MACHINE ON A NEW CONSTRUCTION FOR THE MAKING OF SCREWS, AND NUTS AND BOXES FOR SCREWS
Year: 1789

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, THOMAS TODD,
of Owthorpe, in the County of Nottingham, sends greeting.
WHEREAS the King's most Excellent Majesty, by His Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Seventh day of July,
in the twenty-ninth year of His reign, gave and granted unto me, the said
Thomas Todd, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Todd, my
exors, admors, and assigns, by myself or themselves, or by mine or their
deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Todd, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein and herein-after expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend my "MACHINE ON A NEW CONSTRUCTION FOR THE MAKING
OF SCREWS, AND NUTS AND BOXES FOR SCREWS," within that part of Great Britain
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
in such manner as to me, the said Thomas Todd, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or any of them, should in their discretion seem meet; and that I,
the said Thomas Todd, my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully
might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage
from time to time and at all times hereafter accruing or arising by reason of
the said Invention, for and during the term of years therein and herein-after
mentioned, to have and to hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers,

page_text: privileges, and advantages herein-before mentioned to be granted unto me,
the said Thomas Todd, my exors, adññors, and assigns, for, during, and unto
the full end and term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters
Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be compleat and ended,
according to the Statute in that case made and provided; His Majesty in
such Letters Patent thereby strictly commanding all and every person or
persons, bodies politic and corporate, and all other His Majesty's subjects
whatsoever, of what estate, quality, degree, name, and condition soever,
they being within that part of His Majesty's said Kingdom of Great Britain
called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
that neither they or any of them, at any time during the continuance of the
said term of fourteen years thereby granted, either directly or indirectly, to
make, use, or put in practice the said Invention or any part of the same so
attained unto by me, the said Thomas Todd, as aforesaid, nor in anywise
counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same, nor make or cause to be made any
addition thereto or substraction from the same, whereby to pretend himself
or themselves the inventor or inventors, devisor or devisors thereof, without
the licence, consent, or agreement of me, the said Thomas Todd, my exors,
admiors, or assigns, in writing under his or their hands and seals first had
and obtained in that behalf, upon such pains or penalties as can or may be
justly inflicted on such offender or offenders for their contempt of His
Majesty's Royal command; and further to be answerable to me, the said
Thomas Todd, my exors, admors, and assigns, according to law, for his or
their damages occasioned thereby; in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that if I, the said Thomas Todd, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, or any
other person or persons which shall or may at any time thereafter during the
continuance of the said grant have or claim any right, title, or interest, in
law or equity, of, in, or to the power, privilege, and authority of the sole use
and benefit of the said Invention, should make any transfer or assignment, or
any pretended transfer or assignment, of the said liberty or privilege, or any
share or shares of the benefit or profits thereof, to or for any number of
persons exceeding the number of five, and also, that if I, the said Thomas
Todd, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month next and immediately after the date of the said Royal Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become

page_text: void, anything therein contained to the contrary thereof in anywise not-
withstanding.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Todd, in pursuance of and in
compliance with the said proviso in the said recited Royal Letters Patent
contained, do by this present instrument declare that the nature of my said
Invention is described and ascertained in the Plan hereunto annexed, and
which is explained and referred to in the letters, figures, and words following,
that is to say-
Plate 1st, Figure 1st. A is a block of steel with a hallow formed in its upper
surface, at the bottom of which hallow, as at B, is cut a semicircle, and in
which is sunk one half of a screw thread. D is a pin to fix the above block into
a block of wood to hold it steady. C is a large hammer, in the under surface
of which, as at B, is cut a semicircle, and in which is sunk the other half of a
screw thread, so that when the two semicircles meet they form a compleat
box for a screw. E is the handle of it, so that when a round pin of hot iron,
being put in a pair of pincers, turned round by any mechanical motion, and
regulated in that motion each way by a screw upon the shank of the pincers
(as F, E, Figure 2d, Plate 3d), and then laid upon the half of a thread cut
in the block, and beaten with the face of the aforesaid hammer, in which the
other half thread is cut, it will form a rough thread round the pin. Figure 2d
is another method of forming the thread upon a round pin. F is a cast-iron
frame, in the sides of which are two screws G, G, with square heads for a key
to turn them by. H, H, are two blocks of steel, which are moved backwards
and forwards by the said screws, and when pressed close, form at I a round
hole, in which a screw thread is cut, so that when the blocks are drawn back,
and a hot pin of iron introduced betwixt the said blocks at I, the blocks then
being forced together by the said screws G, G, forms a rough thread upon the
pin. Figure 3d is another method of forming the thread upon a round pin
for large screws. K is a block of steel, with a hallow formed in its upper
surface, at the bottom of which, as at m, is cut a semicircle. L is a large
hammer. In the under surface at A is a dovetail in the hammer to hold pieces
of steel of a proper depth and thickness to beat out the hollow of the thread
intended to be made upon the pin, and in a direction to form the obliquity of
that thread, so that when a round pin of hot iron put into a pair of pincers, as
before, turned round by any mechanical motion, and regulated in that motion
each way by a screw upon the shank of the pincers (as F, E, Plate 3",
Figure 2), and then laid in the semicircle upon the block, and beaten by the
said hammer, it forms a thread upon it.
cavities sunk in its surface the width and
Figure 4. M is a block of steel with
depth of the thread of the intended

