AN ENGINE FOR CUTTING NAILS, SPRICS, AND SPARABLES ON AN IMPROVED SYSTEM
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
ECROYD, of Rochdale, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Grocer and Tallow
Chandler, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of November, in the sixth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Ecroyd, and also to James Wilks, of Rochdale aforesaid, Tinplate Worker,
our exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said James Wilks and John Ecroyd, our exors,
aduiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Wilks and John
Ecroyd, our exors, adiñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of fourteen years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, His Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also within all Ilis Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
our Invention of "AN ENGINE FOR CUTTING NAILS, SPRICS, AND SPARABLES ON
AN IMPROVED SYSTEM," in such manner as to us, the said James Wilks and
John Ecroyd, our exors, adññiors, and assigns, shall seem expedient; in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging us or one of us, the said
James Wilks and John Ecroyd, by an instrument in writing under our bands

page_text: and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Ilis Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Ecroyd, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention to consist
in an engine for cutting iron so as to form a number of nails, sprigs, or spa-
rables at one stroke of the cutter, by means of machinery only, or what is
ordinarily termed power. And in further compliance with the said proviso,
1, the said John Ecroyd, do hereby describe the manner in which our said
Invention is to be performed by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The Drawing marked A represents an end elevation of our said Invention.
E is a cast-iron frame, fastened to the floor below and to a beam above, in
order to keep it as firm and steady as possible; F is the back of the frame of
the moveable cutter, turning on the pivot G; and II, II, are two springs
bearing against the moveable cutter to press it against the fixed cutter K.
This fixed cutter K is let into the frame E by means of a dovetail, and kept
firm by wedges; and it should be remarked of the moveable cutter J that it is
fixed into the back F in the same manner, and that its cutting edge is made
with a sweep, in order to equalize the angle made by the two cutters in the
whole length of the cut. The moveable cutter is worked by the rod I, which
is fixed into the wheel L of the bevil gear L, M. The rod I works with a
ball and socket at each end, and is adjusted by means of the slot . The
bevil gear gives the first motion to the engine, and may be connected of
course either to a steam engine or other sufficient power. N is an eccentric
with a brass strap, like that used for the slide valve of a steam engine. This
eccentric is connected with the rod O, which is furnished with a ball and
socket P, and moves the lever or treadle Q, which gives a vibrating motion.
to the upright shaft R. The part coloured green in this Drawing is
merely the gallows, in which the axis of the shaft R is supported. S is
a lever, turning on a centre at T, for throwing the bevil wheels out, of
gear in manner more particularly explained hereafter. V is a guide to
direct the points of the iron bars to the cutters, and the parts marked e

page_text: represent the ends of the iron bars from which the nails, sprigs, or sparables
are to be cut; W is a small handle for throwing the bevil wheels into gear
again, when necessary. The Drawing marked B contains four Figures.
Figure 1 represents a side view of our said Invention, and it should here
be observed that the letters used in the Drawing marked A are applied
to the same parts in the Drawing marked B now under description. L, M,
is the bevel gear which gives the primary motion to the engine; N is the
eccentric which is on the same shaft as the wheel L, and which moves the
rod 0, as before described, and thus gives the vibrating motion to the upright
shafts R, R, and, consequently, to the bar X, which bar I call, for the sake of
distinction, the vibrating bar; and I will here remark that it is on this vibrating
bar that the remaining movements of the machinery depend, as will be here-
after explained; but I shall first describe some other parts of the engine not
shown in the Drawing marked A, and which will better explain the move-
ments; the parts marked e are the bars of iron to be cut into sprigs or
sparables, as aforesaid, and it should be here observed that these bars of iron e
should be made straight on both edges before they are placed in the engine;
the width of the bar gives the length of the nail, and will, therefore, be regu-
lated accordingly, while its thickness will also depend on the sort of nail, sprig,
or sparable required: The rack frame, coloured green or plane, on which
the carriage, which is coloured blue, travels, should be inclined to whatever
angle is required to make the difference between the width of the head and
point, of the nail, sprig, or sparable to be cut, and is adjusted by being hung
on a strong joint Y at one end, and fastened to the upright pillar Z at the
other, by means of. a set screw which adjusts it to any degree of elevation or
depression marked on the scale shown on the pillar. From this inclined plane,
coloured green, hangs the gallows which supports the shaft of the vibrating bar,
as has been already explained, so that the whole moves together, and each part
maintains its relative position. As this plane, coloured green, must always be
inclined, more or less, I designate it by the name of the inclined carriage
plane; and I will now proceed to describe the said carriage and its motion
along the said inclined plane; and first of the carriage:-aa, is the carriage
bed; b, b, are two uprights, to support the bearings of the small shafts marked
c; cach of these small shafts is furnished with a pinion working into the pinion
next below. it, and the lowermost pinion works. into the toothed wheel f; the
bars of iron e; from which the nails are to be cut, are fixed to the small shafts
c:in manner herein-after more particularly described. Now, it is necessary
that after every operation of the cutters the bars e should be turned over,

