IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SCREWS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Aaron White Cook Williams, of Paris, France,
but now residing at Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
SCREWS."-A communication from abroad by Jared Augustus
Ayres, of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Aaron White Cook
Williams at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents with his
Petition, on the 19th March 1873.
I, AARON WHITE COOK WILLIAMS, of Paris, France, but now residing
at Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
MANUFACTURING SCREWS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a construction of apparatus for
feeding screw blanks or screws to the operating parts of machines in

page_text: which they undergo the necessary operations for producing the finished
screw.
are thus
The articles to be fed are thrown into an open stationary trough
provided with a slit, into which there extend revolving arms which
sweep forward such of the blanks or screws as have fallen into the
slit, but which are prevented from passing quite through by the enlarged
parts constituting their heads. As the blanks or screws
pushed forward they pass into a curved slot leading to the operating
parts of the machine as described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to Alfred Vincent Newton, dated 25th February 1870, No. 563.
In order to prevent an undue accumulation of the blanks or screws in
the slot a vibrating instrument is employed which sweeps back all those
which have been advanced unnecessarily.
The next part of this Invention relates to a machine for turning
the heads. The unturned articles are thrown into the trough above
mentioned, or into the feed apparatus described in the Specification
of Alfred Vincent Newton aforesaid, or it may be other feed apparatus.
A vibrating arm advances and opens the bottom of the slot so as to
allow a blank to fall into a recess in the said arm which then turns
back and conveys the blank opposite to the dies which are to hold it
while the head is turned. A rod within the vibrating arm is now
caused to advance and thrust forward the blank between a pair of jaws
which serve as a register for its position and a further motion of the said
rod causes the blank to pass into the holding dies; subsequently another
rod advances, opens the jaws, and allows the arm to be turned back for
another blank.
The construction of the holding dies and apparatus for turning is
as follows:-Upon a revolving spindle is a head which carries the dies
mounted so as to be capable of sliding in V guides, and having slots
within which are situate levers turning upon centres, their other ends
extending beyond the said block. Upon the spindle and capable of
sliding thereon is mounted an incline which is moved to and fro by a
cam or by similar means, and when the blank has been placed in the
dies the said incline advances and closes them. The blank being thus
held and the spindle revolving, a cutter of the shape of the head advances
and thus the turning is effected. The spindle is made hollow and carries
a rod forced forward by a spring, which parts however are driven back by

page_text: the advance of the blank, but when the turning is completed and the
incline retires the above mentioned spring forces out the blank into a
shute which guides it into any convenient receptacle.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Aaron
White Cook Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AARON
WHITE COOK WILLIAMS, of Paris, France, but now residing at
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, 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 successors
give and grant unto me, the said Aaron White Cook Williams,
Her special license that I, the said Aaron White Cook Williams,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Aaron White Cook Williams, 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 Ohannel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
MANUFACTURING SCREWS," a communication to me from abroad by Jared
Augustus Ayres, of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, United.
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Aaron White Cook Williams, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describo 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 on or before the Fourteenth day of October One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three.

page_text: hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is
to say)
This Invention relates, firstly, to a construction. of apparatus for
feeding screw blanks or screws to the operating parts of machines in
which they undergo necessary operations for producing the finished
screw.
Fig. 1 represents the apparatus in side elevation, and Fig. 2 in plan
view.
The object to be attained is to get the blanks or screws in a series,
within a slot through which they are successively passed to the operating
parts of machines used in the manufacture of screws, as described in the
Specification of a Patent granted to Alfred Vincent Newton, dated:
Twenty-fifth February, One thousand eight hundred and seventy,
Number 563, but the said consecutive order in a slot of blanks or screws
is also in use in other machines used in the manufacture of screws.
At 1 is a trough provided with a slot 2, in which the articles to be
arranged are placed, the said slot extending along a curved part 3, the
lower end of which delivers the articles. to be operated upon, as in the
Specification of Alfred Vincent Newton as aforesaid, or by other means.
At 4 is a boss mounted on a stud 5, and carrying a ratchet wheel 6,
which is caused to rotate at intervals by a driver 7, to which a
reciprocating motion is imparted from any convenient moving part of
the machine, and upon the said boss are also arms 8 which extend into
the groove 2. At 12 is a lever mounted so as to be capable of turning
upon a centre 10, and drawn in one direction by a spring 11, but capable
of being forced in the other direction by the arrival in contact therewith
of the arms 8. To the said lever 12 is jointed one end of a rod 9, the
other end of which is curved round, as seen in Fig. 2, and this end rests
upon the curved incline 3, and embraces the slot 2. At 13 is a weighted
pall for preventing the ratchet wheel 6 from turning backward. The
articles to be forwarded through the slot and down the curved incline 3
are thrown into the trough 1 in a promiscuous manner, and some of
them may fall with their heads uppermost, and have a place in the
slot 2, as is well understood in this description of machinery; others,

