IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR FINISHING ZINC COATED WIRE
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR FINISHING ZINC COATED WIRE." A communication from
abroad by Ferdinand Louis Sarmiento, of Worcester, in the County of Worcester,
State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th August 1879.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex;
Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR FINISHING ZINC COATED WIRE.”
[A communication from abroad by Ferdinand Louis Sarmiento, of Worcester, in the
County of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to machines for finishing zinc coated wire, and the Inven-
tion consists in a cup, tube, or chamber slotted to allow the passage of the wire on
emerging from the bath of melted zinc, and designed to contain asbestos or other
non inflammable fibrous substance compressed therein. It also consists in combining
with the said cup a plunger actuated by a suitable mechanism and pressing the
packing down upon the wire in a hard compact manner. It also consists in com-
bining with the said cup a chamber communicating therewith, and designed to con-
tain oil, spirits of turpentine, or other lubricant, and a reservoir connected with the
said chamber and feeding the lubricant thereto. The chamber for the lubricant is
contained within the base of the machine, which carries a pair of uprights that
afford bearings in their upper ends to a horizontal shaft upon which a cam lever is
fulcrumed. The weight end of this lever is of book form, and engages the slotted
upper end of a metallic plunger having on its lower end a foot fitting snugly in a
metallic cup upon the base; this cup communicates at its bottom with the chamber
by means of an orifice or orifices, and is slotted on directly opposite sides for the
purpose of admitting the wire. The cup is partly filled with asbestos or other suit-
able fibrous and non-inflammable material. The end of the wire is then passed

page_text: through the slots aforesaid and covered by a suitable quantity of the said material.
By depressing the power end of the cam lever the plunger-head enters the cup and
forcibly compresses and hardens the packing therein. As the wire is drawn through
the cup after leaving the bath of melted zinc all surplus zinc is wiped off therefrom,
and it leaves the cup in a highly polished, smooth, and finished condition, being also
lubricated by the oil drawn up by the asbestos from the chamber for the lubricant
by capillary action. Instead of the cam lever above mentioned an ordinary screw
may be used to raise and depress the plunger, or any of the usual mechanical expe-
dients commonly used for similar purposes. The plunger is guided during its move-
ments by being passed through a brace connecting the uprights. The lower chamber
is supplied with the lubricant used for an oil cup above it, and connected therewith
by a pipe, the supply being regulated or cut off entirely by means of a stop cock.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
January 1980.
"
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
'IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR FINISHING ZINC COATED WIRE."
A communication from abroad by Ferdinand Louis Sarmiento, of Worcester, in the
County of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
This Invention relates to machines for finishing zinc coated wire, and the nature
of the Invention consists in a cup, tube, or chamber slotted to allow the passage of
the wire on emerging from the bath of melted zinc, and designed to contain asbestos
or other non-inflammable fibrous substance compressed therein. It also consists in
combining with the said cup, tube, or chamber containing asbestos or other fibrous
non-inflammable material, and slotted to receive the wire, a plunger actuated by
suitable mechanism, and pressing the packing down upon the wire in a hard, compact
manner. It also consists in combining with the said tube, cup, or chamber a chamber
communicating therewith, and designed to contain oil, spirits of turpentine, or other
lubricant, and a reservoir connected with the said chamber and feeding the lubricant
thereto, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a representation of a side view of the improved zinc-
coated wire-finishing machine, and Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section thereof.
In the annexed Drawings A. is the base of the machine, preferably made of metal,
containing a chamber a and carrying two spaced uprights b that afford bearings in
their upper ends to a shaft B upon which is fulcrumed a cam lever C. The weight
end of this lever is of hook form, and engages the slotted upper end d of a metallic
plunger D having on its lower end a foot c fitting snugly in a metallic cup E upon
the base; this cup communicates at its bottom with the chamber a by means of an
orifice or orifices e, and is slotted on directly opposite sides, as shown at f, for the
purpose of admitting the wire. This cup is partly filled with asbestos or other suit-
able fibrous and non-inflammable material. The end of the wire is then passed
through the slots ƒ aforesaid, and' covered by a suitable quantity of the said
material.
By depressing the power end of the cam lever C the plunger head enters the cup
E and forcibly compresses and hardens the packing therein. As the wire is drawn
through the cup after leaving the bath of melted zinc all surplus zinc is wiped off
therefrom, and it leaves the cup in a highly polished, smooth, and finished condition,
being also lubricated by the oil drawn up by the asbestos from the chamber a by
capillary action. Instead of the cam lever above mentioned an ordinary screw may
be used to raise and depress the plunger, or any of the usual mechanical expedients
commonly used for similar purposes. The plunger is guided during its movements
by being passed through a brace g connecting the frame uprights. The chamber a
is supplied with the lubricant used from an oil cup J above it and connected there-
with by a pipe h, the supply being regulated or cut off entirely by means of a stop
cock 8.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of performing the
same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1st. In a machine for finishing zinc coated wire the chamber, tube, or cup E,
having slots f, and designed to contain asbestos or other non inflammable material
properly compacted, substantially as specified.
2nd. The combination with the tube, chamber, or cup E slotted to receive the
wire, and designed to contain asbestos, of a plunger fitting in said tube, chamber, or
cup, and a mechanism for actuating the same, substantially as specified.

page_text: 3rd. The combination with a chamber, cup, or tube, a plunger and its actuating
mechanism, of a chamber designed to hold oil and communicating with the asbestos
receptacle, and an elevated oil vessel feeding said chamber, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord 5
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.