IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CUT NAILS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Heathfield, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CUT NAILS."
Scaled the 31st July 1868, and dated the 22nd February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Heathfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd February 1868.
I, RICHARD HEATHFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CUT NAILS," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary manufacture of cut nails they are made from hoops
or strips of iron square at their edges, the said hoops. being cut trans-
versely and obliquely, thereby forming wedge-shaped nails having chisel
points, that is, points which are flat or at right angles to the parallel
sides of the nails. In driving the said nails the whole breadth of the
chisel point is presented to the wood or material and considerable
resistance is thereby offered to the driving of the nails.
In manufacturing cut nails according to my Invention I employ hoops
or strips of iron or steel the edges of which are rounded, that is to say,

page_text: are semicircular or nearly semicircular in cross-section. When the said
iron or steel hoops or strips are cut into nails in the ordinary way the
points of the nails are rounded, that is, have a figure nearly similar to
the end of the blade of a table knife; or instead of making the edges
rounded the said edges may be bevilled either on one or both sides.
When hoops or strips of the kind last described are cut into nails they
have either a V-shaped or diamond point or a point which terminates
on one of the sides of the nail. Nails made according to my Invention
are more readily driven than ordinary cut nails as the point enters the
wood or material by a progressive motion. The rounded or bevilled
edges of the hoops or strips may be given to the said hoops or strips by
the rolling process by which they are rolled, but I do not limit myself
to any particular method of effecting the rounding or bevilling of the
edges of the said hoops or strips.
My Invention is especially applicable to the manufacture of cut nails
made from hoops or strips of steel, or of homogeneous iron, or puddled
steel, but may also be applied to the manufacture of cut nails from
ordinary hoop or strip iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Heathfield in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HEATHFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-first year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Heathfield,
Her special licence, that I, the said Richard Heathfield, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Heathfield, 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

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CUT NAILS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Heathfield, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Heathfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In the ordinary manufacture of cut nails they are made from hoops
or strips of iron square at their edges, the said hoops being cut trans-
versely and obliquely, thereby forming wedge-shaped nails having chisel
points, that is, points which are flat or at right angles to the parallel
sides of the nails. In driving the said nails the whole breadth of the
chisel point is presented to the wood or material and considerable
resistance is thereby offered to the driving of the nails.
In manufacturing cut nails according to my Invention I employ hoops
or strips of iron or steel the edges of which are rounded, that is to say,
are semicircular or nearly semicircular in cross-section. When the said
iron or steel hoops or strips are cut into nails in the ordinary way the
points of the nails are rounded, that is, have a figure nearly similar to
the end of the blade of a table knife; or instead of making the edges
rounded the said edges may be bevilled on one or both sides. When
hoops or strips of the last-described kind are cut into nails they have
either a V-shaped or diamond point, or a point which terminates on one
of the sides of the nail. Nails made according to my Invention are more
readily driven than ordinary cut nails as the point enters the wood or
material by a progressive motion.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents in plan and end elevation a hoop
or strip of iron or steel the edges of which are rounded according to my
Invention; Figure 2 represents in plan and end clevation another hoop
or strip of iron or steel the edges of which are bevilled according to my
Invention; Figure 3 represents in plan and end elevation a similar hoop
or strip the edges of which are inclined in parallel directions, one

page_text: bevilled edge being made on one side and the other bevilled edge being
made on the other side of the hoop or strip; Figure 4 represents in plan
and end elevation a hoop or strip of iron or steel the edges of which
are bevilled on both sides so as to form a V-shaped or diamond point
according to my Invention.
The rounded or bevilled edges of the hoops or strips represented in
the Drawing may be given to the said hoops or strips by the rolling
process by which they are rolled, or the edges may be shaped by grinding
or planing; but I do not limit myself to any particular method of
effecting the rounding or bevilling of the edges of the said hoops or
strips.
In manufacturing cut nails from these hoops or strips they are cut
into suitable lengths and fed into the machine and nails cut therefrom in
the ordinary way, one or other of the prepared edges, of the hoop or strip.
alternately forming the point or being made into the head of the nails
cut from the said hoop or strip. Or hoops or strips having the sections
represented in the Drawing and made of a width proper to form two
nails may be divided longitudinally, as indicated by the dotted lines a,
by means of circular cutters or otherwise, so as thereby to form two
narrow hoops or strips from each hoop or strip, the width of each narrow
strip being somewhat greater than the length of the nails to be made.
Nails are cut transversely from these narrow hoops or strips, as indicated
by the dotted lines in Figure 1, the hoops or strips in this case being fed
into the machine without being turned over instead of turning them over
after each nail has been cut, as when using hoops or strips of the kinds
represented in the Drawing; or instead of dividing the hoops or strips
into two narrow hoops or strips, hoops or strips may be made, according
to my Invention, of a width proper to form one nail, one edge only of
the strips being rounded, or bevilled, or V-shaped, and the other edge
being flat or square. Nails made in the manner described from the strips
of the hoop, Figure 1, have rounded points, those made from the strips
of the hoop, Figures 2 and 3, have points terminating on one side of the
nails, and those made from the strips of the hoop, Figure 4, have
V-shaped or diamond points, as will be understood by an examination
of the Drawing.
My Invention is especially applicable to the manufacture of cut nails
from hoops or strips of steel, or of homogeneous iron, or puddled steel,

page_text: but may also be applied to the manufacture of cut nails from ordinary
hoop or strip iron.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not limit myself to the preoise details herein described and repre-
sented, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention, the improvements in
the manufacture of cut nails, herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing cut nails from
hoops or strips of iron or steel the edge or edges of which are rounded
or bevilled, or are of a V or diamond shape in cross section, substantially
as described and illustrated, whereby the nails cut from the said hoops or
strips are more readily driven than ordinary cut nails.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Heathfield, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
RICHARD HEATHFIELD. (L.S.)
Witness,
ARTHUR EDWD. WINDUS,
12, Reservoir Retreat, Birmingham.