IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PROALATION
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Horsfall, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Smith, and Arthur Greenwood, of the same Place, Mechanical
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Horsfall and
Arthur Greenwood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 30th June 1874.
We, WILLIAM HORSFALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Smith,
do
and ARTHUR GREENWOOD, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer,
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOES AND IN THE MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN,
to be as follows:-
"
The object of our Invention is to facilitate the manufacture of horse-
shoes by employing machinery for forming, punching, and sprunning

page_text: horsc-shoes instead of performing these operations by hand, as is now
the case.
In carrying out our Invention a shearing machine is employed to cut
the bars of iron to length for two shoes. By means of a stamp hammer
we also cut off and form the spruns of the proper length and shape. The
next operation is by means of a bending machine to bend the bars of
iron while hot into the form of a horse-shoc. A second stamp hammer
is employed for fixing the spruns on the shoes while they are hot. A
third stamp hammer welds the spruns on and otherwise forms the shoc
and throws up lips for clips previous to the shoe being passed to a fourth
stamp hammer which grooves and holes and otherwise finishes the shoo
at the same heat.
The bar of iron to form two shoes is while in a red hot state placed in
the bending machine, and is by means of two spring levers bent round a
fixed block or former so as to form a rough shoc at each end of the bar.
When these are separated each shoe is placed in the die of the first
stamping machine in which the shoc is roughly formed to fit the horse's
foot and prepared to have the frame fixed in place. The spruns are
made with two fangs on cach, so that they being cold while the horse-
shoe forms are hot they may be stamped into the forms and will be
thus kept in position until a welding heat can be given to the entire
shoc. It is then placed in other dies to receive the final blow to secure
the spruns.
The shoe will then be finished under another hammer
provided with the proper number of punches of suitable shape for the
nail head. The lower ends or heads of the punches are secured between
two plates which are held fast to the bottom block. A volute spring of
sufficient strength to support the die is placed in a recess in the bottom
block or anvil, by which means the blow will drive down the moveable
die, and the punches being secured to the bottom block they will enter
and pierce holes in the shoe. Immediately the stamp or hammer begins
to rise the moveable die will be raised also by means of the spring, and
the punches will be drawn out of the hot shoc almost instantaneously,
thereby preventing the punches from getting very hot.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Horsfall and Arthur Greenwood in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
HORSFALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Smith, and ARTHUR
GREENWOOD, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
cighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Horsfall and Arthur
Greenwood, Her special licence that we, the said William Horsfall
and Arthur Greenwood, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Horsfall and Arthur Greenwood,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOES, AND IN THE MACHINERY
TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said William Horsfall and Arthur Greenwood, our exccutors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Horsfall and Arthur
Greenwood, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of horse-shoes by the aid
of machinery which will perform the various operations of shaping,

page_text: sprunning, and punching the horse-shoes instead of such operations
being performed by hand as is now the practice.
In carrying out our Invention we cut up bar iron of suitable section
into lengths sufficient for making two shoes by a shearing machine of
any approved construction, and by means of a stamp hammer we form
the "spruns" (to constitute the toc of the shoe) of the proper length
and shape. The lengths of bar iron to form two shoes we feed singly
in a heated state to a bending machine which will bend their opposite
ends severally into a horse-shoe shape. This bending is effected by
means of two spring levers which will lap first one and then the other
end of the bar around a fixed block or former of suitable shape. When
the shoe blanks are separated they are separately placed in the die of a
stamping machine and then roughly brought to shape and prepared to
receive the sprun. The spruns are made with two fangs, and while in a
cold state the horse-shoe blanks being hot they are pressed into the shoc
blanks ready to be secured by welding. The shoe is next raised to a
welding heat, and in that state it is placed in other dies to receive the
final blow to secure the sprun. To finish the shoe it is brought under
the action of another stamping machine provided with a proper number
of punches suitably shaped for forming the nail holes and countersinks
for the nail heads.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 shows our improved bending
machine in side elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 3
is an end elevation of the machine.
A, A, is the main framing fitted at top with guides B, B, for receiving
a sliding bed or table C. Upon this table is mounted an adjustable
block which carries a former D. E, E, are a pair of rock levers
working upon studs e on the framing and carrying at their forward
ends flanged antifriction rollers e'. The rear ends of these levers are
made fast to collars e² through which is passed a horizontal rod F, a
coiled spring G being placed thereon between the collars. This rod is
provided with a head, and is threaded at its opposite extremity to receive
a nut, by tightening up which the collars of the levers E will be caused
to bear against the spring G, and thereby adjust the position of the
rollers e¹ with respect to each other. The levers E with their rollers are
intended to lap the heated bars of iron round the former D and convert
them into shoe blanks, and the spring G is interposed between the

