IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR EXTRACTING OR WITHDRAWING NAILS, SPIKES, AND BOLTS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE UBES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Leerhoff Müller at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th May 1872.-A communication from abroad by Hugo Noot,
of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria, Merchant.
I, HENRY LEERHOFF MÜLLER, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR EXTRACTING OR WITHDRAWING NAILS,
SPIKES, AND BOLTS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE UBES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing and arranging, in the manner
herein-after described, the parts of the said instruments.
Instruments constructed according to this Invention are principally
useful for extracting or withdrawing spikes or bolts used for fastening
rails to sleepers, but may also be employed for extracting nails, and for
other like uses.
An instrument constructed according to this Invention consists
essentially of the following parts :-One part of the Invention consists
of a long and strong lever, the acting end of which is provided with

page_text: a claw; this claw is connected to a wooden handle by means of a
fork, the wooden handle fitting between the fork and being fixed by
a bolt and screw nut, two side plates being also rivetted to the bottom
part of the wooden handle. The other essential part of the instrument
consists of a claw between which and the claw of the lever described,
the head of the nail, bolt, or spike to be withdrawn is gripped. This
second claw is jointed to the lever carrying the first-named claw in the
following manner :-The said second claw is fastened by screw bolts
to two parallel plates, between which the lever carrying the first claw
works, a pin passing through the said two plates, and the lever con-
stituting the centre or axis upon which the two claws turn. The said
two plates carry at the ends opposite to those to which the second claw
is fixed a filling piece bolted or rivetted thereto, and forming with the
ends of the said plates a heel which when the instrument is in use
rests upon the surface from which the nail, spike, or bolt is being
drawn, and serves as the fulcrum about which the instrument turns
in withdrawing the said nail, spike, or bolt.
In using the instrument it is placed over the head of the nail, spike,
or bolt, the lever being raised into a nearly vertical position so as to
open the claws. The lever being slightly depressed the claws of the
instrument grip the head of the nail, spike, or bolt, and by the con-
tinued depression of the lever the whole of the instrument turns upon
the heel or fulcrum described, and the nail, spike, or bolt is raised or
partially extracted.
The second claw is provided on its outer side with a projecting fork
or divided claw of a shape similar to that commonly given to one end of
the head of an ordinary hammer; this part is used for completing the
extraction of the nail, bolt, or spike, and may also be used for lifting
railway sleepers from the ground, and for other like purposes.
This Invention is particularly useful for extracting bolts, spikes, and 3
nails where the heads stand but little above the surface of the sleeper or
article from which they are to be extracted. The nails, spikes, or bolts
extracted are uninjured and may be used again.