An Improved Method of Making Bicycle Wheel Nipples.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application; 22nd Oct., 1898-Accepted, 23rd Dec., 1898
An Improved Method of Making Bicycle Wheel Nipples.
A communication by HEINRICH FRIEDRICH LOOS, of 3, Petzoldstrasse, Nuremberg,
in the Empire of Germany, Metal Goods Manufacturer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
The difficulty at present existing in the manufacture of bicycle wheel nipples
consists in the fact that the nipples are first made solid and then have to be subse-
quently bored out.
This invention has for its object an improved method consisting in producing
bicycle wheel nipples in a very simple manner by stamping or pressing in a suitable
stamping apparatus short pieces of tube which are either made separately or by
cutting off pieces from a long tube, the necessary hole in the nipple being also
simultaneously produced.
The making of the nipples takes place in the following way :-
The nipple is formed from a piece of tube by means of a stamping apparatus in
such a way that the upper part of the said tube is thickened by upsetting, the bore
is narrowed and the outer casing suitably shaped, whilst the upper part has
simultaneously a thread impressed in it or has one subsequently made in it by means
of suitable known machines.
The method of making the said nipples is shown diagrammatically in the accom-
panying drawings;
Figures 1, 2 and 3 showing a method of making a nipple from a piece of tube;
whilst
Figure 4 is a view of a finished nipple ;
Figure 5 shows the method of threading the bore of the nipple.
The stamping mechanism consists of three parts: the matrix b, the stamp c and
the counter-stamp d which carries the core or guide pin e to the form of which the
bore in the nipple corresponds. The piece of tube B is placed in the matrix b on
the core e of the counter-stamp d (Figure 1), and the stamp c is pressed into the
matrix b (Figure 2), the core e being guided in the axial boring f of the stamp c in
order to prevent it being bent during the pressing. On the complete descent of the
stamp c, the upper free part a of the piece of tube B is upset in order that it may exactly
shape itself to the shaped walls of the matrix b and the outer form of the core e
(Figure 3). When the work is finished, the stamp c again rises and the finished
nipple (Figure 4) is also expelled upwards by means of the counter-stamp d
operated by suitable arrangements. In this process the upper surface of the core
must of course be perfectly smooth (Figures 1-3). If however it be provided with
a screw thread at g (Figure 5), where the upper part a of the nipple is formed, so
CD 077

page_text: that the bore of this part of the nipple during the stamping is also provided with
a screw thread, the counter-stamp d, when the pressing is completed, must be
screwed out of the nipple a. The stamps c and lying in the same axis may be
employed vertically horizontally or in an inclined position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim, is:
A method of making bicycle wheel nipples of tube, characterised by a piece of
tube (B) of suitable length being inserted in a matrix and so upset by means of a
press stamp and the simultaneous use of a smooth or screw-threaded core for pressing
an inner thread in the nipple, that the form of the core produces the inner shape and
that of the matrix the outer shape of the finished nipple, substantially as hereinbefore
set forth..