Improvements in Metal-shearing Machines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 23rd Sept., 1899
Improvements in Metal-shearing Machines.
I, LEMUEL MEADER HAM, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of
Massachusetts, U.S.A., Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows:-
The especial object of my invention is to provide means for quickly cutting
off or shaping the ends of structural iron or steel beams, particularly those
having double flanges at each edge of a thin central web. In steel-frame struc-
tures it is frequently necessary to join these beams together at right angles or
otherwise, in which case the end of the web of one beam should protrude between
the flanges and against the side of the web of the other one, the two being then
joined by bolts through angle irons and said webs. My improved metal-shear-
ing machine removes these flanges expeditiously and shapes the protruding web
to also fit upon the inclined surface of the flanges.
My invention consists in a metal-shearing machine having a vibrating cutting
head or jaw and stationary dies co-operating therewith at each side of said
head, in combination with a front die made movable in the line of the
front of the cutting head so as to open a space at the corner, between
the front and side dies, to receive the projecting flange of the beam when
the end of the web is to be tapered. A rack and pinion with a lever
or other suitable devices for moving the front die are provided, also stout
insertible blocks of various heights for the edge of the flange of the various
sizes of beams to rest on. In addition to this, gauges, adjustable by a screw
and preferably having sliding dove-tailed ways, are located at the sides of the
cutting head to limit the cutting action to the extent desired. These gauges
may have beveled front faces corresponding to the inclination of the flange
surface, to which inclination the protruding web of the beam is to conform.
also provide a swinging and vertically adjustable guard arm which may serve
to hold in position short beams or pieces during the cutting operation.
In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a machine embodying my invention.
Figure 2 is a plan and Figure 3 a side elevation of the front end of said machine,
showing, on a larger scale, the parts to which my improvements relate. Figure 4
a perspective view of the same parts, dotted lines showing the position of a
beam when laid on its side to taper the web after the flanges have been cut
away. Figure 5 shows the beam with web so tapered to fit on another beam
shewn in section. Figure 6 shows the position of the dies and cutting head
while shearing one of the flanges from the upright rail.
Referring first to Figure 1 as a suitable form of operative mechanism,
A represents the body or frame of the machine, B the main shaft with pulleys, fly
wheels and geared pinions, and C a square shaft carrying a cam D rotated by
gear wheels E meshing with said pinions, said cam working beneath the
extremity of the long arm of the vibrating lever F, which has as its fulcrum the
transverse shaft G mounted in the reinforced sides of the frame. The cam has
a side-wise movement on its shaft C so that it may slide into and out of position

page_text: by pressure on a treadle Y and by the reverse action of a weight H applied to
a longitudinal shaft I.
The cutting head J is the enlarged end or short arm of the lever F, sce
Figures 2, 3 and 4. It is faced with steel and works in a vertical plane between
the side dies K K and the front die L so as to have a powerful cutting action
upon the interposed metal, when a beam Z is presented as in Figure 6, to have
the end portion of its edge-flanges successively cut away.
The side dies are fixed in permanent position by bolts k. The front die L,
however, is made movable, being bolted to an abutment m formed on a sliding
block M which rests on the flat bed N at the front of the machine. Slots O in
said block and stout pins located therein form guides for the movement of the
block which is actuated by a pinion P engaging the teeth of a rack formed in
the edge of the block, such pinion having a suitable handle. An adjustable
front stay Q supports said block in its operative positions.
It serves
In Figures 2 and 4 the front die L and its carrying block M are seen
retracted, so that a space is opened between said die and one of the side dies K.
In that space a rest R is shown, such rest being a cylindrical pin of proper
height having a reduced lower end inserted in a hole in the flat bed N.
as a support for the edge of the flame of the beam Z to rest upon when the beam
is laid on its side to have its protruding web tapered by the action of the cutting
head and side dies, the front die L being moved to admit said rest and flange.
For various widths of flange corresponding variations in the length of the rest-
pin R will be made.
S, S are adjustable gauges situated on either side of the cutting head and
adjacent to the side dies. These gauges regulate the extent to which the beam
flange can enter beneath the raised cutter head. Their location is adjusted
by screws T the heads of which abut against the vertical front wall of the frame.
The
gauges are held in place, adjustably, by a dove-tailed engagement with
grooved ways U in which they may slide. The front face of one of these gauges
is shown in Figures 2 and 4 to be oblique. In use, if the square end of the web
of the beam is parallel to this front face the beam will extend obliquely there-
from, as in dotted lines Figure 4, and the edge of the web will be trimmed by
the side dies on an equally oblique line, so that the web will taper to fit the
flanges of another beam as shown in Figure 5.
V represents a guard arm mounted on a vertical shaft W at the side of the
frame, adjustable up and down by set screws X, and adapted to swing around in
front of the cutting head so as to hold down any small or short piece of metal
being operated on so that it shall not tip up and slip between the head and the
dies. Long beams are sufficiently heavy to render this device unnecessary. They
will usually be handled by balancing them on a low wheeled truck or by sus-
pending them by chains and wheels from an over head track.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it understood that
I am aware that machines have been proposed for cutting off beams by first
punching a slot through the web of the beam and then inserting a thinner
cutting blade into said slot and severing the flanges of the beam in the plane of
the slot by downward and upward movement of said blade and I make no claim
to such machines or mode of operation, my machine serving to cut away the
flange on either or both sides of the end portion of the beam by means of the
broad vibrating head J and its dies, leaving the end of the web protruding if
desired; and I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In a metal-shearing machine, the vibrating cutter and its side dies, in
combination with a front die and means for moving it across the end of said
cutter and holding it in its adjusted position, substantially as set forth.
2. In a metal-shearing machine, the combination of the cutting-head and its
side dies fixed in position, with the movable front die and means for moving

page_text: it longitudinally so as to open a space when desired between the front and one
of the side dies and to close the same, substantially as set forth.
3. In a metal-shearing machine, the cutter head with suitable actuating means
and the side dies co-operating therewith, in combination with the front die and
means for moving it away from a side die, and with a rest adapted to be intro-
duced into the space between said dies, substantially as set forth.
4. In a metal-shearing machine, the combination with the vibrating cutter-
head and its fixed dies, of a front die and means for moving it transversely to
the fixed dies, and with adjustable gauges adjacent to the fixed dies, substan-
tially as set forth.
5. In a metal-shearing machine, a vibrating cutter-head and dies co-operating
therewith at its sides and front, in combination with gauges movable in dovetail
ways at the sides of said head and provided with adjusting screws abutting
against the frame, substantially as set forth.
6. In a metal-shearing machine, a vibrating cutter-head and dies co-operating
therewith at its sides and front, in combination with a swinging and vertically
adjustable guard arm adapted to be moved into position in front of said head
and withdrawn therefrom, substantially as set forth.
1
1000
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.