IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Whittle, of Smethwick, in the County of
Stafford, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
"
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 5th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Whittle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
March 1863.
I, WILLIAM WHITTLE, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the machinery herein-after described for the
manufacture of nails from slit or drawn rods or strips or wires of copper,
brass, or other alloy of copper, by heading cut-off portions of the said rods,
strips, or wires, and grinding points on the blanks thus formed. Machinery
constructed according to my Invention is especially applicable to the manu-
facture of sheathing nails, but nails made by my said Invention may also be
used for other purposes.
My Invention consists, firstly, of improvements in machinery for heading
portions of slit or drawn rods, strips, or wire. In this machine the rods are
fed into the machine by a pair of rolls, to which an intermittent motion is
given by a pall and ratchet wheel worked from the main shaft. The rod fed
into the machine is held by a pair of dies, by the motion of which a piece of
the required length is cut off against a fixed cutting tool. A heading die
advancing against the end of the rod compresses the said end and forms a

page_text: head. The holding dies ascend with the headed blank in them, and the said
dies opening the rod fed into the machine pushes the headed blank from the
machine. The feeding rolls and holding dies give a more or less cylindrical
figure to the rods or strips when the said rods or strips are angular in cross
section.
My Invention consists, secondly, of improvements in machinery for grinding
points on blanks made by the heading machine herein-before described, or by
other heading machines. In this machine I employ rotating grinders. The
said grinders consist of circular disks, the peripheries of which are wholly or in
part of a conical figure, the conical portion being made into a cutting surface
similar to that of a single cut file. The said grinders are worked in pairs, the
two grinders constituting each pair being mounted on separate shafts or on the
same shaft. When they are mounted on separate shafts the shafts are
parallel, and the disks rotate in the same plane, but in opposite directions.
The blanks to be pointed are supported on a rest, and are pressed by the
workman between the rotating grinders, when the end of the blank is tapered
or made into a wedge shape. On withdrawing the blank from the grinders,
and, after turning it on its axis through a quadrant, reintroducing it, two other
planes are ground on its end at right angles to the former, when the pointing
of the nail is completed. When each pair of grinders is mounted on the same
shaft they are brought nearly into contact, the inclined grinding surfaces being
presented to each other. In this case the blank may either be presented to
the grinders tangentially or radially. In the former case two contiguous
planes of the point are ground at the same time, and the pointing is completed
by subjecting the blank to the action of the grinders a second time, after
having made it perform a semi-rotation on its axis. In the latter case two
planes are ground on .opposite sides of the blank at each action of the
grinders, and the point is formed by turning the blank on its axis through a
quadrant after the first grinding, and subjecting it a second time to the action
of the grinders.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Whittle, Her special licence that I, the said William
Whittle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Whittle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Whittle, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Whittle, 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, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the machinery herein-after described for the
manufacture of nails from slit or drawn rods or strips or wires of copper,
brass, or other alloys of copper, by heading cut-off portions of the said rods,
strips, or wires, and grinding points on the blanks thus formed. Machinery
constructed according to my Invention is especially applicable to the manufac-
ture of sheathing nails, but nails made by my said Invention may also be used
for other
purposes.
My Invention consists, firstly, of improvements in machinery for heading
portions of slit or drawn rods, strips, or wire. In this machine the rods are
fed into the machine by a pair of rolls, to which an intermittent. motion is
given by a pall and ratchet wheel worked from the main shaft. The rod fed
into the machine is held by a pair of dies, by the motion of which a piece of
the required length is cut off against a fixed cutting tool. A heading die
advancing against the end of the rod compresses the said end and forms a
head. The holding dies ascend with the headed blank in them, and the said
dies opening the rod fed into the machine pushes the headed blank from the
machine. The feeding rolls and holding dies give a more or less cylindrical