page_text: however, will not do so, but the arms 8 by revolving at intervals will
disturb the whole mass, and by causing the articles to rise and fall will
continually bring some of them into a position for passing into the slot 2.
At the same time the said arms 8 will by their passage through the
slot 2 force forward those articles which occupy a position in the slot 2,
conveying them forward down the incline 3. This operation, however,
might accumulate an undue quantity of the articles in the slot 2, and
lead to a clogging therein, but as the lever 12 by the above-mentioned
means turns upon its centre, it imparts a reciprocating motion to the
rake 9, which drags off the superabundant quantity and returns it to the
trough 1, that part of the slot 2 below the rake 3 always remaining full
and ready to be successively liberated by the ordinary operation.
The next part of this Invention relates to a machine for turning tho
heads, and includes specially a method of feeding the blanks to the dies
which hold them during the turning, which portion of the machine I
will in the first place describe separately.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of the machine, and Fig. 2 a plan view. At 1
is the bed plate which rests upon a frame, not shewn in the Drawing,
and at 2 is the main driving shaft, upon which there is a pinion 3
gearing into a wheel 4 on the cam shaft 5. At 6 is a cam mounted on
the said shaft, and acting against a bowl carried by a bell-crank lever 7
turning on a centre 8, and connected at its other end to a rod 9, capable
of sliding upon another rod 10 jointed to a lever 12, there being a coiled
spring 13 between the end of the first-mentioned rod and the lever 12.
At 14 is a spring, one end of which is carried by a fixed part, and the
other by the lever 7. The said lever 12 is fixed to an upright shaft 15,
capable of turning in a pillar 16 mounted on the bed plate 1, and
provided at its upper end with a frame or trough 17, which carries the
parts designed to receive the blanks from a hopper and convey them
successively to the turning apparatus. At 18 is a lever mounted on a
shaft 19, which also carries another lever 20 formed with a cross part 21
on its upper end, and these parts are kept in the position shewn by a
tension spring 22. At 23 is a cam upon the shaft 5, which as it revolves
arrives in contact with a bowl on the lever 18, and by turning it upon
its centre 19 causes the cross part 21 to move forward, and then allow
it by the action of the spring 22 to move backward. At the outward
end of the frame or trough 17 is a pair of jaws 25 turning on centro
pins 26, capable of turning in bearings 27, and having tension springs 28

page_text: thereon which tend to keep the said jaws closed. At 32 is a rod sliding
in bearings 33, and born in the direction of the arrow by a spring 34. The
outward end of this rod is provided with a conical part 35, which at
stated intervals hereafter to be mentioned is thrust between the jaws 25
in order to open them. At 29 is a rod situate in guides 30, and borne
in one direction by a spring 29*. At 36 is a space in the frame 17,
formed with a rounded bottom intended to receive the blanks, and is
situate opposite to a conical opening 37 formed in the jaws 25, such conical
part being of the form of the heads of the screw blanks. The trough 36
is formed in two parts, the one 36 fixed, the other 36* capable of turning
upon a centre 37, but kept at other times closed by a spring..
Referring particularly now to Figs. 5, 6, 38 is the slot which receives
the screw blanks from the hopper previously referred to, or from other
such apparatus as in many well known machines. To the frame of this
slot are jointed arms 39, 39*, formed in one piece and having projecting
parts 40, 40, which extend under the bottom of the slot 38, and at 41
is a fixed plate also extending beneath the slot 38, and the arms 39, 39*,
are forced in one direction by a spring 42. At 43 is a part projecting
from the arm 39 against which at certain times a portion 44 of the frame
17 arrives. According to the positions of the parts shewn in the-
Drawing a blank has just been allowed to fall from the groove 38 into
the space 36, the curved bottom of which enables it to occupy a central
position therein, and the next blank is resting upon the finger 40*. The
cam 6 now revolving will act upon the lever 7, and through the medium
of the rod 9, spring 13, and lever 12 turn the upright shaft 15 so as to
move the frame or trough 17 in the direction of the arrows Fig. 4.
This motion will remove the part 44 from the projecting piece 43, and
allow the spring 42 to force the arms 39, 39*, in the direction of the
arrow Fig. 5, thereby bringing the space between the fingers 40, 40*,
coincident with the groove 38, at which time the blank which had been
resting on one of them will fall through the said space on to the plate
41, where it is for the present retained, being prevented from rolling off
of it by the finger 40. The motion of the cam 6 now continuing will
still carry the frame or trough round until the central part of the recess
36 is opposite to the opening in the dies into which the blank is to be
delivered, this position being registered by the adjustable screw 17*, the
said dies being carried by the spindle 52 and being at present assumed to
be of any ordinary construction. By the time this position of the parts

