IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND TOOLS FOR PRESSING WASHERS, BUCKET EARS, BOX CLIPS, ANT OTMITAD ARTICLES OUT OR SHEET METAL
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Price, of Wolverhampton, in the County
of Stafford, Iron Safe Maker, and George Arthur Price, of the
same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND TOOLS FOR PRESSING WASHERS, BUCKET EARS, BOX CLIPS,
ANT OTMITAD ARTICLES OUT OR SHEET METAL
"
Sealed the 14th March 1871, and dated the 24th September 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Price and
George Arthur Price at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 24th September 1870.
We, GEORGE PRICE, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Iron Safe Maker, and GEORGE ARTHUR PRICE, of the same Place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im.
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND TOOLS FOR PRESSING WASHERS, BUCKET EARS, Box
CLIPS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES OUT OF SHEET METAL," to be as follows:-
The machine consists of a double ended ram carrying a tool at each
end, and taking a horizontal reciprocating motion from a crank pin
working in a slot in its centre; this crank pin is at the end of the

page_text: driving shaft of the machine which is driven by steam or other motive
power. The bearings of the ram are bolted to the bed of the machine,
which has a raised part or headstock at each end to which the other
tools are fixed. Across the centre of each headstock is a guide carrying
at one end a pair of rollers, one or both of which take an intermittent
motion either from the ram or from a cam on the driving shaft, or from
a cam or an auxiliary shaft. These rollers are fed by hand with strips
of metal of the required size which they grip by a weight or spring,
and each pair of tools is generally so constructed as to finish the article
at one operation.
The action of the machine may be described as follows:
:~ We take
a strip of metal of the required size and push one end of it between
the feed rollers, which carry it between the punch and the die, and the
forward stroke of the ram presses one complete article. During the
backward stroke the feed rollers carry the strip the width or length
of one article further across the die, and another article is pressed by
the next forward stroke. The action is the same as above described
at each end of the machine, so that each revolution of the driving
shaft produces two complete articles.
The tools adapted for making washers are constructed as follows:-
The fixed tool or die consists of a punch of the outside diameter of the
washer, with a hole through its centre of the diameter of the hole through
the washer; the moving tool or punch consists of a die into which the
fixed punch moves, and a punch slightly in advance which moves into
the hole in the centre of the fixed punch. Each headstock has a hole
through it opposite the centre of the tool to allow the scrap to fall
through. The moving tool first presses the hole in the centre of the
washer, and then pushes the strip of metal over the fixed punch cutting
out the outside. The washer is carried back with the moving tool, out
of which it is driven by two steel pins, the ends of which rest on a bar
moving in a slot through the ram at right angles to its length; this bar
strikes two adjustable stops with its two ends which project through
the ram, and by means of the two pins above-mentioned drives the
washer out of the tool. The strip of metal is brought level with the
end of the fixed tool in time for its next forward movement by means
of a weight acting on the back of the guide. We have only described
the action of one end of the machine, the action of the other end being
precisely similar. The discs punched out of the centres of the larger

page_text: washers are made into smaller washers as follows:-As they fall through
the holes in the headstocks above-mentioned they are carried by leather
or canvas bands to two hoppers, fixed one at each end of a smaller
double-acting punching machine constructed in the same manner as
the machine above described. These hoppers are so shaped that the
discs fall by their own weight down a guide in front of the punch, and.
as each disc comes opposite to it a hole is punched through its centre,
thus perfecting the washer. The tools for pressing other articles are
constructed in a similar manner.
We do not limit ourselves to the horizontal arrangement of the
machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Price and George Arthur Price in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 24th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
PRICE, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Iron Safe Maker,
and GEORGE ARTHUR PRICE, of the same Place, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said George Price and George
Arthur Price, Her special licence that we, the said George Price and
George Arthur Price, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said George Price and George Arthur Price, our
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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND TOOLS FOR PRESSING WASHERS, BUCKET EARS,
Box CLIPS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES OUT OF SHEET METAL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said George Price and George Arthur

