IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WELDED IRON AND STEEL CHAIN
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Cherry, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WELDED IRON AND STEEL CHAIN."
aled the 9th March 1877, and dated the 18th October 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry' Cherry at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th October 1876.
HENRY CHERRY, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Mechanical Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
WELDED IRON AND STEEL CHAIN."
My said Invention consists, first, of machinery constructed essentially as herein.
after described for bonding the lengths of iron or steel into the required shape
preparatory to welding; and, secondly, of dies of the kind herein-after described
for effecting the welding of the links.
The machinery for bending the lengths of iron or steel into a link shape previous
to welding their ends together consists of a rotating disc, which may be either
vertical or horizontal; which said rotating disc carries on its working face one or
more mandrils. These mandrils are for the bending of the lengths of iron or steel
rod upon, and are of the size and shape proper to give the required figure to the
lengths of iron or steel bent around them. These mandrils are fitted into the
working face of the disc near its periphery. Two rollers or other stops are so
placed that the mandrils as they are carried round pass between them. The
lengths of iron or steel to be made into links are dropped upon these rollers, the
said rods resting obliquely on the rollers, that is, the said rods do not cross the axes
of the rollers at right angles. The mandril carries the length of iron or steel
between the rollers. The mandril provided with such inclines as will preserve
in the partially formed link the requisite opening for the introduction of the
previously made link. After passing the rollers the link carried on the mandril
is subjected to the action of two rotating discs provided with projections which
turn the ends of the link round the mandril. The link after passing the last
described rollers is thrown off the mandril by means of a rod acted on by an incline.
I prefer to supply the lengths of iron or steel to the machine by means of a rotating
drum having notches in its periphery and actuated by the machine. The iron or
[Price 10dl

page_text: steel having been thus bent it is raised to a welding heat and its ends welded
together by being operated upon by dies of the following construction :-
The said dies consist of a lower fixed and upper moveable dic. The lower die
is a box die, into which the link is pressed; this die is formed with a recess to
receive about one half a link. The upper die is shaped to fit into the lower die.
The upper die has a shape somewhat resembling that of a horse shoe. The link
raised to a welding heat and the previously made link having been engaged with
it is operated upon by the said dies, its ends are thereby welded together, and the
formation of the link completed. The dies may be operated by hydraulic steam or
other power.
I prefer to make the horse shoe formed upper die from lengths of steel of a
trough shape. Pieces cut from the said lengths and made concave on their acting
faces are fitted into the ram or bolt of the stamp or press.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Cherry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th April
1877.
HENRY CHERRY, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Mechanical Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
WELDED IRON AND STEEL CHAIN."
My said Invention consists, first, of machinery constructed essentially as herein-
after described for bending the lengths of iron or steel into the required shape
preparatory to welding; and, secondly, of dies of the kind herein-after described for
effecting the welding of the links.
The machine for bending the lengths of iron or steel into a link shape previous to
welding their ends together consists of a rotating disc or table, which may be either
vertical or horizontal, which said rotating disc or table carries on its working face
one or more mandrils. These mandrils are fitted into the working face of the dise
or table near its periphery. Two rollers or other stops are so placed that the
mandrils as they are carried round pass between them. The lengths of iron or
steel to be made into links are dropped in front of these rollers, the said rods
resting obliquely on the rollers, that is, the said rods do not cross the axes of the
rollers at right angles. The mandril carries the length of iron or steel between the
rollers. The mandril is provided with such inclines as will preserve in the partially
formed link the requisite opening for the introduction of the previously made link.
After passing the rollers the link carried on the mandril is subjected to the action
of two rotating discs provided with projections which turn the ends of the link
round the mandril. The link after passing the rotating disc is thrown off the
mandril by means of a rod acted on by an incline below the rotating table. The
lengths of iron or steel may be supplied to the machine by means of a rotating
drum having notches in its periphery and actuated by the machine; or the lengths
of iron or steel may be cut off by a pair of shears worked by the machine. The
length of iron or steel having been thus bent it is raised to a welding heat and
its ends welded together by being operated upon by dies of the following
construction :—
The said dies consist of a lower fixed and upper moveable die. The lower die
is a box die, into which the link is pressed. This die is formed with a recess to
receive about one half a link. The upper die has a shape somewhat resembling
that of a horse shoe. The link raised to a welding heat and the previously made
link having been engaged with it is operated upon by the said dies, its ends are
thereby welded together, and the formation of the link completed. The dies may
be operated by hydraulic, steam, or other power.
I prefer to make the horse-shoe formed upper die from lengths of steel of a trough

