New or Improved Machinery for the Manufacture of Horse-shoe Nails.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 18th May, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 14th Feb., 1890-Accepted, 22nd Mar., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Machinery for the Manufacture of Horse-shoe
Nails.
I JAMES SWALWELL of Tredegar Villa Caeran Park Newport in the County of
Monmouth Manager of Works do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as
follows:-
My invention consists of machinery for the manufacture of horse shoe nails the
parts of which machinery are constructed and combined or arranged in the manner
hereinafter described.
By horse shoe nails I mean nails of the kind commonly used in shoeing horses
and other hoofed animals.
The machinery constituting my invention consists essentially of a cutter for cutting
off short pieces or blanks from a nail strip of the proper section fed into the
machine horizontally by hand or mechanically but with the breadth of the nail strip
in a vertical plane. The said cut off piece or blank falls head downwards through
a guide tube and is received by a pair of rolls the axes of which are horizontal
which said rolls operate on its broad sides flattening and lengthening the body of
the nail the said rolls having on their peripheries the requisite depressions or
recesses. The blank delivered from these the first pair of rolls is received by a second
pair of rolls the axes of which are horizontal but at right angles to the axes of
the first pair of rolls. This second pair of rolls operates on the narrow sides or
edges of the blank thereby diminishing the breadth of the body and forming the
shoulder under the head and also lengthening the body of the blank. From the
second pair of rolls the blank passes to a third pair of rolls the horizontal axes of
which are parallel to the axes of the first pair. This third pair of rolls operates
on the broad sides of the blank still further flattening and lengthening the blank
and forming a bevil at or near that end of the blank from which the point is to
be afterwards made. From the third pair of rolls the blank falls down a guide
way to the clipping or pointing mechanism of the machine.
This clipping or
pointing mechanism consists of a stationary die and a movable punch of a shape
proper to form the finished nail. The blank coming in front of the stationary die
the movable punch advances and forces that portion of the blank which forms the
finished nail into the recess in the stationary die. In this last described operation
the point is formed by the movable punch clipping the nail blank at that end which
had been bevilled in the third pair of rolls the excess of metal being left riding
on the movable punch. When the movable punch retires the nail formed falls
out of a recess in the bottom of the stationary die.
Although I have found in practice that three pairs of rolls are in most cases
sufficient to give the desired shape to the blank previous to clipping yet four or
more than four pairs of rolls may be employed especially when the nails to be made
are of large size.
From the foregoing description it will be understood that the portion of the nail
strip is cut off at the top of the machine and preserving the vertical position it had
in the nail strip descends vertically between the rolls or rolls and clipping dies
falling from the machine in a vertical position.
The cutter rolls and clipping punch or die are all actuated from a horizontal
principal shaft driven by steam or other prime mover. Toothed gearing driven by
the said principal shaft gives motion to a shaft carrying a crank. This crank is
jointed to a crank rod which on the rotation of the crank gives the required recipro-
cating motion to the movable cutting tool. The rolls are driven by other toothed

page_text: gearing actuated by the principal shaft the rolls of each pair being geared together in
the ordinary way.
.
The movable punch of the clipping or pointing mechanism is worked from the
principal shaft by a crank and connecting rod.
Instead of finishing the nails in the machine in which the blanks are made the
rolled blanks may be finished by clipping or pointing in a separate machine.
Dated this 18th day of May 1889.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Machinery for the Manufacture of Horse-shoe
Nails.
I, JAMES SWALWELL, of Tredegar Villa, Caeran Park, Newport in the County of
Monmouth, Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and
the manner in which the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention consists of machinery for the manufacture of horse-shoe nails the
parts of which machinery are constructed and combined or arranged in the manner
hereinafter described.
By horse-shoe nails I mean mails of the kind commonly used in shoeing horses and
other hoofed animals.
The machinery constituting my invention consists essentially of a cutter for cutting
off short pieces or blanks from a nail strip of the proper section fed into the machine
horizontally by hand or mechanically but with the breadth of the nail strip in a vertical
plane. The said cut off piece or blank falls head downwards through a guide tube
and is received by a pair of rolls the axes of which are horizontal, which said rolls
operate on the broad sides of the blank flattening that end from which the point of
the nail is to be afterwards made and lengthening the body of the nail, the said rolls
having on their peripheries the requisite depressions or recesses.
The blank delivered
from these the first pair of rolls is received by a second pair of rolls the axes of which
are horizontal but at right angles to the axes of the first pair of rolls. This second
pair of rolls operates on the narrow sides or edges of the blank thereby diminishing
the breadth of the body and forming the shoulder under the head and also lengthening
the body of the blank. From the second pair of rolls the blank passes to a third pair
of rolls the horizontal axes of which are parallel to the axes of the first pair. This
third pair of rolls operates on the broad sides of the blank still further flattening and
lengthening the blank and forming a bevil at or near that end of the blank from
which the point is to be afterwards made. From the third pair of rolls the blank falls
down a guide way to the clipping or pointing mechanism of the machine. This
clipping or pointing mechanism consists of a stationary die and a moveable punch of
a shape proper to form the finished nail. The blank coming in front of the stationary
die the movable punch advances and forces that portion of the blank which forms the
finished nail into the recess in the stationary die." In this last described operation the
point is formed by the movable punch clipping the nail blank at that end which had
been bevilled in the third pair of rolls, the excess of metal being left riding on the
movable punch. When the movable punch retires the. nail formed falls out of a recess
in the bottom of the stationary die.
From the foregoing description it will be understood that the portion of the nail
strip is cut off at the top of the machine and preserving the vertical position it had in
the nail strip, descends vertically between the rolls or rolls and clipping dies falling
from the machine in a vertical position.
The entier, rolls and clipping punch or die are all actuated from a horizontal
principal shaft driven by a steam engine or other prime mover.
Toothed gearing
driven by the said principal shaft gives motion to a shaft carrying a crank or eccentric.

page_text: This crank or eccentric is jointed to a crank or eccentric rod which on the rotation of
the crank or eccentric gives the required reciprocating motion to the movable cutting
tool. The rolls are driven by other toothed gearing actuated by the principal shaft
the rolls of each pair being geared together in the ordinary way.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation machinery for the manufacture of horse shoe
nails constructed according to my invention and Figure 2 represents in horizontal
section a portion of the same taken at the level of the cutters by which the blank is
cut off the nail strip. Figure 3 represents in front elevation, partly in vertical
section, a portion of the said machinery drawn to a larger scale than Figures 1 and 2,
and Figure 4 represents the machinery partly in side elevation and partly in vertical
section, the sectional part of the said Figure being taken in a plane at right angles
to that in which the section of Figure 3 is taken: Figure 5 represents the second
guide tube of the series drawn to a large scale and Figure 6 represents one of the
rolls of the top pair of rolls of the machine drawn to a large scale; Figure 7
represents the nail strip separately; Figure 8 represents the blank cut from the end
of the nail strip Figure 7; Figure 9 represents the blank Figure S after it has been
operated upon by the first pair of rolls; Figure 10 represents the partly made nail
after it has been operated upon by the second pair of rolls. Figure 11 represents the
partly made nail after it has been operated upon by the third pair of rolls and
Figure 12 represents the finished nail after it has been pointed by the clipping or
pointing mechanism of the machine.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the
Drawings.
a is the nail strip having the sectional form best seen in Figure 7. The said nail
strip a is supported in any convenient manner and is fed by hand or mechanically to
the machine horizontally with the breadth of the nail strip in a vertical plane (see
Figures 1 and 3). The said strip is supported in feeding mechanism by the action of
which the strip is withdrawn from the fixed cutter after a blank has been cut from its
end and an intermittent rotary motion given to it, the strip being brought to rest in a
vertical plane after each semi-rotation.
The mechanism for effecting these motions consists essentially of a pendulum or
swinging lever oscillating through a small angle on the centre b². The said
pendulum lever carries three toothed wheels geared together namely, a driving
wheel e which has a quarter of a rotation given to it by each back motion of the
cutter slide in the manner hereinafter described and two smaller toothed .wheels c³
and which have a semi rotation given to them by each quarter rotation of the
driving wheel c. The small toothed wheel c³ rotates in the tubular support or collar c
(see Figure 4) on the pendulum lever b, and the axis of the said wheel has an
opening in it of the shape and size of the nail stripa. After the nail blank (Figure 8)
has been cut off the end of the nail strip by an oblique cut, the motion of the
'pendulum lever & removes the end of the nail strip from the fixed cutter hereinafter
described. The nail strip is then turned through a semi circle by the turning
mechanism carried by the pendulumi lever b, leaving the strip in a vertical position,
and the nail strip is then advanced through the toothed wheel so that on the
pendulum levér making its return stroke by the action of the coiled spring ³ the end
of the nail strip is fed against the gauge or stop d (see Figure 2).
e is the cutter carried by the V-shaped cutter slide worked from the horizontal
shaft g by the eccentric e³ and eccentric et (see Figure 2) and ƒ is the fixed cutter
adjustable in the inanner represented.
f is a prèsser block for supporting the blank while being sheared: the said block
being brought back to its position by the coiled spring represented. The blank is held
between the presser block and cutter e and when the said cutter e retires the blank is
released and falls down the guide tube to the rolls.
The forward or outward motion of the pendulum lever to remove the end of the

page_text: nail strip a from the fixed cutter after a blank has been cut from its end is
effected by the cam lever turning on the centre ³ operated from the box or
grooved cam² on the shaft g. The long arm of the lever carries a roller on
its end which roller bears against the inclined rib 6 on the pendulum lever b.
When the short arm of the lever his raised by the rotation of the box 72, bringing
its eccentric part into action, the long arm of the said lever is depressed and its
roller bearing against the inclined rib gives the outward motion to the pendulum
lever for removing the end of the mail strip a from the fixed cutter, preparatory
to the turning of the said strip. On the cam lever being brought into the position
represented the pendulum lever is restored to its normal position by the spring 3.
The driving toothed wheel e by which the semi-rotation is given to the nail strip is
worked from the cutter slide 2 by the arm or lever i carrying a pawl or detent 23
which operates upon one of the series of four studs or pins represented, projecting
from the back face of the driving wheel c. When the cutter slide 2 makes its
back stroke, the detent or pawl on the arm gives motion through a quadrant to
the driving wheel e and by means of the geared wheels and gives motion through
a semi-circle to the nail strip a ready for the next cut. The said wheel is locked
after it has been moved through a quarter rotation by the end of the spring catch or
arm 6, carried by the pendulum lever snapping into one of the notches in the periphery
of the said wheel c. On the cutter slide 2 making its forward or cutting stroke,
the detent on the arm slides over the stud on the wheel c without imparting
motion to it. By means of the slide on the arm i pressed forward by the coiled
spring the wheel e is brought into its proper position if the detent should at any
time fail to effect that operation.
The counter shaft of the machine is driven from the main or driving shaft j
(see Figure 1) by the spur wheel on the said main shaft gearing with the larger spur
wheel on the counter shaft g.
By the operation of the cutting tools e, f and feeding appliances described, a blank
of the kind represented in Figure S is cut off the end of the nail strip a, the blank
being so cut from the nail strip that its head or broad part is downwards. The cut off
piece or blank Figure 8 falls head downwards through the guide tube and is received
by the pair of horizontal rolls m, m (one of which is shown separately in Figure 6)
cach roll having on opposite sides the requisite shaped depressions to operate in
succession upon two nail blanks at each rotation of the pair of rolls. By the action of
the rolls m, m the cut off blank delivered to them is operated upon in the manner
represented in Figure 9 that is, the rolls operate on its broad sides flattening that end
from which the point of the nail is to be formed and lengthening the body of the
partly made nail. The nail blank Figure 9 after it has been operated upon by the
rolls m, m passes down the guide tube to the second pair of rolls n n, beneath
the first pair of rolls, the said second pair of rolls n, 'n being situated at right
angles to the first pair of rolls.
By the action of the second pair of rolls n, n the nail blank Figure 9 has the form
given to it represented in Figure 10; that is, the second pair of rolls operatos on the
narrow sides or edges of the blank thereby diminishing the breadth of the body and
forming the shoulder under the head and also lengthening the body of the blank as
seen in the said Figure 10. From the second pair of rolls n, n the partly made nail
Figure 10 is conducted by the guide tube 13 to the third pair of rolls p. p parallel to
the first pair of rolls m, m. The said third pair of rolls p. p operates upon the broad
sides of the partly made nail Figure 10 and gives it the form represented in Figure 11;
that is, the head is finished and the body of the blank is still further flattened and
lengthened and a hevil on opposite sides is made; leaving a thin web or connection
where the point end of the blank is afterwards to be cut off.
