New and Useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Welded Chains.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Mar., 1898-Accepted, 7th May, 1898
[Communicated from abroad by JOHN W. GARLAND, of Rankin, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., Chain Manufacturer.]
New and Useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Welded
Chains.
I, EDWARD BURTON PAYNE, of the Firm of Edward J. Payne & Son, of Warwick
Chambers, 104, Colmore Row, Birmingham, Patent Agent, 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:-
Reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
specification, in which
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the coiling machine; Figure 2 is a side elevation
of the same; Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the coiling portions of the
machine and Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of the stripper-plate. Figure 5
is a front elevation of the machine for cutting the coil into blanks; Figure 6 is a
side elevation of the same, partly in section; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the
coiled rod; Figure 8 is a detail view showing the operation of the cutter thereon;
and Figure 9 is a detail view of one of the blanks cut from the coil. Figure 10
is a sectional view of a gas furnace for heating the blank; Figure 11 is a similar
view, showing a furnace for heating the blanks in which solid fuel is used;
Figure 12 is a plan view of the firebrick tops of these furnaces; Figure 13 is a side
elevation of an oliver or foot-operated hammer for welding the blanks; and
Figure 14 is a similar view, showing a power-operated hammer for the same
purpose.
Like symbols of reference indicate like parts in each figure.
This invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent relates to
the manufacture of chains composed of welded links, and is designed to provide
improved machinery whereby such manufacture may be greatly cheapened and the
capacity of output largely increased.
On Sheet 1 of the drawings I show the machine for bending an iron bar or rod
into coiled form ready for the cutting of link blanks therefrom. Referring to the
figures upon this sheet, 2 represents the base of the machine, and 3 a rotatory shaft
driven by a pulley 4 and carrying at its front end a mandrel 5 of general oblong or
egg shape, which is secured to the shaft by suitable set-screws 6. 7 is a bending
roller carried upon a lever 8 operated by a foot-lever 9 by means of the link 10
having the spiral spring 11 thereon. 12 is a hand-operated detent or catch which
is arranged to hold the lever in depressed position when desired. 13 is a guide-
roller for the iron rod or bar, and 14 is a stripper-plate, the working face 15 of
which is inclined, as shown in Figure 4, so that the rod as it passes over this face
in being wound around the mandrel will be pushed outwardly so as to spread the
successive coils apart to facilitate their cutting. 16 is a dog having an oblong hole
arranged to fit the mandrel and provided with a hook-portion 17, under which the
end of the iron bar or rod is slipped in beginning the coiling operation.

page_text: The operation is apparent: The rod passing under the guide-roller is slipped
under the hook of the dog, and the bending roller 7 being held in depressed posi-
tion and the mandrel rotated, the rod will be coiled about the mandrel, and as the
successive coils move outwardly they push the dog from the mandrel, each succes-
sive coil moving along the incline of the stripper-plate, until the entire length of
the rod is coiled up. The coil thus formed is taken to the machine shown in
Sheet 2 of the drawings, in which an upper reciprocating cutter 18, actuated by a
suitable eccentric on a shaft 19, cooperates with a stationary cutter 20 secured to
the frame of the machine by set-screws 21. The coil is held in an inclined posi-
tion, as shown in Figure 7, and the operator bringing each successive coil between
the cutters, at each stroke a blank 22, such as shown in Figure 9, is cut from the
coil, the cut being made at the wider end of the coil, or through the base of the
egg-shape thereof. The blanks thus formed are strung upon rods and inserted in
holes 23 in the fire-brick top 24 of the furnaces shown on Sheet 3 of the drawings.
In Figure 10 I show a gas burner 25, having an air blast 26 and a gas-inlet 27
leading thereto, the flame and products of combustion passing upwardly through
the holes in the top and heating the blanks suspended therein. In Figure 11 I
show a similar furnace, having grate-bars 28, to which carbonaceous fuel is fed
automatically from a hopper 29.
The heated blanks are then taken to a welding hammer, such as shown in Figs. 13
and 14. In Figure 13, 30 is the welding die carried upon a hammer-head 31
secured to a bent lever 32 connected by a link 33 with a foot-lever 34. 35 is a
retracting spring for the upper die. 36 is the lower die having a nipple 37, around
which the blank placed, and the operator then pressing upon the foot-lever welds
and shapes the blank into a link, first threading this link through the link pre-
viously welded. It will be noticed that the fulcrum of the upper die-lever is below
the lower die, so that the movement of the upper die is downward and forward
acting to push the severed portions of the blank together and suitably shape them.
In the machine of Figure 14, the upper die-lever is actuated by a cam 38 upon
a constantly driven shaft 39, 40, being the retracting spring secured to the tail
portion of the lever. 41 is a foot-lever of bell-crank form, the upwardly extending
arm 42 of which is recessed so as to form a catch or detent which may take over a
projecting lug 43 upon the hammer-lever. 44 is a spring arranged to hold the
catch in operative position, and it is apparent that as long as the foot-lever is held
depressed by the operator the dies will act, while when the foot-lever is released
the upper die will be held in inoperative position.
The advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art,
since all the operations are carried out by machines, and little or no skilled labor
is necessary, while the capacity of output is enormously increased and the cost
of manufacture lessened.
Changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the various machines
without departing from the invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion & in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. The method of making welded chains, consisting in bending a rod or bar into
a coil, severing blanks therefrom, heating said blanks, and welding the same
together to form links, substantially as herein shown and described.
2. In the manufacture of welded chains, the coiling machine, substantially as
herein shown and described.
3. In the manufacture of welded chains, the machine for cutting blanks from a
coil, substantially as herein shown and described.
4. In the manufacture of welded chains, the blank-heating furnace, substan-
tially as herein shown and described.
5. In the manufacture of welded chains, a machine for welding and shaping the

page_text: blanks, said machine having shaping-dies, substantially as herein shown and
described.
6. In a plant for the manufacture of welded chains, the series of machines
operating substantially as herein described.
Dated this 1st day of March 1898.
EDWD. J. PAYNE & SON,
Varwick Chambers, 104, Colmore Row, Birmingham,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.
EDWD. J. PAYNE & SON,
Varwick Chambers, 104, Colmore Row, Birmingham,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.