Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Horse-shoe Nails.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Dec., 1887
Specification Accepted, 20th Jan., 1888
Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Horse-shoe
Nails.
We, CHARLES GIBBS, and JOHN OLSON, both of Gothenburg, in the Kingdom of
Sweden, Engineers do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying four
sheets of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
In one of the systems at present in use for manufacturing horse shoe nails by
machinery, the blanks, which are intended to be formed into nails by processes of
rolling out and shaping, are punched out of strips of plate iron specially rolled for
the purpose with thickened edges. These thickened edges are so shaped, and the
blanks are so punched from the strips of plate, that the said thickened edges form the
heads of the nails when finished, the shanks of the blanks being formed of the thinner
middle portions of the strips of plate iron. In some kinds of horse-shoe nails,
however, the heads are required to be of such a width, thickness and shape in pro-
portion to the size and shape of the shank of the blank, that they cannot be forined
direct from the thickened edges of the strip of plate iron without sacrificing a con-
siderable percentage of material. It is, therefore, necessary, when making nails with
larger heads than can be formed economically direct from the strip of plate iron, to
upset, widen, or thicken-out the heads of the blanks, after the latter have been
punched out, by means of special machines or presses for that purpose. The present
invention relates to improvements in machinery for effecting this upsetting, widening,
or thickening-out of the heads of nail blanks previously punched from strips of plate
iron with thickened edges as above described.
In the Drawings hereto annexed, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a machine for the
above described purpose constructed with our improvements applied thereto; Figure 2
is a side elevation and Figure 3 a plan of same. Figures 4, 5 and 6 are sectional
detail views to a larger scale of the dies or jaws which grasp or hold the nail blank
while its head is being upset. Figures 7 to 20 are detail views, also to a larger scale,
of certain parts of the machinery which will be hereafter described.
V2 is the bed plate of the machine to which are bolted the legs or frames V₁. Y is

page_text: $
a shaft turning in bearings in the frames, and carrying affixed thereto the cams LL'
and N N', and the spur wheel Q. R is a driving shaft also turning in bearings in the
frames, and carrying the spur pinion gearing with the spur wheel on the shaft Y.
The shaft R also carries the fixod friction pulley or sheave S and the strap pulley T
which latter is free to turn loosely on the shaft R when disengaged from the pulley S,
as shown in Figures 1 and 3, but causes the latter, and the shaft R, to rotate therewith
when moved sidewise so as to bring the conical friction surfaces of the two
pulleys S and T into contact with sufficient pressure to enable the pulley T to drive
the pulley S by friction, as will be well understood. The object of this frictional
driving gear is to prevent breakage of the parts of the machine in the event of a jam
or other extreme resistance occurring. The machine is set in motion, or stopped, by
turning the hand wheel which is fast to the upright shaft p. 12 is a crank arm fast
on the shaft p and taking into the end of a connecting rod & pin-jointed to a screw m²
secured to the clutch lever U by the nuts p¹². The clutch lever U is pivoted to the
leg V1 of the framework of the machine and takes on to the loose sliding collar o² by
the screws. The collar o is placed between the boss of the pulley T and the
collar o fixed to the shaft R. The nuts pp, on the screw m², serve to adjust tho
friction of the pulleys T and S. By turning the band wheel to the left in Figure 3,
the collar o² is caused to press the pulley T towards the pulley or sheave S, so as to set
the machine in motion, and by turning the hand wheel in the opposite direction, the
collar o² allows the pulley T to move away from the pulley or sheave S, and the
machine is stopped.
We will now proceed to describe the feeding mechanism for feeding the nail blanks
to the devices by which they are grasped and held whilst their heads are being upset.
The machine illustrated is double-acting, that is to say, it is furnished with two sets of
upsetting, or what we shall hereafter call, for convenience, heading mechanism, and
therefore with two feeding apparatuses, and similar parts of the two heading and
feeding apparatuses are indicated by similar reference letters and figures, but for the
sake of distinction, the reference letters relating to those apparatuses which are to the
left of the hand wheel in Figures 2 and 3, have index Figures, whilst those relating
to apparatuses which are to the right of the hand wheel in those Figures, have no
index Figures.
The following description of the feeding and heading apparatuses to the right hand
of the hand wheel in Figures 2 and 3 is also applicable to those apparatuses to the left
of the hand wheel l, and the description must be read in connection with both sets of
apparatus, because certain parts are shown in one set of apparatus which have been
omitted in the other set, to enable parts below, or on another plane, to be seen more
clearly.
