IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCREWING BOLTS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Benjamin William Rogers at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th December 1870.
I, BENJAMIN WILLIAM ROGERS, of Smethwick, in the County of
Stafford, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCREWING BOLTS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is that by the means herein-after described
all kinds of screw bolts can be screwed at a single cut by self-feeding
machinery. By this means much labor is saved and consequently the
work can be produced at a much lower rate than at present. The bolts
are delivered into a rail, which may be done either from a hopper or
by hand, the bottom bolt is then taken by means of a pair of feeding
fingers from the rail and carried downwards towards the jaws of the
clamps. A plunger now strikes the shank end of the bolt and propels
the head of the said bolt into the jaws of the clamps, the said jaws
being open, but closing upon the receipt of the bolt. The clamps work
in a revolving spindle driven by a pulley or by any other convenient
means. Immediately the head or neck of the bolt is seized by the jaws
of the clamps the fingers ascend leaving the bolt revolving. A pair
of dies placed as herein-after mentioned are caused to close and to

page_text: approach the shank end of the bolt and gradually to travel along the
shank to the distance required, thus producing a full or complete thread
at a single cut; the dies then open, and the saddle in which they
work retires to its normal position. Immediately upon the opening of
the dies the jaws of the clamps also open and the bolt is ejected, the
jaws remaining open for a sufficient period only to receive another
bolt. The jaws of the clamps, the feeding fingers, and the plunger
receive their respective motions by means of springs and levers and by
cams upon the cam shaft. The cam shaft receives its motion from the
spindle of the clamps by means of change wheels, and by them reduced
to the required speed.
I now proceed to describe my saddle and my regulator, which are
the chief points in my Invention, and for which I particularly-desire to
secure protection.
First. The saddle proper is a frame of a suitable form supported and
sliding upon two bars parallel with each other (the bars being fixed at
one end in the clamps spindle headstock and at the other by brackets
bolted down to the frame of the machine). There is a boss on each
side of the saddle bored to suit the bars, and to fit them easily, the
body of the saddle extending from one boss to the other. Astride the
body of the saddle are a pair of forked die holders or straddlers, placed
opposite to each other, the legs of each die holder extending the proper
distance down each side the body of the saddle, and being hinged at
the extremities by means of taper pointed set pins, the said set pins
being screwed into lugs or ears of the saddle and being made fast
by lock nuts. The upper portions of the die holders are slotted out
or recessed on one side to receive the dies. The said dies are made
fast by set pins screwed into the die holders over each recess. At the
back of each die holder is caused to work a lever connected in the
centre by a bolt or pin passing through the body of the saddle and the
eye of the lever. A set pin passes through the upper end of each lever
and comes in contact with the back of the head of each die holders
for the purpose of adjusting the dies. The bottom end of each lever
consist of a joint or jaw wherein works a roller sustained by a pin
Between the rollers
passing through the centre of the jaw and roller.
of the two levers works a short shaft connected to the bottom of the
saddle by means of caps or glands, and upon this shaft is cast or keyed
a cam with suitable recesses on the rim to allow the admission of each

page_text: roller as far as required. At one end of the shaft is a lever, the end
of which rests upon the bar of a cradle or rocking shaft working in
bearings fixed to the frame of the machine. Projecting from the cradle
is another lever, with a roller placed in the end, the said rollers being in
contact with a cam on the cam shaft. The desired motion is given
therefrom, so causing the cam on the short shaft to force the rollers of
the levers out of each recess, the upper end of the levers forcing the
die holders inwards towards each other, thus closing the dies. By a
contrary motion the dies are caused to open. My regulator consists of
a short shaft or spindle which revolves in the journal or bearing of a
bracket bolted firmly to the frame of the machine. A wheel is keyed
on to one end of the spindle and geared to and working from another
wheel on the end of the cam shaft, the spindle revolving at the same
speed as the cam shaft. At the other end of the spindle is a screw or
incline of coarse pitch, but the pitch is not entire, being broken before
the completion of one revolution so as to enable a ram (which is forced
by the incline against the saddle) to fall back to the starting of the pitch.
The object of the regulator is to adjust and control the pitch of the
thread or screw required to be cut, which is effected by means of a
ram sliding in a socket fixed to the frame of the machine, one end of the
ram touching the incline of the regulator the other end touching the
end of a set screw fixed in the saddle with lock nuts, so that as the
spindle revolves the incline forces the ram, and the ram forces the
saddle along to the distance required, the whole being brought back
to the starting of the pitch by suitable springs connected to the saddle
and the frame of the machine. The advantages of my saddle are that
it is rigid whilst working (the dies being locked in their position when
closed), and so renders unnecessary any complication in other parts of
the machine, and it takes but little power to control its operation.
The advantages of my regulator consist (amongst others) in its presenting
a broad surface or bearing on the face of the incline or pitch (against
which works a roller placed in one end of the ram), and that it will
easily stand the pressure required to screw a full thread at one cut, and
also that with its broad working surface and slow motion it will wear
but very little.