page_text: box for a screw.
L is a block of wood on which to fix the aforesaid block to
keep it steady. N is a hammer with a plain face, so that by laying a plate of
hot iron upon the block of steel, the hammer beateth it into the cavities until
they are full; it is then to be taken of, and beaten into a circular form with
the thread inward, the first thread to meet the second at the contrary ends,
and thereby a box is made for a screw.
Plate 2d, Figure 1st. A is two iron wheels of the same form and size and
rim upon the same center. They have swages sunk upon their circumferences
and betwixt their rims, of a proper size and form to hold the pins intended to
be made into screws, so that one half of each swage shall be in one rim, and
the other half in the other. The wheels are upon the same axis, with a thin
plate of iron, of a small diameter, put upon the axis betwixt them. The rims
are confined together in their tops, by running betwixt a frame, consequently
are by the small plate betwixt them upon the axis opened at the bottom, so
that the pins intended to be made into screws are put into the swages as the
wheels turn round and close, and drop out on the other side as the wheels
open. B is a circular file upon a spindle, with a face of a proper breadth to
level the heads of the pins as they come under it. C is another circular file
or saw of a proper breadth to cut the nicks in the heads of the pins, so that
by putting the pins into the swages as aforesaid, the wheels A, having a slow
motion, carry them under the files or saws afore mentioned, which have a very
rapid motion, and thereby plains and nick the heads. Figure 2d is a wheel
in the form of a barrel. Its inside is first divided into a number of parts,
for the purpose of keeping separate different sorts of screws.
An axis is put
through it. Screws are then to be put into the divisions, and by turning
the wheel round by any mechanical force they brighten by the friction arising
from their owing motion. C, C, are doors to the different divisions.
Plate 3, Figure 1st, is a circular wheel of steel, and struck upon the
surface in the same manner as a file. The surface is divided by nicks
of a width and depth equal to the size of the thread of the screw intended to
be made, and through the center there is a hole to suit the spindle point it's for.
At L is a narrow surface to support the screw when its thread is cut a proper
depth, to prevent its being cut deeper, supposing it not to be taken out of the
instrument or pincers in proper time. Figure gd is an instrument or pair of
pincers for the use of holding the screw by the head whilst the thread of it is
cutting. A, the front where the screw is held. B is a piece of steel across the
inside of the cheeks, joined with a small rivet in one cheek and loose in the
other, to allow the opening; it is feather-edged to go into the nick in the head of
the screw; and C is a wing of iron, with a staple in it, riveted to the longer or

page_text: straight shank of the instrument, and the other shank goes through the staple,
so, by moving the staple wing, opens and shuts the instrument; then on the
shank at D is a toothed wheel of brass or iron riveted fast for the use of
turning the instrument or pincers round; and at E is a screw of the same
thread with the screw intended to be made, and regulates the motions back-
wards and forwards in the box in the Plate F, which moves on an axis in
the pillars g, g, planted upon the piece H, and which is screwed to a frame of
wood. Figure 3d. At A is a wheel which is toothed near half round, and B, B,
are two sets of pins that are fixed in a straight frame, so as the wheel goes
round it lays hold on one side only, and when the wheel leaves that side it
lays hold on the other side, and takes the frame the other way, so forms a
uniform motion each way at all times; then at C is a rack that is fastned to
B, B, by a couple of rods E; this rack moves with the double frame, and as it
moves it takes round the toothed wheel on the shank of Figure 2, the teeth of
that wheel running in the rack. Figure 4th is an instrument to hold large
screws when cutting. A is the frame of iron that moves with the screw
along the side of the cutting wheel. B is a screw to hold one end, and D is
an open collar, with two screws through, to hold the head of the large screw
between the points of those small screws; then E is a head or stock that the
screw F moves through, and regulates the motion back and forward, which
motion may be produced by any mechanical force as may best suit. Figure 5th,
G, H, are two teethed wheels of the same size and form, both upon the same
axis. K, J, is a pinion wheel upon the axis F, and, by being moved by a lever,
or any other power, to and from each of the said wheels, G, H, is turned
by them alternately backward and forward, so that the axis F being fixed to
the screw F, Plate 3d, Figure 4th, and to the collar B, B, Plate 4th,
Figure 3d, turns them backward and forward as aforesaid in the actions of
cutting and boring.
Plate 4th, Figure 1st, is a machine to make taped or bed screws, as follows:
A, A, are two frames of iron, having holes through at B, B, B, and in those
holes pieces of steel, which meet other pieces in the lower frame a, at C, and
those pieces of steel are taped proper for the threads of the screws intended
to be made, which taps are raised open by the screw wheels D, D, and done
by the same. E is the center motion wheel which moves them, the pins being
held by the pincers (Plate 3d, Fig. 2d, and their ends laid in the taps c, c, c,
the pincers then being regulated as before by a screw on their shank, and
turned round by any mechanical force, will produce a thread upon the pin.
Figure 2d is to tap nutts for screws. A is a tap which is made taper. D is
a frame, in time regulated in its motion backwards and forward by a screw,

