IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING RAILWAY AND OTHER SPIKES OB BOLTS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jacob Walker at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th July
1870.
.
I, JACOB WALKER, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
** IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING RAILWAY AND OTHER SPIKES OB
BOLTS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
-
My Invention refers more particularly to improvements in machinery
or apparatus to be employed in the manufacture of what are commonly
known as 66
dog" headed railway or other spikes, such improvements
also having special reference to the formation of the heads of the spikes
or bolts.
The machinery consists of a bed, upon which is secured a central block
containing a confined or forming die, herein-after termed the forming
die; upon the bed are also secured a pair of side carriages, one on each
side of the central block; in these carriages are held horizontal sliding
or travelling plates carrying tools, which by means of cams or eccentrics
fixed upon shafts, and actuated by suitable driving gear, are advanced to

page_text: the central block or forming die when required during the operations of
forming the head, the return of such sliding tools being ensured by
suitable springs. Directly over the central forming die is arranged a
hammer, worked by steam or other suitable power, and fitted with the
finishing die, which is of suitable contour to complete the required shape
of the head upon the spike or bolt.
"
The operation of the machine is as follows:-I take a length or blank
rod to form a spike, and after heating the end upon which the head is to
be shaped insert the blank in a vertical position into the central or
forming die arranged to receive the length of the blank, except so much
as is required to form the head, such part projecting above the top face
of the central die; I then advance the one side tool by the means
already described, and this tool I will term the "fuller or pushing tool,
which works evenly upon the top of the central block, and passing over
the centre will press down the projecting end of the blank into a recess
cut in the face of the forming die; this completes the bending process.
The fuller is then retired into place, and the second sliding horizontal
pressure tool brought into operation, being advanced to meet the bent
down end of the blank and compress the metal more into the centre part
of the forming die, so as to increase the bulk and strength of the head;
during this operation the pressure tool enters the recess in which the
bent end of the blank lies, and as such end is reduced by pressure in
length, the pressure tool occupies its place in the recess, and also acts
as a guide for the pressure tool when it has been advanced a sufficient
distance to form the end of the blank into a T form in plan; the
pressure tool is then held in position until the finishing operation hás
taken place, which is effected by operating the hammer and causing the
finishing tool to descend upon the partially formed head. During this
operation the spike is entirely closed in as if in a mould by the sur-
rounding dies, and when the hammer, die, and side pressure tool have
been taken back into position the finished spike is removed from the
central or forming die, by means of a "jigger."