IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OF APPARATUS FOR SHAPING WIBE AND CUTTING UP THE SAME INTO LENGTHS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Worrall and Arthur John Worrall, both
of Hathersage, in the County of Derby, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OF APPARATUS FOR SHAPING WIBE AND
CUTTING UP THE SAME INTO LENGTHS."
c
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Worrall and
Arthur John Worrall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 18th January 1875.
We, JOSEPH Worrall and ARTHUR JOHN WORRALL, both of Hather-
sage, in the County of Derby, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SHAPING WIRE
AND CUTTING UP THE SAME INTO LENGTHS," to be as follows:—
Our Invention relates more particularly to the drawing or turning up
and cutting off into lengths of paragon wire, to be used in the manu-
facture of the ribs and stretchers of umbrellas, but it is also applicable
to the shaping and cutting of wire to be employed for other purposes,

page_text: and it consists of a peculiar arrangement of apparatus for automatically
gripping and drawing forward the wire through dies or rolls and cutting
it up into lengths in combination or not with rolls for straightening such
wire, whereby the before-mentioned operations are greatly expedited and
facility is afforded for performing the same by the aid of steam or other
motive power.
In carrying out our Invention as applied to the manufacture of
umbrella ribs and stretchers (for example), we pass the flat wire or
band of metal between guides and rollers fixed in a horizontal position,
and between dies or rolls provided with suitable grooves and corresponding
mouldings or ribs for turning up the flat wire or band of metal to the
given section, and thence through a series of straightening rolls or not
as preferred. In front of the rolls there is provided a slide arranged to
work backwards and forwards on slide bars or other suitable supports,
this to-and-fro movement being obtained by means of a connecting rod :
attached to a face plate or wheel, and having an adjustable movement
for increasing or diminishing the length of the stroke. This wheel may
be driven by another wheel gearing into it and giving motion at every
revolution to a pair of cutters or shears placed at the back end of the
slide bars, or in any other convenient position.
The slide is provided
with a jointed arm fitted with a pair of grippers having projections and
recesses or otherwise shaped so as to enable them to take a firm hold of
the grooved wiro.
The machine operates in the following manner, videlicet :-The wire
or band being first entered and passed through the guides and rollers,
and through the dies and straightening rolls, is drawn sufficiently forward
by an ordinary wire block or otherwise to enable it to be reached by the
grippers on the slide, and the machine being set in motion, the wheel or
faco plate revolves, forcing forward the connecting rod and the slide to
its full extent. The grippers being wide open, and receiving the wire,
the return motion causes the grippers to close firmly on to the wire and
draw it forward to the cutters. The forward motion now releases the
wire, and the cutters crop it off while it is stationary. The same move-
ments are then repeated, and so on in succession.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said Joseph
Worrall and Arthur John Worrall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th August 1875. .
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
WORRALL and ARTHUR JOHN WORRALL, both of Hathersage, in the
County of Derby, send greeting. .
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WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth-year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her héirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Joseph Worrall and Arthur
John Worrall, Her special license that we, the said Joseph Worrall.
and Arthur John Worrall, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Joseph Worrall and Arthur John Worrall,
our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agreò
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
usc, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain'
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS For Shaping Wire and CUTTING UP
THE SAME INTO LENGTHS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, tho
said Joseph Worrall and Arthur John Worrall, our executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Joseph Worrall and Arthur John
Worrall, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked-
thereon, that is to say-:— .
Our said Invention relate more particularly to the drawing or turning

page_text: lengths to be used in the manufacture of the ribs and stretchers of
umbrellas, but it is also applicable to the shaping and cutting of wire to
be employed for other purposes, and consists of a peculiar arrangement
of apparatus for automatically gripping and drawing forward the wire
through dies or rolls and cutting it up into lengths in combination or not
with rolls for straightening such wire, whereby the before-mentioned
operations are greatly expedited, and facility is afforded for performing
the same by the aid of steam or other motive power.
In carrying out our Invention as applied to the manufacture of
umbrella ribs and stretchers (for example), we pass the flat wire or band:
of metal from which the paragon wire is to be made between guides and
rollers fixed in a horizontal position and between dies or rolls provided
with suitable grooves and corresponding mouldings or ribs for turning up
the flat wire or band of metal to the given section and thence through a
series of straightening rolls. In front of the rolls there is provided a
slide arranged to work backwards and forwards on slide bars or other
suitable supports, this to-and-fro movement being obtained by means of
a connecting rod attached to a face plate or wheel, and having an adjust-
able movement for increasing or diminishing the length of the stroko.
This wheel may be driven by another wheel gearing into it and giving
motion at every revolution to a pair of cutters or shears placed at the
back end of the slide bars, or in any other convenient position. The
slide is provided with a pair of grippers having projections and recesses
or otherwise shaped so as to enable them to take a firm hold of the
grooved wire.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood wo shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings is a longitudinal section
of our improved combined apparatus for making what is known as
paragon wire, and for cutting the same into suitable lengths to be
employed in the manufacture of the ribs and stretchers of umbrellas and
⚫ parasols or otherwise, and Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are details which will
be herein-after referred to.
A, A, is a frame, bench, or table carrying at one end thereof a pair of
guide blocks or bars B, B', shewn in detail at Figure 2. One of theso

page_text: blocks or bars B' is provided with a groove or recess a corresponding in
form and size with the flat wire from which the paragon wire is to be.
made, and through which the said flat wire is passed to a pair of forming
or turning-up rolls O, O'. One of these turning-up rolls C' is provided
on its periphery with a projecting rib c', as shewn clearly in the detail,
Figure 3, which works in a corresponding annular recess c formed in the
roll C, a space being left between the recess and the rib equal to tho
thickness of the wire.
The wire in passing between these rolls has its sides or edges turned up
so as to form it into a channel or trough. Tho wire then passes between
a pair of finishing dics D, D', (shewn in detail at Figure 4), the lower one'
D' of which is provided with a recess d corresponding in shape with the
outer surface of the finished paragon wire.
•
After leaving the finishing dies the wire passes between a series of
"killing" and straightening rolls E, E', provided with annular
grooves e, e², (shewn in the enlarged detail, Figure 5), through which
the wire passes to the cutting-off tools hereafter described. The
rolls E, E, take from the wire the stiffness or spring which has been
imparted to it under the action of the turning up and finishing dies,
) and straightens it in readiness to be cut up into the desired lengths.
The cutting off of the wire is effected as follows:-F is a metal block
carrying a pair of gripping jaws G, G', and fitted so as to travel to and
fro upon guide rods H, H, by the rotation of a disc or face wheel I keyed
on the transverse shaft K. This shaft works in bearings in the frame or
5 bench A, and is driven by gearing L or otherwise from the driving shaft
of a steam engine or other motor, M is a rod, one end of which is
jointed to the arm g of the upper movable jaw G of the grippers, its
opposite end being connected to the disc or face wheel I by the adjusting
screw working through the nut i carried in the end of the rod M.
Upon starting the engine motion will be transmitted through the
gearing L to the shaft K and face wheel I, which through the rod M
causes the block F to move to and fro along its guides H. During the
forward motion of the block F the moveable jaw G³ of the grippers will
be raised out of contact with the wire by reason of its connection with
5 the rod M being below the centro upon which the said movable jaw
turns, and allow it to travel freely along the wire, but so soon as the
block commences to make its backward motion the jaw G¹ will close on

page_text: to the wire by the action of the rod M, grip it firmly between it and the
fixed jaw G, and draw it along towards the cutting-off tools.
The jaw of the gripper, which are shewn enlarged in the detail,
Figure 6, are provided with a projection g' and recess or groove 9", cor-
responding in form with the interior and oxterior surfaces respectively of
the grooved or paragon wire in order to enable them to take a firmer hold
thereof. The length of traverse of the sliding block F determines the
lengths of wire to be cut off, and this may be varied as desired by
adjusting the nut i along the screw / nearer to or further from the centro
of the disc or face wheel I: N, N¹, are the cutting tools (shewn enlarged
in detail at Figure 7). The upper stationary one N is made in two
parts n, n, carried in a bracket N" fixed to the frame or bench Å and
provided with a projection o and recess p, between which the wire is
passed by the grippers and held steady during the cutting operation.
The lower moving cutter N¹ works in guides in the bracket N", and
receives its up-and-down motion by means of a lever Q centred at q to
the bracket N, and acted upon by a tappet P koyed upon the shaft k.
At every revolution of the shaft & tho tappet P depresses the long
arm of the lever Q, the short arm thereof being thereby raised, and with
it the lower blade N', to which it is connected by passing through a slot
or opening formed therein for that purpose. The rising of the lower
blade N effects the separation of the length of wire, which projects
beyond the face of the top cutter. So soon as the tappet P clears tho
end of the lever Q the lower cutter will again descend by its own gravity,
assisted by the spring - if necessary, in readiness for the next cut.
We do not confine ourselves to the precise construction, arrangement,
or mode of operating the cutting-off tools, as described, but we wish it
to be understood that our Invention consists in the employment of
cutting-off tools in combination with the forming rolls and dies, the
whole being operated at the same time and in the same machine.
In commencing to work this apparatus the flat wire is passed through the
dies and rolls by hand (before the said rolls are tightened up to the exact
distance from one another to form the section or shape of paragon required),
and the end thereof made fast to the ordinary wire block E", which draws
the wire through while the dies and rolls are being adjusted. As soon
as the operator finds he has the correct shape the block is stopped, and
the wasto end of the wire which is round it is cut off, and the projecting

page_text: end then passed to and held between the grippers G, G. The machine..
may then be set in motion, when it will continue to form the paragon
wire and cut it up into lengths without the necessity for further hand
labour.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be. used or
carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
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:
First. The manufacture of paragon wire from flat wire (in long lengths)
and cutting the same into shorter lengths in the same machine whilst
being made and at the same time, substantially as herein-before
described.
Second. The combination of the forming or turning-up dies or
rolls C, O¹; the finishing dies D, D'; the "killing" and straightening
rolls E, E; and the cutters N, N', the whole arranged and operating
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described
and illustrated by our Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Worrall and Arthur John
Worrall, have to this our Specification set our hands and scals,
this Thirtieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-five. -