AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING THE CUT NAILS CALLED. BRADS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gorse, of Minworth, in the County of.
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING THE CUT NAILS CALLED.
BRADS."
Sealed the 13th June 1862, and dated the 14th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gorse at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
January 1862.
I, WILLIAM GORSE, of Minworth, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING THE CUT NAILS CALLED BRADS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of an arrangement of parts for guiding and giving
a compound motion to the strip of iron from which the said brads are cut.
The motion given to the said strip consists of the ordinary swivel motion, that
is, a motion whereby the end of the strip is presented obliquely to the cutters,
in combination with a side or lateral motion, whereby the strip is carried back-
wards and forwards, so as to be operated upon alternately by the bill cutters
situated on either side of the bottom or fixed cutter. The object of this motion
is to secure uniformity in the size of the heads or bills. of the said brads, which
cannot be effected in machinery of the ordinary kind..

page_text: The strip passes through an elastic guide, and the said guide is moved
laterally by means of a lever which takes motion from the ordinary swivel
lever; but I do not limit myself to any particular method of giving motion to
the lever which gives the lateral motion. The said lateral motion, combined
with the ordinary swivel motion and with the elastic guide, effects the cutting
of brads having heads or bills of uniform size, although the strip from which
they are cut may not be of uniform width. The elastic guide is constructed
in the following manner:-The said guide consists essentially of a bar in
which two pegs are fixed, between which pegs the strip is held. The direct
motion of the bar is produced by the lever before described, and the return
motion by a spring. One of the pegs by which the strip is supported is fixed,
and the other is capable of a sliding motion on the bar, being kept to its
bearing by means of a spring. The strip is gripped between the fixed and
elastic pegs, and the guide is elastic in its direct motion by the yielding of the
sliding peg, and is elastic in its return motion by the elasticity of the spring
effecting the said return motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Gorse in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GORSE, of Minworth, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Gorse, Her special licence, that I, the said William Gorse,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Gorse, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING THE CUT NAILS CALLED
BRADS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Gorse, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 I, the said William Gorse, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of an arrangement of parts for guiding and giving a
compound motion to the strip of iron from which nails of the kind called brads
are cut, as herein-after described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
The motion given to the said strip consists of the ordinary swivel motion, that
is, a motion whereby the end of the strip is presented obliquely to the cutters
in combination with a side or lateral motion, whereby the strip is carried
backwards and forwards so as to be operated upon alternately by the bill
cutters in conjunction with the bottom or fixed cutters. The object of this
motion is to secure uniformity in the size of the heads or bills of the said
brads, which cannot be effected in machinery of the ordinary kind.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in plan a portion of a
machine for manufacturing the cut nails called brads, the said machine being
provided with my Invention; Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, represent on a larger
scale, a portion of my Invention as herein-after described. The same letters
of reference are employed to indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the Drawing.
The strip of iron a (Figure 1) to be made into brads is placed in a trough
or feeder b, the said trough being supported on the arm c of the bell-crank
or swivel lever c, d, to which swivel lever c, d, motion is communicated through
the connecting rod e from the main shaft of the machine in the ordinary
manner. By means of the said lever c, d, the ordinary swivel motion is given
to the strip a and trough b. The strip a is fed to the cutters by the trough b
supporting it being carried forward by the cord f, having a weight f³ at its
end, the said cord being fastened to one end of the said trough and passing
over the pulley g. These arrangements for carrying forward and giving the
swivel motion to the strip are those ordinarily employed, and I therefore do
not think it necessary to describe them in detail. The end of the strip a
passes through an elastic guide h, i, which is moved laterally in the manner
herein-after described by means of the lever k. This lever k turns on a
centre on the frame of the machine. The elastic guide h, i, and parts con-

page_text: nected with it are shown separately on a larger scale in side elevation in
Figure 2, end elevation in Figure 3, plan of upper side in Figure 4, longi-
tudinal vertical section in Figure 5, and plan of under side in Figure 6, of the
accompanying Drawing. The said elastic guide consists of a bar m, in which
the pegs or guides h, i, are fixed, between the projecting ends of which pegs
the strip a is held. The pin h is permanently fixed to the said bar m, and the
pin i is fixed to a slide n capable of sliding on the said bar m, the said pin i
being kept to its bearing by the coiled spring o, one end of which spring bears
against the end of the slide n and the other end against the pin p, as repre-
sented. The direct side or lateral motion of the elastic guide bar m is produced
by the lever k, already described, one end of the said lever bearing against
the end of the elastic guide bar. m (see Figure 1), the return motion of the
said guide bar being effected by the coiled spring s. The guide bar lever k
derives its motion from the swivel lever c, d, the arm c of the said lever c, d,
striking against the regulating screw q passed through the projection on the
said lever.k. The ends of the elastic guide bar m work in the loops or guides
t, t, on either side of the machine; u, u, are the fixed-cutting tools, and v, v,
are the stops against which the edges of the strip a are pressed. I do not
limit myself to any particular method of giving motion to the lever / which
actuates the elastic guide bar, although the method represented in the Drawing
of giving the said motion answers well in practice. By the construction of
the elastic guide the strip-a is gripped between the fixed and elastic pegs h, i,
and the said guide is elastic in its direct motion by the yielding of the sliding
peg.i, and is elastic in its return motion by the elasticity of the springs,
effecting the said return motion. On the machine being set in motion the
strip a is fed to the elastic guide h, i, and the swivel motion given to the said
strip in combination with the lateral motion effected by the guide bar m, and
the said strip is carried backwards and forwards and operated upon alternately
by the bill cutters (not shown in the Drawing), which descend vertically and
in conjunction with the fixed cutters u, u, cut the brads from the strip.a. By
the lateral motion of the strip, effected by the elastic guide bar m combined
with the ordinary swivel motion, the feeding of the strip to the cutters is made
very certain and regular, and the said strip is also made to bear firmly against
the stops of the cutters. The cutting of brads having heads or bills of uniform
size is thereby effected, although the strip from which they are cut may not be
of uniform width.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same

page_text: may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim
as my Invention the improvement or improvements in machinery for manu-
facturing the cut nails called brads, herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, guiding and giving a compound
motion to the strip of iron from which the brads are cut by means of an
elastic guide constructed and worked essentially in the manner herein-before
described and illustrated, acting in combination with the ordinary swivel
motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gorse, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM GORSE. (L.S.)
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.