IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PAPER FASTENERS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 5th February 1869.
We, GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH, both of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING
PAPER FASTENERS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE
THEREOF," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the paper fasteners which are employed to
connect together loose sheets of paper, as, for example, manuscript
matter, the said fasteners being usually made from a narrow strip of
metal, which is pointed at both ends and is bent into a T form, the two
pointed ends coming together, the method of using the said fasteners
being well understood.
In the process of manufacturing the said fasteners employed prior to
our said Invention the blanks or the strips of metal from which the
fasteners have been formed have been usually obtained by punching the
said blanks from sheets or strips of metal, and in some cases by cutting

page_text: suitable lengths from a long strip of metal or of flattened wire, each of
the said blanks formed by the above or by other means being afterwards
conveyed to and placed in another apparatus, or successively in each one
of a series of apparatus in order that the said blanks may be fashioned
into paper fasteners.
Now our Invention consists generally in effecting all the operations
requisite to fashion the said fasteners from a continuous sheet, riband,
or strip of metal in one apparatus, all the operations being self-acting
in the ordinary acceptation of the term, that is to say, when the
said apparatus is driven by power, and is supplied with a continuous
riband or strip of metal it will continue for some time to form fasteners
therefrom without the intervention of the hand, the said fasteners
requiring only to be lacquered, tinned, silvered, or otherwise similarly
finished in order to be fit for sale; and our Invention consists more
particularly of certain methods of supplying material to the said appa-
ratus or to modifications thereof, and also in the general construction
and manner of operation of the said apparatus.
In one arrangement of the said apparatus a riband of metal of a
breadth equal to the required length of each blank or thereabouts is fed
by an intermittent motion towards a shearing apparatus, by which strips
of metal sufficient to form fasteners are severed from the said riband.
The said riband is fed to the shears by means of rollers, or by an
apparatus which is caused to clip the riband, and to move forward
therewith a distance equal to the required breadth of the blank, the
riband being then held fast during the backward motion of the feed
apparatus by a second clip, which is or may be suitably formed to stamp
any desired mark upon the riband in such a position as that the said
mark will appear upon each severed blank. On the riband being held
fast as above described a pair of punches advance, and when making
fasteners intended to have sharp points out out a V-shaped piece from
each side of the said riband, the effect of the said punching being that
the edges of the riband are serrated, the points of the said serrations
forming the points of the finished fastener. At each movement of the
riband a portion thereof is projected between the aforesaid shears, and is
received between the end of a sliding bar and a tongue piece, and on the
moving shear advancing the said portion is severed from the riband, thus
forming a blank which is carried back by the said bar and tongue.piece.

page_text: until the said blank comes into contact with the ends of two levers. A
pair of fingers are then raised or advanced into opposition with the blank
and the sliding bar tongue piece, and the two levers together with the
blank make a movement forward, which brings the two ends of the.
blank into contact with the aforesaid fingers, and the said ends are bent
back past the ends of the two levers, thus forming the first bends in the
blank. After the two fingers have been withdrawn the two levers
advance and bend the blank around the tongue piece until the two bends
first made approach each other, when a slight side movement is imparted
to each lever, the said movement causing the ends of the said levers to
approach each the other. Each of the said levers has a head projecting
at right angles on the side which is towards the aforesaid sliding bar and
tongue piece, and the aforesaid side movement brings each of the said
heads in front of the end of the said sliding bar, and after the aforesaid
movements have been completed the tongue piece is raised or withdrawn
from within the partly formed fastener, and the sliding bar is moved
forwards a sufficient distance to compress the fastener against the
aforesaid heads; this operation completing the formation of the fastener,
which is then released and falls into a suitable receptacle. After the
above-described operations the sliding bar advances to receive another
blank, and the said operations are repeated.
33 66
The movements of the various portions of the apparatus above
mentioned are derived from a revolving shaft which is fitted with
suitably formed "excentrics," cams," or "wipers," but the method of
actuation of the said parts, as also the movements of the said parts, may
be varied to some extent, the result being the same, and also the
apparatus may be modified in order that fasteners of divers forms may
be made therein.
When constructing fasteners having round or enlarged heads, or
which are otherwise not of an uniform width, the two punches herein-
before mentioned are suitably formed to remove portions of metal from
the riband of such shape and dimensions as will give the requisite
shape to the blanks. If preferred the two punches herein-before
mentioned may in some cases be dispensed with, the shears being
so formed as to form the points of the fastener in the operation of
shearing.

page_text: In another arrangement the material is fed into the apparatus in the
form of a strip of metal or of flattened wire of a width equal to the
required width of the fastener, and is cut up into blanks by means of
punches and dies suitably formed, to give the required shape to the
points of the blanks, the said blanks being received by the bending 5
apparatus in manner as or nearly as herein-before described.