IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 68, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of “IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE."-A communication from abroad
by Emile Leon Dubrueil, of 33, Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris,
France.
Sealed the 14th August 1868, and dated the 19th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Henry at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th February 1868.
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE SAID. MANUFACTURE," communicated to me
from abroad by Emile Leon Dubrueil, of 33, Boulevart Saint Martin,
Paris, France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of nails with rounded,
convex, or shaped heads, such as are used in furniture and saddlery..

page_text: In manufacturing nails according to this Invention the metal blank
from which the head is made has a recess or cavity made therein into
which the point or shank engages.
A machine is constructed according to this Invention to eut out the
blank for the head, form the recess therein, cut the shank to the proper
length, shape its point, and force the shank into the head or the head
on to the shank, and thus unite the head and shank. In this machine
a guide worked by a cam feeds the metal rod or wire intended for
making tlie point, and guide rollers feed the metal for the head blanks,
and are actuated, i. e., caused to make a partial revolution, by an arm
attached to an adjustable regulating block or plate, and to a bar having
an excentric or cam end which bears against a shoulder on a disc.
Cutters for cutting and forming the points are carried on a suitably
shaped block or plate and actuated by lovers or arms worked by cams,
and a cam restores the cutters to position after they have acted.
Nippers or holders worked by a cam hold the rod or wire while being
cut to form the point and while the head is forced on. Two punches
placed side by side are used, one of which cuts out the head blank and
brings it to the shank so that it, the latter, may engage in the recess
in the head, and the other forms the recess. The cutting punch is
driven by a cam through the metal strip in which a recess has just
been formed by the other punch, and cuts out a blank for the head
which it lifts to the shank so that the shank engages in the recess,
the cam then drives it home forcing the parts together, while the other
punch presses on the strip and forms a recess therein ready for the
next blank to be cut off.
A machine is also constructed according to this Invention for rounding
or shaping the heads. The head is struck up or formed between a
mould or die and a countermould. The mould is carried by a piston
or reciprocating rod preferably driven down by a cam and brought back
by a spring. The countermould is adjusted by working against an
inclined cotter. A feed arrangement mounted in the machine is by
means of a cam lifted and moved towards the countermould so as to bring
the nail thereto so that its head may be struck up by the mould or die.
The nails whereof the head is to be shaped drop through a guideway
to nippers, one jaw of which is fixed and the other moveable. The
cam moves a carrier causing rollers attached to the nippers to bear
against other cam or cam-shaped stops, and as one roller comes against

page_text: the straight part of one thereof it causes the corresponding jaw to
hold the shank till it enters an aperture in the countermould, where-
upon it is freed by the roller and comes to a recessed part of the cam-
shaped stop, and then the cam drives the nail head home into the
countermould and lifts the carrier clear, when the die or piston with
its mould acts and strikes the head into shape. A second cam acts
on pushers to expel the nail from the mould and countermould; one
pusher acts at the point and the other at the head, so that the nail
would be expelled even if head and point came asunder. Of course
the head can be shaped by such a machine before the shank is forced
into it,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Michael Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 19th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Michael Henry, Her special licence,
that I, the said Michael Henry, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Michael Henry, my executors;
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thercafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN
THE SAID MANUFACTURE," communicated to me from abroad by Emile
Leon Dubrueil, of 33, Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris, France, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Michael Henry, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,.
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe:

