IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NUTS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NUTS AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR."-A communication from abroad by William
Charles, of Chartier's Township, and Matthew McKain, of Pittsburg,
both in the County of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in the United
States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th April 1875.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
NUTS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as follows
This Invention relates to the manufacture of nuts of the kind known
as "hot pressed nuts" made from bars of heated iron in such a manner

page_text: as to avoid waste of metal and obtain solidity, and to apparatus for that
purpose. In the manufacture of such nuts there is usually a waste of
metal in punching out the central hole, and when the nuts are of
polygonal form other than square in cutting the nuts from the bar. To
avoid this waste and at the same time to obtain solidity in the nuts
produced, punches and swages of particular kinds are, according to this
Invention combined in apparatus of the following description.—A
rotating shaft having cams upon it gives longitudinal movements to
pressing and punching heads, and to inclined wedge pieces which have
the effect of moving towards each other swages formed to suit the
figure of the nut. The heated bar fed laterally into the machine passes
between those swages which approaching each other indent the edges of
the bar so as to form them partially to the shape of the nut, and at the
same time a cutting tool advanced against the face of the bar nicks it or
partially cuts into it at the place where it is to be separated to form a
nut, and likewise a blunt punch advanced against the face indents tho
central hole of the nut, swelling tho metal out between the swages.
The swages, cutters, and punch being withdrawn the bar thus treated is
advanced against a stop where its end so swaged, nicked, and indented
faces a mould into which at the next stroke of the machine the end
part of the bar is forced so as to mould it into a nut; a taper punch
being pushed through the nut and then a pusher extruding it, after
which the bar is advanced another step and the process is repeated.
The swages besides consolidating the metal reduce the waste by partly
working the bar into the nut form before moulding, at the same time
cutting into the edges of the bar at the point where the nut has to be
severed from it.
For hexagon nuts, for example, the swages are made with faces
inclined to each other at an angle of 120°, these faces forming on tho
two edges of the bar four of the sides of the nut, the other two sides
being formed by the severance of the nut from the preceding and
succeeding nuts, and in like manner for nuts of other forms the swages
are made of suitable forms to perform a great part of the shaping of the
nut before it is introduced into the mould.
The cutters for nicking the bar at its point of separation may be
dispensed with, but they are useful to relieve the shear when the nut
is forced off the bar into the mould. Also the indenting punch may bc

page_text: dispensed with, the whole of the punching being performed by the taper
punch when the nut is in the mould.
Instead of swages which at each forward stroke of the machine are
forced towards each other, being at the back stroke withdrawn by springs,
revolving cutters may be employed to nick the edges of the bar with
indents of suitable form
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 4th October 1875
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CILARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Iler reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Chailes Denton Abel, Her special
license that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton Abel,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NUTS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR,"
a communication to me from abroad by William Charles, of Chatier's
Township, and Matthew M*Kain, of Pittsburg, both in the County of
Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of nuts of the kind known
as "hot pressed nuts" made from bars of heated iron in such a manner
as to avoid waste of metal and obtain solidity, and to apparatus for that
purpose. In the manufacture of such nuts there is usually a waste of
metal in punching out the central hole, and when the nuts are of
polygonal form other than square in cutting the nuts from the bar To
avoid this waste and at the same time to obtain solidity in the nuts
produced, punches and swages of particular kinds are, according to this
Invention, combined in apparatus of the following description :-A
rotating shaft having cams upon it gives longitudinal movements to
pressing and punching heads, and to inclined wedge pieces which have
the effect of moving towards each other swages formed to suit the
figure of the nut. The heated bar fed laterally into the machine passes
between those swages, which approaching each other indent the edges of
the bar so as to form them partially to the shape of the nut, and at the
same time a cutting tool advanced against the face of the bar nicks it or
partially cuts into it at the place where it is to be separated to form a
nut, and likewise a blunt punch advanced against the face indents the
cential hole of the nut, swelling the metal out between the swages.
The swages, cutters, and punch being withdrawn, the bar thus treated is
advanced against a stop where its end so swaged, nicked, and indented,
faces a mould into which at the next stroke of the machine the end part
of the bar is forced so as to mould it into a nut, a taper punch being
pushed through the nut and then a pusher extruding it, after which the
bar is advanced another step" and the process is repeated.
The swages besides consolidating the metal reduce the waste by partly
working the bar into the nut form before moulding, at the same time
cutting into the edges of the bar at the point where the nut has to be
severed from it

page_text: For hexagon nuts, for example, the swages are made with faces
inclined to each other at an angle of 120°, these faces forming on the
two edges of the bar four of the sides of the nut, the other two sides
being formed by the severance of the nut from the preceding and
succeeding nuts, and in like manner for nuts of other forms the swages
are made of suitable forms to perform a great part of the shaping of the
nut before it is introduced into the mould.
The cutters for nicking the bar at its point of separation may bo
dispensed with, but they are useful to relieve the shear when the nut is
forced off the bar into the mould; also the indenting punch may be
dispensed with, the whole of the punching being performed by the taper
punch when the nut is in the mould.
Instead of swages which at each forward stroke of the machine arc
forced towards cach other, being at the back stroke withdrawn by springs,
revolving cutters may be employed to nick the edges of the bar with
indents of suitable form.
Fig 1 represents a plan, Fig 2, a longitudinal section, and Figs. 3
and 4 represent transverse sections looking opposite ways of the improved
nut machine.
Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8, illustrate the mode in which tools suitably shaped
are made to indent the bar to suit different forms of nuts.
The machine consists of a frame or bed plate A on which is mounted
in bearings the rotating shaft B¹ having in its middle a cam 6 which
works a yoke B. This yoke has a cross head C or two similar cross
heads, as shewn, so that when one part is worn it may be reversed.
The cross heads move along guides C'. The shaft B¹ has also two side
cams working a pair of cross heads D guided on the brackets D'. On
the face of the cross head C are fixed the front dies E having flat faces
and central holes for the passage of the punches. The cross head also
carries a nicking knife F with a blunt punch on cach side of it for the
purpose of nicking the bar and partially punching it while it is subjected
to the swaging tools. To the cross head C are attached the wedge arms G,
as shewn in Fig. 11, for working the swages I, I. The die box H is solidly
fixed to the framing and is recessed to contain the nut box which is built
up of separate pieces according to the form of nut required. his tho

