IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE BENDING AND TWISTING MACHINES FOR BALE TIES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Putnam, of Bennington, in the State of
Vermont, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WIRE BENDING AND TWISTING MACHINES FOR BALE TIES AND SIMILAR
ARTICLES."
Sealed the 12th May 1876, and dated the 21st March 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Putnam at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st March 1876.
HENRY WILLIAM PUTNAM, of Bennington, in the State of Vermont, United States
of America. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE BENDING AND TWISTING MACHINES FOR
BALE TIES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES."
The object of this Invention is to bend up the end of a piece of wire into a loop,
and twist the wire together at the base of the loop; also to bend up a loop, twist
the wire together, and form a hook at the base of the loop between the twisted
portion and the loop, the loop and hook being made so that the loop at one end of
the wire forming the bale tie may be put through the loop at the other end of the
bale tie and hooked over the aforesaid hook, so that the bale when compressed will
be held by the said wire bale tie. The hook upon the one end of the bale tie is of
the double wire and is bent small and closed sufficiently to clasp the loop that is
drawn into it, and thereby prevent the loop getting out of the hook during the
pressing operation previous to the strain coming upon the bale tie.
The wire employed is steel or iron which has been hardened by drawing after
annealing.
The machine employed to make these loops and hooks is either double and
positionable so as to make the loops and hook at the respective ends simultaneously,
regardless of the length of the bale wire, or the machines may be used singly to
nake the loop or the loop and hook at different operations.
The wire is received into the notches of revolving guide wheels that convey it
progressively to the bending jaws.
The jaw for twisting the loop is upon the end of a shaft, and it carries a bending
arm upon a cross shaft that is turned by a pinion; a finger upon this arm catches
the wire and sweeps the end thereof around, bending the loop; the end of the wire
and the adjacent part of the wire are grasped by a jaw, and then the twisting jaw
Price RdI

page_text: revolves to twist the parts of the wire together at the base of the loop, and the arm
swings back, liberating the loop.
When a hook is to be bent up at the base of the loop the machine for bending
the loop, as aforesaid, forms a longer loop; after the twisting has been done a
forked die comes down to hold the loop, and a V shaped die presses the divergent
wires together, bends them down into a slotted portion of the twisting die; the
V shaped die rises, the loop is held and bent to shape by the forked die, and a
plate at one side of the slot comes up and completes the bend of the wire, pressing the
four parts of the wire together and carrying them against a fixed die, and bending
them back beneath to form the complete hook.
The appliances for giving motion to the respective dies and jaws are cams, levers,
gear wheels, and sectional gear wheels actuated by a main or motor shaft and timed
so that the operations are performed successively.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry William Putnam in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th September 1876.
HENRY WILLIAM PUTNAM, of Bennington, in the State of Vermont, United States
of America. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE BENDING AND TWISTING MACHINES FOR
BALE TIES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES."
The object of this Invention is to bend up the end of a piece of wire into a loop,
and twist the wire together at the base of the loop; also to bend up a loop, twist
the wire together and form a hook at the base of the loop between the twisted
portion and the loop, the loop and hook being made so that the loop at one end of
the wire forming the bale tie may be put through the loop at the other end of the
bale tie and hooked over the aforesaid hook, so that the bale when compressed will
be held by the said wire bale tie. The hook upon the one end of the bale tic is of
the double wire, and is bent small and closed sufficiently to clasp the loop that is
drawn into it, and thereby prevent the loop getting out of the hook during the
pressing operation previous to the strain coming upon the bale tie.
The wire employed is steel or iron which has been hardened by drawing after
annealing.
The machine employed to make these loops and hooks is either double and
positionable so as to make the loops and hook at the respective ends simultaneously,
regardless of the length of the bale wire, or the machines may be used singly to
make the loop or the loop and hook at different operations.
The wire is received into notches of revolving guide wheels that convey it
progressively to the bending jaws.
The jaw for twisting the loop is upon the end of a shaft, and it carries a bending
arm upon a cross shaft that is turned by a pinion; a finger upon this arm catches
the wire and sweeps the end thereof around, bending the loop; the end of the wire
and the adjacent part of the wire are grasped by a jaw, and then the twisting jaw
revolves to twist the parts of the wire together at the base of the loop, and the arm
swings back, liberating the loop.
When a hook is to be bent up at the base of the loop, the machine for bending
the loop, as aforesaid, forms a longer loop; after the twisting has been done a forked
die comes down to hold the loop, and a V shaped die presses the divergent wires
together, bends them down into a slotted portion of the twisting die; the V shaped
die rises, the loop is held and bent to shape by the forked die, and a plate at one
side of the slot comes up and completes the bend of the wire, pressing the four parts
of the wire together, and carrying them against a fixed die, and bending them back
beneath to form the complete hook.

