IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR POINTING METALLIC RODS AND WIRE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cornforth, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Wire Manufacturer, and Joseph Dangerfield,
of Birmingham, aforesaid, Machinist, for the Invention of "Im-
"
Sealed the 30th May 1873, and dated the 17th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cornforth and
Joseph Dangerfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th December 1872.
We, SAMUEL CORNFORTH, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, Wire Manufacturer, and JOSEPH DANGERFIELD, of Birmingham,
aforesaid, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR POINTING METALLIC RODS AND WIRE," to
he as follows
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cornforth and
Joseph Dangerfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th December 1872.
We, SAMUEL CORNFORTH, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, Wire Manufacturer, and JOSEPH DANGERFIELD, of Birmingham,
aforesaid, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR POINTING METALLIC RODS AND WIRE," to
be as follows :-
Our Invention consists in constructing and arranging in the manner
herein-after described the parts of machinery for pointing metallic rods
and wire by a cutting or turning operation.

page_text: Our Invention is especially useful for pointing rods to be drawn into
wire, but our said Invention is applicable to the pointing of metallic rods
and wire for various purposes.
We construct and arrange the parts of the machinery in the following
manner: Fixed on the end of the rotating spindle of the machine and
partaking of its motion is a box or case, in which a rotating steel file or
cutter of a taper figure is mounted, and works the periphery of the said
rotating file or cutter, being presented to a taper depression in a die or
block fixed to the box-or case described. A rapid rotatory motion is
given to the file or cutter by means of a pinion on the axis of the said
file or cutter gearing with a toothed wheel carried by the box or case,
the said toothed wheel gearing with or rolling upon the internal teeth
of a wheel fixed to the headstock of the machine. As the box or case
carrying the file or cutter, the fixed die or block, and gearing described
is rotated by its spindle, the toothed wheel in the said box or case is
carried round or rolls upon the fixed internal wheel, and rotation is thus
communicated to the said toothed wheel and through the pinion to the
file or cutter. The rod or wire to be pointed has no rotatory motion,
but only an advancing and retiring motion. The end of the rod or wire
to be pointed is advanced slowly into the die or block in the box or
case, and between the said die and the rotating file or cutter. By the
rotation of the said box or case the rotating file is carried round the
end of the rod or wire, and every part of it operated upon by the said
rotating file and pointed by the reducing or filing action of the said
rotating file, the taper figure of the file and die or block determining the
taper figure given to the end of the rod or wire.
In place of a rotating taper file or cutter and a fixed die or block, as
described, a series of cutters arranged radially in a holder fixed to the
rotating spindle of the machine may be employed, the acting faces of
the cutters being inclined to one another so as to form a tapering space
between them, into which the end of the rod or wire to be pointed is
introduced.
The rod or wire to be pointed is fed automatically between the parts
of the pointing apparatus described, and removed therefrom after being
pointed by the following arrangement of parts:-The rod or wire is held
by a vicc or gripper carried by a slide having a reciprocating motion on
the bed of the machine. This vice or gripper is opened and closed so as
to rapidly release and fix the rod or wire by means of a screw acting