page_text: shape. Pieces cut from the said lengths and made concave on their acting faces
are fitted into the ram or bolt of the stamp or press.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings,
the manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section, Figure 2 in end elevation,
and Figure 3 in plan of upper side, a machine constructed according to my Iuven-
tion for cutting off and bending the lengths of iron or steel previous to welding their
ends together.
Figure 4 is a plan of upper side of the working tools and appliances of the
machine (the framing being removed) drawn to a larger scale; Figure 5 is an
elevation, partly in section, of a portion of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is an elevation; and Figure 64, a plan of upper side of one of the
mandrils of the machine and lifter or kicker off drawn to a larger scale.
Figure 7 is a side elevation of a portion of the machine drawn to a larger scale,
and exhibits the shears for cutting off the lengths of iron or steel, and also the
bending rollers.
The Drawing illustrates a machine having four mandrils. The same letters
indicate the same parts in Figures 1 to 7, both inclusive.
A is the frame of the machine, and a is the rotating disc or table moving hori-
zontally, and carrying on its working face and near its edge four mandrils b, b, b, b;
c, c, are the pair of rollers (or other stops) by which the bending of the length of
iron or steel partly around the mandril bis effected, the said length being carried
between the said rollers c, c, by the operation of the rotating disc or table a.
The
position of the bending rollers c, c, with respect to the rotating table a is best seen
in Figures 4 and 7. Working at a higher level than the rotating table a are two
rotating discs d, d², the disc d being situated within the table, and the other disc d³
outside the said table. These discs d, d, are provided on opposite sides with pro-
jections or benders e, e², by the action of which the ends of the partly shaped
link are bent around the mandril, the projection or bender e on one disc d bending
one end of the link, and the projection or bender e on the other disc d² bending
the other end of the link around the end of the mandril b. The mandrils b, b, are
provided with such inclines as will preserve in the partly formed link the requisite
opening for the introduction of the previously made link. These inclines on the .
mandril are best seen in Figures 6 and 7, and in Figure 6 the different planes into
which the bent ends of the link are pressed by the action of the said inclines are
also seen.
The rotating table a carries a series of lifting rods f, f, f, f, a lifting rod
being situated near each mandril b, by which rods the bent links are lifted or
removed from the mandrils on which they have been bent. These rods are lifted
on the rotation of the table a by the bottom of the said rods travelling up the
fixed incline g (see Figure 2), the said lifting rods after passing the said incline
resuming their normal position by the action of coiled springs around the said rods
(see Figure 6). The cut off lengths of iron or steel may be supplied to the
machine by means of a rotating drum having notches in its periphery, in which
notches the lengths are carried and delivered one at a time at the front of the
rollers c, c; but I prefer to use the shearing mechanism shown in combination with
the machine for cutting off the required lengths.
The said shearing mechanism is worked by the machine, and consists of a
moveable shear blade h carried by the lever j, rocking on the pin or centre / on the
bracket ; is the fixed shear blade held by the bracket k. The construction of
the shearing mechanism is best seen in Figures 4 and 7. The lever j carrying the
moveable shear blade his worked by projections or rollers m, m, on the periphery
of the rotating table a. As the said table rotates the said projections m, m, in
succession act upon the inclined end of the lever j, thereby forcing it upwards, and
moving the shear blade h carried by it towards the fixed blade i. The shear blade
shears off between itself and the fixed shear blade i a length from the rod which
has been fed by hand or automatically to the stop o, and places the said cut-off
length in front of the bending rollers c, c, in position for the approaching mandril b

page_text: of the table a to operate upon it, as will be understood by an examination of
Figure 4, where the cut-off length in front of the bending rollers c, c, is marked x.
On the projections or rollers m, m, passing off the inclined end of the lever j the
latter is pressed down into its normal position by the spring n acting on the rod n¹
jointed to the said lever j (see Figure 7). The shears h, i, may be placed at any
required angle, so as to effect the desired degree of scarfing in the cut-off length of
iron or steel.
I will now describe the arrangement of parts for giving motion to the table a
and dises d, ď², and afterwards describe some details of construction of the working
tools.
B is the driving shaft of the machine driven by the fast pulley C. The rotating
discs d, d², are fixed on the shafts E and G respectively, and the motion of the driving
shaft B is transmitted through the bevil gearing D, D, to the shaft E of the disc d².
The two shafts E and G are coupled together by the spur wheel F, F, of equal
diameter, and the motion of the shaft E is thus transmitted to the shaft G of the
disc d. The rotating table a is keyed on the vertical shaft H, and the latter receives
motion from the shaft E through the spur pinion I and toothed wheel J, the said
wheel J being twice the diameter of the pinion I; hence the discs d and d² rotate
at double the speed of the table a. The gearing represented is suitable for machines
in which there are half the number of benders e, e², as there are mandrils b, b. If
the machine is constructed with four times the number of mandrils to bending tools,
then the toothed wheel J which drives the rotating table a should be four times
the diameter of the pinion I, and so on.
The benders e of the rotating disc d are provided with projections p for keeping
the link steady while being bent by the said benders e, and the benders e³ of the
other discs d² are provided with flanges q, q, for keeping the lower leg of the link
down while being bent by the benders e and e² (see Figures 4 and 5); is a sweep
fixed to the frame of the machine, and s is a wedge fixed to the said sweep. The
said parts and s are for the purpose of assisting the lifting rods f, f, to ease the
links off the mandrils b, b, and knock them into any convenient receptacle.
I also construct the mandrils b that they can readily be removed from the
machine and renewed or replaced at pleasure. The mandril proper, or that part
which is most subject to wear, marked b, is made separate from the body or holder b¹
(see Figure 6). By this construction the mandril is formed of a separate rod of
metal of such a section as to be readily made, and can be reversed when necessary
so as to change the wearing side.
I also make the benders or projections e, e², of the discs d, d², separate from and
fasten them to the said dises by screw pins, as seen in Figure 4.
To render the same machine suitable for bending various sizes of chain the shears
h, i, and stop o are so secured to the frame of the machine as to allow of the requisite
adjustment. The bending rollers or stops c, c, may have a similar adjustment, or
smaller or larger rollers may be substituted therefor.
The general action of the machine is as follows:-The rod of iron or steel to be
made into links being fed to the stop o a length marked x is cut off by the shears h, i,
and placed in front of the bending rollers c, c, as represented in Figure 4. By the
rotation of the table a one of the mandrils b carried by the said table as it approaches
the rollers c, c, strikes the middle of the rod x and carries it between the said rollers
c, c, by which it is bent into a nearly horse-shoe form. After passing the rollers c, c,
the partly bent link carried on the mandril bis subjected to the action of the pair
of benders e, e², of the discs d, d², by the pressure of which benders the ends of the
link are bent around the mandril as seen in Figure 4, the part p supporting the link
during the bending of its end, and the flange q holding down the lower leg of the
link while being bent. By the continued rotation of the discs d, d², and table a
the link is released from the bending tools and carried by the table a over the
incline g, when the lifting rod f at the front of the mandril 6 travelling up the said
incline lifts the said link from the mandril, being assisted by the wedge S when
the lifted link is removed from the table by the sweep r.

