IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NUTS, WASHERS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edward Rogers, of Smethwick, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NUTS, WASHERS, AND OTHER
SIMILAR ARTICLES.”
Scaled the 16th October 1875, and dated the 30th April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edward Rogers
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th April 1875.
:
I, JOHN EDWARD ROGERS, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NUTS, WASHERS, AND OTHER
SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
Hitherto hexagon nuts have been cut from a bar of iron by dies and
punchers of the shape required, and thus there is a large amount of
waste in their manufacture in consequence of the angular pieces of
metal which are thus cut away in the forming of each nut.

page_text: The object of my Invention is to prevent the waste of these angular
pieces of metal, since by my improved means they are not cut away, but
the whole of the bar of iron is used in the manufacture of the articles
named in the title.
My improved machinery or arrangement of parts for this purpose is
constructed substantially in the following manner :-Both in the manu-
facture of nuts and washers I provide a hexagonal die of the same
construction, and having a certain portion of its front face cut away
(and which is necessarily cut away more in the formation of a nut than
a washer, as will be readily understood), and which die is secured to the
machine or apparatus employed in any suitable manner. In the front of
this die (where it is cut away) I cause two pointed cutters to rise and fall
simultaneously from the upper and under side of the die, and in such
manner that the points of the said cutters shall meet at a point which is
in a right line with the centre of the die before mentioned.
'
I next provide a hexagonal punch, having a hole through its centre,
and this punch is caused to enter the before named die, and is provided
with a second or internal round punch, which in its turn is made to
work through the before named hole in the centre of the first named
punch.
The action of the machine or arrangement of parts is as follows:-A
rod of heated iron is placed by the attendant against the cut-away
surface of the die; the pointed cutters are then caused to cut off the
required quantity of metal, forming as they do so two of the off sides
of the first nut and two of the near sides of the second nut. The said
hexagonal punch is then caused to enter the die taking with it the
metal blank which the cutters have as before explained severed from
the iron rod, and it being then pressed into the die it is thus finished by
the pressing in of any rough or untruc edges.
r
Whilst the nut is held firmly in the die the second or internal punch
is caused to advance and is forced through the nut, and thus the re-
quired hole or aperture through it is formed; the two punchers are then
withdrawn and carry with them the finished nut; and when the said
hexagonal punch has been withdrawn to its normal position and has
become stationary, the said internal punch continues its backward
motion and the nut drops into a box or other receptacle provided for it.

page_text: The same operation is repeated in the formation of each nut desired
to be made, and it will be understood that with some modifications the
same process is employed in the manufacture of washers and other
similar articles to which it is desired to give an hexagonal shape.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDWARD ROGERS, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Edward Rogers, Her special licence
that I, the said John Edward Rogers, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Edward Rogers, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NUTS, WASHERS, AND OTHER
SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Edward Rogers, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Edward Rogers, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :—
Hitherto hexagon and other shaped nuts have been cut from a rod or
bar of iron by dies and punches of the shape required, and thus thero is
a large amount of wasto in their manufacture in consequence of the
angular pieces of metal which are thus cut away in the forming of each
nut.
The object of my Invention is to prevent the waste of these angular
picces of metal, and also to prevent a like waste in the present method of
punching their centre holes, since by my improved means the former
are not cut away and a saving of metal is effected in the formation of
the said centre holes, as the whole (or within a fractional portion of the
whole) of the bar of iron is used in the manufacture of the articles
named in the title.
My improved machinery or arrangement of parts for this purpose is
constructed substantially in the following manner:-Assuming that nuts
or washers of a hexagonal shape are desired to be made I provide a
hexagonal die of the same construction, and having a certain portion of
its front face cut away (and which is necessarily cut away more in the
formation of a nut than a washer, as will be understood), and which die
is secured to the machine or apparatus employed in any suitable manner.
In the front of this dic (where it is cut away) I cause two pointed
cutters to rise and fall simultaneously from the upper and under side of
the die, and in such manner that the points of the said cutters shall
meet at a point which is in a right line with the centre of the die before
mentioned.
I next provide either a single hexagonal punch having a hole through
its centre, and this punch being caused to enter the before named die and
being provided with a second or internal round punch, which in its turn
is made to work through the before named hole in the centre of the first
named punch, or a double hexagonal punch of the same kind which is
more fully described in the Drawings herein-after referred to..
The action of the machine or arrangement of parts is as follows:-
.A bar of heated iron is placed by the attendant against the cut-away
surface of the die; the pointed cutters are then caused to cut off the
required quantity of metal, forming as they do so two of the "off" sides
of the first nut, and two of the "near" sides of the second nut. The said

