IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO MACHINERY FOR $6 FORGING NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES.
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Jones, of Wrexham, in the County of Denbigh, for
the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO MACHINERY FOR
$6
FORGING NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES.".
Scaled the 19th February 1878 and dated the 22nd. August 1877
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Jones at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd August 1877.
JAMES JONES, of Wrexham, in the County of Denbigh.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND RELATING TO MACHINERY, FOR FORGING NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES:"
}
This Invention has for its object improvements in applying compressed air for
obtaining positive and elastic blows exactly opposite and equal in speed and impetus
from hammers or pistons employed in machines for forging horse-shoe nails and the
like without the use of valves or springs.
It consists of,-
1st. One or more hammers or pistons (preferably four) working in brackets,
guides, or suspended links, and having their centre lines radiating to a common
centre, and are actuated by compressed air, or gas in free communication with a
common chamber. Either cylinders or bags, or bellows of india-rubber or other
suitable material can be employed for conveying the power.
2nd. A cam for giving motion to the aforesaid haminers or pistons is fixed to a
shaft running through a hollow shaft or sleeve, the hollow shaft being supported in
bearings attached to the framework of the machines The said central shaft is driven
at the opposite end to that on which the cam is fixed by belt and pulleys, or in
other convenient manner. The hollow shaft is driven by means of gearing, preferably
worm gearing, from the central shaft, and gives motion to a sliding cam for holding
the hammers or pistons apart, while the other cams on said shaft operate on levers
communicating with a chilled iron knife, shear block, and feed rollers, for the
purpose of cutting off the forging, and supplying the machine with additional

page_text: material for forging into the articles required. For greater convenience of working
the shear block is placed obliquely to the general planes of the machine, and is
brought into position opposite to the knife when the latter descends to cut off the
nail. The surface of the shear block is preferably horizontal, with a groove for the
nails to fall into when sheared off. The head of the shear block has a cutting edge,
and is in a separate casting, replaceable when worn.
3rd. The nail rod is heated in a gas furnace of peculiar construction, a sort of gas
injector furnace, and is drawn out from it by the rolls just sufficient at a time to
form one nail; the rolls then hold it, when the hammer by a series of strokes forge
the nail on all four sides to shape. The cams on the hollow shaft now come into
play, the hammers are kept clear, while the shear block and knife being brought
together cut off the nail with just sufficient of the unhammered part left to form a
nail; the rolls now bring forward another portion of a nail rod, and the process goes
on as before.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th February
1878.
JAMES JONES, of Wrexham, in the County of Denbigh.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND RELATING TO MACHINERY FOR FORGING NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in applying compressed air for
obtaining positive and elastic blows exactly opposite and equal in speed and impetus
from hammers or pistons employed in machines for forging horse-shoe nails and the
like without the use of valves or springs.
For the purpose of elucidating my said Invention I have annexed the accom-
panying Drawings, on which like letters refer to like parts on different Sheets.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine.
Figure 2, a section taken through the centre lines of the air bags.
Figure 3, a plan of machine; and Figure 4, an elevation of feed rolls and
gearing for working the same.
A is the front plate or cast-iron framework of the machine, in which casting and
forming part thereof are the compressed air mains or reservoirs B, C, D, freely in
communication with each other; the reservoir B is fixed on the front of the frame,
as shown, C and D being behind it, so as to be out of the way of the air bags here-
after described. The reservoirs are furnished with flanges a, a, a, a, to which are
bolted the four air bags E, E, E', E¹, a ring or washer b, b, b, b, being placed over
or above the flanged bottom of the bag.
I prefer to construct my air bags of india-rubber of strong construction; care
must be taken in fitting them to avoid leakage. I may sometimes construct the
bags in the bellows, but I prefer the arrangement shewn. To the other end of
the bags I bolt the flanges c of the hammer rods or pistons F, F, F, F, a ring or
washer d being placed above or over the mouth of the bag, as in the case of the
other end or bottom of the bag; the hammer rods or pistons F, F¹, are of square or
other section, so as to prevent any motion but a longitudinal one; they work in
guides G, G¹, of corresponding section, which are preferably cast on the frame A, as

