IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOE NAILS AND OTHER SMALL ARTICLES AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wallis Clark, Engineer, and John Priestley,
Chemist and Druggist, both of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster,
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOE
NAILS AND OTHER SMALL ARTICLES AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wallis Clark and
John Priestley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st
September 1880.
WILLIAM WALLIS CLARK, Engineer, and JOHN PRIESTLEY, Chemist and
Druggist, both of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOE NAILS AND OTHER SMALL ARTICLES AND
IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Our Invention of improvements in certain parts of machinery for forging and
finishing horse-shoe nails and other small articles relates to that class of mechanism
in which the nails or other small articles are produced from heated metal rods of
suitable size and section, by means of a series of blows given in rapid succession by
a number of hammers or tilts arranged in a circle, and to which a rapid up and
down motion is given by the elastic force of steam acting in a suitable cylinder,
such as is described in the Specifications of Patents granted to William Edward
Newton, of 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, (a communication from
abroad by Edwin Lewis Brundage, of Middletown, in the State of New York,
United States of America), August 30th, in the year 1869, No. 2569, and Edwin
Lewis Brundage, of Leeds, in the County of York, August 15th, in the year 1876,
No. 3221
In such machine the heated rods are first nicked on each side by a fixed die and
side hammer, which hammer receives its motion from the cutter stock which holds
the cutter, that in a subsequent motion cuts off the blank, and the rods are then
nicked top and bottom by the fall of the hammer to form the head of the nail, as
shewn in Figures 12, 13, and 14 of the Drawings in Patent No. 3221, after which
the cutter advances and cuts off the blank (which includes the nicked part) to form
the head and blade of the nail, and, at the same time, pushes the nicked blank to
[Price 6d1

page_text: form the head and blade sideways over an opening, which is then pushed down by
a punch connected with the hammer into the grippers, which hold and carry the
blank to form the nail round the table on the machine, and the blade only is forged
by the repeated blows of the hammers or tilts acting upon it. Such machinery has
heretofore been restricted to making and perfecting the blade of the mail only, the
head being afterwards pressed into shape by a seperate machine called a heading
machine.
By our improvements the nicking apparatus to form the head is dispensed with,
the heated metal rods are simply pushed into the machine, when the cutter
advances and cuts-off a straight piece of sufficient length to form both the head and
blade of the nail in one operation. The straight piece of heated iron which has
been cut-off is then pushed down a thoroughfare by a punch into the grippers, the
head and blade of the nail being forged out of the part projecting from the grippers
by means of moveable dies tapered and shaped to the form of the head and blade
of the nail, and fastened to the underside of the hammers or tilts and on the table
of the machine.
When the nails are forged and finished by the shaped dies on the hammers or
tilts and table, they are passed into a block which admits the shaped head and
blade, above which is a cutter stock fitted with a blade which advances and cuts
or shears off the git end by which the grippers held the nail while being forged
under the hammers or tilts, which completes the making of the nail.
The cutting or shearing of the gits off the heads can be performed either when the
nails are hot or cold (the later being preferred), by cutting or shearing apparatus
applied to the forging machine or by a seperate machine, which can be placed in
any convenient part of the works.
The advantages obtained by our improvements are as follows:-
The blade and head of the nail are forged and finished hot together in one
operation, thereby the dies and apparatus necessary for the nicking or heading of
the heated metal rods in the forging machines are entirely dispensed with.
Expensive machines for shaping the heads are not required.
The weight of the head is reduced, the nails being more uniform in weight,
improving their appearance and quality, the scale of the iron being preserved on
the bead as well as the blade.
This is the only machine that has yet been invented that will produce a head
sufficiently well finished to meet the requirements long felt by the trade, dispensing
with the system of pressing the head cold in a seperate machine, which is very
costly, it being manifest that any operation that dispenses with the expensive
machinery above mentioned, and, at the same time, produce a better finished head,
must of necessity increase the value of the nails and make them more saleable in
the market, which has not been the case heretofore with nails made on the
Brundage machines.
By forging the head and blade together in one operation, time and waste are
minimized, thereby making them less expensive.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Wallis Clark and John Priestley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st March 1881.
WILLIAM WALLIS CLARK, Engineer, and JOHN PRIESTLEY, Chemist and
Druggist, both of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HORSE-SHOE NAILS AND OTHER SMALL ARTICLES AND
IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Our Invention of improvements in certain parts of machinery for forging and
finishing horse-shoe nails and other small articles, relates to that class of mechanism
in which the nails or other small articles are produced from heated metal rods of
suitable size and section, by means of a series of blows given in rapid succession by
a number of hammers or tilts arranged in a circle, and to which a rapid up and
down motion is given by the elastic force of steam acting in a suitable cylinder,
such as is described in the Specifications of Patents granted to William Edward
Newton, of 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex (a communication
from abroad by Edwin Lewis Brundage, of Middletown, in the State of New York,
United States of America), August 30th, in the year 1869, No. 2569, and Edwin
Lewis Brundage, of Leeds, in the County of York, August 15th, in the year 1876,
No. 3221.
In such machine the heated rods are first nicked on each side by a fixed die
and side hammer, which hamnier receives its motion from the cutter stock (which
holds the cutter that in a subsequent motion cuts off the blank), and the rods are
then nicked top and bottom by the fall of the hammer to form the head of the
nail, as shewn in Figures 12, 13, and 14 of the Drawings in Patent No. 3221,
after which the rod is released and is pushed forward, and the cutter advances and
cuts off the blank (which includes the nicked part) to form the head and blade of
the nail, and at the same pushes the nicked blank to form the head and blade
sideways over an opening, which is then pushed down by a punch counected with
the hammer into the grippers, which hold and carry the blank to form the nail
round the table on the machine, and the blade only is forged by the repeated
blows of the hammers or tilts acting upon it. Such machinery has heretofore been
restricted to making and perfecting the blade of the nail, only the head being
afterwards pressed into shape by a separate machine called a "heading machine."
By our improvements the nicking apparatus to form the head is dispensed with,
the heated metal rods are simply pushed into the machine, when the cutter
advances and cuts off a straight piece of sufficient length to form both the head
and blade of the nail in one operation. The straight piece of heated iron which
has been cut off is then pushed down a thoroughfare by a punch into the grippers,
the head and blade of the nail being forged out of the part projecting from the
grippers by means of moveable dies, tapered and shaped to the form of the head
and blade of the nail, and fastened to the underside of the hammers or tilts and on
the table of the machine.
When the nails are forged and finished by the shaped dies on the hammers or
tilts and table, they are passed into a block or between dies which admit the
shaped head and blade only, and above which is a cutter stock fitted with a blade
which advances and cuts or shears off the git end by which the grippers held the
nail while being forged under the hammers or tilts, which completes the making of
the nail.
The cutting or shearing of the gits off the head can be performed either when
the nails are hot or cold (the latter being preferred) by cutting or shearing
apparatus applied to the forging machine, or by a separate machine which can be
placed in any convenient part of the works.

page_text: In order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
operation we will now proceed to describe the accompanying Drawings, reference
being made to the Figures and letters marked thereon.
In the Brundage machine the heated metal rods are first pushed into the dies for
swageing and forming the head, then into the stationary and moving cutter stocks
for cutting off the piece of metal from the end of the rod to form the nail, as at (11)
in Figs. 12, 13, and 14. The heading and cutting off operations act in unison, that
is, the hammer first comes down and nicks the rod to form the head, as at (") in
Figs. 12, 13, and 14, which represents short lengths of rod with the blanks
prepared at the end, then the moving cutter stock advances and cuts the blank
for the nail from the rod, as at (1) in Figs. 12, 13, and 14, at the same time the
headers swage and nick the rod sideways, as at (711) in Figs. 12 and 13, for heading
the next succeeding nail, and in conjunction with the action of the fixed die in
the stationary cutter stock forms two sides of the head. The hammer or tilt then
comes down again and completes the tops and bottom sides of the head, when the
moving cutter stock again advances and gives the blank a second blow to complete
the head. The moving cutter stock then recedes, and the red hot rod is pushed
forward up to the stationary guide so as to be ready to form a second headed
blank in the same manner.
The next advance of the moving cutter stock pushes the last formed headed
blank sideways over an opening called the "feed" which is fixed to the stationary
cutter stock, down which it is forced by a punch connected with the hammer which
pushes the eud (¹) in Figs. 12, 13, and 14, into the grippers, which carry the
blank through the machine until the nail is finished in the dies L' and L³ (which
are secured to the hammer M and anvil G) by repeated blows of the hammer, as
shewn in Fig. 15.
The blade of the nail only being forged out of the part projecting from the
grippers and marked (1) in Figs. 12, 13, 14, and 16. The head I of the nail K, in
Fig. 15, being afterwards pressed into the desired shape cold by a separate machine
called the "heading machine" which is placed in a convenient part of the works.
By our improvements we entirely dispense with the nicking apparatus and
heading machine before named, and perform the operation by simply pushing the
heated metal rod C in Fig. 20 into the machine, when the aforesaid moving cutter
stock advances and cuts off the requisite length to make the size of nail required,
as at D in Fig. 20. The blank C, D, in Fig. 20, is then pushed sideways over the
aforesaid opening called the "feed," down which it is forced by a punch connected
with the hammer into the grippers E in Figs. 8 and 19, the head and blade of the nail
being forged out of the length C, F, in Fig. 19, in one operation. The forging of
the head I and blade K of the nail is performed by placing or fixing on the anvil G
or table of the machine, and on the bottom of the hammer M, a number of drawing
Brundage
dies, marked H in Figs. 1, 2, and 8, similar to those used in the "
machine," only that they are placed a little further from the grippers E on account
of the head being forged with the blade; also a number of flattening and shaping
dies, marked L' and L' in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
The dies are made in segments, usually six drawing dies, five being made with
four varying surfaces on them, the third having five, these occupying about
six-elevenths of the circle, the remaining five-clevenths being fitted with our
improved flattening and shaping dies L' and L, of which only four are put in, the
space of the fifth being required for the apparatus for guiding the blank to form
the nail into the grippers and for the adjustment of saine, and the fulling out of
the nail from the grippers when forged.
Of course we do not confine ourselves to the number of dies, but may alter them
according to the class of nails required. The blank space above referred to is
marked N in Fig. 2, which is a plan shewing how the dies are placed. When the
blank piece of hot iron has been pushed into the grippers E, the gripper carriage
immediately receives a forward motion, after which the hammer comes down
and the said carriage then gets another forward motion, which brings another

page_text: gripper ready to receive another projecting blank, and at the same time the other
projecting blank of hot iron from the grippers is placed in the drawing die (a),
when the hammer M falls with the top dies again and gives it a blow, after which
the hammer M lifts and moves the carriage and gripper to the next die (b), when
the blank receives another blow. The blanks are carried on by the grippers E
and carriage from one series of edge dies to another flat die, and from the flat dies
to the edge dies alternately until they arrive at our improved flattening and
shaping dies. When the nail has been drawn out to the required length, or nearly
80, the head and blade of the nail is placed on them by the grippers, and receiving
a flat blow, then an edge blow, then a level blow, and then an edge blow again,
and so on until the last die is reached, by which time the nail is finished, when
the gripper carriage carries it past the dies to the blank space N in Fig. 2, and
the gripper being opened as in the "Brundage Machine" and allowing the nail to
drop out.
Fig. 3 shews a counter nail when receiving a bevel blow, the dies being made to
the form of the head and blade of the nail. E is a section of the jaw end of the
grippers holding the git end W on the head I of the nail K.
Fig. 4 shews a counter nail when receiving an edge blow, the dies L' and L' being
made to the necessary form and to the size of the nail required.
Fig. 5 shews a counter nail when receiving a flat blow, the dies L' and L² also
being made to the necessary form and to the size of the nail required.
Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a top and bottom segment of our improved
flattening and shaping dies L¹ and L2, (E) being the edge dies, (B) the bevel die,
and (F) the flat die for forging counter nails. L¹ is the moveable stationary dies
fastened on the anvil G or table of the machine; L is the moveable dies fastened
to the underside of the hammer M.
Fig. 7 is a plan of Fig. 6, shewing the top side of the bottom segment L' with
four varying dies for forging counter nails.
It is evident that other kinds of nails may be forged by our improved dies,
such as half-counter and shoulder nails.
For forging half-counter nails we make the moveable and stationary dies L' and
L² to the form required, as shewn in Fig. 17, and as in Fig. 18 for shoulder nails.
The dies shewn in Figs. 17 and 18 are edge dies, the bevel and flat dies being made
similar to those for counter-nails.
When the nails are forged and finished by the flattening and shaping dies
L1 and L2, they are carried away by the attendant to a slotting or shearing
machine (called the "cropping machine ") of any ordinary make, on the table of
which is placed the block S to which, the dies Ū and V are fixed, as in Figs. 21
and 22, the dies U and V being made to the form of the head and blade of the
nail, and admitting only such, the git end W projecting, and which is cut or sheared
off by the cutter X fastened in the sliding stock Z of the machine. The operation
of cropping the git end off is as follows:-The nail is placed between the dies U
and V, and the cutter X then comes down and shears off the git W, upon which
the nail is immediately pushed out into the opening Y by the slide Z³ working in
a groove on the top of the block S. The slide Z2 is then pulled back to its place
by a spring or otherwise, and another nail is put in between the dies U and V and
is treated in a similar manner. R is the table of the " cropping machine,"
to which the block S is fastened by the screws O, and the die U is fixed to the
block S by the screw P, and the die V is dovetailed into the block S, so that both
dies can be adjusted at pleasure to suit the head of the nail I.
