Improvements in Nails, and in Machinery for Making and Driving Nails into Boots, Shoes, and other Articles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Mar., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 8th ec., 1996-Accepted, 13th Feb., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Nails, and in Machinery for Making and Driving
Nails into Boots, Shoes, and other Articles.
I ORLANDO ETHELBERT LEWIS, of Winthrop, Massachusetts, one of the
United States of America, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object the production of a novel machine for making
and driving nails, the machine being more especially adapted for use in connection
with the manufacture of boots and shoes.
The machine the subject of this invention uses a narrow flat strip or ribbon of
wire, which is fed by feeding rolls through a guide to cutters, which cut from one
edge of the strip a triangular piece, leaving a tapered edge to form one side of
the shank of the nail, and a shoulder to form the underside of the head of the nail,
the said strip being severed transversely a short distance above the said shoulder
to form the top of the head.
One of the feeding rolls which acts against the edge of the strip to feed it also
acts to indent one edge of the strip, the edge so indented being the one which is
to form the straight side of the tapered shank of the nail, thus leaving said straight
side serrated, which adds to the holding properties of the nail when driven into the
material.
The end of the strip with one edge serrated is fed through a hole in a guideway,
and thence into a slit or passage of a lip extended horizontally from and forming
part of a steel block also grooved for the reception of the strip, the said block
and lip constituting the movable cutting die, and the said strip having had its end
fed into said cutting die, the latter is moved causing the strip in the movable
cutter to be borne against the edge of a stationary cutter occupying an inclined
position, which cuts out from the edge of the strip a triangular piece, as stated,
and cuts the strip transversely, leaving a nail with a tapering body or shank and
a head projecting from one edge only.
The nail so made and cut off is by a further movement of the movable cutter,
put into position opposite a block having a driver passage, there being a space
above the block for the passage of the head of the nail, and the nail when opposite
the driver passage is arrested while a driver descends, strikes the head of the nail,
and drives the latter from the driver passage, and the grooves of the movable
carrier into the material.
One part of this invention consists in the use in a nailing machine, of a lever
having a movable cutting die provided with a horizontally extended lip, the said
die and lip having coinciding grooves; a block having a driver passage with a
space above it for the passage of the head of the nail; a guide for the strip being
fed into the movable cutting die; and a stationary cutter against which the movable..
cutting die carries a part of the strip to cut from the edge thereof a portion of the
strip, to leave a notch and shoulder for the head of the nail, the movable cutter
finally severing the strip transversely at a point above said shoulder.
Also in the use in a nailing machine, of a strip guide, a feeding mechanism
composed of rolls, one of which indents that edge of the strip which is to form
the straight edge of the nail, a stationary cutter, and a movable cutter having a
horizontally extended lip and provided each with open grooves coinciding one with
the other to receive the end of the strip, the movement of the movable cutter

page_text: toward and past the stationary cutter cutting a triangular piece from one edge of
the strip and severing the strip transversely to leave a nail with a head extended
from its tapered side and serrated at its straight side.
Also in a peculiar nail having a serrated straight edge, and a tapering plane
edge provided with a projecting head.
Dated the 9th day of March 1896.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Nails, and in Machinery for Making and Driving
Nails into Boots, Shoes, and other Articles.
I, ORLANDO ETHELBERT LEWIS, of Winthrop, Massachusetts, one of the
United States of America, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object the production of a novel machine for making
and driving nails, the machine being more especially adapted for use in connection
with the manufacture of boots and shoes.
The machine the subject of this invention uses a narrow flat strip or ribbon of
wire, which is fed by feeding rolls through a guide to cutters, which cut from one
edge of the strip a triangular piece, leaving a tapered edge to form one side of the
shank of the nail, and a shoulder to form the underside of the head of the nail,
the said strip being severed transversely a short distance above the said shoulder
to form the top of the head.
One of the feeding rolls which acts against the edge of the strip to feed it also
acts to indent one edge of the strip, the edge so indented being the one which is to
form the straight side of the tapered shank of the nail, thus leaving said straight
side serrated, which adds to the holding properties of the nail when driven into the
material.
The end of the strip with one edge serrated is fed through a hole in a guideway,
and thence into a slit or passage of a lip extended horizontally from and forming
part of a steel block also grooved for the reception of the strip, the said block and
lip constituting the movable cutting die, and the said strip having had its end fed
into said cutting die, the latter is moved causing the strip in the movable cutter to
be borne against the edge of a stationary cutter occupying an inclined position,
which cuts out from the edge of the strip a triangular piece, as stated, and cuts the
strip transversely, leaving a nail with a tapering body or shauk and a head projecting
from one edge only.
The nail so made and cut off is by a further movement of the movable cutter,
put into position opposite a block having a driver passage, there being a space
above the block for the passage of the head of the nail, and the nail when opposite
the driver passage is arrested while a driver descends, strikes the head of the nail,
and drives the latter from the driver passage, and the grooves of the movable
carrier into the material.
One part of this invention consists in the use in a nailing machine, of a lever
having a movable cutting die provided with a horizontally extended lip, the said
die and lip having coinciding grooves; a block having a driver passage with a
space above it for the passage of the head of the nail; a guide for the strip being
fed into the movable cutting die; and a stationary cutter against which the
movable cutting die carries a part of the strip to cut from the edge thereof a
portion of the strip, to leave a notch and shoulder for the head of the nail, the

page_text: movable cutter finally severing the strip transversely at a point above said
shoulder.
Also in the use in a nailing machine, of a strip guide, a feeding mechanism
composed of rolls, one of which indents that edge of the strip which is to form the
straight edge of the nail, a stationary cutter, and a movable cutter having a
horizontally extended lip and provided each with open grooves coinciding one with
the other to receive the end of the strip, the movement of the movable cutter
toward and past the stationary cutter cutting a triangular piece from one edge of
the strip and severing the strip transversely to leave a nail with a head extended
from its tapered side and serrated at its straight side.
Also in a peculiar nail having a serrated straight edge, and a tapering plane edge
provided with a projecting head.
The invention accordingly consists in the use in a nailing machine of a lever
as b' having a cutting die provided with a lip, the die and lip having coinciding
grooves, a block having a driver passage with a space above it for the head of a
nail, a guide for the strip which is to form the nail, the strip being fed into the
grooves of the lip and cutting die, and a station try cutter which is adapted to cut
out a portion of one edge of the strip and leave a head and a tapering elge
below it.
And also in the use, in a nailing machine, of a shaft as A, its cam B, a lever
having a yoke provided with a shank which is held loosely in said lever, the cutter
lever having an attached cutting block provided with a lip, and a loose block 66
fitted on said lever.
Fig. 1 represents a left hand side elevation of a sufficient portion of the improved
machine showing the invention to enable the same to be understood.
Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof.
Fig. 3 is an enlarged section in the line x, Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 an enlarged view showing the inner or active end of the stationary nail
cutter and its carrier.
Fig. 5 shows the cam detached.
Fig. 6, the nail carrier and movable cutter.
Fig. 7, a detail of the pawl to operate the strip feeding wheel.
Fig. 8 a detail of the forked block.
Fig. 9 shows the devices for adjusting the length of the nail; and
Fig. 10 shows a nail such as will be produced in the machine.
The column A has a suitable foot, not shown, to rest on the floor, and it supports
at its top the head A', which is of suitable shape to sustain the working parts.
The main shaft A2 has loose on it a driving pulley A³ having preferably a
conical interior which is adapted to fit against the conical face of a pulley A fast
on said shaft the loose pulley being pressed in driving contact with the fast pulley
by a wedge fork A working against the beveled end of a loose collar A*, the
opposite end of which acts against the hub of the pulley A, the wedge being
attached to a rod A connected in practice with a suitable treadle, the spring A
acting normally to separate the said pulleys.
The pulley A has attached to or forming a part of it, a large wheel A³, herein
shown as having. a V-shaped groove in its periphery, which groove receives a
wheel A having a A-shaped periphery, said wheel being fast on a shaft A10
carrying a grinding wheel A
The front end of the shaft A3 has attached to it a driver lifting cam B, which
acts on a lug of a collar B' fixed on the driver bar B2 having a driver B³, said cain
lifting the bar, and a suitable spring B acting on a lever B to depress the
said bar.
The shaft A also has fast on it a disc B, shown separately in Fig. 5, said disc
having at its front side a cam groove B', shown by full lines, and at its rear side a
cam groove B, shown by dotted lines.
The cam groove B' receives a roller or other stud of a lever B, pivoted at B1,
and having at its lower end a segmental toothed rack which engages the teeth of a

page_text: pinion B, fast on a short shaft C* having at its outer end a pawl carrying arm C,
having at its inner side a pawl C¹ piroted at C and acted upon by a suitable
spring C³, see Fig. 7, said pawl being normally acted upon by said spring to cause
it to engage the teeth of a ratchet wheel C.
This pawl has a constant throw and the pawl would always consequently have a
definite stroke and would move the strip feeding wheel C a definite distance
causing it, acting against one edge of the strip a, to feed always for a like distance
and the nails would all be of a certain length, but to enable the machine to make
nails of any desired length this pawl has combined with it a shield C attached as
shown in Fig. 1, by screws to the end of a leugth adjusting lever C having its
fulerum on the shaft Cx alongside the ratchet wheel C, and by moving this lever
the shield may be interposed between the ratchet wheel and the pawl so that the
effective stroke of the pawl in moving the ratchet wheel may be altered, as desired,
to cause the strip to be fed for a greater or less distance according to the length of
nail desired.
This lever is moved by hand and has a spring actuated locking pin C which
co-operates with a toothed segment C" fast on the machine head, the locking pin
holding the lever in adjusted position.
The disc B has ratchet teeth at its periphery which are engaged by a pawl 6 to
prevent the shaft a' turning backward.