page_text: and this is performed by means of the toothed wheel f, which, in its revolution,
causes all the small shafts to turn. It is evident that the motion of these
'small shafts must not be continuous, but that the bars must remain at rest
during the cutting operation, and therefore the motion given to the small
'bars e must only be occasional, and this is contrived as follows:-On the end of
the shaft of the toothed wheel f is fixed a ratchet wheel, from the axis of
which ratchet wheel hangs the swinging bar 9; this swinging bar is forked
at its lower end, and bestrides the vibrating bar X, so that as the vibrating
bar moves to and fro it carries the swinging bar g along with it from side to
side. Now the swinging bar has a paul or click on one side of it, which
draws into a notch of the ratchet wheel when the vibrating bar moves to one
side, and acting against the said notch, when the vibrating bar moves to
the other side, carries the ratchet wheel, and, consequently, the toothed
wheel round with it. Thus it will be seen that the toothed wheel f
is only turned by every alternate movement of the vibrating bar. This
motion being somewhat complicated, I shall describe it separately here-
after, but I will now proceed to describe the mode of causing the carriage
to advance along the inclined plane, in order to push forward the iron
bars as the nails are cut off, and which is also effected by the movement
of the vibrating bar. is a worm which takes into the rack of the
inclined carriage plane, and as it turns advances the carriage towards the
cutters; this worm has a double ratchet wheel m, n, fixed on its axis, from
which another swinging bar p hangs down with a forked end bestriding the
vibrating bar in like manner, as before described. The swinging bar P has a
paul or click on cach side of it, for it is necessary that the carriage should
recede after every operation of the cutters about half as much as it previously
advanced, and for this reason, namely, that the bars of iron that are nearest to
the pivot of the moveable cutter could not turn over if left so far in the guide V.
It is necessary thereforo to draw them back out of the way of the cutter
before they are turned over, and this is effected by means of the double ratchet
wheel, and the two pauls or clicks, which are so arranged that when the
vibrating bar X moves to one side, it advances the carriage as far as is required
to form the width of the nail, and when it moves to the other side causes the
carriage to recede about half as much as it previously advanced, as will be
more particularly described hereafter. 9 is an arm projecting before the car-
riage, which, when the bars of iron e are cut as short as may be convenient,
comes in contact with the end of the lever S before described, and throws the
bevel wheels out of gear. The position of this lever S is shewn in the Drawing

page_text: cease.
marked A, and it only remains to explain that the upper end t of this lever S
acts against a collar u, which being connected with the bevel wheel L draws it
back upon its axis in the ordinary mode of such contrivances, and thus disen-
gages it from the bevelled wheel M, when of course the operations of the engine
The only part of this Figure which now remains to be described, is the
manner of fixing the bars of iron e into their holders, and of fastening these
holders, which I call holder bars, into the small shafts c. The holder bars are
marked Y, and each holder bar is furnished with a spring 1 fastened at the end,
where two rivets are shown, and acting of course at the opposite end. At the
end of the holder bars next to the iron bars e is fixed a small stud, and when the
iron bars are to be fixed to the holder bars, a small hole is punched in the end
of 'the iron bar; the end of the spring is raised off the stud, the end of the iron
bar is put over the stud, and the spring allowed to act against it, which is
sufficient to hold it steady. The holder bars slip into hollows drilled in the
ends of the small bars c to receive them, and are adjusted and held firm by
means of set screws shown in the Drawing. It should here be observed, that
according as the inclination of the carriage plane is more or less, so should
the upper holder bars be more or less advanced, for, in order to prevent waste
in the cutting, and to prevent one iron bar being cut up before the other, the
hinder ends of the iron bars e should always be in a perpendicular direction,
one exactly over the other, as shewn in the Figure. The smaller bars marked
c are made with necks, into which their bearings fit to keep them steady; and
in order to provide against any unsteadiness from wear by friction, the small
spiral springs shown in the Drawing are placed round the bars acting at one
end against the fixed bearings, and at the other against the side of the pinions,
which prevents the small bars from advancing from their proper position or
becoming unsteady in their motion. Figures 2 and 3 are enlarged Drawings
of the double and single ratchet wheel movements; Figure 2 represents the
ratchet wheel on the axis of the toothed wheel f, and the swinging bar
9, with
its forkediend; and Figure 3 represents the double ratchet wheel m, n, on the
axis of the worm k, and its swinging bar p; when the vibrating bar X is in
action in the direction inarked by the arrow, the vibrating bar is supposed to have
come from the position marked by the dotted lines, and to be advancing to a
similar angle on the other side of a perpendicular. While this motion has been
going on, tho-swinging bar g bas been brought into the position here shewn, and
the toothed wheel has remained stationary, the click or paul on the side
of the swinging bar g having taken into one of the notches of the ratchet
wheel. The vibrating bar is now about to push the swinging bar p

