CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS. FOR MAKING OR MANUFACTURING NAILS AND BRADS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MILES
BERRY, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent and Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of May, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Miles Berry, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS.
FOR MAKING OR MANUFACTURING NAILS AND BRADS," being a communication from
a foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said Miles Berry, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to.
cause. the same. to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months. next and immediately after the date of the said.

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Miles Berry, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):-
This Invention of certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for
making or manufacturing nails and brads consists, in the first place, in the
peculiar arrangements and combinations of machinery for manufacturing such
articles; and, secondly, in the formation or shaping of the cutting tools for cut
nail machinery, so that the angle of the shoulder and head on one side of the
one nail shall form the point of the next nail, and so on.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved
arrangement of cut nail machinery; Fig. 2 is a horizontal view of the same;
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, taken vertically through the middle; and
Fig. 4 a transverse section taken vertically, also through the middle of Fig. 2.
The framework which supports the operative parts of the machine is shewn at
a, a, a; b, b, are the fast and loose pullies by which motion is communicated;
c, c, are two levers or beams turning upon centres at d, d; the upper one is
connected to the lower by the link e, e, and the latter to the crank f by the
connecting rod g, by which means a reciprocating motion is communicated to
those levers. The manner in which the levers are mounted will be seen best
in Fig. 4; they turn upon centre pins h, h, h, h, which are passed through
holes formed in the framework of the machine; upon their outer ends there
are circular grooves i, i, i, i, in which the collars k, k, k, k, formed on the heads
of the screws 1, 1, 1, 1, work; these screw heads are also provided with circular
grooves m, m, m, m, to receive the collars w, n, n, n, formed upon the centre
pins h, h, h, h, by which it will be evident that on turning the screws 1, 1, 1, 1,
backwards or forwards, the centre pins will advance upon or recede from the
reciprocating levers c, c. The tools or cutters by which the strip of metal is
separated in order to form.nails or brads are shewn at o, o, o, o; they are
mounted upon the levers c, c, and partake of the reciprocating motion given
thereto. The means by which they are adjusted and held in their correct
positions will be seen. best in the section, Fig. 3. Within the flanges of the
levers c, c, are formed slots or grooves p, p, p, p, into which are passed the
cross pieces q, q, q, q, which are provided with tightening screws pressing upon
the cutters 0, 0, 0, 0, as shewn in the Drawing. At r, r, r, r, are other cross.

page_text: pieces, also mounted in slots formed in the levers c, c, and furnished with set
screws acting against the ends of the tools or cutters, by which means they are
pressed forward against the stop-pieces's, s, s, s, formed on the inside of the
levers c, c. There are guards t, t, for the purpose of preventing the cut nail froni
getting between the levers c, c; and at u, u, are wedge-formed pieces placed
between the tools or cutters and the levers c, c, which are capable of being
drawn forwards or backwards by the screws v, v, for the purpose of raising or
depressing the cutters o, o; and x, x, x, x, are set screws, for adjusting the
cutters in a transverse direction. On motion being communicated to the
crank the levers c, c, will, as before stated, receive a reciprocating motion,
turning upon their centres at d, d, by which means a top and bottom tool or
cutter, situated on opposite sides of their centres, will meet or slightly pass each
other at every revolution of the machine; for, supposing the crank to revolve,
and, consequently, the levers to vibrate in the direction of the arrows, Fig. 3,
the upward motion thereof will cause the tools or cutters o 1, 0'2, to approach
each other and cut or separate the strip of metal w, as shewn in the detached:
Fig. 5, but, on the opposite or downward motion of the crank, the levers
turning in the direction of the dotted arrows, will bring the tools or cutters
03, o, into operation, as shewn in the detached Fig. 6, and so on, each pair of
cutters coming alternately into action at each half revolution of the crank f.
The strip of metal w, w, intended to be cut into brads or nails may be
introduced hot or cold, either by hand or other 'convenient means, but the
mode preferred is shewn in Figures 3 and 4, in which Figures 1, 1, is a strong
beam of wood resting upon the framework of the machine, and secured to its
upper end to the upper part of the building. To this beam is secured, by
means of brackets 2, 2, the trough or casing 3, 3, which constitutes a channel
for the passage of the strip of metal to be cut into nails or brads. In this
channel or trough a bar or rod 4 passes, the lower end of which has a
projecting piece or foot 5, (see Fig. 3.) its upper end passing through geared
friction rollers 6, 6, as shewn by dots in Fig. 4. On the axle of the roller 6*
is mounted the worm wheel 7, taking into the worm 8 upon the short shaft 9,
which shaft has rotatory motion communicated to it by means of the pulley 10,
driven by a band from another pulley 11 upon the main shaft of the machine,"
by which means the rod 4 is caused to descend with a gradual uniform motion.
The roller 6 turns upon an axle mounted in a box 12, which vibrates upon a
centre at 13. To the under part of the box 12 is connected the tail lever 14,
which is operated upon by the cam 15 upon the upright shaft 16, by which
means the roller 6 is held firmly against the rod 4, but on turning the shaft 16
round a portion of .a revolution, the tail lever 14 will fall on to the lower

