Improvements in Machines for Shaping and Boring Buttons.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 18th Sept., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Shaping and Boring Buttons.
I, PAUL PONDORF of Gossnitz in the Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg, German
Empire, Doctor, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what manner
e same is to be performed to be particularly described and by the following
statement:
The present invention consists of a machine for shaping and boring buttons,
such as ivory nut, horn and other buttons, which is so constructed that the buttons
after having been shaped are automatically fed to the buring apparatus. The
invention consists of the details of construction hereinafter set forth and
particularly pointed out in the claims.
And in order to render the present specification more easily intelligible reference
is had to the accompanying drawings in which similar letters of reference denote
similar parts throughout the several views:-
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of. the shaping device for the buttons,
Fig. 2 a side elevation of Figure 1,
Fig. 3 a plan of Figure 1,
Fig. 4 a detail section of the device for clamping the button blanks,
Fig. 5 a part elevation in detail of a device for arresting the button clamps
after they have performed a quarter of a turn,
Fig. 6 a detail elevation of the segment and gear for rotating the blank clamping
discs a quarter of a turn at a time,
Fig. 7 is a detail elevation showing the means for reciprocating the disc bearing'
slides,
Fig. 8 is side and front elevation of a lever for closing the blank clamps. of
the clamping discs,
Fig. 9 a rear elevation of the same lever,
Fig. 10 is a front elevation of the boring device in connecting with the shaping
device,
Fig. 11 is a plan of Figure 10,
Fig. 12 is a fron. elevation of the blank clamping disc, showing the levers for.
opening and closing the clamps and also their actuating device,
Fig. 12 is a detail elevation showing the arrangement. of the lever for throwing
the finished buttons out of the clamps,
Fig. 13 is a detail elevation drawn to a larger scale of a part of the boring or
drilling mechanism herein after described.
Fig. 14 is a part sectional elevation showing the mechanism for raising and
lowering the drills,
Fig. 15 is an end elevation showing the shaft carrying the various cams for
actuating the boring mechanism,
Fig. 16 is a similar. elevation to that of Figure 14 but taken along a different
vertical plane and showing the cam for actuating the button grippers or clamps.
Fig. 17 is a detail elevation of the cam and rods for pushing the buttons into
position, under the drills, . .
Fig. 18 is a plan of the button clamps and their actuating mechanism.

page_text: Fig. 19 is a detail plan of the clamp closing mechanism,
Fig. 19 a cross section through the lever d of the same,
Fig. 20 is a cross section through a complete dise holder for the buttons to be
drilled,
Fig. 21 a detail plan of one of the discs composing the same,
Fig. 22 plan and elevation showing the slide for closing the button exit in the
said discs,
Fig. 22 a detail of one of the clamps,
Fig. 23 a detail plan of the rim of gear teeth of the button clamping discs,
Fig. 24 a plan of the disc for arresting the clamping devices at the proper
moment, and
Fig. 25 a sectional side elevation of the detail shown at Figure 19.
The machine comprises the two slides A and A mounted in suitable guideways
on the machine frame carrying respectively the shafts f and g in suitable bearings.
At one end of these shafts are mounted respectively the clamping discs D and E
for the button blanks (Fig. 3) the two discs being of exactly similar construction.
