IMPROVEMENTS IN CUT NAIL MACHINES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Stansbury, of the firm of Nourse &
Co., American & General Patent Agents, of No. 17, Cornhill, London,.
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUT NAIL MACHINES."-A com-
munication from Thomas H. Barlow, of Lexington, in the State of
Kentucky and United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick Stans-
bury at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th August 1854.
I, CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., American
and General Patent Agents, of No. 17, Cornhill, London, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUT NAIL MACHINES,"
a communication from Thomas H. Barlow, of Lexington, in the State of
Kentucky and United States of America, to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention relates to the peculiar method of shearing the
blank from the nail plate, to the so arranging of the pairs or sets of shears and
gripers as that they shall be operated by one rock shaft, and to the method
of feeding up the nail plate to the pairs or sets of shears and gripers.
A bed plate of any suitable construction is made, upon which pillar blocks
are arranged for forming a bearing for a cam shaft, which may be rotated from
any first mover. On or near the centre of the cam shaft is placed a cam, which
.

page_text: operates in the yoke of a lever, which lever is connected with the rock shaft,
and by means of said cam shaft, cam, yoke, and lever, motion is communicated
to said rock shaft.
Vibrating stocks, each of which carries its respective cutter or shear, aro
connected permanently with the rock shaft, one of each side of said shaft, so
that they move alternately towards and from their respective stationary cutters
or shears, which are arranged on permanent or immovable stocks. The faces
of the stationary stocks, on which the cutters, are placed, stand at an angle of
about forty-five degrees with the nail plate, whilst the faces of the movable
stocks are almost at right angles to the nail plate. The edges of the movable
cutters are so bevelled off on their under sides as that the top surfaces of
the stationary cutters will move in contact therewith, and thus the blank
is cut off from the plate, the shear or cut being from both sides, and
the shape of the cut is square with the sides of the nail plate. The pairs
or sets of cutters should be so inclined in their beds in the stocks as to
cut the blank from the plate alternately "head and point," as it is termed, to
keep the end of the nail plate as nearly square or uniform as possible. The
stationary stocks should be susceptible of adjustment by set screws or other-
wise, so as to be adjusted to their fellows on the rock shaft, and the cutters or
shear blades may also be made adjustable in their beds by set screws or other-
wise. After the stationary stocks are adjusted they are then immovable, their
movable mates or fellows oscillating to and from them by the motion of the
rock shaft to which they are attached. That portion of the stocks immediately
underneath the cutters forms the griping jaws, which seize the blank the
moment it is cut from the nail plate, and hold it firmly until the headers
(to be hereafter described) come up and formn the head, when the jaws
are opened by the receding of the movable stock, and the nail drops out
finished.
On the cam shaft are arranged two cams for operating the heading levers,
there being one header for each of the pairs or sets of cutters or shears.
These heading levers oscillate on their journals at proper intervals, so as to
head the blank the moment it is caught by the griping jaws.
The method of feeding up the nail plate is as follows, viz:-Two upright
supporting pieces are arranged on the bed plate or table immediately over the
cutters, the tops of which uprights are united by a cross piece; the nail plate
holder passes through a slot or mortise in the cross piece, and extends down
and through a sliding bar, which is pushed to and fro by means of arms,
arranged one on each of the headed levers. In this nail plate holder, or the
shank or handle thereof, is placed a series of pins or teeth, which should