page_text: Price, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 we, the said George Price and George Arthur
Price, do hereby declare the nature of our 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:
66
The object of the improvements is the saving of labour in the pressing
of washers and other articles out of sheet metal; the reduction of the
scrap" or waste metal to a minimum; and obtaining a " finish" and
uniformity in the articles pressed hitherto unattainable, and in the case
of washers, also making the hole always truly central.
In order that the Invention may be fully understood, we will by the
aid of the accompanying Drawings proceed to describe the machine and
tools for carrying the same into effect.
The machine consists of a strong cast-iron bed (A, Figs. 1, 2, and 3),
with a raised headstock at each end, to which the fixed tools (Figs. 11
and 12) are bolted. A double-ended ram (B, Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5),
carrying at each end a moving tool (Figs. 9 and 10), takes a horizontal
reciprocating motion between these headstocks from a crank pin (C,
Fig. 4), which engages a sliding block (D, Fig. 4), working in a rect-
angular frame in the middle of the ram as shewn in Fig. 4. This crank
pin forms part of the main shaft (E, Figs. 1, 2, and 3), to which the
large spur wheel (F, Figs. 1, 2, and 3) is keyed, and which revolves in
bearings on each side of the ram as shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The
wheel F, (Figs. 1, 2, and 3) is driven by a pinion (G, Fig. 3) on the end
of the counter or driving shaft (H, Figs. 2 and 3), which is put in motion
by steam or other motive power. The fly wheel (not shown) is on this
shaft.
Figs. 9, 10, 11, and 12, represent the tools as constructed for making
three washers, one inside the other, at one operation. It will be seen
that in this case each punch forms also the die for another punch of
half its own diameter in the opposite tool, and that the large die into

page_text: which the outside washer of the three is pressed, is bolted to the end of
the ram and called throughout this description the "moving tool."
The tools shewn consist of the following parts:-The large die I,
(Fig. 10) into which the washer 3. (Figs..10, 15, and 16) is pressed by
the large punch K (Fig. 11). Into the die I (Fig. 10) is fitted the
punch a, which presses the washer 2' (Figs. 11 and 12) into the recess 2
in the large punch K (Fig. 11). Into the large punch K again is fitted
the smaller punch 6 (Figs. 11 and 12) which presses the washer 1 into
the recess 1 (Figs. 9 and 10) of the punch a.. Into the punch a again is
fitted the smaller punch c, which presses the "scrap" 4-into the recess 4,
(Figs. 11 and 12). The punches are arranged as shewn, so as to come
into operation one only at the same time. The punches and dies are
arranged concentrically, and the inner ones are put in from the back as
shewn in Figs. 10 and 11. The "moving tool" complete is attached to
the ram by the strap t, (Figs.. 9: and 10) which clamps it firmly to the
foundation plate u, (Fig. 10), by two bolts as shewn in Fig. 9. The
"moving tool" fits at once into its place and does not require any adjust-
ment.. The "fixed tool " K (Figs. 11 and 12) is bolted to the headstock
and adjusted as follows:-The "chuck" 8 (Figs. 11 and 12) clamps the
tool K to the foundation plate v (Fig. 11) by means of three bolts
passing through the headstock, one of which is shewn in section in
Fig. 11. The tool K is allowed a little "play" in the "chuck" 8, and is
adjusted by means of three " set screws as shewn in Figs. 11 and 12. It
will thus be seen that the operation of these tools is just the opposite to
that of the single punch and die hitherto in use, as the plate of metal is
driven over the large punch, which presses the finished article into the
recess of the "moving tool," from which it is "ejected" (as hereafter
described and shewn in Fig. 10) when the ram reaches the end of its
back stroke; thus, instead of going through the end of the "die" as is
the case with the before-mentioned single punch and die hitherto in use,
the finished article drops out from between the tools after each forward
stroke of the ram. It will be noticed that on account of the smaller
punches being contained in the recess of the "moving tool," the pressed
article must come out of the tool the same way that it went in, i.e., must
be "ejected." This we accomplish as follows:-In the tools shewn in
Figs. 9, 10, 11, and 12, d, e, and f, represent three annular pieces fitted
respectively into the recesses 1, 2, and 3, Figs. 10, 11, and 12, into which
the three washers 1, 2, and 3, Fig. 15, are pressed by the punches K,
a, and b. The pins g, g, h, h, i, i, abut at one end against the picces
"

