any time be stopped.
screw...
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGILES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent Agents,
123, Chancery Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, Her special
licence that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING NAILS," a communication
to me from abroad by Daniel Reed, Royal Moulton Bassett, and Theodore
Sheldon Bassett, of Birmingham, in the County of New Haven, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same.
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, do hereby ;
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in machines for the
manufacture of nails known to the trade as "cut nails," the object of
the Invention being to feed the sheet from which the nails are cut
without the necessity of reversing the plate as in common nail machines,
and the Invention consists in the arrangement of a plate guide or holder
which has imparted to it automatically a movement so as to present the
plate to the straight vibrating cutter, so that not only the taper will be
given to the nail, but a sufficient quantity of metal will be left upon
the broader end to form the head. Also in the arrangement of a double
gauge, one part of which gives the width of the first nail, and the other
of the second, and so on alternating. Also in the arrangement of a
spring attachment to the feed so as to automatically feed the plate as
fast as the nails are cut therefrom.
To enable others to construct and use these improvements I will
proceed to describe the same as illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a top view; Fig. 2, a side view; 'Fig. 3, a
front end view; Fig. 4, a partial top view, the feeding device and cutters
removed; Fig. 5, a diagram illustrating the manner of cutting from the
sheet; Fig. 6, a detached front view of the moveable cutter; Fig. 7, a
sectional view of the cutter head showing the gauges to regulate the
width of the nail to be cut.

page_text: A is the bed plate supporting in bearings B the driving shaft C,
which is caused to revolve by the application of power thereto in any
convenient manner; D is the cutter head arranged upon bearings E, and
operated by eccentrics F on the driving shaft through levers G attached
to the cutter head and connecting rods H, which give a vibrating move-
ment to the cutter head upon the face of which the cutter I is fixed,
which is so far forward of the centre movement of the cutter head that
a sufficient movement is given to the cutter for it to perform the
operations required. On a part J of the frame and over the three dies
a, a, b, a corresponding cutter L is placed, so that the cutter in the
cutter head vibrating across the edge of the cutter L act together to cut
from the sheet in similar manner as in other nail machines. After the
nail has been cut it passes down-and-is-turned-by the lever c, scc Fig. 4,
and in broken lines, Fig. 2, actuated by the cam M, as denoted in Fig. 2,
so as to present the blank between the dies a and a¹ in one part, and the
dies d and d' upon the end of the lever N actuated by a cam P on the
said lever, which firmly graps the blank between the said dies, that is to
say, when the broader or head end of the blank is at the side d and a of
the dies, and upon those dies the head is formed, the next nail cut will
present the head in like manner between the other two dies a' and d¹; e
and fare the two heading dies fixed upon the holders R in proper relative
position to the dies a and d, and a¹ and d¹ the die holders pivotted respec-
tively at g, and operated by the same eccentric of the cutter, but arc
raised so as to operate after the cutter has performed its operation and
is returning, and this by a connection upon the shorter arm of the
lever G which operates upon arms s upon the holders R. Thus far
the machine does not differ materially from nail machines of common
construction; but in such machines heretofore it has been necessary to
reverse the plate so that the head of the nail should alternately come
upon opposite edges of the plate. To avoid this I arrange the plate
guide T supported upon bearings i at one end, and resting near or upon
the cutter holder upon the lower end, and from which extend connecting
rods and m to adjustable eccentrics n and upon a shaft U, being caused
to revolve by connecting with the driving shaft, as shown in Fig. 1, or
otherwise, the two eccentrics imparting a different motion to each end of
the holder T, so that while the lower end is only carried to the right
and left sufficiently far to properly place the head, the other or outer
end is carried so much further in the same direction as will give the
proper taper to the nail, and this is adjusted either by the eccentric or

page_text: by an adjusting nut on the rod, either adjustment of which is a well-
known device. Thus the proper vibrating motion is given to the plate
holder T to properly present the plate to the cutters to have a blank
cut therefrom, and when so cut the nail is turned down between 'the
dies and headed, as before described, in the usual manner.
1
Heretofore the plate from which the nails have been cut has been fed
in by hand, which requires the constant attendance of a person at the
machine. I fix at any convenient point upon the plate holder T a spring
wheel W, that is, a wheel or cylinder to which a spring is applied to
operate in similar manner as clock springs, and in the said holder I
arrange a jaw. or clamp Y, is lower end formed so as to be firmly
clamped upon the sheet of metal, and to its outer end a cord or other
device from the spring cylinder W is attached, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2,
so that when the clamp V is drawn out or away from the cutters the
spring is moved up, so that it tends to force the clamp Y back to its
first position. The plate being cut to the proper width is laid in the
plate holder, and the clamp Y drawn out so as to grasp the outer end
of the plate, and thus constantly bear the plate toward the cutters;
therefore when one nail has been cut from the plate and the cutters
are open the plate will be automatically forced forward by for second
cut, and so on until the plate has been consumed by successive cuts
therefrom. To thus operate it is necessary that a guide be arranged so
that the plate will be forced between the cutters to a proper distance.
To this end I arrange in the rear of the cutter I and through the cutter
head D a pair of guides f¹ and f, the said guides adjusted by a respective
screw in the rear, and forced forward so as to lie close up to the cutter
by a spring in the rear. The set or adjusting screw prevents either of
the guides from being forced farther back than a certain given point,
and this given point for both the guides is the width of the nail at that
point, that is to say, looking at Fig. 7, if the head end of the nail be
to the right, then the guide f* will lie at the wider portion of the nail
than the guide f¹, therefore in that position the guide f² is the
adjusting guide, and the plate is forced by the spring wheel W against
the guide until the said guide ƒ comes to a bearing against its
adjusting screw in the rear; the other guide f¹ will at the same time
be forced back, but the nail being narrower at that point it will not
strike its own adjusting screw. At the next cut the head end of the
nail will be to the left, then the guide f¹ will become the adjusting

page_text: guide, and operate in like manner as described for the other, thus alter-
nately acting the two guides respectively adjust the width of the nail
to be cut. I arrange a clutch Z upon the shaft U, which is operated by
a lever B¹ to connect or disconnect the plate holder T from the power,
so that the feed may at any time be stopped.
Having thus fully described this Invention, what I claim as new and
useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
E
First. The arrangement of the plate holder T and constructing it
substantially in the manner described with the operative mechanism of
the machine so as to impart to the said holder the combined vibrating 1
movement, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Second. In combination with the plate holder T I claim the clamp Y
or its equivalent arranged_so_as_to_be_operated-by-a-spring-wheel-W,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.
Third. In combination with the cutter I fixed to the head D I claim 1
the adjusting guides f¹ and f when arranged so as to operate in the
man ner substantially as described.
Fourth. In combination with the plate holder T constructed and
arranged so as to operate in the manner described I claim the adjusting
guides and f². .
Fifth. In combination with the two cutters I and L, I claim the plate
holder T when constructed and arranged so as to present the plate to
the two cutters, substantially as described.
2
Sixth. The arrangement of the spring wheel W with the clamp Y so
as to automatically feed the nail plate to the cutters in the manner 2
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of August
One thousand cight hundred and seventy.