page_text: hexagonal punch is then caused to enter the die, taking with it the metal
blank which the cutters have, as before explained, severed from the iron
bar, and it being then pressed into the die it is thus finished so far as its
exterior is concerned by the pressing in of any rough or untrue edges.
Whilst the nut is held firmly in the die the second or internal punch
is caused to advance and is forced through the nut, and thus the required
hole or aperture through it is formed; the two punches are then with-
drawn and carry with them the finished nut; and when the said hexa-
gonal punch has been withdrawn to its normal position and has become
stationary, the said internal punch continues its backward motion and
the nut drops into a box or other receptacle provided for it. Or, as will
be understood, when the double punch before referred to is used then
internal punches are pressed from opposite directions through the nut,
so as to meet each other at equidistant points in the nut.
The same operation is repeated in the formation of cach nut desired to
be made, and it will be understood that with some modifications the
same process is employed in the manufacture of washers and other
similar articles to which it is desired to give an hexagonal shape.
That Invention
my
may
be better understood I have annexed Draw-
ings thereof, which I now proceed to describe.
Fig. 1 shews a front elevation of a machine constructed according to
my Invention.
Fig. 2 is a section of the same machine upon the
line A, B.
Fig. 3 shews the cutters and Fig. 4 the punches proposed to be used,
both of which are for the sake of full illustration drawn full size.
Similar letters of reference are used to indicate the same parts in the
several Figures.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The heated bar from which
the nuts or washers are to be made is placed against tool G, the normal
position of which is as shewn in Fig. 3, even with the die box H being
so held backwards by a suitable spring, but is forced forwards by the
action of the cam C¹ to the required distance as shewn by the dotted
line. The corners of the bar are trimmed in a suitable manner, so that
the first nut may be made perfectly, the said tool G is so regulated by
the cam C¹, acting on the slide C, in which the said tool G is held, as to
allow only sufficient metal to make a nut without straining the front

page_text: cutters F, F, as is more fully explained by Fig. 3. The cutters F, F,
and the tools E, E, to which the said cutters are bolted then close in a
right line with the centre of the die, so as to sever the piece of metal
which is to form the nut or washer from the bar, and at the same time
press two sides of it to the shape of a hexagon nut, leaving the end of
the bar cut at the required angle for making the next nut.
Motion is given to these cutters by the cams B' and B¹ by means of
the.levers B and B³, and which said cams are affixed to the cam shaft
B³, which in its turn receives motion by means of mitre gear from the
main shaft A³.
The metal blank being severed from the bar of iron is carried by the
right hand slide (which contains the hexagon-shaped tool or punch E').
into the die box H, finishing as it does so the outside edges of the nut,
and holding it against the tool E' contained in the left hand slide until
the hole has been forced into it.
The punches E', E', have holes bored longitudinally through them
corresponding in size to the aperture required to be made in the nut.
In these holes work the internal punches D, D, the ends of which project
beyond the ends of the hexagonal tools E¹ and E¹, a suitable distance.
The object of this is that when the blank is carried into the die box H,
the ends of the internal punches D, D, enter the faces of the nut and
the ends force the metal into the body of the nut. The left hand
internal punch D is then moved forward against the right hand internal
punch D by the cam D', pressing as it does so as much as possible of
the remaining metal into the nut, and the said left hand internal
punch continuing to advance through the nut which is being made a
true and central hole or aperture is formed.
The action of these internal punches would be the same in the manu-
facture of articles in which it is only necessary to make an aperture or
hole of any kind. The risk of breakage in the operation of the machine
is avoided by providing an india-rubber buffer L, against which the left
hand slide A may rest and which is affixed to the frame of the machine,
and also by the right hand internal punch D being provided with a
spring and catch I. All the return motions in a machine constructed
according to my Invention are made by suitable springs.
The cutters F, F, herein-before described, are not made in one piece
with the tools E, E, but separately and are afterwards bolted to them.

page_text: The object of this is that when the cutters are worn away another set
may be supplied to the tools E, E, without the need of supplying the
whole afresh.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner in which the same is or may be performed, I desire it to be
understood that without limiting myself to the precise details herein-
before described (as these may be varied or modified without departing
from the nature of my said Invention), what I claim as the Invention to
be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is-
First. Regulating the supply of metal within the cutters by means of
the tool G, substantially as herein-before described and as illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
Second. The tools E, E, and cutters F, F, substantially as herein-
before described, and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Third. Making the tools E, E, separately from the cutters F, F, to
which they are afterwards bolted; so as to renew them at pleasure,
substantially as herein-before described and as illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawings.
Fourth. The tools E, E, with their cutters F, F, and the tool G in
combination with the punches E³, E', and their internal punches D, D,
and die box H, substantially as herein-before described and as illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edward Rogers, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
JOHN EDWARD ROGERS. (L.S.)
Witness,
T. EMERY DAVIES,
Clerk to Mr. G. R. Holland,
Birmingham.