page_text: forward in the direction of the arrow, which will cause the ratchet wheel n to
be turned round in a direction from n towards m, and this will advance the
carriage, by means of the worm k, just as far forward as will be required for
the width of the nail, sprig, or sparable head. The vibrating bar must still
continue to advance so far as to allow time for the cutters to perform their
operation before (in returning to the place it started from) it comes in
contact with the swinging bar p, in order to carry it back to the position
shown by the dotted lines. This will force the worm round the other way, and
thus cause the carriage to recede half as much as it previously advanced, for
in order to prevent the action being equal both ways the stud marked s is
interposed in such manner as to cause the paul or click on that side of the
swinging bar p, when moving in the direction of the arrow, to be raised out of
the ratchet wheel m which said paul or click when returning will take into the
next notch of the ratchet wheel. When the swinging bar, P has gone through
one half of its motion, it will then carry the worm round with it, which will
cause the carriage to be moved half as far backwards as it had previously
advanced. Now, it has been before stated that the drawing back of the
carriage is to allow the iron bars to be turned over, and as soon as the
vibrating bar has brought the swinging bar p to the position marked by the
dotted lines, it begins to act on the other swinging bar g, and forcing that back
to the position marked by the lotted lines drives the toothed wheel f round,
which turns all the small bars marked c, and thus turns over the iron bars from
which the nails are cut. The number of the teeth on the ratchet wheels mand
n must of course be regulated by the width required for the head of the nail,
sprig, or sparable, and the number of teeth on the other ratchet wheel by the
size of the toothed wheel f, with reference to the pinions above it, so that every
notch of the ratchet wheel shall cause half a revolution of the pinions. It
should here be observed that the stud marked s is not attached to any of the
parts shown in Figures 2 and 3, but obtrudes itself into the situation there
shown from the under side of the frame which carries the worm and to which
it is fastened; its situation as attached to the worm frame is moreover shown
in Figure 1 by dotted lines on the carriage bed and marked s. It should here
be stated that the frame which carries the worm is hung on pivots or axes at
one of its sides, which enables the other side to be lifted up so as to disengage
the worm from the rack, that the carriage may be run back when all the iron
bars are cut up and the engine is to be fresh supplied or fed.
Figure 4 is a grooved cutter to be used instead of the moveable cutter
before described, when it is required to form a nail, which should have a leaf

page_text: at one side of the head, and this cutter should have its cutting edge curved
similarly to the plain cutter before described and for the same purpose.
The Drawing marked C represents a plan of the greater part of our said
Invention, but with the bevelled gear and upper part of the front frame
removed so as to show more clearly the parts below it. The letters which are
used in the Drawings before described are applied to similar parts in this
Drawing. Thus, E is the front frame; H, H, are the springs which keep the
moveable cutter pressed against the fixed cutter; O is the lower part of the
rod connected with the eccentric; Q is the lever or treadle which moves the
vibrating, bar; X is the vibrating bar; e is the bar of iron about to be cut;
1 is the spring for holding it steady; y is the holder bar; c is one of the small
shafts with its pinion; fis the large toothed wheel that turns the pinion; the
long rack coloured green is that in which the worm ké works, and it will be
seen by this Figure that it is inclined inwards from the side of the engine so as
to meet the worm; a, a, is the carriage bed, and q is the arm projecting from
and before it, which when the carriage has advanced to its full extent touches
the end of the lever S, and throwing the bevelled wheels out of gear stops the
engine. Now, it has been found from experiment that nails, sprigs, or sparables
when cut are better formed if the bar of iron be presented in a slanting
direction to the cutters, and to effect this we hang our carriage frame on a
pivot at a, and then fix the pillars Z in such a position to one side or the other
as to cause the frame to stand at or nearly at the angle represented in this
Drawing with respect to the front frame; D, D, are the bearings in which the
axes of the worm frame before alluded to work, and g shows the handle of a
spring latch which fastens down the worm frame to the carriage bed and keeps
the worm in gear.
Now, whereas nails, sprigs, or sparables may have been heretofore cut by
means of cutters set in a frame moving on a joint similar to that herein-before
described at F, wherefore we do not claim the part marked F as any part of
our said Invention; but whereas a cutter with a curved edge, as herein-before
described, and for the purposes aforesaid, and also an engine, such as is herein-
before described, for making a number of nails, sprigs, or sparables at one stroke
of a cutter (with the exception only of the part marked F, herein-before excepted),
being to the best of our knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used
in that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, His Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, or in any of His Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad, I do hereby
declare this to be our Specification of our said Invention; and that I do verily

page_text: believe this our said Specification doth comply in all respects fully, and without
reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said hercin-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained; wherefore we do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to our said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ecroyd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-six.
EDWARDS, Extra.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid John Ecroyd, came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled tho Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-six.