THE ART OR IN- VENTION OF CUTTING AND HEADING NAILS BY Two SEVERAL ENGINES
Year: 1796

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
GUPPY, of the City of Bristol, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS the King's most Excellent Majesty, by His Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Nine-
teenth day of August, in the thirty-sixth year of His said Majesty's reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Guppy, His special licence
that I, the said Samuel Guppy, during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend "THE ART OR IN-
VENTION OF CUTTING AND HEADING NAILS BY Two SEVERAL ENGINES," within that
part of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, in such manner as to me, the said Samuel Guppy, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should in my or their discretion seem meet, in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Samuel Guppy, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Guppy, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described in the two

page_text: several Plaus hereto annexed, and the description thereof following, that is
to say :-
The said Invention consists of two engines for manufacturing of nails, and
other purposes, the one called the nail-cutting machine, the other the heading
machine, by which much labor may be saved. By means of a cutting engine,
the principle of which is that of cutting nails out of flat iron or any other
metal very expeditiously by a revolutionary motion (i.e.), a roller in which are
fixed two dies or cutters, placed equidistant in the roller, or half the circum-
ference of the roller from each other; a shifting plate or vibrator, in which is
fixed another die or cutter, directly above which is an aperture sufficient for a
piece of flat iron or other metal to pass through; the iron or other metal being
thus between one of the dies in the roller and the die in the vibrator, a part
of it must, of course, be pressed or cut off, before the die in the roller can pass
the die in the vibrator. This being accomplished, the iron or other metal, by
its own weight (or, if necessary, weight may be added), pressing itself still on
the roller, till the other die in the roller passes round to the iron or other metal
which is cut off as before, and thus the two cutters alternately act as blades in
passing the cutter in the vibrator. The roller being turned in a skew shape,
though exceedingly true, acts also as a guide to the vibrator, and brings it in
that direction with each die in the rollor, so as to cut up the whole strip of iron
or other metal without any manual assistance after it is once put in the aperture,
the roller being carried round by means of a strap from a water wheel or other
motion. Also an engine for heading nails (or for other purposes) by a revo-
lutionary motion, i. e. a tappet wheel, with threo tappets, more or less, each
tappet raising a hammer, which of course gives as many strokes as there are
tappets in the wheel on the nail fixed in a vice under the hammer. These
blows form the head. There is also affixed to the tappet wheel a picco in
curved form, which, catching the tail of a lever, forces the vico too so as to
hold the nails sufficiently firm for the purpose of heading. On the piece of
curved wood ceasing to operate on the vice lever, a spring pulls open the vice,
between which time and the tappet striking the tail of the hammer another
nail is brought forward to the vice by means of a chain calculated for the
purpose, the headed nail being carried from the vice by the same chain, which
makes a continual revolution, round the roller, and passes continually under the
jaws of the vice. It is to be observed one engine may be drove by water two
hundred and fifty revolutions in a minute, and one person can feed six cutting
engines. The heading engine will head as fast as a boy can feed it. A further
description of these engines is given in the following references to the Drawings
thereof hereto annexed.

page_text: Nail-Cutting Machine.-A are two cutters fixed in roller E, which, passing
by the moving cutter G, presses or cuts off the iron or other metal. B, the
guide, which prevents the iron or other metal from slipping too low, and
directs it to the cutter; C, the keys, fixed in the roller to fasten the cutter;
D, case-hardened rings, to guide the vibrator; E, the roller on which the
cutters A are fixed; G, the cutter, fixed on the vibrator K; II, key for
fastening cutter G; J, the space for tube T to lead the iron or other metal to
cutters G and A; K, the vibrator; I, main side frame; M, four frame stand-
ards; N, four brasses for roller E; P, top part of frame L and M; R, frame
for supporting tube T; S, keys for fixing tube T; T, tube for conducting iron
or other metal to cutters A and G; F, keys for fastening the guide B.
Heading Machine.-A, tappet wheel for raising hammer and closing vice;
B, pulley for turning A; D, tappets for tripping the hammer; E, hammer; F,
standard for hammer to play in; G, lever for pressing vice together by means
of a quarter circular piece M, fixed to the wheel A; H, vice; I, lever joint;
K, spring to force the hammer; L, beetle for hammer to strike against; M,
quarter circle affixed to A, for forcing down lever G; N, nog for raising the
hammer out of the way of the nail after heading it; 0, spring for opening the
vice by means of lever G.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Guppy, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the thirty-seventh
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the
grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender
of the Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and ninety-seven.
SAMUEL (L.S.) GUPPY.