IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING EYELETS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR MAKING EYELETS."-A communication from abroad by
Thomas Garrick, residing at Providence, Rhode Island, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 7th December 1866, and dated the 1st September 1866.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 1st September 1866, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR MAKING EYELETS," that the same has been communicated to
me from abroad by Thomas Garrick, a person resident at Providence, Rhode
Island, in the United States of America, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
making part of this Specification, in which Figure 1 is a sido elevation of the
machine which embodies the said Invention with the eyelet forming parts
shown by section at A; Figure is a plan of the said machine complete;

page_text: Figure 3 is a transverse section of the moveable cutter or punch and mould
herein-after specified for cutting the blank and shaping the exterior of the
eyelet; Figure 4 is a transverse section of the "cutting die," central nut,
and fixed punch herein-after mentioned for shaping the interior of the
eyelet and cutting out the closed end; Figures 5 and 6 are details of the
"clearers" (so called) herein-after mentioned for clearing the eyelet from the
forming parts; and Figures 7 and 8 are details of the feeding apparatus
which feeds the metal to the eyelet forming parts. Similar letters refer to
corresponding parts in all the Figures. The machine represented by the said
Drawings consists of two distinct eyelet making machines combined on one
frame or table but driven from one common driving shaft, the said two
machines being alike in every particular except perhaps the eyelet forming
parts and their immediate auxiliaries, which may be of different size for the
making of different sizes of eyelets.
In the Drawings B is the bed or table upon which the several parts of the
machine are arranged and operate, it is of cast iron and has a dripping trough
B' at its outer edge to catch and keep the oil, &c., from the floor of the room,
and it is mounted on four stout cast-iron legs; the moving parts of the machine
are arranged in lugs or stands C, C, C, that project from the surface of the
table, of which they form a part; D is the driving shaft; G is a pulley thereon
from which the power of the belt or band running upon it is communicated
to the shaft to operate or stop the machine at will by the clutch 6 operated
by the lever a. The moveable portion of the eyelet forming parts are held
in the end of the plunger H, which is connected by the link I to a crank or
eccentric turned or wrought in or upon the driving shaft D, by the revolution
of which the said plunger is reciprocated longitudinally in the lugs or stands
C, C'. The die and fixed punch constituting the fixed portions of the eyelet
making parts are held in the face of the lug or stand C. These eyelet
forming parts or tools are represented full size by section in Figures 3, 4, and
5, the portion in the sliding plunger II consisting of a movable cutter or punch
d, which cuts the disc or metal blank with a mould in its interior composed of
a drawing cavity e, and an eyelet shaping cavity or mould die v, and a central
cutting cavity or cutting shoulder 3 for cutting out and receiving the end
punching or chip from the small end of the eyelet, which chip is carried through
the tubular passage f into the interior of the plunger, from which they escape
by the tubes 5, 5. The portion of the eyelet tube which is fixed and in that
condition co-operate with the above-described moving parts to form the eyelet
are shown in Figure 4, and consist of a cutting die t, of a size to receive the end
of the cutting punch d, and a central hub or core i for moulding or shaping