page_text: figure to the rods or strips when the said rods or strips are angular in cross
section.
My Invention consists, secondly, of improvements in machinery for grinding
points on blanks made by the heading machine herein-before described, or by
other heading machines. In this machine I employ rotating grinders. The
said grinders consist of circular disks, the peripheries of which are wholly or
in part of a conical figure, the conical portion being made into a cutting
surface similar to that of a single-cut file. The said grinders are worked in
pairs, the two grinders constituting each pair being mounted on separate shafts
or on the same shaft. When they are mounted on separate shafts the shafts
are parallel, and the disks rotate in the same plane, but in opposite directions.
The blanks to be pointed are supported on a rest and are pressed by the
workman between the rotating grinders, when the end of the blank is tapered
or made into a wedge shape. On withdrawing the blank from the grinders, and,
after turning it on its axis through a quadrant, reintroducing it, two other
planes are ground on its end at right angles to the former, when the pointing
of the nail is completed. When each pair of grinders is mounted on the same
shaft they are brought nearly into contact, the inclined grinding surfaces being
presented to each other. In this case the blank may either be presented to
the grinders tangentially or radially. In the former case two contiguous
planes of the point are ground at the same time, and the pointing is completed
by subjecting the blank to the action of the grinders a second time, after
having made it perform a semi-rotation on its axis. In the latter case two
planes are ground on opposite sides of the blank at each action of the grinders,
and the point is formed by turning the blank on its axis through a quadrant
after the first grinding, and subjecting it a second time to the action of the
grinders.
Having described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figures 1 and 2 represent a heading machine constructed according to my
Invention, for heading blanks made from slit or drawn rods, strips, or wires of
copper, brass, or other alloys of copper, Figure 1 representing an elevation
and Figure 2 a plan of the said machine. The same letters indicate the same
parts in Figures 1 and 2.
a is the bed of the machine, fixed upon the legs or standards 6; c is a
casting firmly secured to the bed of the machine, the part c carrying the
lever d, heading slide e, holding dies f, g, and cutting tool h. The strip, rod,
or wire is fed into the machine by means of the rolls i, 2, worked by a ratchet

page_text: motion. This ratchet motion is effected by the ratchet wheel on the axis of
the said rolls, and a pall or click k, working in the teeth of the said ratchet
wheel; see Figure 2. The pall or click k is carried by the lever 1, turning
freely upon the end of the shaft or axis of the lower feed roll . The lever /
is connected through the connecting rod m with the lever n, the said lever
being actuated by the cam 3. o is the main shaft of the machine, and r the
fly wheel on the said shaft. On the main shaft o are firmly keyed the cam 1
for giving motion to the heading slide e, the cam 2 for giving motion to the
lever d and holding dies f, 9, and the cam 3 for working the lever n, by which
the feed rolls i, , are actuated. The action of the machine is as follows:-
A strip, rod, or wire of copper, brass, or other alloy which has been previously
annealed being placed in the guide in front of the feed rolls i, 23, and the
machine put in motion, a portion of the metal rod of sufficient length to form
a nail will be drawn into the machine by the motion of the feed rolls i, .
The machine will make two or three motions before the end of the rod is
sufficiently advanced into the machine to be acted upon by the holding dies f, g.
A sufficient length of rod being fed into the machine the die f descends by the
action of the lever d and cam 2, and cuts off a portion of the rod against the
fixed cutting tool h. The piece of rod thus cut off is now held between the
dies f, g, the descent of the said dies being continued until the lower die g
comes against the stop screw s. The dies f, g, in the last described position
with the cut-off rod x held between them are indicated in dotted lines in
Figure 1. The heading tool e now advances by the action of the cam 1, and
forms a head upon that portion of the rod a projecting beyond the holding
dies f, g, the said dies f, g, being countersunk where the head is formed. The
head being formed, the heading tool e recedes, and the upper die f rises to its
former position by the return motion of the lever d and cam 2. The die g
also rises by the action of a strong steel bow spring (shewn in section),
made to act on its lower extremity until it is stopped in its upward motion by
the set screw t acting on the stud u fixed in the said die. A space is thus left
between the holding dies f, g, sufficient to ease the pressure on the headed
blank, and to allow a fresh portion of the nail rod to be again fed into the
machine by the action of the feed rolls i, , as before explained. As the nail
rod is being fed in between the dies f, g, it pushes out the headed blank
previously formed, which falls from the machine through the opening y in the
bed plate a.
For making sheathing nails I prefer to use rods of a square section, but as
tho feed rolls i, 3, have semicircular grooves turned in their peripheries, a
partial roundness is given to the corners of tho rods as they pass through the

