IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PERCUSSION CAPS, CARTRIDGE CASES, FERULES, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Greenwood, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
FEEDING MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PERCUSSION CAPS,
CARTRIDGE CASES, FERULES, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES."- A com-
munication from abroad by Alwyn Payne, of Bridgeport, Connecticut,
United States of America.
-
Sealed the 19th August 1873, and dated the 21st February 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Arthur Greenwood
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st February 1873.
I, ARTHUR GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PER-
CUSSION CAPS, CARTRIDGE CASES, FERULES, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention is intended to facilitate the feeding of partly formed
percussion caps, cartridge cases, ferules, and other analogous articles to
the machines in which they will either be finished or prepared for
finishing. This feeding operation has heretofore been done by hand, and
consequently the operations of any finishing or trimming machinery

page_text: which may require the articles to be fed in separately and in regular
succession will be limited to the speed at which the boy or other
attendant can feed in the articles to be operated upon. The object of
the present Invention is to effect this feeding operation mechanically or
automatically. To this end the unfinished or partly formed caps or other
articles are placed in a hopper, at the side of which is a wheel mounted
on a central shaft and provided at its periphery with a number of
projecting hooks, which, as the wheel is rotated (either by means of a
winch handle or by suitable gearing driven by steam or other power)
will pass through a chamber communicating with a hopper, and into
which the caps or other articles will fall by their own gravity. In
passing through this chamber the hooks will separately pick up the caps
and carry them forward. through a close chamber, and will drop them
one by one into a curved groove or slot, from which they will pass into
a vertical tube, where they will become piled one on the other in regular
succession. This vertical tube is open at its lower end, so that the caps
may drop out one by one on to a horizontal circular plate (called a dial
plate) to which a rotary motion is communicated, so that the caps may
be carried forward and brought under any tool to the action of which it
may be desirable to subject them. At the bottom of the vertical tube is
a sleeve or socket working upon it; upon this sleeve are placed springs
which retain the cap. To this sleeve is imparted a reciprocating motion
by means of a oam or other eccentric movement. At cach upward
motion of the sleeve the springs are released when the cap falls into the
hole in the circular dial plate prepared to receive it. Machines may be
so arranged that the cap or cartridges may fall from the vertical tube
into a recess formed in a sliding box or drawer, from whence they will
be taken by forceps, either actuated by hand or mechanically, and
delivered into the die, where the necessary following operations upon the
cap or cartridge will be effected. Provision may be made in some
operations to reverse the cap or cartridge when it has been picked out
of the sliding drawer, so as to subject the opposite end of it to the action
of the tool. In this way percussion caps, cartridge cases, ferules, and
various other hollow articles, which require several operations to complete
them, may be picked up by the rotating disc and fed forward to the
machines in which they are required to be operated upon.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Greenwood in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Greenwood Her
special licence that I, the said Arthur Greenwood, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur
Greenwood, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PERCUSSION CAPS, CARTRIDGE CASES, FERULES, AND OTHER
ANALOGOUS ARTICLES," being a communication from Alwyn Payne, of
Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Greenwood, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Greenwood, 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 here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the feeding of partly

page_text: formed percussion caps, cartridge cases, ferrules, and other analogous
hollow articles to the machines in which they will either be finished or
prepared for finishing. This feeding operation has heretofore been done
by hand, and consequently the operations of any finishing or trimming
machinery which may require the articles to be fed in separately and in
regular succession will be limited to the speed at which the boy or other
attendant can feed in the articles to be operated upon.
The object of the present Invention is to effect this feeding operation
mechanically and automatically. To this end the unfinished or partly
formed caps or other articles are placed in a hopper, at the side of which
is a wheel mounted on a central shaft and provided at its periphery with
a number of projecting hooks, which, as the wheel is rotated (either by
means of a winch handle or by suitable gearing driven by steam or other
power) will pass through a chamber communicating with the hopper,
and into which the caps or other articles will fall by their own gravity.
In passing through the chamber the hooks will separately pick up the
caps and carry them forward through a close chamber and will drop
them one by one into a curved groove or slot, from which they will pass
into a vertical tube, where they will becon piled one on the other in
regular succession. This vertical tube is open at its lower end, so that
the caps may drop out one by one either on to a horizontal circular plate
(called a dial plate) to which a rotary motion is communicated, or they
may be deposited in some other equivalent device whereby the caps may
be carried forward and brought under any tool to the action of which it
may be desirable to subject them. At the bottom of the vertical tube
in one arrangement of the machine is a sleeve or socket working upon
it, and upon this sleeve are placed springs which retain the cap. To this
sleeve is imparted a reciprocating motion by means of a cam or other
excentric movement. At each upward motion of the sleeve the springs
are released, when the cap falls into the hole in the circular dial plate
prepared to receive it.
The improved feeding machines or apparatus may be so arranged that
the caps or cartridges may fall from the vertical tube into a recess formed
in a sliding box or drawer, from whence they will be taken by forceps,
'either actuated by hand or mechanically, and delivered into the die where
the necessary subsequent operation upon the cap or cartridge will be
effected.

page_text: Provision may be made in some operations to reverse the cap or
cartridge when it has been picked out of the sliding drawer so as to
subject the opposite end of it to the action of the trimming or finishing
tool. In this way unfinished or partly finished percussion caps, cartridge
cases, ferrules, and various other hollow articles, which require several
operations to complete them, may be picked up by the rotating disc and
fed forward to the machines in which they are required to be operated
unan to complets them

page_text: tube h and prevent the caps from dropping out.
When the tappet cam
7 lifts the sleeve i these springs are brought into contact with the end of
the tube and are opened for a sufficient time to allow one cap to drop
through. The cap thus released drops into one of a number of holes
drilled near the periphery of a horizontal disc n, which has imparted to
it an intermittent revolving motion by means of the ratchet wheel and
cam motion marked O in such a manner that as each cap drops through
the tube a hole in the disc shall be brought round ready to receive it.
The cap is carried by the disc n until it comes under the action of a
vertical reciprocating slide p fixed on the upright b. At the lower end
of this slide is fixed a punch q, which on its downward course enters the
cap and forces it into a die fixed at the upper end of a vertical spindle r
running at a high velocity immediately under the punch q. The die is
made of such a diameter as to grip the cap and carry it round with it
at the same speed as the spindle. Immediately above this spindle r is
fixed a horizontal slide having also a reciprocating motion governed by
a cam, as shewn at s, s. At the end of this slide is fixed a knife t, which
on coming in contact with the part of the cap which projects above the
die in the spindle cuts it off to the desired length, the length being
controlled by the amount of stroke given to the slide p. The cap in the
dic of the spindle is forced through it by the succeeding stroke of the
machine and falls through a hole in the spindle into a receptacle provided
for that purpose. The disc f, which carries the hooks g; g, is driven by
means of friction gearing controlled by a spring and socket u, u, so that
should the hooks or caps become clogged the driving of the disc will slip
and thus avoid breakage. The caps do not fit tightly into the holes in
the horizontal disc n, and are prevented from falling through the disc by
means of a fixed plate v placed under the disc. This plate has a hole
through it immediately over the die of the running spindle to admit of
the cap passing through it when forced by the punch q.
Fig. 3 shews a plan, and Fig. 4 a side elevation of the application of
this feeding apparatus to a machine for heading cartridge cases; the same
arrangement is equally applicable to machinery for drawing or extending
cartridge cases, caps, or ferrules, as well as for any other operations in
the manufacture of similar or analogous hollow articles. The hopper
with the hooked disc, as before explained, is arranged above the machine,
and the cartridgo cases are delivered by the hooks into a curved guide

page_text: tube as in the former case.
succession down the tube h.
They continue their descent in regular
In the arrangement shewn at Figures 3, 4, and 5 the lower end of this
tube is curved, as shewn at Fig. 4, so that the end of this tube
terminates at right angles to the vertical part, and is connected to a
horizontal sliding box or drawer B, B*. When the slide C of the heading
machine (carrying the punch C³) advances it moves back the sliding box
B by means of the inclined bar D, so as to allow a cartridge case to pass
out of the tube h into the box B. As the slide C retires the inclined
plane D allows the moveable part B* of box B (and which is forced
against the inclined bar by a spring E) to move, and thus close the end
of the tube and prevent another cartridge case from passing out of
the latter. The cartridge cases delivered into the box or drawer B lay
side by side until they come under the action of the punch C³, which
forces each in its turn into a die F, where the desired operation is
performed. In Fig. 5, which shews a cross section of the sliding box or
drawer guards G, G, Figures 3 and 5, are shown to prevent the cartridge
case from jumping out of the box. H, H, are retaining slides or spring
catches, which are acted upon by the slight spring I. As the cartridge
cases pass over these slides or catches the latter are depressed, the object
of the slides H being to prevent side pressure upon the cases in the box
and also to prevent the case that comes under the action of the punch C³
from being disturbed.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent as aforesaid,-
The use of the disc f, provided with hooks on its periphery for picking
up the caps, cartridge cases, ferules, or other analogous hollow articles
as and for the purposes herein set forth.
I also claim the combination of the said disc with the chamber d (com-
municating with the hopper) and with the curved guide tube and its
vertical continuation, which conducts the caps or other hollow articles to
openings or recesses in a horizontal disc or other equivalent device,
whereby they are brought under the operation of the trimming, finishing,
or other tool to which it is desired to subject them as herein set forth.
I also claim the combination of the horizontal box B, B*, with the

page_text: conducting tube 7 of the feeding apparatus as and for the purposes
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Greenwood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.