Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Metal Balls.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 1st May, 1899 - Accepted, 5th Aug.,
1899
Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Metal Balls.
A communication from ROLLIS HENRY WHITE, of 56, Hillburn Avenue, Cleve-
land, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. America, Manufacturer.
1, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
The invention relates to a machine especially designed for making steel balls,
by automatically cutting from steel wire, blanks of the proper size and pressing
said blanks between suitable dies into spherical form.
The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts shown
and described and definitely pointed out in the claims.
In the drawing, Figure is a front elevation of a machine embodying the
invention Figure 2 is a plan view of the same, with the plunger and parts
carried thereby not shown; Figure is a sectional front elevation on line 3-3
of Figure 2 Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation on line 4-1 of Figure 2;
Figure 5 is a sectional plan view in the plane indicated by line 5-5 of Figure 4,
showing the mechanism for cutting off the blanks and delivering the same to
the dies.
The invention is adapted for any well known form of press having a vertically
reciprocating plunger, wherefore it is not thought necessary to show all of the
plunger, or any of the mechanism for operating it.
Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the vertically reciprocating
plunger of such a press. B represents the bed plate. The fixed die C is set
into a socket in a block b, which is secured upon, or formed as a part of this
bed plate. The upper end of this die is preferably convexly arched, and in
the middle of its upper end is a hemispherical recess c. Drepresents the movable
die, which is secured in the lower end of the plunger. Its lower end is prefer-
ably convexly arched, and in the middle of this lower end is a hemispherical
recess d.
A vertically movable ejector pin Flies and is movable in a hole in the
bed plate and in the lower die; and the upper end of this pin projects into
the recess c-being held in this position normally by a light spring f. The
lower end of this pin projects below the bed plate and lies above one end of a
rocking lever H, which is pivoted to the bed plate at h. The other end of this
lever les just below a vertically movable rod I, which projects through the
bed plate and is held in its raised position by a spring The upper end of
this rod (which may carry a friction roller ) is engaged by a came on the
constantly driven shaft E. It might be here stated that this shaft carries a

page_text: plurality of cams, by means of which various parts of the machine are operated
in proper sequence. The came pushes the rod downward and the press plunger
begins to rise after a ball has been completed. This rocks the lever 1, whereby
the ejector is pushed upward positively, assisting its spring, with the result
of pushing the ball from the recess. In the upper die is a similar ejector 1,
which is vertically movable in a hole a in the die and the plunger A. The
lower end of this ejector projects into the recess d, in which position it is normally
held by a light spring . A lever is pivoted to the plunger A and passes
through a slot therein. This lever rests upon the upper end of the ejector 1.
Secured to the free end of this lever, and banging downward therefrom, is a
rol a', which passes through a hole in the bed plate. When the plunger begins
to rise, the spring and the weight of the lever a² and the attached rod a',
will generally force the ejector downward, relatively to the plunger and die, and
push the ball out of the die. If, however, the ball is not pushed out then, and
in the manner stated, a head a² on the lower end of the rod a strikes the bed
plate at or just before the time the plunger reaches its highest point, and this
causes the lever to rock so as to positively force the ejector downward and push
the ball out of the recess d.
The blanks to be pressed into spherical form between the dies are cut auto-
matically from a wire X which is periodically fed along the proper distance.
The blanks so cut are carried by certain jaws, to be presently explained, to a
position to be noted upon by the dies. The wire X passes through a horizontal
hole in a hardened block 0, which is set in a block &, which is secured upon
or fastened to the bed plate. A shearing plate is vertically movable upon
the face of said block in suitable guides b'. It is provided with a hole g
which, when said shearing plate is in its raised position, is in line with the
hole in the block 0, through which the wire passes. This hole 9 is preferably
in a hardened plate g', which may be screwed into the shearing plate, thereby
becoming in effect a part of said plate. This plate G is held in its raised position
by a spring which surrounds a bar which projects downward from the
lower end of this shearing plate and passes into a guiding hole in the bed plate.
A striker pin screws into the upper end of this shearing plate, and the head
of this pin lies in the path of the plunger A,--which plunger strikes it as it
descends, thereby moving the shearing plate downward in opposition to its
spring, and cutting off the wire in the hole g in said shearing plate.
The wire is fed along and held immovable at the proper time by two pairs
of jaws R R and T T The jaws R R are the holding jaws which have no
movement lengthwise of the wire. The lower jaw is seated in a hole in the
block, while the upper jaw is held in a hole in a lever r, which is pivoted
at to said block and is moved in the closing direction by a cami
shaft E, which cam engages with the rear end of said jaw lever r.
onl
The jaws T T are the feeding jaws. The lower jaw T is seated in a cross-
hend, which is secured to the end of a longitudinally movable rod S. This
rod is mounted in suitable brackets, and is moved backward by means of
a spring which surrounds the rod and thrusts endwise against one of said
brackets 66 and against a collar $ secured upon said rod. The distance which it
may be moved backward is regulated by a screw S which may be adjusted
through the bracket & and serves as a stop by engaging with said collar $2.
The Fear end of the crosshead is bifurcated, and the shaft E passes through
holes in the two branches thereof. On the shaft, and having a tongue and
groove connection with it, is a cam , which lies between the two branches f 2,
whereby said cam moves with the crosshead lengthwise of the shaft. E without.
any interruption of its operating relation with the jaw lever which it operates.
The upper jaw T is set in the end of the jaw lever, which lever is pivoted to
the crosshead at . The rear end of this jaw lever rests upon the cam &, by
which it is moved in the closing direction.
Secured to the shaft E is a cum ³ which engages with the crosshend, (prefer-

page_text: ably with a friction roller mounted thereon) and moves it to the left in
opposition to the spring S. The wire X passes between both pairs of jaws
just explained. The cam acting upon the jaw lever #3, closes it upon the wire
and at the same time the came so moves that it no longer acts to close the
jaw lever r. The came then moves the crosshead to the left, whereby the wire
in the grasp of the jaws T T is moved in the feeding direction. Then the
cam el, acting upon the jaw lever r, closes the jaws RR. The cam cmoves
so as to release the jaws T T', and the cam e moves to a position which permits
the spring S to retract the crosshead and jaws T T. This completes one feeding
movement of the wire feeding mechanism. The plunger A. then comes down and
by engaging with the striker pin secured to the shearing plate moves said
shearing plate downward, the result being that so much of the wire as has been
forced into the hole in said shearing plate will be cut off and this cut-off blank
will for the time being remain in said hole.
During the next wire feeding operation this blank is pushed out and into the
embrace of two jaws U U₁, by which it is carried to the dies. These two jaws
are secured to the outer ends of two jaw levers, which are pivoted on a rock
shaft W. The jaws are closed by the action of a spring against a pin which
projects between them from an arm which is rigidly fastened to the end of
said rock shaft. By closing against this pin the jaws maintain the proper
position relative to the rock shaft, whereby the operation of the rock shaft will
carry the jaws from one operative position to the other. On the rear end of
this rock shaft, which is mounted in a suitable standard which rises from
the bed plate, is a crank carrying preferably a friction roller which enters
As the
a cam groove of in the face of a disk e which is secured to the shaft E.
shaft revolves, said eam groove and crank operate the rock shaft so as to carry
the jaws first into position where the recess between the jaws is in line with
the wire X, and then to a position where said recess is in the same vertical
plane as the hemispherical recesses in the two dies. The jaws are in the first
of these two positions when the wire feeding mechanism acts, and as the wire
is pushed along, it pushes the blank which is in the hole in the shearing plate
out into the recess between said jaws. The jaws are opened to permit the blank
to enter between them by means of a wedge Y, which is horizontally moved
through a bracket on the standard 5. And this wedge is moved forward so
as to cause it to enter between the two jaw levers by a cam on the face of
This
the disk. This wedge is moved in the contrary direction by a spring y.
backward movement of the wedge, whereby the jaws are permitted to close, takes
place just before the jaws move from the described position to the position in
line with the dies. As the plunger descends, a wedge bar Z, which is secured
to the plunger, is moved between the two roller studs on the jaw levers,
whereby the jaws are opened, just as the upper die reaches a point where it
engages with said blank. The further descent of the plunger presses the blank
into spherical form in the recesses in the two dies. The plunger then moves
upward, and the lower ejector is moved upward by the mechanism heretofore
described for the purpose, and the finished ball is pushed out of the recess into
the recess between the jaws, which jaws immediately close and are then moved
to the other position in line with the wire X.
During the next feeding movement, which pushes a blank into the embrace of
these jaws, this blank pushes the ball out of the jaws, (if it did not fall out
when the jaws were opened) and said ball falls into a funnel-shaped receiver K.
from which it may be conducted through a pipe, indicated by dotted lines
in Figure 1. to any convenient point.
A guard plate L. which is secured to the block, lies in line with the wire X,
whereby the balls, as they are pushed out of the embrace of the jaws are pre-
vented from flying to the left so far that they will not fall into this funnel-
shaped receiver.
The machine described is adapted to be very readily and easily changed so

page_text: that wire of different sizes may be used. It is of course necessary to remove
the dies and put in new dies having hemispherical recesses of the proper size.
The position of the striker pin on the shearing plate will then be adjusted so
that the downward movement of the shearing plate will be suflicient to cut off
the wire. A new block having a hole of suitable size for the wire may be
substituted for that which is in the machine, and the position of the two, jaws R
and T may be regulated to adapt them to properly grasp the different size wire,
by means of the screws which screw down through the jaw levers and bear upon
the tops of the jaws.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. A machine for making balls having the essential characteristics berein
specified.
2. The process of making balls by the operation of a machine substantially
as herein shown and described.
3. A machine for making balls, having a fixed die, a reciprocating die,
mechanism for feeding the wire toward the dies in a direction transverse to
the movement of the movable die, wire cut-off mechanism, and a pair of jaws
which move together backward and forward in the are of a circle upon an axis
which is at right angles to the path of the wire and to the path of the recipro-
eating die, which jaws are adapted to grasp cut-off wire blanks and to deliver
them to the action of the dies, substantially as described.
4. A machine for making balls, having fixed die, a reciprocating die, a wire
cut-off mechanisma consisting of a fixed shearing block and a reciprocating
shearing plate having a hole which when the plate is in its normal position is
in line with the wire, mechanism for periodically feeding the wire into said
hole and thereby pushing out the cut off blank, a rock shaft, a pair of spring
actuated jaw levers pivotally mounted thereon and lying substantially at right
angles to its axis, jaws on the outer ends of said levers lying substantially at right
angles thereto, said jaws having between them a blank holding recess, and
mechanism for oscillating said rock shaft whereby the jaws are moved backward
and forward between the position where said recess is in line with the wire being
fed forward and the position where said recess is in line with the dies, and
wedges for opening said jaws at both ends of their path, substantially as described.
6. In a machine for making balls, having a fixed and a reciprocating die, the
mechanism for conveying the cut off blanks to the dies, consisting of a rock
shaft, a pair of jaw levers carried by said rock shaft and lying substantially at
right angles to its axis. jaws secured to said levers at substantially right angles
thereto, said jaws having between them a blank holding recess which is sub-
stantially at right angles to the axis of the shaft, a spring for closing the jaws,
and wedges for opening the jaws at both ends of their path, whereby they may
grasp a blank and deliver it to the dies, and a pin connected with the rock shaft
and lying between the jaw levers, substantially as described.
6. In a machine for making balls, having a fixed die, a reciprocating plunger
carrying a die, a wire cut off mechanism, consisting of a fixed shearing block,
a reciprocating shearing plate having a hole adapted to receive the wire, a spring
for raising said plate, and a striker pin secured to said plate in the path of the
plunger, and mechanism for feeding the wire periodically into the hole in the
said shearing plate and thereby pushing out the cut off blank, substantially as
described.
7. In a machine for making balle, wire feeding mechanism, consisting of a
pair of jaws having no movement lengthwise of the wire, a shaft, and "n cam
secured thereto which engages with and operates the movable jaw, a spring
refracted rod, a crosshead secured thereto having a bifurcated rear end, a cam
on said shaft lying between the forks of said rear end and having a tongue and

page_text: groove connection with the shaft, a jaw fixed to the crosshead, a movable jaw
lever pivoted to the crosshead, and engaging with said cam, and a cam secured
to the shaft engaging with said crosshead, substantially as described
Total thin lot day of No. 1900
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.