page_text: portion of the cam 15, and allow the rod 4 freely to ascend. An arm or
brace 17 connects the rod 4, 4, with a sliding piece 18, which sliding piece
moves freely up and down on a doved-tailed rib 19, affixed to the standard 1, 1.
The strip of metal to be operated upon is first formed by turning the edge up
at one end into the shape represented at Fig. 7, and is then placed under the
foot of the rod 4, as shewn by the red color in Fig. 3, the spring hook 29
holding it securely in that position. The lower end passes through guides
20, 20, and a spring catch 21, acting against its edge, presses it firmly against
the side of the trough 3, (see Fig. 4*,) which is a view of that lower portion
of the feeding apparatus removed from Fig. 4. The strip of metal having
been operated upon nearly throughout its length, that is, nearly the whole cut
into nails, a stop piece affixed to the sliding plate 18 comes in contact with
the collar 22, when the attendant turns the handle 23, mounted on the upright
shaft 16, and thereby brings the lower portion of the cam 15 under the tail
piece 14, by which means the rod 4 will be liberated from the pressure of the
roller 6, and may be moved upwards by the handle 23, (which slides loosely
upon the shaft 16,) ready to receive another length of metal to be operated
upon in like manner, the counter-balance weight 30 attached by a cord to the
sliding piece 18 assisting this operation. As the rod 4, 4, passes upwards to
receive a fresh supply of sheet metal, the waste, or that portion which has
remained uncut, comes in contact with two projecting inclined planes 24,
affixed to the trough 3, as shewn in Fig. 3*, by which means it is disengaged
from the spring catch 19, and is forced through the opening 25, from whence
it is conveyed by guides, in any convenient manner, to a receptacle placed to
receive it. It will be perceived, by inspecting the Drawings, that the rod 4
consists of two pieces sliding against each other at 26, and that between these
two pieces is placed a spring 27, for the purpose of allowing the strip of metal
to be stationary at the moment a nail or brad is being cut therefrom, which as
they fall are guided by the plates 28, 28, and pass through the opening 29
into a basket or other receptacle placed below to receive them.
The machinery or apparatus, above described, for cutting nails and brads
may be provided with cutting dies or tools suitably formed for producing nails
or brads of a wedge shape, without heads, as are commonly made, and also
other forms of nails or brads, or it may be provided with the peculiarly formed
cutters which constitute the second head of this Invention, and which I will
now proceed to describe:-This consists, as before stated, in so forming the
cutting tools of cut nail machinery that the head of one nail shall be formed
by two projections cut from the points of the two adjoining nails; for instance,
should it be desired to produce in the improved machinery the shape of nail

page_text: shewn at Fig. 8, one pair of dies, say o¹, o³, are formed as shewn in the section,
Fig. 9, which operating upon the strip of metal passed between them, will cut
the strip into the form shewn at Fig. 10, and when the next pair of cutters
0, 0%, of the form shewn in Fig. 11, come into operation upon the metal, as
shewn by dots in Fig. 10, they will cut off the nail, as described. Fig. 12 is
a portion of the strip of metal with the lines of division on it, shewing how a
succession of nails are cut therefrom. Instead of the peculiar form of nail
shewn at Fig. 8, the sides of the nail may be made straight until they approach
the point, as represented at Fig. 13, or, if desirable, the heads and points may
be rectangular, as at Fig. 14, or of many other figures, without departing
from the principle of the peculiar construction of dies, as above explained.
Having thus fully described the features of this Invention, I wish it to be
understood that I claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly, the improved arrangement and construction of machinery for
cutting nails and brads, consisting of two opposite pairs of cutters, having a
reciprocating motion, as above described; and,
Secondly, so shaping the cutting dies or tools of cut nail machines as to
enable them to produce nails or brads having heads formed by two projections
cut from the ends or points of the two adjoining nails.
In witness whereof, I, the said Miles Berry, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fortyong