Machinery for Making Wire Chain-links.
Year: 1894

page_text: Machinery for Making Wire Chain-links.
I, DANIEL STEWART BIRRELL, of 1 Friar's Green, Warrington, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object to provide machinery for making the links of
chains made of wire, as steel, iron, or other suitable metal, the links being of flat
form and adapted to be connected together by pins or other suitable means.
The purposes to which chains of this kind can be put or used are various, as for
instance as a conveyor, carrier, driver, or other suitable purposes.
The links of a chain of the kind to which this invention has reference, consist of
an eye or plurality of eyes at each end, through which the connecting pins or other
means of interconnection are passed, and pieces running between said eyes and
connecting them together; the eyes being made by bending the wire or rod round,
preferably, two or more turns, and two or more of said eyes-at one end-and
connecting pieces being used in the single link, and disposed side by side. Thus in
a single length there are two or more sets of eyes at one end, and one, two, or
more, at the other, and also two or more connecting pieces.
A machine adapted io operate according to this invention comprises parts by
which the wire or rod-which say is fed to the machine from a coil-is carried or
bent round say two or three times, to make one of the eyes, it being carried by a
suitable part by the portion of the manufactured article made by and in the
machine, and is bent round another part as a mandril or former. When one eye is
made, the portion of the material and the former or mandril are changed as to
their relative positions, and then such material is revolved-in the opposite
direction-say two or more times, and the opposite eye is made; and after this the
former relationship as to relative positions is effected. It is, after each formation
of an eye, fed or moved longitudinally in the direction of its width and
manufacture.
In one arrangement under this invention of machine the part, as a mandril, about
which the wire is wound in the formation of the eyes, is fixed as regards lateral
movement, whilst the part which carries the material made has rotary motion, and
a part connected therewith has also lateral motion. By the first of these the
turning or bending of the wire into the eye is performed, whilst by the second the.
lateral movement for changing position thereof in relation to the former or mandril
is effected. In this arrangement also, a part carrying the article or material made
is fixed as regards longitudinal motion in the direction of the axis of the machine
or manufacture, whilst the former or mandril will have a longitudinal movement.
As a modification of the arrangement, the parts may have the converse movements
and arrangements of those specified.
Mechanisms for effecting the operations of the parts of the arrangement just
specified, consist as follows:-The former or mandril is a spindle held at one end,
carried in a suitable bearing, and operated by a cam; whilst the material as made
is moved longitudinally at the right time, by a longitudinally moving part, which,
in one case constitutes the bearing in which the mandril is mounted and moves.
The part which carries the material made and bends or carries round the wire,
consists of a bead with a throat aperture within and through it, being of sufficient

page_text: depth to take and support the material, and of sufficient width to permit of the
material being moved from one side to the other. This head is rotated first in one
direction and then in the other, whereby the eyes are formed in the opposite ends
of the links by turning the wire round at the opposite ends in the opposite
directions; and is allowed to rest at the end of the formation of an eye, during
which period the change of position of the article or material being made is
effected. This is carried out by having a toothed wheel mounted loosely on the
head and by or through which it is driven-but provided with a stop, whereby
part of a revolution may be effected at each reversal of motion thereof, before it
acts upon and rotates said head. At these periods of rest, the readjustment and
setting of the material is carried out.
One mechanism by which these movements are effected consists of loose sleeves
adapted to slide longitudinally on a neck or shaft which is hollow, carrying the
said, head, and connected with the movable parts disposed on or in it by rods
or suitable means, carried within said neck or shaft and head, such parts being
moved longitudinally by a device-such as a roller or wheels, and working within
a groove on said sleeves or the like-carried by suitable longitudinally moving
parts, which parts are adapted to be operated by cams from the driving mechanism.
The means by which the lateral movement or displacement of the material being
made is effected, may consist of a slide with an aperture therein equal to the width
of the material, and mounted in and adapted to move across the rotating head, and
operated from the said sleeve by, say, a bell crank lever or quadrant; whilst the
device for holding the material may consist of a simple bar, the end of which is
moved into and out of the spaces between the eyes and bars of the link at the
right moments; this being also effected by the other sleeve, the movement of the
adjusting slide, however, being only half as frequent as the holder.
As above stated, the bending turning round of the wire or rod is effected in
opposite directions in the opposite ends of the link, and this reversal of motion is
effected in any suitable way, or by any suitable means, one of which consists of
an ordinary clutch reversing mechanism and bevel wheel, this being operated
automatically by a nut sliding on a screw shaft to and fro, and adapted by stops to
throw the clutch over into one direction and the other alternately, through say a
weighted lever. Motion from this would be transmitted through suitable gearing
to the head above specified, whilst motion to the cams, for effecting the operations
above referred to, is effected intermittently or as required, by a trip mechanism by
which said cans and the mechanisms connected with them are actuated at the right
moment.
The material may be made in any suitable or convenient lengths and cut up into
links of the required breadth or breadths.
Dated this 19th day of March 1894
CHEESBROUGH & ROYSTON, Fels.. Chart. Inst. P.A.,
15, Water Street, Liverpool, Applicant's Patent Agents.
I, DANIEL STEWART BIRRELL, of 1 Friar's Green, Warrington in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
:
This invention relates to a machine for constructing wire links of the type
hereinafter described.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the machine constructed according to
these improvements and will be hereinafter referred to.

