IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING NEEDLES
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
COCKER, of Porter Works, Sheffield, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel
Cocker, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Samuel Cocker, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Samuel Cocker, my exors, adñiors, or assigns should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed; should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING NEEDLES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Samuel Cocker, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Cocker, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing

page_text: дегенни апелси, ани
to say :-
The figures M
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My Invention consists of certain combinations of mechanical parts or
apparatus into a machine; and in order to give the fullest explanation of
the nature of the Invention and the best manner I am acquainted with for
performing the same, I will describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Sheet No. 1 of which shews a ground plan of a machine combined according
to my Invention, Sheet No. 2 an end view, and Sheet. No. 3 a perspective
view of the machine, in which the same letters are used to indicate similar
parts: The framing which carries the various parts being written on and
clearly indicated or shewn will not require any description. A is the main or
driving shaft of the machine, by which movement is communicated to the
various parts. This shaft A receives rotatory motion from a steam engine or
other suitable power. On the axle or shaft A are affixed three bevelled toothed
wheels C, D, E; the wheel C takes into and drives the wheel F, affixed on
the shaft or axle G, which turns in suitable bearings, as is clearly shewn in the
Drawings; on to this shaft are affixed two eccentrics II and I, and a tappet J,
the object of which will be hereafter explained; the wheel D takes into and
drives the wheel K which is affixed on to the shaft or axis L, which turns in
suitable bearings, as is clearly shewn. On to the shaft or axis L are affixed
the cams P and Q, and the tappets R and S, the object of which will be here-
after explained. The wheel E, affixed on the shaft A, takes into and drives
the wheel T, which is affixed on the upright shaft or axis V, which moves on a
bearing T, and a point at T, as is clearly shewn in the Drawings; on the
axis V is affixed the grooved drum of pulleys W by straps or bands, from which
motion is communicated to certain parts, as hereafter described.
It should be stated that the object of this machine is to perform those parts
of the operations or processes in the making of needles which consists of the
grooving, or, as it is technically called, "guttering," eying, and removing the
burs or projecting surfaces which are caused in forming the groove; and
although the first two of these operations in their separate character as to the
separate instruments and apparatus are substantially the same as those used in
carrying on like operations by hand, yet they have not been combined together
into a machine having mechanical means conjoined therewith for carrying or
transmitting the shafts of wire from one process to the other, and it is the
combining such processes of grooving or guttering with ejeing with a suitable

page_text: mechanical means for conveying the wire from one process to the other which
constitutes the first part of my Invention.
X is the bed of the under die for forming the groove or gutter on one side
of the shaft for two needles; Y is the upper die, affixed.in the bar or rod Z; the
rod Z being attached by a pin joint to the parallel rods Z', such parallel rods
being attached to the beam Z3 by pin joints, as is clearly shewn by the Draw-
ings, the beam Z' having its fulcrum carried by the upright Z, and there is
a projection and socket Z, through which the rod Z is guided to its work,
and it will be seen that the back end of the lever beam. Z is at all times borne
upwards by a spring, as shewn; from the back end of the beam descends the
rod or Figure Z, which is worked by the tappet J, by which means the upper
die is lifted off the lower dies, and when the wire is brought into its place on
the under die the tappet J, passing from under the rod Z³, releases the
beam Z, and the spring draws up that end of the beam and causes the upper
die to descend suddenly to effect the grooving or guttering. a is the bed for
receiving the shaft to undergo the operation of having the eyes drilled or
punched. The Drawings shew the machine as arranged for drilling by small
rotatory drills which are affixed in the two drill stocks b, b, which have each
pulleys to receive endless cords or bands from the pulley or drum W, as is
clearly shewn in the Drawings, by which quick rotatory motion is commu-
nicated to the drills. In case the operation of cutting the eyes were to be
performed by punches the pulleys and arrangement for giving rotatory motion
to the drill stocks would be dispensed with, and in place of those stocks being
suitably arranged in the rod or bare to revolve they would be fixtures therein,
as will readily be arranged by a mechanic capable of making the other parts of
the machinery. d is a beam to which the rod or bar e is attached by suitable
parallel rods and pin joints, as is clearly shewn; the beam d having its
fulcrum at d', supported by an upright framing from which projects the part
of the framing which carries the socket through which the bar or rod c slides ;
e is a connecting rod, which is attached by a pin joint to the beam d, the other
end being actuated by an eccentric I, by which at proper intervals movement is
communicated to the drills in order to their descending to their work, and
when the eyes have been drilled they are raised out of the way in order to
a fresh quantity of wire being brought under to bo operated on; f. f, are two
rotatory files or mills of steel which move on axles, the shaft of wiro which
has undergone the processes of grooving and eyeing being. brought by the
pincers g to the bed k, which is grooved on its upper surface to receive the
shaft of wire, and has at the same time a proper form to allow of the punch j
coming down and forming the cut, as above described, in order to separate the

