Improvements in Dies and Machines for Forming Nail Strips.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1896-Accepted, 14th Nov., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Dies and Machines for Forming Nail Strips.
I, SOLOMON MARCELLA CUTTER, of 29 High Street, in the City of Boston, County
of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, 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 relates to improvements in dies for forming nail strips, and in the
machines in which they are used. The object of the invention is to prevent the
bending of the metal as much as possible while it is being pinched into nail strips,
and thereby obviate the liability of breaking, kinking or crippling the strip formed,
also to allow the formation of two continuous nail strips from a metal tape without
waste of stock by overlapping or interlocking the shank forming portion of the
dies, and to produce an automatic action of the machine used. The essential
part of the invention consists in the employment of an upper and a lower series
of punches, one or both of which series are wholly or in part graduated in length
so that the longest of the punches will sever the strip, and the remaining punches
will enter the strip graduated distances as fully described hereinafter. The invention
further consists in novel combinations of elements and devices and minor details
of construction which operate to produce a machine, in which said series of punches
are used, which machine is automatic in its operation.
On the accompanying drawings which illustrate my invention, and form an
essential part of this specification.
Fig. 1, represents a front elevation of one form of machine embodying my invention.
Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the same.
Fig. 3 represents a central longitudinal section of the machine shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 represents a bottom view of the upper series of punches.
Fig. 5 represents a plan view of the lower series of punches and the device to
clear the strip from said punches after it has been punched.
Fig. 6 represents an enlarged longitudinal section on the line A-B in Fig. 4, of
the block to hold the upper punches, showing the upper punches in side elevation.
Fig. 7, represents an enlarged longitudinal section on the line C-D in Fig. 5,
of the block to hold the lower punches showing the lower punches and their clearer
in section.
Fig. 8 represents a detail view of a portion of the mechanism to produce the
intermitting feeding of the strip to the punches.
Fig. 9 represents an enlarged plan of a small portion of the metal tape after it
has been acted upon by the punches, and a portion thereof has been formed into a
nail, tack or slug strip.
Fig. 10, represents a central longitudinal section of the metal strip shown in Fig. 9.
Fig. 11, represents a cross section on the line E-F in Fig. 10.
Similar letters refer to similar parts wherever they occur on the different parts
of the drawings.
In progressively punching the nail strips from the metal tape by punching a short
piece at once, and then feeding the strip and punching another short piece, it has
been found that if the entire series of the punches are of even length, and entirely
sever the metal strip there will be a kink, or bend formed in the continuous portion
of the strip at the place where the end punch of the series severed the strip. For
this reason it has been impossible heretofore to punch two continuous comb-shaped
nail strips from a metal tape without great loss or waste of stock, and it has been
impossible to have the shank forming portions of one strip overlap or interlock, to

page_text: any great extent the shank forming portions of the other strip, and, therefore it has
been found necessary to have the metal tape nearly if not quite double the width of
the length of the shanks of the nails, to be made from the nail strip, if it is desired
to form two nail strips from the metal tape. By submitting the metal tape to the
action of graduated punches I am enabled to punch two continuous comb shaped nail
tack or slug strips, with no waste or loss of metal, from a metal tape having its width
equal to the length of the nail to be made therefrom, plus the thickness of the head
forming portion of the nail strip, as clearly shown in Fig. 9. Thus the nail strip can
be produced at less cost of material, than they have hitherto been made.
In carrying out my invention I may use any suitable and well known press now in
common use, but I prefer to use the press substantially as shown in the drawings
which will be hereinafter fully described.
A series of upper punches a, a, a, of the desired shape are used, which in connection
with the series of lower punches b, b, b, sever the metal strip or tape c into two comb
shaped nail tack or slug stripes d, d, without loss or waste of stock as shown in Fig. 9.
A part or the whole of either or both of these series of punches may be made
graduated in length as shown in Fig. 6, so that when the metal strip is acted upon
by these punches, the longest punches will entirely sever the metal strip, and the
remaining graduated punches will enter the strip more or less according to their
length, and thereby partially sever the strip as fully illustrated in Fig. 10. This
partial severing of the strip prevents the formation of a kink or bend between the
place where the last punch acted upon the strip and the remainder of the strip,
which kink or bend if formed would bend or cripple the strip.