13 is a top feeding tube or tunnel screwed fast to the hinged bar F¹. The nail
blanks are dropped one by one, point downwards, into the tunnel 13, on to the
timer 14, which is pivoted at 19 to the hinged bar F¹. The timer 14 stops the nail
blank until the former is withdrawn from the tunnel 13 by the action of the rocking
arm 15 pivoted at 18 to the hinged bar F¹. The roller 20, at one end of the rocking
arm 15, is pressed against the inclined arm 21 of the timer 14 by the action of the
rocking arm or lever 5 pivoted at 31 (see Figure 3). The rocking arm 5 is pin-
jointed at 33 to one end of a connecting rod 4, the other end of which is pin-jointed
at 34 to the arm 2 secured to the rocking shaft 3, and connected to the eccentric strap
and rod 32 operated by the eccentric 1 fixed on the shaft Y. On the rocking arm 5
is a projection 17 which comes in contact with the pivoted piece 16 on the rocking arm 15.
In Figure 2, the projection 17 is shown as having been carried by the rocking
arm 5 past the pivoted piece 16 which, in passing it, turned it into the position shown
in dotted lines in Figure 7 from which position it was returned, after the passage of
the projection 17, into the position shown in Figure 2 by the spring 25 (see
Figure 8). At the backward movement of the rocking arm 5, the projection 17
comes in contact with the pivoted piece 16, and causes the rocking bar 15 to swing
on its pivot 18, bringing the roller 20 in contact with the arm 21 of the timer 14,
causing the latter to swing out of the tunnel 13 so as to allow the nail blank to drop

page_text: down into a second tunnel 35 placed directly under the first or top tunnel 13. The
bottom tunnel 35 contains the mechanism for delivering the nail blanks to the holding
jaws a b c d.
The bottom tunnel 35 is screwed fast to one arm of the rocking bar D (see
Figures 10, 12 and 12×) and has a timer 37 which is forced into the tunnel 35 by a
spring, and out of the same by the finger 12 fixed on the shaft 11. The arm 10 is
also fixed on the shaft 11 and is pin-jointed at 41 to the rod 9. The rod 9 is made in
the middle like a spiral spring, so as to be elastic; it is pin jointed at 42 to the arm 8,
pin-jointed to link 7, pivoted to the slide bar 6 moved by the rocking bar 5 to which
it is pivoted at 43. The rocking bar 5 is moved by the eccentric 1, as before described.
Referring again to the bottom tunnel 35, when the finger 12 is swinging back it comes
in contact with the timer 37 and forces it back against the action of its spring,
allowing a nail blank to drop point first into the tunnel 35, and the finger 12 then
swings forward, carrying the nail blank into a horizontal position resting on the
bottom jaw b. The nail blank is prevented from falling into the horizontal position
by gravity and from being canted, by so falling into a wrong position for entering the
holding jaws by means of a plate 35× pressed outwards by a spring 35×× (see the
sections in Figures 10 and 11 which are taken respectively at lines 1-1 and 2-2 of
Figure 12 which is an elevation of the tunnel 35 at right angles to Figures 10 and 11).
This plate holds the nail blank pressed against the side of the tunnel 35 whilst it is
being turned down into the horizontal position by the finger 12. Figures 7, 8 and 9
show an interceptor which operates near the lower end of the top tunnel 13. The
object of this interceptor is to stop any further delivery of nail blanks to the lower
tunnel 35 in case of accident, or choking of nail blanks therein. The interceptor 39
is a pin moveable in the sliding piece 40, guided by the piece 30 fixed to the tunnel 13.
The lower end of the sliding piece 40 rests on the pin 38 in the hinged cover 36 of
the lower tunnel 35 when the said hinged cover is closed. 27 is a slot in the side of
the top tunnel 13. When any stoppage, choking or accumulation of nail blanks
occurs in the lower tunnel 35, the hinged cover 36 is pressed open by such accumula-
tion, the pin 38 is thereby removed from under the sliding piece 40, and the spring 29
forces the said sliding piece downwards, carrying the interceptor 39 down to the
slot 27, and the spring 28 then forces the point of the interceptor 39 through the
slot 27 and into the tunnel 13, so that no more nail blanks can pass. To close
the hinged cover 36 again, the interceptor 39 must be drawn back clear of the top
tunnel 13, and the sliding piece 40 pressed up so that the pin 38 can pass in under the
slide 40.
