IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOE AND OTHER NAILS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Reed Heard, of Boston, in the County of
Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, U.S. of America, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOE AND OTHER
NAILS."
Sealed the 27th July 1875, and dated the 10th February 1875:
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Reed Heard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 10th February 1875, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN REED
HEARD, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,
U.S. of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOE AND OTHER NAILS," and have petitioned
Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn

page_text: Declaration that I reamy Deneve mysen
thereof within the realm.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Reed Heard, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to an improved manner of manufacturing horse-
shoe and other nails from improved nail plates, partly produced by hot
rolling and partly by cold rolling, or by one or the other entirely, such
nail plates being provided on one or both side with projecting ribs for
the formation of the heads of the nails. Between two successive ribs I
produce on one side of the nail plate by means of cold rolling a groove
parallel with the projecting ribs aforesaid in such a manner that the
section of the nail plate between the said groove and the aforesaid pro-
jecting ribs aforesaid shall be exactly like a pointed nail, so that nails
punched from this my improved nail plate shall be finished and ready for
use with the exception of stamping or pressing the heads thereof. Even
this additional pressing or stamping of the nail head may be dispensed
with, and a nail produced by punching only from a nail plate of the
exact sectional shape like a pointed and headed nail, although in this
manner a greater waste of material is made as compared with the former
method. In both cases however no additional pointing and hardening
of the shank of the nail is required after the nail is punched from my
improved nail plate, whereby a great saving is made both in time and
labor as well as in expensive machinery heretofore used for this
purpose.
On the Drawings Fig. 1 represents a ground plan of my improved
nail plate; Fig. 2 represents a cross section thereof; Fig. 3 represents a
ground plan of a finished nail; and Fig. 4 represents a longitudinal
section thereof.
The nail plate represented in Fig. 2 is produced partly by hot rolling,
by which process I form parallel ridges a, a, a, b, b, on one or both sides
for the formation of the heads of the nails. After the nail plate has
been hot rolled in the above manner I produce by means of cold rolling
parallel grooves c, c, between the ridges a, a, which grooves are made
of such a sectional form that the metal left under the said grooves is
similar to the sectional form of two finished and pointed and hardened

page_text: nails, laying with their points together. The grooves c, c, are produced
by cold rolling the previously hot rolled plates between a pair of rollers.
in such a manner that the metal nearest to the grooves c, c, shall be
compressed and hardened so as to receive the proper strength and
hardness necessary for the point of the nail when punched, and that the
pressure of the cold rolls shall decrease from the grooves c, c, towards
the ridges a, a, so as to leave the head and part of the shank in a soft
and pliable condition.
After the nail plates have been hot and cold rolled in tho manner
described they are ready for the punching of nails therefrom in a manner
as will now be shown and described. To save stock I punch the nails
side by side in a manner as shown, d, d, d, as shown in Fig. 1, for which
purpose I am obliged to have the nail plates provided with additional
ridges b, b, on the under side of the plate, as shown in Fig. 2, or I may
add. the same amount of material to the ridges a, a, a; this is done for
the purpose of leaving the head of the punched nail of such a thickness
that by pressing or stamping the heads afterwards they shall be made
with a proper side extension, as is shown in Fig. 3, which Fig. represents
a finished and pointed nail ready for use.
Ate, e, on Fig. 1 I have represented the manner in which nails may
be punched from a plate of the exact sectional shape of a finished nail.
Although a greater waste of material is occasioned in this-manner, it
may be advantageous to so punch the nails, as when they are punched
they are completely finished, pointed, hardened, and ready for the
market. By punching the nails as shown at e, e, I dispense with the
ridges b, b, on the under side of the nail plate from which the nails are
punched, as is shown in the upper end of Fig. 2. By punching tho
nails in a manner as shown at d, d, I lose very little of the raw material,
as the nails are punched very close together, but by this method the nail
heads require to be stamped or pressed so as to receive the proper side
extension, as shown in Fig. 3. The extra thickness of the head in this
method furnishes the required material for the side extension before
mentioned.
Having thus fully described the nature and operation of my Inven-
tion I wish to secure by Letters Patent, and claim,—
1st. A nail plate rolled first hot and provided with parallel proiecting

page_text: provided with parallel grooves c, c, between the ridges a, a, for the
purpose herein shown and described.
2nd. The process of punching nails d, d, d, from a nail plate, as herein
set forth, so that the head and a part of the shank shall be left in a soft
condition, whereas the end of the nail shall be left hardened, pointed,"
and finished from the punching machine without additional labor, as
herein fully set forth and described.
3rd. The process of punching nails e, e, from a nail plate having soft
ridges a, a, for the heads, and hardened grooves c, c, for the points, in a
manner as herein set forth, for the purpose of manufacturing nails that
shall be headed, hardened, pointed, and finished when leaving the
punching machine, as herein set forth.
4th. A nail blank punched with a finished body from a nail plate
having ridges on both sides, as herein described, and having its head
pressed or stamped afterwards in a manner and for the purpose herein
set forth.
5th. As an improvement in the art of making ribbed plates from
which to cut horse-shoe and other nails, subjecting the plate when cold
to the action of rolls that shall produce upon it midway between the
two ribs a groove of such shape as will secure to the points of the nails
that may be cut therefrom the necessary and usual bevel, as herein set
forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Reed Heard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, dated at Boston, in the County of Suffolk,
in the State of Massachusetts, one of the United States of
America, this Twenty-seventh day of January, 1875 A.D.
Witnesses,
ALBAN ANDRÉN.
FRANCIS ALLEN.
JOHN REED HEARD. (L.S.)