Each disc contains four similar clamping devices. The disc E is shown in detail
in Figure 4. In the details of Fig. 4 the indices are shown and the letters E
omitted. E is a spindle in Fig. 4 having thereon right and left hand screw
threads. By turning this spindle the nuts may be caused to approach or to
recede from each other according to whether the lever (Figs. 8, 9 and 12) is
depressed or pushed upwardly. The nuts E are provided with arms E on which
are fixed the clamping cheek E¹ the size of which depends on the size of the blank
which they are to hold. As will be evident these cheeks will be opened or closed
on turning the spindle Es. The slides A¹ A2 are connected together by means of
laterally arranged springs pl and p (Fig. 1 and 3) and may be pushed apart at
certain intervals by means of cams al and a2 (Fig. 3), said slides, when pushed
apart being so timed as to bring the blanks in their clamps within reach of the
rapidly rotating cutter spindles 6 and 6, which then cut or shape one side of the
button. Bis the main driving shaft of the machine having fast and loose
pulleys, and sheave pulleys c¹ to drive the cutter spindles 61 and 6. The
main driving shaft carries further two worms, y' and y with right and left
threads respectively, which drive, by suitable wormwheels the shafts. d and e
arranged thereunder. The shaft e carries a gear (Fig. 3) which en-es a
t¹
gear on the shaft c thus driving the latter and with it the cams a¹ and a². The
shafts and g carry each a disc 1 and 2 respectively having in its periphery
four notches (Fig. 5) and the said shafts carry further gears and (Fig. 3&
Fig. 6). Spring pressed pawls H and J (the latter is shown in detail at Fig. 5)
engage the notches of the discs and respectively. To the rotary shafts d
and are keyed segments F and S, which engage the gears and respectively,
at the same time the pawls H and J are lifted out of the notch in the discs n¹ n
by means of the cams kand (Fig. 3) fast on the rotary shaft o, thus
permitting the shafts f and g and with them the clamping discs D and E to perform
a quarter of a turn, owing to the periodical engagement of the segments F and S
in the gears and fast on the shafts f and g. The spring pawls H and J acting
on the notched discs n' n regulate or rather arrest the shafts as soon as the same
have completed exactly a quarter of a turn. This part of the machine operates
in the following manner:-A button blank or piece of material from which the
button is to be made is placed in the clamp I of the disc D (Figs. 1 and 3) and
the slide A is moved towards 6 by. the cam a'. The knife or cutter or shaping
tool of the shaft 61 will not however operate at the first move of the blank disc,
because there will be no blank in the clamp II as yet. The cams a¹ and a2 are
so formed that the slide now begins to recede and continues to do so until it has
returned about half way, where it remains for a moment, the cams being made
concentric at this point. The slide returns under the action of its spring
or (Figure 7 shows in detail the form of the cam and its action on the slide A³.)
The cam a and the slide A are similarly formed. (Whilst the slide remains
us

page_text: stationary half way on its return stroke, the segment S is caused by the rotation.
of its shaft to engage the gear u² (Figs. 3, 4 and 6) and to turn the shaft y and
with it the blank disc E a quarter of a turn. In the mean time the cam has
turned from 2 to 3 and the slide A continues to recede along the part of said cam
from 3 to 4 i.e. both the slides and with them the blank discs D and E are in
their initial positions. Another blank is now placed in the clamp III of the
dise D which is now at the top and the above operation is repeated. At this
operation the cutter will form one side of the button being made from the blank
in clamp I, whilst at the same time a spring pressed lever (Fig. 3) closes up all
the clamps as their cam levers pass the said lever and prevents the blanks laid
therein at the top from falling out. Blanks are fed regularly to the clamps of the
dise D as they successively come round to the top of the said dise, the half finished
blanks being removed from the clamps of the disc D to those of the disc E as the
clamps come together at their adjacent sides as will be now described. The
receding movement of both the clamp disc D and E is timed to bring the clamps I
I, II II, III III of each of the discs together. (In Figure 1 & 3 the clamps III
of each of the discs are shown meeting each other.) At this point clamp III of
the disc E is open and clamp III of the disc I) is clamping a half finished button
blank. The open clamp III of the disc E will enclose loosely the finished side
of the button in the clamp of the disc D. At the same moment the cam 1 is timed
to press the spring pressed levers to actuate the cam levere of the clamp III of
the dise E to close round the finished side of the button blank. Simultaneously
the cam which is also fast on the shaft o and revolves therewith raises the lower
part of the lever (best seen in Figures 1 and 3) pushing its upper end against
the lever a of the clamp III of the disc D opening the same, and allowing the
half finished blank to be passed from the clamp III of the dise D to that III of
the disc E, where it is further transported and the second side which is now turned
outwards, finished by the cutter of the shaft 2. This operation is repeated
continually new blanks being continually fed to the disc D'and as soon as one
side of the same has been shaped by the cutter 61, passed over to the disc I and then
carried round to the cutter 62 which finishes them. After the second side has
been worked, and during the next quarter of a turn succeeding such work, the
lever of the clamp III of dise E brushes past a stop t (Fig. 12) which opens the
said clamp and a fixed lever in a shute I knocks the finished button out of
the clamp and allows it to fall down the shute. The series of operations just
described are repeated with regard to each of the other clamps of the two discs D
and E and thus co-operation of these two discs will be evident, without further
description.
The mechanism for boring the buttons will now be described.
The button slides down the shute R which is arranged at a sharp incline and
will fall either into the pocket or of the bifurcated lever P, according to the
position of the lever f."
Two clamping discs B and B are arranged to hold the buttons whilst the same
are being bored, since the boring takes twice as long as the cutting or shaping
requires.
