MANUFACTURE OF WIRE TUBING FOR FERRULES, AS WELL AS IN THE MACHINE FOR PRODUCING THE SAME.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Orville Lothrop, of Milford, in the County
of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, of the United States of
America, for the Invention of " MANUFACTURE OF WIRE TUBING FOR
FERRULES, AS WELL AS IN THE MACHINE FOR PRODUCING THE SAME.
"
Scaled the 14th July 1874, and dated the 19th May 1874.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry Orville Lothrop
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 19th May 1874, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
ORVILLE LOTHROP, of Milford, in the County of Worcester, and State of
Massachusetts, of the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "MANUFACTURE
OF WIRE TUBING FOR FERRULES, AS WELL AS IN THE MACHINES FOR PRODUCTING THE
SAME," and have petitioned Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria
to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I
am the first and true Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Orville Lothrop, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention to be as follows, reference being
had to the Drawings accompanying this Specification, in which Figure 1
is a plan; in Figure 2, a side elevation; in Figure 3, a front end eleva-
tion; in Figure 4, a vertical longitudinal section; in Figure 5, a vertical
and transverse section of a machine embodying one portion of my
Invention; and in Figure 6, a ferrule embodying the latter portion of
my Invention :—
First. In an improved manufacture of coiled wire tubing for ferrules
by forming an offset in each coil, so that each ferrule, when cut from
the cylinder, shall present a flush or evenly finished edge or surface.
Second. My Invention relates to the construction of a machine
whereby the cylinder provided with the offset, as described, shall be made
up from the wire, and the united layers of wire soldered together; also
to a means for cutting from such cylinder a series of ferrules of equal
length, the whole being in the manner herein-after explained.
My machine, as illustrated in this instance, is composed of a rotary
arbor supported on suitable bearings, and provided with a driving pulley,
the arbor having a grooved or toothed mandrel, which may be tapering
in form, upon which the wire is coiled, and the cylinder made up, a
beater or burster being loosely disposed about the mandrel, and having
intermittent longitudinal movements imparted to it upon such mandrel
at short intervals, a sliding cutter being arranged immediately in front
of the mandrel, and operated in such manner as to cut, each in regular
sucession from the cylinder formed upon such mandrel as to project
beyond the free end of the same a number of sections or ferrules of
suitable length to suit the particular purpose for which they are
intended.
A shows a table with the standards B, B; C, O¹, show the supports of
the arbor E, which has the driving pulley F disposed about midway
between the supports C, C¹, and also the disk & fixed to it immediately
in the rear of its support C, the outer face having the wiper cam H.
I shows the grooved or toothed mandrel tapering in form to
accomodate itself to the lessening of the diameter of the cylinder. by:
reason of the reduction of its temperature, it being first applied in a

page_text: heated state. The taper is to prevent the adhesion of the coil to the
mandrel by contraction as the process of winding on the wire progresses.
A tubular sleeve a loosely encompasses a portion of the mandrel
immediately forward of the support C, such sleeve being supported about
the mandrel, and prevented from revolving with it, by means of a
shipper b, which surrounds it, and is pivoted to its opposite sides, .the
upper extremity of the shipper being pivoted to the upper part or box of
the arbor support C, while the lower end of such shipper is given a rear-
ward horizontal bend c, which passes through the supports C, and
impinges against the outer face of the disk G or its wiper H, before-
mentioned, as applied to the disk G, the shipper being maintained in
contact with the disk by a spring & suitably applied to it.
Upon the face of the mandrel is the longitudinal axial groove e from
end to end of the mandrel, and the periphery of the mandrel has the
teeth of about uniform depth till they reach the outer or nearly the outer
extremity of the mandrel, where they terminate at a short inclination,
leaving the periphery near about the end smooth. These teeth are
formed in the shape of saw teeth, receding in a direction reverse to that
of the rotation of the mandrel.
The end of the mandrel is left smooth to form an even surface for the
cutter when employed to cut the cylinder at this point.
The revolution of the disk G by means of its wiper H imparts short
and quick intermittent movements of the sleeve a, which I term the
beater, because employed to beat up the coils of wire into a compact
body as they accumulate about the mandrel.
The forward movement of the beater advances the coils along the
mandrel, while its retreat leaves room for the introduction of a fresh
portion of wire.
In Figure 1 it will be seen that the outer end of the beater a is formed
with a slight offset or projection 9, the purpose of which is to form a
corresponding offset in each concentric coil of the cylinder, in order that
when any one coil is cut by the cutter of the machine at the termination
of this offset it shall leave the section thus cut with a uniformly level
face, as seen in Figure 6, which improves the appearance of the ferrule,
and also in other respects.