page_text: Figure 3 is a front view, and
Figure 4, a longitudinal section of the machine head and neck.
Figure 5 is a cross section of the machine head, taken at right angles to the view
shewn by Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a transverse section of the neck taken at right angles to the section
Figure 4.
Figure 7 is an elevation and plan of the links produced by the machine.
Figure 8 is an elevation of a detail of the machine.
The links are formed of any suitable metallic wire such as steel, coiled into
eyes a, at any convenient distance apart, in parallel rows. Thus, one eye having
been formed by making preferably two or three turns of the wire around a mandrel,
the wire is carried in a tangent from the last coil to the second eye where a similar
number of turns are made. Thence, the wire is returned in a similar manner, and
the third eye is formed in line with the first, the fourth in line with the second, and
so on. The links are thius made in continuous lengths which are subsequently cut
up into shorter lengths for use in the construction of chains bands and the like,
which may be employed for conveying or carrying ores and minerals, for
transmitting power, aud for various other purposes.
In Figures 1 and 2, A A' are fast and loose pulleys forming part of the driving
gear and are mounted upon the shaft B, upon which is also fixed the spur pinion C,
driving the spur wheel C₁ mounted upon the parallel shaft D, upon the end of
which the mitre wheel D¹ is fixed. This mitre wheel engages with the similar
mitre wheels d d on the shaft E, either of these wheels being capable of being
connected with its shaft by means of the clutch F. The shaft B, having continuous
motion in one direction, it follows that the shaft E will be rotated to the right or
to the left, according as one or other of the wheels d d is engaged by the clutch F.
The reversal of motion is effected by means of a vertical weighted arm G, connected
with the rod y on which there are two stops h h². Between these two stops there
is arranged a projection H, fixed to the nut I, mounted upon a screwed part of the
shaft E. When the shaft is being rotated in one direction, the nut travels into
contact with one of the stops and thereby moves the rod in the same direction.
Presently, the rod pulls the weight of the vertical arm G past the centre, where-
upon it falls over and moves with it the clutch rod f, with the result that the
clutch moves over to the opposite mitre wheel and puts that into gear, the other
mitre wheel being liberated. Consequently, the direction of rotation of the shaft
is reversed. The nut I now travels in the opposite direction and finally by its
motion the direction of rotation of the shaft B is again reversed in the same way
as before. Such reversals in the direction of rotation of the shaft E therefore
recur at regular intervals so long as the machine is running. The arrangement of
the weighted arm is separately shewn in Figure 8.
On the end of the shaft E there is fixed a spur pinion J, which gears with the
spur ring on the machine head. This spur ring is fitted in a groove and has a
projection, Figure 4, formed upon it. There is a corresponding projection k
formed upon the head K. The result of this arrangement is that, assuming the
shaft E to have just been reversed, the spur ring is rotated during nearly a whole
revolution before the projections j k come into contact. Then, the head is rotated
with the ring until the next reversal, when the head has another period of rest
followed by rotation in the opposite direction. The spur ring j has twice as many
teeth as the pinion J and consequently rotates at half the speed.
A spur wheel L, equal to C', is mounted upon the shaft D as hereinafter
described, and gears with the equal and similar wheel L' on the parallel shaft M,
n the outer end of which there is, also fixed a pinion n, gearing with a wheel N,
having twice as many teeth as the pinion and fixed upon the shaft O.

