Improvements in Apparatus for Making Wire Clamps or Fasteners for Securing Window Blinds and other Sheets to Rollers.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 5th Oct., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Making Wire Clamps or Fasteners
for Securing Window Blinds and other Sheets to Rollers.
We, ARTHUR WEBSTER CURRIER, Pattern Maker, of 423 Crescent Avenue
HORACE VANRENSLER WARD, Dentist, of 122 Monroe Street and MORTIMER
ELLIOT ROBERTS, Physician and Surgeon, of 122 Monroe Street all of Granl
Rapids, in the County of Kent, and State of Michigan, U.S.A., 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 :-
iL
Our invention is a machine for making wire fasteners or clamps for securin
window shades to the rollers and the object of the invention is to provide
machine which will rapidly bend straight lengths of wire into clamps of the
desired form.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine embodying our invention.
Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2, Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a plan view in reverse position, and
Fig. 4 is a view of the fastener.
The machine consists essentially of a shaft 4, journaled in suitable bearings and
operated from any desirable source of power in the usual or any preferred manner.
This shaft is extended through an opening or bearing 5 in a post 6, which post may
be formed as shown of two recessed sections 6 and 6' bolted together with the
shaft 4 held between the abutting recesses. The post is formed of a width corre-
sponding to the width of the fastener to be made, and is provided at its upper end
with inclined faces 6 and 6 sloping downward toward each other and terminating
in a slot 7 directly over the axis of the shaft 4.
The slot is of the proper size to readily admit the length of wire 3 from which the
fastener is to be made and when the wire has been fed to the slot, either by hand or
from a suitable hopper, it rests upon the periphery of the shaft. The shaft carries
upon each side of the post a block 8 secured rigidly thereto with its inner edge
located in close proximity to the face of the post. The said inner edge is provided
with a rabbet forming a groove 8ª extending around the periphery of the shaft to
the extent of the block. When the straight length of wire is inserted in the slot,
the blocks being out of line therewith, the wire as before stated lies upon the shaft
and is held against movement by the side walls of the slot while the shaft is rotated.
to bring the blocks around against the wire. As the blocks come around they
strike against the ends of the wire projecting beyond the sides of the post and
bend them over at right angles, and the bent portions enter the grooves 8" and as
these grooves are curved to conform to the periphery of the shaft the said angular
ends will as they are drawn through the grooves, be caused to assume a similar
curve and will thus produce the completed article 1. After the shaft has been
turned a sufficient distance to form the fasteners the motion is reversed to bring
the parts again to normal position; and in order to throw out the completed
fastener we provide spring arins 9 secured to the shaft and having angular bent
ends 9 which, in the first or forward movement of the shaft may ride over the
ring portions of the fasteners, but when the shaft is reversed pass under the said
rings and by their spring action throw out the fastener I as soon as the rings are
released from the overhanging portions of the blocks.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
1. A machine for making window shade fasteners and the like from straight
lengths of wire, consisting of a revolving shaft, means for holding the central
portion of the wire in proximity to the periphery of the shaft, and means carried
by the shaft for engaging the projecting ends of the wire to bend them at right
angles to the central portion and cause them to conform to the curve of the shaft,
substantially as described.
2. In combination, the post having an opening therein with a slot leading to
said opening for receiving a wire, a shaft journaled in said opening, and blocks or
projections carried by said shaft upon each side of the post having grooves or
recesses for engaging the free ends of the wire, substantially as described.
3. In combination, the post having an opening therein with a slot leading to
said opening, for admitting a wire, a shaft journaled in said opening, blocks or
projections carried by said shaft upon each side of the post for engaging the
projecting ends of the wire, and means for throwing out the completed fastener
when released by said blocks or projections, substantially as set forth.
4. In combination with the post having a shaft oscillating therein and a slot
leading to the periphery of the shaft for engaging the projecting ends of the wire
to bend them around the shaft in a plane at right angles to the slot, and spring
arms having angular ends adapted to ride over the bent portions of the wire in the
forward motion of the shaft but projecting beneath the bent portions on the wires
on the reverse notion, whereby the completed fastener is automatically thrown on
the shaft's resuming its initial position, substantially as set forth.
5. The improved machine for making "wire fasteners" or "clamps" for securing
flexible sheets to rollers, substantially as and for the purposes herein above
described, set forth and illustrated.
Dated this 25th day of March 1805
F. W. BARKER,
Applicants' Agent.