IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE NAILS AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Huggett, of Terminus Road, Eastbourne, in
the County of Sussex, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE NAILS AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 27th July 1866, and dated the 10th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Huggett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
...February 1866.:
I, JOHN HUGGETT, of Terminus Road, Eastbourne, in the County of Sussex,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE NAILS AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of horse
nails and in apparatus employed therein. In making horse nails according
to this Invention the nail rod suitably heated at its end and held on a table
or support is acted upon by instruments carrying small rollers, there are three
such instruments, two of them when in operation act on the sides of the rod
which they nip between them, and the other at a short distance from the nip
of the side rollers bears on the top of the rod and presses it down on to the

page_text: table or support on which it rests. In making a nail the rollers are caused
to bear against the heated end of the rod at a short distance from its extremity
towards which they are then drawn. During this motion the instruments
are guided by pattern surfaces which compel the rollers to compress or draw
down the rod and bring it to a point. The instruments act several times in
the manner above described before the drawing down is complete, and in
returning the instruments recede so that the rollers do not then come in contact
with the nail rod. When a proper length of the rod is submitted to the
action of the drawing down rollers they will without the interference of the
workman draw it down accurately to a point, but when from any cause this
is not the case, and the length operated on is somewhat too short, the point
will not be sufficiently drawn down to enable the workman when this happens
to complete the point. The pattern surface which governs one of the forming
instruments is connected with a handle by means of which the workman can
move it forward a short distance when necessary, by this means the roller
carried by this instrument is caused to compress the metal to a somewhat
greater extent, and the rod will be properly pointed. More than one of the
pattern surfaces may if desired be connected with the handle as above described.
The apparatus is arranged in the following manner :-A slide is
caused to move to and fro by connecting it (in such a manner that it can
be thrown out of gear when required) with a crank on a rotating axis, to
this slide the forming or drawing down instruments are jointed at one end,
and each of them carries at the other end two small rollers, one for operating
on the nail rod in the manner described, and the other running upon the
pattern surface. The instrument which acts on the top of the rod projects
beyond those at the side, so that it acts immediately after them. The pattern
surfaces or two of them are so mounted as to be able to slide a short distance
to and from the nail rod when they are in operation, they are supported at
the back by wedges, but during each return stroke of the slide the wedges
are partly withdrawn and the pattern surfaces recede so as to allow the
drawing down rollers to return without acting on the nail rod. The wedges
are moved in and out by stops on the main slide coming against parts to
which the wedges are fixed. When the rod is properly drawn down it is cut
off by shears and the rod is reheated for making another nail. Each nail
rod which is being worked bas a sliding gauge placed upon it to regulate
the length to be drawn down; this guage is set each time immediately after
shearing off a nail...

page_text: :
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Huggett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HUGGETT, of Terminus Road, Eastbourne, in the County of Sussex, Ironmonger,
send greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, 'Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, thé
said John Huggett, Her special licence that I, the said John Huggett,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Huggett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE NAILS AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Huggett, mý
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, aud 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 John Huggett, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of horse
nails, and in apparatus employed therein. In making horse nails according
to this Invention the nail rod; suitably heated at its end, and held on a-table
or support is acted upon by instruments carrying small rollers; there are
three such instruments, two of them when in operation act on the sides of the
rod which they nip between them, and the other at a short distance from the
nip of the side rollers bears on the top of the rod and presses it down on to
the table or support on which it rests. In making a nail the rollers are

page_text: caused to bear against the heated end of the rod at a short distance from its
extremity, towards which they are then drawn. During this motion the
instruments are guided by pattern surfaces which compel the rollers to
compress or draw down the rod and bring it to a point. The instruments
act several times in the manner above described before the drawing down is
complete, and in returning the instruments recede so that the rollers do not
then come in contact with the nail rod. When a proper length of the rod is
submitted to the action of the drawing down rollers they will without. the
interference of the workman draw it down accurately to a point, but when
from any cause this is not the case, and the length operated on is somewhat
too short the point will not be sufficiently drawn down to enable the workman
when this happens to complete the point. The pattern surface which governs
one of the forming instruments is connected with a handle by means of which
the workman can move it forward a short distance when necessary. By this
means the roller carried by this instrument is caused to compress the metal to
a somewhat greater extent, and the rod will be properly pointed. More than
one of the pattern surfaces may, if desired, be connected with the handle, as
above described.
The apparatus is arranged in the following manner :-A slide is caused to
move to and fro by connecting it (in such a manner that it can be thrown out
of gear when required) with a crank on a rotating axis. To this slide the
forming or drawing down instruments are jointed at one end, and each of
them carries at the other end a small roller for operating on the nail rod in
the manner described, and another running upon the pattern surface. The
instrument which acts on the top of the rod projects beyond those at the
side, so that it acts immediately after them. The pattern surfaces or two of
them are so mounted as to be able to slide a short distance to and from the
nail rod when they are in operation; they are supported at the back by
wedges, but during each return stroke of the slide the wedges are partly
withdrawn, and the pattern surfaces recede so as to allow the drawing down
rollers to return without acting on the nail rod. The wedges are moved in
and out by stops on the main slide coming against parts to which the wedges
are fixed. When the rod is properly drawn down it is cut off by shears, and
the rod is reheated for inaking another nail. Each nail rod which is being
worked has a sliding gauge placed upon it to regulate the length to be drawn
down. This gauge is set each time immediately after shearing off a nail.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed according to my Inven-
tion; Figure 2 is a plan with the part marked W removed, and Figure 3 is a
front elevation of the same. The machine consists of a crank shaft A, driven
by means of pulleys B, B, and working in ordinary plummer blocks fixed to a
bed plate and supported on legs. To the crank shaft is attached a connecting
rod C, which is thrown in and out of gear with a sliding bar D by means of
the weigh shaft and levers, and stirrup for the foot E, F, G, and H. These by
means of the rod I put the pin of the connecting rod in and out of the notch
D¹, shown in the sliding bar. A spring J, fixed on the shaft F, keeps the pin
always out of gear, except when the spring is bent by the workman treading
in the stirrup H. The sliding bar D works through guides K, K, and has
pinjointed to it at its extremity three arms L, M, N. These arms carry the
small rollers O, P, Q, which draw out and form the horse shoe nail, and also
other small rollers O*, P*, and Q*, which rest on the guiding surfaces R, S,
and T, being pressed towards them by the springs U and V. For convenience
of construction other small rollers are, as will be seen, interposed between the
rollers Q and Q*; the rollers O and P rest directly in contact with the
rollers Ox, P*. The upper guiding surface T is carried by a bracket W fixed
to the bed plate. Under the steel rollers is a plate X, by preference of white
or hard cast iron, it is shown in section full size view, Figure 4, which shows
also an end view, partly in section, of the arms O, P, and Q, with their
rollers. To the machine is attached a small shearing apparatus to cut off
the nail when shaped. The apparatus consists of a piece a, capable of sliding
vertically in guides on the frame; it has attached to it a knife or shear b, and
is worked up and down by a bell crank c, moved by an excentric and rod d,
worked from the end of the cranked shaft; the bottom knife or shear e is
attached to the bed plate of the machine, and is made adjustable by the key f.
To the sliding piece a is attached another small shearing knife g with a bottom
knife h, which serve to cut off the point of the nail in case it should be
made too long. To the machine is also attached a gauge to measure off the
iron rods which are to be converted into nails. This and an apparatus for
holding the rods, and some wedges to adjust the guiding pieces R, S, and
T, will be better explained whilst describing the action of the machine. To
keep the machine at an even temperature the bed plate is made hollow just
under the steel plate upon which the nail is made, and the bracket W is also
made hollow, so that water may circulate through them. The horse shoe nails
are formed from a square rod of iron about equal in size to the top of the head

page_text: of the nail. The operation of making the nail is as follows:-A rod of iron is put
through a gauge i shown in Figure 5, which by the spring pressing against
the rod is held by friction tight at any part on the rod; the first operation is
then to gauge off a certain length of iron, which is effected by bringing the gauge
hard-up against the adjustable stop j and forcing the rod through the gange
until the end is stopped by the projection & cast upon the bracket W. The
end of the rol is then put into a forge or furnace and brought to a welding
heat; it is then taken out and the gauge which has remained exactly in the
position left after gauging is brought up against the end of the cast-iron bed
at 1, the rod being between the jaws or clamps m, n; this causes the end of
the rod to come between the two small side rollers O, P, and between the
small top roller Q and the bottom plate X. The guiding pieces R, S, T, at
this time allow the rollers to be forced back by the springs U and V sufficiently
far to give plenty of room to allow the rod to enter easily between them. It
is essential when the rod is placed between the rollers that these should always
be at the extremity of their stroke forward; to ensure this there is a curved
tappet pat the end of the sliding bar D, which is acted upon by the connecting
rod, so that whatever the position of the sliding bar D may be when thrown
out of gear the connecting rod strikes it and leaves it in its most forward
position. The rod of iron having been placed between the rollers as before
described, the workman with his foot depresses the stirrup H; this acts upon
a lever G to which is fastened a spring which pulls down the wedge q; this
causes the clamp jaw n to press the rod hard up against the stationary jaw m
and so clamps it hard and fast. Depressing the stirrup acts upon the weigh
shaft F, and by means of the lever E and link I pulls down the connecting
rod and throws the machine into gear. The effect of throwing the machine
into gear is to pull back the sliding bar D.; this causes the rollers Ox, P*;
and Q, to run along the guiding pieces R, S, and T, which by bringing the
two small side rollers O, P, closer together and the roller Q down towards
the plate X cause the red-hot portion of the rod to be drawn out. In order
to form the nail it is necessary to act on the rod in this manner several times
at several successive strokes of the machine. To prevent the rollers from
destroying the shape of the partly or completely formed nail in their stroke
forwards it is necessary to prevent them from touching the same; for this
purpose there are two wedges r, 8, at the back of the guiding pieces R, T;
these wedges are worked backwards and forwards by the tail to which they
are attached, being struck by tappets t, u, upon the sliding bar D, which
tappets are placed in such a position that when the machine is performing the
backward stroke the guide pieces R and T are held by the wedges r and sup

page_text: towards the centre of the machine, and when the machine is performing its
forward stroke the wedges being drawn back allows the spring to force back
the guide pieces R, T. The guide pieces are allowed to thus move backwards
and forwards by having the slotted holes for the bolts which hold them in
their places. In order to give the workman the power of bringing the small
side rollers O, P, nearer together, and of bringing the top small roller Q
nearer the bottom plate X, two other wedges x, y, are provided, which act
upon the guiding pieces in the same manner as the other wedges r, s, but which
are worked by hand by means of the handle Y; this handle turns the shaft Z
which by the levers Z', Z', work the wedges x, y. When the small rollers
have formed the nail it is cut off from the rod by placing the same in the
sheaving apparatus already described, the length being determined by bringing
the gauge upon the rod against the adjustable stop j. A finger may be
connected with the shears to give a slight curve to the nails as they are cut
off, curved nails being at the present time preferred in the market.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention I would have it
understood that what I claim is, the manufacture of horse-shoe nails as herein
described by means of rollers caused to pass along the end of a heated rod,
such rollers being governed by guiding surfaces so as to give to the end of the
rod a point of the form required, which is then cut off.
I also claim the general arrangement and construction of machinery as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Huggett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN HUGGET. (L.B.)