IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING BOLTS AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
BOLTS AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES."-A communication.
Sealed the 15th June 1855, and dated the 20th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,' with his Petition, on the
20th April 1855.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
BOLTS AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES"-to-be as-follows:---
This Invention relates, firstly, to the general arrangement and construction
of the machine employed for manufacturing bolts and other like articles, and
consists mainly in mounting the upper dies. employed in the manufacture on
opposite sides of a vibrating frame, which will bring the two sets of dies
alternately into action, and thus effect a great economy.
Secondly, to the construction of the dies for shaping the head of the bolt, and
the mode of effecting that operation. The top and bottom dies are each
divided into two parts by a groove, which is of a width corresponding to the

page_text: thickness of head intended to be given to the bolt. The edges of the groove
in the top dies instead of being parallel with those of their corresponding lower
die when depressed form an angle thereto, and on a square bar of heated iron
being introduced into the dies and rotated therein, the metal will be cut away
or compressed on either side of the part which is to form the head, and reduced
to the required diameter of the shank of the bolt. By the operating edges of
the dies thus standing at an angle to each other, provision is made for the rod
being brought gradually into the form required instead of by a sudden blow,
the rod being in this case moved gradually up to the point where the severest
nip is given..
The Invention relates, thirdly, to the operation of drawing down the iron rod
to form the shape of the bolt, and consists in subjecting the iron to the action
of tapering conical dies at the same time that it is drawn gradually out of them,
by which means it is rapidly elongated. A flattened or oval shape is given to
the extremity of the cavity of these dies in preference to an exact cylindrical
form, that the edges of the dies when the two come together may not cut the
iron, and throw out a "sprue "at the sides. The conical portion of the dies is
also flattened in a similar manner and for the like purpose.
This Invention relates, lastly, to a mode of insuring the entrance of the bolt
head into the die, in which the heading is completed. A sliding plate (through
a hole in which the bolt to be headed is inserted in order that it may be brought
under the heading die) carries a pair of jaws, which are intended to grip the
head of the bolt. These jaws are connected to the fixed frame of the machine
by hinged rods, and are thereby caused to close as the sliding plate which
carries them moves from under the header die, and to open as it approaches
that die. By thus gripping the square head of the bolt as it is supported by
the plate, they will adjust its position to suit the recess formed for it in the
header, and before the descent of the header they will move back out of
its way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 20th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1855,
in the 18th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
license that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
MANUFACTURING BOLTS AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine;
Fig. 2, a section upon the line A, A, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section through the
dies in which the head of the bolt is formed; Fig. 4 is a front view of these
dies; Fig. 5, a plan; Fig. 6, an end view of the same; Fig. 7, a modification
of these dies, showing the manner in which the opening between them may
be adjusted to form heads of different thickness; Fig. 8 is a front view of
the dies for drawing down the shank of the bolt; Figs. 9 & 10 are vertical
sections, taken longitudinally through the cavity in the die upon the line Z, Z,
of Fig. 8; Fig. 11 is a vertical section transverse to the cavity between the
dies upon the line W, W, of Fig. 10; Fig. 12 is a plan of one of them (g);
Fig. 13, a plan of one of the cutting dies; Fig. 14, a front view of them;
Fig. 15, a section through these dies; Figs. 16, 17, 18, 19, & 20, details of
the heading die.
The first branch of this Invention consists in certain improvements in the
general construction and arrangement of the machine itself, which will now be
described. B is the bed piece, which is firmly bolted or otherwise secured to

