IMPROVEMENTS IN POINTING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Iles, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN POINTING.
T
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Iles at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1856.
CHARLES ILES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
POINTING HAIR PINS, AND IN MAKING-UP HAIR PINS FOR SALE," to be as
follows:-
My said Invention consists, firstly, of machinery, constructed as herein-after
explained, for pointing hair pins; and secondly, in making-up hair pins for
sale, by sticking or inserting the same in paper, card, or other suitable mate-
rial, such as calico or other fabric. The said machinery has for its object the
pointing of hair pins without the usual hand labour, and is constructed as
follows:-The wire of which the hair pins are to be made is drawn by a
feeding apparatus towards a cutter, and into notches or recesses in the peri-
phery of a wheel. When the wire is cut off, this wheel is acted upon by a
ratchet, and made to carry the lengths of wire to another wheel and deposit

page_text: them in notches in the periphery of the last-named wheel. The said notches
are parallel to the axis of the wheel. The lengths of wire are carried to a
steel cutting mill or grinder, to which a rapid rotatory motion is given. The
inotion of the wires on the periphery of the wheel is accompanied by a rotatory
inotion of each wire on its own axis, by which compound motion every side of
the end of the wire is brought under the action of the grinder. The said
rotatory motion of the wires is produced by the said wires bearing on the edge
of a drum or disc of somewhat less diameter than the wheel, in the notches of
which the wires are held; the said drum or disc is concentric with the axis of
the wheel carrying the wires, and moves in an opposite direction; as the said
wires are carried forward they are made to rotate by the said drum or disc.
By this advancing and rotatory motion of the wires, their ends are subjected to
the action of the grinders, in such a manner as to effect the pointing of the
said wires. Instead of the feeder described, a hopper may be used, into which
the wires cut of proper length are put, and supplied therefrom to the notched
wheel, which carries them to the grinders. The pointed wires may be bent
into hair pins in the ordinary nianner.
In carrying the second part of my Invention into effect, I stick or insert
hair pins into paper, card, or. other material, in which,. by folding or pressing. in
dies, elevations are produced in which the said hair pins may be stuck or
inserted, in such a manner as to hold the said hair pins flat, or nearly so, upon
the surface of the paper or material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Iles in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ILES, 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-fifth day of February, in. the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and, fifty-six, in. the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself; 'Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Iles, Her special, licence that I, the said Charles. Iles, my, executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I;, the said Charles, Iles, my
executors; administrators, and assigns, should at any time, agree with, and no

page_text: 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 POINTING HAIR PINS, AND
IN MAKING UP HAIR PIN'S FOR SALE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charlés Iles, 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 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
iimmediately after the date of the said Letters Patént:
NOW KNOW YE, that I; the said Charles Iles, 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:
My said Invention- consists, firstly,, of the machinery for pointing hair
pins, herein-after particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in plan, my said machi
nery for pointing. hair pins; Figure 3 represents a transverse vertical section'
of the same, taken through the line a, in Figure 1; 6 is a shaft, turning. in the
journals or bearings c; c, c; the said shaft b' carries a drum d,d; e, fi are
flanges on the drum d, d, on the edges or peripheries of which flanges a series'
of notches marked 9 are made, the said notches being parallel to the axis of:
the shaft b; h, k, is a hollow drum working loosely upon, the drum d, d,
between the flanges e, f. The parts h, k, of the 'drum are plain, as represented,
while the middle: part is formed into a series of teeth. A pinion:, on the
shaft m, engages'in the teeth i of the drum h, i;k, and communicates a rotatorý
motion to the said drum. The shaft m is geared to the shaft b by the toothed
wheels n;0; and motion is communicated to the shaft b from the pulley.p
through the axis q, worm-r, and worm wheel s. When motion is communi-
cated to the parts described by the shaft q, the drums. d, d; and h, i, k, perform
rotatory motions in the same direction, but move with different velocities, so
that a piece of wire dropped into the grooves 9; 9; and pressed-upon h, k, will' be
carried round the axis b by the flanges e,f; the said wires in the grooves g. 9;
will also have a rotatory motion each upon its own axis in consequence of the
surfaces h, k,- against which the wires are pressed; moving with a velocity
different from that of the flanges e, f,

page_text: The wire to be made into hair pins may be fed into the machine and cut off.
in suitable lengths, or the said feeding may be effected by means of a reservoir
having the shape of a hopper, into which the wires, cut into the proper
lengths, are put, and supplied through a notch at the bottom of the 'said
hopper to the flanges e,f. The wires are fed into the flanges e, f, at their
highest point, that is to say, at the point marked. u in Figure 3.
1
The said wires are prevented from falling out of the notches during the
motion of the machine by the curved plates or guides v, v. After the wires'
leave the plates or guides v, v, they are retained in their position by the thin
metallic strips w. w, which not only retain them in the notches, but also
press the said wires upon h, k, so as to determine the rotation of the said:
wires. The action of the strips w, w, will be best understood by reference to
Figure 3.
By the action described, the ends of the wires are brought upon the grinders
x, x, to which a rapid rotatory motion is given, and the action of the said
grinders, combined with the rotatory motion of the wires, effects the pointing
of each end of the said wires; after the wires have been carried beyond the
range of the grinders a, a, the strips w no longer holding them in the notches
9,9, the said pointed wires fall from the machine. The pointed wires may
be bent at their middle in the ordinary manner, so as to form the same into
hair pins.
The second part of my Invention consists in making-up hair pins for sale,
by sticking or inserting the same in paper, card, or other suitable material,
such as calico or other fabric.
In carrying this part of my Invention into effect, I make elevations in the
paper or material, and pass the hair pins through the said elevations, as will be
understood by reference to Figure 4. I sometimes make the elevations
through which the hair pins .are passed of a curved figure, the said hair pins
in that case being disposed radially, or any other ornamental figure may be
given to the said elevations. The essence of this part of my Invention consists
in making-up hair pins for sale by sticking or inserting the said hair pins in
paper or other material in such a manner that the said hair pins are held' flat,
or nearly so, upon the paper or material.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein-described and represented, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim
as my Invention,―

page_text: Firstly, the machinery herein described and represented in the accompany-
ing Drawing for pointing hair pins, that is to say, machinery in which the wire
to be made into a hair pin is pointed at both ends by being carried within the
range of action of a pair of grinders, the said wire having at the same time
rotation upon its own axis.
Secondly, the method of making-up hair pins for sale, herein described and
represented in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, sticking or inserting
the said hair pins in folds or elevations made in paper or other material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Iles, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninteeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
CHARES ILES (L.S.)