IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Lusty at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd June
1865.
I, WILLIAM LUSTY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer
and Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLES," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is a machine for the formation of the eyes of
needles, which I construct and use in the following manner, and as shewn in
the next Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Figure 2 a
plan from the top with the hopper removed. (a) is the body or bed plate of
the machine, upon which is mounted the main shaft (b) connected to a
driving pulley (c); upon the main shaft (6) are fixed, as shewn in Figure (2),
(cams d, e,f); the cam (d) actuates the two levers (g and h); the cam (e)
actuates the lever (i) which passes under the body of the machine; and the
third cam () moves the lever (j), upon which lever is fixed a bracket
piece (k), having upon it an adjustment (l) on which the pawl (m) is pinned.
As the bracket (k) moves up and down by the action of the cam (f) and
lever (g) the pawl (m) advances the ratchet wheel (n) one notch or tooth; this
ratchet wheel is connected by its axis to the wheel (o) which has sinkings or
grooves upon its periphery, and above this wheel is fixed by a bracket (p) a
hopper (g), in which are placed a number of wires cut to the length of two
needles, so that as the wheel revolves each wire in turn falls from the hopper

page_text: into that groove immediately under the hopper, being kept in position by a
wire (r) fixed from the hopper and which binds half the periphery of the
wheel, and is connected with a spring (¹) to the side framework or stand.
The wheel (o) in rotating brings the needle wire into contact with a pair of
dies (s), which are for the purpose of stamping the eyes, and which dies press
upon the centre of the needle wire, being connected to the lever (9), and by
which lever, through the action of the cam (d) such pressure is given, impress
is made on the reverse side by corresponding dies (t) fixed into the arm (u),
which is upon the bed of the machine when the cam (d) releases the lever (g)
and dies (8); the wheel (o) advances the stamped wire to another pair of
dies (v), which by a similar motion to the first set, namely, by cam and lever,
pierce out the eyes already pressed or sunk; and after this process the wheel,
still revolving, brings the needle wire underneath the machine, and the fins or
feathers, stamped up by the operations before described, are then cut off by a
cutter die, actuated by the lever (i) and cam (e), and the needle wire falls
into a receiver below.
For the manufacture of large sized needles I employ a heavy weight or
hammer, striking upon the dies and giving the desired impressions by a tilt or
blow from the cam (d).
Figures 3 and 4 are full-sized details of the dies and punch, and Figure 5
shews the three forms the needle wire assumes by the operations of stamping,
'piercing, and cutting off the edges thereby made.