IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FINISHING HORSE-SHOE NAILS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FINISHING HORSE-SHOE NAILS."-A
communication from abroad by Julia Ann Wills, of Vergennes,
County of Addison, and Lucy Segar Kingsland, of Burlington,
County of Chittenden, both in the State of Vermont, United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th February 1872.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FINISHING HORSE-SHOE
NAILS," to be as follows :-
king for gold

page_text: rolling horse-shoe nails after they have been formed to harden and finish
them, in which the guide of a feeding screw that is used to conduct the
nails to the pusher, by which they are delivered to the dies, is arranged
to change the nails from a vertical to a horizontal position so that they
can be delivered to horizontal dies. In these dies the nails are held by a
movable disc or pin clamping them by the narrow sides between it and
a fixed die over a bed former, and rolled on the upper side by a roller
die in the end of a reciprocating bar, which is governed by a roller
guide and former above the bed die. A holder is hung above the bed
die and arranged to come over the head of the nail as soon as the roller:
die passes therefrom toward the point, and prevents the nail from
bending upward by the action of the roller. The clamping dies open
when the roller die passes off the point of the nail, the head holder
recedes, and a pusher discharges thé rolled nail.
The screw feeder with vertical guide above referred to feed the nails -
points downwards, the nails being placed in the grooves of the screw
between it and the guide, and held against falling through by the
heads.
Now in order to utilize this kind of feeding apparatus for delivering
the nails horizontally to horizontal dies, I provide a scroll-shaped or
approximately scroll-shaped lip upon the guide under the screw,
gradually turning from a vertical line, where the nail first comes against
it, to a horizontal position, where the screw thread ends and ceases to
act on it, leaving it under a groove in the screw for allowing the head
to pass
under it, or a channel may be formed in the lip for the nail to:
drop into instead of the groove.
A pusher is arranged to work through the vertical part of the guide
to come against the head of the nail when left on the horizontal part of
the lip, and push it upon a bed die or former between a fixed die and a
movable one, which close laterally against the narrow sides of the nail
to hold it on the bed die for being rolled; also for pressing and
smoothing the sides. A roller die is mounted at the side and one
end of a reciprocating bar working under a stationary guide former, the
face of which is the reverse of the upper side of the nail, and carries the
roller die to act with requisite pressure on all parts thereof, beginning at
the highest part of the head and rolling down to a point. This roller
die is pushed forward to the left before the nail is pushed forward, point

page_text: foremost, under it by the pusher until the highest part of the oblique
side of the head comes against it.
The head holder consists of a short bar of steel pivoted to the stock of
the stationary guide former, and projecting downward to a point above
the head of the nail to prevent it from being forced upward by the
tendency of the nail to bend under the action of the roller die. This
holder being fixed on a pivot at the upper end is pushed forward towards
the screw feeder by the end of the reciprocating bar before mentioned
at the time the nail is being received or just before, so that the lower
end is elevated enough to allow the head of the nail to pass under it
freely, but as soon as the roller die moves back to act on the nail, the
said lower end is brought on the nail head by a vibrating arm pivoted to
the movable stock of the movable die, and holds the nail from bending
upwards until the action of the roller die ceases and it passes off the
point, the die being then withdrawn by a spring releasing the nail both
from it and the head holder, and it is then discharged by a pusher. These
devices may be operated by any suitable or approved arrangement of
driving gear, but in this example a driving shaft with a train of gears
are used for working the feed screw; a cam, lever, jointed connecting
bar, stud, and a spring for working the pusher; a crank pin, and a yoke
for it in the end of the reciprocating roller die bar for working it; a cam
and spring for working the movable clamping die stock; a cam, push
bar, and vibrating bar for moving the head holder back over the head of
the nail; and a slotted stud on the push bar and curved lever for
working the pusher, the cam being so adjusted to the crank which
actuates the roller die bar that the low part passes the end of the push
bar at the time the roller die is in the forward position over the bed die,
allowing said push bar to recede and allow the head holder to be moved
forward by said die bar to allow the nail to be pushed in; and the cam
for actuating the pusher is arranged in such relation to the said crank
pin that the pusher is actuated to push the nail under the roller die
while the latter is in the said forward position.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, 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 FINISHING HORSE-SHOE NAILS," a communication
to me from abroad by Julia Ann Wills, of Vergennes, County of Addison,
and Lucy Segar Kingsland, of Burlington, County of Chittenden, both
in the State of Vermont, United States of America, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements in a machine for

page_text: cold rolling horse-shoe nails after they have been formed to harden and
finish them, in which the guide of a feeding screw that is used to
conduct the nails to the pusher, by which they are delivered to the dies,
is arranged to change the nails from a vertical to a horizontal position
so that they can be delivered to horizontal dies. In these dies the nails
are held by a movable disc or pin clamping them by the narrow sides
between it and a fixed die over a bed former, and rolled on the upper
side by a roller die in the end of a reciprocating bar, which is governed
by a roller guide and former above the bed die. A holder is hung above
the bed die and arranged to cover over the head of the nail as soon as
the roller die passes therefrom toward the point, and prevents the nail
from bending upward by the action of the roller. The clamping dies
open when the roller die passes off the point of the nail, the head holder
recedes, and the pusher discharges the rolled nail.
Figure 1 is a plan of the improved machine with a part broken away,
and Figure 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of the same taken on the
line x, x, Figure 1; Figure 3 is a cross section through y, y, Figure 1.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
A represents a screw feeder with a vertical guide at B, such as have
been used before for feeding nails, points downward, the nails being
placed in the grooves of the screw, and between it and the side B, and
held against falling through by the heads.
Now in order to utilize this kind of feeding apparatus for delivering
the nails horizontally to horizontal dies, I provide a scroll-shaped or
approximately scroll-shaped lip C. upon the guide B under the screw,
gradually turning from a vertical line where the nail first comes against
it at D to a horizontal position at E, where the screw thread ends and
ceases to act on it, leaving it under a groove F in the screw for allowing
the head to pass under it, or a channel may be formed in the lip for the
nail to drop into instead of the groove.
G is a pusher which is arranged to work through the vertical part of
the guide to come against the head of the nail when left on the
horizontal part of the lip C, and push it upon a bed die or former H
between a fixed die I and a movable one K, which close laterally against
the narrow sides of the nail to hold it on the bed die for being rolled,

page_text: arranged in such relation to the said crank pin that the pusher G is
actuated to push the nail under the roller die while the latter is in the
said forward position.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as the
Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
1st. The combination of the scroll-shaped or approximately scroll-
shaped guide B, C, with the feed screw, substantially as specified.
2ndly. The combination of the pusher G with the roller and bed dies,
the said pusher and roller die and the operating devices therefor being
arranged in such relation that the nail will be pushed forward when
the roller die is over the bed die, substantially in the manner herein
described.
3rdly. The combination of the head holder with the bed die and roller
die, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.
Witness,
JAS. O. DEWEY,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)