Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Nails and Screws.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Nails and Screws.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE MANUFACTURE OF. NAILS
AND SCREWS," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of nails and comprises a peculiar
formation of continuous rods or lengths of wire, and the production of the nails
therefrom.
The said invention has for its object to produce, in a comparatively cheap manner,
nails which are either screw-threaded or provided with annular ribs, projections or
barbs from their points to, or nearly to, their heads.
When the improved nails are designed to be driven home by means of a hammer,
they may have annular ribs, projections or barbs of any desired form. If, however,
they are designed to be driven home by means of a screw-driver, after having been
started or partially driven by means of a hammer, it is essential that they should
be screw-threaded.
In carrying the said invention into practice I prefer to proceed as follows, viz:-
I take a continuous metal rod or length of wire, that is to say, a rod or wire of
such length that a considerable number of nails can be made therefrom, and I form
the same with alternate screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portions and smooth or
plain portions. The said smooth or plain portions serve as blanks which are up-set
as hereinafter described to form the heads of the nails. After a head has thus
been formed on the end of the rod or wire, I cut or sever a piece from the headed
end thereof at that end of the screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portion which is
farthest from the head. The pieces thus headed and severed from the rod or wire
are then pointed to form the finished nails. The nail-heads are, if desired, slotted
or grooved to enable the nails to be driven by means of a screw-driver.
In some cases, however, instead of proceeding as above described, I form a metal
rod or wire with a screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portion near one end thereof

page_text: leaving a smooth or plain portion at this end, and I then up-set the metal at this
end to form the nail-head and cut or sever a piece from the headed end of the said
rod or wire and point the same to form the finished nail.
The smooth or plain portions may, if desired, be of such length that each nail,
when finished, will have a smooth or plain cylindrical portion between its head
and its screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portion.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a rod or length of wire made according to
the said invention, with alternate screw-threaded and smooth or plain cylindrical
portions.
Figure 2 is a similar view of the said rod or wire with a head formed at one
end thereof.
Figure 3 is a side elevation, and
Figure 4 an end elevation of the said rod or wire with the head slotted or
grooved.
Figure 5 represents a finished nail formed by cutting a headed piece from the
rod or wire shewn in Figure 2 and pointing the same.
Figure 6 is a side elevation of part of a rod or wire made according to the said
'invention; but having annular ribs or barbs instead of screw-threads.
a, a, are the screw-threaded, ribbed, or barbed portions, and b, b, are the smooth
or plain cylindrical portions of the rod or wire. c is the head and d is the point
of the nail.
The screw-threaded, ribbed, or barbed portions may be formed in any suitable
manner, for example, by intermittently acting edge-bearing rollers, or by grooved
rollers having alternate screw-threaded or ribbed portions, and smooth or plain
portions, or by reciprocating swaging dies.
In some instances, I take the rod or wire either in the form of a coil or in pieces
. of suitable length and feed it to mechanism for forming thereon the screw-threaded,
ribbed or barbed portions a with smooth or plain cylindrical portions b between
them. Each of the screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portions is equal in length to
the screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portion of a finished nail, while the contiguous
smooth or plain portion is of such length that the remainder of the nail may be
formed therefrom. The whole rod or wire may, if desired, be thus formed with
screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portions a at regular intervals throughout its
length, before any subsequent operation is performed; but I prefer to so construct
the machine that the subsequent operations will begin after two, three, or other
desired number of such portions a have been formed, and all the operations
will be carried on simultaneously in regular order. Each of the smooth or plain
portions bis shewn long enough to form the head of a nail and a smooth or plain
'cylindrical portion under the head. If desired, however, the said portions b may,
as above stated, be just long enough to form the heads of the finished nails.
After the screw-threads, ribs or barbs have been formed on the rod or wire, the
head c is formed thereon, as shewn in Figure 2, by up-setting the metal in the
ordinary or any suitable manner.
When the nails are to be made with annular ribs, projections or barbs, as shewn,
for example, in Figure 6, they do not require to have their heads slotted or grooved,
and the next and final step in the manufacture of such nails is to cut or sever the
headed piece from the rod or wire at the end of a screw-threaded or ribbed portion a,
for instance, on the line x, x, Figure 2, and to form a point d on the end of the
said piece, as shown in Figure 5. The said piece is preferably cut off and pointed
at one operation by means of a combined shearing or cutting and swaging die,
which will form a point such as that generally known as the "cut point" of a
wire-nail.
If it is desired to provide the nail-head with a slot or groove to permit the
turning the nail or screw by means of a screw-driver, I form the said slot or
groove after the wire has been headed as in Figure 2, and before the nail is cut
from the wire, so that the rod or wire has the form shown in Figure 3.
After the

page_text: head has been thus slotted or grooved, the nail is cut off and pointed as above
described.
The operations of forming the screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portions, heading
the rod or wire, cutting or severing the headed piece therefrom and pointing the
same are repeated until the entire rod or wire is converted into finished nails.
By the method or process above described the nails may be produced at a small
cost, and the heads are seamless and solid.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is
First. The manufacture of nails by first forming a continuous metal rod or length
of wire with alternate screw-threaded, ribbed or barbed portions and smooth or
plain portions, and then repeatedly up-setting the metal at the end of the said rod
or wire to form the nail-head, cutting or severing the headed piece therefrom and
pointing the same to forin the finished nail, substantially as above set forth.
Second. The manufacture of a nail by first forming a metal rod or length of
wire with a screw-threaded, ribbed, or barbed portion near one end thereof leaving
a smooth or plain portion at this end, then up-setting the metal at this end to form
the nail-head, cutting or severing the headed piece from the said rod or wire, and
pointing the same to form the finished nail, substantially as set forth.
Third. A continuous metal rod or length of wire having alternate screw-threaded,
ribbed, or barbed portions and smooth or plain portions, substantially as, and for
the purpose, set forth.
וי.
BOLL 1
100
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.