page_text: so that the operations are performed successively.
In the Drawing-
Fig. 1 is a plan of the machine complete.
2 is a vertical section at the line x, x.
"
3 is a section longitudinally of the twisting dies.
"
رو
4 is an elevation of the gearing that actuates the twisting dies, and Figs.
5, 6, and 7 are diagrams in larger size illustrating the shape and operation of the
dies that form part of the loop into a hook.
The actuating shaft a is in the bearing a¹ upon a bed a², and it is driven by any
suitable power.
At one end there is a gear whoel b and bevel pinion b¹ to the shaft
of the roller b that feeds in the wire, and this wheel is without teeth in a portion
of its face, so that the feed motion may remain inactive during a portion of the other
movements. By leaving off a greater or less number of teeth the movement of
the feed rollers and the length of wire fed will be regulated. The roller 63 pressos
upon the wire to carry it through the plate c, which forms one blade of the cutter,
the moving blade c¹ being drawn back by a cam 1 upon the shaft a to allow the
wire to be run in the proper distance to a gauge or otherwise; then the shear is
moved the other way by the cam, and cuts off the wire and prevents the further
movement of the wire until the shear draws back again. It is to be understood
that the end of tho wire remains in the hole in the plate c, and that the rollers
cannot project the said wire through that hole until the blade c is moved back, and
that the wire is cut off against the side of the hole, when the cam 1 moves the blade
forward again. The wire is straightened before entering this machine, and hence it is run
through the notches in the wheels & that are in line with it; these notches are beveled
to allow the wire to pass easily, and there are two or more of these guide wheels d
upon a shaft d', according to the length of the wire that is to be bent into loops at
its ends; and I remark that the shaft a is to be of sufficient length to retain upon
its ends the respective gears that operate the twisting jaws, so that the beds and
carrying the respective bending and twisting devices can be properly placed
according to the length of wire to be operated upon, the cams upon the shaft a
being moved to suit the positions of the other parts. There is a ratchet wheel d
upon the shaft d¹ having as many teeth as there are notches in each of the guido
wheels, and by means of the lever and pawl 3 acted upon by the cam 4 the guide
wheels and the wires carried by them are brought around to the bending and
twisting jaws, and then the finished bale tie is delivered from the machine by the
further movement of the guide wheels, as another wire is brought to place for being
bent.
In Figs. 8 and 9 the loop and twisted end of the bale wire is represented, and in
Figs. 10 and 11 the loop, the hook, and the twist are shown. I will first describe
the means for twisting the end to form the loop, Figs. 8 and 9.
Figs. 12 and 13 represent the ends of the bale tie as hooked.
A jaw his mounted at the end of a shaft set in bearings 5 and G. At the end
of the shaft is a pinion gearing to the wheel l, and the pinions 8 and 9 receive
motion from the segmental wheel m. There is a lock lever n upon the fulcrum 10
acted upon by the cum o, which lever n takes into the proper teeth of the wheel
to hold the same. This lever n is disengaged by the cam o from the wheel when
said wheel is being revolved by the segmental gearing. This locking lever may
operate with the teeth of the pinion or with a notched disk upon the shaft .
Upon the jaw is a bending arm 7 upon a vertical shaft that passes through the
jaw h, and is provided with a pinions that is held by a spring pawl 12 that is
attached at one end to the under side of the jaw h, and there is a levert upon a
fulcrum 13 that is acted upon by the cam 14 upon the shaft a, and at the end of
the lever is an incline to lift the spring pawl and teeth to revolve the bending arm ?',
said teeth gearing into the pinion 8, but the incline at the end of the lever acts to

page_text: raise the spring pawl before the teeth come into gear, so as to unlock the bending
arm before it is revolved. The reverse movement leaves the bending arın locked by
the pawl 12 taking into the pinion 8.
As the guide wheels d bring the wire around it is laid upon the surface of the
arın against a stud u. The arm is now made to describe rather more than
a half circle, and the forked end 15 of this ar takes the wire and carries its free
end around the stud u, bending such wire into a loop, and bringing the free end of
the wire up against the side of the main portion of the wire, and the jaw or fork 15
is of a size to receive the wires side by side, but the opening of the jaw is only a
width slightly more than the diameter of the wire. At the end of the jaw is the
rest v, and upon this the two portions of the wire lie, and the die v¹ and lever ware
brought down by the cam 16 to hold the body of the wire and the end as they lie
side by side upon the rest v. The die vis forked at the end, so as to draw the
wires together, and the surface of the die that presses upon the end of the wire
should be roughened. The teeth at the end of the lover t have now cleared the
pinions, and said pinion and its arm are held by the spring pawl 12. The jaw h
is now revolved by the gearing aforesaid, and the wires are twisted together to
form the loop, as in Figs. 8 and 9, the twist being made between the fork at the
end of the arm and the clamping jaws v, w. The jaw makes two or more complete
revolutions, so that it is stopped in a level position where the pinion 8 is in a position
to be acted upon by the teeth at the end of the levert upon the return movement
thereof.
It is to be understood that the motion given to the lever t is sufficient to carry it
beyond the path in which the pinion moves when it is locked by the pawl 12 and
revolves with the jaw h.
The arın ? is turned back out of the way of the twisted loop by the lever t, and
the parts are again ready for another wire. The stud u is not central over the
shaft of the arm 7, so that while the wire is being twisted the stud is towards the
end of the loop, and when the arm is swung back out of the way the stud u
moves away from the end of the loop sufficiently to liberate said loop.
The parts already described are to be used alone where a loop is to be bent only
on one end of the wire, and if the wire was straightened and cut off into lengths in a
separate machine the cutting device would be left out of this machine. When the
wire is to have a similar loop at the other end to that shown in Figs. 10 and 11, it
is only necessary that the saine parts as have already been described be applied in ;
reverse positions upon the bed f¹, but as this machine is especially intended to
make the loop, Figs. 8 and 9, at one end of the wire, and the loop and hook,
Figs. 10 and 11, at the other end of the wire, it is necessary to employ the same
parts with the jaw ' that have been described in connection with the twisting
jaw h, and to add other parts to the same.
4
The wire is laid upon the arm r, and swept around the stud ¹ by the fork 15,
and the two parts of the wire are held by the rest, die , and lever w¹, forming a
holding jaw, and the wire is twisted by the jaw h¹ being revolved by the gearing
as aforesaid, and after the jaw has ceased to revolve, and the arm has been
turned back out of the way, a forked bending die is brought down by a lever 4
and cam, and the wires of the loop a short distance from the end of the twisted
part are brought together by the forked end of the twisting die, and carried down
by such die bending the wire over the edge of the slide 22 between that and the
stationary die 23 in . The three-pronged die is now brought down; the two-
prongs 27, 27, guide the bend of the hook, and the prong 28 enters the loop while 5
the slide 22 is moved endwise, and after the entire movement is given to the slide 22
the three-pronged die receives a still further downward movement, so that the
end of the hook is bent into the forin shown by the shoulder 29 pressing upon the
upper surface of the slide 22 at each side of the wire, and causing the rib at the
under side of the slide 22 to bend the curve of the hook. At the time the curved 5
end of the hook is bent the second rib 30 upon the under side of the slide 22 is

page_text: unsupported, as seen in Fig. 6, hence the said slide 22 is free to be pushed down by
the shoulders of the die .
The three-pronged die is of one or more pieces, and is actuated by the lever
and cam, the cain being shaped to give the aforesaid movements, and the slide 22
is actuated by the wedge upon the lever that is driven in between the end of
the slide 22 and the bearing 3. The slide 22 is now drawn back as the lever
rises, there being a groove in the side of the wedge receiving a pin upon the
slide 22. The bender is then again brought down by its cam and lever to press
the twisted portion of the wire towards the point of the hook and close the hook
slightly; this is important, for were it not done the hook would be too wide open
to bind the wire of the loop at the other end of the tic as such loop is hooked
into it. The slide 22 as it draws back drops down slightly to allow of this last
bending operation, there being a projection 30 that runs upon the bottom of the
jaw hand passes down an incline, as in Fig. 7, to allow of this movement.
In twisting the wires at both ends simultaneously the wire is slightly shorted;
this draws the loops tightly and renders them uniform in shape; but if necessary
springs may be used around the shafts of the jaws h, h', acting against collars
upon the shafts, so that there may be a slight endwise yielding motion to the entire
jaw; or the studs may be mounted so as to yield slightly as the wire is twisted.
The springs return the parts to their proper positions after the wire has been
relieved of strain upon the studs.
