IMPROVEMENTS IN MA- CHINERY FOR SHAPING AND FORGING METALS INTO RIVETS, BOLTS, SCREW BLANKS, AND LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Watkins, of the London Works, Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MA-
CHINERY FOR SHAPING AND FORGING METALS INTO RIVETS, BOLTS, SCREW
BLANKS, AND LIKE ARTICLES."
Sealed the 29th March 1867, and dated the 28th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Watkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
· December 1866.
I, FRANCIS WATKINS, of the London Works, Birmingham, in the County'
of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING AND FORGING METALS INTO RIVETS, BOLTS,
SCREWS, BLANKS, AND LIKE ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
In the frame of the machine is supported the main or driving shaft, ont
which are fastened a pinion, a driving pulley, a fly wheel, and an eccentric or
cam. The pinion gears into a spur wheel and drives another shaft parallel
with the main shaft. On this shaft are two similar cams, one at each end,'
whose use is to actuate two slides, in the ends of which the heading tools or
formers are placed. There are two rotating discs or carriers of dies at the.
ends of another shaft also parallel to the main shaft, on which shaft is placed

page_text: and keyed a ratchet or feed wheel worked by a hooked rod which is pin-
jointed to a lever acted on by a cam. In the periphery of each of the discs
or die carriers are placed dies for receiving the shanks or necks of the rivets,
bolts, screw blanks, or other article. Inside of these dies are "tippers" or
sliding bolts for discharging the blanks, which perform their work by means
of their back ends being cranked and resting in the groove of a stationary
cam; a sliding plug is used in order to hold the disc or die carrier in a fixed
position. During the operation of heading the blanks it is pressed up by a
spring, so that should any accident occur the disc or die carrier not revolving
correctly the plug may yield. There is a cutter lever driven at one end by a
cam on the main shaft, and to the other end of which lever is fixed a cutting
tool which acts in connection with a fixed tool or cutter for cutting off the
proper length for a rivet or screw blank or other article at the time that the
self-acting feed is not at work. A pair of grooved rollers are used to each disc
or die carrier for feeding a rod or bar into the machine; the rollers are made
to operate at intervals by means of a ratchet wheel put in motion by a cam
and lever, which by a connecting rod puts in motion another lever to which a
pawl taking into the teeth of the ratchet is jointed. The top roller of each
pair of feed rollers is not driven except by the friction of the bar or rod
passing between the rollers, and is retained in its position on the bar or rod
by a weighted lever. The two sides of this machine are alike, so that two
blanks can be headed simultaneously. The rods or bars of metal are heated
in a suitable furnace. The machine being in motion a rod or bar of metal
from which a blank is to be formed is placed between each pair of the feed
rollers, by means of which each rod is fed forward out of the furnace when hot
metal is used through the stationary cutter into one of the dies or tools, and
is cut off as before described. The cam shaft by its cam acts on the ratchet
wheel by means of the hooked rod and the lever, and causes the die carriers
to revolve one tooth for each revolution of the main shaft. The cut-off
portions of the bars or rods are by the step-by-step motions given to the
rotating die carriers moved forward a certain distance at each revolution of
the main shaft of the machine, and when the cut-off portions of the bars or
rods arrive opposite to the heading tools, and the rotating die carriers are at
rest, the heading tools are caused to advance by means of the cams and slides
when heads are forced up or formed on the two blanks; this done the plug
which previously retained the revolving die carrier is withdrawn, and allows
the discs or carriers to revolve again to bring the next blanks into position to
be headed, and by their revolution they partly eject the finished blanks from
the tools or dies, and they are wholly ejected when the discs arrive below the

