Improved Machine for the Manufacture of Steel Writing Pens.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Machine for the Manufacture of Steel Writing Pens.
I MENDEL ARONSOHN of Chemnitz, Saxony, Manufacturer, 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 :-
My said invention relates to an improved machine to be employed in the production
of steel writing pens.
In the manufacture of steel writing pens as heretofore practised one person cuts
out the pen blanks by means of a punch from a sheet of steel. The blanks are then
handed to a second person who punches them in a separate machine, the stamping is
performed by a third person, and so on.
The object of my said invention is to provide means for automatically transferring
the blanks or pens from one punch or stamp to the next and for accurately setting the
pens or blanks in the proper position for being acted upon by the tool to the action of
which they are to be subjected.
In order to more clearly set forth my said invention I will proceed to describe the
same with reference to the accompanying sheet of drawings in all the figures of which
the same letters refer to the same parts.
Fig. 2 is a plan and Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation through B' B' of Fig. 2. The
detached subsidiary figure at the top of Fig. 1 is a front view of the slide and
excentric H. Figs. 3 and 4 show details to be hereinafter referred to.
On the table A of the machine is secured a suitable number of punching or stamping
appliances. In the plan Fig. 2 I indicate five such appliances at B B1 B2 B³ and B
but for convenience of illustration only one of them is shown in Fig. 2.
At B the pen blanks are cut out and travelling in the direction indicated by an
arrow in Fig. 2 they are punched at B₁, stamped or impressed with an inscription or
design at B, slit at B³ and bent into suitable shape at B².
The whole of the appliances B B1 B2 B3 B4 hereinafter referred to at heads are
actuated by a worm wheel C which is secured to a bush C¹ rotating in a cylinder D
secured in the table A.
Rotary motion is imparted to the worm wheel (by a worm E, preferably with four
threads. The worm E is driven by the pulley E' through the friction cone E² so that
in case of anything occurring to disarrange and stop the mechanism the pulley E¹
may slip. Each head has an upright shaft F deriving motion from the wheel C by
means of a toothed wheel F' gearing therein. At the top of each upright shaft is
a pair of bevil wheels G G¹ in gear with each other for the purpose of rotating the
excentrics H which impart a vertical reciprocating motion to the tool holders in each
head. By the means above described the tool holders of all the heads may be
simultaneously operated by the rotation of the wheel . The bevil wheels G are
loose on the upright shafts F each of which is provided with a clutch T secured
thereon and taking into a corresponding clutch on the boss of the bevil wheel. By
raising the lever T¹ the clutch T is disengaged and the bevil wheel G is freed and
thus any individual tool may be put out of action without interfering with the
working of the others."
Over the table A and supported by six feet or brackets K is another fixed disc
or table in which the necessary dies or matrices are embedded in a suitable manner.
Immediately over this second table is a circular plate or wheel L' mounted on the
vertical shaft L³, the latter being capable of vertical adjustment as shown in the
drawing. To the wheel L' is secured an annular plate of sheet metal L the thickness
of which is slightly in excess of that of the pens and which contains a suitable
number of recesses corresponding to the shape of the pens. For the machine
shown in the drawing six is a suitable number of such recesses. By the rotation
of the wheel L' and the plate L the pens are carried from one head to the other.
Prire 81

page_text: In order to ensure that the plate L shall lie perfectly flat and true it is fastened at
its edges to the plate L2 by means of screws. It is also covered by a heavy plate
held in position by brackets on the table. The latter device is however purposely left.
out of the figures so as to avoid unnecessary complication of the drawing. Its
principal function is to prevent the pens from springing out as they revolve.
The plate L hereinafter referred to as the carrying plate being secured to the
wheel L partakes of the rotation thereof.