From the third pair of rolls p, the partly made nail Figure 11 falls down the
guide way to the clipping or pointing mechanism next described by the action of
which clipping or pointing mechanism the point of the nail is made at the thin web or
inclines formed by the operation of the third pair of rolls p. p as represented in

page_text: Figure 12 in which Figure 12 the waste piece a² at the point end of the blank is
represented separated from the body of the blank by the clipping or cutting tools in
forming the point.
The
The clipping or point cutting tools are best seen in Figure 3, the fixed tool con-
sisting of a die marked 9 and the other tcol consisting of a movable punch.
said punch is carried in the long arm of the lever turning on the centre 7. The
advance of the lever and the punch for the pointing operation is effected by
the cam on the shaft the rises of the said cam acting against a roller on
the bracket fixed to the lever carrying the punch. The fixed or stationary die q
and movable punch have shapes proper to finish the nail.
The nail blank Figure 11 head downwards being received on a platform in front of
the stationary die g, the movable punch r advances and forces the blank Figure 11
into the recess in the said die g, the point being formed by the movable punch
clipping the nail blank at the bevilled end, the excess of metal at a Figure 12 being
left riding on the movable punch 7. On the retiring of the movable punch by the
action of the spring when the rise on the cam no longer acts on the
lever, the nail, formed falls through an opening in the bottom of the stationary
die
The nail blank in a vertical position is thus cut off at the top of the machine by the
cutters e, fand preserving its vertical position, head part downwards, it is in succession
operated upon in the manner represented in Figures 9, 10 and 11 by the pairs of
rolls m, m and n, n and p. p and finally pointed by the clipping tools 7, r, the finished
nail falling from the machine in a vertical position.
The rolls m, m and p. p and the cam shaft are driven from the main shaft j
through the spur wheels, 2, 3, 4, and indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1, and
the rolls n, n are driven from the main shaft through the bevil wheels and ³ and
spur wheels Figure 1. The shafts of the respective pairs of rolls are geared
together by pinions in the usual way.
The several guide tubes may be provided with jointed sides (see Figure 5) for facili-
tating the removal of the blanks that may stick in the guide tubes and each of the
guide tubes is capable of adjustment as represented.
Although I have found in practice that three pairs of rolls are in most cases
sufficient to give the desired shape to the cut-off blank Figure 8 previous to clipping
yes four or more than four pairs of rolls may be employed where the nails to be made
are of large size; and although I have represented the rolled blanks or partly made
nails finished by clipping or pointing them in the same machine in which they are
cut off from the strip and rolled, yet the rolled blanks of the form of Figure 11 may
be clipped or pointed in a separate machine.
Although I have only represented and described nail strips of the sectional figures
required for making the most common form of horse shoe nails yet nail strips of other
figures may be employed the shape of the rolls being modified accordingly.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and
the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as my
invention of "New or improved machinery for the manufacture of horse shoe
nails,"
First. The use in machinery for the manufacture of horse shoe nails of the hori-
zontal cutting-off tool and parts connected with it for cutting off the blank from the
nail strip in combination with the feeding of the strip into the machine horizontally
with its breadth in a vertical plane, the cut off piece or blank falling head downwards
through a vertical guide to be operated upon by a pair of rolls or pairs of rolls, the
several parts being constructed arranged and working substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Secondly. The use in machinery for the manufacture of horse shoe nails in which
the nail blank descends vertically with its head downwards of a series of pairs of
horizontal rolls (having guide tubes between them) arranged vertically that is, one

page_text: pair above the other, the axes of one pair of rolls being situated at right angles to the
axes of the next pair of rolls, whereby the descending nail blank is alternately rolled
upon its broad sides and edges, the rolled or fashioned nail blanks being pointed and
finished in the same machine in which they are cut off and rolled or in a separate
machine substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
D: 71. 1 of Wahun 1800