page_text: axes of the rotating discs or die carriers. When the self-feeding arrangement
is not worked the blanks may be cut off to the proper lengths by cutting tools,
and then placed by hand into the dies.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Watkins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
WATKINS, of the London Works, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Francis Watkins, Her special licence that I, the said
Francis Watkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Francis Watkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter 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 Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING AND FORGING METALS INTO RIVETS,
BOLTS, SCREW BLANKS, AND LIKE ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Francis Watkins, 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 Francis Watkins, 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:
In the frame of the machine is supported the main or driving shaft, ou
which are fastened a pinion, a driving pulley, a fly wheel, and an eccentric or
cam. The pinion gears into a spur wheel and drives another shaft parallel with
the main shaft. On this sbaft are two similar cams, one at each end, whose

page_text: use is to actuate two slides, in the ends of which the heading tools or formers
are placed. There are two rotating dies or carriers of dies at the ends of
another shaft, also parallel to the main shaft, on which shaft is placed and
keyed a ratchet or feed wheel worked by a hooked rod, which is pin-jointed to
a lever acted on by a cam. In the periphery of each of the discs or die
.carriers are placed dies for receiving the shanks or necks of the rivets, bolts,
screw blanks, or other article. Inside of these dies are "tippers" or sliding
bolts for discharging the blanks, which perform their work by means of their
back ends being cranked and resting in the groove of a stationary cam; a
sliding plug is used in order to hold the disc or die carrier in a fixed position.
During the operation of heading the blanks it is pressed up by a spring, so
that should any accident occur the disc or die carrier not revolving correctly
the plug may yield. There is a cutter lever driven at one end by a cam on
the main shaft, and to the other end of which lever is fixed a cutting tool,
which acts in connection with a fixed tool or cutter for cutting off the proper
Jength for a rivet or screw blank, or other article at the time that the self-
acting feed is not at work. A pair of grooved rollers are used to each disc or
die carrier for feeding a rod or bar into the machine; the rollers are made to
operate at intervals by means of a ratchet wheel put in motion by a cam and
lever, which by a connecting rod puts in motion another lever to which a pawi
taking into the teeth of the ratchet is jointed. The top roller of each pair of
feed rollers is not driven except by the friction of the bar or rod passing
between the rollers, and is retained in its position on the bar or rod by a
weighted lever. The two sides of this machine are alike, so that two blanks
can be headed simultaneously. The rods or bars of metal are heated in a
suitable furnace; the machine being in motion a rod or bar of metal from
.which a blank is to be formed is placed between each pair of the feed rollers,
by means of which each rod is fed forward out of the furnace when hot metal
is used through the stationary cutter into one of the dies or tools, and is cut
off, as before described. The cam shaft by its cam acts on the ratchet wheel
by means of the hooked rod and the lever, and causes the die carriers to
revolve one tooth for each revolution of the main shaft. The cut off portions
of the bars or rods are by step-by-step motions given to the rotating die
.carriers moved forward a certain distance at each revolution of the main shaft
of the machine, and when the cut off portions of the bars or rods arrive
opposite to the heading tools and the rotating die carriers are at rest, the
heading tools are caused to advance by means of the cams and slides when
heads are forced up or formed on the two blanks; this done, the plug which
previously retained the revolving die carrier is withdrawn and allows the discs

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of a machine arranged
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a plan partly in section; Figure 3 is
a section through the line P and Q, Figure 2; and Figure 4 is an end
elevation of the machine.
A is the frame of the machine; B is the main or driving shaft, on
which are fastened the pinion B', the pulleys B", the fly wheel B, and
the excentric cam 1'. The pinion B¹ gears into the spur wheel C and drives
the shaft C; on the shaft C' are the cams D₁ and Du, whose use is to
actuate the slides D, in the end of which the heading tool or former Dis
placed; E represents a head or disc, so arranged as to form a part of the
shaft F, and on which is placed and keyed the ratchet or feed wheel G,
worked by the connecting rod G¹, the lever G", and the cam G. In the
periphery of the disc or head E are placed the bores or tools E¹ for forming
the shank or neck of the rivet, bolt, screw blank, or other article, and inside
of these tools working in the grooves O, in the disc E, the tippers, or mandrils
E for discharging the blanks are placed, and are made to perform their
work by means of their back ends resting on the stationary cam E, and the
hook on one side made to fit in the groove in the cams E. H represents
a plug fitted into the end of the slide, behind which is fixed a spring, so
arranged as to allow the plug to recede into the slide should any accident
occur in the disc not revolving properly, and whose use is to hold the disc E
in a fixed position during the operation of heading the blanks by entering
holes bored in its periphery. I represents a cutting lever driven by the cam I'
on the shaft B, and to the end of which is fixed the cutting tool I" working
in connection with the fixed tool I for cutting off the rivet or screw blank
previous to heading, when the self-acting feed is not at work, as may some-.
times be necessary. J and J¹ represents a pair of grooved rollers used for
feeding the bar into the machine; they are made to operate by means of the

page_text: ratchet wheel J the lever J and the connecting rod J attached to the
Jever Gand the wheels K and K on the shafts K" and K. The top
roller J is not driven except by the friction of the bar passing between the
rollers, and is retained in its position on the bar by the weight L and the
lever L and the stud L. M is the stationary cutting tool used for severing
the blanks from the bar. It will be seen, that the two side elevations of the
machine are duplicates, so that its action is a compound one, and two blanks
can be headed simultaneously.
Having described the construction I will now proceed to describe the
operation of the machine. The machine being in motion a rod of metal from
which a blank is to be formed is placed between, the feed rollers J and J', by
means of which it is forced forward into one of the bores or tools E¹ through
the stationary tool M when the cam G¹¹ acting on the ratchet wheel G, by
means of the hoooked rod G¹ and the lever G" causes the drum to revolve one
tooth or step for each revolution of the shaft C, and at each step, the tool M,
acting with one of the bores or tools E¹, shears or cuts off a blank of the
proper length, which is subsequently carried forward a step at each revolution
of the main shaft; when it bas arrived at a point opposite to the heading tool
D; and when the disc E is at a state of rest, the beading tool is caused to
advance by means of the cam D', and it forms a head on the blank of the
required shape. The cam D" now begins to operate and carries the tool Du
back, withdrawing the plug H from the disc E, into which it had been forced
by the forward motion of the slide D, and setting the disc free to revolve
again to bring up the next blank, and the same motion partly ejects the
finished blank, from its tool or bore E', which is wholly effected when it
arrives at the bottom of the disc; this bore is then free to receive another
blank when the self-feeding arrangement is not at work; the blanks are cut off
to the proper length by the cutting tools I and I, and then placed by
hand into the bores E', when the operation is in all respects similar to that
described.
Figure 5, is a longitudinal section, and Figure 6 is a transverse section of
a furnace suitable for heating the rods when the metal is of a nature to
require to be worked hot. R is an air chamber, the top of which is perforated
with a number of small holes to allow the air to reach the fire; the air passes
into the box or chamber R through the blast pipes S; the upper part of the
furnace is constructed of brick with a moveable top or covers, so arranged as
to allow them to be removed to insert the fuel. A small chimney carries
off the gases, or a larger chimney may be used and the blast dispensed
with.

page_text: Having thus described the nnture of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,-
First, the general arrangement of machinery herein-before described for
shaping and forging metals into rivets, bolts, screw blanks, and like articles.
Second, the combining for shaping and forging metals into riyets, bolts,
screw blanks, and like articles, of a rotating disc E having bores or tools E¹
at its periphery, with a heading tool D and plungers E", as described...
Third, the combining for shaping and forging metals into rivets, bolts,
screw blanks, and like articles of a rotating disc E having bores or tools E¹
at its periphery, with a hollow tool M, through which the rods of metal are
fed, and which acts with the bores or tools E¹ to cut the metal into lengths
which remain in the said bores or tools, and are beaded therein.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Watkins, bave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
F. WATKINS. (L.S.)