IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING NAILS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Spence, of 8, Quality Court, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING NAILS."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Joseph Bonneau, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, Civil Engineer.
Sealed the 28th August 1868, and dated the 3rd March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Spence at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd March 1868.
I, WILLIAM SPENCE, of 8, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING NAILS,"
(being a communication to me from abroad by Joseph Bonneau,
of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineer, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of nails from metal in a
cold state, and consists in taking a bar drawn to the requisite section
for the nails to be made therefrom; then removing from the same a
series of small portions corresponding with nails of different dimensions;

page_text: afterwards taking from another face of the bar another series of small
portions answering the purposes of brads; and, lastly, in forming a
series of larger nails.
These different operations are performed by means of the mechanism
herein-after described by which the several cuttings of the bar are
regulated to take effect at the required intervals in order that on each
turn of the machine a finished nail may fall fron the end of the bar.
The bar is square in section, and is or may be wound on a bobbin fixed
on an axle placed in front of the machine. This bar is straightened
by passing between three drawing rollers, whence it is taken forward
by a feeding spike regulated to move the bar the length of a nail at
each turn of the machine. The bar passes first under the edge of a
horizontal cutter, which takes off a conical nail and without entirely
detaching from the said bar the larger nail, which is partially pointed.
At the second movement of the feed apparatus the larger nail is brought
under a vertical cutter, which takes off from it another conical portion
which serves to form a small brad, and which at the same time effects
the detachment of the larger nail pointed on the four faces, which
nail only requires to be headed; and this operation is performed by
means of punches driven by a strong spring and withdrawn by a cam.
During these operations the bar is confined within a square tube, by
which means it is secured in its requisite positions in order to be acted
upon by the several tools in succession. At each turn of the machine
there are caused to fall out a nail pointed on the four faces and properly
headed, also a small nail with a flat point, and also a nail without a
head.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Spence in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 3
SPENCE, of 8, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the a

page_text: thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Spence, Her special licence
that I, the said William Spence, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Spence, 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 MACHINES FOR MAKING NAILS," being a communication to me from
abroad by Joseph Bonneau, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil
Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Spence, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under 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 Spence, 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)
:-
This Invention of improvements in machines for making nails
relates to the manufacture of nails from metal in a cold state, and
consists in taking a bar drawn to the requisite section for the nails
to be made therefrom, then removing from the same a series of small
portions corresponding with nails of different dimensions, afterwards
taking from another face of the bar another series of small portions
answering the purposes of brads, and lastly in forming a series of larger
nails.
These different operations are performed by means of the mechanism
herein-after described by which the several cuttings of the bar are
regulated to take effect at the required intervals in order that on each
turn of the machine a finished nail may fall from the end of the bar. The
bar is square in section, and is or may be wound on a bobbin fixed on
an axis placed in front of the machine. This bar is straightened by

page_text: passing between three guide rollers, whence it is taken forward by a
feeding spike regulated to move the bar the length of a nail at each
turn of the machine. The bar passes first under the edge of a horizontal
cutter which takes off a conical nail and without entirely detaching
from the said bar the larger nail which is partially pointed. At the
second movement of the feed apparatus the larger nail is brought
under a vertical cutter which takes off from it another conical portion
which serves to form a small brad, and which at the same time effects
the detachment of the larger nail pointed on the four faces, which
nail only requires to be headed; and this operation is performed by
means of punches driven by a strong spring and withdrawn by a cam.
During these operations the bar is confined within a square tube,
by which means it is secured in its requisite positions in order to be
At each turn of the
acted upon by the several tools in succession.
machine there are caused to fall out a nail pointed on the four faces
and properly headed, also a smaller nail with a flat point, and also a
nail without a head.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention I will proceed
to describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed
by reference to the accompanying Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is a plan
or horizontal view; Fig. 3 is a transverse section in the line 1, 2,
of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is another transverse section in the line 3, 4; and
Fig. 5 is another transverse section in the line 5, 6, of the same
Figure.
This machine is composed of a feeding motion A, a horizontal
cutter B, a vertical cutter C, a nipper or squeezer D, and a rammer E
to form the heads, which rammer is worked by a spring. These different
main acting parts of the machine are combined on the same bed
plate G, to which are also fixed the standards and bearings for the
mechanism for working the tools. At the upper part of the standard H
is mounted the shaft I which carries the fast and loose pulleys P and P
the fly wheel V, and a pinion J, which gears with a wheel j fixed or
an intermediate shaft K which gives motion to the tools. At one end
of the shaft K is keyed a bevil pinion 7, which gears with a simila
pinion, the axle of which carries a crank m which by means of the

page_text: arm m¹ gives an intermittent motion to the lever a¹ and through it
to the toothed sector a which actuates the feeding mechanism A.
The
horizontal cutter B, the edges of which are peculiarly formed, as
represented in detail in Figures 6, 7, and 8, is driven by the ex-
centric n keyed on the shaft K. This excentric acts on a lever o, which
is connected by the link b¹ to the knife sliding in the guide b. The
cutter C is put in motion by the cam p on the shaft K, which acts
on the lever c¹ furnished with a counterbalance weight. This lever
having its fulcrum at 9 (Fig. 5) acts by its shorter arm on the knife
carrier c.
In order to produce a squeezing action of the pieces D (shewn in
detail at Figures 9 and 10) when it is required to form the head of
the nail the cam r on the shaft K acts by means of a frame a suitably
guided on the lever d¹ and the lever d, which latter passes through
the piece t. The rammer E which forms the head is actuated by
the spring F, and has on it a projection of which is acted upon by the
cam keyed to the end of a small axle u, which receives its motion
from the shaft K by means of the bevil wheels and v¹. The action of
the machine is as follows:-The bar of iron a indicated by blue lines
presents a section of the required form, and in order to obtain the
greatest length of metal to be operated upon the bar is by preference
wound on a bobbin placed in front of the machine; the bar being
straightened again by the guide rollers y is then taken up by the
adjustable spike h on the feeding motion A arranged so as to advance
the bar a distance of the length of a nail at each revolution of the
machine. This bar passes under the edge of the horizontal cutter B
(shewn detached in Figures 6, 7, and 8), which removes from it a nail 1
(Fig. A), and without detaching completely from the said bar the
nail 3, which is already partly pointed. This first nail 1 has necessarily
a flat point. On the second movement of the feeding apparatus the
nail 3 is brought underneath the vertical cutter C, which removes a
part 2 (Fig. B), which serves to make a hooked point, and which by
the same operation completely detaches the nail 3, which is then pointed
on its four sides; it only then remains to form the head. For this
purpose the nippers or squeezers D are brought together and the
rammer which had been drawn back by the cam f being urged forward
by the spring F is caused to press on the end and form the head.
During these operations the bar x is enclosed within a tube of a square
section by which it is guided as required under the several tools and

page_text: kept in its proper position. On each revolution of the machine there
falls, first, a nail pointed on the four sides and with a head duly formed;
secondly, a smaller nail with a flat point; and, thirdly, a point of a
hooked character. In this manner a machine is capable of producing
thirty thousand nails per day.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention communicated
to me from abroad as aforesaid, I hereby declare that what I claim
as of the said Invention is,-
First. The mode described of making nails from cold metal.
And, secondly. The particular arrangement and combination of
mechanism for the purpose herein-before described subject to such
modifications in dimensions and forms of the parts as may be required
according to the number of nails intended to be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Spence, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
W. A. JACKSON,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM SPENCE. (L.8.)