Thus two drills must be uninterruptedly employed to drill the buttons made
in the shaping machine. Thus the buttons made in the shaping machine must be
alternately fed to the clamping dises B and B which is effected by the following
means: The shute R is divided at its lower end into two branches, one of which
leads to the arm and the other to of the bifurcated lever P (Figs. 10 and 11)
and the buttons are alternately allowed to pass to the arms by means of the switch
lever f. This lever is operated by a lever y pivoted at y and connected to said
lever by means of a pin 'y' (Fig. 17) said lever y being shifted at the required
intervals by means of a cam J Fig. 14 having lateral projections J J (Fig. 11
and 15). The cam Ja is fast on a shaft H which is driven from a shaft C by
means of a worm D' and worm wheel E¹, said shaft C¹ being coupled to the main
driving shaft B of the machine (Figs. 11 and 15). The shaft H carries further

page_text: the cams K, L and M and a bevel gear O (Figs. 13). The bevel gear QFig. 18)
fast on a vertical shaft Q engages the bevel and said shaft Q carries keyed
thereto a tooth segment S. The bevel has a diameter equal to one-fifth that of
the bevel and would consequently make 5, revolutions to one of the latter wero
it not for the fact that the latter, has no, teeth along one fifth of its periphery
so that the gear Q shaft Q and segment S! will remain stationary during one
fifth of a revolution of the gear O. In order to properly arrest the gear and
shoft immediately the plain. part of., the gear, U. comes into contact with the
same and thus to render the proper engagement, of the teeth after the plain part
has passed by possible a spring pawl U is adapted to pass into a notch on the boss
of the segment S at the required moment, said pawl U being retained by a
spring Nagainst the dise M of the shaft H, which disc is a cam disc and so
formed and timed as to also pull the pawl out of the notch at the exact moment
when the plain part of the gear O has come to an end and the teeth are again
to engage the gear Q. The segment S is adapted to engage once at each revolu-
tion with the button holder disc B and to turn the same each time a quarter of a
turn (Fig. 18). 13 is geared to B3. which consequently performs a quarter of a
turn simultaneously. After each quarter of a turn of the button holder dises B' B*
has been performed one hole will be drilled in each of the buttons fast on said
holders. This is effected by the drills at the ends of the spindles Z Z (Figs. 14
and 15) said spindles being depressed at the required time to bring the drills
down on the buttons and bore the holes. After the spindles have been lowered
sufficiently to drill through the buttons the same are again raised and the
dises B perform the next quarter of a turn. The drill spindles %% are raised
and lowered by means of the cam discs J3 lever W and springs V V₁ (Fig. 15).
The raised parts of the cam Ja depress the Jever W (Fig. 14) pivoted at W thus
raising W and with it the drill spindles Z Z', which are depressed as soon as the
lewer portions of the cam come into operation, by means of the springs V VI.
As soon as each button has received four holes the spindle Z Z will be raised by
the part 10 of the cam Ja and retained during the passage of this part of the cam
in their upper position. During this period the gear Q and segment S¹ will also
be arrested by the mechanism herein before described. During this stationary
period the two buttons are thrown out of their respective discs and other buttons
fed to the same.
Both the holder plates 13 and 13 are similarly constructed and one of them is
shown in section at Figure 20. The disc i (Figs. 20 and 21) is provided with
three slantingly arranged slots equidistent one from the other. A disc 2 (Fig. 22)
has a hollow centre pin which fits through the orifice of the disc i and also three
sets of pins I II III, and three crescent shaped slots. Grippers 3 (Fig. 22) are
pivoted on the said pins said grippers having a pin each, at the lower side of their
surfaces engaging the crescent shaped slots of the lower disc 2 and extending
through the same into the slanting slots of the disc i. If now the latter is turned
to the right or to the left on the centre pin of the disc 2 the grippers will be
opened or closed, i.e. they will grip or release the button fed to the said disc. On
the disc 2 is provided further a slide extending heyond and adapted to cover the
hole of the hollow centre pin (Fig. 22). l'resuming a button to be lying on the
centre of the disc 2 and the slide to be withdrawn or drawn out, then the button
will fall through the hollow centre pin into a box or drawer which may be arranged
under the machine. The slide- is actuated at the proper predetermined time by
means of the lever Fig. 18, pivoted at and bifurcated at its forward end so that
Que end of the bifurcation extends over the end of the slide and the other over
the end of the slide. The cam K which revolves with the shaft H' is provided with
a lateral projection K (Fig. 16). Thus if this projection presses against the rear
end of the lever it, the bifurcated end of the said lever will perform a movement
from left to right thus withdrawing the slides
the projection K' has passed the ends of the lever
their positions within the discs 2 by means of the
from the discs 2. As soon
the slides will be returned to
spring f which was stretched

page_text: by their former movement. The cam K¹ further serves to open and close the
grippers of the discs 1 B. This is effected by means of a pin & fast in the lower
surface of each of the discs against which the levers and d operate. The
cam K (Figs. 11 and 18) is formed to push the slide d forward at the desired
moment. A bolt (Fig. 25) of the lever d extends downwardly through a slot
in the base plate of the machine and connects an arm di to the slide d (Fig. 25).