page_text: the Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Michael Henry, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, as communicated to me,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of nails with rounded,
convex, or shaped heads, such as are used in furniture and saddlery.
In manufacturing nails according to this Invention the metal blank
from which the head is to be made has a recess or cavity made therein,
into which the shank engages.
A machiné is constructed according to this Invention to cut out the
blank for the head, to form the recess therein, to cut the shank to the
proper length and shape its point, and to force the shank into the head
or the head on to the shank, and thus "head" the nail or unite the
head and shank. In this machine a guide worked by a cam feeds a
metal rod or wire for making the shank or point, and guide rollers feed
the metal for the head blanks, and are actuated, i.e., caused to make
a partial revolution, by an arm attached to an adjustable regulating slide
block or plate, and to a bar having an eccentric or cam-shaped end
which bears against a shoulder on a disc. Cutters for cutting and
forming the shanks or points are carried on a block or plate and actuated
by levers or arms worked by cams; a cam restores the cutters to position
after they have acted. Nippers or holders worked by a cam hold the
rod or wire while being cut to form the shank or point and while the
nail is headed. Two punches placed side by side are used, one of which
cuts out the head blank and brings it to the shank, so that the latter may
engage in the recess in the head, and the other punch forms the recess.
The cutting punch is driven by a cam through the metal strip in which
a recess has just been formed by the other punch, and cuts out a blank
for the head which it lifts to the shank, so that the shank engages in
the recess, the cam then drives it homes and forces the parts together,

page_text: while the other punch presses on the strip and forms a recess therem
ready for the next blank to be cut off.
A machine is also constructed according to this Invention for rounding
or shaping the heads. The head is struck up or formed between a mould
or die and a countermould or die. The mould is carried by a piston or
reciprocating rod preferably driven down by a cam and brought back by
a spring. The countermould is adjusted by working against an inclined
or bevelled cotter. A feed arrangement mounted on the machine is by
means of a cam lifted and moved towards the countermould or die so
as to bring the nail thereto, in order that its head shall be struck up or
shaped by the mould or dic. The nails whereof the heads are to be
shaped drop through a guideway to nippers (one jaw of which is fixed
and the other moveable), the cam moves a carrier causing rollers
attached to the nippers to bear against other cams or cam-shaped stops,
and as one roller comes against the straight part of one such cam or
stop it causes the corresponding jaw to hold the shank till it enters an
aperture in the countermould, whereupon it is freed by the roller coming
to a recessed part of the cam-shaped stop, and then the cam drives the
nail head home into the countermould or die and lifts the carrier clear,
whereupon the die or piston with its mould acts and the head is struck
into shape. A second cam acts on pushers to expel the nail from the
mould and countermould, one pusher at the point and the other at the
head, so that the nail would be expelled even if head and point came
asunder. Of course the head can be shaped by the shaping machine
before the shank is forced into it.
I proceed with reference to the Drawings to describe more particularly
in what manner the Invention may be carried into effect.
On Sheet 1, Figures 1 to 8 inclusively relate to the machine first
herein-before described and constructed according to this Invention for
the purposes of cutting the blank for the head, forming the recess in
it, cutting the shank to its proper length, shaping its point, and heading
the nail.
Description of Sheet 1.-Figure 1 is a front view, and Figure 2 a side
view of this machine; Figure 1* is a section on the line A*, B*, of
Figure 1; Figure 3 shews the arrangements for working the cutters;
Figures 4 and 4* shew the relative positions of the cutting punch and
the punch which forms the recess in the head; Figure 5 shews the piece i
to which the rod which feeds the metal strip is secured; Figures 6, 7,.

page_text: and & auch wie man and its shank or point before and after the processes
of heading it and shaping the head.
a, Figure 1, is a wire or rod from which the shank or point of the nail
is to be made; b, Figure 2, is a metal strip from which the heads are
to be made; A is a feeder for guiding and feeding the wire a to its work.
It is actuated by a rod e driven by a cam f mounted on a driving shaft g,
which carries a pulley not shewn in the Drawing; d, d', Figures 1
and 2, are rollers for feeding the strip b. They are driven by a con-
necting rod h, secured at one end to a slide block hand at the other
end of a piece i, Figures 2 and 5, which terminates in an excentrically
or cam shaped part, which at each stroke of the rod h abuts and presses
against a shoulder on a disc k, and thereby causes the feed
rollers d, d¹, to perform a partial revolution; h¹ is an adjustable slide
block, by which the velocity of feed of the strip 6 is regulated; D, D,
Figures 1 and 3, are levers or arms which work the cutters employed
to cut and shape the shanks. These levers D work on centres or axes E,
and are driven by cams f mounted on the driving shaft and working
against the levers edgewise. The levers D are connected at their upper
ends by means of arms m, Figure 1, with a slide block or sliding
holder W of a V shape or dovetail form, Figure 3, to which the cutters
are secured. It is clear that at every revolution of the cams f the
levers D will be thrown outward at their lower end and inward at their
upper end, thereby bringing the cutters to their work; p, Figure 1,
is a small cam, which restores the cutters to position after they have
operated. The wire is held tightly at the time of its being cut by means
of nippers or grips worked by a lever H actuated by the cam f, which
is furnished for the purpose with tightening studs m¹, Figures 1 and 2;
these nippers likewise hold the wire during the heading operation. The
punches for cutting the blank and for forming the recess therein for
the reception of the shank are mounted one beside the other, and their
relative lengths are such that one of them effects the heading action
while the other forms the recess in the blank next to be cut. 0,
Figures 2 and 4, is the cutting punch, which cuts out from the metal
strip 6 the blank intended to form the head, and also forces the
blank on the shank; the punch o is driven by a cam R and con-
necting rod S, Figure 2. In its upstroke or rising motion the punch
cuts through the metal strip; and cuts out therefrom a piece which
forms a blank for the nail head, which blank it carries upward with

page_text: it, and it acts as a rest or support to it. It keeps rising until it brings
the blank under the shank, so that the end of the shank may be
engaged in the recess formed in the blank, and the pressure exerted
by the cam forces the blank well on to the shank, or, in other words,
heads the nail. At this moment the second punch exerts pressure from
below on the metal strip, and by means of the piece which acts
on the upper side of the strip a recess is formed therein, such being the
required recess of the blank next to be cut out at the next upward
travel of the punch o; or, in other words, while one punch is pressing
the head blank on to the shank the other punch recesses the metal strip
ready for the next head blank to be cut out; the recess being formed
before the blank is cut out; then the first punch comes down, cuts
through the metal strip so as to cut out therefrom a blank, the recess
having been already formed therein as just described, and carries the
recessed blank up to the next shank to be headed and forces it on the
shank while the recess for the next blank is being formed, and so on.
While the blank is. being driven on the shank it is held steadily by
nippers worked by the lever D and cam f.
I now proceed to describe the order of operations:-First, the wire
or rod for the shank is fed in and the shanks are cut from it; a
little extra length to each shank must be allowed to allow for the
parts forced into the blank; next, the head blank is cut out and brought
up to the shank and forced thereon; and, lastly, the second punch forms
the recess ready for the next blank. The nails are now taken from
this machine and removed to the machine for shaping the heads.
Sheet 2, Figures 1 to 5 inclusively represent a machine for this
purpose, being the machine secondly herein-before described and con-
structed according to this part of the Invention. On Sheet 2, Figure 1
and Figure 2 are views of this machine; Figures 3, 4, 5 shew portions
thereof detached.
Description of Sheet 2.-A is a framework in which the working parts
of the machine are mounted. These parts mainly consist of a mould.
mounted on a piston or rod having an up and down travel, also an ad-
justable die or countermould, and a feeder and a pusher or discharger, the
feeder being for feeding the nails to the mould in order that the head
may be shaped, and the pusher or discharger for discharging the nail
from the mould after its head has been shaped. c is a piston or rod
capable of travelling, up and down in the framework A, and carrying

page_text: at its lower end a concave mould d, which when employed in com-
bination with a convex die or countermoulde shapes the head of the
nail or stamps it into the required form. There is an orifice in the
die or countermould e to receive the shank of the nail while the head
is being struck up into shape.
The mould and the feeder and discharger may be worked by hand,
steam, or otherwise. In the machine shown in the Drawing they
are driven by steam, a strap with fast and loose pulley B, B, being
employed. The pulleys are mounted on a driving shaft C supported
in bearings D. The shaft C carries cams a, a, which at every revolution
of such shaft impinge against a friction roller b, and work the rod c
and its mould d. The rod and mould are moved downward to strike up
the head, and they are raised to their previous position after such
down stroke by means of a strong spring Z. The countermould or
die e is held in the frame A. It is kept stationary while the head
is being shaped by it, but it is made adjustable by means of a bevelled
key or wedge-shaped cotter g, against the inclined part of which the
die e is fitted, so that its position may be adjusted as desired or as
required by wear on one end of the driving shaft. C is a chain wheel
which drives a wheel h; this wheel drives a toothed wheel in gear
with a toothed pinion i keyed on one end of a shaft, whereby motion"
is communicated to the working parts of the apparatus. H, Figures 2
and 5, is a receiver in which the nails are first placed after having
been taken from the machine shown on Sheet 1. These nails pass
thence down a slot or groove o, Figure 4. Two cams l, m, Figures
1, 2, 3, are also mounted on the shaft k. The feeding arrangement
which conveys
the nails to the countermould e is actuated by the cam 1;
such cam lifts the feeder and moves it forward to the countermould
at each revolution of the shaft. The two-fold motion of the cam
has for object to effect the holding of the nail tight and steady while
its shank passes into the hole in the countermould, and then to effect
the release of the nail when such shank is well in the countermould;
next to effect the driving of the nail home to the bottom of the
countermould; and lastly, when the feeder rises it allows the mould d
to act.
Pasted so fallows
A l
nain of minnam

page_text: the groove or slot o, and when it reaches the bottom thercof it passes
between a pair of nippers 7, 7. Thereupon the cam / abuts against a
bar or frame K, and drives it forward together with all the parts
carried by such frame, so that the rollers s, s', press against the inner
sides of a pair of cams or stops u, u, while the roller s¹ is in frictional
contact with the right-hand side of the cam or stop u¹; it forces the
jaw to hold the shank of the nail tightly when such shank is about
to pass down the orifice of the countermould; when the said shank
is in the orifice the roller comes in contact with the recessed part
of the cam or stop u¹, and thereby the shauk of the nail is released
from the binding action of the nipper jaw . Thereupon, the projecting
portion of the cam 7, Figures 2 and 3, comes into action and exerts
pressure so as to drive the nail to the end of the hole in the counter-
mould, and then the cam lifts the bar or frame K and moves it out
of the way, so that when the rod c is depressed carrying the mould d
with it, such mould acts so that the head of the nail is shaped or
struck between the mould d and die or countermould e. The second
cam m then comes into action and actuates the two dischargers or
pushers N, N', by means of a lever and friction roller a, Figure 2.
One of these dischargers N, Figures 1 and 2, acts on the shank of the
nail, and the other N¹, Figure 2, acts on the head, so that by their
combined action they drive the nail from between the mould and
die or countermould. Thus the nail would be entirely expelled even
if its head and shauk became accidentally detached.
On Sheet 1, Fig. 6 shews the head of the nail before it is rounded,
finally shaped or finished, and the shank of the nail before it is headed.
Fig. 7 shews the shank headed, as effected in the first machine; and
Fig. 8 shews the nail in section after the head has been rounded, finally
shaped or finished in the second machine.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First. The manufacture of nails by the means or machinery herein-
before described in the manner set forth.
Second. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the
improved machine (first herein-before described) for cutting the blanks,
recessing them, cutting and shaping the shanks, and heading them.

page_text: Third. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the
improved machine (secondly herein-before described) for shaping or
finishing the heads of the nails.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
EDE. PASS,
68, Fleet Street,
London.
M. HENRY. (L.S.)