Improvements in and connected with Machinery for Manufacturing Chain Links and Rings
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 1st May, 1895-4ccepted, 22nd June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in and connected with Machinery for Manufacturing
Chain Links and Rings
I, CARL GRUBFR of 10 Schpakebi uch Strasse, Schwerte, Westphalia,
Germany, Manufacturer, 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
This invention relites to a machine for manufacturing chain links and rings
wherein the blanks are first bent and cut in such a manner that their ends only
equire to be subsequently connected by welding to form complete links or rings a
the case may be This welding is effected in an improved form of swaging mould
or press which constitutes a feature of the invention
Under this invention a cold or heated round iron bai is first fed forward by two
feed rollers and then fixed, by one end, to a mandrel coresponding in shape to the
opening in the finished link 1 his mandrel is then caused to turn a complete
revolution and wind the bar round it in a slightly spiral form so as to leave the ends
The blank
of the blank open in order to add the next link of the chain to it
Is next cut off from the bar by means of a knife arrangement and thereafter
finished
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood I have hereunto
appended an explanatory sheet of drawings, whereon,
Fig 1 is a front elevation of the machine, a part of it being shown in section
Fig 2 is a cross section on the line a-y-big¸ 1
Fig 3 shows developments of the cams used in the machine
Fig 4 shows in side view the more important parts of the apparatus for bending
and cutting the blank
Fig 5 is a plan of part of the device Fig 4
Fig 6 shows a chain link bent by the machine
Fig 7 is a vertical section of the stamp and swaging press for welding the chain
link
Fig 8 1 a plan of the swaging pre-s
Referring to the drawings
d
Upon the frame A is mounted a main shaft a rotated by means of a belt pulley b,
This shaft e
and which can be coupled to the shaft e by means of the clutch C,
carries an exchangeable mandrel f corresponding in cross section to the opening in
the chain link to be formed Upon the main shaft a is also keyed a oothed wheel g
The driving
which meshes with the spur wheel h mounted on the counter shaft?
gear g, is so arranged that the shaft & performs only one revolution for every
two revolutions of the shaft a Fitted on the shaft is a cam k in whose groove k¹
slides a pin at the lower end of the clutch disconnecting lever 1
The groove k¹
guides the pin l, during half a revolution of the shaft and a whole revolution
of the shaft a towards the left so that the shaft a is held clutched to the
shaft e
but, during the next half evolution of the shaft and complete levo-
lution of shaft a the pin is forced towards the right so as to unlock the
teeth of the clutch c, d and cause the shaft e and mandrel f to remain
motionless
The rod m from which the chain link is made is held between the feed rollers n
which are carried in the bracket o mounted on the side of the frame A and
The end of the 1od m is held
capable of being moved and adjusted thereon

page_text: upon the mandrel by the clamp which is fulcrumed at r to the shaft e This
clamp which has a roller t at one end is forced, at its other end, against the
mandrelf by the action of the spring s The roller t which runs round (as the
shaft e revolves) within the hollow cylinder of the bearing e¹ is depressed
immediately before the completion of the revolution of the shaft e, by a projection u
(Fig 2) formed in the cylinder t¹, thereby raising the clamp q and releasing the
fixed end of the chain link F
The chun link must, as shown at Fig 4, be spirally bent in order that its
ends may lie open ready to be joined to the last finished link of the chain
For this purpose the bracket o with its rollers n and 1od m is moved to one
side, during the revolution of the mandrel f, by means of the cam v along whose
groove the pin of of the bracket o travels This sideward motion of the
bracket must be such as to move that end of the chain link 1 which is not held
by the clamp 9 on to the cutting block w so that it can be severed by the
action of a knife 2 sliding on the frame A¹ Movement is given to the knife at
the proper times, by means of the projection 3* of the ram 3, which depresses
the level 4 and with it the connecting rod 5 and sliding block 6 in which the
knife is secured After the cutting operation the block 6 is ag un raised by the
action of the counter we ght 7
The cutting block w is secured adju tably within the bracket A2 (see Fig 1)
and is capable of buing rapidly withdiawn, in oidci to allow the link blank to
fall down as soon as it is cut, by the action of a spring 8 on the lever 9 which,
latter, at its upper end, is connected to the block w, and, at its lower end, is
provided with a cone roller which travels upon the periphery of the cam 10
