IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SMALL ARTICLES FROM SHEET METAL
Year: 1868

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the
International
Patent Office No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SMALL ARTICLES
FROM SHEET METAL"-A communication from abroad by Lauriston
Towne, of Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd April 1868.
1, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the International Patent Office,"
No. S, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SMALL
ARTICLES FROM SHEET METAL," a communication, to be as follows:-
The machine herein described is more especially designed to make
the article used in place of eyelets, and known as a combined "hook
and button."
The principles of the said machine can however be

page_text: "
with suitable modifications of the forms of the cutters and dies
made available for the production of various articles made from sheet
metal which require to be swaged into successive shapes. The
material in the form of a ribbon of sheet metal is to be fed to the
machine by any convenient means. I prefer to wind this ribbon into a
coil, enclose it in a box like a barrel for the mainspring of a watch with
the exception that the barrel is furnished with an opening in its side for
the passage of ribbon, through which opening or transverse slit the
ribbon is drawn by a pair of feeding rollers operated by an intermittent
pawl and ratchet feed; in this respect the arrangement is like that
commonly employed in feeding a similar ribbon to machines for making
ornamental sheet metal chain. The first operation by the machine
is to cut from the ribbon a blank of suitable form to make when
fashioned further into shape a buttoning hook." This cutter has a
regular reciprocating movement given to it by means of a lever to
one end of which the shank of the cutter is pivotted, the other end
of the said lever being operated by a crank or equivalent device upon
the main shaft. The cutter works perpendicularly to the plane of
the ribbon and is controlled by suitable guides; in combination with the
cutter described there is of necessity a female cutter into which the
end of the male cutter enters, as is well understood by all makers
of punching and cutting machines. In connection with the cutter
there is also a die and "former," the effect of which are to form the
circular extremity of the blank into the form of a dome, and this
operation is performed contemporaneously, or nearly so, with the cutting
of the blank. This blank by the action of the cutter is deposited
upon a table underneath the face of the cutter, which table is pro-
vided with raised side pieces for keeping the blank thereon during
the next operation. So soon
as the blank is deposited a follower
or rod fitted to the channel formed by the raised side pieces of the
table by its end pushes the blank point foremost to the apparatus
where the bending and swaging processes are to be conducted.
This apparatus, irrespective of its adjuncts hereafter to be described, con-
sists of a circular plate of about three inches diameter and seven-eights
of an inch thick. It is intended that this plate, the surface of which
is parallel with the plane of the table, shall have an intermittent
motion upon its axis making a complete revolution with four intervals
of rest; its face is provided with four spring jaws occupying four radii

page_text: let into the plate all precisely alike and at equal distances from each
other; one of these jaws is always when the plate is at rest in line with
the path of travel of the "follower" which pushes forward the blanks,
so that each blank is received by some one of the jaws and held fast by
the jaws grasping the point. The edge of the revolving plate at the
points where the blanks are received is cut away into such a form as will
best accommodate the changes in the shape which the buttoning hook
or other article will assume.
We will now suppose that a blank has been deposited in one
of the pairs of jaws of the plate. A double punch or rather two
punches descend and swage the blank into the next form.
The plate
now revolves one-fourth of a circle, and while a second blank is
coming forward to the next pair of jaws presented a header whose
line of motion is radial with the plate comes forward and gives the
blank the next form. This being done the plate again revolves one-
fourth of a circle, and while the operation last described is being
performed upon the second blank, and while a third blank is being
brought forward to the third pair of jaws, a pair of plungers, one
acting from above and the other from below, gives to the first blank
its final form. The plate now revolves one-fourth of a circle and
the finished articles discharged, there being underneath each of the jaws
in the plate a slide which when sheathed forms a part of the circular
plate, but which when pushed forward, as it is during the last quarter
revolution, brings out with it the finished article and discharges it.
It will be thus seen that the idea which I have endeavoured to
embody in the said machine is to cut in the first instance a blank
of proper form from sheet metal, then to transfer this blank to a plate
or table which is capable of revolving as described, the said blank at
each interval of rest having a swaging operation performed upon it by
suitable means, the said revolving table carrying the blank to the
successive instrumentalities which effect three changes of form and
which are located at the proper points about the periphery of the
plate, and furthermore that three separate articles of the manufacture
are undergoing one of the operations essential to their production at
one and the same time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Fler reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence, that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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 MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SMALL ARTICLES FROM
SHEET METAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Robert Lake, 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 was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
.declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings forming a part of this Specification:-
The machinery herein described is more especially designed to make
articles to be used in place of eyelets for holding the lacings of shoes
and gaiters, the same being known as a "combined hook and button.".

