NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Whittle, of Smethwick, in the County of
Stafford, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS."
Sealed the 10th March 1857, and dated the 13th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Whittle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th September 1856.
I, WILLIAM WHITTLE, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "NEW OR
IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists, firstly, of machinery for manufacturing nails
from rod iron. The said machinery consists of a pair of rolls, one of the said
rolls having a projecting collar or portion of larger diameter than the other
parts of the roll. The said collar engages in a depressed portion of the other
roll. The periphery of the said collar and the bottom of the said depressed
portion are sunk or formed into such shapes, that a piece of rod iron being
passed between them is fastened into a series of nails of the form commonly
called clasp nails.
My Invention consists, secondly, of machinery for making nails from strips
of iron, having the shape of a series of wedges joined together end to end,
the said wedges being cut off, tapered, and headed by the said machinery. It
is constructed as follows: -A die descends vertically, cuts off the blank and
compresses it vertically against an under die. A pair of dies approach hori-
377

page_text: zontally on either side of the blank, and closing upon it compress and taper it
horizontally; while the blank is held between these four surfaces, the heading
die approaches in the direction of the axis of the blank and compresses the
metal protruding from the dies into a head. The heading die retires, the
vertical die rises, and the horizontal dies both moving in the same direction,
carry the nail out of the machine, and open so as to let the nail fall out of the
machine. The said horizontal dies return to their original position, and the
series of motions described are repeated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Whittle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WHITTLE, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Mechanical Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS
Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Whittle, Her special license that I, the said William Whittle, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Whittle, 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 "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF NAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said
William Whittle, 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 Whittle, 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
thereof, that is to say :-

page_text: My said Invention consists, firstly, of machinery for manufacturing nails
from rod iron. The said machinery consists of a pair of rolls constructed and
worked as herein-after particularly described and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2
of the accompanying Drawings.
I sometimes modify the machinery represented in the said Figures 1 and 2,
according to the method described with reference to Figures 3 and 4 of the
accompanying Drawings.
My said Invention consists, secondly, of machinery for making nails from
strips of iron, which have the shape of a series of wedges joined together end
to end, the said wedges being cut off, tapered, and headed by the said machinery.
This part of my Invention is herein-after particularly described with reference
to Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the accompanying Drawings.
I sometimes modify this part of my Invention in the manner illustrated in
Figure 9, the said modification having for its object the heading and cutting
off of the nail, the said nail being pointed by any other machine or process;
or the said nail may be left unpointed, as produced by the machine, when it
constitutes a rivet or spike. The machine, Figure 9, may also be used to cut.
off and head spikes or bolts tapered or partially pointed by using in the said
machine rod iron having the shape represented by Figure 10.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in front elevation a pair
of rolls for forming clasp nails, or for forming the blanks of nails to be after-
wards headed by other machinery.
Figure 2 represents a side elevation of the rolls showing the formation of a
clasp nail, and Figures 3 and 4 represent modifications of the same. The
same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures. a, a, Figures
1, 2, 3, and 4, are circular discs of steel which are fashioned on their peri-
pheries into the form required for forming nails or blanks, which said discs are
perforated through the centre for the purpose of slipping the said discs on to
the spindle of the rolls. b, b, Figure 1, are loose collars which are also per-
forated to fit the roll spindles; d, d, are collars firmly attached to the spindles,
a portion of which spindles are screw-cut to receive the nuts c, c, which
said nuts c, c, force the loose collars b, b, together with the discs a, a, against
the fixed collars d, d, and thereby hold them securely in their places. It will
be seen, by reference to the Drawing, that the upper collars are smaller in
diameter than the lower ones, thus causing the disc of the upper roll to pro-
ject, while the lower collars, being larger than the disc, form a groove between
the said collars to receive the nail rod, and prevent the said rod from being
spread out side ways whilst being rolled.
The action of the rolls is as follows:
A strip of heated metal or nail rod e.

