IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPRING WASHERS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Grover, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPRING WASHERS AND APPARATUS
THEREFOR.'
"
Sealed the 13th August 1875, and dated the 3rd March 1875.
·PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Grover
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd March 1875..
I, JOHN WILLIAM GROVER, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster,
5 in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPRING WASHERS AND
APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me on the 3rd April 1873,
No. 1230, I described a spring or elastic washer divided obliquely across
) in such a manner that when it is put upon a bolt and pressed down by
a nut being screwed upon it the edges at its division tending to cut into
the metal of the nut on the one side and the bed on the other side resist

page_text: the unscrewing or slackening of the nut. I also describe one method of
manufacturing such washers.
My present Invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus
for making at one operation such washers from pieces of rod cut to the
required length, with their ends bevilled off to the required obliquity so
as to present the cutting edges above referred to. For this purpose I
provide a mandril of the size of the interior of the washer and mount
this in a framing, so that it can be slid to and fro by the action of a
screw. When it is slid forwards it enters a hole in a pinion fixed on
the framing and carries with it a sleeve, the face of which is of helical
form, such as that which the washer is intended to present. The face
of the fixed pinion is also of corresponding helical form. On a disc
which revolves round the fixed pinion is mounted eccentrically a second
pinion gearing with the former, so that when this disc is caused to
revolve round the fixed pinion, the second pinion while it revolves with
it turns also round its own axis. On this axis is fixed a disc, the
periphery of which is at a distance from the mandril equal to the width
of the annular face of the washer. On the sleeve which advances with
the mandril is mounted a lever, the nose of which enters a notch in the
periphery of the aforesaid disc, and the tail end of the lever bears on a
cone or incline in such a manner, that when it is advanced with the
sleeve and mandril its nose is pressed towards the mandril. The mandril
being slacked back the end of a piece of rod is inserted into the space
between it and the disc, and between the faces of the sleeve and of the fixed
pinion. The mandril being then advanced squeezes the rod between the
sleeve and the pinion, and the nose of the lever also squeezes it on to
the mandril. The disc being then caused to revolve round the mandril
its circumference bends the rod around the mandril, causing it to coil
helically in the space between the sleeve and the pinion. Thereupon
the mandril sleeve and lever being slacked back the rod drops out of
the machine in the form of a coiled washer.
When steel is employed to form the washers, for which purpose that
metal is to be preferred, it is coiled at a red heat and is afterwards
1
11

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John William Grover in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILLIAM GROVER, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John William Grover, Her special license
that I, the said John William Grover, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John William Grover, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SPRING WASHERS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John William Grover, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John William Grover, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
therean that is to sav.