page_text: The principles of construction which the said machinery exhibits can also
with suitable modification of the forms of some of its parts be made
available for the production of various articles made from sheet metal
which require to be swaged by successive operations into a particular
shape.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view of my improved machinery; Figure 2 is a plan
of the same; Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 illustrate detached portions of
the same; Figure 9 exhibits articles made by the said machinery in
progressive stages from the "blank" to the finished article.
The same
letters indicate corresponding parts in all of the Figures.
The blank upon which the present machine is intended to operate in
order to produce the special article of manufacture named is shown at
No. 1, Figure 9. Before being brought to the finished shape shown at
No. 4 it is necessary that it should pass successively through the forms
shown at No. 2 and No. 3. The said machine cuts its own blanks from a
metallic ribbon which may be fed to it by any convenient means. I prefer
to wind the ribbon into a coil, enclose it in a box Z, Figure 2, like a
barrel for the mainspring of a watch with the exception that a transverse
slit is cut through the side of such box for the passage of the strip of.
metal. A pair of feeding rollers R, Figure 2, operated by an inter-
mittent pawl and ratchet feed 1, I, nip the ribbon of metal and feed it
along at the rate required to present a fresh surface of such ribbon to the
face of the punch, which cuts out a blank each time that it descends; in
this respect the arrangement is like that ordinarily employed in feeding
a similar ribbon to machines for making ornamental sheet metal chains.
The first operation of, my machine is to cut from the ribbon a blank,
No. 1. This is performed by a cutter D', whose face is of the same size
and outline as that of the blank.. This cutter has a regular reciprocating
movement given to it by means of a levert, to one end of which the
stock D of the cutter is pivoted, the other end of the lever being
pivotted to a link which is operated by a cam 2 on the main shaft. O.
In combination with the cutter described there is a female cutter 3,
Figure 8, into which the end of the male cutter enters as it descends,
carrying with it the blank. which has been cut from the strip. Upon .
the return movement of the cutter its face rises clear of the face of the
female cutter, so as to permit the ribbon of metal to be drawn along for.
a sufficient distance over the female cutter to present a fresh surface,

page_text: upon the table 6 and
This follower is a thin
At
as is familiar to all acquainted with the operation of cutting and
punching machines.
Contemporaneously with the cutting out of the
blank, or nearly so, its circular end is struck into the form of a dome 4
(No. 1); this is effected by means of a die of proper form cut in the
end of a plunger 5, Figure 1, which has an upward movement given to
it by means of a cam on the main shaft acting through a lever under-
neath the bed of the machine, similar in arrangement to the means
described for operating the cutter D'. This plunger moves upward as
the cutter D is moving downward, so that by the time the end of
the male cutter has fairly entered the female cutter there will be formed
a female die ready to act in combination with the cutter to strike up
the circular end of the blank into the form of a dome, that portion of
the cutter which cuts the circular end having upon its face a dome-
shaped protuberance corresponding in form with the die in the end of
the plunger 5.
There is thus as the first result of the action of the
machine a piece of metal cut and swaged into the form shown at
No. 1. The cutting punch leaves this blank
directly in front of the follower J, Figure 7.
strip of metal fitted to slide between guides 7 aflixed to the sides of the
table; its front end is shaped so as to embrace the blank, as shown.
the instant that the cutting punch commences to rise after having cut
and swaged a blank the follower J is caused to push the blank forward by
the action of the cam P upon the main shaft working through the
vibrating lever K, whose forward end is connected by a link with the
rear end of the follower. The blank is thus presented to the apparatus
where the subsequent bending and swaging processes necessary to give
it the finished shape shown at No. 4 are to be performed. This appa-
ratus, irrespective of its adjuncts hereafter to be described, consists of
a circular plate or table A, shown full size at Figure 4. It is intended
that this plate, which is parallel with the bed of the machine and is
located at the end of the table upon which the blank vests, shall have an
intermittent motion upon its axis making a complete revolution with
four intervals of rest; its face is provided with four sets of spring
jaws s, s, occupying four radii let into the surface of the plate and at
equal distances apart; one of these pairs of jaws is always when the plate
is at rest in line with the path of travel of the follower which pushes for-
ward the blanks, so that each blank as it is pushed forward is received by
some one of the pairs of jaws, and being grasped by them near the tip
is held fast until the next operation has been performed upon it.