page_text: extend from the top to the bottom of said nail plate holder, which teeth catch
into and are released by a siding escapement, so as to let down said holder the
distance between the pins or teeth at every back and forward motion of the
escapement, or, in other words, one half the distance by the forward, and
the other half of the distance by the backward, movement of said escapement.
The escapement may be constructed and operated in a variety of ways. The
one here represented is, however, quite simple, and consists of two parallel
plates just the distance apart that it is required to drop the nail plate; at each
operation of the cutters, the teeth are caught first upon the upper plate, which
slides out from under them, when they drop on the second or under one, and
so on. The escapement should be made to turn on its pivoted point, so that
it may be readily removed for raising up the nail plate holder, or when fur-
nishing it with a new plate, and may be slid back against a guide, and held by
a button when in place. There is a vibrating lever hinged at its centre, its
lower end being connected to the sliding bar before mentioned, and its upper
end to the escapement. As the bar is thrown to one side and then to the
other by the arms of the headers, it vibrates the nail plate holder and the nail
plate in it, first bringing it over one set or pair of cutters, and then over the
other set or pair alternately, but in all cases so that the thick part of the blank
cut from the plate, or that part on which the head is to be formed, shall be on
the outer sides of said pairs or sets of cutters; and at the precise instant that
the nail plate is over either of the cutters, the escapement allows it to drop the
proper distance to constitute the necessary feed. The nail plate holder standing
perpendicularly, or nearly so, over the cutters, it falls by its own gravity the
moment it is released by the escapement, and thus the escapement becomes
the means of feeding up and guaging the feed of the nail plate.
There is a very great mechanical certainty of the nail plate being in the
proper position for being fed up to the cutters, because, as the header comes
up to head the blank just cut off, its arm pushes over the slide. Now, the
slide in moving in one direction operates the escapement in a contrary direc-
tion through the centrally pivoted lever, and the sliding of the escapement lets
down the nail plate to the cutters at the exact time; and I thus, by a simple
contrivance, and by parts which must work in perfect harmony, accomplish
the feeding up of the nail plate.

page_text: :
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Frederick Stansbury in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd February 1855.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., American and General
Patent Agents, of 17 and 18, Cornhill, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the
year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Frederick Stansbury, Her special licence that he, the said Charles
Frederick Stansbury, executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as J, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, 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, 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 CUT NAIL MACHINES," a communication from Thomas H.
Barlow, of Lexington, in the State of Kentucky and United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Frederick Stansbury, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal,
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 Charles Frederick Stansbury, do
hereby declare the nature of. said 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 Draw-
ings, which represent a perspective view of the entire machine in Figure 1,
and a plan of the shears and parts of the stocks and shaft in Figure 2.
Similar letters in both the Figures denote like part.
The nature of my Invention relates to the peculiar method of shearing the
blank from the nail plate, to the se arranging of the pairs or sets of shears
and gripers as that they shall be operated by one rock shaft, and to the method
of feeding up the nail plate to the pairs, or sets of shears and gripes.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my Invention, I will
proceed to describe the same, with reference to the Drawings.

page_text: A bed plate A, of any suitable construction, is made, upon which the pillar
blocks B, B, are arranged, for forming a bearing for the cam shaft C, which
may be rotated from any first mover. On or near the centre of the cam shaft C
is placed a cam D, which operates in the yoke E, of a lever F, which lever is
connected with the rock shaft G, and by means of said cam shaft, cam, yoke,
and lever, motion is communicated to said rock shaft.
The vibrating stocks H, HI, each of which carries its respective cutter or
shear I, I, are connected permanently with the rock shaft G, one on each side
of said shaft, so that they move alternately towards and from their stationary
cutters or shears J, J, which are arranged on the permanent or immediate
stocks K, K. The faces of the stationary stocks K, K, on which the
cutters J, J, are placed, stand at an angle of about forty-five degrees with
the nail plate L, while the faces of the stocks H, H, are almost at right
angles to the nail plate. The edges of the cutters J, J, are so beveled off
on their under sides as that the top surfaces of the cutters I, I, will move in
contact therewith, and thus the blank is cut off from the plate, the shear
or cut being from both sides, and the shape of the cut is square with the
sides of the nail plate. The pairs or sets of cutters I, J, I, J, should be so
inclined in their beds in the stocks as to cut the blank frome plate alter-
nately "head and point," as it is termed, to keep the end of the nail plate as
nearly square or uniform as possible. The stocks K, K, should be susceptible
of adjustment by set screws or otherwise, so as to adjusted to their fellows
on the rock shaft, and the cutters or shear blades I, J, may also be made
adjustible in their beds by set screws or otherwise. After the stocks K, K,
are adjusted they are then immoveable, the mates or fellows H, H, ascillating
to and from them by the motion of the rock shaft to which they are attached.
That portion of the stocks immediately underneath the cutters forms the
griping jaws, which seize the blank the moment it is cut from the nail plate,
and hold it firmly until the headers (to be hereafter described) come up and
from the head, when the jaws are opened by the receding of the moveable
stock, and the nail drops out finished.
On the shaft C is arranged two cams L, L, for operating the heading
levers M, M, there being one header for each of the pairs or sets of cutters or
shears. These heading levers oscillate on their journals (one of which is the
block N and the other at O) at proper intervals, so as to head the blank the
moment it is caught by the griping jaws.
The method of feeding up the nail plate is as follows, viz:-Two upright
supporting pieces P, P, are arranged on the bed plate or table immediately
over the cutters, the tops of which are united by a cross piece Q. The nail

