Apparatus for Making the same.
Year: 1886

page_text: Apparatus for Making the same.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW-THREADED NAILS OR SCREWS AND
IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING THE SAME" 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 chiefly to screw-threaded nails or screws which are
intended to be partly driven into wood by means of a hammer, and then screwed
home by means of a screw-driver or other suitable tool; but the said invention is
also applicable to nails intended to be fully driven into wood by means of a
hammer, and to be withdrawn or extracted by means of a screw-driver. The main
object of the said invention is to improve the efficiency of such nails or screws and
facilitate their insertion into wood.
The said invention comprises improvements, hereinafter set forth, in the nails or
screws and in apparatus for making the same.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of the improved nail or screw.
Figure 2 is a transverse section thereof on the line x, x, Figure 1, drawn to an
enlarged scale.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of a pair of cutting and swaging dies or
tools hereinafter described.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of another form of the improved nail or screw.
Figure 5 is a transverse section on the line x', x³, Figure 4, drawn to an enlarged
scale.
Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of another pair of cutting and swaging dies
or tools hereinafter described.
It is a common practice of carpenters, in using screws, to first drive the screw
partly into the wood by means of a hammer, and then screw the same home by

page_text: means of a screw-driver; and even the ordinary gimlet-pointed wood-screws are
very often used in this manner. When thus used, the nail or screw, by reason of
its shape, draws together a bundle of fibres of the wood at or near its point and
tears them from the wood, thus leaving a large and ragged hole around the screw,
and consequently greatly reducing its holding capacity. I obviate this difficulty
by forming the point of the nail or screw as hereinafter described.
a is the body of the nail or serew, which is formed with a continuous sunken
thread a¹ of the kind known as a "ratchet thread." bis the point, which, in the
nail or screw shewn in Figure 1, somewhat resembles what is known, with
reference to ordinary wire nails, as a "swaged point." The general form of this
point is conical or conoidal, that is to say, it is rounded and taper. Upon two
opposite sides of this point I form thin projections or fins c.
Wood-screws have been made with conical or conoidal points, and such points are
considered very efficient for dividing the wood to facilitate the entry of the screw
when driven by a hammer, and also for dividing or parting the wood while the
screw is being screwed home; but, when such a point is made smooth and plain as
heretofore, the screw has no boring action and so much resistance is offered to its
entry into the wood, when the screw is being turned, that it is sometimes caused to
strip the thread from the surrounding wood. When wood-screws having such
points are to be driven into hard wood, it is generally necessary or desirable to bore
a hole in the wood previous to inserting the screw. By the present invention, the
desirable form of ratchet-thread and all the advantages of the conical or conoidal
point are retained and, at the same time, by means of the fins c, c, the point is
rendered capab!
in either hard
heretofore, tha
wood, have a
without such
acting like a reamer or borer to prepare the way for the screw
t wood, so that its threads have a better hold in the wood than
o say, a screw of a given form and size will, when driven into
a greater holding power if made with the fins c, than if made
I do not }
myself to any particular mode of forming the point with fins
or projection above described. This operation can be most advantageously
performed by means of a pair of cutting and swaging dies or tools, one of which
is shewn in Figure 3, and which are somewhat similar to the cutting and swaging
tools heretofore employed for making the "swaged points" of ordinary wire nails.
In Figure 3, d is the edge which cuts or severs the nail or screw from the
wire, e, e are the edges which shear the metal from the sides of the wire at the
point; each die has a rounded recess or cavity between the edges e, e, so that, in
the operation of cutting or severing the nail or screw from the wire, the dies will
swage the point of the said nail or screw to the required shape. The edges e
of the dies are so arranged that, when the said dies are brought together, there is a
space between the edges e of one die and those of the other die. Therefore, in
thus cutting and swaging the point of the nail or screw a portion of the metal will
be forced out from the swaging recess or cavity into the said space between the
edges e, thereby producing the fins c, c upon opposite sides of the taper and rounded
point. By varying the form of the swaging recess or cavity, the shape of the point
in transverse section can be varied; in some cases it is made oval or elliptical.
In the nail or screw shewn in Figures 4 and 5, the point is pyramidal but has
two of its corners rounded as shewn in Figure 5; the other corners have the
fins c, c formed thereon. The point of this nail or screw is formed by means of a
pair of cutting and swaging dies or tools one of which is shewn in Figure 0, and
the edges e of which are arranged as above described with reference to Figure 3.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents I declare that what I claim is :-
First. A nail or screw which has its point provided with fins or projections
for the purpose above лncified.

page_text: Second. The improved cutting and swaging dies formed substantially as above
described for the purpose specified.
Third. The improved nail or screw having the continuous ratchet-thread, and
the taper point extending from the end of the said thread and provided on opposite
sides with the fins c, substantially as described with reference to Figure 1 or to
Figure 4 of the drawing.