Chain-links and Chains,
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Oct., 1898-Accepted, 11th Mar., 1899
Chain-links and Chains,
I, FRIEDRICH KRAEMER, of Grüne, near Iserlohn, Westfalia, Germany, Chain-
maker, 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:―
My invention relates to chain-links and chains made of links of wire without
welding or other forge work, the wire used is not of round, but of half round
section and it is so bent or wound together to form a link showing a completely
circular cross section, whereas the shape of the link may form an open or flat oval
or it may be half twisted.
The annexed drawing shows the new chainlink and the wire blanks used for its
production.
Fig. 1 is a side view of a piece of half round wire used for making the new
link;
Fig. 2 is a side view of the wire twisted in the middle so as to make it fit to
give a circular section when bent in the shape of a link;
Fig. 3 is a view in plan of Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 shows a side view of a completed link;
Fig. 5 is a plan view of Fig. 4;
Fig. 6 shows a piece of chain made of my new link.
As seen from Figs. 4, 5 and 6 my new chainlink is made of half round wire;
a piece of suitable length (Fig. 1) with the ends C cut obliquely is first twisted in
the middle by 180 degrees turning either half length 90 degrees
or holding the one length fast and twisting the other by 180 degrees
in one turn, so as to receive the blank shown in Figs. 2 and 3, in which
the flat sides A of the half round wire lie in the same plane as in Fig. 1
but the sides B lie on diametrically opposite sides, so that when each half
is now bent twice to form the link shown in Fig. 5, the flat sides A touch each
other and the oblique ends coincide with the oblique or screwed edges D at the
twisting point and so a link is produced of circular section of the wire and of
considerable strength.
These links may be made by hand or by special machinery and in making a
chain (Fig. 6) of such links, they of course intermesh with each other as in an
ordinary chain. Chains of such links can be made very cheap, there being no
heating, welding and forging required and in comparison with other not welded,
cold made chainlinks they have the advantage of resembling exactly the ordinary
welded chain, without any projecting or thickened parts.
A machine for making the chains described and which will form the subject
of an other patent to be applied for by me works as follows:
The half round wire, coming from a reel, is first cut in suitable lengths for the
blanks to each chain link; these blanks are then pushed forwards their complete
length, then they are seized by a pair of tongs in the middle, each making a
quarter of a revolution, the one in the right direction, the other in the left direction,
so that the wire gets a twist of 180 degrees as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the

page_text: drawing. This piece is then shifted further on in the machine and then it
receives the end bents E as is shown in Fig. 7, Sheet Two, this being done the
second bent F, Fig. 8, is made and also the third, as indicated in dotted lines when
the link is complete. It now lies flat in the machine and is seized by nippers,
which raise it upwards and turn it by 90 degrees, so that the next following blank
can be inserted therein before the first bents E are made. The chain as it proceeds
in making is carried away link by link. upwards, where it is laid over a corre-
sponding chain wheel, which is moved forwards always one division when a link
has been completed, care being taken that the chain is turned alternately left and
right by 90 degrees always in order to prevent its twisting.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
A chainlink and a chain composed of such links formed of pieces of wire of half
round section cut in suitable lengths and twisted in the middle so that the flat
surfaces of the twisted halves lie in the same plane and that they touch each other
to form together a complete circular section after being bent in the shape of a link,
the oblique ends thereof coinciding with the screwlike edges of the twisted part of
the link.
That the 241.
J
1000
FRIEDRICH KRAEMER,
Per Karl J. Mayer,
Agent.