The latter is driven from one of the vertical shafts F by means of the bevil
wheels M M', the worm N (Fig. 2) and the worm wheel N which is secured to the
central shaft L. In the machine as I prefer to construct it the bevil wheel M is of
such a diameter as corresponds to 120 teeth but at a suitable point in the circum-
ference 20 teeth are left out so that during one-sixth of a revolution it does not gear
into the smaller wheel or pinion M' which has preferably 20 teeth. In the machine
shown the worm N has four threads and the worm wheel N¹ has 120 teeth. From the
foregoing arrangement of the numbers of teeth the following results ensue when the bevil
wheel M makes one complete revolution, viz.:-the pinion M' makes 100 = 5 revolu-
tions and since the worm N has four threads the worm wheel Ni rotates and
takes with it the carrying plate L through an angular distance corresponding to
20 teeth, that is to say one-sixth of a complete revolution. The carrying plate L then
remains stationary while the gap in the toothed rim of the wheel M is passing the
pinion M. During this stoppage the pens are operated upon by the tools in the
different heads. So long as an intermittent rotation is obtained the number of teeth
in the various wheels may be varied almost indefinitely and I do not limit myself to
the exact proportions hereinbefore indicated by way of example.
20
The operations are conducted in the following manner. The steel strip a Fig. 2 is
drawn from a roll or coil and fed under the punch of the head B by a pair of feed
rolls 6 preferably of caoutchouc. The head B is somewhat differently arranged from
the others, in comparison with which the punch is higher, so as to enable the die or
matrix C to be raised so far above the table as to provide room between the matrix
and the carrying plate L for a case d.
The case & which is shaped internally to correspond to the shape of the pen blank
receives the cut-out blanks. To preserve an even pressure on the carrying plate so as
to ensure its certain operation a lever e is provided having at its upper end a finger
which projects through a slot in the case d. The resilience of the spiral spring f
causes the finger f to press downwards and that of the spring e¹ pushes it forwards.
The carrying plate is provided with two wedge shaped projections one on the face and
one at the edge which are indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. As these come round
the one on the edge first acts on the lever e to push it back and then the other
projection acts on the finger to lift it up. On being freed the finger inserts itself
at a higher position in the pile of pens than it occupied before being pushed
back. The entrance of the finger is facilitated by the edges of the pen blanks being
rounded off downwards as shown on a larger scale at Fig. 3, and by the pens yielding
easily in an upward direction.
The carrying plate L takes the pens from one head to the other in and over the
corresponding dies or matrices which lie under the carrying plate and in this manner
the punching, stamping, slitting and finally the shaping of the pens is accomplished.
The number of heads or operations may be increased or diminished according to
circumstances.
The construction of the shaping head is different from the others and is shown in
.section at B* Fig. 1. A rotating die or matrix V is provided under the carrying
plate L. The die V derives rotary motion by means of a pair of bevil wheels P PI
from the vertical shaft F. A gap is provided in the teeth of the wheel P so that
during a portion of its revolution, while the pen is being operated upon the die is
stationary. A spring click taking into a notch in the rim of the wheel Q ensures the
die remaining stationary at the proper point.
By the rotation of the die the shaped pens are brought downwards and fall into a
spout leading out of the machine.

page_text: A brush S Fig. 4 ensures the stripping of the pens from the die V.
The other tools, punches, or dies in the various heads may be of the ordinary kinds
as commonly used for such purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The use combination and arrangement of parts constituting a machine for
successively cutting out, punching, marking, slitting, shaping or performing other
similar successive operations in the process of steel pen making substantially as herein-
before described and shown.
2. A machine for performing the successive operations in the manipulation of blanks
for the manufacture of steel pens, in which the cut out blanks are collected in a case,
beneath which is a rotating carrying plate provided with recesses for receiving the cut
out blanks, and for conveying and holding them in the proper positions over the dies
in the table and under the punches or tools of heads arranged in a circle, and in which
the die of the last or shaping head rotates, the whole acting and operated substantially
as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and shown.
Dated this Twenty-eighth day of November 1890.
EDWARD TURNER WHITELOW,
70, Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.