page_text: the foundation timbers of the shop; C.is a groove or depression in the top of
the bed piece, in which are secured by means of the screws e the lower dies
a, b, & d, the upper dies a', b', &-d', being similarly secured by means of the
screws e¹ in a groove C in the under side of the pieces D of a vibratory
frame, which is constructed and operated as follows:-E are side posts; secured
at the bottom to the side pieces D, and at top to the cap pieces F. This framė
is pivoted upon two gudgeons G, seen in dotted lines in Fig. 2, which run in
boxes H. I are standards, rising from the bed piece B, and 'which carry the
main driving shaft K; L are eccentrics, secured to the shaft K and running
in the straps M. These straps are grooved, so as to slide freely up and down
upon the side posts E, and thus, as the main shaft K revolves; the upper die
frame is vibrated upon its gudgeons G, so as to bring the dies upon the opposite
sides of the machine alternately into operation, as will be clearly manifest from
an inspection of Fig. 2. N is a fly wheel; O, the driving 'pulley; both secured
to the main shaft K. The action of this machine is peculiar, the iron being
squeezed and pressed out in lieu of being subjected to a series of blows, as in
other machines for forging iron; and owing to the double set of dies, one being
brought into operation while the other is being raised; the machine is made
capable of performing a double amount of work.
The second branch of this Invention, which relates particularly to the
formation of the head of the bolt preparatory to drawing down the shank,
will now be described. These dies are represented in Figs: 3, 4, 5, & 6; in
section in Fig. 2, and in front elevation in Fig. 1:
++
Iron bolts have been made of rods of the size of the shank of the finished
bolt, the head being formed by upsetting the end of the rod; such bolts are,
however, weakest at a point which is required to be the strongest, viz, the
junction of the head and the shank. Such bolts have also been formed of rods
of the size of the head of the finished bolt, or slightly less, a sufficient length of
the rod being first drawn down upon one side of the head to form the shank;
the bolt is then cut off, and the head is finished in suitable dies. A great
defect of this method of forming the bolts is this: there being nothing but
the strength of the operator to hold the bar up to the dies during the operation,
it is continually worked backwards; the head being 'constantly forced away
from the dies, and unless the bar be held-up to them with exactly the same
force each time; there will be a want of uniformity in the-length of the bolts,
rendering it necessary to put them through another operation to cut them to
a length. It is also found that bolts thus made are liable to have the
shank out of centre with respect to the head. And, furthermore, it is not
found possible to attain an exact thickness of head by this process, for the

page_text: operator in judging of the length of iron to be drawn down to form the shank
is guided only by his eye. To remedy these defects is the object of this
branch of the Invention, which consists in cutting away the iron simultaneous'y
upon each side of the head, the iron so cut away being at the same time
squeezed and partially drawn out. Iron rods of the size, or very nearly so, of
the finished bolt head are made use of, and the operation is performed by
suitably formed dies, that will now be described. These dies are represented
in Figs. 4, 5, & 6 of the accompanying Drawings. Fig. 5 is a plan of the
lower die a; the upper die a¹ is precisely similar thereto, the two being
seen in section in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is 'a front elevation of both these dies.
y (Figs. 2, 3, 5, & 6,) is a groove through the centre of the die, which
divides it into two portions 1 & 2. Upon cach side of the groove the die
falls away in a curve or slant, as seen in Figs. 2 & 3. At one end f¹ they
approach each other nearer than at the other f, for a purpose which will
be presently made clear. In Figs. 3 & 4 these dies are seen as when
nearest to cach other; they are secured in place when in operation by the
screws e, e¹. The bed piece B has a slot R' through its whole depth to permit
the escape of scale.
The frame which carries the upper dies being vibrated, as already described,
a bar of square iron of the size of the head of the finished bolt, or nearly
so, is heated and entered between the dies a, a¹, at the end f, Fig. 4, when
they are at the greatest distance from cach other, the distance to which the
bar is protruded being regulated by an adjustable stop S. As the dies a, a¹,
approach each other, a portion of the bar enters the groove y (Fig. 2), and the
iron is cut away upon each side of it by the edges u, u, and at the same time
slightly compressed, the bar being, constantly rotated that the action of the
dies may be uniform upon all sides of it; and as the operation proceeds it is
also-moved towards the other end f of the dies, where the two jaws approach
nearest to each other; the iron is thus gradually cut down upon each side of
the head, and gradually squeezed out little by little, and brought to the form
represented at R, in Fig. 3. The portions of the bar, which is to form the
head of the bolt, is left of its original size and form, and the portion t, which is
to form the shank of the bolt, is made to slightly approach its ultimate form.
The two portions:1, 2, of the dies may be made adjustable with respect to each
other by means of the right and left screws y¹, as seen in Fig. 7, for the
purpose of increasing or diminishing the thickness of the head.
The above method of forming the heads of bolts has many advantages over
all other methods with which I am acquainted, amongst which are the follow-
ing: 1st, the iron being operated upon on both sides of the head at once, the