page_text: whose thread is the same as the tap A. Figure. 3d is another manner of
boreing and tapeing nutts. A is the tap or borer, turned round by any
mechanical power, and regulated in its motion by a screw as aforesaid. B, a
collar to hold the tap by two small screws. C, a box or frame to hold the
nutts, as at D, being one nutt upon the tap, so as the tap and coller turns
round the nutt slides backward on the tap until it comes on the small part
at A, so these nutts are taken off at the end B, B, by those screws.
Figure 4th. A is an upright piece of iron fixed to a frame. B, B, a piece rivetted
across it so as to be moveable. C, C, are two pieces of steel taped with a
half screw thread in each of the hallows. At d and at E is hung a weight,
heavy enough to produce a pressure to raise a thread upon a pin put
between the taps at d; these pins are held by the pincers (Plate 3d, Figure 2ª),
which, by their motion and regulation, as before explained, produce a thread
upon them.
..
Figure 3,
Figure 4,
Plate 1st, Figure 1, marked A, B, C, D, E, is to make or beat screws
rough. Figure 2, marked F, G, H, I, is to press screws.
marked K, is another for the same purpose as the first.
marked L, M, N, is to rough out boxes for screws.
Plate 2, Figure 1, marked A, B, C, is to head and nick the screws.
Figure 2, marked C, C, is to clean the barrel of the screws.
Plate 3d, Figure 1, is a wheel to cut and clean the threads of the
screws. Figure 2, marked A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, is to hold the screws
while the threads are cutting. Figure 3d, marked A, B, C, E, is to
turn the screw round by the toothed wheel, upon the longer shank of
Figure 2, marked D. Figure 4 is to hold large screws while cutting, and
to turn them round.
Plate 4th, Figure 1, marked A, B, C, D, E, F, G, is to tap bed screws, or
any large screws that are to be taped. Figure 2, marked A, B, C, E, F,
is to bore or cut nutts from the bed or taped screws. Figure 3, marked
A, B, C, D, is for the same purpose. Figure 4, marked A, B, C, E, is to
make bed or taped screws.
Plate 5th is the machine marked according as the names are in the
machinery. Figure 1 is the upright shaft from the mill; 2 are the wheels
that carry the drum or strap; 3 is the drum; 4 is the roll or boss that is on
the spindle; 5 is the frame or collar that the spindle nutts are in; 6 is the
sawing wheel that cuts the screws on the spindle; 7 is the screw in the work;
8 are the pincers that hold the screws; 9 is the wheel upon the shank of the
pincers that turns them round; 10 is the rack that carries them; 11 is the
wheel that drives the rack; 12 is the boll by which the motion is gained from

page_text: the main shaft; 13 is a universal joint on the tail of the pincers; 14 is a
small screw by which the pincers are moved; 15 are the sides of the wood
frame. a is a piece of iron hung on a rivet, and at one of the points is
suspended a weight to press the screw to the cutter. 6 is an iron rest for the
screw to lie upon whilst cutting; 16 are the ends of the frame; 17 are two
bolls that carry the drum of the heading and nicking machine; 18 is the
drum; 19 are the small bolls that carry the files and the saws; 20 is the file
to plain heads; 21 is the saw to cut the nicks in the heads; 22. are the two
wheels that hold the screw; 23 are the drums that carry it; 24 is the frame.
In witness whereof, I the said Thomas Todd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July, in the twenty-ninth year
of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, of Great Britain,
France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c., and in the year
of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.