Improvements in Horseshoe Nail Making Machinery.
Year: 1896

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Horseshoe Nail Making Machinery.
We, HUGO MOELLER of 5 Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin, Germany N.W. JULIUS
MOELLER of the same address, and CLEMENS SCHREIBER of near the Bahnhof,
Eberswalde, Germany, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows;
In horseshoe nail-making machines heretofore employed, after the point end
of the nail shank has been pressed into the shape of a flat weuge, there takes
place the final operation, viz. the pointing of the said flat wedge-shaped end of
the nail by means of two movable knives which move past a fixed knife.
is
In this pointing operation there is experienced the drawback that the inclined
part of the pointed end of the nail i.e., that part which is turned towards tue
movable knife, is made convex. This will be readily understood when
one considers what is the action of the knives. The nail shank
indeed supported by the fixed knife but in consequence of the flattening
operation, it is so weakened, that the movable knives in advancing first bend
the nail shank in a transverse direction before they are cut off the parts adjacent
to the fixed knife. Horseshoe nails with points of this kind are found to render
the correct driving in of the nails into the thin horny layer of the hoof more
difficult, and thereby frequently cause pricking or laming of the horses.
In the pointing apparatus according to the present invention, that drawback is
obviated. The apparatus is for this purpose arranged in such a manner that the
point ends of the horseshoe nail blanks are only partially pointed before the
actual pointing or shearing; and, after the last mentioned operation, the nail is
finished by means of a special final pointing device consisting of a pointing anvil
with its corresponding pointer. Not so advantageous, in fact probably quite
unadvisable on account of the extra expense, would be to effect the preparatory
pointing in a separate machine, although such a method is of itself quite
reasonable and obvious.
A nail made by this process is quite flat and correctly formed.
The nail blanks which have been already straightened and swaged by the same
machine, are suspended in the suspension holes of the usual carrier-ring and
brought by the step-by-step advance (produced by the ratchet-mechanism) of
the carrier-ring, first between the usual pointer and its pointing anvil. The
former is fixed to the sliding carriage which is reciprocated by means of a con-
necting rod, whilst its anvil is stationary. The front end of the latter is flat
and serves as a support or abutment for the nail blank to be pointed, while the
pointer is formed with a front end which is doubly bevelled and which, on the
forward movement of the sliding carriage presses against the broad side of
the nail blank, and produces in the latter an indentation or preparatory
pointing.
On the next advance of the carrier ring the nail blank that has just received its

page_text: preparatory point, moves between the pointing apparatus which consists of a
bearing knife and shearing knife and which provides the nail blank with a
point and forms the same into a finished nail.
The above described operation constitutes, as already stated, the completion of
the process necessary for the production of a horse-shoe nail. But it has been
found that nails so made have very unsatisfactory points. The point is partly
hollow or concave in the longitudinal direction and appears to be somewhat convex
on its upper side.
On driving the nail into the hoof the point of the nail becomes easily bent
over in consequence of the former circumstance, and receives a wrong direction,
whereby. it is rendered very difficult to drive such nail properly into the thin
horny layer of the hoof, and the horses are very liable to be pricked or lamed.
The second circumstance is the
is the cause of the nails acquiring
or less frequently a scarcely visible crack at their points, which crack renders
the nail entirely useless and worthless, because in driving the nail into the hoof,
the crack is widened and produces splinters which very often cause diseases of
the hoof.
more
According to our invention in order to produce a horseshoe nail in which
there is no concavity or convexity as above referred to and which will therefore
not be open to the above mentioned objections the partial pointing apparatus
heretofore employed is used only to effect a preparatory fashioning or treatment
of the point end of the nail. For this purpose the said apparatus is arranged
.so as to produce only a very slight impression on the nail blank; that is to
say the point is merely marked out. Then the nail is pointed in the usual
manner by means of the fixed stationary knives, after which, by ne
further movement of the carrier ring, the nail is, brought between a second pointing
apparatus consisting of a pointing anvil and a pointer. This apparatus then finishes
the prepared point and consequently the whole nail, which is turned out in a
mauner and quality hitherto unequalled.
The new pointing anvil is stationary and serves as an abutment for the nail
which is to be finally pointed and which is suspended in front of the same;
whilst the pointer is fixed to the reciprocating sliding carriage and acts to press
against the nail when the carriage moves forward, thereby finishing the pointing
of the nail. The pointer is capable of adjustment relatively to its anvil by
means of a slot and a set screw, which also serves as a support for the pointer
during impact.
The improved point produced by means of this apparatus is of great importance
for the utility of horseshoe nails.
Dated this 28th day of Vavanihan 1906
We, HUGO MOELLER of 5 Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin, Germany, JULIUS MOELLER
of the same address, and (LEMENS SCHREILER of Bahnhofe, Eberswalde,
Germany, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement:-
In horseshoe nail-making machines heretofore employed, after the point end
of the nail shank has been pressed into the shape of a flat wedge, there takes