page_text: has been assumed the rods 29, 34, will have been brought opposite the
cross piece 21, and the cam 23 then coming into operation on the lever
18 will cause the lever 20 to turn upon its centre, and bring the said cross
piece 21 against the rod 29, so as to push it forward against the force of
the spring 29* thereon, and the end of the said rod acting against the blank
in the recess 36 will thrust it forward into the conical part 37 and
through the jaws 25, the springs 28 giving way to allow them to open.
The blank is now fed into the dies of the spindle, its head resting in the
conical part 37, and immediately on this having taken place the cross
piece 21 arrives in contact with the rod 32 and by thrusting it forward
causes its conical end to open the jaws 25 and liberate the blank, the
spindle dies having in the meantime closed thereon. The cam 6 now
permits the levers 7, 12, to be drawn in the reversed direction to that
just described, by the spring 13, whereby the frame or trough 17 is
turned back into the position shewn, but in so doing the part 44 arrives
in contact with the projecting piece 43 and turns the arms 39, 39*, in
the direction of the dotted arrow, Fig. 5, whereby the finger 40* acts
against the blank resting on the plate 41 and pushes it off into the recess
36, the same motions as those above described being then repeated. The
sides of the recess 36 are made in two parts for the purpose of allowing
that shewn at 36* to give way should a blank fail in being thrust fully
forward into the dies. At 50 is a catch which being turned over on to
a projecting part 51, may arrest the motion of the feed when desired.
The blank having been fed into the holding dies may be operated upon
for the turning of the head by any known arrangement of cutting appa-
ratus, and which therefore is not shewn in the Drawing as it does not
constitute any part of the Invention; but the feeding apparatus is
complete in itself, and may be adapted to any machine used in the
manufacture of screws in which the blanks have to be conveyed to
holding dies.
I now proceed to describe another part of this Invention and which
relates to the opening and closing of the holding dies, referring in

page_text: .
are provided with apertures through which there extend levers 57 carrying
links 58 to which springs 59 are attached, and by these means the die
pieces 56 have a tendency to open by being slidden radially. The
levers 57 are provided with set screws 60 which rest upon a sliding.
piece 61 mounted on the spindle and provided with an incline 62. This
sliding piece is carried by a box 63 (see Figs. 1 and 2), which has two
pins 64 situate within a lever 65 turning upon a centre 66 carried by a
bracket 67 extending from the frame. The lever 65 is jointed to a
rod 68 situate in a guide 69 and carrying a spring 70. The spindle 52
is formed hollow, and within it is a rod 71 situate within a coiled:
spring 72 abutting against a fixed rod 73, but which may be adjusted by
a screw 74 to regulate the tension of the spring according to the
positions of the parts shewn in the Drawing, a blank 75 has been fed to
the dies which have closed thereon by the sliding of the piece 61 which
has brought the top of its incline 62 under the set screws 60, thereby
turning the levers 57 upon their centres. When the turning of the
head has been completed the cam 75 arrives against a lever 76 mounted
on a short shaft 77, and by turning it brings another lover 78 thereon
against the before-mentioned lever 65, and by causing it to turn on its
centre 66 moves backwards the sliding piece 61, brings the incline 62 1
under the set screws 60, and the springs 59 then drawing their ends of
the levers 57 downward will open the die pieces 56, after which the
elastic force of the spring 72 will thrust forward the blank and discharge
it into any convenient receptacre. Another blank being fed to the open
dies will push backward the rod 71 against the force of the spring 72, 2
and the dies are again closed by the cam 75 having passed the lever 76
and leaving the spring 70 at liberty to move the sliding piece 61 into
the position shewn.

page_text: Thirdly. The arrangement substantially as described of the spindle
pparatus, and shewn more particularly at Fig. 7, 8, 9.
In witness whereof, I, the said Aaron White Cooke Williams, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of Sep-
tember, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.