IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING BULLETS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING BULLETS."
-A communication.
Sealed the 29th April 1859, and dated the 15th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th December 1858.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
BULLETS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an arrangement of machinery in which a punch
and set of dies for pressing blanks or pieces of lead into a form approximating
to that desired for the bullets are combined with a revolving core, which
serves, firstly, to produce a central cavity when that is required in the bullets,"
and, secondly, as a mandril to revolve the bullets for the purpose of finishing
their exteriors by the operation of "turning." This finishing operation is
effected by the aid of an automatically operating cutter, which comes into
action immediately the blank is released from the pressing dies. This cutter

page_text: is mounted on a rock shaft, and is thrown into action by a cam on the main
drum shaft coming into contact with an arm on the rock shaft. For the
purpose of holding the bullet in position that it may be acted upon by the
cutter while being rotated by the revolving core, a female centre, having an
automatic movement, is carried forward by an arm on the cutter rock shaft
and caused to bear on the top of the bullet, and thus form a bearing for the
bullet to turn in. This centre is pressed down on the shaft by a coiled spring
on the rock shaft, the arm which, carries it being capable of sliding on the
rock shaft, and the centre is raised free of the bullet by a cam action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent.Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigus, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING BULLETS," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby,
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to,

page_text: 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, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to an arrangement of machinery in which a punch and set of dies for
pressing blanks or pieces of lead into a form approximating to that desired for
the bullets are combined with a revolving core, which serves, firstly, to
produce a central cavity when that is required in the bullets, and secondly,
as a mandril to revolve the bullets for the purpose of finishing their exteriors
by the operation of "turning."
The Invention consists likewise in the employment of an automatically
operating cutter in combination with the revolving core for the purpose of
"turning" the bullets; and it further consists in the employment in com-
bination with the revolving core of a centre piece, having an automatic
operation for the purpose of confining the bullets upon the revolving core
during the "turning" operation, and afterwards releasing them and moving
out of the way to permit the succeeding operations of the dies.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figures 1 and 2 are views of opposite sides of the machine; Fig. 3 is a
transverse vertical section in the plane indicated by the line a, a, in Fig. 1';
Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the punch and dies which press the bullets,
showing the form to which the bullet is brought by compression; Fig. 4* is a
plan showing the arrangement of the finishing cutters relatively to the dies
and core; Figures 5, 6, 7 are views of some of the details of the machine;
Figures 8 and 9 are views of a bullet in its conditions before and after the
final operation of the machine. Similar letters of reference indicate corre
sponding parts in the several Figures.
A is a table supported by standards B, B, and carrying two other standards
C, D, the whole combining to form a framing to carry the working parts of.
the machine; E is the main shaft, from which all parts of the machine derive
miotion, mounted in bearings in the upper parts of the standards C, D, and
intended to have a constant rotary motion imparted to it by any suitable
means; F is an upright cylindrical punch, having a sharp lower edge, and
containing in its face a conical cavity i, corresponding in form with that of the,
point and front portion of the bullets to be produced in the machine. The
punch F operates in combination with a stationary die G, for the purpose of,
cutting out circular blanks from a square bar of lead, to be afterwards formed
into bullets by its action in combination 'with the pressure 'dies H, H; and

