Improvements in or connected with the Manufacture of Sheet Metal Cans or Boxes
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Manufacture of Sheet Metal
Cans or Boxes,
I, FREDERICK WILLIAM FEAVER, of 12, Lawrence Road, South Norwood, in
the County of Surrey, Metal Worker, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the manufacture of sheet metal cans or boxes of the
kind described in the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to me
No. 21477 of 1892 wherein cuts or grooves are formed in the lids or covers to
facilitate the tearing out of metal strips for opening such boxes.
Various means have heretofore been used for forming these cuts or grooves
but in practice none of them have been successful as after a short time the cutting
edges become worn to such an extent that the cuts or grooves cannot be formed
with certainty and uniformity.
The object of my invention is to overcome these difficulties and to this end I
make use of a die having ribs or cutting edges corresponding to the cuts or
grooves to be formed. The piece of sheet metal to be acted upon is placed upon
this die and then a rolling pressure is applied to press the sheet metal against
the said die in order to impress the cuts or grooves therein.
In practice when making the cuts or grooves in the lids of round tins I find
it advantageous to arrange the cutting die upon a vertical axis so that the face of
it is in a horizontal plane and to rotate the said die, the pressure being applied
to the metal upon the said die by means of a roller carried upon a pivoted lever
which roller rotates as the die with the metal upon it rotates beneath it.
D
ມາ. - ១០. 1
100
Improvements in or connected with the Manufacture of Sheet Metal
Cans or Boxes.
I, FREDERICK WILLIAM FEAVER, of 12, Lawrence Road, South Norwood, in
the County of Surrey, Metal Worker, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to the manufacture of sheet metal cans or boxes of the
kind described in the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to me

page_text: No. 21477 of 1892 wherein cuts or grooves are formed in the lids or covers to
facilitate the tearing out of metal strips for opening such boxes.
Various means have heretofore been used for forming these cuts or grooves
but in practice none of them have been successful as after a short time the cutting
edges become worn to such an extent that the cuts or grooves cannot be formed
with certainty and uniformity.
The object of my invention is to overcome these difficulties and to this end I
make use of a die having ribs or cutting edges corresponding to the cuts or
grooves to be formed. The piece of sheet metal to be acted upon is placed upon
this die and then a rolling pressure is applied to press the sheet metal against
the said die in order to impress the cuts or grooves therein.
When making the cuts or grooves in the lids of round tins I find it advantageous
to arrange the cutting die upon a vertical axis so that the face of it is in a hori-
zontal plane and to rotate the said die, the pressure being applied to the metal
upon the said die by means of a roller which rotates as the die with the metal
upon it rotates beneath it.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a sectional front elevation of a machine suitable for use in the
manufacture of sheet metal cans according to my invention:
Figures 2 and 3 are sectional side views illustrating details:
Figure 4 is a sectional elevation of the pressure rollers shown in Figure 1
drawn to an enlarged scale; and,
Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of the cutting die also drawn to an enlarged
scale:
Figure 6 is a plan view of the said die; and,
Figure 7 is a plan view of a box end having grooves formed upon this die.
a is the frame of the machine and is a shaft or spindle journalled vertically
in the said frame and carrying at its upper end the cutting die e upon the face
of which ribs or cutting edges d, d are formed corresponding with the shape
of the grooves to be formed in the sheet metal which is pressed upon or against
the said die.
c, e are rollers which serve to apply the pressure to the sheet metal, the said
rollers being shewn as mounted in a block f sliding in guides in the frame a
and adapted to be reciprocated in order to move the rollers towards the cutting
die and move them away therefrom.
g is a driving shaft which is mounted in bearings in the head of the frame a
and which carries a gear wheel through which motion is transmitted to the
shaft through the medium of the gear wheel i, shaft, bevel wheels 2, 3,
shaft and bevel wheels, the latter of which is fixed to the shaft b; the
said shaft g also carries a cam which works inside a stirrup k fixed to the slide
block f in a manner which will be clearly understood by reference to Figures 1
and 2, the said cam j as the shaft rotates transmitting reciprocating motion to
the block f in order to bring the rollers e, e carried thereby into proximity to
the cutting die and to move them away therefrom at the desired time.
The gear wheel is not fixed to the shaft g but is adapted to receive motion
therefrom through the medium of a clutch 7. In the drawing I have represented
the clutch as being of the friction type one part of which is connected with the
shaft g by a feather and formed with a conical surface which engages with a
hollow cone on the back of the wheel 4. In connection with this clutch is a
lever m pivoted to the frame a at n and engaging at one end in the groove of
the clutch whilst the other end is acted upon by a cam o fixed to the shaft g
and of the shape shewn in Figure 3; a spring p, between the frame, a and the
lever m, serves normally to hold the clutch open so that no movement is imparted
to the wheel h.