A projection of the arm engages a lever de pivoted at (Fig. 19), thus if the
slide is pushed forward by the cam K, the arm will press against the bolt 6
of the dise and the arin d against the same bolt at disc 13 (Figs. 19, 20 and 25)
thus turning the disc 2 and opening the grippers 3 (Figs. 22 and 22) of the discs B¹
and 13. These discs B and B are returned to their former positions after the
pressure of the cam K has ceased by means of springs arranged therein.
the same moment as the grippers 3 are opened and the slides 3 have been closed
two further buttons are fed to the holder dises 131. The cam L (Figure 15)
which rotates with the shaft H' turns the lever T pivoted at T" (Fig. 15) at each
complete revolution one stroke backwards and one stroke forwards (Figs. 15
and 17). The lever T is connected to the bifurcated lever P by means of the
rods TT shown at Figures 10 and 14. When the lever T is pushed backwards by
the cam L the lever P will be actuated forwards so as to push the buttons lying
at and into the open grippers of the discs B1 and B2. At the same moment
the grippers close and retain the buttons in position therein
The buttons holder discs now proceed to perform their quarter turns and the
buttons are drilled in the above described manner receiving one hole at each quarter
The drill spindles Z Z (Figs. 10, 14, 15) are rotated by means of belts
from the pulleys and keyed to the shafts (Fig. 10). The shaft is driven
by means of spiral gearing G and F (Fig. 11) the latter being fast on the main
driving shaft."
The operation of the drilling part of the machinery takes place in the following
manner:-
Two finished buttons from the clamping disc E are thrown into the shute R
(Fig. 10) by means of the lever s' in exactly similar positions as regards the shute
and pass down the same, one passing into the opening at the end of the arm
and the other to of the bifurcated lever P (Fig. 11). The slides of the holder
discs B and B first open and allow the finished buttons to pass out of the same
and then close. At the same time the grippers of the said discs open and the
lever is pushed forward as described pushing the button coming from the shute
into the space between the grippers. During this period the toothless part of the
bevel gear O is passing the bevel gear Q and the latter as also the segment S¹ are
at rest.
Simultaneously the part 10 of the cam J (Fig. 14) is acting on the lever W
and retaining the drill spindles ZZ in their upper position. As soon as the buttons
have attained their proper position on the discs B and B the grippers close
clamping the same, the bevel gear 0 again engages the hevel Q, the segment S
is caused to perform four revolutions, at each one of which it 'turns the two discs B¹
and B a quarter of a turn and during each quarter of 'a turn, or rather immedi-
ately the same has taken place the drill spindles are lowered by the mechanism
previously described and again raised after having drilled a hole in the buttons.
After each button has received four holes the slides of the discs B1 and B2 are
withdrawn as previously specified and the finished button falls out through the
hollow centre pin of the said discs substantially as specified.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
invention and in what manner the same is performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A machine for shaping and boring ivory nut and other buttons, according
to which a double sided shaping of the blank is effected by means of two clamping
dises, one of which feeds the blank to a shaping tool or cutter for working one

page_text: side of said blank, and then to the second clamping disc which takes up the said
half finished blank from the opposite side and transports the same to a cutter or
shaping tool which finishes the other side of the said blank substantially as
described.
2. A machine for shaping and drillng ivory nut and other buttons according to
which the buttons shaped by the mechanism of Claim 1 are caused to fall properly
from the second clamping disc into a shute, down which they pass and are con-
ducted to two holder discs, alternately, which retain them in a clamping position
during the boring process and then eject the finished buttons automatically
substantially as described.
Dated this 4th day of November 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.