page_text: latter is not forced away from the dies, as is the case when it is operated upon
on one side of the head at a time, and thus a determinate quantity of iron is
thrown into the shank of each bolt, and the necessity of cutting off the
end of the latter to reduce the bolts to a uniform length is avoided. 2nd,
the iron being gradually cut away all round the head, the fibres of the metal
are not distorted or ruptured, and the bolt is much stronger at this point
than can be the case where other methods of working the iron are adopted.
3d, the shank is never out of centre with respect to the head, as is often
the case with bolts formed by other methods.
The third branch of this Invention relates to the drawing down of the iron
to form the shank of the bolt, the dies for the performance of which operation
are represented in Figs. 1, 8, 9, & 10.
In the machines heretofore contrived for the purpose of manufacturing bolts
and other similar articles, the iron has in some cases been drawn down by
subjecting it to successive blows between flat horizontal surfaces, the bar being
partially rotated between each blow, by which it is flattened out first in one
direction then in another, and thus gradually drawn out and diminished in size.
When iron is thus worked it is liable to be cracked upon each side, and the
fibres are broken, particularly in the centre of the bar, every time the upper
die or hammer descends, each succeeding stroke increasing instead of repairing
the defects. This detracts materially from the strength of the bolt or other
article thus forged. In other cases, when heavy iron has been forged a
V-shaped anvil has been employed, but this would obviously not be appli-
cable to the forging or drawing down of smaller articles, which require to be
finished to an exact cylindrical form. Such articles have been drawn down by
operating upon them by a series of semi-cylindrical dies in the opposite faces
of a hammer and anvil, the iron being carried from one die to the other, begin-
ning with the largest and ending with the smallest. This method is liable
to several objections: 1st, the process is slow and consequently expensive;
2nd, there is no method by which the exact amount of iron required for
the shank of the bolt can be drawn down; 3d, a sprue is formed from the
iron each time the dies close, and particularly each time the iron is moved to a
smaller sized die, which sprue is forced into the surface of the iron when it is
again turned half round, and a defective surface, which can never be remedied
by the after hammering which it receives, is the consequence. Such bolts are
particularly inapplicable to the formation of screw bolts.
This branch of the Invention differs from all these, and consists in subjecting
the iron to the action of tapering conical dies, at the same time that it is
drawn gradually out of them, by which means it is more rapidly elongated than

page_text: in either of the above cases, and the injurious consequences before mentioned
are entirely avoided, the whole force of the blow being expended in drawing
out the iron in the direction of its length.
From an inspection of the Figures 1, 8, 9, & 10, it will be seen that
when these dies are closed together, the space between them, i, for a short
distance from their front face is very nearly cylindrical, and that it then flares
out, so as to form a tapering conical cavity, the size of the shorter diameter of
a portion of this cavity corresponding to that of the finished bolt. This
flattened or oval form is given to the dies in preference to an exact cylindrical
form, that the edges of the dies when the two come together may not cut the
iron and throw out a sprue at the sides. The conical portion of the die is also
flattened in a similar manner and for the same purpose. The iron which is to
be drawn down by these dies has already been operated upon and prepared
by the dies a, a', already described. The iron as it leaves these dies is of the
form represented in Fig. 3; in this form it is submitted to the action of the
dies b, b', being inserted between them, as seen in Fig. 9, the portion t being
made to enter the cavity g; it is then continually rotated and gradually with-
drawn until the shank of the bolt is formed, the iron being brought to its
ultimate size at a single operation. The bolt may be ultimately smoothed by
the cylindrical dies h, or pointed in the dies x (Fig. 8), if required. These
dies are made perfectly cylindrical, and of the exact size of the finished bolt.
It is evident, that when thus operated upon by tapering conical dies, the iron
is confined at the sides at the instant it receives the blow, and is drawn out in
opposite directions, as is the case when other forms of dies are used. These
dies are equally well adapted to the purpose of drawing down any iron which
requires to be reduced in size.
The bolt is now severed from the bar by the cutting dies d, d', shown in plan
in Fig. 13, in elevation in Figs. 1 and 14, and in section in Fig. 15. The
form of the head is then perfected by the heading die, which is represented in
Figs. 16, 17, 18, 19, & 20.
The fourth branch of this Invention consists in the use of certain guides
for the purpose of insuring the entrance of the bolt head into the die. This
branch of the Invention will now be described. P is a bracket or projection
from one side of the base plate, having a dovetail groove W, in which slides
the bolt-holder T, which is perforated with a hole for the reception of the bolt.
Z is a mortise entirely through the projection P, into which the bolt enters
after passing through the bolt-holder; this latter is removed from Figs. 16
& 19, the bolt being seen in red in each of these Figures. f, f³, are guides,
which are pivoted to the bolt-holder at ³, ; g³, g, are rods hinged or pivoted

