IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND SPIKES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Holcroft, of Bilston, in the County of
Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND SPIKES."
THE
Sealed the 16th December 1870, and dated the 11th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Holcroft at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th July 1870.
I, THOMAS HOLCROFT, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND SPIKES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing nails and spikes by the
process or combination of processes herein-after described.
For convenience of description I will describe my Invention as applied
to the manufacture of nails of wrought iron. I form flat bars or strips
of iron in the ordinary way and by the use of the ordinary machinery.
While the bar or strip so formed is still hot I pass it between a pair of

page_text: shaping rolls; one of these rolls is a plain cylinder, and the other roll has
a general figure of a cylinder, with a series of inclines or steps made
on its cylindrical surface, the said inclines or steps of the roll having
such a conformation that the bar rolled between it and the plain
cylindrical roll has in longitudinal section the figure of a series of head-
less nails joined together shank to point. While still hot the shaped bar
or strip is slit into nail rods by a series of circular slitters, the whole
bar being simultaneously slit up by the said slitters into nail rods. These
nail rods, when cold, are fed into a heading machine by which the
nails are headed and cut off from the nail rod.
The heading and cutting-off machine which I employ differs in no
essential respect from machines commonly used for heading and cutting
off nails.
Although I have described my Invention as applied to nails and
spikes made of iron, yet my said Invention is equally applicable to the
manufacture of nails and spikes made of copper and other metals and
alloys.
By manufacturing nails and spikes according to my Invention the fibre
of the metal is preserved in the direction of the length of the nails or
spikes, and the body of the nail or spike is completely formed while the
metal is hot, the heading and cutting off only requiring to be subsequently
effected by machinery.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Holcroft in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HOLCROFT, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Holcroft, Her special licence that

page_text: I, the said Thomas Holcroft, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Holcroft, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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, 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND SPIKES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Holcroft, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument 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 Thomas Holcroft, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in manufacturing nails and spikes by the
process or combination of processes herein-after described.
In making nails or spikes according to my Invention I form flat bars
or strips of wrought iron in the ordinary way and by the use of the
ordinary machinery. While the bar or strip so formed is still hot I
pass it between a pair of shaping rolls. One of these rolls is a plain
cylinder and the other roll has the general figure of a cylinder with a
series of inclines or steps made on its cylindrical surface, the said inclines
or steps of the roll having such a conformation that the bar rolled
between it and the plain cylindrical roll has in longitudinal section the
figure of a series of headless nails joined together shank to point.
While still hot the shaped bar or strip is slit into nail rods by a series of
circular slitters, the whole bar being simultaneously slit up by the
said slitters into nail rods. These nail rods, when cold, are fed into
a heading machine by which the nails are headed and cut off from the
nail rod.
The heading and cutting-off machine which I employ differs in no
essential respect from machines commonly used for heading and cutting

page_text: By manufacturing nails and spikes according to my Invention the
fibre of the iron is preserved in the direction of the length of the nails
and spikes, and the body of the nail or spike is completely formed
while the iron is hot, the heading and cutting off only requiring to be
subsequently effected by machinery.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation, Figure 2 in end elevation,
and Figure 3 in section the rolls detached. A pair of rolls of the kind
I employ to shape the bars of iron after they have passed from the
ordinary rolls and while the said bars are still hot. The said rolls
consist of one plain cylindrical roll a and a roll b, having a series of
step-like inclines formed upon it as represented. The bars after having
been passed through the rolls, Figures 1, 2, and 3, have the figure
represented in Figure 4, that is, the figure in longitudinal section of a
series of headless nails joined together shank to point. Instead of the
rolls, Figures 1, 2, and 3, the rolls represented in section in Figure 5
may be employed. Both the rolls, Figure 5, are provided with step-
like inclines. The figure of the bars produced by the use of the rolls,
Figure 5, is represented in Figure 6. The said bars have the figure in
section of a series of headless nails joined together shank to point, as in
the bar, Figure 4, the only difference being that in the bar, Figure 4,
the points are joined to the shanks at one side of the base of the latter,
while in the bar, Figure 6, the points are joined to the shanks at the
middle of the base of the shank, as will be understood by an examina-
tion of the Drawing. While the shaped bars, Figures 4 and 6, are still
hot I slit them into nail rods by means of the slitting machinery
represented in front elevation in Figure 7, in front elevation with the
guiding mechanism removed in Figure 8, in end elevation partly in
section in Figure 9, and in plan partly in section in Figure 10. The
said machinery consists of two series of steel slitters or cutters c, d,
having distance disks e, e, between them, the whole being bound
together between the collars ƒ, ƒ, by screw bolts g, g, and keyed to the
shafts h, h. The peripheries of one series of the slitters or cutters
engage with those of the other series in the manner which will be
understood by an examination of Figure 8. In order to prevent
the twisting or warping of the nail rods guides i, i, are fixed in the

page_text: spaces between the cutters so as to partly fill up the said spaces and
form narrow parallel channels through which the rods pass, and in which
they are so guided until they are beyond the influence of the cutters
that they cannot warp or twist. The said guides i, i, are supported by
the carriers in the way best seen in Figure 9. The guides and parts
connected therewith are seen in elevation in Figure 7..
By the machinery, Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10, a shaped bar is slit up
into a series of nail rods at one operation. The cold nail rods are
converted into nails or spikes by being divided transversely at their
narrowest parts and headed, the said dividing and heading being effected
either in one or two machines, that is, the nail rods may be divided in
one machine and headed in another machine, or the heading and
dividing may be effected in one machine.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention the manufacture of nails and
spikes by the process or combination of processes herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, giving a
step-like figure to bars of wrought iron by means of shaping rolls, as the
said bars are delivered hot from the preparing or manufacturing rolls;
afterwards, while still hot, slitting the said bars into nail rods by the use
of slitting machinery, which prevents the warping or twisting of the nail
rods; and finally converting the said rods when cold into nails or spikes
in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Holcroft, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS HOLCROFT. (L.S.)