page_text: in such manner, that when it is put upon a bolt and pressed down by a
nut being screwed upon it the edges at its division tending to cut into
the metal of the nut on the one side and the bed on the other side resist
the unscrewing or slackening of the nut. I also describe one method of
manufacturing such washers.
screw.
My present Invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus
for making at one operation such washers from pieces of rod cut to the
required length with their ends bevilled off to the required obliquity, so
as to present the cutting edges above referred to. For this purpose I
provide a mandril of the size of the interior of the washer and mount
this in a framing, so that it can be slid to and fro by the action of a
When it is slid forwards it enters a hole in a pinion fixed on the
framing and carries with it a sleeve, the face of which is of helical form,
such as that which the washer is intended to present. The face of the
fixed pinion is also of corresponding helical form. On a disc which
revolves round the fixed pinion is mounted eccentrically a second pinion
gearing with the former, so that when this disc is caused to revolve
round the fixed pinion, the second pinion while it revolves with it turns
also round its own axis. On this axis is fixed a disc, the periphery of
which is at a distance from the mandril equal to the width of the annular
face of the washer. On the sleeve which advances with the mandril is
mounted a lever, the nose of which enters a notch in the periphery of
the aforesaid disc, and the tail end of the lever bears on a cone or incline
in such a manner that when it is advanced with the sleeve and mandril
its nose is pressed towards the mandril. The mandril being slacked
back the end of a piece of rod is inserted into the space between it and
the disc, and between the faces of the sleeve and of the fixed pinion.
The mandril being then advanced squeezes the rod between the sleeve
and the pinion, and the nose of the lever also squeezes it on to the
mandril. The disc being then caused to revolve round the mandril its
circumference bends the rod around the mandril, causing it to coil
helically in the space between the sleeve and the pinion. Thereupon
the mandril sleeve and lever being slacked back the rod drops out of the
machine in the form of a coiled washer.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents an euge view of the washer placed under a nut, anu
Fig. 2 is a plan of the washer.
Fig. 3 is a side view; Fig. 4, an end view; and Fig. 5, a plan of the
apparatus by which the washer is manufactured.
Figs. 6 and 7 represent to an enlarged scale respectively a cross section
and plan of that part of the apparatus which forms the die or mould for
the washer.
On reference to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the washer A
consists of a piece of steel bar bent round so as to form a ring split
obliquely at one part a of its periphery, the ring so formed being slightly
helical, or forming a screw thread of a hand opposite to that of the screw
of the bolt and nut to which it is applied. The edges of the oblique_cut
at b, b, are by preference turned slightly up from the general surface of
the washer, so that when the nut B tends to unscrew itself these edges
inserting themselves like chisels in the face of the nut B and of the
bed C, on which the washer is pressed by the nut act like pawls on a
ratchet to prevent the nut from turning in the direction of unscrewing,
whilst the obliquity of the edges combined with the elasticity of
the washer permits the nut to be screwed tightly up in the opposite
direction.
The apparatus for manufacturing such spring washers consists of a
framing D, in one side of which is fixed a shaft E, a pinion F being
fixed on the said shaft, and a wheel G being mounted so that it can
revolve freely thereon when driven by a pinion H worked by a winch h
or otherwise. In the wheel G is fixed a stud pin g on which is mounted
a wheel I gearing with the fixed pinion F, the gearing of F and I having
the definite proportion of two to one, so that as the wheel G makes one
revolution the wheel I makes half a revolution round its axis. On the
wheel I is fixed a disc K having two notches k, k, in its periphery to
take the end of a lever L which is mounted on a collar / fixed on a
mandril M that can slide within a boss d of the framing, being prevented
from turning and having its to-and-fro travel limited by a pin m' working
in a slotted hole in the boss d. On the projecting end of the boss d is
placed a cone N which can be adjusted in its position by screwing it

page_text: more or less on the end of the boss. A screw and handle O like that
employed for a lathe centre serves to move the mandril M to and fro in
the boss d. The face of the mandril M at m and the face of the shaft E
at e are formed to the desired helical obliquity of the washer to be
manufactured, the exterior diameter of which corresponds with m and
its interior with a stud p projecting from m and entering a hole in e.
In operating with this apparatus the mandril M is retracted by
turning the handle and screw O, and the disc K is brought to the
position shewn in Figs. 4 and 6, with one of its notches k facing the
end of the lever L. A piece of straight steel rod cut to a length equal
to the circumference of the washer to be produced with its ends bevilled
to the desired obliquity of the cut in the washer, as shewn at S, Figs. 6
and 7, is heated to redness and its end is inserted between the faces m
and e, as shewn at Fig. 7, and under the nose of the lever L. The
mandril M is then advances so as to squeeze the end of the steel rod
between it and the face e, and at the same time the outer end of the
lever L being made by the advance of the mandril to slide along the
cone N, is pressed upwards, whereby its nose is pressed downwards so as
to squeeze the end of the steel rod between it and the stud p. The end
of the rod being thus held as in a vice, the winch h is turned until the
wheel G makes a complete revolution in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 6,
carrying round with it the disc K which bends the steel rod S round the
stud and presses it into the helical space between m and e, as indicated
by the dotted lines K¹ and S¹, Fig. 6. The complete revolution of the
wheel G and disc K having been effected, the mandril M is retracted,
releasing the lever L and the washer formed between m and e, which
thereupon drops out and can be hardened and tempered.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. The method substantially as herein described of manufacturing a
spring washers by gripping a steel rod cut with bevil ends between a
lever and mandril and two helical cheeks, and bending the said rod
into the space between the said cheeks by means of a disc caused to
revolve round them.
Second. The use, for manufacturing spring washers, of apparatus con- {
structed and operating, substantially as herein described in reference to

page_text: the accompanying Drawings, such apparatus being essentially a
combination of two helical cheeks, a sliding mandril with a lever acted
on by an adjustable cone, and a revolving disc.
In witness whereof, I, the said John William Grover, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.