page_text: Figure 2, is inserted between the two circular discs or dies a, a, and motion
being given to the rolls, the said rod e is drawn forward and formed into a
nail f; the portion of the dies at the back of the head coming in close contact
cut the nail from the rod, which said rod is again drawn forwards and another
nail formed, which is cut off in a like manner, until the whole rod is passed
through and formed into separate nails.
In forming blanks which are to be afterwards headed, one of the dies is plain
on its periphery, the other disc being cut in such a manner as to give a taper
The
figure to one side only of the shank of the nail, as seen at a, Figure 8.
blanks in this case are not separated in the act of rolling but remain connected,
as seen in Figure 7.
Figures 3 and 4 represent an arrangement of four rolls for effecting the same
object. In this modification both discs project beyond the collars between
which they are secured, and the rods for forming the nails are retained in their
position and prevented from spreading by the side rolls g, g, which said side
rolls are held in their place by the carriages h, h, which are fitted in between
the housings of the rolls k, k, and pressed to the discs or dies by the set screws
i, i. A plan of the carriages and side rolls is seen at Figure 4. The loose
collars b, b, in this case are screw-cut and form the nuts for securing the discs
against the fixed collars d, d.
Figure 3 represents in side elevation (with a part of the framing removed)
a machine for heading nails and similar articles; Figure 6 represents the same
in front elevation (partly in section), and Figure 7 represents the same in
plan. The same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures. a is
the metal from which the nail or other similar article is formed; b and c
are dies for griping the blanks while being headed; d is the heading bolt or
slide; e, e, are levers for working the slides i, i, which said slides i, i, carry the
dies b and c; f, f, are side cambs for giving motion to the levers e, e; g is the
lever for working the heading tool d; h is a camb for giving motion to the said
lever g; is a fixed cutter for separating the nail from the blanks; k is an open-
ing in the bed of the machine through which the nails are delivered after being
headed; 1, 1, are caps for holding down the slides i, i; m is the bed of the
machine; n, the standards; o, the fly wheel; p, p, the fast and loose pulleys
for giving motion to and stopping the machine; q, the main shaft; r is a table
attached to the bed of the machine for supporting the nail rods.
The action of the machine is as follows: The gripping dies b, c, Figure 7,
being sufficiently apart to admit of the series of blanks previously prepared to
pass between them, the blank is advanced until it stops against the heading
tool d, when a sufficient quantity of metal to form a head is thus left between

page_text: the gripping dies and the heading tool d. The gripping dies b, c, now advance
by the action of the cambs f, f, and levers e, e, and securely hold the blank in
the position shewn in Figure 7. The heading tool is now made to advance by
the action of the camb h and lever g. The head having been formed, the head-
ing tool recedes, and the gripping dies carrying the finished nail both advance
in the direction of the opening k and cut off the nail from the blank against
the fixed cutter 1, when the action of the cambs f, f, cause the slides to recede
from each other and allow the nail to drop from the machine. The slides are
now brought into their former position, and the rod again advanced by the
workman, and the operation described repeated. Figure 8 represents on a
larger scale the dies c, b, holding a finished nail which has been cut from the
blank by the fixed cutter j. The die bis shewn partly in section,
the upper part or lip seen in Figure 6 being removed for the purpose of shewing
the nail.
The same arrangement of machinery may be employed for forming rivets,
spikes, and screw blanks, as represented in Figure 9; c, b, being the dies; d,
the heading tool; and j, the cutting edge for separating the article from the
blank. The advance of the heading tool d forms the head s, as will be under-
stood from the description herein-before given. t, Figure 10, represents in
elevation rod iron of such a form, that when the said rod iron, Figure 10, is
cut off and headed by the machine, Figures 5, 6, 7, and 9, the said rod iron t
is made into bolts or spikes tapered or partially pointed. The rod of iron t,
Figure 10, may be produced by rolling.
Although my new or improved machinery is especially applicable to the
manufacture of nails, that is to say, headed and pointed rods. I wish it to be
understood that my said new or improved machinery is also applicable to the
manufacture of rods having heads, but unpointed or partially pointed, and that
by nails I mean all such articles as my new or improved machinery is capable
of making, whether the said articles be called nails, or be called rivets, bolts, or
screw blanks.
Rivets, bolts, and screw blanks, as is well understood, are
unpointed, or partially manufactured nails or spikes.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim
as my Invention,-
Firstly, the new or improved machinery for the manufacture of nails, herein-
before described, and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say, machinery for manufacturing nails composed of a pair

page_text: of rolls, a disc on one roll entering a groove in the other roll, the rod of iron
being fashioned between the edge of the said disc and the bottom of the said
groove.
Secondly, the new or improved machinery for the manufacture of nails, herein-
before described, and illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say, machinery for manufacturing nails composed of a pair
of rolls both the said rolls having projecting discs, the said discs being opposed
to each other, the rod of iron being fashioned between the said discs, the said
discs and rod being supported laterally by a second pair of rolls, working in a
plane at right angles to the plane in which the other pair work.
Thirdly, the new or improved machinery for the manufacture of nails, herein-
before described, and represented in Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, of the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say, machinery for manufacturing nails consisting
of the combination of dies or pressing tools and cutting tools, constructed and
actuated as described and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Whittle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM WHITTLE. (L.S.)