The bale tie is represented in Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. The opening 22
between the jaws of the hook is of less width than the diameter of the wire
composing the loop a", so that said wire will not pass into the hook until a
sufficient tension has been applied to the bale tie to spring the hook slightly open
by the wire of the loop a that is drawn into such hook. This effectually retains
the loop a and prevents it slipping out accidentally or becoming misplaced in any
manner; furthermore, the wire of the loop a where it crosses the hook is in lino
with the wire composing the bale tie, hence the strain upon the bale tie does not
act with any leverage to bend the hook. The fold or bend 24 of the wire is as
small as possible, so that the part 25 lies against the back of the hook, or nearly so,
and the bend 24 leaves a shoulder 26, against which the loop will strike if there
is any tendency to push it back out of the hook, and the hook is strengthened by the
support the loop e" receives from the loop a. The loop e' is shaped so that the loop an
within the loop e touches this loop e at the points 27, and also where the extreme
portion 28 of the loop e crosses the base of the loop a"; the consequence of this con-
struction is that the hook is very much strengthened. When under tension the
tendency of the hook is to bend back and increase the opening at the jaw of the hook,
the contact of the wires of the loops at 27 prevents this bending of the point of the
hook outwardly without at the same time bending the wires of the loops at 27, and
the loop e bearing upon the loop at 28 also tends to support the loop and
stiffen the hook by the loop e behind it. When the bale tie is loose before tension
comes upon it the contact of the loops a and e" at 27 tends to make the end of the
loop a press against the shoulder 26 within the hook rathen between the jaws
of the hook, thereby lessening the risk of the loop getting out of the hook during
the time that the pressure is upon the bale.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,―
First. In a machine for bending and twisting wire, the combination of a
bending arm, a stud around which the wire is bent, a holding jaw to retain the
wire as the two parts lie side by side, and a revolving jaw that twists the wire
together, substantially as set forth.
Second. In the wire twisting machine, the bending arm r with a forked end 15
for bending the wire and holding the two parts of such wire while it is being
twisted to form the loop, in combination with the jaw hand gearing for revolving
the same, substantially as set forth.
Third. In the wire twisting machine, the stud u upon the arm placed eccentric
to the shaft upon which the arm swings, in combination with gearing for turning

page_text: such arm, thereby relieving the strain upon the loop as the arm swings back from
the twisted loop, as set forth.
·
Fourth. The combination with the arm of the pinion s, spring pawl 12,
nctuating levert, and jaw h, substantially as set forth.
Fifth. The shear cand feeding rollers 6, 63, in combination with the segmental
gearing and the holding and twisting jaws and gearing connecting the parts,
substantially as specified, to feed, cut off, and twist the wire, as set forth.
Sixth. The notched guide wheels d moved progressively by a ratchet and pawl,
in combination with the bending and twisting jaws, substantially as specified, for
bending the loop and twisting the wire.
Seventh. The combination in a wire bending machine of the guide wheels & for
carrying the wire with two set of bending and twisting jaws for simultaneously
bending both ends of the wire and then twisting the wire together, as set forth.
Eighth. The die 22 in combination with the bending die, die 23, and loop
forming mechanism to bend such loop into a hook after it has been twisted, as
set forth.
Ninth. The three-pronged die in combination with the sliding die 22 and
actuating mechanism, substantially as set forth.
Tenth. The wedge and its actuating lever in combination with the sliding
die 22, dies 23 and 1, substantially as set forth.
Eleventh. The combination with the sliding die 22 and stationary die 23, of the
die and shoulders 29 that press the dic 22 downward to form the curved end of
the hook, as set forth.
Twelfth. The sliding die 22 with the projection 30 to allow the same to drop
after it is drawn back, in combination with the dies and 23, and bender that
press the twisted wire towards the point of the hook, as set forth.
Thirteenth. The combination with the revolving jaw h and mechanism for
twisting the wire, of a stop to hold the twisting jaw in the position of rest, sub-
stantially as set forth.
Fourteenth. The bending die 22 made as a fork at the end to draw the wires of
the loop together and bend the same, in combination with the dies that bend the
wire into the hook, substantially as set forth.
Fifteenth. The holding die made as a fork to draw the parts of the wiro
together, in combination with the stationary rest v, substantially as set forth.
Sixteenth. In a wire bending machine, the combination of two bending and
twisting jaws with their actuating devices and adjustable beds for adapting the
machine to different lengths of wires, and simultaneously operating at both ends of
wires, as set forth.
Seventeenth. The wire bale tie having a hook at one end and a loop at the other,
and possessing either or all the peculiarities of the hook or loop specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry William Putnam, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, A.D. 1876.
HENRY WILLIAM PUTNAM. (L.S.)
Witnesses,
THOMAS K. CORBIERE, of Bennington, Vt.
WILLIAM A. ROOT, of Bennington, Vt.