A NEW OR IMPROVED COMBINED CRAMP, NAIL DRIVER, PUNCH, AND GUAGE FOR USE WHEN WORKING FLOORING AND OTHER BOARDS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Hardinge at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd September 1881.
JAMES HARDINGE, of 22, Parliament Street, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer. "A NEW OR IMPROVED COMBINED CRAMP, NAIL
DRIVER, PUNCH, AND GUAGE FOR USE WHEN WORKING FLOORING AND OTHER
BOARDS."
This Invention has for its object the construction of an instrument or apparatus
which shall combine within itself the means whereby the cramping of flooring and
other boards, driving flooring and other nails, punching down nails to any required
depth, and guaging the distance at which such nails are to be driven, in one
combined machine, which can be used separately or together.
This Invention consists as follows:-
I. The cramp I construct of iron or other metal, and by means of a ratchet motion
from pawls hinged in the upper part of the cramp and working in a serrated or
toothed tongue, having also a breast plate to press in a horizontal direction against
the unnailed flooring boards. The serrated or toothed tonguo which passes through
one end of the arched back of the cramp is alternately pulled forwards by one
pawl and held by the other, actuated by a long lever, in the manner in which a
ratchet is ordinarily worked; or, instead thereof, and by preference, it may bo
actuated by the tubular nail driver herein after described. The cramp is made to affix
itself to or to embrace the joist at its back end by means of a saddle, consisting of
two metal prongs or levers which are pinned loosely to one of the outside ends of
the upper part of the cramp. By means of the loose prongs the saddle is caused to
grip the sides of the joists when forced backwards by being thrown out of the
centre. As another means of making the cramp grip tho joists I provide a lever,
at the end of which is a serrated excentric to grip any thickness of joist. This
said excentric serrated gripper is pivotted in a slotted hole at the tail end of the
cramp; on the opposite side of the said excentric gripping arrangement I fix a
serrated lug or pin in a slotted hole which effects the required grip.

page_text: Other means can be adopted for fixing the cramp to the joists, and one more of
which I have devised is that of making the tail end of the cramp with two fixed
prongs and in which is worked a screw, having a hand wheel or lever for tightening
it to the side of the joist. The upper part and front end of the cramp is provided
with two short arms forming jaws, between which is swung in pivots a shoe or
socket into which is inserted a lever or tube, in which a piston or plunger is
worked by means of a handle. On the outside of this tube, which I call the main
tube, is placed a smaller tube with a funnel top, and this second is led into the
lower end of the main tube for the purpose of feeding the nails thereto and beneath
the piston or plunger when it is raised up in the main tube. A nail having been
thus admitted or fed, a sharp blow from the handle of the piston or plunger will
drive it home, and thereby secure the boards in their cramped or required
position.
By a suitable adaptation of this nail driving device or apparatus the said
plunger, working in the aforesaid main tube, can be made to caulk or pack the
seams of ships' decks with yarn, onkum, or other suitable materials. A small pilot
or guide wheel traverses the unfilled scam immediately in front of the plunger and
tube, and thereby keeps the said plunger in a direct position over the packing
material and the seau. A suitable feeding arrangement is attached to the tube for
automatically supplying the packing material to beneath the plunger which
operates the same.
In addition to the foregoing rack or serrated tongue I can for the same purpose
also utilize a screw, worked by a rotating wheel, having teeth on either the outer
or inner surface, and provided also with an internal screw thread. In these teeth
is worked a pawl or pawls actuated by a cranked connecting rod worked from the
aforesaid shoe or nail driver socket, the saine being hinged or pivotted from the
under part of the arched back or fraine of the said cramp. By movement of a
lever or the tubular nail driver in a forward or backward, or, if modified, in a
aideway direction, the said externally toothed and internally screwed rack wheel
is made to rotate, and so by means of the screw to force forwards the breast or
pressure plate which tightens the floor boards. To adapt the said cramp for use
without a lever or nail driver I work a small pinion in the aforesaid toothed wheel,
rotating by means of a winder or handle brought through either end of the arched
back of the cramp.
A screwed cap is provided at the top end of the main tube for the purpose of
regulating the length of the "throw" of the piston, and by adjusting or setting this
screwed cap to the right distance the head of the nail is punched into any required
depth in the floor boards. This screwed cap requires to be well packed with
leather or other ring collars or washers to form a solid bearing and to prevent any
injurious concussion, as well as also to reduce the noise which would otherwise be
made by the blow of the plunger.
Instead of the lover or nozzle end of the main tube being inserted in the
swinging socket herein before mentioned, I can modify the means of pressing up or
tightening the flooring boards by substituting a square cut continuous screw
worked by a hand wheel and connected from one part of the cramp to the other.
A combined and graduated guage and guide, formed by a slotted L piece of metal
screwed by a fly nut to the bottom and outside of the main tube is provided, with
the object of ensuring the nails being driven exactly in the centre or at other
required position in the sidos or other parts of boxes or packing cases.
A slotted claw can also be affixed to the bottom end of the main tube for
drawing out any nail requiring removal, or a heavier head can be attached to the
said bottom end of the main tube for use when nailing down floor boards inde-
pendently of the cramp, such enlarged head or boss preventing injury to the floor
boards.
For the purpose of automatically delivering a quantity of nails in rotation, a
perforated disc is placed around the top end of the main tube. This disc is caused

page_text: to rotate around the same, and by means of a small separate or additional plunger
or striker fixed on the outside of the main tube a nail is delivered into the small
side tubo at each or any required blow. In some cases a slotted plato is fixed to
the top end of the main- tube, and in the slot of such plate is placed a row of nails,
one of which is at each blow drawn or impelled by means of a spring or elastic
cord towards the small side or nail receiving tube; or, instead thereof, other
suitable arrangements may be adopted for carrying the nails by regular movements
underneath the striker and over the receiving tube at the proper intervals. As a
means of stretching and nailing down carpets an arm is hinged to the tubular nail
driver, this said arm being provided with a claw at its lower extremity to grip the
carpet. Leverage is thus obtained for tightening the carpet, and nails can be driven
to secure it.
I also construct (by preference) another kind of apparatus for cramping up or
tightening flooring or other boards, or for sheathing or other similar purposes in
their required position by means of the aforesaid tubular nail driver, or by any
kind of other lever or leverage. With this object in viow I form a saddle for the
floor joist, carrying a diagonally toothed rack or worm, which is actuated by an
endless screw or worm in a backward or forward direction. This said endless
screw is carried by a spindle, having an internal recossed stud or pin plug, which is
connected with the oscillating socket, the said recess in stud having to receive
pins or set screws for fixing same. On this spindle are carried suitable ratchet
wheels working in opposite directions to each other, actuated by a suitable pawl or
pawls from the stud or studs on the oscillating socket by the " to and fro" motion of
the aforesaid nail driver, or by any kind of lever or levers which may be insorted
in a suitable and oscillating socket provided for that purpose in a suitable position
on the aforesaid cramp. To prevent it slipping on the joist the saddle has one or
more vertical, plain, serrated, or jagged lugs or shoulders provided with spikes on
one of the lower sides, and on the opposite side a plain, serrated, or jagged excentric
or excentrics for gripping the joist sideways in one or more places. Another means
of gripping the joist is by using two or more of the aforesaid jagged, serrated, or
smooth excentrics placed on opposito sides of the under part of the aforesaid
saddle. This gripping arrangement is made adjustable to any required thickness
of joist by means of a series of holes or a slot or slots made in the aforesaid saddle.
Instead of working the cramp by a lever or nail driver, a suitablo winder, or wheel
or wheels, and extra gearing or cogs and pinions can be made to actuate the
aforesaid worm or endless screw or screws, and thus tighten the flooring or other
boards to their required tension. A wheel or winder may also be fixed on the
back end of the worm spindle for releasing the pressure. The breast plate, which
presses against the flooring or other boards, can also be hinged in a manner to
avoid the boards lifting up off the joists when being tightly cramped.
To work the above and last named floor cramping arrangement independently of
the aforesaid tubular nail driver or the simplo tubular lever, I substitute for tho
aforesaid ratchet wheels a toothed pinion or cog wheel which rotates on the
spindle of the worm wheel of the cramp and is operated by means of a lever which
is forked at its base and having immediately above it an internally toothed are for
gearing into the above pinion or cog wheel. The said spindle acts as a fulcrum to
the toothed and forked lever, and can thus be raised in and out of gear from the
pinion which it strides and operates in a backward or forward direction.
To utilize either the aforesaid tubular nail driver or a lever for operating this
last described toothed pinion on the worm shaft, I place a socket in or above the
toothed crown of the aforesaid geared operating lever. By this means the aforesaid
pawls and ratchet wheels are dispensed with, and the cramping apparatus is
efficiently worked by the pinion on the worm shaft, either by the nail driver or any
other kind of lever in the same "to and fro" motion as before described. To
prevent the socket and lever working too far over, 1 cast a boss upon the socket,
which travels or oscillates between two stops or projecting lugs arranged or cast
upon the frame of the cramp.

page_text: In constructing this adaptation of the pinion and toothed arch arrangement, I
form an arched connection at the base of the slotted forks which bear against the
bosses of the said toothed pinion. By. this means loops are formed which prevent
the arched and toothed crown piece from rising up too high, or from its
falling off.