page_text: .
shewn. On the top of the upper guide G I fix an elastic annular or other block e,
with a hole through it to allow free working of the piston. It is held in place by a
flanged ring and screws, as shewn; this elastic ring or block acts as a cushion
for the flanges c of the pistons F, F', to strike against when the pistons are driven
forward by the expansion or movement of the air in the bags and chamber, and is
also used for adjusting the stroke of the hammers or pistons.
To the ends of the pistons I attach the hammers H, H. I prefer to make the
faces of the hammers of chilled iron, or to insert a filling-in piece g of chilled iron,
as shewn.
To the framework of the machine I attach the bracket I, carrying a bearing in
which rotates the hollow shaft J, the other end of the shaft running in a bearing
carried by the pedestal I¹ placed in any convenient manner. Through the centre
of this shaft runs the solid driving shaft K, carrying the fast and loose pulleys
K¹, K³, for driving it, and at the other end carrying the cam L for actuating the
hammers. The shape of the cam is shown in dotted lines in Figure 1; the two
wings of the cam coming against the wipers h on the hammer pistons force back
alternately the pair of pistons opposite or in line with each other, compressing the
two bags connected thereto, and releasing the other two pistons which spring
forward and strike the forging by force of the air thus compressed and in free
communication.
To hold the hammers back while the shear block and knife hereafter described
are being actuated I use a sliding cam M, working on the hollow shaft carrying the
four pawls i, i, which coming against the wiper h, when the cam is moved forward,
hold the bags in a state of compression to allow the knife and shear block to act
till the cam retires and releases them. They are furnished with spiral or other
springs, forcing them outward, and a pin or abutment, as shown, prevents movement
in the wrong direction.
The sliding cam is worked by the double-grooved eccentric cam N on the same
shaft, the arms N' of the sliding cam carrying pins or projections working in the
grooves. The hollow shaft receives motion from the worm wheel O, driven by the
worm worked by the bevel gearing P, which is worked by the spur wheels P1, P2,
from the driving shaft. Other forms of gearing will do if so arranged that the
hollow shaft makes one revolution for every eight revolutions made by the driving
shaft.
Attached to the front of the machine is the knife Q for cutting the heated nail
rod; it is operated by a bell-crank lever Q¹ worked by the cam R; the oval slot on
the end of the bell-crank lever receives the pin on the knife, as shewn, the upward
or downward motion of the bell-crank lever producing a similar movement in the
knife.
I prefer to make the cutting part of the knife of chilled iron. Below the knife I
arrange the shear block S, on which the heated nail rod is cut. I prefer to construct
the face or cutting edge of the shear block of chilled iron, or to insert a filling-in
piece of that metal, as shown; the block is attached to a shank S¹ sliding in a
socket or guide attached to the frame, as shown; this socket is placed in a direction
oblique to the general planes of the machine; therefore the shear block clears the
hammers in its upward and downward motions.
The cutting part of the shear block has a groove for the edge of the knife to
enter, and being made separately is easily renewable when worn out. The shank S'
of the shear block receives a rising motion to meet the descending knife from the
bell-crank lever S pivoted to the bracket I, and operated by the cam or tappet I on
the shaft J.
The shear block may descend by its own weight, if desired, when the bell-crank
lever's long arm falls, but I prefer to employ a foot spring for the purpose, as also
one for raising the knife.
To feed the heated nail rod from the furnace I employ the two feed rolls 1', shown
in detail in Figure 4; they are worked by the pawls I taking into ratchet teeth or
hools on the roll ands
3

page_text: The pawls are operated by the bell-crank lever I³, shown in Figures 3 and 4
which receives motion from a groove on the side of the double-grooved eccentric
cam N, as shown in Figure 3.
The rollers are carried in adjustable bearings in the frame I, shown in Figures 1
and 3, and which is furnished with a hand wheel or its equivalent for regulating
the distance of the feed rolls from each other to accommodate nail rods of different
diameters. The rolls are also in three parts, as shown, the centre part being chilled
iron, and replacable for different sizes of iron, or when worn.
The nail rod is delivered to the feed rolls in a highly heated state from a gas
furnace, not shown in the Drawing, but in which the flame has a reducing rather
than an oxidating effect.
The air is pumped into the reservoirs by any suitable means, and should be
maintained at a uniform pressure, as in time there is certain to be a slight leakage.
I prefer to connect a weighted accumulator to the reservoirs, so as to keep the latter
of one uniform pressure." A pressure gauge can be attached to the reservoirs if
desired. It is obvious also that gas might take the place of compressed air if
desired.
The manner of working is as follows:-The rolls feed forward a sufficient length
of the heated rod from the furnace at one time to form the nail; the cam L now
releases two of the previously compressed bags carrying the hammers, which spring
forward, striking the nail on opposite sides, as shown in Figure 1; these two
hammers are then forced back by the cam, and the other two hammers come into
play to be forced back in turn, and so on alternately. After a sufficient number of
blows have been struck, which of course is regulated by the speed of the driving
shaft relatively to that of the hollow shaft, the knife and shear block operated from
this latter shaft rise and meet, cutting off the nail, which drops off the shear block
as the knife rises again and the shear block descends. The finished nail is then
removed, and a fresh portion of the heated rod fed forward again to form another
nail.
When the hammers are all in one vertical plane some allowance should be made
for the force of gravity by making the area upon which the compressed air acts
rather larger in the lower than the upper bags. If however the hammers be arranged
to work horizontally no such allowance is requisite.
By having dies of different shapes on the faces of the hammers, nails, spikes, or
bolts of different shape and section can be formed, and these dies can be arranged so
as to be easily renewable.
Having now described my Invention, and the best modes known to me of carrying
it into effect, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not claim the principle of
forging nails by the impact of two or four hammers, nor yet the various mechanical
details taken separately and when not applied to nail or spike forging machines,
but what I believe to be new and desire to claim under the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
1. In a machine for forging nails, bolts, spikes, and similar articles by the direct
impact of hammers striking against each other, the application of pneumatic or
gaseous pressure as a means of actuating such hammers."
2. The mode of manufacturing nails, bolts, spikes, and other similar articles by
means of alternate blows, or blows falling on alternate sides, caused by hammers
driven by the same elastic force, so that the percussion on each side may be equal
and synchronous.
3. Causing the shear block on which the nail or other article is cut from the
rod to move in a direction oblique to the general planes of the machine, so as
not to foul the hammers or strikers.
4. The special arrangement of sliding cam M, and its arrangements for holding
back and releasing the hammers, substantially as and for the purposes described.
5. The mode of manufacturing nails, bolts, spikes, and similar articles between
hammers actuated by pneumatic or gaseous pressure from a heated rod fed con-

page_text: tinuously through the machine from a gas furnace, the flame of which has a reducing
rather than an oxidating effect, substantially as described.
6. The general arrangement of machinery for the manufacture of nails, spikes,
bolts, and similar articles, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Jones, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Witness,
JOHN O. O'BRIEN,
Clerk to William P. Thompson,
Patent Office,
6, Lord Street,
Liverpool.
JAMES JONES. (L.S.)