THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE NETTING AND WIRE FENCE BY POWER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Nesmith, of Lowell, Massachusetts, United
States of America, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "THE MANUFACTURE
OF WIRE NETTING AND WIRE FENCE BY POWER."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Nesmith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on
the 13th December 1854, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, Be it known
that I, JOHN NESMITH, of Lowell, Massachusetts, United States of America,
Manufacturer, have invented a new and useful machine for "THE MANUFACTURE
OF WIRE NETTING AND WIRE FENCE BY POWER;" and I do hereby declare that
the same is fully and clearly described and represented in the following Speci-
fication and accompanying Drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof:-
Of the said Drawings, Figure 1 denotes a plan; Figure 2 denotes a side
elevation, Figure 3 denotes an elevation, of one of the parts of my netting
machine, which may be called the feeder; Figure 4 is an elevation of the
other principal part of my machine, which I call the twister; Figures 3 and 4
show the two principal parts of the said machine as disconnected from each
other, or an inside view or elevation of each part when they are connected to
each other.

page_text: The principal and main features of novelty of my Invention consists in the
principle of the revolving the wires parallel to each other at the same time they
are being twisted, and the other parts and movements of my machine to
produce the effects herein-after described.
To carry out my Invention and design fully, and first, to manufacture my
wire netting and wire fence machines, it is the best plan, in my opinion, to
construct the various parts of said machines of such materials as are hereafter
named. The frames should be of cast iron, also the cams, the stands, and
gearing of the same material; the levers and shippers throughout should be of
wrought iron, the jaws G, G, made of cast iron, to which must be attached
pieces of steel where the same comes in contact with the wires. The netting
beam or cylinder H may be made of hard wood with iron centres, and the
rachet gear on said cylinder may be of cast-iron-;-the center parts of the wire
reels may be made of wood with a sheet iron rim or flanche on each side.
It will be readily understood by any good practical workmen, by inspecting
the enclosed Drawings and Specification, and following out the details described
hereafter, how to make, construct, and use my wire netting machines. It is
necessary to have machines for making every different size of the netting or
fence, that is, for every different size of the meshes of the same; and any width
of the netting less than the whole scope of the machine can be made by simply
drawing in the number of wires desired, as will be understood hereafter.
And in proceeding to operate or use my netting machines, it will be seen, by
examining the Drawings, that the same is composed of two parts, connected
together by two shafts, as seen at and Q, Figure 1; and one of the said parts
I call the twister, the frame of which is shown at A, A, Figure 2; the other
part I call the feeder, the frame of which can be seen at B, B, Figure 2.
The border wire to netting, and top and bottom wire in fence, is usually
larger than the wire to be twisted, although the wires can all be of the same
size if desired. The wire is placed upon the reels C, C, Figure 1, and then
one end of the same is passed through a hole which is drilled in the center
of the four outside gears E, E, and X, X, Figure 1. The said wires are then
passed to the twisting part of the machine, and through holes drilled in the
centres of the two outside twisting gears J, J, Figure 1; then the said wire is
passed between the jaws G, G, Figure 2; and then to the cylinder H, as seen
at Figures 1 and 2, and firmly secured to the same by a clamp g, and a ketch y,
which can be seen at Figures 1 and 2; then the wires to be twisted, which are
wound upon or around the reels D, D, D, D, Figure 1; said wheels are then
placed upon the stands I, I, I, I, Figures 1 and 2, on which they revolve as

page_text: the wire is being drawn off from them. One end of the wire on each of the
four reels D, D, D, D, is then passed through one end of the reel stands I, I, I, I,
Figure 1, thence to and through the slots in the twisting gears J, J, J; J,
Figure 1; and then they are passed between the jaws G, G, Figure 2, and
thence to the cylinder H, Figures 1 and 2, and secured to the said cylinder
by the same contrivance as the border wires before described.
The said wires being all adjusted, as above mentioned, the power is applied
to the driving pulley K, Figure 1, which is conveyed to the shafts P and Q,
Figure 1, by means of the shaft L, and gears L and M, as seen at Figure 1,
the shippers S, S, S, S, Figures 1 and 2, being first raised by the cams R, R,
and U, U, Figure 2, operating against or raising the levers T, T, which are
shown in Figure 2, it being understood that the shippers S, S, in the twisting
part of my machine act in concert with and simultaneously with the shippers
S, S, in the feeding part of my machine. By this movement they are brought
into the position as shown in Figure 2 of the Drawing, and then stop moving,
and as soon as the movement of the said shippers cease, the twisting gears
J, J, J, J, J, Figure 1, and the feeding gears E, E, E, E, E, and X, X, X, X, X,
as seen at Figure 1, make two revolutions, they revolving exactly with each
other, so as to keep the wires parallel, and from getting entangled with each
other, two revolutions of the said gears being all the twisting that is neces-
sary at each end of the meshes in the netting and fence for making good
substantial work, although more or less twisting of the wire may be obtained,
if desired, by altering the gearing in the following manner, viz., by enlarging
the gear N, Figure 1, if more than two revolutions is required of the said
twisting and feeding gears, and by reducing the gear N, Figure 1, if less than
two revolutions is wanted in the said feeding and twisting gears at each end of
the meshes in the netting..
The before-mentioned gears J, J, J, J, J, and E, E, E, E, E, and
X, X, X, X, X, after making two revolutions, as before stated, cease moving,
which is effected by a part of the teeth of the gear N, Figure 1, being cutt off*
from its periphery, and as the said twisting and feeding gears stop revolving
in such position that the slots in the said gears are on a line with each other,
so that the wires can be slipped from one sett of gears to the others by the
shippers S, S, S, S, Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, and so that the wires can be
shipped back from one sett of gears to the others by the shippers V, V, V, V,
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
It being understood that the said feeding and twisting gears revolve and stop
alternately, that is, they revolve when the shippers cease moving, and that the