page_text: 66
"
d, e, f, respectively, and passing through the back of the tools their other
ends rest on the "ejectors w and 1; the "ejector” w which ejects the
washers 1 and 3 from the " moving tool" is shewn in detail in Figs. 6,
7, and 8, together with the cavity in the end of the ram in which it
works. The action of the "ejector" w and the parts g, g, d, i, i, and e,
may be thus described. In Fig. 10 the washers 1 and 3 have just been
pressed, and the ram is in the middle of the back stroke; x, x, are two
tappet pins" screwed into the ejector w, and are so adjusted that as
the ram moves back they abut against the bearing, through which it
(the ram) slides and push forward the pieces d and e by means of the
ejector and the pins 9, 9, and i, i, till when the ram has arrived at
the end of its back stroke they project a little from the faces of the die I,
(Figs. 9 and 10) and inner punch a respectively, when the washers 1
and 3 fall from between the tools by their own weight. The pieces d
and e are pushed back into the recesses 1 and 3 by the action of pressing
the washers by the next forward stroke of the ram. In Fig. 1, x, x, shew
two of the "tappet pins" in position. This completes the description
of the ejection of the washers from the "moving tool." The ejection of
the washer 2 from the "fixed tool" K, (Fig. 11) is accomplished in the
same manner by the piece f and the pins h, h, resting on the " ejector " I,
which is actuated through the back of the headstock by the cross bar L,
(Figs. 1, 2, and 3), attached to the roller frames as shewn in Figs. 1, 2,
and 3. The small disc of " scrap" 4 (Fig. 11) is pushed out of the
recess 4 (Figs. 11 and 12) by the pin k.
The self-acting feed apparatus consists of two rectangular frames a, a,
(Figs. 1, 2, and 3), each of which carries a pair of rollers 61, 6³, geared
together at the bottom by a pair of spur wheels. One of each pair of
rollers (6¹) is made to grip the strip of metal to be punched by a strong
spring c, Fig. 1. On the top of the spindle of the fixed roller (62) of
each pair of rollers a ratchet wheel (d', d², Figs. 1, 2, and 3) is keyed.
The rollers are made to take the intermittent motion which is requisite
for feeding the strip of metal between the tools as follows:-One
end of the link e (Figs. 1, 2, and 3), the other end of which is bolted
to the top of the flange on the end of the ram by the pin » (Figs. 1
and 2) engages a pin f in the slotted end of the lever g, the fulcrum
of which is the pin h in the top of the headstock; the other end of this
lever is connected by the link i with the ratchet lever ¹ (Figs. 1
and 2), on the spindle of the front ratchet wheel d'; each of the levers

page_text: k¹, ², carries a pawl on its under side, which engage the ratchet
wheels d¹ and d³ respectively. The two levers k¹, k², are connected by
the link (Figs. 1, 2, and 3), which causes the two pairs of rollers to
move simultaneously. Between the two roller frames and between the
tools is fixed the "guide" m, Figs. 1 and 2, (shewn in detail in Figs. 13
and 14), across the centre of which the strip of metal is drawn by the
rollers. The roller frames, rollers, and guide are supported by the short.
cylindrical pins n³, n¹, (Figs. 1 and 2) which slide in the carriages o¹, o¹,
on the end of the ram, and n², n², which slide in the carriages o³, o², on
the headstock; thus the "guide," roller frames, and rollers are capable
of moving in the same direction as the ram.
P, p, are two flat heads
on the parts n³, n¹, by means of which the back stroke of the ram
causes the frames. to slide in the carriages o², o³, on the headstock a
distance equal to half its own stroke; thus at the end of the back
stroke of the ram the strip of metal is brought into a position midway
between the tools, and at the same time advanced the width of one
washer further as above described. The one end of the link e is slotted,
so as to allow the ram to move rather more than half its stroke before
commencing to move the lever g; thus the strip of metal is drawn off
the punch before the rollers begin to move.
Figs. 13 and 14 shew in detail the "guide" across which the strip of
metal passes.
m is a flat plate, which is attached to the roller frames
a, a, (Figs. 1 and 2), by the pins z, z, z, z, at the corners.
This plate
is shewn in position in Figs. 1 and 2 at m. It is pierced in the centre
at f to allow the "fixed tool" K to work through it. Over the centre of
the hole and on the front of the plate m is a small roller a (Figs. 13
and 14), which forms the guide for the top edge of the strip of metal
to be punched, which latter is kept against it (the roller) by the lever
b and spring c in Fig. 13. d is a stop to prevent the lever 6 from
getting between the tools. The strip of metal is carried by the feed
rollers between the parts a and b and across the hole f; e is a hardened
steel stud having a blunt edge at the end next the hole f, and is fixed
to the plate m, as shewn in Figs. 13 and 14. The action of the stude
is so to adjust the feed that the washers are pressed out of the strip of
metal, touching each other as shewn in Fig. 20. At each back stroke
of the ram the strip of metal is carried by the feed rollers against the
stud e (Fig. 13), a washer is then pressed out of that part of it over
the hole f. There being no space between the washers in the centre of