page_text: In
Figure 8 represents in elevation the main working parts of a modification of the
bending machine described, in which modification the mandrils b are arranged
radially on the table a instead of perpendicular to the plane of the said table.
the said Figure 8 the parts are marked with the same letters of reference as corre-
sponding parts in the machine first described.
I will next describe the dies by which the ends of the link are welded together.
Figure 9 is a front elevation of such parts of a steam, hydraulic, or other well-
known description of stamp as are necessary for describing my improvements in the
dies for welding the link; and Figure 10 is a plan of the base of the stamp showing
the bottom dies in position.
Figure 11 is a plan of under side of the upper die or punch and its holder; Figure
12 is a side view, and Figure 13 an end view of the same.
Figures 14 and 15 represent the upper die or punch detached from its holder;
and Figures 16 and 17 represent the internal packing piece of the same.
Figure 18 is a side view; Figure 19, a front view; and Figure 20, a plan of the
bottom die.
a is the upper horse-shoc shaped die made in lengths fitting into the holder band
secured by the packing piece c and set screw d. As the lower face of the die a
wears it may be refaced and readily adjusted by suitable pieces placed in the holder
above it. The construction of the lower die e will be understood by an examination
of Figures 18, 19, and 20.
In Figures 9 and 10 A is the cross head of the stamp holding the upper dies; and
B is the base of the stamp holding the lower dies.
By the side of the horse-shoe shaped upper die a and lower die e I place two
ordinary half dies f, f.
The ends of the link to be welded having been raised to a welding heat the link
is placed in the lower die e, the said link having been engaged with the previously
made link as is well understood. By the descent of the upper die or punch a the
ends of the link are welded in the two horse-shoe shaped dies a and e so as to
complete the link. The link is perfected by giving it a second blow, or by subject-
ing it to pressure between the half dies f, f. The second blow may be given in the
same dies in which it is welded the link being turned over. In this case the half
dies ff, are dispensed with; my main object in using two pairs of dies is to reduce
the wear and tear of the dies a, c.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself
to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention, but I claim as my Invention
of improvements in machinery for the manufacture of welded iron and steel
chain,―
First. The construction and combination of the parts of the machinery herein-
before described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 8, both inclusive, of the accom-
panying Drawings for bending the lengths of iron or steel into a link shape prior to
welding their ends together; that is to say, a machine consisting essentially of a
rotating disc or table a carrying on its upper or working face or periphery one or
more mandrils around which the links are bent, and two rotating discs d, d², carrying
bending, supporting, and holding down tools for bending the ends of the link and for
supporting and holding down the said link during the bending operation in con-
junction with a pair of rollers or other stops c, c, between which the first bending of
the length of iron or steel is effected, the said rotating table rotating, bending, sup-
porting, and holding dises, and bending rollers or stops being constructed and
arranged and working substantially as described and illustrated. Also the combina-
tion with the said machine of the mechanism described and illustrated for lifting
the links from the mandrils and removing them from the machine. Also the combi-
nation with the said machine of the shearing mechanisin described and illustrated
for shearing or cutting off the lengths of iron or steel and placing them in front of
the bending rollers or stops to be bent into links

page_text: Secondly. Making dies for welding and finishing the link, as shown in Figures
12, 13, 18, and 19 of the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, making the lower
die of such a depth that the link under operation is by the descent of the upper
die boxed or wholly confined within the said lower die.
Thirdly. Making the upper die in lengths as herein described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Cherry, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
night hundred and seventy seven
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
HENRY CHERRY. (L.S.)