IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING HORSE-SHOE AND OTHER NAILS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, GG, Chancery Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING
HORSE-SHOE AND OTHER NAILS."-A communication from abroad by
Sebastien Schlesinger, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts,
United States of America.
Sealed the 15th September 1870, and dated the 2nd April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd April 1870.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING HORSE-
SHOE AND OTHER NAILS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to make horse-shoe nails and other
nails with large heads in a more economical way than heretofore.

page_text: The nails are made from rods of suitable section and thickness
according to the dimensions of the intended nail and the size of the
head.
The nails are made by means of a series of hammering operations
performed by an arrangement of vibrating hammers actuated by cranks
and rods set in motion by the main driving shaft.
The operating instruments or tools to form the nail consist of an
upper and lower hammer, which work up and down in combination
with a pair of side hammers or squeezers, which are mounted on vertical
shafts or spindles and operate in combination, but alternately with the
top and bottom hammers. The red-hot rail rod is fed into the machine
(by the workman) through a tube which is capable of being moved
laterally by means of a handle when it is required to cut off the finished
nail from the rod. When the rod is fed in through the feeding tube
the top and bottom hammers will by a series of blows reduce that part
of the rod which forms the shank of the nail to the proper thickness.
At the same time the side hammers operate alternately with the top
and bottom hammer and form the width of the nail. The face of the
top hammer has a flat groove made in it, and its forward end is bevilled
off to form the head of the nail. The faces of the side hammers arc
flat, but are so arranged in relation to each other that they form the
sbank of the proper taper in width to produce the point. Their forward
ends are however bevilled off so as to produce the wedge-shaped head
which is required for horse-shoc and some other descriptions of nails.
When the nail is finished all but cutting off, the workman by means of
a handle shunts the feeding tube on one side, and thereby brings the rod
between a pair of cutting jaws formed by one cutting edge on the fixed
part of the framing, and another on the lever which carries the lower
hammer. On the moveable cutting jaw rising it will cut off from the
rod the finished nail, which will fall down on to an inclined plate or
spout, and will be delivered into any suitable receptable below.
The hammers may be worked by various mechanical devices and
arrangements, but in the present machine the bottom hammer is adapted
to a lever, one end of which turns on a pivot or centre at the front end
of the machine, and is worked by means of a link, which connects its
other end to a crank on the main driving shaft. The upper hammer is
fixed on a counter shaft mounted in bearings on the top framing of the
machine and is actuated from the main driving shaft below by means

page_text: of a crank on the end of the latter, which is jointed to and works a
vibrating arm on the end of the counter shaft above. The required
horizontal motion is given to the side hammer by means of a double set
of levers fixed on a second counter shaft mounted in bearings at the end
of the machine, and to which shaft an oscillating motion is commu-
nicated from the main driving shaft by means of a crank pin on the side
of the band pulley, which is connected by a link to a vibrating lever
arm on the end of the counter shaft. The double set of levers on this
shaft are connected by rods and chains to the vertical pins or axles
which carry the horizontal hammers, so that as the counter shaft
oscillates in its bearings the horizontal hammers may be alternately
closed on the nail and drawn back therefrom.
The shunting motion for bringing the rod with the finished nail under
the cutters is effected in the following manner :-The feeding tube is
mounted in a frame which is capable of being turned horizontally on its
vertical axle, which is mounted in bearings in a bracket fixed to the
stationary framing of the machine. At the outer end of the feeding
tube frame is an arm which is capable of being pulled round on its
centre by a link worked by a handle or lever under the control of the
workman. When the latter requires to cut off the finished nail he
by means of the handle pulls over the before-mentioned lever and
brings its end opposite to an adjustable stop fixed in the lower hammer
lever. Upon this latter moving back its stop will push back the lever
and with it the feeding tube frame, which by turning on its vertical axis
will move the feeding tube and nail rod on one side and bring it under
the cutters, which will cut off the finished nail from the rod and let it
fall on to the inclined spout, as before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her
special licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, 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
'IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING HORSE-SHOE AND OTHER NAILS," being a
communication to me from Sebastien Schlesinger, of Boston, in the State
of Massachusetts, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
―
The object of this Invention is to make horse-shoe nails and other
nails with large heads in a more economical way than heretofore.
The nails are made from rods of suitable section and thickness
according to the dimensions of the intended nails and the size of the
head.
The nails are made by means of a series of hammering operations
performed by an arrangement of vibrating hammers actuated by cranks
and rods set in motion by the main driving shaft.
The operating instruments or tools to form the nail consist of an upper
and lower hammer, which work up and down in combination with a pair
of side hammers or squeezers, which are mounted on vertical shafts or
spindles, and operate in combination (but alternately) with the top and

