IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CUT NAILS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTOINE
VIEYRES, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Ninteenth day of September, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Antoine Vieyres, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Antoine Vieyres, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Antoine Vieyres, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might makė,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CUT
NAILS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Antoine Vieyres, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Antoine Vieyres, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention consists of so arranging machinery that strips or narrow
sheets of metal are cut in opposite directions, without requiring the narrow
strips or sheets of metal to be turned over, which is performed by arranging
a series of cutters on the perephery of a wheel or revolving surface, in such
manner that they alternately cut the larger parts or heads of the nails from
the opposite edges of the strips or narrow sheets of metal, the succeeding
cutters making their cuts at opposite inclinations. And in order that the
Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will
proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed, in the various Figures of
which the same letters of reference indicate similar parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The nature of each view shown by the Drawings being written thereon it
will not be necessary to repeat the same here. a, a, is the framing of
the machine, the nature of which will readily be traced in the various
Drawings. is the main or driving shaft of the machine; it turns in suitable
bearings at c, c. On the shaft b is a loose and fixed drum, and a strap
driven by a steam engine or other power gives motion to the shaft b, by
means of the fixed drum d. On the shaft bis fixed the wheel or revolving
surface e, c, on the perephery of which are fixed the cutters f and g, various
views of which are shown separately, as well as in their places in the machine,
by which a workman will readily understand their construction and manner
of fixing them to the revolving surface. These cutters ƒ and g act in succession
with another cutter h, which has two cutting surfaces formed thereon, and
by its sliding it comes into a position alternately for the cutters f and g, thus
causing the head or enlarged end of the nail to be cut first from one edge
and then from the other edge, as is shewn by the dotted lines in Figure Z,
without the necessity of turning over the strip or narrow plate of metal after
each cut has been made. The cutter h is fixed in the slide i, which is
retained in its proper position by the fixed plate j, on which, and on the
surface, the slide i is caused to move to and fro a distance suitable for
bringing the cutter h into the proper position for the next coming cutter
before the next cut is made; and this moving to and fro of the slide i is caused
by the cam 1, fixed to the revolving surface or wheel e, as is shown, and
on the slide i the axes of two rollers m, m, which move against the two
undulating surfaces of the cam 7, and thus cause the slide i to move to and
3

page_text: fro. The Drawings show the nature of cach of the various details by which
the workman will readily trace the construction and manner in which the
parts work together to produce the desired end. n is the strip of iron or
other metal from which the nails are to be cut, which is fed into the machine
by means of the rollers o, o, the strip of metal being guided in between the
upper surfaces or plates p, p, and the lower plates 7, 9, the nature of which
will be traced in the Drawings, and the rollers receive motion from the main
shaft by means of the cog wheel r affixed thereon, taking into and driving
the cog wheels, which has a pinion t affixed thereto, which takes into and
drives the cog wheel v on the axis of one of the cog rollers o. The end of
the strip of metal 22 nearest the cutters passes under the holding-down plate
u, having a spring on its under surface at u', under which the strip of metal
passes, and is pressed down on to the cutter h, all which is clearly shown
in the Drawing, and the strip of metal u is guided laterally by means of the
groove formed between the plates w, w. The axes of the rollers turn in
bearings at o', in such manner that the bearings of the upper roller are
pressed on by springs o², as is shown, thus allowing movement in the event
of irregularity of the thickness of the metal strip.
The Drawings show a machine drawn to half the real size for making
small cut nails, such as are shown by dotted lines in Figure Z, from which
a workman will readily enlarge the machine for making larger cut nails; and
each machine will be capable of making different sizes of nails, within the
range of the adjustment of the parts, by changing the underneath cutter
and shifting the cutters attached to the wheel accordingly, and also changing
the small plates that keep the picce of iron in its place.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would wish it to be understood that I do not claim
any of the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise details, so
long as the peculiar character of the machinery be retained; and I would wish
it to be understood that what I claim is the mode of combining mechanical
parts into a machine, whereby the heads or larger ends of cut nails are
alternately cut from either edge of the strip or narrow plate of metal (without
turning over of the strip or narrow plate of metal) by means of suitable cutters
fixed on a revolving wheel or surface, and inclined in opposite directions,
working with a cutter has herein shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Vicyres, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
ANTOINE (L.S.) VIEYRES.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Antoine Vieyres came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord Oue
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.