IMPROVEMENTS IN NAILS AND SPIKES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Wilkinson, of the Pelican Works,
Great Hampton Street, Birmingham, Electro-plate Manufacturer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN NAILS AND SPIKES."-A com-
munication from abroad by Barak T. Nichols, of Roselle, in the
County of Union, and State of New Jersey, one of the United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry
Wilkinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th October 1873.
I, WILLIAM HENRY WILKINSON, of the Pelican Works, Great
Hampton Street, Birmingham, Electro-plate Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN NAILS
AND SPIKES," a communication to me from abroad by Barak T. Nichols, of
Roselle, in the County of Union, and State of New Jersey, one of the
United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to nails and spikes for general employment
adapted to be more cheaply manufactured than those now in use, also to

page_text: be lighter than ordinary nails and spikes of the same size, and from their
peculiar form to be stronger than ordinary nails and spikes of the same
weight; also to cause less displacement of the material into which they
are driven than ordinary nails and spikes, and thus to be less liable to
split the material and adapted to hold more strongly.
The improved nail or spike is made of sheet metal with or without a

page_text: the headless nail A² with a uniform or direct taper illustrate modes of
forming the improved nails or spikes so as to avoid any waste of stock.
The material employed is sheet metal of any suitable kind, such as
iron, brass, zinc, or copper.
The object of the transverse bend or bends in each of the various
forms is to stiffen the nail or spike or to give it lateral strength or
rigidity. The improved nails and spikes may be manufactured by any
known process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Wilkinson, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY WILKINSON, of the Pelican Works, Great Hampton Street,
Birmingham, Electro-plate Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Wilkinson, Her
special licence that I, the said William Henry Wilkinson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Henry Wilkinson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN NAILS AND SPIKES," a communication to me from
abroad by Barak T. Nichols, of Roselle, in the County of Union and
State of New Jersey, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Wilkinson, 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

page_text: and 6, represent nails or spikes of like shape provided with heads a.
C, Fig. 4, represents a nail or spike in the form of a longitudinally
corrugated tube; Fig. 3 represents the corrugated blank of this form.
The improved nail or spike in each of the illustrations tapers to a proper
entering point c. The heads a of the nails or spikes B, B³, are formed
in the first instance, Fig. 2, by turning the upper ends of the sides b
outward at about right angles thereto; in the second instance, Fig. 6,
the metal removed in giving the points the preferred shape, illustrated
in Figs. 1 and 2, is utilized to form heads. This modification and the
headless nail A³ with a uniform or direct taper illustrate modes of
forming the improved nails or spikes so as to avoid any waste of stock.
The material employed is sheet metal of any suitable kind, such as
iron, brass, zinc, or copper.
The object of the transverse bend or bends in each of the various
forms is to stiffen the nail or spike, or to give it lateral strength or
rigidity. The improved nails and spikes may be manufactured by any
known or approved process.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I declare that what I claim and
desire to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, a nail or spike formed of sheet metal, and grooved, ridged, or
corrugated longitudinally to stiffen it, substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated on the Drawings as a new article of manu-
facture or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Wilkinson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.