When it is desired to form a nail strip with projecting head forming portions
from a flat metal tape, I use in connection with the series of graduated punches and
the intermittingly operating feed rolls e and f having bearings in the frame g of the
press or in the bracket g' attached to the frame, a pair of upsetting rolls and i,
which press against the side edges of the metal tape and, in connection with the
feed rolls, compress and upset the edges of the tape, forming a projecting ridge c¹ on
each edge of the tape from which the heads of the nails to be cut are made. These
upsetting rolls are preferably provided with circumferential grooves hand within
which the edges of the metal tape are upset and the form of said grooves determine
the shape of the ridge formed on the tape.
The lower punches are stationary and secured in any suitable manner, to the frame
of the press. On the drawings the lower punches have been shown as being secured
by means of the bolt k which passes through a perforation in each punch of the
series of punches, and is screwed into the frame. The upper punches are secured
in a similar manner by means of the bolt; to the reciprocating head of the press.
The head is reciprocated within guides in the frame by means of a crank m' on
the driving shaft in, the toggles n, n, and the connecting link o between the toggles
and the crank, in a manner similar to presses of this kind now in common use, but
it may be reciprocated in any other and well known manner.
The feed rolls e and which are keyed or otherwise firmly mounted on their
respective shafts e¹ and fi are intermittingly rotated in bearings in the bracket g¹ on
the frame of the press by the following mechanism:
Upon the shaft el is loosely mounted the arm r, which is held upon the shaft by
means of the collar e. The arm r is provided with the cam recess within which
the clamp roll and the spring are placed. The action of this clamp roll is such
that the arm is free to be rotated on the shaft in one direction but will clamp the arm
and the shaft firmly together when the arm is moved in the other direction. The
arm is oscillated on the shaft e¹ by means of the connecting rod s attached to the
arm and to a crank pin t¹ on the crank disc t, which disc is firmly attached to
the driving shaft m. Thus it will be seen that by the oscillation of the arm ran
intermitting rotation is imparted to the feed roll e, which causes the metal tape to be
intermittingly fed to the punches. The crank dise is placed upon the driving shaft m
in such a relation to the crank m' that the punches are out of the tape and the tape
remaining stationary while being severed by the punches.

page_text: The upsetting rolls and i are firmly attached to the respective shafts ³ and
shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and a rotary movement corresponding to the
movement of the feed rolls is imparted to said upsetting rolls through the pairs of
bevel gears u, v, w.
It will be seen that the upsetting rolls hand!i not only upset the
metal tape but also assist the feeding rolls in feeding tape to the punches.
The upsetting rolls are provided with the circumferential grooves h¹ and ¹ which
may be made in any suitable and required shape, according to the form of the
longitudinal ridge to be made on the metal tape for the formation of the head
forming portion of the nail strip.
The feed rolls are preferably chamfered at their corners so as to cause the under
side of the heads of the nails made from the nail strip to be inclined and if so desired
the upsetting rolls may be made plain so as to simply make a flat head with inclined
underside when used with the chamfered feed rolls.
The amount of the metal tape which is fed to punches at each operation of the
feed rolls, is preferably equal to the number of the full length punches in the
series of punches containing the graduated punches. That is to say, if the series
of the upper punches a a contain 20 punches and 5 of said series are graduated
in length the feed rolls will preferably feed the metal tape a distance equal to the
length of the 15 remaining punches of said series.
In order to adjust the amount of metal tape fed by the feed rolls, I make the
connection between the arm r and the connecting rod s in the form of a nut t
which is adjustable towards and from the centre of the shaft e¹ on a screw 7 in
a slot in said arm, as shown in Fig. 8.
A suitable comb shaped clearer a is attached stationary to the bed of the frame g
and the upper punches are cleared from the nail strip by being drawn upward
through said clearer. A second and similar comb shaped clearer y is placed within
the lower stationary punches in such a manner that it can be moved up and down
through said punches to clear them from the nail strip.
The clearer y is caused to move up and down once between each reciprocation of
the upper punches, by means of a cam m³ on the driving shaft, which cam acts upon
a pin or roll on the vertical rod z, attached in its lower end to a lever =¹, fulcrumed
to a frame of the press. The end of the lever 21 is attached to a vertical rod z²,
the upper end of which is itself attached to the clearer y. It will be seen that the
action of the cam m³ causes the clearer y to force the nail strip out of the lower
punches after it has been punched.
