Year: 1886

page_text: We THADDEUS FOWLER residing at Shelton, in the County of Fairfield, and State
of Connecticut and THOMAS BURLOCK DE FOREST, residing at 6 Elizabeth Street,
Birmingham, in the County of New Haven and State of Connecticut, all in the
United States of America, Gentlemen, 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:-
This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in continuous
nail wire and has for its object to provide a wire adapted to be coiled or wound
upon a spool for use in a nailing machine and composed of a succession of nails
whose points and heads are joined in regular series, and with these ends in view
the invention consists in the details of construction, hereinafter explained and then
recited in the claims.
In order that those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains may
fully understand its construction and use, I will describe the same in detail
referring by letter to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification
in which
Fig. 1 shows several nails made upon a wire in accordance with my improvement.
Fig. 2 a nail wire having heads swaged thereon but without points and
Fig. 3 a partial coil of the wire shown at Fig. 1.
Similar letters denote like parts in the several figures. In the formation of the
nail wire, a continuous length of plain wire is fed through suitable heading dies,
which at predetermined distances, form the heads, A, by swaging up the wire.
A second pair of dies compress or swage the wire to a point, B, a slender stem
being left as a connection between the latter and the head of the subsequent nail.
As the wire is fed forward, one pair of dies swage up the heads, and a second pair.
of dies form the points in close proximity to said heads and joined thereto as
above set forth but we will not now enter into any detailed description of the
complete method and apparatus for making the improved nail wire since this is
fully set forth in an application for letters patent filed on the same date herewith.
The heads thus formed are flat and exceedingly strong, and the points, during the
operation of swaging become hardened while at the same time the stem which
connects the poin's and heads is flexible and readily broken by the operation of
the nail driving mechanism presently referred to.

page_text: In Fig. 2, we have shown heads swaged upon the wire with no points, but this
construction is intended for use only when powerful driving means is employed
in connection with mechanism for shearing the nails. It will be readily understood
that the nail which we produce is a perfect clout-nail with a swaged head. Among
the advantages of my invention is, that, for use in hand or portable driving
machines such as used by lathers or box-makers, the nail wire may be coiled or
wound in a small compass by reason of the flexibility of the stems, the nails of
course lying straight on the drum around which the wire is wound, also, the
improved nail wire admits of the employment in the driver of a very simple feeding
mechanism, since the strong flat heads form a grasping point for the driving device
proper and the advancement of each nail in turn draws down its successor from
the coil above.
The stems which connect the beads and points, while flexible to a degree sufficient
to allow the wire to be coiled, are so fragile that no special cutting mechanism is
necessary to detach the driven nail, since the shock of the driver and the lifting of
the machine preparatory to setting the next nail answers the purpose of a cutter
in detaching the nails when driven.
We are aware that series of nails and pegs connected together for purpose of
feeding and driving by machine are not broadly new and we do not therefore wish
to be understood as making claim to such broad construction.
Having now, particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is
11: The hereindescribed clout nail having a swaged and flattened head, and a
compressed point, substantially as set forth."
2. The hereindescribed continuous length of clout nails formed from wire each
nail having a swaged and flattened head, and bardened point joined to the head
of the subsequent nail, substantially as shown and described.
3. As an improved: article of manufacture, a series of clout nails as described;
whose beads and points are joined in regular sequence by a flexible and readily
severable connection, substantially as set forth.
"
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