IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING COILED SPRINGS."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
COILED SPRINGS."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th April 1857.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
COILED SPRINGS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates chiefly to the combination with a rotating mandril,
whose form is that of a single cone or frustrum, of a cone of two or more
pressing rollers, arranged and operating in such a manner as to coil a piece
of wire of any length in the form of a continuous series of truncated cones
having their bases in alternately opposite directions. The wire thus coiled
only requires to be cut apart at the union of the bases of the several coniform
portions of the coil to produce a number of double or single conical springs,
such as are used for upholstery and other purposes.
The pressing rollers are mounted in carriages which are carried by rocking
levers or swinging frames. These levers are controlled by springs, for the

page_text: purpose of allowing the rollers to accomodate their movements exactly to the
longitudinal profile of the mandril, and thus ensuring their proper operation.
The roller carriages are traversed from. end to end of the mandril by means
of connecting rods, which have pins that take into a double screw cut on or
attached to the shaft on which the conical mandril is mounted. This shaft
being driven by any first mover, will, through the double screw and connecting
rods, traverse the carriages to and fro and cause the rollers to lap the wire
round the mandril from end to end thereof, the surface of the mandril being
roughened to ensure a proper adherence of the wire thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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
"IMPROVED MACHINERY POR MANUFACTURING COILED SPRINGS," being a com-
munication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the:
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, con-
sists chiefly in the combination with a rotating mandril (whose form is that of
a single cone or frustrum of a cone) of two or more pressing rollers, arranged
and operating in such a manner as to coil a piece of wire of any length in the
form of a continuous series of truncated cones having their bases in alter-
nately opposite directions. The wire thus coiled only requires to be cut apart
at the union of the bases of the several coniform portions of the coil to
produce a number of double or single conical springs, such as are used for
upholstery and other purposes.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1
is a longitudinal elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical
section of the same in the line x, x, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical
section of a portion of the same in the line y, y, of Fig. 1; Figures 4 and 5
are plan views of portions of the machine; and Figures 6 and 7 are side
views of springs produced by the machine. Similar letters of reference indi-
cate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A is a stationary frame, supported on standards B, B, and carrying the
bearings S, S, for a horizontal shaft C, at the front end of which is formed or
secured the mandril D, whose form is that of a truncated cone, and at the
other end is a pulley R to receive a driving belt; M is a doublo or forked
lever, hung on two fulcrum pins m, m, arranged in line with each other, one
on each side of the frame A. This lever (of which a plan view is exhibited
in Fig. 4) has secured to it by bolts f, f, a slide E, to which is fitted a sliding
carriage F, on which are bolted two plates G, G¹, carrying two rollers g, J',
whose duty it is to confine the wire from which the springs are made in
contact with the mandril D, said rollers being properly grooved in their
peripheries to receive the wire. The slide E, carriage F, and rollers g, g¹, are
all shown in Fig. 4 as well as in Figures 1 and 2. The rear end of the
lever M has applied to it two strong springs p, p, which draw it down and
raise the other end, that carries the slide E and roller carriage F, and thus
force up the rollers towards the mandril with a degree of pressure sufficient
to cause the wire passing between the rollers and the mandril to be confined
closely to the surface of the mandril. It is desirable that when the rollers
are close enough to confine the wire to the surface of the mandril the slide E
should stand as nearly as possible parallel with the nearest longitudinal frofile
line of the conical surface of the mandril, as shewn in Fig. 1. The plates G, G',

page_text: are adjusted to bring the rollers g, g', to an inclination to the axis of the
conical mandril to correspond with the helical form to be given to the spring,
and to bring them in such relation to each other that the wire in passing from
one roller to the other in contact with the conical mandril will have the
required inclination to the axis thereof. T is a screw, passing freely through
a hole in the end of the frame A, and screwing into the end of the slide E.
The head of this screw rests against the bottom of the frame A, and by screw-
ing it up it is caused to draw down the slide E, and draw the rollers g, g', away
from the mandril to allow the wire to be introduced between the rollers and the
mandril. I is a bar fitted to guides in the frame A to slide longitudinally and
parallel with the axis of the shaft C in guides attached to the stationary bed,
and connected by a pin a with the sliding carriage F; J is a double screw whose
threads cross each other on the shaft C; and K is a swivel fork working in
a circular frame Q that surrounds the shaft C, and is attached to the sliding
bar I, the said fork entering the threads of the screw on the shaft. This
double-threaded screw and fork constitute a well-known device for converting
continuous rotary into reciprocating rectilinear motion, and serve to impart
motion from the shaft C to the bar I to move the roller carriage F on the
slide E, and cause the rollers g, g', to travel lengthwise of the conical mandril.
L, Figures 1 and 2, is a swinging frame of a lever-like character, working
on two fulcrum pins c, c, in a standard d, erected on the top of one of the
journal boxes S of the shaft C. This frame is provided with parallel ways.d", d*,
to which is fitted a sliding carriage N carrying a roller g², which is intended
to operate in the same manner as the rollers g, g', and confine the wire to the
face of the conical mandril. This roller g' is set at the requisite inclination to
the axis of the mandril, and in such relation to the rollers g, g¹, near the small
end or point of the mandril, as to cause the wire in passing from them to it,
in contact with the mandril, to take the desired helical direction. The
carriage N is connected by a pin 6 with a bar P, which slides through the
standard d, and is connected with the circular frame Q, so as to cause the
roller g² to travel longitudinally to the mandril along with the rollers g, g¹.
The frame L has applied to it two springs 9, 9, which draw it down and cause
the roller g² to produce a pressure upon the wire passing between it and the
mandril greater than the pressure poduced by the other two rollers. The
rollers g, 9, 9, are all smoothly grooved, but the mandril has a roughened
surface in order that the latter may bite upon the wire passing between it and
the rollers, and that the rollers will not prevent this bite, but only confine the
wire to the surface of the mandril and direct it. The machine will operate
with only two rollers, but it is preferable to use three, and it is to be preferred