page_text: said rolls, and the said rods are further rounded by being pressed between
semicircular grooves in the holding dies f, g, thus causing the shanks of the
nails to be cylindrical or nearly cylindrical. When the shanks of the nails are
required to be square or nearly square in cross section, the grooves in the
rolls and dies are so shaped that they do not compress the square rods fed into
the machine. The return motions of the several moving parts are effected by
springs not shewn in the Drawings.
Figures 3 and 4 of the Drawings represent one of the forms of pointing
machines which I employ for pointing sheathing and other nails; the blanks of
which have been made by the machine just described or by other machines,
Figure 3 representing the said machine in plan, and Figure 4 representing un
end elevation of a portion of the same. The said machine consists essentially
of a pair of conical grinders a, a, mounted upon shafts b, b. The conical
acting surfaces of the said grinders are cut into teeth somewhat resembling
those of a single-cut file. The acting surfaces of the said grinders form with
each other an angle equal to that of the point to be ground, as will be under-
stood by an examination of the plan, Figure 3. The shafts b, b, are geared
together by toothed wheels c, c, and motion is communicated to one of the
shafts b, b, by means of the fixed pulley d of the fixed and loose pulleys d, d².
e is a rest, the form of which will be understood by an examination of
Figure 4, and 9 is a cover or guard fixed over and between the cutters to
prevent the workman from advancing the blanks into the cutters above the
cutting surfaces contiguous to the rest e, as in that case the blanks would be
caught as in a pair of rolls. The blank e to be pointed is placed and held by
the workman in the depression in the middle of the rest e, and pressed forward
between the revolving grinders a, a. The point of the blank is ground taper
by the said grinders, and the said blank advanced between them until its
motion is arrested by the stop f behind the grinders, when the action of the
grinders upon the blank ceases. The blank is withdrawn from between the
grinders, and turned through a quadrant; it is then pressed again between
the grinders, when it is ground in planes at right angles to those in which it
was previously ground, and the pointing of the nail is completed.
a
Figures 5 and 6 represent in vertical section and elevation respectively an
arrangement of grinders different from those represented in Figures 3 and 4.
In this arrangement the two grinders a, a, are fixed upon the same shaft b, and
portion of the periphery of each is cut into a grinding surface. The two
conical grinding surfaces are opposed to each other, and form with each other
a right angle, as seen in Figure 6. The blank c³ to be pointed is placed in a
semicircular taper groove in the rest c, and is pressed by the workman against

page_text: the surfaces of the grinders a, a. The inclined grinding surfaces of the said
grinders grind two planes contiguous to one another on the end of the blank,
and the blank being withdrawn and made to perform a half rotation is re-
introduced into the groove in the rest, and pressed against the grinders. Two
other contiguous inclined planes are ground on the end of the blank, and the
pointing of the nail thus completed.
When I employ pairs of grinders of the kind last described, I prefer to
arrange them in the manner illustrated in Figures 7 and 8 of the Drawings,
Figure 7 representing an elevation and Figure 8 a plan of a grinding machine,
having grinders nearly resembling those represented in Figures 5 and 6. The
machine, Figures 7 and 8, differs, however, from the machine, Figures 5 and 6,
in the respect that the acting faces of the grinders are inclined to each other
at an acute angle, and the blank to be operated upon is presented to the
grinding surfaces radially instead of tangentially, as in Figures 5 and 6.
The said machine, Figures 7 and 8, consists essentially of steel cutters or
grinders a, a, mounted on a shaft or axis b, as represented, and revolving at a
rapid speed. The said grinders a, a, are mounted in pairs, the inner faces of
which are turned to a bevil, and form a groove corresponding with the taper
of the point intended to be given to the nail. The faces of the grinders are
cut into fine teeth for cutting away the surplus metal from the points of the
nails. Projecting into this groove is the rest c, on which the operator rests
the nail blank c, as seen in Figure 8, whilst being ground taper on the two
opposite sides. The nail blank is pushed forward when it is being ground
until the point comes against the boss d, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 8,
fixed between the two grinders, where the cutting of the metal ceases. The
blank is then turned a quarter round and ground in like manner, thus forming
a square-pointed nail, tapered on the four sides. The two pair of grinders
a, a, are so close together that one workman can simultaneously supply nails
to be pointed to both pairs of grinders.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as niy Invention,―
Firstly, the general arrangement or combination of the parts of the
machinery, herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the
accompanying Drawings, for heading slit or drawn strips, rods, or wires of
copper, brass, or other alloys of copper for the manufacture of blanks of
sheathing nails and nails for other purposes.

page_text: Secondly, the general arrangements or combinations of the parts of the
machinery, herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
and 8 of the accompanying Drawings, for pointing blanks made from slit or
drawn strips, rods, or wires of copper, brass, or other alloys of copper for the
manufacture of sheathing and other nails; that is to say, forming rotating
cutters or grinders for cutting or grinding away the superfluous metal of the
said blanks, and thereby pointing and forming the said blanks into nails. by
combining two conical cutting or grinding surfaces, substantially in the ways
herein described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Whittle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
WILLIAM WHITTLE. (L.s.)