page_text: the interior of the eyelet, the end of which forms a fixed punch, with a square
cutting edge r of a diameter to enter the cutting cavity 3 in the moveable
cutter or punch at the bottom of the mould for the purpose of punching the
end from the eyelet after it is completely formed. Upon the end of this fixed
punch there is a rounded protuberance or teat n, which pushes the centre of
the metal disc beyond the end of the punch, and thus prevents the metal from
bending so sharply across the cutting edge r as to prevent the metal from
stretching evenly from the centre to the periphery of the disc until the
operation of forming it into an eyelet is completed, and also enables the said
cutting edge to sever the metal squarely between it and the cutting cavity in
the mould to punch out the closed end. When the eyelet is completely
formed it remains in the cavity of the cutting die sticking upon the fixed
punch, and would prevent the operation from being repeated, and in order to
remove the same there is arranged with the said cutting die and fixed punch
a clearer, consisting of two or more rods or small punches 7, 7, 7, 7, fixed in
the rod o at the rear of the die, with the said punches (7) passing through the
rear of said die close to the central hub, and between it and the cutting edge
of the die, so as to strike against the expanded edge of the eyelet on the
punch and expel it therefrom. The rod o receives a movement in either
direction to slide it forward to expel the eyelet and return it after this has been
performed by means of the yoke F, F, attached to the end of the plunger H
and moving with it, and the motion of the rod O is limited and adjusted by
means of the nut 10 on its rear end and the set screw in the end of the stand
14. The metal used is in the form of a thin narrow strip or ribbon, it is held
in a circular cavity in the holder L, as shown in red lines, Figure 2;
surrounding this cavity is an oil receptacle J, which is quite shallow at J' and
gradually deepens to J³, where is an outlet through which the flow of the oil
is regulated by a bunch of wicking or some suitable fibrous material; next to
this outlet is a passage for the strip to pass from the circular cavity of the
holder, in doing which the side of the metal strip next to the outlet is smeared
with oil, which serves to lubricate the drawing die and mould and prevent it
from wearing or heating. From the holder L to the cutting die the metal
strip passes through a narrow slit æ in front of the die, as shown in Figure 4,
and formed by a thin flat strip or plate 9 placed over the cutting die, with a
sufficient opening m cut therein to admit the cutting punch d to the die, the
said opening serving to clear the strip from the end of said cutting punch
after its operation is completed and when it is withdrawn from the die. The
metal strip is drawn through the slit from the holder to feed it to the die
and plunger by means of a pair of corrugated or fluted rolls S, S, between

page_text: which the strip is pinched and driven through by intermittent movements by
means of a ratchet on the shaft of one of the rolls, operated by the pawl p
on the sliding rod V from the cam W on the driving shaft, each movement
being such as to carry forward beneath the cutting punch a fresh surface of
metal sufficient to form an eyelet. A full size roll is shewn in Figure 8, and
the manner in which the two rolls are arranged and adjusted is shown in
Figure 7. A finger wheel his attached to the roll, to which the power is applied
for the purpose of turning the rolls by hand in starting the feeding or running
back the strip of metal. There is also a trip lever E turning on the screw u,
by means of which the pawl p is tripped and held from contact with the
ratchet.
Such being the construction and arrangement of the several parts of the
machine, the operation is that power being applied to the pulley and driving
shaft, on which is placed a suitable balance wheel P, the shaft is revolved
regularly, and at each forward stroke of the plunger a disc is cut from the
metal strip, and by a continuance of the movement is carried into the cavity
of the drawing die, and thence into the mould die, when it is formed by
drawing and compression into the shape of an eyelet, and at the extremity of
the movement the small end of the eyelet is cut out by the meeting of the
cutting edge of the fixed punch and the cutting shoulder in the interior of
the mould die, when by the retreating movement of the plunger the punch is
withdrawn from the die, leaving the eyelet clinging to the fixed hub or punch,
and when the moveable punch is sufficiently withdrawn to be out of the way
the yoke F, F, meets the rod O, and forces the puncher 7, 7, against the
expanded edge of the eyelet, and expels it from the hub and die, after which,
by the action of the feeding rolls, a fresh surface of the metal strip is carried
beneath the cutting punch, and the same operation is repeated with a rapidity
equal to two hundred turns or thereabouts of the driving shaft per minute,
each forward stroke or movement of the plunger cutting the disc of metal
from the strip, and converting it into a perfectly formed eyelet, and they drop
from the die or punch into the funnel R, and thence are conveyed to a proper
receptacle, while the chip or end punching is deposited in the interior of the
spindle, from which they are discharged into another separate funnel T, and
from thence are conveyed to a separate receptacle.
Having thus described the construction and operation of the said Invention,
I claim,-
First, the combination with the moveable cutter or punch for cutting the
metal disc or blank of an interior drawing and moulding die, and a cutting
cavity or shoulder, substantially as described for the purpose specified.

page_text: Secondly, I claim the combination of the stationary cutting die with a
central hub and fixed cutting punch in combination, substantially as described
for the purpose specified.
Thirdly, I claim the clearers 7, 7, 7, 7, or their equivalent, substantially as
described, applied to expel the eyelet from the forming parts, substantially in
the manner described.
Fourthly, I claim the combination of the protuberance or teat n on the end
of the hub or punch i, with the cutting edger of said punch, substantially as
described for the purpose set forth.
Fifthly, I claim the combination of the strip holder for holding and delivering
a coiled metal strip, with a lubricating trough or its equivalent for applying
Jubricating material to the strip as it passes from the holder, substantially as
described for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD.
(L.B.)