page_text: that the one g², nearest the point or small end of the mandril, should be of a
diameter equal or nearly so to that of the largest part of the mandril, but the
other two or one may be considerably smaller. U is a tube of wood or sheet
metal, of larger diameter than the largest part of the mandril D, and placed
in line with the mandril and shaft C upon a suitable number of rests V,
according to its length, and deriving a rotary motion in the same direction
as, and at the same speed as, or a little faster, than the mandril, through a
belt from a pulley * on a shaft W below the mandril, which shaft derives
motion from the shaft C through a belt m from a pulley m* on the latter
shaft. The tube U is to receive the coiled wire as it comes from the
mandril..
The operation is as follows:-The piece of wire to be made into springs,
which is represented in red color in Figures 1 and 2, has its end introduced
between the mandril and the rollers g, g', g², and on a continous rotary motion
being imparted to the shaft C in the proper direction, which, to correspond
with the direction of the inclination of the rollers .9, 9, 92, must be in the
direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2. The rollers g, g¹, 9², all receive a
traverse motion along the face of the revolving mandril, and the wire being
drawn between the rollers and the mandril by contact with the roughened
surface of the mandril, will cause the rollers to revolve and conduct the wire
with very little friction around the mandril. The movement of the rollers
longitudinally to the mandril causes every portion of the wire to assume the
circular form of that portion of the mandril in contact with which it passes
in moving from the first roller g to the third g³, and hence, as the rollers
move from the nose or truncated end of the mandril towards the base or
larger part, the diameter of the spiral being formed is constantly increasing,
the wire remaining in the meantime in contact with the mandril as it is coiled
thereon, and as the rollers move in the opposite direction, the diameter of the
spiral is diminishing, the coil of wire in the meantime moving off the nose or
truncated end of the mandril at double the speed of the movement of the
rollers longitudinally to the mandril. This operation causes the spirally-
wound wire to be delivered from the mandril into the tube U in the form of
a continuous series of truncated cones, each being united at its base and
truncated end with the base and truncated end of the next ones on either side
of it; every two united cones on being separated from the others at their
bases by cutting the wire constituting a double conical spring, like that
shewn in Fig. 6. The operation will continue in this manner till the whole
of a piece of wire of any length whatever is formed into springs very rapidly
without any stoppage of the machine, the springs being delivered from the

page_text: machine by the movement the wire receives in being coiled and formed. The
duty of the tube U is to ease the coiled wire off the mandril, and prevent it
from being accidentally uncoiled or injuriously bent, as it might be if delivered
on a fixed surface or resting place. This tube should be several feet in length.
The length of the springs may be varied by placing stops at various distances
apart in the double screw J on the shaft C, to shift the fork K from one to
the other of the two screw threads. Springs of greater or less diameter may
be made on the same mandril by shifting the sliding bars I and P lengthwise,
or by arranging the stops in the screw threads, to make the rollers operate on
a larger or smaller portion of the mandril. Single conical springs, like that
shewn in Fig. 7, may be made by cutting the wire at the union of the
truncated ends of the cones, as well as at the union of the bases thereof.
If desired, a cutter or cutters may be arranged near the mandril and
properly operated to cut off the springs as fast as they are completed. It
may, perhaps, be practicable to give the mandril a longitudinal movement
relatively to the rollers, instead of the rollers a longitudinal movement
relatively to the mandril, and that would operate in the same manner. The
roller g', which is the last operating roller, and should have an advantage in
pressure over the other roller or rollers, may have a positive motion on its
axis imparted to it by suitable mechanical means, so as to give its periphery
or operating surface a higher velocity than the surface of the mandril, in order
that it may have a drawing action on the outer side of the wire, and thus
produce the coil by a drawing combined with a bending operation. In either
case, whether the rollers have a positive motion on their axes not derived from
the wire, or whether their motion be derived from the wire by friction, they
will all tend to compress the wire and prevent lamination or cracking in the
coiling operation, and by that means the machine is caused to produce better
springs than those produced by the machinery heretofore used for the
purpose.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Manufacturing Coiled Springs," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself strictly to the precise
details herein described, as such may be varied or modified without departing
from the principle of action thereof; but what I claim under the above in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the combination of a revolving conical mandril D and two or more
grooved rollers arranged and operating together in any way substantially as
described for the purpose set forth.

page_text: Second, arranging the rollers g, g', g², in carriages travelling on levers or
swinging frames M, L, or their equivalents, controlled by springs, as described,
for the purpose of allowing the rollers to accommodate their movements
exactly to the longitudinal profile of the mandril, and thus ensuring their
proper operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Third day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
0 Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)