The strip a is taken from a roll a suitably mounted on the machine and is led
through a suitable guide a and thence between the touthed feed roll C and a
co-operating roll a mounted on a stud carried by a lever a pivoted at a and having
combined with its end a pressure adjusting device shown as a screw a', the end of
which abuts against the framework an that the effective pressure or force with
which the said strip is grasped may be varied and by using a narrow strip and
feeding it by grasping its edges I find it possible to cause the teeth of the feed
wheel C to so embed themselves into the edge of the strip as to indent the same
leaving a series of scores or teeth, as a', see Fig. 10, at the straight edge of the
tapering bodied nail, said scores or teeth adding very materially to the holding
power of the nail.
After passing below the feed wheels the strip enters a guideway a', shown best
in Fig. 4, the said guideway being made from a steel block suitably grooved for
the passage of the wire, the lower hardened end of said guide terminating
substantially flush with the shoulder a of a projecting portion a¹0 of the
framework.
The machine has pivoted upon it, at , a lever &, provided at the inner side near
its outer end, see Fig. 3, with a steel block & having a strip receiving groove
and a lip provided with a notch in line with said groove 6, the said lip, in
practice, travelling close under the shoulder a" and acting with the hardened end of
the guide as to cut the strip transversely into nail lengths.
The lever has upon it a loose block 6 kept in place by a collar b', and the
said loose block is embraced by a forked block 68 having a shank which is
entered loosely into a hole at the lower end of a lever 60 pivcted at 6" and having
a roller or other stud 613 at its upper end which enters the cam groove B³ before
described.
The loose fork enables the two levers 60 and 61, one in a vertical and the other
in a horizontal plane, to work freely.
The head of the machine has counected to it by suitable screws ca plate c
having a tubular nose o down through which the nail is driven by the driver into
the work, the said nose resting un the work presented by the band of the
operator, usually the sole of a shoe.
Above the plate e the head has a passage in which is placed side by side a
stationary cutter and a back or bolding plate e, said plate being, however,
adjustable longitudinally.
The cutter is held by a suitable screw as c, and
iuner end the plate c', the hole in which the screw
the screw centers by its
stands being somewhat

page_text: elongated to enable the said screw to be moved laterally and with it the plate c',
for the inner end of said plate acts as a guide for one edge of the stripper a when
the latter is thrust through into the slots and 3, the lever b' at such time being
so moved as to place the said slots in line vertically with the guiding slot at the
lower end of the guide as, the slots 13, , being at such time behind the face of
the cutter c, viewing the machine froin the front side.
The grooves and 63 having received the end of the strip the lever b' is moved
causing the strip to be cut off between the upper side of the lip and the lower
end of the guideway as and at the same time the portion of the strip in said
grooves and 63, especially the portion below the lip , is born against and
carried past the stationary cutter, causing the latter to clip or cut out from the
edge of the strip a tapering piece leaving a head of the full width of the strip and
of a depth equal to the depth of the lip &, and the lever & continues its movement
in the direction in which it started until the grooves and 63 arrive opposite the
driving groove e made in the steel block e held in place by a suitable screw e",
there being a space fabove said block for the passage of the lip and the heal of
the nail over the end of the block in coming into line with the groove e.
The block is held in place by a suitable screw e and it constitutes the
movable cutter member which co-operates with the stationary cutter member c³,
and it also by its lip not only cuts off the strip but also determines the shape of the
head of the nail.
The bearing D in which the shaft A10 turns has a shank D' which enters a hole
in an ear D of the column, the shank being held in adjusted position by a set
screw D.
The bearing has a hole to receive a rod d held in place by a set screw D¹ and
inclined with relation to the shaft A10
This rod has mounted on it the hub of a blade holder d' having its upper side
inclined from a horizontal plane and adapted to support the cutter blade c³.
The blade holder has a lip d³ provided with a screw to keep the blade seated,
and screws d, de, act on the outer end of the blade to hold and adjust it.
The grinding wheel is used to grind and keep the cutting edges of the blade sharp.
It will be noticed, viewing Fig. 4, that the cutter c is set at an inclination to a
vertical plane so that it acts with a shearing cut on the strip it meeting the strip
first close to the underside of the lip 6, and thereafter acting gradually to shear
the metal to the point.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what mauner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The use in a nailing machine, of a lever as having a cutting die provided
with a lip, the die and lip having coinciding grooves, a block having a driver
passage with a space above it for the head of a nail, a guide for the strip which
is to form the nail, the strip being fed into the grooves of the lip and cutting die,
and a stationary cutter which is adapted to cut out a portion of one edge of the
strip and leave a head and a tapering edge below it, substantially as described.
2. The use in a nailing machine, of a shaft as A', its cam B, a lever having a
yoke provided with a shank which is held loosely in said lever, the cutter lever b
having an attached cutting block provided with a lip, and a loose block 6° fitted
on said lever, substantially as described.
3. The manufacture and use of the peculiar nail having a serrated straight edge,
and a tapering plane edge provided with a projecting head, as and for the purpose
set forth and shewn by the drawings.
Dated th 7. 1
2000
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.