page_text: The necessary revolution of the plate A is effected by means of the
cam Qin the main shaft which actuates a vibrating lever X under-
neath the platform of the machine, Figure 2. This lever is linked
to a ratchet gear, as shown at Figure 6. The ratchet wheel S has four
teeth and is keyed to the shaft of the plate A, such shaft passing
through the hollow standard C. The movement of the lever X into
engagement with another footh of the ratchet causes a dog X' pulled
by the spiral spring 17 to enter a noteli 18 (shown in dotted lines) and
hold the table A fast while the swaging operation is being performed.
Let it be supposed now that a blank has been gripped by one of the
sets of jaws which receive it as it is pushed forward by the follower J.,
The two punches or plungers f and e, attached respectively to the
stocks F and E, now descend actuated by the cams upon the two sides
The action of these
respectively of the plate 9 on the main shaft.
punches is to bend the blank into the form shown at No. 2, the one
striking up the body of the blank so that the points will stand upright,
and the other giving the bend to the shank, it being understood that the
edge of the plate A is cut away so as to allow these as well as the
formers or punches hereafter to be described to perform their respective
functions. The effect of the punch or former f being to throw up the
pointed ends of the blank, it becomes necessary to provide some means
for holding the blank in its new form, inasmuch as the spring jaws s
are no longer to be relied on; accordingly a pair of holding springs 10,
Figure 5, are arranged underneath each pair of spring jaws s, so that
the blank when bent will be thrust between them. The location of these
The
spring holders is best shown in the sectional view, Figure 4.
plate A now makes a quarter revolution, a fresh blank is introduced in
the next set of jaws, and the first blank, already in the form of No. 2,
is further bent into the form shown at No. 8 by the action of a punch.
or plunger (shown enlarged in Figure 3) which has a movement in a
direction parallel with the plane of the table of the machine induced by
a cam 11, Figure 2, on the main shaft. The plate A makes another.
quarter revolution, a fresh blank is inserted in the next pair of jaws,
and the first blank, which is now in the form shown at No. 3, is-com-
pletely formed into a button hook (No. 4) by the action of the two
"
formers a and b, Figure 1, one working from above and the other,
from below the plate A through the agency of the cam upon the
countershaft T, which by means of the levers 12 and 13 connected
**

page_text: therewith, gives movement contemporaneously to, the plungers 14 and 15,
from the ends of which respectively the formers a and b project. After
the button hook has been completed the plate A again makes a quarter
revolution, a fresh blank is inserted in the last pair of jaws, and the
completed, button, hook is borne outward beyond the periphery of the
plate A by a sliding plate or discharger g, Figure 4, which plate is
actuated by a cam groove 16 (shown in dotted lines, Figure 4) cut in
the face of the standard underneath the plaie A, a stud pin which
projects from the said plate fitting into such groove and effecting the
movement of the plate in a manner well understood. The shape of this
cam groove is such that before the plate A has completed its next
quarter revolution it will have been drawn back to its former position,
but while it is extended beyond the periphery of the plate A it is obliged
by the action of the said plate in moving toward its first position. to pass
between a forked bar W concentric with the quadrant of the plate A, by
means of which when the plate g is sheathed the button hook will be
shipped off and discharged. Underneath each pair of spring jaws a
similar sliding plate or discharger is located, and each in turn as the
plate A is completing its last quarter revolution is thrust forward as before
described. During the movements of these plates, so forming a part of
the table A, through the second and third quarters of the table's
revolution the groove being in the form of a true circle does not disturb
them in their position.
It will thus be seen that the mode of operation which the machinery
above described exhibits consists,―
First. In the employment of proper cutting devices for cutting from
a strip of sheet metal a blank of the required form.
Secondly. In swaging the end of such blank dome shaped.
Thirdly. In presenting the blanks so cut and swaged in succession to
the grip of a pair of spring jaws, of which there are in this instance
four sets, corresponding in number to the number of operations (in-
cluding that of discharging the button hook) which are to be performed,
and occupying at equal distances apart four radii of a circular horizontal
intermittently revolving plate or table, such plate making a pause or rest
after each quarter revolution.
And, fourthly, In swaging the blank into the several forms shown at

page_text: Nos. 2, 3, and 4 by the action of suitable instrumentalities arranged to
act upon the blank in succession, as before explained.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I wish it under-.
stood that I do not limit myself to the precise structure and arrangement
of the several parts herein described; but I claim,-..
First. In a machine for forming button hooks or similar articles the
combination of mechanism substantially such as described for carrying
forward the blank with an intermittently revolving table A, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
Second. The revolving table A constructed and, arranged for holding
the blanks during the successive swaging operations, and for discharging
them when finished, substantially as herein described.
Third. In combination with the revolving table A appropriate swaging
devices for forming the blank arranged to act in succession upon each
blank in the manner and by the means substantially as described.
Fourth. The discharger g operating for the purpose of discharging
the finished button hook, substantially as lierein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
THO N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
S, Southampton Buildings,
'W.C.