page_text: plate holder R passes through a slot or mortise in the cross piece Q, and
extends down and through a sliding bar S, which is pushed to and fro by
means of the arms T, T, arranged one on each of the heading levers M, M. In
this nail plate holder, or the shank or handle thereof, is placed a series of pins or
teeth 1, 2, 3, &c., which should extend from the top to the bottom of said nail
plate holder (although represented but in a portion thereof), which teeth catch
into and are released by a sliding escapement U, so.as to let down said holder
the distance between the pins or teeth at every back and forward motion of the
escapement, or, in other words, one half of the distance by the forward, and
the other half of the distance by the backward, movement of said escapement.
The escapement may be constructed and operated in a variety of ways; the
one here represented is, however, quite simple, and consists of two parallel
plates just the distance apart that it is required to drop the nail plate at each
operation of the cutters. The teeth are first caught upon the upper plate,
which slides out from under them, when they drop on the second or under one,
and so on. The escapement should be made to turn on its pivoted point, so
that it may readily removed for raising up the nail plate holder, or when
furnishing it with a new plate, and may be slid back against a guide A, and
held by a button b, when in place. V is a vibrating lever, hinged at C, its
lower end being connected to the sliding bar S at d, and its upper end to the
escapement U at c.
As the bar S is thrown to one side and then to the
other by the arms T, it vibrates the nail plate holder, and the nail plate in it;
first bring it over one set or pairs of cutters, and then over the other set or
pair alternately, but in all cases so that the thick part of the blank cut from
the plate, or that part on which the bead is to be formed, shall be on the
outer sides of said pairs or sets of cutters; and at the precise instant that
the nail plate is over either of the cutters, the escapement allows it to
drop the proper distance to constitute the necessary feed. The nail plate
holder standing perpendicularly, or nearly so, over the cutters, it falls by its
own gravity the moment it is released by the escapement, and thus the
escapement becomes the means of feeding up and guaging the feed of the nail
plate. The escapement, as before mentioned, may be made and applied to
the feeling up and gauging to the feed of nail plates in various ways, and I
do, not intend to confine myself to the use of the one specially described
herein, as others are equally capable of performing the same function, and I
intend to apply them, if found essential to my Invention.
There is a very great mechanical certainty of the nail plate being in the
proper position for being fed up to the cutters, because, as the header comes
up to the head the blank just cut off, its arm T pushes over the slide S. Now,

page_text: the slide, in moving in one direction, operates the escapement in a contrary
direction through the centrally pivoted lever V, and the sliding of the escape-
ment let down the nail plate to the cutters at the same time; and I thus, by.
a simple contrivance, and by the very parts with which they must work in
perfect harmony, accomplish the feeding up of the nail plate.
It is obvious that this machine may be adapted to the making of nails of
all sizes down to the smaller tacks, as, from its simple combination of parts
for rapid work, and its perfect and certain automatic feed, it is peculiarly
applicable to the purposes designed.
Having thus fully described the nature of my Invention, what I claim
therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is, in combination with
the pairs of fixed stocks and cutters K, J, the vibrating stocks and cutters H, I,
when said vibrating stocks and cutters are so arranged as to be capable of
being operated from one lock shaft by one cam and lever; and the pairs or
sets of stocks constitute the griping jaws for holding the blank whilst it is
being headed, and thus dispensing with the usual mode of griping, substantially
described.
I also claim, in combination with the vertical oscillating nail plate holder,
the escapement U, or its equivalent, for the purpose of guaging and feeding
up the nail plate to the cutters and gripers, substantially as described.
I also claim the operating of the nail plate holder from the heading levers
through the medium of the arms T, sliding bar S, lever V, and escapement U,
or their mechanical equivalents, substantially as described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY. (L.S.)