A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SCOURING AND POLISHING WIRE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SCOURING AND POLISHING WIRE." -A
communication from abroad by George Broomhead, of Paterson, in
the County of Passaic, and State of New Jersey, United States of
America
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th January 1873.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SCOURING AND
POLISHING WIRE," to be as follows:-
Wire used in the manufacture of pianos, and for needles, and for
many other purposes is required to be smooth and bright. Such wiro
is usually made of steel, and is consequently harder and more difficult
to polish than wire made of soft iron; but whether hard or soft the

page_text: wire has hitherto been scoured and polished by hand, which is a most
tedious and laborious operation.
This Invention consists in a machine by means of which the wire is
scoured and polished in the most perfect manner by motivo power, and
at a greatly reduced expense, the construction of which is hercin-after
described.
An oblong frame of any suitable size, of wood or other suitable
material is mounted on legs and supports the shafts and operating parts
of the machine, which shafts are confined in boxes across the frame.
At each end of the machine is a shaft with a spool drum at one end
thereof, and a ratchet wheel at the other end, a pawl attached to the
frame engaging with said ratchet wheel. A fast and a loose pulley is
mounted on a driving shaft, by means of which the power is applied and
intermitted as may be required, and from this shaft motion is com-
municated to another shaft by belt gearing. A connecting bar is
attached by wrist pins to the faces of discs or wheels on the outer ends
of these two middle shafts, which bar is given a reciprocating motion
thereby as the wheels revolve, these wheels being provided with a series
of holes, by means of which the wrist pins may be adapted nearer to or
further from the centres of the wheels. One or more projections or
boxes are provided on this bar which is grooved out to receive the wiro
to be scoured and polished, and the cloth and material used in the
polishing process. A spring compressing plato made in two parts,
connected together by a spiral spring, is applied to cach box, said
compressing plate being formed with shoulders at each end, the middle
portion of the plate fitting down into the groove or box, while the
shoulders are drawn towards cach other by the spring and enter between
teeth formed on each end of the box, so that the plate is secured in any
desired position. A cloth or other flexible material containing sand,
emery, or other scouring and polishing material is wound around or
attached to the wire to be polished, the wire being wound on one of the
spool drums before mentioned, and its outer end carried through the box
and fastened to the spool drum at the other end of the machine. This
latter spool drum is revolved by a belt, and the wire is drawn from onc
drum and wound on to the other as fast as it is sufficiently polished, any
back motion being prevented by the ratchet and pawl. As the wiro
passes through the box the scouring cloth is wound around or attached
to it in each box (if more than one is employed), and the machine is put

page_text: in motion. The box or boxes are given a reciprocating motion on the
wire, while the wire is steadily drawn along and wound upon one of the
spool drums. When the wire has been once drawn through a crossed
belt may be put upon the empty drum shaft and the wire may be drawn
back and be wound up again should it not be sufficiently scoured and
polished by one operation. By putting on a crossed belt the machine is
driven all the time in one direction, the belts being put on and detached
as may be required.
In drawing the wire from the drum the driving belt of that shaft is
removed and a friction belt with a weight applied, by means of which
any required amount of friction may be applied.
After the scouring and polishing cloth is applied to the wire the
compressing plate is forced down on to the cloth with any desired degreo
of power, and is held in place by the teeth in the ends of the boxes as
before stated. The plate is readily detached by drawing the parts of
which it is composed from each other. One of these parts slides upon
the other and is confined by means of a slot and rivet head. The spool
drums are constructed with a removable outer flange, so that the coil of
polished wire can be removed from the drum with facility.
By means of this machino wire of any size may be scoured and
polished in the most perfect manner and at least ten times at fast as it
can be done by a single person, while the operation is much more
perfectly performed than it can be by hand.
0
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 28th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK; of 53, Chancery Lanc, in the County of Middlesex,.
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty. Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special

page_text: licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Melvillo Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
theroafter 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SCOURING AND POLISHING WIRE," a com-
munication to me from abroad by George Broomhead, of Paterson, in the
County of Passaic, and State of New Jersey, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar monthis next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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, reference being had to the Sheet
of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
Wire used in the manufacture of pianos, and for needles, and for
many other purposes is required to be smooth and bright. Such wire 2
is usually made of steel and is consequently harder and more difficult
to polish than wire made of soft iron; but whether hard or soft the
wire has hitherto been scoured and polished by hand, which is a most
tedious and laborious operation.
This Invention consists in a machine by means of which the wire 3
is scoured and polished in the most perfect manner by motive power,
and at a greatly reduced expense, the construction of which is herein.
afton sot forth and described

page_text: taken on the line x, x, of Figure 1; Figure 4 is section of Figure 5,
taken on the line y, y; and Figure 5 is a detail showing the mode of
confining and compressing the cloth on the wire. Similar letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts.
"
A is an oblong frame of any suitable size, of wood or other suitable
material, elevated on legs A¹ as seen in the Drawing. This frame
supports the shafts and operating parts of the machine, which shafts
are confined in boxes across the frame. At each end of the machino
is a shaft B with a spool drum C at one end thereof, and a ratchet
wheel C¹ at the other end. D is a pawl attached to the frame, which
engages with the ratchet wheel. E is a driving shaft, and F, G,
represents a fast and a loose pulley, by means of which the power is
applied and intermitted as may be required. H is a shaft which
receives motion from the driving shaft by means of the belt I. J, J,
are discs or crank wheels on the outer ends of these two middle shafts.
These wheels are provided with a series of holes K, by means of which
the wrist pins L, L, may be. adjusted nearer to or further from the
centres of those wheels. M is a connecting bar which is attached to
the faces of these wheels by the wrist pins L, which bar is given a
reciprocating motion thereby as the wheels revolve. N, represents one
or more projections or boxes on this bar which is grooved out to
receive the wire to be scoured and polished, and the cloth and material
used in the polishing process. O is a spring compressing plate mado
in two parts, the parts being connected together by the spiral spring
P. Each end of the projecting box N is serrated. The compressing
plate is formed with shoulders Q at each end, and the middle portion
of the plate fits down into the groove or box while the shoulders Q
are drawn toward each other by the spring and enter between the
teeth of the box, so that the plate is secured in any desired position.
R is a cloth or other flexible material containing sand, emery, or other
scouring and polishing material, which is wound around or attached
to the wire to be polished. S is the wire which is wound on one of the
spool drums C. Its outer end is carried through the box N (one or
more) and fastened to the other spool drum C at the other end of the
machine. This latter spool drum is revolved by the belt T, and the
wiro is drawn from one drum and wound on to the other as fast as it is
sufficiently polished. Any back motion is prevented by the ratchet
and navel L

page_text: or given a reciprocating motion on the wire whip the wire is drawn
through the said scouring and polishing substance or material and
wound upon a spool drum or cylinder, substanially as shown and
described.
2ndly. The frame A; shafts B, B, and E, H; dics or crank wheels
J, J; spool drums C, C; connecting bar M; boxe N (one or more);
scouring and polishing material R; and compresing plate O; sub-
stantially as and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Holville Clark, have
hercunto set my hand and scal, this Twentyeighth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight lundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
HENRY W. DEWEY,
53, Chancery Lanc.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)