page_text: wire shaft into two needles, and at the same time to effect a rounding of the
heads of each, hence the bed k is perforated and sunk to the figure of the
punch, as is well understood by punch makers; is a lever which moves on a
fulcrum at ; this lever is at all times borne upon by the spring ; & P
and are two projections, the nature of which is shewn in the Drawings),
they descend from the lever 1, and have grooved under surfaces to hold the
shafts of the needles between them and the bed k, and there is an opening
for the punch to pass through, the lever being raised at proper times to
release the needles by the tappet R acting on the lever m, which moves on a
fulcrum at m'; the lever resting on the end of the lever m is raised thereby,
as will readily be understood on examining the Drawings. ff. are two rota-
tory files or mills, moving on the points n¹, and are driven by bands from the
drum W, the frame p which carries the mills moving between guide screws o, o,
and the frame p is moved to and fro by the bar g, which is worked by the
tappet S on the shaft L the mills having rotatory and to-and-fro motion, pass
along the shafts of the needles and remove the burrs.
It will be desirable here to remark that the shafts of the needles (that is
lengths of wire equal to the length of two needles) are to be pointed by
hand or otherwise and fed into the machine; but I prefer the using of a
machine constructed according to the Invention of John Birkby, for which
a Patent was granted to him by His late most Gracious Majesty William the
Fourth, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-six, which being so placed as to feed the wire into the machine
on to the under grooving die. The operation of carrying is performed by
means of a pair of pincers 9, 9, which I prefer should be sliding pincers, as is
shown in the Drawing; these pincers 9 are carried by sliding pieces g' which
slide between guide bars g³, as is shewn in the Drawing, and they have springs
(parts of which are shown), which at all times tend to draw the pliers or
pincers to the right-hand end of the machine, and the movements of the pliers
or pincers are governed by the cams P and Q, affixed as before-mentioned,
which are so cut as to move the pliars or pincers from one process to the
other, as will readily be traced on an examination of the Drawings. It will be
seen that one chap of each of the pincers is affixed to the sliding pieces, and
the other chap of each pair of pincers moves on a fulcrum in the sliding pieces,
and one end of each of the moveable chaps proceeds beyond the sliding pieces
and rests on the surface of the cam, by which the chaps are caused to take hold
and retain, and at proper times to give up the wire or shafts of the needles by the
cutting of the cam; hence the cam is to be so cut or formed as to cause the pincers
to slide from precess to process, and ho'd them when undergoing the process of

page_text: eyeing and having their burs removed, then to open and leave go of the shafts of
the needles and. be slided back to the position for taking the next quantity of
wire and be closed thereon, all which will be readily understood; and the larger
part of the shaping and nature of the parts above described are shewn in the
Drawings. The burrs having been cut off the sides of the needles, the operation
of cutting the shaft into the two parts is next performed by means of the punch
j, which is carried by the bar or sliding rod 1, which is actuated by the beam
, as is clearly shewn, the beam receiving motion by means of the eccentric
II; and it should be stated that the punch j, and its bed are so formed as to
cut out a portion of the shaft of the two needles thus, by which means the
ends or heads of the needles are rounded off in place of having them
subsequently filed, as is the present practice.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would remark that I lay no claim to any of the parts
separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise arrangement of the same, as
many variations may be made without departing from my Invention, which I do
declare to consist,-
First, in combining into a machine the two processes of needle making, of
grooving or guttering and eyeing, together with suitable apparatus for carrying
or moving the needles from one process to the other.
And, secondly, I claim the employment of circular or revolving mills or files
for removing the burrs or projecting surfaces which are produced by punching
out the groove or gutter in needle making.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cocker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred