AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING EYELETS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rodolphus Landfear, of Hartford, Con-
necticut, United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Build-
ings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the
91
Sealed the 22nd March 1867, and dated the 30th January 1867.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Rodolphus Laudfear
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 30th January 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RODOLPHUS LANDFEAR, of Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America,
now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE
FOR MANUFACTURING EYELETS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and first
Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Rodolphus Landfear, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully

page_text: describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the accompanying Sheets of Drawings forming a part of this
Specification:-
The said Invention relates to manufacturing eyelets for stays, skirts, boots,
and other articles from thin sheets of brass or other suitable metal by a novel
and expeditious process, wherein the eyelet blanks are stamped from the said
sheets of metal, and properly formed by one operation between male and
female dies, their ends being at the same time cut or sheared off by a kuife or
blade. The said Invention relates also to the novel construction of a machine
for performing these operations. The strips of brass or other metal from
which the eyelets are formed may be fed into the said machine either by hand
or by an automatic or other feeding device.
The stamping, cupping, and flanging dies are operated by suitable mechanism
from a rotating shaft or axis, to which motion may be communicated in any
convenient manner. The eyelets as fast as they are formed by the said dies
are carried in the female flanging die into contact with a sharp cutting blade
or knife, which shears off the end; they are then ejected from the said die
by a punch or driver, which is also operated by the rotating shaft or axis of
the machine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan of the top of the said machine; Figure 2 is a side
elevation, partly in section, of the same, with parts in the positions they
assume when cupping the eyelet blauks; Figure 3 is a side elevation, showing
the parts of the said machine in the act of flanging an eyelet; Figure 4 is a
front elevation of the said machine, with parts in the same position as in
Figure 3; Figure 5 is a horizontal section on tho line x, x, Figure 2;
Figure 6 represents an eyelet blank; Figure 7 represents the said blank as it
leaves the cupping dies; Figure 8 represents the same after it has been
subjected to the action of the flanging dies, and before the end has been
removed; Figure 9 represents the eyelet finished. Like letters indicate the
same parts in each of the Figures.
The frame or stand A is constructed of cast iron or other suitable metal,
and is formed to be readily and conveniently bolted or otherwise secured to the
top of a table or bench. The foot or base A¹ of the said frame or stand carries
the metal block B, which is secured to the said base by the screws A. The
block B is constructed with a circular chamber C, and the upper end of the
said chamber is enlarged to receive the circular female stamping die D. The

page_text: central perforation in the said die is of the proper diameter to cut the blanks a,
Figure 6, of the required size to form the eyelets being manufacture.l. A
stud or small rod F is firmly secured in the circular chamber C; this stud
forms the male cupping die, and its diameter corresponds or nearly so with the
required size of the interior of the eyelets. The upper end of this stud extends
to the top surface of the die D, and is provided with a small point or spur G.
the said rod and spur being both concentric with the central perforation of the
die D. The spur G is provided to hold the blanks, and prevent their being.
displaced during the operation of cupping. The die or punch E is firmly
fixed into a socket formed in the vertical sliding plate H, which is preferably
formed with dovetailed edges, and is guided between the correspondingly
formed adjustable plates I, the latter being firmly secured to the frame A by
the screws J. The sliding plate H is formed with a horizontal slot or
aperture H. The crank K, which is secured on the end of the rotating shaft
or axis L, is arranged over the centre of the sliding plate H. The pin K' of
the said crank is provided with a block M, which is fitted to slide in the
horizontal aperture H', as the crank K rotates on its centre; by this means
the required reciprocating motion is communicated from the driving shaft L
to the vertical sliding plate II. The said shaft is fitted to turn in suitable
bearings N fixed or formed on the frame A, and is furnished with fast and
loose driving pulleys O, P, and a fly wheel Q. The die or punch E is fixed in
the sliding plate H exactly in line with the die D and chamber C, and is made
of the proper
diameter to operate in conjunction with the die D to stamp the
blanks or discs a, Figure 6, from a sheet of brass or other metal placed
between the said dies. The die E has a cup or recess E' in its lower end,
which is so formed that when forced down over the stud F it will give to the
blanks or discs a the shape represented in Figure 7. The lower flanging
die R is fitted to slide vertically over the stud F in the chamber C. The said
die has a recess a¹ turned in its upper surface, which recess corresponds with
the required size and shape of the eyelet flanges. This die R is carried by the
bent arm S, which is secured in the vertical sliding plate H by an adjusting
nut T. The upper flanging die R' is secured or formed in the horizontal
sliding plate U; the latter is supported to work freely between the adjustable
dovetailed guide plates V, which are secured by the screws W or by other
suitable means to the upper surface of the metal block B. The plate U is of
such a thickness that the eyelets after being flanged will project slightly above
its top surface. The said plate is operated by the lever X and the spring Y.
The said lever is fitted to vibrate upon the fulcrum pin or stud Z, which is
firmly secured in the frame A. The upper end of this lever is provided with