page_text: shippers perform their duty while the said gears remain motionless, and as the
said gears stop revolving, the jaws G, G, in the twisting part of my machine
are moved backwards nearly to the twisting gears J, J, J, J, by the cam Y and
arms and connecting pieces r, Figure 2, and the spring 6, Figure 1, and by the
peculiar construction of the upper jaw G and connecting pieces r, they, the said
jaws G, G, Figure 2, are brought together upon the wire and then moved
forwards or towards the cylinder H one-half the length of the meshes of the
netting, as will readily be understood by inspection of the Drawings; and when
the wire is so drawn forwards, and the jaws G, G, stop, then the shippers
S, S, S, S, Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, that is, one of the two setts of shippers on
each side of the feeder frame, and one of the two setts of shippers, Figures 1
.and 4, on each side of the twisting gears, are first raised by the cams R and U,
said shippers then remaining in this position until the wire is sufficiantly
twisted, then they are depressed or moved downwards to their lowest position,
as seen at V, V, V, V, Figure 2; then the said setts of shippers V, V, V, V,
Figure 2, on each side of the frame B and each side of the twisting gears
J, J, J, J, J, are moved upwards by the cams R and U by the same operation
as the shippers S, S, S, S, before described, and by the upward movement of
the said shippers V, V, V, V, the wires are shipped from the positions in which
they were left by the shippers S, S, S, S, to the other feeding and twisting
gears, as will be readily understood by inspection of the Drawings, that is, that
one sett of shippers move the four inside wires one way, and the other sett of
shippers will move the four inside wires the other way, at the required times
to harmonize with the other correct movements of the machine.
The two outside or border wires never move transversly, but move longitu-
dinally, like the other wires, except that they pass through holes drilled in the
center of the four outside feeding gears and the two outside twisting gears.
The two outside small wires are wound twice around the border wires at every
other twisting operation, as will be seen by inspection of Figure 1.
The reel stands I, I, I, I, Figure 1, have each a spring on the side next the
reel, the object being to produce friction and to prevent the wire from coming
off the reels to easily. The wire for netting, fencing, &c. should be well
annealed; the necessity of this will be readily understood by practical workmen.
The take-up motion to the cylinder H, Figures 1 and 2, is composed of a
rachet gear h, Figure 1, and cam l, Figure 1, and lever ), Figure 1. At f,
Figure 2, is shown a shaft, which supports a straight edge, over which the
wires travel as they pass through the machine. d, d, Figure 2, are two
movable planes, that are moved or brought together by means of the cams

page_text: and m, Figure 1, and levers e and n, Figure 1; the object of the said planes
being to guide the wires when they are shipped and to hold the wires firmly
while they are being twisted, so that the wires may not be sprung where they
are not twisted; and. at the end of each twisting operation, they the said
planes d, d, open or move apart, but are together, as seen at d, d, Figure 1.
On the top plane & there is five small vertical projections, one in the front
of the center of each gear. These projections are to prevent the wire from
being twisted to far into the meshes. By inspecting the Drawings it will be
seen that the jaws G, G, are made in such shape, that as they are moved back-
wards by the cam Y and arms, that the jaws are opened, and when they are
moving forwards they are brought in contact with the wire by shutting
together, by which operation the said wire is moved from one twisting operation
to another, and so on, it being understood that the take-up motion acts or
operates at the right time, so as to keep the wire straight and smooth during
the operation of the said machine, as herein-before set forth.
And having thus described my Invention, I will state my claim as follows:-
First, I claim revolving the wires by the means, substantially as desribed,
for the purposes of keeping them paralell to each other, so that they cannot
get entangled with each other during the process of making the netting or
fencing.
Second, I claim vibrating the wires alternately from the left to the right, or
the right to the left, before or after or at the same time of twisting them the
said wires together by means of the cams R and U, the shippers S, S, and V, V,
connected to the said cams by levers T, T, as seen in the Drawing, or
substantially the same, for the purposes of making wire netting and fencing.
Third, I claim the jaws, as seen at Figures 1 & 2, or clamps G, G, or the
same in substance, for the purpose of drawing the wire through the machine
at the required times by means of the cams and levers operating the same,
essentially as laid down in the within Specification and Drawings.
Fourth, I claim the two planes d, d, or their mechanical equivalents, with
the cams and levers, for operating the same, substantially and for the purposes
set forth.
Fifth, I claim the wire reels and movable reel stands, with the friction
springs for the reels and holes through either end of the said reel stands, for
admitting, protecting, and guiding the wire, or the mechanical equivalents of
the said reels and reel stands.
Sixth, I claim the feeding and twisting gears, with or without their centers
perforated, to admit the border or warp wires passing through the same, and the

page_text: said gears having slots cut in them for the recieving and sliding of the ends of
the reel stands and wires in the same, substantially as herein-before set forth
and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Nesmith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, A.D. 1854.
ELHANAN W. Scorr,
..SAMUEL C. PRATT,
Witnesses.
JOHN NESMITH. (L.S.)