IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE ManufacturE OF HORSE NAILS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Albert Huggett, of 12, Ferndale Road,
Clapham, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE ManufacturE OF HORSE NAILS."
Sealed the 4th May 1875, and dated the 3rd December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Albert Huggett
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd December 1874.
I, JOHN ALBERT HUGGETT, of 12, Ferndale Road, Clapham, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE NAILS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
horse nails.
Attempts have been made to produce horse nails by shearing from a
bar rolled to a suitable section, but notwithstanding that care has been
taken to keep the grain of the metal lengthwise of the nail, all attempts

page_text: to produce horse nails by simple shearing have up to the present time
ended in failure.
Now according to my Invention I employ a metal which in addition
to possessing all the other qualities necessary for a horse nail, such as
tenacity, softness, and pliability when cold is homogeneous or nearly so,
and as strong in one direction as another. This metal is a soft cast steel
produced in Sweden by the Bessemer process from charcoal iron. I roll
a bar from this metal of a section corresponding in form to two horse
nails placed point to point, so that there are flanges or ribs on the edges
of the bar corresponding to the heads of the nails. From this bar I
shear the nails. The bar is cut up by two pairs of shears to which it is
taken alternately, and it may be automatic mechanism. The first pair
of shears shape the end of the bar by cutting off a waste piece, and the
second pair of shears then cut off two completely formed horse nails,
and so on alternately, first a waste piece is removed and then two nails
are cut from the end of the bar. The nails are rubbed to remove any
roughness from the edges, and they are then annealed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Albert Huggett in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ALBERT HUGGETT, of 12, Ferndale Road, Clapham, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Albert Huggett, Her
special license that I, the said John Albert Huggett, my exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Albert
Huggett, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
âgree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE NAILS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Albert Huggett, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, 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 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 John Albert Huggett, 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 thercof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
horse nails.
Attempts have been made to produce horse nails by shearing from a
bar rolled to a suitable section, but notwithstanding that care has been
taken to keep the grain of the metal lengthwise of the nail, all attempts
to produce horse nails by simple shearing have up to the present time
ended in failure.
Now according to my Invention I employ a metal which in addition
to possessing all the other qualities necessary for a horse nail, such as
tenacity, softness and pliability, when cold is homogeneous or nearly so,
and as strong in one direction as another. This metal is a soft cast steel
produced by the Bessemer process from charcoal iron; a similar steel is
also produced by the Siemens' Martin process, and may be used equally
well. I roll a bar from this metal of a section corresponding in form to
two horse nails placed point to point, so that there are flanges or ribs on
the edges of the bar corresponding to the heads of the nails. From this
bar I shear the nails. The bar is cut up by two pairs of shears to
which it is taken alternately, and this I do by automatic mechanism as
herein-after described. The first pair of shears shape the end of the bar
by cutting off a waste piece, and the second pair of shears then cut off
two completely formed horse nails, and so on alternately, first a wastę
piece is removed and then two nails are cut from the end of the bar.
The nails are rubbed to remove any roughness from the edges and they
are then annealed,

page_text: In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings shew various views of an
automatic machine for transversely cutting up the bar into nails in the 5
manner above described.
Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2, a front clevation; and Figure 3,
a plan of the machine.
The bar is as before stated first rolled to a section corresponding in
form to two horse nails placed point to point, the form of the head may 1
vary considerably; a very usual form is that shown at Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 4 shows a transverse section of the bar from which the nails are
to be cut, and Figure 5, a plan view of the same, the manner in which
it is sheared into nails by successive cuts is shewn by dotted lines.
I would state that in place of the bar being rolled to the section of 1
two nails placed point to point it might be rolled to the section of one
nail only, and be cut up into nails by successive cuts in the same
manner. I however prefer to form it to the section of two nails as
above described.
The machinery for effecting the shearing up of the bar into nails is 2
composed of two pairs of shears as before stated. The moveable blade a
of each pair is carried by a slide b, to which an up-and-down motion is
imparted by an eccentric c on the main shaft d. The fixed blades of the
shcars are secured to the framing of the machine. The plate to be
sheared is laid into a trough or holder e which is carried at its two ends 2
by rods which can slide endwise in guides in the frame. Each of the
rods at one end is connected to an arm on a shaft g to which a rotary
rocking motion is imparted; by this means a sideway to-and-fro motion
is given to the trough or holder, and the end of the plate carried by it is
presented alternately to the action of the two pairs of shears. The 3
rocking motion is given to the shaft g by a rod ½ passing from an arm g'
on the shaft to an oxcentric on a shaft k, which is driven from the main
shaft and at half its speed. The amount of movement given to the
rod by the crank is more than sufficient to give the requisite traverse
to the trough or holder, and the rod / is not jointed directly to the 3
arm g¹ on the shaft g, but this arm is jointed to a slide capable of

page_text: traversing along the rod, and a spring is placed both above and below
the slide, as shewn at Figure 2. By this means when the trough or
holder has been moved sidewise to either extremity of its traverse and is
arrested by stops, the spring either above or below the slide will be
compressed and the trough or holder will remain at rest, and whilst it
remains at rest the end of the plate carried by it will be acted upon by
one or other of the pairs of shears.
In order to feed forward the plate a proper distance after its end has
been acted upon by both pairs of shears the back end of the plate is held
in a clip m; this clip has jointed to it an arm n, the opposite end of
which is jointed to a nut o working on a screw 2; this screw is turned
with a step-by-step motion, and thus the plate is from time to time fed
forwards the distance required. The screw is turned by a ratchet
wheel I upon it with which works a ratchet carried by an arm from
the shaft g, as shewn at Figure 2. The arm n carries an incline which
when the whole of the plate has been cut up into nails raises the
ratchet and throws it out of action, so that the forward movement of
the clip which held the end of the bar is arrested, and so damage from
breakage is avoided. The trough or holder in which the plate is held is
somewhat wider than the plate, and the plate is constantly pressed to
one side of the holder by springs 8, as shown at Figure 3.
The slide carrying the moveable jaws of the pairs of shears also carries
presser plates t, t, which are forced downwards by powerful springs u.
When the slide descends and before the shears act upon the plate one or
other of the plates & comes down on to the top of the plate and nips the
plate firmly between itself and the fixed blade of the shears, the end of
the plate is then cut off by the shears and the piece cut off is held
between the descending shear blade and a presser plate v which is
forced upwards by a powerful spring, as shewn. When the slide
carrying the moveable jaws of the shears rises the piece cut off from the
plate remains held until the presser plate v comes level with the fixed
shear blades, the movement of the presser plate is arrested by stops, the
piece cut off then falls away or is knocked off so soon as the plate from
which it had been cut off is moved sidewise.

page_text: I would remark that although I prefer to employ automatic appa-
ratus to present the end of a bar in succession to the action of two
pairs of shears, as above described I do not confine myself to the use of
such automatic apparatus, as the bar might be presented by hand in
succession to two pairs of shears to be cut up into nails in the same
manner.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,—
First. The manufacture of horse nails by rolling soft steel into a bar
of a transverse section corresponding to the form of a single nail or of 1
two nails placed point to point and shearing up the bar transversely into
nails by two sets of shears, as herein described.
Second. The combined arrangement of mechanism for shearing a bar
transverely into nails, the bar being presented alternately to two pairs of
shears, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Albert Huggett, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
1