page_text: upon the moveable jaw, the said screw being carried by a saddle piece
connected to the fixed jaw of the vice. The slide carrying the vice or
gripper is worked by a lever, motion to which lever is given in the
following manner:-On the back rotating spindle of the machine is a
worm, which gives a slow motion through a worm wheel and toothed
gearing to a disk or plate carrying two tapets. Parallel to the face of
the tapet disk is a pendulum or hanging lever, the lower end of which
is cranked. By means of a connecting rod or feed bar the said pendulum
lever is connected with the lever which works the carrying slide of the
rod or wire to be pointed. As the tapet disk slowly rotates its tapets
act alternately upon the cranked part of the pendulum or hanging lever
and advances the said pendulum lever nearer to the pointing apparatus
of the machine. A corresponding motion is thereby given to the slide
lever and slide, and the rod or wire fixed in the vice or gripper is
advanced slowly between the parts of the pointing apparatus, and its
end pointed in the manner before explained. By the time the end of
the rod or wire has been pointed the tapet of the disk no longer acts
upon the pendulum lever, when the said pendulum lever and the slide
lever and slide are withdrawn to their first position by the contraction
of a coiled spring, which has been elongated by the advance motion of
the said slide. By the back motion of the slide the pointed end of the
rod or wire is removed from between the parts of the pointing apparatus,
when the pointed rod or wire can be removed from the vice or gripper
and another rod or wire to be pointed fixed in its place before the feed
apparatus is ready to make its advance stroke to feed a fresh rod to the
pointing apparatus. The tapets are adjustable on their disk so as to
increase or diminish at pleasure the length of feed, and consequently
the length of the pointed part of the rod or wire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Cornforth and Joseph Dangerfield in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
CORNFORTH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Wire Manu-
facturer, and JOSEPH DANGERFIELD, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Machinist,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in'
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Samuel Cornforth and Joseph
Dangerfield, Her special license that we, the said Samuel Cornforth
and Joseph Dangerfield, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Samuel Cornforth and Joseph Danger-
field, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree 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 and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR POINTING METALLIC RODS AND
WIRE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel
Cornforth and Joseph Dangerfield, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 we, the said Samuel Cornforth and Joseph
Dangerfield, 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, that is to
say:―
Our Invention consists in constructing and arranging in the manner
herein-after described the parts of machinery for pointing metallic rods
and wire by a cutting or turning operation.
Our Invention is especially useful for pointing rods to be drawn into
wire, but our said Invention is also applicable to the pointing of metallic
rods and wire for various purposes.
. We construct and arrange the parts of the machinery in the following
manner:-Fixed on the end of the rotating spindle of the machine and
partaking of its motion is a box or case, in which a rotating steel file or
cutter of a taper figure is mounted and works, the periphery of the said

page_text: rotating file or cutter being presented to a taper depression in a die or
block fixed to the box or case described. A rapid rotatory motion is given
to the file or cutter by means of a pinion on the axis of the said file or
cutter gearing with a toothed wheel carried by the box or case, the said
› toothed wheel gearing with or rolling upon the internal teeth of a wheel
fixed to the headstock of the machine. As the box or case carrying the
file or cutter, the fixed die or block and gearing described, is rotated by
its spindle, the toothed wheel in the said box or case is carried round
or rolls upon the fixed internal wheel, and rotation is thus communicated
to the said toothed wheel, and through the pinion to the file or cutter.
The rod or wire to be pointed has no rotatory motion, but only an
advancing and retiring motion. The end of the rod or wire to be
pointed is advanced slowly into the die or block in the box or case, and
between the said die and the rotating file or cutter, and is thereby
pointed.
In place of a rotating taper file or cutter and a fixed die or block as
described a series of files or cutters arranged radially in a holder fixed
to the rotating spindle of the machine may be employed, the acting
faces of the cutters being inclined to one another, so as to form a
tapering space between them, into which the end of the rod or wire. to
be pointed is introduced.
-
The rod or wire to be pointed is fed automatically between the parts
of the pointing apparatus described, and removed therefrom after being
pointed by the following arrangement of parts:-The rod or wire is held
by a vice or gripper carried by a slide having a reciprocating motion on
the bed of the machine. The slide carrying the vice or gripper is
worked by a lever, motion to which lever is given in the following
manner: On the back of the rotating spindle of the machine is a worm
which gives a slow motion through a worm wheel and toothed gearing
to a disc or plate carrying two tappets. Parallel to the face of the
tappet disc is a pendulum or hanging lever, the lower end of which is
cranked. By means of a connecting rod or feed bar the said pendulum
lever is connected with the lever which works the carrying slide of the
rod or wire to be pointed. As the tappet disc slowly rotates its tappets
act alternately upon the cranked part of the pendulum or hanging lever,
and advance the said pendulum lever near to the pointing appartus of
the machine. A corresponding motion is thereby given to the slide
lever and slide, and the rod or wire fixed in the vice or gripper is

