IMPROVEMENTS IN
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ryan Danks and Bernard Peard
Walker, both of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Cut Nail Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ryan Danks
and Bernard Peard Walker at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 6th May 1853.
WC, JOHN RYAN DANKS and BERNARD PEARD WALKER, both of
Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Cut Nail Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS" to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improvement upon the machine for
making cut nails in ordinary use, and consists in making the blank for
the nail to turn over in its descent from the strip of metal by means of
the spring guage, which in our machinery is placed on a swivel, and
descending further than the cutter causes the blank partially to revolve
during its descent from the strip to the grooved dies; the effect of this

page_text: operation being to produce a nail having all its sides with the same
angle of inclination, and the production of a nail in which the fibres of
the metal are perfectly compact, instead of being diffused as by the
ordinary manufacture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Ryan Danks and Bernard Peard Walker
in the Great Seal Patent Office; on the 5th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JOHN RYAN DANKS and BERNARD PEARD WALKER, both of Wolver-
hampton, in the County of Stafford, Cut Nail Manufacturers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Ryan Danks and Bernard
Peard Walker, Her special license that we, the said John Ryan
Danks and Bernard Peard Walker, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Ryan Danks and Bernard
Peard Walker, our 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY OR AFFA-
RATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said John Ryan Danks and Bernard Peard
Walker, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
or under the land and seal of one of us, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Ryan Danks and Bernard
Peard Walker, do hereby declare the nature of our 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, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say:
Our said Invention relates to certain mechanical improvements upon
the machine ordinarily employed in the manufacture or production of
"cut" nails, by which improvements we cause the blank for the nail
to turn over or become reversed during the descent of such blank from
the strip of metal from which the nail is being made. This movement
we effect by means of the spring guage, which, in our arrangement, is
placed upon a swivel joint, and is made to descend through a greater
space than the cutter itself, thereby causing the blank to perform a
quarter of a revolution during its descending traverse from the crude
strip of metal to the grooved dies employed in shaping the nail head.
The result of this operation is the production of a nail which has its
opposite sides shaped to the same angle of inclination, whilst the fibres
of the metal are kept in a sound and compact condition, instead of
being laid open or disintegrated, as usually occurs in the ordinary pro-
cess of manufacture. And in order that our said Invention may be
properly understood, we shall now proceed to describe the several
figures on the sheet of Drawings hereunto attached. Figure 1, on our
sheet of Drawings is a side elevation of a nail-making machine complete,
as fitted with our improved guage and turn-over piece. Figure 2, is a
front elevation of the entire machine corresponding.
a vertical section of the machine, shewing the cutters, guage, and
gripping dies uncovered. Figure 4, is an enlarged front view of the
cutter and spring guage detached. Figure 5, is an enlarged side view
of the cutter edge and guage point detached; and Figure 6, is a view
of a slip of metal shewing the way in which the blanks are cut. The
framing of the machine consists of a single casting A. The driving
shaft B, is carried in bearings C, at the top of the framing, and on this
shaft is a fly-wheel D. The upper cutting tool E, is fixed by adjusting
screws in the head E. of the heavy bent lever F, which vibrates upon
Figure 3, is

page_text: centres G, in bearings in the framing A, and is actuated by the crank
H, of the driving shaft B, and connecting rod I. The lower or
stationary cutter J, is secured in its place by set pins, and it rests upon
the stationary gripping die K, so that its vertical face is in the same line
with the face of the gripping die K. The opposite gripping die L, is
adjusted in the slide M, which is worked by the end of the lever F, to
which it is connected by a short adjustable link N. When the nail is
gripped by the dies K, L, a head is formed upon it by the lever-
punch O, vibrating on the centre P, and actuated by the driving
shaft B, through the connecting rod Q, and side lever . The width
of the nail-blank is determined by the guage S, attached by a slot and
pin T, to the cutter head E'. The motion of this guage S, is regulated
by the two blade springs U, V, the upper one U, of which acts on a
pin fixed in the guage, and tends to raise it, whilst the other one V,
presses the guage against the nail-blank. On the other side of the
cutter head E', is a vertical rod W, carried in suitable eyes, and
arranged to strike some fixed part of the framing when the cutter
descends. This necessarily forces up the rod, which, being in contact
with the end of a lever X, vibrating on a centre Y, on the cutter head,
the other end of which lever is similarly in contact with the top of the
spring guage piece S, forces the spring guage piece S, clown, and causes
it to turn the nail-blank Z, a quarter round, as shewn in dotted lines in
Figure 5. In this position the blank, or partially formed nail, descends
to the recesses in the gripping dies K, L, and has a head formed upon
it as before described. When the cutter head rises, the spring U,
elevates the guage to its normal position. The lever X, is fitted with
screws a, at its two extremities, by means of which screws the stroke of
the guage may be effectively adjusted. It will be obvious to the
practical man that the downward motion of the guage S, may be effected
by various other mechanical contrivances. Thus the nail-blank may be
turned by a spring turn-over piece similar to the one already described
and used in connection with the spring guage, as commonly used. In
feeding in the strip of metal from which the nail-blanks are to be cut
it must be turned at each cutting stroke so as to use up the metal
equally, because the blanks are tapered in form. This is represented in

page_text: Figure 6, the inclined cross lines representing the successive ents
showing that the broad ends alternate with the narrow ones or points.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that we do not
confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details or arrangements
which we have had occasion to describe or refer to. as many variations
may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main
features of our Invention; but what we consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangements and construction of machinery,
apparatus, or means for the manufacture of flat gripped or American
pattern cut nails, as herein-before described:
Second, the system or mode of manufacturing nails, wherein the
nail-blank is turned one quarter round in an ordinary nail-cutting
machine by the agency of the spring guage:
Third, the application and use of the spring guage for turning the
nail-blanks for the purposes herein-before described:
Fourth, the system or mode of turning the nail-blanks during the
descending motion of the cutter:
Fifth, the system or mode of working nail machines wherein the
spring guage descends or traverses further than the cutter for the
purpose of turning the nail-blank.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, the
Third day of November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
JOHN RYAN DANKS. (L.s.)
BERN P. WALKER.
(L.S.)
JOHN RYAN DANKS. (L.s.)
BERND P. WALKER.
(L.S.)