page_text: bottom hammers. The red hot nail rod is fed into the machine (by the
workman) through a tube which is capable of being moved laterally by
means of a handle when it is required to cut off the finished nail from
the rod. When the rod in a red hot state is fed in through the feeding
tube the top and bottom hammers will by a series of blows reduce the
part of the rod which forms the shank of the nail to the proper form and
thickness. At the same time the side hammers will operate alternately
with the top and bottom hammer and will form the width of the nail.
The face of the top hammer has a flat groove made in it, and its forward
end is bevilled off to form the head of the nail. The faces of the side
hammers are flat, but are so arranged in relation to each other that they
form the shank of the proper taper in width to produce the point. Their
forward ends are, however, bevilled off so as to produce the wedge-
shaped head which is required for horse-shoc and some other descriptions
of nails. When the nail is finished all but cutting off the workman by
means of a handle shunts the feeding tube on one side, and thereby
brings the rod between a pair of cutting jaws formed by one cutting
edge on the fixed part of the framing and another on the lever which
carries the lower hammer. On the moveable cutting jaw rising it will
cut off from the rod the finished nail, which will fall down on to an
inclined plate or spout, and will be delivered into any suitable receptacle
below.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a nail
forging machine constructed according to the Invention; Fig. 2 is a
plan of the same; and Fig. 3, an end elevation.
The Invention is chiefly applicable to the manufacture of nails for the
shoes of horses and other animals, but the machine may be employed in
the manufacture of nails for other uses. The machine is provided with
three hammers and a moveable anvil or lower hammer.
The upper
hammer a works in conjunction with the lower hammer or moveable
anvil b. The side hammers c, c', also work in conjunction with the
other hammers, but give their blows at times when the upper hammer a
and the anvil bare withdrawn. The moveable anvil and upper hammer
also operate at times when the side hammers are withdrawn. To the
main shaft d (which is cranked at the centre of the machine) rotation is
given from any prime mover by means of a band passed round the
pulley on the end of the shaft d. The crank of the shaft is
connected to one end of the arm or lever e, the other end of this arm or

page_text: lever being pivotted to the frame of the machine at f,. The anvil 6 is
a block of steel attached to this lever or arm e, but capable of being
removed therefrom. On its operative face there is, as before mentioned,
a sunken part of the form or shape of the under side of the nail. The
upper hammer a is attached to or forms part of a helve or lever a',
secured to a rocking shaft g, which has a rocker arm connected by a
linki (shown by dots in Fig. 1) to a crank pin on the end of the main
shaft d. The side hammers c, c', vibrate on vertical axles c², c², and are
moved by bands or chains k, which pass around the axles c and have
their ends secured to pulleys or rollers fixed on the rocker shaft m, on
the end of which is keyed a rocker arm a, which is vibrated from a crank
pin fixed on the pulley or wheel & on the end of the shaft d, the
connection being made by the link o.
The faces of the side and upper hammers are made (like the anvil
face) of such forms as are necessary to produce the shape of the nail
to be wrought or forged from the end of a heated wire or bar. In
working with this machine several such bars are heated in an adjacent
furnace, and the heated bars are successively brought under the action
of the hammers a, b, and c by introducing the end of the bar through
the directing or guiding tube p. This tube forms part of the T-shaped
piece q pivotted on horizontal pivots at r, r, to a piece 8, which has a
long vertical spindlet fitted in bearings attached to the frame. To this
picces is pivotted the arm u, which is connected by a link v to the
pivotted arms w, which can be vibrated by throwing the handle into
the position seen in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The handle x is held in the
position in which it is shown in Fig. 2 by the spring y, which is coiled
around the axis of the arm 10. The guiding tube p is held in the
position in which it is shewn in Fig. 2 by the spring seen at ≈, which
is coiled around the spindle t. On the anvil arm e (at the left of the
operator as he stands facing the directing tube p) is a cutter c', above a
which (fixed to the frame of the machine) is a stationary cutter f¹,
and when the end of the heated nail rod in the tube P is completely
forged (by the action of the hammers) then the operator moves the
lever x to the position shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 2, which will bring
the free end of the arm & opposite a projection on the anvil arm c, so
that as this arm is moved it causes a movement of the pieces and
the guiding p, and brings the rod (which is therein) under the
cutters e, f, before mentioned. The end of the tube p is guided in a

page_text: curved slot made in that part of the machine frame marked a'. The
result of bringing the nail rod between the cutters will be that the
forged nail will be severed from the nail rod, and will fall down into a
receptacle below. When the operator releases his hold of the lever x
then the springs y and will return the parts to the position shown in
the Drawings. The nail rod in the guiding tube p is then removed, and
a freshly heated rod is introduced through the tube p and submitted to
the action of the hammers in the manner already described.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me as aforesaid, and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent as aforesaid, the combination of the vertical and horizontal
hammers or squeezers working alternately, as herein set forth, for the
purpose of forging or fashioning the heated nail rod into the form of
nail with the arrangement shewn and described for cutting off from the
licated rod the nail so formed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy.