IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS TUBE HOOKS OR.. FASTENINGS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Ashford at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd.
May 1868..
I, THOMAS ASHFORD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,.
Nail Cutter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for;
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS TUBE HOOKS OR..
FASTENINGS," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary method of making gas tube hooks or fastenings
blanks having the form of headless nails are cut from strip iron by a
pair of cutters; the blanks are then taken to a press, where a notch or
V-shaped opening is cut or pierced at the edge of the blank near the
head or widest end. This notch forms the shoulder of the. finished gas
tube hook or fastening. The widest part of the blank above the notch
or shoulder described is next heated and flattened on an anvil, so as to
form that part from, which the hook of the fastening has subsequently

page_text: to be made. The hook or fastening is thus completed with the exception
of bending or forming the flattened part into a hook.
My Invention consists of the construction and arrangement of parts
herein-after described of machinery for the manufacture of gas tube
hooks or fastenings from heated strip iron, whereby the cutting off of
the blank, the piercing of the notch or shoulder, and the flattening
and shaping of the upper end of the blank are effected in the same
machine, and an unbent gas hook or fastening made at each stroke of
the machine.
I construct and arrange the parts of the machine essentially in the
following manner :-I cut off the blank from the heated strip iron and
pierce the notch or shoulder on one side and near the head of the blank
by means of three cutting tools, two of the said cutting tools being
stationary and the other moveable; the said moveable cutting tool
works between the two stationary cutting tools, the said moveable
cutting tool having a vertical motion. The moveable cutting tool in
addition to the cutting edge for cutting off the blank has a V-shaped
groove or cutting edge, by means of which V-shaped cutting edge and an
inclined cutting edge on the back fixed cutting tool, the notch or shoulder
is pierced in the blank at the same time the blank is cut from the strip.
At the back of the moveable cutting tool and working with it is a spring
lever which acts as a stop to limit the feed of the strip iron between
the cutters, and also when the blank is cut holds it and prevents it
slipping from between the cutters. After the blank has been cut off
and pierced by the moveable and fixed cutters described the said blank
is carried down by the moveable cutter between a pair of flattening
and shaping dies for flattening and shaping that part of the blank which
is to form the hook. As soon as the blank has been carried to its proper
place between the dies a gripping tool advances and holds it firmly against
the fixed shaping die. The moveable die now advances horizontally
and flattens and shapes the upper end of the blank above the notch or
shoulder described, and forms the hook part of the fastening. The grip
and moveable flattening and shaping die retiring the partially made or
flat
gas pipe hook or fastening falls from the machine, and the operations
described are repeated, a flat hook or fastening being made at cach stroke
of the machine. The nearly finished hooks or fastenings only require the
upper or flattened part to be bent into a hook to be completed. The

page_text: several motions are taken from the driving shaft of the machine. The
moveable cutting tool is carried by a lever, to which motion is given
by a crank on the driving shaft, and the moveable flattening and shaping
dic and the grip are worked by levers receiving motion from cams on
the driving shaft.