page_text: advanced slowly between the parts of the pointing apparatus, and its
end pointed in the manner before explained. By the time the end of
the rod or wire has been pointed the tappet of the disc no longer acts
upon the pendulum lever, when the said pendulum lever and the slide
lever and slide are withdrawn to their first position by a coiled spring.
By the back motion of the slide the pointed end of the rod or wire is
withdrawn from between the parts of the pointing apparatus, when the
pointed rod or wire can be removed from the vice or gripper and another
rod or wire to be pointed fixed in its place before the feed apparatus
is ready to make its advance stroke to feed a fresh rod to the pointing
apparatus.
Having explained the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
•
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in plan, machinery
constructed according to our Invention for pointing metallic rods or
wire; Figures 3 and 4 represent back and front elevations respectively
of the pointing apparatus of the machinery; Figure 5 is a section, and
Figure 6 a back elevation of the said pointing apparatus, drawn half
size. In Figure 3 the cover of the pointing apparatus is removed. The
same letters of reference indicate the same parts, in the several Figures
of the Drawings.
a is the rotating spindle of the machine driven in the usual way. On
the said spindle and partaking of its motion is a cylindrical box or
case b, within which a rotating steel file or cutter c works. The said
box or case 6 also carries a die or block d. The rotating file or cutter c
has a taper figure, and is presented to a taper groove in the die or
block d (see Figure 5). Motion is given to the rotating file or cutter c
in the following manner :-On the axis of the said file or cutter c is a
pinion e which gears with a toothed wheel f turning loosely on the
fixed axis carried by the cylindrical box or case 6. The toothed
wheel gears with or rolls upon an internal toothed wheel h, fixed in
the manner represented to the headstock of the machine. Motion
being given to the spindle a of the machine the box or case 6 carrying
the rotating file or cutter c, fixed die or block d, and gearing e, f,
is rotated by the said spindle, and the toothed wheel ƒ is carried round
or rolled upon the fixed internal toothed wheel h, and a rapid rotatory
motion is thereby communicated through the said toothed wheel f

page_text: and the pinion e to the file or cutter c. The rod or wire i to be pointed
having only a sliding motion is advanced in the manner herein-after
explained, and its end introduced between the die or block d and
rotating file or cutter c. By the rotation of the cylindrical box or
case b the rotating file or cutter c is carried round the end of the rod
or wire i, and every part of it operated upon by the said rotating file
and pointed by the reducing or filing action of the said rotating file,
the taper figure of the file and die or block d determining the taper
figure given to the end of the rod or wire.
Instead of using a single rotating file or cutter a series of rotating
files or cutters may be combined in the same box or holder, and be
worked in the same manner as a single file or cutter. In this arrange-
ment the fixed die or block d is dispensed with.
Figure 7 and 8 represent back and front elevations respectively
drawn half size of the rotating box or case 6 on the spindle of the
machine and the fixed internal toothed wheel h, the said box or case b
being furnished with a series of three rotating taper files or cutters;
Figure 9 represents in longitudinal section one of the rotating files or
cutters. The said rotating files or cutters are marked respectively
k, l, m, the said cutters being so arranged that their inclined peripheries
enclose a tapering space into which the end of the rod or wire i to be
pointed is introduced. Each of the rotating files or cutters k, l, m, is
independently driven by means of the pinions n, n, n, on their axes,
the said pinions gearing with toothed wheels n², n³, n³, and the latter
gearing with or rolling upon the fixed internal toothed wheel h.
the rotation of the spindle a of the machine a rapid rotatory motion
is given through the toothed gearing represented to each of the files
or cutters k, l, m, and the end of the rod or wire i introduced between
them is rapidly pointed.
On
The automatic feeding mechanism of the machine for feeding the rod
or wire into the pointing apparatus described, and for removing the
pointed wire therefrom is constructed and worked as follows:-The rod
or wire i to be pointed is held by the vice or gripper p, p², carried by the
slide 9, the said slide working on guides on the bed of the machine, and
having a reciprocating motion given to it, the said slide coming tem-
porarily to rest after each back stroke. The vice or gripper consists of a
fixed jaw p and a moveable jaw p³, the latter being worked by the
screw p³ carried by a saddle piece secured to the fixed jaw. By turning

