Improvements in the Manufacture of the Frames or Part Frames of Buckles, Belt and Brace Fasteners, Clasps, and the like.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Oct., 1893-Accepted, 20th Jan., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of the Frames or Part Frames of
Buckles, Belt and Brace Fasteners, Clasps, and the like.
I, THOMAS WALKER, of Brook Street Works, St. Paul's Square, in the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of the frames or part
frames of buckles, belt and brace fasteners, clasps, and the like, and consists
primarily in the making of the said frames or part frames from wire, in the ways
and by the means as hereinafter described.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing represents in front elevation, a brace end,
having or being fitted with a lever buckle, with the framing thereof, or a part of
the frame thereof fashioned from wire, and made according to one form of my
invention.
Figure 2 represents a back elevation of the said buckle, showing how the top bar
of the frame, and also the ears are fabricated by the spreading out of a portion of
the metal of the blank employed.
Figure 3 represents a length of wire suitable for forming the said frame.
Figure 4 represents the same bent up into the general figure of the frame
required.
Figure 5 is the same further operated upon, and with an attached central bar
fitted between the opposed sides, although the said bar may, if necessary, be
omitted.
Figure 6 is an end view of Figure 5.
Figure 7 is a back elevation of the completed frame prior to the bending forward
of the ears.
Figure 8 is a topside plan of Figure 7, and Figure 9 is a topside plan of
Figure 2.
Thus, in carrying out the manufacture of the said buckle or part buckle frame,
I take a length of wire a, Figure 3, and I bend the same into a loop or runner b,
Figure 4, and then subsequently fashion the said loop or open loop b, Figure 4
into the frame c, Figure 5, but prior to the fashioning of the said frame c,
I introduce or fit the ends c², of the bar c¹, into the sinkings 6', formed in the
inward extensions 6, of the frame o.
Then by means of tools and pressure, I flatten or spread out plate-wise the top
bar 3, and portions 6, of the sides b, as set forth in Figure 7, and marked c³, c²,
forming as it were a flat bar, with end extensions. These said end extensions are
turned up at right angles, and form ears c', having piercings e, made through the
solid metal of them.
It will be thus seen that the adjacent edges of the bar 63, and the inner extensions
of the sides, are by their spreading out, brought into intimate contact, and make
only a fine divisional seam between them.
The frame is completed, and a lower bar d, may be formed by closing around
the part bars d', a sheet metal sleeve or tube e, having made in one piece or integral
with it, a loop e. The said tubular bar e, is affixed in position, and to the bar or
part bars d, d', by impressing a portion of the metal of the same into the gaps ď³,
as set forth in Figures 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9.
Figure 10 represents front and end views of a buckle, with its frame made
according to a further form of my invention.

page_text: Figure 11 represents a wire blank, from which the primary part of the said
frame is made.
Figure 12 shows the first process of flattening out the middle portion of the said
staple shaped blank, so as to form a flat or band bar and the adjacent ears for the
carrying of the pivot centres of the lever of the buckle.
Figure 13 represents front and end views of the said partly fashioned blank
Figure 12 shaped into a frame.
In carrying out the manufacture of the frame of a buckle according to this
modified form of my invention, I take a length of wire as in the previous arrange-
ment, and I bend the same up into the staple shaped blank f, Figure 11. Then by
flattening tools or plating tools, the top bar or portion f1, and upper parts, of the
side limbs or members, are then flattened or plated out as in Figure 12, thus
forming a flattened bar and flat extensions, which are subsequently turned up
into ears.
Now the lower extremities f³, of the said-side limbs or members are then turned
at right angles as in Figure 13, and then by a subsequent process, the flatted
sides g, are bent at or about the dotted lines Figure 13, to right angles, hence the
forming of the ends or ears, which are pierced with holes g', wherein the pivot
ends of the lever of the buckle take, although the said frame Figure 13 may be used
as a frame without the said ends being turned up, and without the turned-up ear
parts being pierced.
I also propose to cover the lower and divided bar by a closure tube, with or
without a loop, as in the first arrangement, and also as represented in Figure 10
showing a complete buckle as represented in the second form of my invention.
I may also observe that the sinkings 6, and gaps d², of the first arrangement,
and also the gaps in the second arrangement may be made at any stage during the
making up of the frame, and further, the spreading out of the metal to form the
flat bar may be performed at an early stage of the manufacture, instead of as
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
First. In buckles and like articles of a kindred manufacture, making the frames
or part frames of the same from wire, fashioned into shape, and with parts of the
metal flattened or spread out in the ways and for the purpose substantially as
described and set forth.
Secondly. In buckles and like articles of a kindred manufacture, making up the
primary frames of the same from wire, and flattening and spreading out portions of
the same to produce the bars and ears or sides substantially in the way as described
and set forth in Figures 1 to 9.
Thirdly. In buckles and like articles of a kindred manufacture, making up the
primary frames of the same from wire, and flattening or spreading out portions of
the same to produce the bars and ears or sides, substantially in the way as described
and set forth in Figures 10 to 13.
Dated this 2nd day of October 1802
THOMAS WALKER,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.