page_text: to the frame in any appropriate manner, and also to the guides f, f³, as
seen in Figs. 1, 17, & 18, in such a manner, that when the bolt-holder T is
forced out into the position represented in Fig. 17, the guides shall be closed
upon the head of the bolt, and when the bolt-holder is thrown in, as repre-
sented in Fig. 18, the guides are thrown out of the way of the die h', which
is operated as follows: Fig.,20 shows, this die in section; like the others, it is
firmly, secured to the vibrating frame D, E, F, (Fig. 1). It has in its centre a
square hole for the reception of the bolt head, the bottom of this hole being
made movable and thrown out by a spring a', for the purpose of ejecting the
bolt after the operation of finishing the head is completed. A' is a bent arm
or lever, which throws in the bolt carrier at the required instant before the die
descends; this lever being actuated by the cam B' upon the driving pulley O.
Upon the side of this same pulley is, another cam D', which throws the lever
A¹, out of the reach of the cam B' until it is again required to act, when it is
returned to its place by hand or otherwise. E is a rod which projects from
the bolt-holder T. F¹ is a spring, which presses against the rod. E', and forces
the holder T into the position represented in Fig. 17 so soon as the lever A¹
is relieved from the action of the cam B¹. The object and operation of this
portion of the machinery is as follows:-As the recess in the die for the
reception of the head of the bolt is square, it is necessary that "the bolt be so
adjusted in position that its head shall enter this square opening in the die;
this is accomplished by the guides f, f³, starting with the parts in the position
represented in Fig. 17. A bolt is dropped by the attendant into the hole in
the bolt-holder, the position of the head being so adjusted by the rectangular
notches in the guides f; f³, that it shall just enter the square hole in the die,
as before mentioned. The lever A¹ is now thrown in by the attendant so as
to rest against the face of the pulley. O, and as the latter revolves the cam B'
strikes against this lever, and the bolt. is thereby carried into the position
represented in Fig: 18. The guides f³, f³, being carried out of the way of
the die h¹ by the rods g³, g³, the die h¹ now descends, and the bolt head enters
the recess in its bottom face, and by the pressure thus applied is finished and
smoothed. As the die rises, the bolt head is forced out by the spring a', before
spoken of, and the finished bolt.is ejected from the bolt-holder after the latter
has been again forced out by the spring F in the following manner:-G is a
vertical rod, pivoted to the horizontal lever H, upon which rests the rod I',
which passes up through the bracket P.immediately beneath the-point occupied
by the bolt, when the parts are thrown into the position represented in
Fig. 17; the attendant, then strikes the rod G! with a hammer, which forces
the rod.I' against the bolt, and the latter is thus thrown from the machine.

page_text: One of these finishing dies will be sufficient for two or more sets of the
other dies.
The general operation of the machine is as follows:-Iron of a size corre-
sponding to that of the head of the finished bolt, or slightly smaller, is heated
and submitted to the action of the dies a, a¹, by which it is brought to the
state represented at R in Figs. 3 and 9; it is then carried to the dies b, b¹,
and the shank is drawn down, as represented in Fig. 10. The form of the
shank is then perfected by the cylindrical die h (Fig. 12), and the bolt is
severed from the bar by the dies d, d'. The head is then perfected by the
heading die h¹, as already described, and the operation is completed.
Having now described the Invention communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above recited Letters
Patent I claim,-
1st, attaching the upper dies to opposite sides of a vibrating frame E in
the manner substantially as herein set forth, for the purpose of operating a
double set of lies, as set forth.
2d, I claim the dies a, a, constructed and operated in the manner sub-
stantially as herein set forth.
3d, I claim the dies b, b', constructed in the manner set forth, for
gradually squeezing and drawing out the metal to form the shank of the bolt,
as described.
4th, I claim the guides f³, f³, in combination with the movable bolt-
holder T, constructed and operating in the manner and for the
set forth.
purpose herein
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
0
Witness,
W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)