page_text: core I. The die G is secured within an arch formed in the lower part of the
standard C, and the punch F works in a guide in the said standard. The
punch is secured in a cross head F', which is fitted to slide vertically upon two
guide rods F, F, secured to the standard C, and it derives motion from an
excentric pin a secured to a crank plate E¹, affixed to the inner end of
the driving shaft E, the crank pin a working in a curved slot a¹ in the
cross lead F¹.
The bar of lead to be operated upon by the punch is fed into the machine
by a pair of rollers b, b, which work in bearings secured to one side of
the standard C, and derive motion at proper intervals to feed the bar from a
wiper or cam K (see Figures 1 and 7) on the main shaft E; this wiper or
'cam acts upon the upper end of a lever K', which works on a fulcrum c
secured on one side of the standard C, and whose lower end carries a pawle c,
operating on a ratchet wheel c² on the shaft of the upper roller b. The
lever K¹ is returned towards the shaft as the wiper K recedes from it by
means of a spring c³. The pair of pressure dies H, H, have semi-cylindrical
cavities to fit the punch F, and they are fitted to slidė horizontally in guides
in the bottom of the standard C close to the table A. The core I is arranged
below and in line with the punch F, its lower part being of a size correspond-
ing with the punch F, that it may fit closely within the dies H, H, when the
latter are closed, and its upper part of a size and form to produce the cavity
in the bullets. The dies H, H, are opened and closed at suitable intervals of
time through their connection by short links H, H¹, with the arms N¹, N',
of two short rock shafts N, N, which work in bearings d, d, secured to the
plate or table A. These rock shafts are furnished with other arms N2, N2,
which are connected by rods e, e, to and derive motion from a vertical sliding
bar O, arranged in suitable guides attached to the standard C. This bar O
derives the necessary upward and downward movement to operate the dies
H, H, at the proper time from the forked end of a lever O¹, which is attached
to the crank pin a before mentioned, and is formed with a slot m to receive a
stud f secured in the punch cross head F¹. The forked end of the lever O¹ is
caused by the combined movements of the crank pin and cross head to operate
upon a projection g on the face of the bar O. The punch, dies, and core above
described, by operating in combination with each other, bring the bullet into
the form shown in Fig. 8, and shown also in the sectional view of the punch
and dies in Fig. 4. The reason why the bullet is not finished to the form
shown in Fig. 9 by pressure is that the exterior surface of the punch and
surface of its interior cavity i, which constitutes a die, would have to unite in

page_text: a sharp edge, which would not stand the operation of punching out the blanks.
By leaving the face of the punch thick enough to stand that operation, the
shoulder n is produced all around the bullet, and it is the cutting off of this
shoulder as well as any fin that might be left at the junction of the two dies
H, H, that the "turning" operation is principally intended to effect. The
Inventor, however, proposes generally to "turn" nearly the entire exterior
surface of the bullet, to render it perfectly true and concentric to its interior
cavity, and also to form the grooves v, v, for the cartridge twine.
To provide
for the revolution of the bullets, the core I is attached securely to or made in
the same piece with a vertical shaft I', which is fitted to a suitable bearing
in the plate or table A, but which is well supported vertically by a shoulder
above the table; and to enable the core to carry with it the bullets, a slight
notch o is cut across the tip and down both sides (as is shown in Figures 3
and 4), into which notch a portion of the lead is forced by the pressing
operation. The core. is not intended to revolve during the pressing operation;
but its revolution is to commence as the dies open; and to provide for this,
the shaft I is furnished with fast and loose pulleys h, h¹, to receive a band j,
which runs in a groove in the fly wheel L on the main shaft E, and which is
shifted from one to the other of the pulleys at the proper stage of the operation
by means of the shipper lever P. This lever works on a stationary fulcrum k
below the table A, and is operated by its connection through a link ¹ with a
joint pin l, which connects the link Hof one of the dies H to its respective
arm N. Q is the cutter by which the exteriors of the bullets are "turned,"
having its edge formed like such portion of the intended longitudinal profile
of the exteriors of the bullets as it is intended to turn. This cutter (shown in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,) is secured to the arm Q¹ of a vertical rock shaft R;
which works in suitable bearings attached to the standard C; this cutter is
moved up towards the bullets as the dies open by a cam S on the shaft E
acting upon an arm R¹ on the upper part of the rock shaft R, and it is moved
back to the position indicated in bold outline in Fig. 4*, out of the way of the
dies H, H, and punch F, by means of a spring S₁ applied to the arm R'. The
cam S is so formed as to make the cutter advance quickly till it comes in
contact with the bullet on the core, and then very gradually, but to let it
remain stationary for a limited period at the end of its advance, that it may
finish the bullet perfectly true.
The bullets are held on the core during the turning operation by a moveable
centre piece p, shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This centre, which is
formed to fit the tip of the bullet, is attached to the horizontal arm s' of an