page_text: "
the width of the strip of metal out of which they are pressed the
pierced scrap" passes on each side of the stud e at the next feed till
it meets the solid end a (Fig. 20) of the strip. It will be seen that
by this means the pierced scrap is divided into two parts down the
centre, as shewn in Fig. 20.
Figures 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 shew the three washers as pressed by
the tools, Figs. 10 and 11, separately and together, with the small disc
of scrap which is pressed out of the centre of the smallest washer,
Fig. 18. The machine as described carries two pairs of tools, one pair at
each end, which may be alike or to press different articles as may be
desired. The action is precisely the same at each end, but we have only
described one.
We have now described the machine and tools as constructed
specially for pressing washers. For pressing various other small articles,
as links of machine chain, etc., out of the scrap shewn in Fig. 20, we
construct a smaller machine in which the ram works obliquely and the
self-acting feed apparatus is dispensed with.
The action of the machine may be shortly described as follows:- -We
take a strip of metal of the required size, and put one end of it between
the front pair of feed rollers, which carry it between the tools, when
the forward stroke of the ram presses one complete article. During
the back stroke the feed rollers carry the strip of metal the width or
length of one article further across the " guide," and the article last
pressed is ejected from the "moving" tool and falls on to the sloping
bed of the machine and from thence on to the floor or into a receptacle
placed for the purpose. Another article is then pressed by the next
forward stroke, the action being the same as above described at each
end of the machine, so that each revolution of the crank shaft of the
machine produces two complete articles, or six complete washers as
above described. The pair of rollers at the back take the same motion
as those at the front of the machine, and are there placed for the
purpose of drawing the "scrap" or pierced strip of metal quite through,
which then drops out at the back of the machine.
Having thus described our Invention, and the means which we adopt
in carrying the same into effect, we would have it understood that we
do not confine ourselves to the precise details shewn and described, as
these may be varied without departing from our Invention; but what
we claim is,

page_text: First. The general construction of the machine and tools for the
purposes stated, as before described and shewn in Figs. 1 to 20
inclusive.
Secondly. We claim the horizontal or oblique motion of the ram as
applied to pressing, substantially as described.
"
Thirdly. We claim the arrangement of the requisite number of
punches and dies in one pair of tools for pressing one complete article
(or in the case of washers, one or more), at one operation, as fully
described and shewn in Figs. 9, 10, 11, and 12, together with the
ejectors," as also fully described and shewn in Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10.
Fourthly. We claim the self-acting feed motion as before described
and shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or with the rollers put in motion by a
cam or eccentric on an auxiliary shaft or on the driving shaft; or with
friction clutches substituted for the rollers; and also the "guide" as
shewn in Figs. 13 and 14, with the stud e for reducing the "scrap"
to a minimum.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Price and George Arthur
Price, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-first
day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
HENRY B. DAVIES.
GEORGE PRICE.
(L.S.)
GEORGE ARTHUR PRICE. (L.S.)