Improved Machinery for Cutting Tubular Metal Cases to Given Lengths.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Sept., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 5th June, 1890-Accepted, 5th July, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Machinery for Cutting Tubular Metal Cases to
Given Lengths.
I ARTHUR GREENWOOD of Albion Works, Leeds in the County of York, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to provide a simple machine for reducing drawn
metallic cases to given lengths with great expedition, such, for example, as unfinished
cartridge cases, and the unfinished metallic envelopes used in the manufacture of
compound bullets.
To this end, I provide an elastic chuck for the reception of the tubular case to be
operated upon, and drive it in the usual way.
In front of this chuck I fit a horizontal slide, which carries a plunger in line with
the axis of the chuck. This slido is advanced and drawn back by the crank pin of a
countershaft, fitted with a connecting rod, which acts upon the slide through a rock
lever.
The cases to be cut are fed down an inclined shute provided with a retaining lip,
and so situate with respect to the chuck, that as the plunger advances, it will enter the
last of the series of cases in the shute, and thrust it forward into the grip of the
chuck.
The cutter consists of a knife-edged disc, loosely mounted on one end of a rock
lever, the other end of which overlies an edge cam on a cam shaft arranged parallel
with the axis of the chuck.
By the rotation of this cam, the cutter is depressed onto the tubular case, which, as
it is rotated under the cutter, is reduced to a certain determined length. When this
result is attained, the cutter is moved clear of the work, and another tubular case,
advanced on the end of the plunger, passes the case which has been operated upon,
through the chuck into a box or receptacle placed to receive the same.
The rotation of the chuck, it will be understood, is independent of the movement of
the cam shaft, which, however, through bevil gear, imparts motion to the countershaft
before mentioned, and so to the plunger slide.
Dated this 5th day of Santember 1889
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Machinery for Cutting Tubular Metal Cases to
Given Lengths.
I, ARTHUR GREENWOOD of Albion Works, Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:—
The object of this invention is to provide a simple machine for reducing drawn
metallic cases to given lengths, with great expedition, such, for example, as unfinished
cartridge cases, and the unfinished metallic envelopes used in the manufacture of
compound bullets.
To this end, I provide an elastic chuck for the reception of the tubular case to
be operated upon, and drive it in the usual way.
In front of this chuck, I fit a horizontal slide which carries a plunger in line with
the axis of the chuck. This slide is advanced, and caused to drive forward, into the
grip of the chuck, the lowermost of a series of tubes fed down an inclined shute

page_text: provided with a retaining lip. These cases are thus severally presented to a cutter
consisting of a knife-edged disc, carried by a rock lever, and as the cases are rotated
under the cutter, they will be reduced to a certain determinate length.
In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the
improved tube cutting machine, adapted for trimming cartridge cases.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and
Fig. 3 is an elevation of the delivery end of the machine.
A A is the bedplate of the machine, supported on standards A'. Bolted to this bed-
plate is a headstock B, in the bearings of which a hollow mandrol B' is mounted,
carrying a driving pulley, through which a rapid rotary motion is imparted to the
mandrel.
Fitted to the mandrel is a chuck b for receiving, in succession, the cartridge cases
fed to the machine, for the purpose of being reduced to a uniform length.
c is a plunger, so shaped and situate, as to enter the lowermost of the cartridge
cases fed to the machine, and drive them all in succession into the chuck b. This
plunger is carried by a slide C which moves in a tubular guide carried by brackets (2
bolted to the bed-plate A.
This guide is open on its under side, to admit of the free play in it, of the upper
end of the rock lever C2, which is so connected to the slide C, as to impart, by its
rocking motion, a smooth to and fro action to the plunger c.
The lever C projects upwards through a slot in the bed plate, and is pivotted to a
bracket on the under-side of the bed plate, and cast in one therewith.
D is an inclined shute, carried by, and adjustable on, a standard bolted to the bed-
plate A. This shute is situate between the chuck and the plunger, and is formed with
a lip at its bottom edge, it being designed to hold the tubos ready to take up a position
in the line of thrust of the plunger c, and to present their open end thereto, in order
that it may enter the lowermost tube, and thrust it into the chuck.
The reciprocating motion of the plunger is derived from a crank plate E, fitted with
an adjustable crank pin e, which is connected to the rock lever C by a link rod E³.
The crank-plate E is keyed to one end of a transverse shaft E, mounted in a broad
bearing on the underside of the bed-plate A, and keyed to the other end of this shaft
is a mitre wheel E³.
Gearing into this wheel, is a mitre wheel F, keyed to a longitudinal shaft F¹, which
turns in bracket bearings bolted to the underside of the bed-plate, and projecting
laterally therefrom.
A spur wheel 2, keyed to the shaft F¹, gears into a spur pinion F³, mounted
loosely on a stud pin projecting from one of the brackets of the shaft F. The boss of
this pinion is elongated into a sleeve, on which is mounted a pulley F, for receiving a
band from a prime motor shaft.
The rotation, therefore, of this pulley, will, through the gearing just mentioned,
cause the crank plate E to rock the lever (, and thereby impart the required
reciprocating motion to the slide C, and its plunger c.
The head of the rock-lever C, enters a block e¹, which is free to slide vertically in a
slot made for it in the slide C, and thus the movement of the head of the lever through
an arc is compensated for, while additional bearing surface is provided for the lever
and slide.
On the opposite side of the chuck to that occupied by the shute D, is the knife-
edged disc cutter, by the action of which the length of the tubes is determined.
This dise cutter is shewn at g, and is mounted loosely on the upper end of a rock-
lever G, fulcrummed in a bracket bearing on the bed-plate, A. The lower end of this
lever carries a bowl, which bears, under the pressure of a spring, upon a cam G
keyed to the shaft F¹, and it is by the rotation of this can, that the cutter is brought
down upon, and held in contact with, the case presented to its action.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-Supposing the tubes intended to be
cut, to be placed on the inclined shute D, and rotary motion to be imparted to the
mandrel through its pulley, and a reciprocating action imparted to the slide C, as
described, the plunger c will advance, enter the lowermost tube on the shute, and
t

page_text: thrust it into the spring clutch b. The rotation of the cam G¹ will then force down
the disc cutter g onto the tail end of the tubular case, and cause it to reduce the case
to the length determined by the thrust of the plunger c.
The portion severed from the case will fall into a spout H, which will convey it
through the bed plate to a receiver below. On the completion of the cutting
operation, the cutter is, through the continued rotation of the cam G', allowed to
rise clear of the work, and the plunger having meanwhile been drawn back, will
again advance, carrying with it another tubular case from the shute, and thrusting it
into the grip of the clutch b.
At the same time, the case which has just been acted upon will be thrust forward
into the hollow mandrel, and, by repetitions of this action, the trimmed cases will in
due course be discharged from the rear end of the mandrel into a box provided to
receive them.
I have said that the machine, as illustrated in the drawings, is fitted to operate on
cartridge cases, but when a tube of different size is to be operated upon, such, for
example, as that used in making the envelopes for compound bullets, the chuck will
require to be changed, and also the plunger, to suit the size of tube intended to be
operated upon. The adjustment of the crank pin will also require to be changed, to
limit the stroke of the plunger to the length of the envelope to be cut.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The arrangement of mechanism above described for automatically cutting tubular
metal cases to given lengths.
Dated this 5th day of June 1890.