Improvements in or Appertaining to Nails, Cramps, or Spikes.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd July, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 1st Apr., 1890-Accepted, 10th May, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION,
Improvements in or Appertaining to Nails, Cramps, or Spikes.
A communication from abroad by BUENAVENTURA JUNQUERA, of Mieres, Asturias, in
the Kingdom of Spain, Engineer.
1, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.S., M.L.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, 1ord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object an improved mail which considerably strengthens
the adhesion of the pieces of wood or of the pieces of wood and iron united
thereby.
Under ordinary circumstances, if a nail does not pass through the pieces fastened
together by it and is not bent over or rivetted at the extremity opposite to the head, it
offers no resistance against being extracted, beyond that of the friction between its
surface and the wood fibres displaced and compressed by it, and this resistance
diminishes continually in proportion to the diminution in the elastic pressure of the
wood, which pressure lasts only a short time in consequence of the small degree of
elasticity of wood.
The same effect (but, in this case, the inconvenience is much more serious) is
produced where the pieces united by means of ordinary nails or cramps are subject
to violent vibrations or shocks, as in the case of railway sleepers.
It is often impossible to make use of nails passing right through the parts which it
is required to fasten together, either because they cannot be bent over or rivetted at
the point on account of the great thickness of the parts that are fastened together, or
because of the inaccessibility of the opposite surface of the wood, or because the use
of long nails would not be practicable.
All these difficulties are avoided by the use of this invention, which comprises a
nail made with fangs or multiple points which are forcibly bent round in the heart of
the wood and at any desired depth.
This bending or spread out of the points or ends is effected by means of a metallic
The said
guide-piece of special form placed between the points of the nail or cramp.
guide is arrested in its passage through the wood by the limited depth of the hole
which has been previously made, but the points of the nail continue to penetrate the
wood, but deviate or spread out from a straight line by the action of the guide which
remains stationary. They take a curved direction of greater or smaller radius
according to the more or less pronounced curvature of the guide-piece.
This nail consists of a shank A B C D, the dimensions of which vary according
to circumstances, and of a head A B E F of any suitable form or dimensions,
Figures 1, 2 and 3.
The shank is split in the middle to form two parts, A D H and BCH, separated by
a space CHD, in which the guide-piece G is placed. This split shank is one of the
chief characteristics of the invention.
The nail head presents no new features, and can be made in any form to suit the
circumstances to which it is adapted.
The nail is fastened in the following manner :-
The fastening of a railway rail to a sleeper being taken as an example, Figure 5;
A hole a b c d is made in the wood, equal in diameter to that of the shank A B C D;
the said shank is then placed in the hole prepared for it (as seen on the right hand
side of Figure 5) and is struck on the head by a hammer; the guide G is retained by
reason of its width of base, which prevents it from sinking deeper into the wood.

page_text: Under the blows of the hammer, the two parts of the shank separate or spread out
over the sides of the guide-piece G, and penetrate the wood, bending outward (as is
seen on the left hand side of Figure 5, and also in Figure 2).
In most cases it is sufficient for the nails or cramps to have two points but if they
are to be used in soft wood it might be safer to make them with four points, so that
they will spread out in an oblique direction to the grain of the wood. The number of
points may also be varied as desired.
The points can be made to spread out in very hard wood, (though not to such an
extent) merely by the shape of the points themselves without the use of a guide-
piece.
Dated this 20th day of July 1889
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Appertaining to Nails, Cramps, or Spikes.
A communication from abroad by BUENAVENTURA JUNQUERA, of Mieres, Asturias,
in the Kingdom of Spain, Engineer.
I WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.L.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign Paten
Solicitors, 6. Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in the
County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what mannor the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This invention has for its object an improved nail or spike, which considerably
strengthens the adhesion of the pieces of wood or of the pieces of wood and iron
united thereby.
Under ordinary circumstances, if a nail does not pass through the pieces fastened
together by it and is not bent over or rivetted at the extremity opposite to the head,
it offers no resistance against being extracted, beyond that of the friction between its
surface and the wood libres displaced and compressed by it, and this resistance
diminishes continually in proportion to the diminution in the elastic pressure of.
the wood, which pressure lasts only a short time in consequence of the small degree
of elasticity of wood.
The same effect (but, in this case, the inconvenience is much more serious) is
produced where the pieces united by means of ordinary nails or cramps are subject to
violent vibrations or shocks, as in the case of railway sleepers.
It is often impossible to make use of nails passing right through the parts which
it is required to fasten together, either because they cannot be bent over or rivotted at
.the point on account of the great thickness of the parts that are fastened together, or
because of the inaccessibility of the opposite surface of the wood, or because: the use
of long nails would not be practicable.
All these difficulties are avoided by the use of this invention, which comprises a
mail made with fangs or multiple points which are forcibly bent round in the hoart of
the wood and at any desired depth.
This bending or spreading out of the points or ends is effected by means of a
metallic gaide-piece of special form placed between the points of the nail or cramp..
The said guide is arrested in its passage through the wood by the limited depth of
.the hole which has been previously made, but the points of the nail continue to
penetrate the wood, but deviate or spread out from a straight line by the action of the
guide which remains stationary. They take a curved direction of greater or smaller
radius according to the more or less pronounced curvature of the guide-piece.
In the drawings accompanying the provisional specification:-
Figure 1 is an elevation of the nail before the ends are spread out...
1

page_text: “Figure 2 an elevation of the said nail with the ends spread out.
Figure 3 a section on the line A B, Figure 2.
Figure 4 a section on the line CD, Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a cross section on a smaller scale than the aforesaid Figures of a rail-
road rail and sleeper, showing a spike grasping one side of the flange of the rail, and
having its ends spread out in the heart of the wood, and a spike partly driven into
the wood on the other side of the flange, having its ends about to be spread out by the
guide-piece.
Figure 6 of the drawings accompanying this specification shows.a slight modifica-
tion in the construction of the nail.
The nail shown in Figures 1 to 5 inclusive consists of .a. shank A B C D, the
dimensions of which vary according to circumstances, and of a head A B E F of any
suitable form or dimensions.
The shank is split in the middle to form two parts, A D H and BCH, separated
by a space CH D, in which the guide-piece G is placed. This split shank is one of
the chief characteristics of the invention.
The nail head presents no new features, and can be made in any form to suit the
circumstances to which it is adapted.
The nail is fastened in the following manner, the fastening of a railway rail to a
sleeper being taken as an example, see Figure 5. A hole a b c d is made in the wood,
equal in diameter to that of the shank A B CD; the said shank is then placed in the
hole prepared for it (as seen on the right hand side of Figure 5) and is struck on the
head by a hammer; the guile G is retained by reason of its width of base, which
prevents it from sinking deeper into the wood. Under the blows of the hammer, the
two parts of the shank separate or spread out over the sides of the guide-piece G, and
penetrate the wood, bending outward (as is seen on the left hand side of Figure 5 and
also in Figure 2).
In most cases it is sufficient for the nails or cramps to have two points, but if they
are to be used in soft wood it might be safer to make them with four points so that
they will spread out in an oblique direction to the grain of the wood. The number
of points may also be varied as desired.
The points can be made to spread out, even in very hard wood, merely by the shape
of the points themselves without the use of a guide-piece. This is shown in Figure 6,
in which the nail or forked spike is composed of a part A B C D of variable shape
and dimensions as may be required and of a second part B E F formed with
two points or prongs B FC and C E G having the shape shown in the annexed
drawing.
When it is desired to make use of this nail, a hole I J K L is first bored in the
wood having the same diameter as the body BC of the nail, the nail is placed therein
and enters freely, as shown on the left of Figure 6. On striking the head of the nail,
the points F separate from each other by reason of their curve: form and the spiko
buries itself in the wood assuming approximately the shape shown on the right of
Figure 6.
Instead of being composed only of two points E G and FG, the claw nail can be
made with a greater number of similar points.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:
-
1. A flange nail or spike comprising a head varying in form and dimensions and
a shank split in two or more parts, which latter under the action of a guido piece are
spread out or separated and ponetrate the wool, substantially as described.
2. The combination of a nail baving fangs CD or multiple points adapted to spread
out in the heart of the material into which they are driven, and a guide pieco G placed
between the points of the nail aforesaid so as to cause thom to deviate from a
straight line but itself arrested in its passage through the material by its width

page_text: of base or by the limited depth of the hole which is made for it, substantially as set
forth.
3. A flanged nail or spike composed of a shank the lower end of which is divided
into two or more fangs curved at their ends, the curvature of which has the effect of
causing the points to separate or spread out when the spike is driven into the wood,
substantially as described and shown on the drawing annexed.
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co
Agents for the Applicant.