page_text: There are fixed on the shaft M, the cams 1, 2, and 3, and upon the shaft O, the
cam 4, the functions of which will be hereinafter described.
The eyes of the links are coiled upon the mandrel P which is free to rotate in its
holder, by the rotation of the machine head, so that after the first turn, the coil of
wire seizes the mandrel and rotates it, thus winding upon it the required number of
turns. The mandrel and its holder can be reciprocated by the cam 3, and the
connecting link p. After the coil forming each eye has been wound, it is pushed
into the machine head by the plunger R, working in a slide and actuated by the
cam 2 and the link r. The wire is fed to the mandrel as indicated by the dotted
line, passing on its way through the guide Y.
The machine head, which is illustrated on a larger scale in Figures 3 to 6
inclusive, has three longitudinal openings or passages as shewn by the cross section,
Figure 6. The central opening, for the passage of the finished links, is rather more
than twice the width of the links and has a breadth sufficient to allow them to pass
through the neck freely. The other two longitudinal passages serve for the
reception of the rods and levers through which motion is transmitted to the slides
on the face of the machine head. There are two of these slides, S
which move
*,
at right angles to each other at the appointed times. The slide S is actuated from
the cam 1, through the link-work T, and the sliding bar T', a bowl upon which
engages with a groove in a sleeve t, to which the slide S is connected by the link-
work T. In a precisely similar manner, the slides is actuated from the cam 4
through the link-work U and the sliding bar U¹, a bowl upon which engages in the
groove in the sleeve, to which the slide s is connected by the link-work U".
The wheel L is fixed upon a sleeve, indicated by dotted lines, Figure 2. On
this sleeve there is also fixed a disc X, to which there is pivoted a driver, the tail
of which normally rests upon the post . On the end of the shaft D there is
fixed the similar parallel disc V, on which there are two diametrically opposite
stops v.
The clutch rod, Figures 2 and 8, is capable of engagement with a rod b, one end
of which is pinned to a bell-crank lever e to which is pinned the rod e, on the end of
which is fixed the duplex catch m, the limbs of which are pivoted respectively
at m. Both limbs of the catch are adapted to engage with the post ', so that in
whichever direction the rod e is moved, the catch will disengage the tail of the
driver from the post by removing the latter. As already described, the clutch
lever is moved at every reversal of the weighted arm G. This motion therefore is
communicated by the rods and lever bce to the catches m, and the post z' is conse-
quently displaced at each reversal. Immediately upon the displacement of the post,
the tail of the driver falls and its head is brought into the path of the stop v, the
disc being thereby rotated. During the first part of the revolution, the spring W
forces the post back into its original position, so that at the end of the revolution it
catches the tail of the driver, trips it out of contact with the stop and holds it as
before. Thus, at every reversal of the weighted arm G, motion is communicated to
the gearing L L' and the shaft M on which the cams 1, 2, 3 are placed, makes one
complete turn. The wheels n N having teeth in the proportion 1:2, the shaft O
on which the cam 4 is fixed, makes half a revolution at the same time.
The trip motion by which the rod 6 is caused to engage with an extension of the
falling arm G, during the motion of the latter in each direction, is illustrated by
Figure 8. The rod b is pivoted to a crank and carries a pin crossing the path
traversed by the extension of the arm G. When this arm has moved, the rod b to
the extremity of its stroke, they pass out of contact with one another owing to their
paths curving in opposite directions, and the rod 6 with its projecting pin is returned
by the spring W acting through the rod e and crank c, to a position in which it is
again actuated by the falling arm G upon its return motion. The rod 6 is then
again disengaged and returned by the spring.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-Referring to Figure 3, the eye a¹
has just been coiled and the machine head is at rest whilst the ring j is returning

page_text: into contact with the driving stop k. The cams now come into action, cam 4 raising
the slides; cam pushing the coil off the mandrel in the slide S by means of the
plunger R, whilst cam 3 withdraws the mandrel; cam 4 afterwards lowering the
slide s.
Cams 1 and 2 then move simultaneously, the former moving the slide S
sidewise and the latter withdrawing the plunger R. The mandrel is then returned
by the cam 3. The position before occupied by the eye a¹ is now occupied by the
eye a. By this time the spur ring; will have come into engagement with its
contact piece and the head K with its slides will again be rotated.
rotation in the opposite direction, another eye of the links is produced and the
cycle of operations is repeated.
By this
The function of the slide is to prevent the eye a or a last formed from being
drawn towards the eye subsequently formed during the coiling. The number of
coils in each eye can be determined by the positions of the stops h h'.
Having now particularly described the nature of my suid invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A. machine for making wire links, constructed arranged and operated
substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
2. In a machine for making wire links, the combination and arrangement with
gearing reversing at stated intervals, of a machine head having a period of rest at
each reversal, two slides on the machine head at right angles with each other, a
mandrel and coil pusher, trip gear, and four cams operating the slides, the mandrel,
and the coil pusher respectively, constructed substantially as herein before described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated the 10th day of January 1895.
WILLIAM E. HEYS.