page_text: 8
the screw p³ in one or other direction the vice or gripper may be rapidly
opened or closed. The slide q carrying the wire or rod i is advanced
towards the pointing apparatus at 6, so as to feed the said wire or rod i
into the said apparatus, and the said slide is withdrawn so as to remove
the pointed wire from the pointing apparatus in the following manner :—
r, 1², are arms fixed on the axis 7³, the said parts constituting a lever.
The upper short arm r of the said lever passes through and works in a
slot in the slide 2, as represented. Connected to the longer arm ³ of
the said lever by means of the rod or feed bar is a pendulum or
hanging levers turning on the centre 83. Motion is, given to the
lever,, to advance the slide 2 and feed the wire between the pointing
apparatus by the operation of the pendulum lever s, and the return
motion of the said lever r, r², and pendulum levers to remove the
pointed wire from the pointing apparatus is effected by the coiled
spring 2, one end of the said spring being secured to the lever r, r³, and
the other end to the framing of the machine. The pendulum lever & is
worked by the rotating tappet disc or plate t, the tappets on the said
disc being marked u, u. A slow rotation is given to the tappet disc / from
the spindle a by the following gearing :-On the end of the said spindle a
is a worm v, which gears with the worm wheel w. On the axis w³ of
the worm wheel wis a pinion which gears with the toothed wheel y,
and on the axis of the toothed wheel y is a pinion 2, which gears with a
toothed wheel 1 on the axis of the tappet disc t. As the tappet disc t
slowly rotates its tappets u, u, act alternately upon the face 8* of the
cranked lower end of the pendulum or hanging lever s, and advance the
said lever. In the Drawing the pendulum levers is represented
advanced by one of the tappets u. By the advance of the said pendulum
levers a corresponding motion is given to the slide lever ", ³, and
slide q, and the rod or wire i is advanced between the parts of the
pointing apparatus and its end pointed, as before described. When the
pendulum levers has reached the position represented the end of the.
wire has been pointed, and the tappet is about escaping from the said
pendulum lever. On the tappet escaping from the face 8 of the
pendulum lever the said lever is returned to its normal or vertical
position by the contraction of the spring 75 acting through the lever 7, 1ºª,
and feed bar, the said spring having been elongated by the advance of
the said lever r, r³, to which one of its ends is fixed. As the pendulum
lever & resumes its normal position the face of the said lever is brought
nearly in contact with the other tappet on the tappet disc ready at the

page_text: proper time to be acted upon by the last-named tappet. By the back
motion of the slide », ³, the pointed end of the rod or wire i is removed
from the pointing apparatus, and the said slide comes temporarily to
rest. The pointed rod or wire a is now removed from the vice or
gripper p, p², and a fresh wire fixed in its place. By the slow rotation
of the tappet disc tone of its tappets is again brought into action, and
the pendulum lever and slide lever again advanced, and the fresh rod
or wire fed between the pointing apparatus. The tappets u, u, are
adjustable. on their disc t, so as to increase or diminish at pleasure the
length of feed, and consequently the length of the pointed part of the
rod or wire.
The gearing represented in the Drawing for operating the tappet disc t
is suitable for a machine containing but one rotating file or cutter.
When we use three rotating files or cutters we employ gearing which
will advance the wire or rod with three times the velocity of that
represented. This alteration only requires speed wheels of different
sizes.
Having now described the nature of our Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood
that we do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described
and illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of our Invention; but we claim as our Invention,―
Firstly. The construction and arrangement of the parts of machinery
for pointing metallic rods or wire herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, machinery consisting
essentially of a rotating taper file or cutter and a die or block or a series
of rotating taper files or cutters, between which the end of the rod or
wire is introduced, the said file or cutter and die or block or series of
files or cutters being carried around and made to operate upon the end
of the wire or rod by a cylindrical box or holder fixed to the rotating
spindle of the machine, the rotating file or cutter or files or cutters being
driven by toothed gearing and a fixed internal toothed wheel, sub-
stantially as described and illustrated.
Secondly. The construction and arrangement of parts, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings,
for automatically feeding the end of the wire or rod to be pointed

page_text: between the pointing apparatus, and for removing the pointed wire or
rod from the said apparatus.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Cornforth and Joseph
Dangerfield, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
SAMUEL CORNFORTH. (L.S.)
JOSEPH DANGERFIED. (L.S.)