page_text: a friction roller b, which is arranged to work in contact with the inclined
projection on the upper part of the sliding plate H. The said inclined
projection is so formed and arranged that as it descends with the vertical sliding
plate H the lever X is operated to force the horizontal plate U outward into
the position represented in Figures 1 and 2. The spring Y, which is secured
at one end to the plate U and at the other end to the frame A, is arranged to
act in the opposite direction. The sliding plate U is provided with a shoulder
or projection d on its under surface, which takes into the perforation formed
in the strip of metal by the stamping dies, and after each blank has been
formed pushes the said strip forward the required distance at each stroke of
the macbine to form a fresh blank. The knife e by which the tops of the
eyelets are sheared off is by preferénce secured upon the top of the cross
plate f, which is supported at the outer end of the dovetailed plates V. The
said knife is bevelled on its cutting edge, as shown in Figure 5, and is arranged
with the said edge in the proper position to shear off the tops of the eyelets as
they are brought into contact with it by the sliding plate U. The hole e¹ in
the blade e is formed to allow the punch or driver g to descend through the
said blade or knife. The said punch or driver is secured to the vertical sliding
plate H in the proper position to descend and expel the eyelets as they are
finished from the flanging die R' when the latter is in the position represented
in Figure 2. The strips h of brass or other metal from which the eyelets are
to be formed are by preference rolled up on a reel or roller, which may be
supported in suitable bearings upon the table or bench, and the said strips are
supplied therefrom to the machine. In commencing to manufacture the
eyelets motion is communicated to the shaft L by a driving belt passing over
the pulley O, or in any other convenient manner. The end of the strip h is
first introduced between the stamping dies D, E; the latter then descends
into the position shewn in Figure 2, and cuts out a blank or disc a of the form
shown in Figure 6. The said blank is by the same operation or stroke of the
machine forced down over the stud F, and is penetrated and held firmly
thereon by the spur G, while the cup or recess E' in the end of the punch E
is forced down over the said blank, which is forcibly squeezed between the said
cup and the end of the stud F; this operation leaves the eyelot in the form
represented in Figure 7; the punch E is then by the returning upward
movement of the vertical sliding plate II raised out of the die D, and allows
the horizontal sliding plate to be moved by the spring Y into the position
shown in Figure 8; this movement brings the upper flanging die R¹ directly
over the stud F and lower flanging die R, the eyelet still remaining on the
The lower flanging die R, which rises with the sliding
end of the stud F.

page_text: plate H, then lifts the said eyelet from the top of the stud F, and forces it up
into the upper flanging die R¹. By this operation the flange is perfectly
formed as shown in Figure 8. The vertical sliding plate then descends, and
the inclined projection e thereon again acts on the lever X and causes it to
force the horizontal sliding plate U outward. The eyelet in the upper flanging
die R¹ is brought into contact with the edge of. the knife e, and its end which
projects above the edge of the said plate is thereby sheared off; the hori-
zontal sliding plate U then remains stationary in the position represented in
Figures 1 and 2, while the punch or driver E descends and expels the eyelet
from the die R¹; the die or punch E descends at the same time and stamps
or cuts a fresh blank from the metal strip which has been carried forward into
the proper position by the shoulder d on the plate U; the several operations
of the machine are then repeated, and the eyelets are thereby produced with
great rapidity. The knife e instead of being stationary, as shown in the
Drawings, may be attached movably to the machine, and operated by suitable
mechanism to cut the ends from the eyelets; or the said knife may be dispensed
with, and the ends removed by a punch or die. Instead of feeding the strips
of metal forward by means of the projection d the same object may be effected
by hand, or by any suitable feeding mechanism having the required inter-
inittent motion.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and shown how the same
may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practise, I wish it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the exact details herein described and
illustrated; but I claim,-
First, the stamping, cupping, and flanging dies D, E, E, F, R, and R¹
combined, arranged, and operating substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
Second, the spur G employed in combination with the dies D, E, F, for the
purpose and substantially in the manner set forth.
Third, the die R with the recess a¹ and its employment in combination
with the upper flanging die R' for the purpose and substantially in the manner
set forth.
Fourth, the employment of a knife or blade for cutting or shearing off the
end of the eyelets before they are removed from the shaping dies.
Fifth, the combination of the knife or blade e with the upper flanging
die R¹, sliding plate U, and devices for operating the same, for the purpose
and substantially in the manner set forth.
Sixth, the stamping, cupping, and flanging dies D, E, F, R, and R', sliding
plates H and U, knife e, and punch g, and other parts of the machine arranged,

page_text: combined and operating for the purposes and substantially in the manner
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rodolphus Landfear, have here-
unto my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WILLIAM RODOLPHUS LANDFEAR. (L.S.)
Witness,
WM. ROB. LAKE,
8, Southampton Buildings, W.C.