IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND APPARATUS FOR THE SAME.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edmondson, of 7, Church Street,
Manchester, Merchant, and James Wadsworth, of Collyhurst Road,
Manchester, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND APPARATUS FOR THE SAME.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edmondson and
James Wadsworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 23rd February 1875.
We, JAMES EDMONDSON, of 7, Church Street, Manchester, Merchant,
5 and JAMES WADSWORTH, of Collyhurst Road, Manchester, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate more particularly to those kind of nails
which are used for application to the soles and heels in the manufacture
or repair of boots and shoes, and are intended to give increased durability
to the soles and heels of those articles of wear at a cheap cost combined
with extreme lightness.

page_text: We construct nails according to our improvements by either casting
or forging the same in the first instance and forming the heads thereof
with a bevel edge around their outer circumferences; and by preference
we construct such heads thin and flat, so as to present a large wearing
surface, and also with a short and thin shank or spike. We then
place the nails in a die press of suitable form, whereby the bevel edge of
the head is by means of pressure or a blow applied in any suitable way,
bent or forced over, and a sharp or feather edge is thus formed round
the outer edge of the nails, such feather edge pointing in the same
direction as the shanks or spikes. It will thus be seen that upon a nail
formed in this manner being driven into the sole of a boot or shoe this
sharp or feather edge will be forced into the leather, whereby the nail
becomes in a measure embedded therein, and is thus less liable to come
loose or for the head to be broken off from the shank or spike. We
obtain this result to a great degree by subjecting the shanks or spikes
of such nails to a suitable mechanical process, whereby they become
corrugated, screw threaded, milled, or grooved in the shanks or spikes,
which result may be obtained either by placing the nails in a suitable
revolving milling apparatus or by pressing such shanks or spikes in a
die, either as a separate process or in combination with the former
process of forming the feather edge. The dies for preparing nails in this
manner may be either fitted in the ordinary fly" or "stamper "presses
or may be worked by steam or other power by means of a travelling or
revolving table, to which a number of dies or portions thereof are fixed.
Any or all of these dies may be formed with a self-acting piston or with
self-acting levers, whereby the nails after being subjected to pressure
within or between the dies may be ejected therefrom, so that it only
becomes necessary to feed the dies with nails for to be subjected to the
above described process or processes.
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said James Edmondson and James Wadsworth in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
EDMONDSON, of 7, Church Street, Manchester, Merchant, and JAMES
WADSWORTH, of Collyhurst Road, Manchester, Machinist, send 3
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, 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 suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said James Edmondson and James
Wadsworth, Her special licence that we, the said James Edmondson and
James Wadsworth, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said James Edmondson and James Wadsworth, our
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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS, AND APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said James Edmondson and James
Wadsworth, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Edmondson & James
Wadsworth, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
These improvements relate more particularly to those kinds of nails
which are used for application to the soles and heels of boots and shoes
either in the manufacture or repair thereof, for the purpose of giving
increased durability to the soles and heels of those articles of wear,
combined with extreme lightness and a cheap cost.
. We construct nails according to our improvements by either casting
or forging the same in the first instance (by preference casting and
annealing the same) and forming the heads thereof with a bevel edge
around their outer circumferences, and by preference we construct such
heads thin and flat, so as to present a large wearing surface. We also
prefer to construct the same with a short and thin shank or spike. We
then place the nails in a die press of suitable form, whereby the bevel

page_text: edge of the head is by means of pressure or a blow applied in any
suitable manner, bent or forced over, so as to form a sharp or feather
edge round the outer edge of the head, such being formed in the
direction of the shanks or spikes. It will be easily understood that
when a nail formed in manner described is driven into the sole or heel
of a boot or shoe this sharp or feather edge will be forced into the
leather, by which means the nail becomes partially embedded therein,
and is less liable to come loose, or for the head to be broken off from the
shank or spike. We obtain these results to a greater degree by sub-
jecting the shanks or spikes of such nails to a suitable mechanical
process, whereby such shanks or spikes become corrugated, screw
threaded, milled, or grooved. This may be done either by placing the
nails in a suitable revolving milling apparatus or by pressing such shanks
or spikes in a die, either as a separate process or in combination with the
former process of forming the feather edge. The dies for preparing nails
in this manner may be either fitted in the ordinary fly or stamper
presses or may be worked by steam or other power by means of a
travelling or revolving table, to which a number of dies, or portions
thereof, are fixed. Any or all of such dies may be formed with a self-
acting piston or pistons, or self-acting levers, whereby the nails after
being operated upon may be ejected from the apparatus, so that it will
be only necessary to feed the dies with nails for to be subjected to the
above described process or processes.
Fig. 1 shews an elevation of a nail as forged or cast, and before being
subjected to the process; and Fig. 2 shews a section of the same after
being subjected thereto.
Fig. 3 shows an elevation; and Fig. 4, a transverse section of the die
used for making the sharp or feather edge. In all cases the same letters
indicate corresponding portions wherever they occur. A, A, is the bed
of the press, or a portion of the travelling or revolving table. B, B, is
the one half of the die, whereon the nail is placed, and C, C, is the other
and
or moving portion thereof. The sharp edges of these dies B¹, B¹,
C, C¹, are taken off to enable them to force over the bevel edge and

page_text: form the sharp or feather edge, instead of cutting off the same, which
would be the case if the dies were left with a sharp or cutting edge;
D, D, is the piston, which, being caused to rise on the return of the
upper portion of the die, will eject the nail. Or a piston E, E, may be
fixed in the upper portion of the die for ejecting the nail therefrom. Or
both pistons may be used, or levers may be used instead of pistons. These
pistons may be actuated by any suitable mechanical arrangement, either
in connection with the fly or stamper press or the travelling or revolving
table. The process of milling or corrugating the shanks or spikes is one
that will readily be understood without the aid of Drawings, and which
may be performed in a lathe with suitable chuck and milling tools, or by
means of dies of suitable shapes, whereby the shanks or spikes may be
pressed into screw threads or corrugations of any desired form.
Having now described our improvements, and means which we adopt
in carrying the same into effect, we would have it understood that we
do not confine ourselves to the exact details shewn and described, as
variations may be made in them without departing from the peculiar
character of our Invention; but what we do claim is the subjecting of
cast or forged nails having flat heads with a bevel edge and short thin
spikes or shanks to die pressure, so as to form the same with a sharp or
feather edge around the outer circumference of the head in the direction
of the shank or spike, whether such shanks or spikes are subjected to
any process of milling, corrugating, screw threading, or not, substantially
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wadsworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
WILLIAM GADD,
Consulting Engineer,
64, Barton Arcade,
Manchester.
JAMES WADSWORTH. (L.S.)