page_text: levers to enable them to put an elastic pressure upon the bar iron. As
these levers work on fixed fulcrums it will be necessary to traverse the
work past their rollers e', and it is for this purpose that the former D is
mounted on the sliding bed or table C. Bolted to the under side of this
table is a bracket piece H to which is jointed a link H' for connecting it
with a rock lever H2 having its fulcrum at H³ at the base of the
machine. This rock lever is slotted longitudinally to receive a sliding
block h, through which passes an adjustable crank pin i carried by a
disc I. This disc I is mounted on a horizontal shaft K which has its
bearings in the framing, and mounted loosely on the same shaft is a spur
wheel L which is made fast to the shaft when required by means of a
clutch M. similar in construction to that described in the Specification of
a Patent granted to one of us, and bearing date the Fifth day of October
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine. This clutch is thrown out
of action by a counterweighted lever M', and it is put into action by
means of a treadle M³ connected with and used to depress that lever.
In gear with the wheel L is a pinion N which is keyed on the main
driving shaft O furnished with fast and loose band pulleys P. ¹ is a
screw for adjusting the stroke of the sliding table C; and c, c, arc
clamping screws for adjusting the position of the former D upon the
table C. Q is the bar of hot iron which is introduced to the machine in
front of the sliding table and adjusted in relation to the former by means
of a stop R.
The action of the machine will be as follows:-The former D being in
its extreme back position, as shewn at Fig. 2, and the levers E with
their rollers being properly adjusted to put the requisite pressure on the
bar iron of which the shoc is to be made, the bar having been raised to a
red heat is run up to the stop R (see Fig. 2) which gauges the length of
the bar iron. The clutch M is then thrown into gear by the depression
of the treadle, and rotary motion being thereby imparted to the disc I
its crank pin i will be caused to rock the lever H2, and through the
connections, of that lever with the sliding bed or table C force the
former D against the heated bar Q and double it up between the
rollers e¹. The further advance of the former will cause these rollers c¹
to lap the heated iron round the former, as shewn by dots in Fig. 2.
When this has been effected the former D will recede to its starting
position, and the action of the machine will stop to permit of the
attendant removing the bent bar from the former. He will then present

page_text: the opposite end of the bar to the action of the machine, and on the
clutch being again thrown into gear the action of the machine will be
repeated, and thus a double horse-shoe blank will be produced, as indi-
cated by the dotted red lines in Fig. 2. These blanks are now to be
severed by a shearing machine or otherwise, and they will then be ready
for the succeeding operations. The first thing is to submit the shoe to
the action of a pair of shaping dies which will take out thic buckling
produced by the shaping machine. The shoe is now ready for the
insertion of the "sprun."
Figures 4shew on an enlarged scale the form of sprun which we
prefer to use, and which will in general be made of steel. The sprun is
placed in a cold state with its fangs upwards in a dic suitably recessed
to receive it, and otherwise shaped to receive the horse-shoe blank which
is placed in the die in a red hot state. The counter die being now
brought down with suitable force will drive the heated shoe blank on to
the sprun, the fangs of which will embed themselves in the heated
metal. The dies in which this operation is effected we make of chilled
cast iron, using a hand made shoe blank as a chill for casting on.
On
reheating the shoe blank and subjecting it to pressure in suitable dies
the welding of the sprun thereto will be effected. If the shoe is to be
grooved or countersinks are to be formed therein the shoe is to be sub-
mitted to dies suitably prepared for the purpose. The next operation is
to punch the nail holes in the shoc. This we effect in a pair of dies
formed of chilled cast iron and provided with punches.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 show in sectional elevation a pair of punching dies
constructed for this purpose, and Fig. 8 is a plan view of the die block
with the shoe placed thereon. In these Figures S is a base block made
hollow to receive a coiled bearing spring T, upon which rests a die
block U cast in chilled iron to a suitable shape for receiving the shoe
upon its face, and being countersunk to receive the stamp or hammer V.
The dic block U is pierced with holes to allow of fixed punches w passing
through it to reach the face of the horse-shoc placed thereon. This die
block is also cast with parallel holes to receive guide pins & which stand
up from the base block S and serve to maintain the horizontality of the
dic block while allowing it to move freely under the pressing action of
the hammer V and the reverse action of the spring T. The punches wo
are formed with heads, and these are confined between clamping plates W
which are themselves secured by screws or otherwise to the base block.

page_text: When the heated shoe to be punched is placed upon the die block U
that block is in a raised position resting only upon its clastic support, as
shewn at Fig. 5. When however the raised hammer V is brought down
upon the block it will force it into the position shown at Fig. 6, and
thereby cause the punches to drive holes through the shoe. Immediately
the die block is relieved from the sudden pressure of the hammer it will
be forced up by the spring T to its original position and will thereby
release the shoe from contact with the punches. By this means the
contact of the punches with the heated metal will be so short that the
undue heating of the punches and their consequent rapid deterioration
will be avoided. It should be remarked that suitable means not shewn
in the Drawings is provided for connecting the die block with its base
and limiting its motion due to the upward pressure of the spring T.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements
in the Manufacture of Horse-shoes, and in the Machinery to be employed
therein," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, we claim,―
First. The mode above described of manufacturing horse-shoes.
Secondly. The arrangement and construction of bending machine as
described with reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings.
Thirdly. The construction of punching machine as described with
reference to Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Horsfall and Arthur
Greenwood, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Thirtieth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-four.