In Figure 1, one of the sets of jaws a b c d forming a matrix for holding the nail
blank while it is being headed, is shown in partial section on the lines ZZ of Figure 3.
a is a stationary jaw secured to the block A. b is the under or bottom jaw secured to
the lever B which is pivoted or fulcrumed at r and carries at its lower end a friction
roller which is pressed against the cam N on the shaft Y by the spring u. The
sliding jaw c is fixed to the sliding block C which also carries the jaw c' belonging to the
other set of holding jaws on the other side of the machine, as seen in the detail
Figures 16, 17 and 18; and it will be understood that when the jaw c is moved
forward towards the jaw a to press and hold the nail blank on that side, the jaw c¹, on
the other side, moves away from the nail blank just headed there, so that that nail
blank can be removed, in other words, when a nail blank is having its head upset at
one side of the machine, a nail blank, which has just had its head so treated, is being
thrown out of the holding jaws at the other side. The sliding block C is moved by
the lever M pivoted at s and operated by the cams N N through the friction
rollers m m. The stroke of the sliding block can be increased, or diminished, by
raising, or lowering, the sliding piece y which is moved in a slot by turning the
screw a, shown to larger scale in Figures 16, 17 and 18. The top jaw d is fixed to
an arm of the rocking bar D pivoted at t to the lever M which, by its swinging
motion, moves the rocking bar D sideways, so as to bring the jaws & into the position
shown in Figure 4, and at the same time, the corresponding jaw d', at the opposite
side of the machine, into the position corresponding to that shown in Figures 5 and 6.

page_text: Figure 4 shows the jaws a b c d closed on the nail blank for the purpose of holding
it while the head is being upset.
When the rocking bar D has been moved in the opposite direction by the lever M,
and the sliding block and lever B have been moved aside, as before described, the
position of the jaws a bed is as shown in Figure 5, and while in that position, the
finished blank is removed by the mechanism shown in Figures 10 to 15 inclusive to
be hereafter described.
Figure 6 shows the position of the jaws a bed ready to receive a nail blank for the
heading operation. It will be understood that the jaws a b c d and a¹ 6' c¹ d' are so
shaped, at the part where the head of the nail blank is to be operated upon, that when
brought together, as shown in Figure 4, they form, at such part, a recess, or die,
corresponding to the shape it is intended the head of the blank shall have when finished.
The jaw d, after it has moved to the position shown in Figure 4, is pressed hard
down on the nail blank by the nut H on the screw P, the action of which is seen
clearly in Figure 2 in reference to the similar nut H and screw P¹ by which the
jaw d¹, at the other side of the machine, is pressed down. The nut H has an arm,
seen most clearly in Figure 3, jointed to the link ', pin-jointed to the slide bar j
which is moved by the arm K' pivoted at Z and operated by the cam L' coming into
contact with the friction rollers n n turning on pins on the arm K¹.
The screw P
has a right hand thread taking into the nut H, and the screw P¹ a left hand thread
taking into the nut. H. When the nut H¹ is turned into the position shown in
Figure 3, the screw P¹ is moved down, and the nut a², screwed thereon, presses the
hinged bar F on to the rocking bar D which is thereby pressed down, carrying the
jaw d' on to the nail blank. It will be understood that the nuts H and H do not
move up or down when turned, but that their screws P and P have the up and down
motion imparted to them when the nuts H and H' are turned. When the nut His
turned into the position corresponding to that in which the nut H is shown in Figure 3,
the screw P is moved up, releasing the hinged bar F, which is then raised by the coiled
spring 2, and that end of the rocking bar D is thus relieved from pressing the jaw d
on to the blank. The plungers E E', which carry the heading tools e e', slide in the
boxes XX, and are actuated respectively by the levers G G operated by the cams N
and N. The plungers are both alike and are operated in the same way, so that it is
only necessary to describe one, for example, that marked E¹, the lever G¹ of which is
pivoted at e² and is operated by the cam N1, Figures 1 and 2. After the plunger E
has been moved forward by the action of the cam N¹ on the lover G, its backward
movement is effected by the sliding bar j' connected at g² to the arm 0¹ (see Figure 2).
When the sliding bar is moved forward, the arm 01 is carried in the same direction,
and the friction roller o', turning on a pin fixed to the said arm 01, comes in contact
with the lever G₁ forces it to turn on its pivot e², and to draw the plunger E' back.
The arm O is slotted so that the roller o can be raised, or lowered, to give more or
less motion to the lever G³ when drawing back the plunger E. The lever G' has a
roller y at its lower end which is acted on by the cam N.
Figure 19 is a sectional elevation, to a larger scale, of one of the plungers, and
Figure 20 an end elevation of same. E is the plunger which carries the heading
tool e, and e² is an adjusting screw for regulating the pressure to be exerted by the
said heading tool.
It will be understood that the sliding bar j, arm 0, roller o, and cam N, perform
the same functions with regard to the plunger E that the bar j', arm O', roller o', and
cam N', perform with respect to the plunger E'.
The fingers, (one of which is seen in Figure 2), which remove the headed nail
blank from the jaws a b c d and a' b' c'd', are shown to a larger scale in Figures 10, 11
and 12. A slot, or groove, in one arm of the rocking bar D, contains a slide 6 and
a similar slot or groove in the other arm of the said rocking bar contains a
similar slide. These slides are held up in the position shown in Figures 10 and 12.
by the springs et ed. 919 are pins passing through the slides and carrying the
fingers zz. Figure 10 shows à back view of the rocking bar D ; Figure 11 is a plan,
and Figure 12 an end view of same. 2 is a piece screwed, or otherwise secured, to

page_text: the rocking bar D. aa³ are fingers pivotted to the picce ² by the screws f^ f³.
Square pins ce are rivetted to the fingers a' a', the ends of which rest on the
pins 9. The mechanism, shown in Figures 13, 14 and 15, and in outline in
Figure 3, operates the fingers a' a. c c are hinged blocks; c' is shown in section in
order to illustrate more clearly the spindles of the V shaped pieces, catches or
triggers as a and their springs d² d³. The blocks c c are hinged to the bracket f by
the pins h³. The blocks cc are connected together by the spiral spring 9. When
the V shaped pieces as a are pressed down by the springs d d³, the spring g draws
the V-shaped pieces a a' into the notches n³ ³ in the piece e as shown in Figure 13.
As the rocking bar 1 moves from side to side, the square pins of e come in contact
with the V-shaped pieces a a', and, whichever way the rocking bar D moves, one of
the V shaped pieces a a' is pressed away (to a distance limited by the stop 66 or 67)
from the corresponding notch n² or according to which way the rocking bar D
is moving, and the square pin c or c, which has pressed the piece a or a from the
notch n² or n³, as the case may be, also presses the piece a or a' up into the position
shown by dotted lines in Figure 13, and the square pin eor then passes the point
of the piece a or a without the square pin e¹ or c³ being pushed down, thereby leaving
the finger a¹ or as in the position shown by full lines in Figure 10. But while this
has occurred on one side of the machine, the piece a or a' on the other side has not
been moved by the square pin c or because the latter was moving in a direction
tending to press the piece a or a more firmly into the notch n² or n³, whereby the
piece a or a has offered sufficient resistance to the pin c or c³ to cause the latter to
be pushed down by the inclined face of the piece a or a thereby carrying the
finger a or a with a quick downward motion into the position shown in dotted lines
in Figure 10 imparting a similar motion to the finger 2 or 2, causing it to strike the
nail blank and to throw it out of the jaws a bed or a¹bed, as the case may be.
When this is done, the finger at or a³, the finger or 2, and the square pin c* or c³,
are restored to the positions shown in full lines in Figure 10 ready for the next
operation.
Figures 16, 17 and 18 are enlarged views of the slide bar C, Figure 16 being a side
view, partly in section, on line W W of Figure 17; Figure 17 a plan showing the
upper ends of the adjusting slides yyl, and the jaws c c', and Figure 18 an end view of
the slide bar C.
We will now describe the action of the machine; it being understood that the two
sets of feeding, heading, or upsetting, and blank discharging apparatuses are in
operation at the same time; but one set arranged to perform its several functions at
times intermediate between those of the other, and that the following description of the
action of the apparatus at one side of the machine is applicable to that of the similar
apparatus at the other side.
A nail blank 13× (see figure 2) being introduced, point downwards, into the top
feeding tunnel 13, drops on to the timer 14 and remains there until the said timer is
withdrawn from the tunnel 13 by the rocking arm 15 as above described. The nail
blank then drops on to the timer 37 in the lower feeding tunnel 35 and remains there
till the timer 37 is moved aside by the finger 12 on the shaft 11 operated by the arm 10
as before explained. The nail blank then drops into the tunnel 35 in front of the
finger 12 which, at its return movement, turns the said nail blank down into the
horizontal position and deposits it in the matrix formed by the jaws a b c, as shown in
Figure 6, with its head towards the heading die e. The jaws bed are then closed
together against the jaw a, as above described, into the positions shown in Figure 4,
so as to grasp and hold the nail blank firmly between them while the die e presses the
head of the blank and upsets, widens, or thickens it out as required, the jaws bed then
open, as shown in Figure 5, and the nail blank is expelled from between them by
the finger operated by the mechanism above described, and illustrated in Figures 10
to 15. The timers 14 and 37 are in the meantime returned to their normal positions
in the tunnels 13 and 35 respectively by the mechanism above described, and the
operations are repeated.
The machine illustrated in the Drawings is shown provided with double feeding,

page_text: grasping, heading and throwing-out mechanism, so as to be double acting, as above
described, but it is obvious that the machine may be furnished with single feeding,
grasping, heading and throwing-out apparatus, so as to be single acting if preferred.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we desire to have it
understood that we make no claim generally to machinery for the purpose of upsetting,
widening, or thickening out the heads of Horse-shoe nail blanks, nor to the use,
broadly, of tubes or tunnels with timing devices for feeding such nail blanks. nor
generally to a yielding gate opening by the pressure of an accumulation of nail blanks
in a feeding guide or tunnel and releasing an interceptor to prevent the further
delivery of nail blanks, nor do we claim the use of jaws for holding nail blanks while
the heads are being upset, widened, or thickened out, as we are aware that such
appliances are already, or have been, in use in Horse-shoe nail and other nail making
machinery, but we declare that what we do claim is :-
First In a machine for upsetting, widening, or thickening out the heads of Horse
shoe nail blanks, the apparatus for feeding the said nail blanks to the holding jaws,
consisting of the top feeding tube or tunnel 13, the timer 14, the lower feeding
tunnel 35, the timer 37, the spring friction plate 35* and the oscillating finger 12,
arranged, combined and operating as herein before described, and illustrated in
Figures 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 12× of the Drawings hereto annexed.
Second In connection with the feeding tube or tunnel 13 of a machine for
upsetting, widening, or thickening-out the heads of horse shoe nail blanks, the
interceptor for preventing the further delivery of such blanks to the feeding mechanism
when an accumulation of blanks takes place therein, consisting of the sliding piece 40,
guide 30, spring 29, intercepting pin 39, spring 28, and hole 27 in the tunnel 13,
arranged, combined and operating in conjunction with the yielding gate 36, as
hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figures 2, 7, 89 11 and 12× of the Drawings
hereto annexed.
Third In a machine for upsetting, widening, or thickening out the heads of Horse
shoe nail blanks, the apparatus for grasping and holding the said blanks while their
heads are being upset, widened, or thickened, consisting of the fixed jaw a and the
three inoveable jaws bed combined and operating together, as herein before described,
and illustrated in the Drawings hereto annexed.
Fourth In a machine for upsetting, widening or thickening out the heads of Horse
shoe nail blanks, furnished with the apparatus for grasping and holding such blanks,
forming the subject of the third claiming clause hereof, the devices for forcing and
holding the top jaw d or d' on to the blank, consisting of the screw P or P¹ sliding in
a fixed part of the framing V, the nut H or H', the hinged bar For F¹, the lifting
springs, the adjusting nuts a², and mechanism for turning the said nut H or H
arranged, combined and operating as herein before described, and illustrated in
Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the Drawings hereto annexed.
Fifth In a machine for upsetting, widening, or thickening out the heads of Horse
shoe nail blanks, the apparatus for throwing out the nail blanks from the grasping and
holding jaws, consisting of the sliding fingers 1, the springs e es, the fingers at aº,
and the pins c¹e, connected with the rocking bar D, and the hinged V shaped sliding
spring catches or triggers a a', stops 67, and catch piece e carried by the fixed
bracket f, arranged, combined and operating as herein before described, and illustrated
in Figures 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the Drawings hereto annexed.
Sixth-In a machine for upsetting, widening, or thickening out the heads of Horse-
shoe nail blanks, furnished with the apparatus for grasping and holding the nail blanks,
forming the subject of the third claiming clause hereof, the devices for carrying and
operating the top jaw or jaws d d', and for actuating the jaw slide C consisting of the
lever M, the rocking bar D jointed thereto, and the adjusting slide or slides y y¹,
adjusting screw or screws cx for varying the stroke of the jaw slide C, arranged, com-
bined and operating as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 16, 17
and 18 of the Drawings hereto annexed.
and

page_text: Seventh In a machine for upsetting, widening or thickening out the heads of Horse-
shoe nail blanks. the construction of the upsetting or heading plunger consisting of
the plunger E, the upsetting or heading die e, and the adjusting screw c arranged and
combined as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figures 19 and 20 of the
Drawings hereto annexed.
Eighth The machine for upsetting, widening, or thickening-out the heads of
Horse-shoe nail blanks consisting of the feeding mechanism, the grasping or holding
mechanism, the upsetting, widening, or thickening-out mechanism and the mechanism
for throwing out the nail blanks after they have been headed, arranged, combined and
operating substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the Drawings
hereto annexed.
Dated this Fifth day of December 1887.
C. GIBBS.
J. OLSON.
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C.,
Agent.