I do not wish to confine myself to the use of this particular form of machine
in carrying out my invention, as other machines of similar construction might be
used to equal advantage without departing from my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a machine to form two continuous strips from a metal strip or tape, two
series of overlapping or interlocking punches graduated in length in part in the
line of the feeding of the metal tape to said punches, whereby said tape is separated
into two continuous strips, section after section without waste of material, for the
purpose set forth.
2. In a machine to form two continuous strips from a metal strip or tape, two
series of overlapping or interlocking punches graduated in length in part in the
line of the feeding of the metal tape, to said punches, and mechanism to reciprocate
said punches whereby said tape is separated into two continuous strips, section after
section without waste of material, and said strips are prevented from crippling or
breaking for the purpose set forth.
3. In a machine for forming two continuous strips from a metal strip or tape,
a series of stationary punches, and a series of reciprocating punches, the latter
interlocking or overlapping the former and being graduated in length, in part in
line of the feeding of the tape to said punches, whereby said tape is separated into

page_text: two continuous strips, section after section without waste of material, and said strips
are prevented from crippling or breaking, for the purpose set forth.
4. The combination, with two series of interlocking or overlapping punches to
sever a metal strip or tape, into two metal strips, of two cone shaped clearers
interlocking or overlapping each other, one for each series of punches and the
teeth of the clearers entering the recesses formed by said series of punches to
remove the strips from the punches after they have been punched, for the purpose
set forth.
5. The combination, with two series of interlocking or overlapping punches to sever
a metal strip or tape in two continuous metal strips, one of said series remaining
stationary and the other series reciprocating, of a comb shaped reciprocating clearer
for the series of stationary punches, and a comb shaped stationary clearer for the
reciprocating punches, each clearer interlocking or overlapping the other clearer and
the teeth of each clearer entering the recesses formed by its respective series
of punches, to remove the inetal strip from the punches after it has been punched,
for the purpose set forth.
6. A series of stationary punches of even length and a series of reciprocating
graduated punches, each series interlocking or overlapping the other to sever a metal
strip or tape into two continuous strips without waste and preventing breaking
kinking or crippling said strips, combined with a reciprocating clearer for the
stationary punches, a stationary clearer for the reciprocating punches and mechanism
to reciprocate said reciprocating punches and clearer, for the purpose set forth.
7. In a punching machine for the formation of continuous nail strips, the
combination with a frame to support the parts of the machine, a driving shaft, a series
of stationary punches mounted in the frame, a reciprocating head, a series of punches
mounted in said head, said series of punches being graduated in length, in part as
described and overlapping or interlocking each other, and connecting mechanism
between said reciprocating head and driving shaft to reciprocate said head, of an upper
and lower feed roll, side feeding rolls, gears upon the shaft of the feed rolls to gear
them together, and mechanism between said feed rolls and the driving shaft of
the machine, to inter.nittingly rotate said rolls to feed a metal strip or tape, to
the action of said punches, section after section whereby two continuous nail strips
are formed without waste, and are prevented from kinking, breaking or crippling, as
set forth.
8. In a punching machine for the formation of continuous nail strips, the
combination with a frame to support the parts of the machine, a driving shaft, a
series of stationary punches mounted in the frame, a reciprocating head, a series
of punches mounted in said head, said series of punches being graduated in length
in part as described and overlapping or interlocking each other, and connecting
mechanism between said reciprocating head and the driving shaft to reciprocate
said head, of an upper and lower feed roll, side feeding and forming rolls to upset
a head forming portion on a metal strip or tape fed thereby, gears upon the shaft
of the feeding and forming rolls to gear them together, and mechanism between
said feed rolls, forming rolls, and the driving shaft of the machine to intermittingly
rotate said rolls to feed a metal strip or tape to the action of said punches, and
upset a head forming portion thereon, section after section, whereby two continuous
nail strips having projecting head forming portions, are formed without waste, and
are prevented from breaking, kinking, or crippling, as set forth.
Dated this 2nd day of June 1896.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents for Applicant.