With this arrangement as the shaft g rotates the cam o during a certain part

page_text: of the rotation of the said shaft will act upon the lever m and engage the two
parts of the clutch so that rotary motion will be imparted to the gear wheel h
and thence to the shaft and the cutting die c whilst during another part of
the rotation of the shaft g the die c will remain stationary. It will also be under-
stood that at each rotation of the shaft g the block f with its rollers e, e will
be moved down to bring its rollers in contact with the piece of metal placed upon
the die c.
In practice it is necessary that the movement of the block f relatively with
the die a should be such that when the movement of the said block f towards
the dic is completed, sufficient pressure shall be applied to the metal lying upon
the said die to form grooves corresponding with the ribs upon the die to a
sufficient depth to ensure the tearing out of the strip; care must be taken, how-
ever, that the ribs do not cut completely through the metal.
In order to provide for regulating the relative positions of the cutting die c
and the pressure rollers e, e I have represented the lower end of the shaft b as
being carried in a bearing q which can be vertically adjusted by means of a set
screw q¹.
If found necessary in order to determine the downward movement of the
rollers e, e, they may be arranged to come into contact with the outer parts of
the piece of metal upon the die, the height of a ring r surrounding the die being
such that the said ring serves as a stop and will prevent the ribs d, d penetrat-
ing more than the required distance into the substance of the tin.
find it advantageous that the cutting die e upon which the ribs d, d are
formed should have formed in its face a groover and that the lids to be grooved
or indented should have a corresponding projecting rib which will fit into
the said groove as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 5, this arrangement
serving to ensure that the lid to be indented. shall be properly placed relatively
with the cutting ribs d, d. For convenience I have represented this groove r
as being formed between the bevelled edge of the die proper and the inner sur-
face of the ring r surrounding the die.
As the block f rises the rotary cutting die e will come to rest and during this
time the operator will remove the grooved lid from the die c and place another lid
upon the same for grooving, as now the block f moves down and presses against
the lid upon the diee the latter will rotate to form grooves and so on.
It might occur that the momentum of the parts would cause the die e to con-
tinue to rotate after the clutch was opened; I therefore advantageously arrange
in connection with the lever m a brake block t which is loose upon the shaft g
and the conical end of which engages with a hollow cone u upon the wheel h;
it will be understood by reference to the drawing how when the clutch lis closed
the brake block is moved away from the wheel and how when the clutch
opened the said brake operates to stop the rotation of the parts.
is
The grooves which are formed in the box lid or cover may be of any desirable
shape according to the kind of strip which is to be pulled out, for instance in
Figure 7, in which the dot and dash lines indicate the strip which is to be pulled
out; it will be understood that this strip does not extend quite around the tin
the part where the cuts do not extend forming a kind of hinge; it will also be
noticed that the grooves are formed for tearing out a strip of circular shape;
if desired, however, the said strip may be of oval shape or square or of any other
desirable shape it only being necessary that the rollers e, e by means of which
the lid is pressed on the cutting ribs should be sufficiently broad to ensure that
during the rotation of the die e the said ribs should always run beneath the
rollers. Instead of arranging that the rollers e, e should be moved towards the
cutting die c the arrangement may be reversed, that is to say, the rollers e, e
may be arranged in a stationary block and the rotary die c may be moved towards
and away from the said rollers. Also, if desired, instead of rotating the die c
the latter may remain stationary and the rollers e, e rotated.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
-
1. Apparatus for grooving the lids or covers of sheet metal cans or boxes
wherein a die having ribs upon it corresponding with the grooves to be formed is
arranged to co-operate with pressure rollers in such a manner that when the said
die and rollers are rotated relatively with one another, the said ribs will be pressed
into a sheet of metal placed between the die and rollers, substantially as described.
2. In apparatus for grooving the lids of sheet metal cans or boxes the com-
bination of a rotary die having ribs upon it, pressure rollers mounted in a block
adjacent to the said die and means for moving the said block with the pressure
rollers towards the die, substantially as described.
3. In apparatus for grooving the lids or covers of sheet metal cans or boxes the
combination of a cutting die adapted to be intermittently rotated and of pressure
rollers mounted in a block reciprocated relatively with the said rotary die, sub-
stantially as described.
4. The improved apparatus for grooving the lids or covers of sheet metal cans
or boxes consisting of the parts constructed and combined substantially in the
manner herein before described and operating as, and for the purposes, set forth.
Dated the 28th day of July 1898.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.