page_text: +
upright bar T, which has an eye t'at each end. fitted. loosely to the rock
shaft R, and which is furnished with another arm s, which stands over, the
shaft E. This arm & bas a projection s² on one side, which occupies a. position
between the arm R¹ of the rock shaft R and the shaft E, so that the spring S
acts through the arm R' upon the said projection to draw the centre p to the
position shown in bold outline in Fig. 4*, out of the way of the dies H, H,
and punch F. The centre p is moved to the position shown in dotted outline
in Fig. 4, viz., directly over the centre of the core I, after the rise of the
punch F and the opening of the dies H, I, by the action of a cam U made
in the same piece with or arranged close to the cam S, and after it has moved
to this position, it is brought down on the bullet by the depressing action
upon the bar T of a spring w coiled around the rock shaft R. The descent
of the centre p before it arrives.over the centre of the bullet is prevented by
.the action on the under side of the arms on the bar T of the samé cam K
which has been described as driving the feed rollers b, b. This cam K, when
the proper time arrives, lifts the centre p off the bullet previously to permission
being given by the cams S, U, for the spring S. to throw it out of the way, of
the dies and punch. V is a knock-off lever, for knocking the finished: bullets
off the core, arranged on a fulcrum y below the table A, and having one
- extremity bent upwards, and protruding through a small hole in the table
close to the side of the core I. This lever is struck once in every revolution
of the shaft E by a wiper W on the fly wheel L, and by that means the
extremity protruding through the table is caused to rise suddenly and strike
the lower edge of the bullet on the core and knock it off, and tip it over on
the opposite side of the core, so that it falls through a hole in the table into
. a suitable receptacle. To prevent the bruising of the bullet, the knock-off
lever should be tipped with cloth, leather, or some other soft substance, and
the receptacle into which the bullets fall should be kept well supplied with
sawdust, bran, or other soft granulated or foliated substance.
"
Having described the. construction of the machine and the individual
operations of the several parts, I will, in conclusion, briefly describe the
process of forming and finishing the bullets. The bar of lead shown in red
outline in Fig. 3 having been fed by the feed rollers over the stationary.die G,
the punch F instantly descends, and cutting a blank from the bar, drives it
through the die G and between the dies H,. H, which close during the
operation of cutting the blank. The continued descent of the punch within
the closed dies H, H, drives the lead over the core I, and causes the lead to
fill the cavity or die i within its own face, by reason of the great pressure to

page_text: which it is subjected, and the bullet is thus brought to the condition shown in
Figures 4 and 8. Before the entry of the punch between the dies H, H, the
band j was shifted on to the loose pulley of the core shaft, to leave the core
stationary during the pressing operation; but as the dies H, H, open, and the
punch rises, the band is shifted on to the fast pulley h, and the revolution of
the core with the bullet upon it at a very high speed commences while the
centre p and cutter Q advance. The centre moves forward at once and
rapidly to a position directly over the bullet, and then suddenly drops on its
tip, and the cutter moves forward rapidly to a position close to the bullet, and
then more slowly to prevent too deep a cut being taken in the rapidly revolving
bullet. The cutter, after taking off the shoulder n cut in the grooves v, v,
and otherwise finishing the exterior of the bullet, is suddenly thrown back to
the position shewn in bold outline in Fig. 4*, and at the same instant the
centre p is raised from the tip of the bullet and thrown back to a position near
the cutter. The retreat of. the cutter and female centre is followed by the
rise of the knock-off lever, which throws the finished bullet off the core and
out of the machine, and by the time this has been accomplished the punch is
again descending to cut another blank from the bar of lead which has been
fed a proper distance over the die G during the "turning" operation.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Manufacturing Bullets," as communicated to me from abroad, and ex-
plained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would remark that I
do not confine myself to the use of a single core, as a series of cores may be
arranged on a revolving or reciprocating plate operated to
carry them
alternately first into positions to combine with the dies, and afterwards into
proper positions relatively to a cutter or cutters to "turn" the bullets; nor
do I confine myself to the use of a core of any particular form; nor to the
manufacture of any particular form of bullet; nor to the use of any particular
contrivances for giving motion to the several parts of the machine; but under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the employment in combination with the punch and set of dies, or
their equivalent, for pressing blanks or pieces of lead into a form approximating
more or less to the desired form for hollow bullets of a revolving core, serving,
firstly, to produce the cavities in the bullets, and secondly, as a mandril to
revolve them, for the purpose of finishing their exteriors by "turning" them,
substantially as herein specified.
Second, the employment in combination with the revolving core of the
turning" cutter operating automatically, substantially as herein specified.

page_text: Third, the employment in combination with the revolving core and
' turning" cutter of the automatic centre piece, for securing the bullets on
the core during the "turning" operation, and liberating them after such
operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)