The bracket o also carries a lever 11 (Fig 2) one end of which is loaded with
a weight 12 and rests on a pin 13, on the connecting rod 5 whilst its other end
carries a pan 14 designed to turn the ratchet wheel 15, the rotation of which
15 communicated by the gear wheel 16 to one of the feed rollers n The
airangement is such that after each cutting operation when the rod and the
weight 12 are rused the panl drops down and turns the ratchet 1> therebv
turning the rollers a and feeding the rod m forward agam under the clamp q
The mode of operation of the machine will be best understood by explaining the
actions of the four cams (Fig 3) whereon I represent the cam k, Il the cam v,
III the cam and 1V the cam 10
The cams are arranged close to one another in such manner that the upper edge
of each corresponds to the positions they respectively occupy at the moment when
the pin 13 (1ig 2) has just actuated the lover 11 and fed forward the iron bar
to the clamp 9, and when the projection has just cleared the roller t Refong
to Fig 3 the cam groove / moves to the luft hand side and so closes the
chu ch c, d, thereby coupling the shafts a, c, then it runs straight for about
Tenth during which time the lever / mant us its position During
thi action as will be seen, the cam groove runs from the left to the lat
hand d thereby imparting the sideward motion to the bracket o and bending
the blank spirally on the mandrel The cam groove / now returns to the
right hand side of the cam k and thereby throws the clutch c, d, out of gear
After the cam groove has performed its stroke to the right hand side it ceases
to act, the result of which is that the sliding bracket o is stopped, whereupon
the action of the cam 3 comes into play and by means of the projection 3ª actuates
the cutting gear and severs the link blank from the rod m But synchronously
with this action of the cam 3 the projection 10% of the cam 10 causes the lever 9
to force the cutting block w against the maudrel ƒ and to retain this position
until the cutting operation is finished (compare positions of projections 3ª
and 10 Fig 3) when it is suddenly pulled away by the action of spring a and
the cut blank thrown down After this action the cam groove turns bialy
to the left har 1, whereby the bracket is brought back into its original position
After the rotor of the cams the same series of operations recommence by the
throwing again into gear of the clutch
"
d

page_text: In order to make ordinary rings it is only necessary to replace the oval mandrel
by a cylindrical one of corresponding diameter
The
In order to weld or shrink such blanks together a swaging device of the usual
construction has been hitherto used but only highly skilled woil men could produce
a clean job with it This defect is overcome by the apparatus about to be described,
as, by its means, clean and quick work can be produced by unskilled hand-
arrangement consists of a mould B wherein is formed a civity C which tapers at
the top and corresponds to that part of the chain link o ring which has to be
welded, and of a die D which fits in the cavity C and encloses the upper side of
the parts to be joined The mould B is placed on the anvil and the rim D fixed
to the top of a press or hammer After the chain link has been raised to a
white heat it is held in the mould and struck a few blows, thereafter the link is
turned whereupon two to four more blows will effect a thorough welding and at the
same time polish the link
The most important advantage obtained by using this mould is due to the fact
that the iron is held so tightly at the welding points that it cannot expand but on
the contrary contracts, thereby, at such points, concentrating the material which is
afterwards distributed uniformly over the sides of the welded part thus preventing
weakening of the joint
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
consider novel and desire to claim is
1 A machine for making chain links and rings wherein the metal rod for forming
the link is secured to a mandrel having a cross section corresponding to the
opening desired to be produced in the finished ring or link sud mandrel being then
caused to rotate and bend the bar into shape, whereupon the bar is moved to one
side and brought over a cutting block where it is severed by mean. of a knife, *he
rod being subsequently moved back into its original position ready for making
another blank, substantially as hereinbefore described with refcience to the
drawings annexed
2 A press for welding the chain links or rings formed in the manner set forth
in Claim 1 consisting of a mould B having a cavity C corresponding to the shape of
the link, and of a die D which enters the cavity and by a suitable pressure welds
the ends of the link together in such a manner as to prevent weakening of the link
at the welded part, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the
drawings annexed
Dated this 30th day of April 1895
HD FITZPATRICK,
70 Wellington Street, Glasgow, Agent.