When the git W is sheared off this completes the making of the nail. This
latter plan of shearing takes place when the nails are cold, which is preferable, but
they can be sheared hot if desired, which is performed by applying the cutting
or shearing apparatus to the forging machine, as shown in Fig. 8.
This is performed by dispensing with the last stationary finishing die on the last
segment in Fig. 2, and substituting therefor the anvil A in Fig. 9, which is fitted
with the hardened steel flat die A2 about the width of the nail head, and on which

page_text: the nail lies flat held by the grippers E. On the moveable die on the hammer above
it is fixed the cutter (r) which, when the hammer M falls, the cutter (r) shears off
the git W on the head I of the nail. To give stability to the cutter (r) while
shearing, and to regulate the depth to be sheared, the cutter is adjusted by the
screw B¹, which is screwed or fastened to the hammer M as shewn in Figs. 8, 9,
and 10, the bottom of the screw resting or pressing on the top of the cutter (r).
The cutter () is provided with a slot hole V₁ so as to be easy of adjustment, and
is fastened on the front to the last moveable die on the hammer M immediately
above the anvil A¹.
Fig. 9 is an enlarged section shewing the cutter (r) and anvil A¹ as in Fig. 8; A¹
is the anvil; A, the hardened steel die; G, the anvil or table of the machine; L²,
the die on the hammer M, to which is fastened the cutter (7) by the screw D'; B' is
the adjusting screw which is fastened to the front side of the hammer M; E, the
gripper holding the git W and nail K whilst the git W is being sheared off, after
which the nail K falls away into a receptacle prepared for them.
Fig. 10 is an enlarged front view of Fig. 9 shewing the dies on the segment to
which the cutter (7) and anvil A¹ are fixed.
Fig. 11 is an enlarged plan of Figs. 9 and 10, shewing the different forms of
dies, the anvil A¹, and the die A2, which can be made of hardened steel or other
suitable material.
Our improved flattening and shaping dies are made of cast iron chilled only on
the surface which comes in contact with the nails while being forged.
It is evident from the above that many advantages will be obtained which are as
follows:-
The blade and head of the nail are forged and finished hot together in one
operation, thereby the dies and apparatus necessary for the nicking or heading of
the heated metal rods in the forging machines are entirely dispensed with, and the
useful work of the machine is very materially increased, as the said nicking and
heading apparatus was necessarily of a complicated nature, and involved great
loss of time through the stoppage of the machine for adjustment, repairs, and
replacement.
The expensive heading machines for shaping the heads are not required.
The weight of the head is reduced, the nails being more uniforin in weight,
improving their appearance and quality, the scale of the iron being preserved on
the head as well as the blade.
By the application of our improvements to the "Brundage" machine, nail heads
sufficiently well finished to meet the requirements of the trade are produced, and
the old system of pressing the head cold in a separate machine (which is very
costly) is entirely dispensed with, and it is manifest that an improvement of great
commercial value is effected by an Invention that dispenses with the expensive
machinery above mentioned, and at the same time produces a better finished head,
which very much increases the value of the nails and makes them more saleable
in the market, which has not been the case heretofore with nails made on the
"Brundage" machines.
By forging the head and blade together in one operation time and waste are
minimized, thereby making them less expensive.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention and described the mode of
performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not bind ourselves
to the exact details given, but may vary the same according to the requirements
and construction of the forging and cropping machines to which it may be applied,
but that what we claim and desire to be secured to us by the herein before in part
recited Letters Patent is,
First. The construction and use of the dies L' and L³ for forging and finishing
the head and blade of the nail while hot in one operation, applied and operating
substantially in the manner described, and as shewn on the Drawings respectively
on Sheet 1 in Figures 1 to 7, and on Sheet 2 in Figures 8, 10, 11, 17, and 18.
Second. The construction and use of the fixed dies U and V for the purpose of

page_text: holding the blade and head of the nail while the git end W is being sheared or cut
off, applied and operating substantially in the manner described, and as shewn on
the Drawings on Sheet 2 in Figures 21 and 22.
Third. The construction and use of the shearing cutter (7) secured to the die L²
on the hammer M with the regulating screw B¹ and anvil A¹, with the die A² fixed
on the forging machine for shearing off the git end W while hot, applied and
operating substantially in the manner described, and as shewn on the Drawings on
Sheet 2 in Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Wallis Clark and John Priestley,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty fourth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within named
William Wallis Clark and
John Priestley in the
presence of
J. MARTIN RUTTER,
Sol³.,
Bolton.
WILLIAM WALLIS CLARK. (L.S.)
JOHN PRIESTLEY.
(L.S.)