Improvements. in Dies for Making Nail Wire.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements. in Dies for Making Nail Wire.
We THADDEUS FOWLER, residing at Shelton, in the County of Fairfield and
State of Connecticut, and THOMAS BURLOCK DE FOREST, residing at 6 Elizabeth
Street, Birmingham, in the County of New Haven and State of Connecticut, all in
the United States of América gentlemen, 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:-
The invention relates to dies for forming continuous nail wire (a complete
description whereof may be found in a certain application for letters patent for the
same of even date herewith) and has for its object to furnish a simple and efficient
arrangement of dies capable of producing the nail wire from blank wire fed to
them from a coil or reel, and with these ends in view the invention consists in the
details of construction hereinafter fully set forth and then recited in the claims.
In order that those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains may
readily comprehend its construction and method of operation we will proceed to
describe the same in detail referring by letter to the accompanying drawings
forming a part of this specification in which
Fig. 1 is a plan view of one pair of the dies whereof the other pair is a
duplicate.
Fig. 2 an end view showing the two pairs of dies opened in both directions.
Fig. 3 an end view showing the blank held in the grip of the dies just previous
to the pointing and heading process and
Fig. 4 a plan view with the top pair of dies removed showing the position of the
finished nail.
Similar letters denote like parts in all the figures of the drawing.
Four individual dies, A A and B, B, each approximately square in cross section
and combined as shown in the drawing form the set.
In the abutting faces of dies A A and responding to each other are grooves, E,
In the abutting surfaces
adapted to act as jaws and grasp the wire between them.
of the dies B, B are formed tapering grooves, F, which, when in correspondence

page_text: form an opening tapered from without inward much larger than the diameter of the
blank wire at its outer end and much smaller than said wire at its inner end.
The axial lines of the openings, E, F, when all four dies are in position are the
Bame.
The dies are adapted to be operated as follows:-The wire is fed between the
dies through the tapered opening F, the parts A A and B B of said dies being
separated to readily admit it. When in proper position, the parts A A and B, B
are separated so as to leave a short length of the wire between the inner
extremities of the openings, E F, This short length of blank wire forms the head
of the completed nail, and the position of the dies at this stage of the operation is
as shown at Fig. 2.
The parts A B, and A B, are now clamped securely together so that they hold
the wire tightly and in the position shown at Fig. 3.
The pressure upon the parts B, B compresses the wire to form the contracted
point of the nail as will be readily seen from the shape of the groove, F, shown at
Fig. 1.
The two parts, A B and A B still gripping the wire are then forced together by
means of pressure applied in the direction of the length of the blank wire and the
short length is upset or swaged outward and thus forms the head of the nail. The
pressure upon the dies in both directions is now relaxed and the parts A A and B B,
separated widely enough to permit the newly formed head to pass between as the
wire is fed forward for the next operation which is a repetition of that just
described. By leaving a longer or shorter length of blank wire between the
vertical abutting surfaces of the parts A B and A B, a head of greater or less
diameter and thickness is produced.
We have not shown any mechanism for the actuation of the dies since they may
readily be operated by means of a pair of vises for instance, and the invention is
more especially confined to the construction and operation of the parts which go
to make up the set of dies competent to perform the functions herein before set
forth.
It will be observed that in one operation of the dies the head of one nail is
produced and simultaneously the point of the nail next to it so that in action a
complete nail is formed at each action of the dies.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. In a set of dies, the combination of a vertically aligned pair of gripping dies
adapted to hold the blank wire securely between them, and a pair of tapering
pointing dies also vertically aligned and adapted to grasp and point the wire, both
pairs of vertically aligned dies adapted to have a movement lengthwise of the wire
and by longitudinal pressure to swage a head on said wire between their vertically
abutting surfaces, substantially as set forth.
2. A set of dies of the character described, composed of a pair of gripping dies
and a pair of tapered pointing dies, all four arranged to have both a vertical and a
longitudinal movement the gripping dies adapted to grasp and the pointing dies
adapted to point and to grasp the wire, and the two pairs of vertically aligned dies
adapted to swage up a head upon the blank wire, substantially as specified.
3. The combination with the pair of gripping dies arranged as described, of a
pair of tapering grooved pointing dies adapted by compression to point the wire
both pairs adapted to have a movement vertically to allow for the feeding of the
wire and a movement longitudinally whereby the head is swaged up between their
abutting vertical surfaces substantially as described.
4. The combination of the gripping dies, AA, having grooves, E, and the pointing
dies B, having tapered grooves F, whose outer and inner ends are respectively
larger and smaller than the blank wire, both pairs adapted to grasp and conjunc-

page_text: tively by longitudinal pressure to head the wire between them, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
5. The method hereindescribed of forming wire nails the same consisting in
feeding the wire between a pair of grasping and a pair of pointing dies, then
closing both pairs upon the wire and finally forcing both pairs of dies so closed
toward each other and lengthwise of the wire whereby a head is swaged up
therefrom between their abutting surfaces, substantially as set fortb.