IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF NAILS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Parkes, of the Firm of A. and F. Parkes and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Nail Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF NAILS."
Scaled the 31st March 1868, and dated the 2nd October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Parkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd October 1867.
I, FRANK PARKES, of the Firm of A. and F. Parkes and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Nail Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF NAILS," to be as follows (that is
to say) :-
My improvements essentially apply to nails made by preference of steel,
requiring a sharp point and a small rectangular head, that is to say, a head
larger one way than the other. By using steel I obtain a strong, compact,
granulated material without being fibrous, nevertheless iron or other metal
may be used, thereby enabling me to divide it up from a prepared strip by
cutting pieces off alternately slightly oblique in its transverse direction. These
strips I purpose forming of any convenient length and of a width equal to
the length of nail I wish to make, an allowance being made for the portion

page_text: absorbed or knocked up in the formation of the head, but in order to effect
the form of head desired, as well as the sharp point of the nail, I roll or
otherwise form the strip with feathered edges, that is to say, thinner at the
edges than in the middle, by which means I am enabled to make clasp or
other like nails exceedingly sharp pointed and with small heads, the process
of making being identical or similar to the mode now used in the manu-
facture of cold cut nails, the cutters being simply arranged to suit the
transverse section of the iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frank Parkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
PARKES, of the Firm of A. and F. Parkes and Company, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Nail Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frank Parkes, Her special licence that I, the said Frank Parkes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frank
Parkes, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OP CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF NAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
.the said Frank Parkes, by an instrument in writing under my band and seal,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frank Parkes, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
My improvements essentially apply to nails made by preference of steel,

page_text: requiring a sharp point and a small rectangular or other head, that is to say,
a head larger one way than the other. Nails so heated are designated in the
trade as "clasp," and are well known by that name. By using steel I obtain
a strong, compact, granulated material without being fibrous, thereby per-
mitting the nail to be cut at right angles off the end of strips of steel rolled to
the desired section as will be hereafter seen; nevertheless other metal or
alloys or conditions of metal may be used.
In putting in practice my Invention, using the ordinary machinery by which
cold cut nails are made, I make them from a prepared strip of a suitablo
section by cutting pieces off alternately slightly oblique in their transverse
direction and forming the head on the piece so cut off to form the nail.
These strips I purpose forming of any convenient length and of a width equal
to the length of nail I wish to make, an allowance being made for the portion
required to be knocked up in the formation of the head, but in order to
produce the small form of head desired, as well as the sharp point of the nail,
I roll or otherwise form the strip with feathered edges, that is to say, thinner
at the edges than in the middle, by which means I am enabled to make clasp
or other like nails exceedingly sharp pointed and with small heads, the
process of making being identical or similar to the machinery or mode
now used in the manufacture of cold cut nails, the cutters being simply
arranged to suit the transverse section of the steel or other metal, which
section of metal I have exhibited in the Drawings hereunto annexed, which I
will now refer to (that is to say) :-
The form and character of the nail herein-before referred to is principally
if not wholly confined to clasp, which are required to be made of cheap but
ductile metal that will clench when driven, and to effect this object I have
found such nails cut from strips, of stcel and afterwards annealed fully realize
every requirement, and for economy I have been in the habit of using the
homogeneous metal known as Bessemer's steel rolled in strips of any convenient
length, which answers well for the purpose.
A strip is represented at Fig. 1 and in section at Fig. 2. The dotted lines
on Figure 1 represent the lines of division for making nails, as exhibited in a
side and edge view at Fig. 8.
The only modification or difference from ordinary cut nail machinery
required is in the cutters, which are represented in edge view at Fig. 4 and
front view at Fig. 5, the difference being simply that their cutting edges are
slightly curved above and below the dotted lines a, a, and b, b, corresponding
with the section of the strip of metal from which the nails are to be cut, and
which section or curve will be more or less according to the strength of clasp

page_text: nail required without affecting the formation of the head or the sharpness of
the point.
Although I have mentioned the use of ordinary cut nail machinery for the
production of my improved clasp nails, nevertheless machinery constructed with
a vibrating or oscillating feed motion and consequent heading action on each
side, or with other modifications, may be applied in their manufacturo from
strip metal of the shape and condition herein-before described.
With these remarks I wish it understood I do not purpose limiting myself
to any regular or irregular curve for the section of my metal, as this may be
varied without affecting the spirit of my Invention, but what I claim is, the
manufacture of nails known as "clasp" or such like description of nails
requiring small heads and sharp points, in the manner substantially as herein
described, that is to say, such nails being cut from the ends of metal strips
rolled thick in the middle and thin at the edges.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Parkes, bave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
FRANK PARKES. (L.S.)
Witness,
HERBERT HESKEY,
Clerk to James S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.