IMPROVE- MENTS IN WOOD SCREWS AND SCREWDRIVERS, AND IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH SCREWS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WOOD SCREWS AND SCREWDRIVERS, AND IN MACHINERY FOR
MANUFACTURING SUCH SCREWS." A communication from abroad by Edwin
Adelbert Leland, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America, Plumber and Gasfitter.
Sealed the 7th October 1876, and dated the 26th April 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th April 1876.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD SCREWS AND SCREW-
DRIVERS, AND IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH SCREWS." A com-
munication.
This Invention comprises a wood screw, the transverse groove or nick in the head
of which is serrated at the bottom in such manner that by the use of a driver having
its driving end formed with corresponding serrations the screw may be turned or
driven without any slipping of the driver from the nick.
Screws made according to this feature of my Invention may thereby be driven
with much greater ease, certainty, and speed than is possible with the ordinary
wood screw.
Said screw as made according to my Invention as aforesaid being moreover
capable of use with an ordinary screwdriver with the same facility as common
screws.
The said Invention also comprises in a wood screw-making machine a traversing
serrating disc or die, whereby after the usual operation of nicking the screw the
serrations at the bottom of the nick may be automatically formed by the traversing
disc or die following in the path of the saw that cuts the nick, and indenting
by pressure the bottom of the said nick to give the required serrated surface
thereto.

page_text: The said Invention further comprises a screwdriver the driving end of which
is constructed with teeth or serrations whereby the driver is specially adapted for
use in connection with my improved screw.
The shank and head of the aforesaid screws are of the ordinary or any suitable
contour, construction, or configuration. The groove or nick is formed transversely
in the usual position, and bent at its end as in the ordinary wood screw.
But the
bottom instead of being flat or straight across as in the ordinary wood screw is
formed with a succession of teeth or projections alternating with cavities or
recesses.
The driver has its driving end provided with a system of alternating teeth and
recesses or cavities, thereby giving to the driving end of said driver a serrated
edge. The size and proportions of this serrated end of the driver usually corre-
sponds with a serrated surface, provided as herein-before explained in the bottom
of the nick of the screw. In order to drive the screw it is only necessary to place
the serrated end of the screwdriver in the nick of the screw whereupon the teeth
or projections will fit between the teeth or projections of the aforesaid serrated
bottom surface of the nick.
.
The machine for manufacturing the said screws has a chuck clamp or gripping
jaws for holding the blank during the operation of shaving and nicking the same,
the blanks being fed to the said chuck clamp or gripping jaws in the manner
usual in the so-called "Sloan machinery.” A nicking saw is carried in the usual
manner upon a rotating shaft supported by a vertically moving slide arranged in
vertical guides. The said shaft receives a continuous rotatory motion through
suitable gearing, so constructed and applied as to insure the rotation of the said
shaft, and consequently of the nicking saw during the vertical movement of the said
saw as it is carried up and down by the slide. This vertical movement of the
.slide is obtained through a lever connected at one extremity with the lower end
of the said slide by a rod, while the opposite extremity of said lever is placed in
suitable relation with a cam placed upon a rotating shaft of the machine.
The traversing disc or die has its edge as thin as that of the nicking saw, but
it may be swelled or thickened at the centre to give it greater strength. This
traversing disc or die is attached by a strong pivot to the side below or behind
the nicking saw, and must be so arranged that its edge will be in the same plane
as the nicking saw aforesaid. The said traversing disc or die has its circumference
notched or serrated, the notches and the projecting teeth alternating therewith with
those in the bottom of the nick of the screw.
The said slide or other means provided for carrying the dise or die is to be
strongly supported in the guides in order that the serrated circumference of the
said disc or die may be pressed to a uniform depth into the bottom of the nick of
the screw or screw blank, and thus provide in a perfect manner the serrated surface
required in such bottom of the nick."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th.
October 1876.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Fatent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD SCREWS AND SCREW-
DRIVERS, AND IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH SCREWS." A communica-
tion from abroad by Edwin Adelbert Leland, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America, Plumber and Gasfitter.
This Invention comprises a wood screw, the transverse groove or nick in the head
of which is serrated at the bottom in such manner that by the use of a driver having
its driving end formed with corresponding serrations, the screw may be turned or
driven without any liability of the driver to slip from the nick.

page_text: in the path of the nicking saw to indent and serrate the bottom of the nick in the
screw blank by pressure.
In the accompanying Drawing, however, I have shown this feature of my Inven-
tion as applied in the well-known Sloan machinery so termed, which being well
known in the United States, Great Britain, France, and other countries, requires no
specific description here; it being sufficient to correctly set forth the means of
giving movement to the traversing disc or die and its position, and relation as
concerns the nicking saw.
A* indicates the chuck clamp or gripping jaws used for holding the blank
during the operation of shaving and nicking the same, the blanks being fed to the
said chuck clamp or gripping jaws in the manner usual in the aforesaid Sloan
machinery, and retained by the usual or normal operation of the chuck in such
machinery. B* is the nicking saw carried in the usual manner upon a rotating
shaft C*. The latter is supported by the vertically moving slide D arranged in.
the vertical guides E. The shaft C* receives a continuous rotatory motion through
the gearing, represented at a*, b*, c*, d*, Figure 8. This gearing is so constructed
and applied as to insure the rotation of the shaft C*, and consequently of the
nicking saw B*, during the vertical movement of the said saw as it is carried up
and down by the slide D. This vertical movement of the slide D is obtained'
through a lever F connected at one extremity with the lower end of the slide D by
a rod e, while the opposite extremity of said lever F is placed in suitable relation
with a cam G placed upon any suitable rotating shaft of the machine.
It is of course to be understood that the cam G and other mechanism just
herein-before referred to is to be so proportioned and arranged in connection with
the other portions of the Sloan machinery herein-before referred to (or other
machinery of suitable construction for the same purpose), that at the proper time
in the operation of shaving and nicking the screw the slide D will be lifted in
such manner as to carry the nicking saw B* centrally across the head of the screw
blank held in the chuck A*, thereby cutting the nick straight across to the
requisite depth and in the usual manner.
K is the traversing disc or die, the edge of which is necessarily as thin as that of
the nicking saw, but which may be swelled or thickened at the centre to give it
greater strength in exerting pressure in doing its work as herein presently explained.
This traversing disc or die is attached by a strong pivot g to the slide. D below or
behind the nicking saw B*, and must be so arranged that its edge will be in the
same plane as the nicking saw aforesaid. This traversing disc or die K has its
circumference notched or serrated, as shown more plainly in Figure 7, but also
indicated in Figure 5. The notches (and the projecting teeth alternating therewith
in the aforesaid circumference of said disc or die) corresponding to those which it
is designed to provide in the bottom of the nick of the screw; in other words, in
the screw blank during the operation of manufacturing the screw.
The movement of the slide D herein-before explained is sufficient to first cut the
nick in the head of the blank as just herein explained, and, second, to carry the
disc or die K with its serrated circumferential part following the path of the nicking
saw through the nick formed by the passage of said saw. The teeth or projecting
portions of the circumference of the disc or die being firmly pressed upon the nick
indent the said bottom, and thereby during the passage or traversing of the nick by
said disc or die form the required serrated bottom surface to the nick.
It will be understood that the slide D or other means provided for carrying the
disc or die K must be strongly supported in the guides E in order that the
serrated circumference of the disc or die may be pressed to a uniform depth into
the bottom of the nick a of the screw or screw blank, and thus provide in a perfect
manner the serrated surface required in the bottom of the nick. The same means
'that are ordinarily applied to return the nicking saw to its original position after
the formation of the nick of the screw or screw blank are also adopted and applied
according to the exigencies of the case to cause the like return in connection with
the movement of said nicking saw of the traversing disc or die.

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim-
First. A wood screw, in which the bottom of the groove or nick is made serrated
or with a succession of alternating projections and recesses as above described and
for the purposes set forth.
Second. In a screw making machine the serrated traversing disc or die combined
in relation with the nicking saw, as above described and for the purposes set forth.
Third. The driver having its driving end serrated or constructed with alternating
teeth and recesses, as above described and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
W. ROB. LAKE.
(L.S.)