page_text: dividing or middle picco; h, the left hand, and h³, the right hand piece,
the latter having a stop h³, against which the bar abuts as it is fed
forward; * and * are the upper and lower pieces; /* are the and
upper
lower clamps by which the pieces constituting the nut box are securely
held in place The swages I are guided along the face of the mould and
arc forced into the bar by the wedge arms G at the forward stroke of
the cross head C. At the back stroke being released they are rotracted
by the springs 1, i; E' arc the back dies which move backwards and
forwards in the cavity of the nut box, and have holes for the passage of
the punches m; K is the press plate moving on guides k. Between the
press plate and nut box are lining picces k³ which regulate the space
according to the thickness of the iron, L is the press screw fitting in the
cross head L', and having a toothed rim by which it can be screwed out
or in, according as more or less pressure has to be applied to the nut in
the die box. Having been adjusted it is held by the dog L' taking into
ono of the notches on its toothed rim; m are the conically pointed
punches which pass through the press screw, press plate, and liners, and
enter the apertures in the back die E. The punches aro sccured in the
mandril M on the punch bead M³, which is connected by bolts N to the
cross licads D. The press plate K is connected by bolts N' to the cross
licad C. As the front dics advance to force the blanks into the mould
the cross heads D recede bringing the punches forward and forcing them
through the nuts while they are compressed between the front and back
dies. The back stroke of the cross head C drawing with it the press
plate K, and the liners ³ forces forward the back dies so as to discharge
the pressed and perforated nuts from the mould.
swages
In operating with the machine a bar of heated iron is introduced as
far as the edge of the die ' in front of the cutter F and blunt punches,
and between the pair of swages F. The forward movement of the cross
head C causes the cutter F and punches to enter the bar, nicking and
partly punching it, and at the same time the wedge arms G force the
I towards each other so as to compress and indent the bar. When C
recedes the bar is pushed onwards to the stop ³. At the next forward
stroke of C, the cutter, blunt punches, and swages operate as before on a
fresh part of the bar, and at the same time the pieces formerly operated
on by them are severed from the bar, forced into the nut box, compressed
between the front and back dies, and punched while under compression,
being then discharged by the back movement as above described.

page_text: •
Whether the punching be effected by driving the punches through the
metal or driving the metal over the punches, the conically pointed
punch instead of forcing out a burr of the thickness of the iron forces a
largo portion of this iron into the body of the nut somewhat increasing
its thickness and adding to its solidity and strength.
•
When the bar has been previously partly punched by the blunt
punches the burr is reduced to a thin thimble of metal which is carried
by the punch m through the front dic and discharged behind it. When
the back dics E' come to rest- the front dies E still advance sufficiently
to press the nut within the mould.
The punching may be effected after the front dic has completed its
forward stroke by suitably arranging the cams, allowance being made
for the swelling of the nut by the entrance of the punch.
h
The plate k may be bevil edged, the stop s being made with a corrc-
sponding bevil.
It is obvious that the machine may be used with a single set of dies
and punches, also the punches f may be dispensed with, leaving the
whole work of punching to be done by the conical punch m.
In case the nicking knife For blunt punches f should adhere to the
bar a stripper P is provided, as shown in Fig 12, which represents a
front view of the die box
The swages employed are made of forms suited to the different shapes
of nuts, as shewn in Fig. 5, for hexagons, in Fig. 6, for octagons, in
Fig. 7, for pentagons, and in Fig. 8, for pentagons alternating with
hexagons.
Instead of moving the swages transversely to the bar as above described
so as to indent its edges by pressure on them, they might be made to
advance with the cross head O in a direction parallel to the axis of the
nuts, giving them a form like that shewn in Fig. 10, which is bevilled on
the face and on the one side so as to indent the iron without cutting
material off it. The indents might also be made by revolving tools like
that shewn in Fig. 9.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I claim,—
First. In the manufacture of hot pressed nuts cutting or indenting

page_text: the bar by swages acting on its edges so as partly to sever the nut
therefrom, and partly to shape the nut before it is forced into the dio,
substantially as herein described.
Second In the manufacture of hot pressed nuts nicking and partly
punching the bar before the blank is forced into the die, substantially as 5
heroin described.
Third. In apparatus for manufacturing nuts the use of swages for
indenting the edges of the bar, substantially as and for the purpose herein
set forth.
Fourth. In apparatus for manufacturing nuts the use of a nicking 1
chisel with or without blunt punches for nicking and partly punching
the blanks, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have hore-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- 1
five.