page_text: place the final operation, viz. the pointing of the said flat wedge-shaped end of
the nail by means of two movable knives which move past a fixed knife.
Fig. 1 of the drawings shows a nail with its end flattened as above referred to.
Fig. 2 illustrates the pointing of the same by cutting off those portions of the
nail which are indicated by dotted lines.
In this pointing operation, there is experienced the drawback that the inclined
part of the pointed end of the nail i.e., that part which is turned towards the
movable knife, is made convex as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. This will be readily
understood when one considers what is the action of the knives (see Fig. 5). The nail
shank is indeed supported by the fixed knife 6, but in consequence of the flattening
operation, it is so weakened, that the movable knives 7 in advancing in the direction
of the arrows first bend the nail shank in a transverse direction before they
cut off the parts adjacent to the fixed knife 6. Horseshoe nails with points of
this kind are found to render the correct driving in of the nails into the thin
horny layer of the hoof more difficult, and thereby frequently cause pricking or
laming of the horses.
In the pointing apparatus according to the present invention, that drawback is
obviated. The apparatus is for this purpose arranged in such a manner that the
point ends of the horse-shoe nail blanks are only partially pointed before the
actual pointing or shearing; and, after the last mentioned operation, the nail is
finished by means of a special final pointing device consisting of a pointing anvil
with its corresponding pointer. Not so advantageous, in fact probably quite
unadvisable on account of the extra expense would be to effect the preparatory
pointing in a separate machine, although such a method is of itself quite
reasonable and obvious.
A nail made by this process is as shewn in Fig. 6 quite flat and correctly
formed.
Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section shewing a pointing machine according to our
inventon for horse shoe nail machines; Fig. 8 is a plan.
The nail blanks which have been already straightened and swaged by the same
machine are suspended in the suspension holes of the usual carrier-ring 1 and are
brought by the step-by-step advance (produced by the ratchet-mechanism 2) of
the carrier-ring, first between the usual pointer 3 and its pointing anvil 4. The
former is fixed to the sliding carriage 5 which is reciprocated by means of a con-
necting rod, whilst its anvil 4 is stationary. The front end of the latter is flat
and serves as a support or abutment for the nail blank to be pointed, while the
pointer is formed with a front end which is doubly bevelled and which, on the
forward movement of the sliding carriage, presses against the broad side of
the nail blank and produces in the latter the indentation or preparatory
pointing shown in Fig. 1.
On the next advance of the carrier ring the nail blank that has just received its
preparatory point, moves between the pointing apparatus which consists of a
bearing knife 6 and shearing knife 7, and which provides the nail blank with a
point and forms the same into a finished nail, that is to say, imparts to it the
form shown in full lines in Fig. 2.
The above described operation constitutes, as already stated, the completion of
the process necessary for the production of a horse-shoe nail. But it has been
found that nails so made have very unsatisfactory points. The point is partly
hollow or concave in the longitudinal direction (Fig. 3) and appears to be some-
what convex on its upper side (see Fig. 4 which is an enlarged section on the
line of Fig. 3).
On driving the nail into the hoof the point of the nail becomes easily bent
over in consequence of the former circumstance, and takes a wrong direction,
whereby it is rendered very difficult to drive the nail properly into the thin
horny layer of the hoof, and the horses are very liable to be pricked or lamed.
The second circumstance is the cause of the nails acquiring more
or less frequently a scarcely visible crack at their points, which crack renders

page_text: the nail entirely useless and worthless, because in driving the nail into the hoof,
the crack is widened and produces splinters which very often cause diseases of
the hoof.
According to our invention in order to produce a horse-shoe nail (Fig. 6) in which
there is no concavity or convexity as above referred to and which will therefore
not be open to the above mentioned objections the partial pointing apparatus 3, 4,
heretofore employed is used only to effect a preparatory fashioning or treatment
of the point end of the nail. For this purpose the said apparatus is arranged
so as to produce only a very slight impression on the nail blank; that is to
say the point is merely marked out. Then the nail is pointed in the usual
manner by means of the fixed and movable knives 6 and 7 after which, by the
further movement of the carrier ring, the nail is brought between a second pointing
apparatus consisting of a pointing anvil 8 and a pointer 9. This apparatus then
finishes the prepared point and consequently the whole nail which is turned out in
a manner and quality hitherto unequalled.
The new pointing anvil 8 is stationary and serves as an abutment for the nail
which is to be finally pointed and which is suspended in front of the same;
whilst the pointer 9 is fixed to the reciprocating sliding carriage 5, and acts to press
against the nail when the carriage moves forward, thereby finishing the pointing
of the nail. The pointer 9 is capable of adjustment relatively to its anvil by
means of a slot 9" and a set screw 10, which also serves as a support for the pointer
during impact.
The improved point produced by means of this apparatus is of great importance
for the utility of horseshoe nails.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. A pointing apparatus for horseshoe nail-making machines, comprising a
final pointing device consisting of a pointing anvil 8 and a movable pointer 9,
behind the preparatory pointing device 6, 7, the final pointing device being
arranged and having for object to impart the finished form to the nail after the
preparatory pointing, said nail having been prepared (preferably in the same
machine) by means of a preparing device 3, 4, arranged in front of the preparatory
pointing device 6, 7.
2. The improved horse shoe nail making machinery shewn in and described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 17th day of T..1.. 1007