page_text: The wire of which the ferrule is composed is first passed through a
receptacle containing a soldering flux; from thence conducted into a
vessel of melted solder, the latter being situated immediately contiguous
to the mandrel, in order that the solder taken up and conveyed by it
shall remain in a hot and liquid state until the wire comes in contact
with the last preceding coil about the mandrel, thus producing a solid
cylinder.
As the cylinder or ferrule contracts in cooling, and its diameter is
thus lessened, the edges of the saw teeth on the mandrel are forced
slightly into the inner surface of the cylinder, which, while permitting
of a motion longitudinally of the mandrel, prevents any rotation on the
same.
When the operation of the machine commences the extremity of the
wire is bent and inserted within the groove e of the mandrel, by which
means the wire is caused to adhere and wind about the mandrel until]
the soldered portions of the wire are brought in contact with the teeth of
'the mandrel.
F
The wire as it is wound upon the mandrel is in a state of tension, and
as the cooling takes place at once it contracts so as to hug closely the
mandrel, thus affording all the resistance required in order to enable the
beater to strike up the offset.
The cutter for severing the ferrules from the cylinder consists of a
sliding cross head h; carrying a suitable knife i sharp upon its lower edge,
the cross head being supported and its vertical movements guided by
means of perpendicular guides or ways j, j, the cutting edge of the knife
when at its highest position being above the mandrel, and descending to
a point below such mandrel.
The knife is actuated by a horizontal oscillating lever K. fulcrumed
at or about its center to the upper part of the support m, rising from the
table A, and surmounting the arbor and face plate, and between the face ;
plate and the driving pulley f, the forward end of the lever being pivoted
to the cross head h, while its rear extremity is connected by means of a
rod n with a second horizontal lever o at the lower part of the machine
frame, and from end to end thereof, the forward and longer arm p of this
lever being pivoted to a cross bar q, making part of the standard B, while':
the rear and shorter arm r of the lever extends a short distance in rear of
the standard B', as shown in the Drawings.

page_text: The rear extremity of the arbor E is placed above that of the lever o,
and is provided with a crank wheel 8, which wheel is connected with the
shorter arm of the lever o by a connecting rod t in such manner that a
revolution of the wheels, by means hereafter set forth, will cause, an
clevation of the free end of the lever o and of the inner end of the upper
lever K, with a corresponding depression of the outer end of such lever
and of the knife i.
The movement of the knife is to be so adjusted as to sever the ferrules
when a desired number of the coils has been made. This is effected by
regulating the number of revolutions the mandrel shall make to one of
the crank wheel which actuates the knife. With this view I mount the
crank wheels loosely upon the arbor and between the crank wheel and
the support C, and apply a grooved disk or shipping pulley u, the
'pulley being loose, but compelled to rotate when desired by a spline and
grooved connection.
The shipper pulley and crank wheels are
provided upon their contiguous faces with clutches v, v, so that when
they approach close to cach other they will lock, and thus rotate
together, and this revolution of the crank wheel produces one cutting of
the knife, and severs a ferrule from the coil on the mandrel. The
shipper u is thus operated:-A bent horizontal lever w is pivoted at its
bend to the top of the post x rising from the table of the machine and
to one side of the standard or support C¹ before mentioned, one end of
such shipper extending into the groove of the pulley u, while its opposite
end extends through a slot or guide y made in a lateral upright or frame <
erected upon the table of the machine, and at one side of the driving
pulley of the arbor, a spring a being applied to such upright, and
pressing upon the inner side of the shipper, and serving to force it
against the cam grade 6' fixed to the periphery of the spur gear c¹
suitably applied to the outer extremity of the upright, see Figure 5. The
gear c¹ meshes into a second gear d¹, the pivot e¹ of which is supported
within an oblique slot f¹ made in the upright, and below the orifice y
before mentioned, the last mentioned gear in turn meshing into a
pinion g' supported also upon the upright z, as represented, the said
pinion being affixed to the gear ', which meshes into the gear i¹ fixed
to the arbor E of the machine, and in close proximity to its driving
pulley.

page_text: duction of gears of different sizes, the movements of the knife relative to
the mandrel are regulated.
The revolution of the arbor E in the direction of its arrow causes a
revolution of the gear i¹, and a reverse motion of the gear h¹, which by
.means of its pinion g¹ effects a counter revolution of the gear d¹ in a
direction similar to the driving gear i¹, the said gear d', as will be
evident, imparting a rotation to the gear c' in the direction of its arrow.
The described train of gears may be regulated so as to produce as
many coils as desired before the cutting takes place.
-
When the wiper has reached the free end of the shipper w the
operation of the gears upon the crank wheel may be thus described:-
The revolution of the driving gear from this point forces the wiper b¹
of the gear c¹ in contact with the free end of the shipper w, and by
moving such shipper upon its fulcrum effects a rearward movement of
its opposite end, by this means forcing the clutch of the pulley u in
contact with that of the crank wheel, and imparting a revolution of the
latter according to that of the arbor E, the length of the periphery of
the wiper b¹ being such as to maintain the union of the pulley u and the
wheels until the latter has completed a revolution and dropped the
knife for the purpose of cutting a ferrule, when the wiper terminates
and permits the shipper to be returned by means of its spring a¹ to its
normal position, thus breaking the connection of the pulley and wheel,
and allowing the latter to revolve independently upon the arbor, the
lever o before mentioned thus being allowed to fall by its own gravity,
and return the knife to its highest position.
Heretofore wire ferrules have been made by being wound upon a
mandrel, and then removed therefrom and held in the hands of a work-
man while being soldered. This adds to the expense of the article, and
does not produce one so finished as does my Invention. Finishing the
ends of the coils at each end of the ferrule was also an item of
expense.
The offset before mentioned as a feature of my Invention economizes

page_text: HENRY ORVILLE LOTHROP. (L.S.)