A MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Lovell Preston, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "A
MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS."
Scaled the 29th January 1853, and dated the 8th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Lovell
Preston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 8th December 1852.
1, THOMAS LOVELL PRESTON, do hereby declare the nature of thic
said Invention for "A MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS" to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists of a machine in which pieces of sheet metal,
cut previously into a suitable form, are bent so as to constitute links
for chains. The pieces of metal supplied to my machine are cut out
of sheet metal, and consist of a narrow central band, at each end of
which a broader perforated part is situated. The narrow middle
part is about as long as the two broad end parts. When the said
pieces of metal are bent up, the perforations in the two end parts
coinciding, constitute one link, while the bent middle part constitutes

page_text: another link or part of a link at right angles to the former. My
machine consists of two dies having a horizontal motion, and one
having a vertical motion. The two horizontal dies work opposite
to each other, and in the same plane, and the vertical one works
between them. The piece of the metal to be bent is laid upon the
upper faces of the horizontal dies, and the vertical die descending,
bends and carries down the said piece of metal between the horizon-
tal dies, which said horizontal dies afterwards close upon and com-
press the said piece of metal against the vertical die, which has the
figure of the interior of the link formed upon it. The horizontal
dies open and the vertical die rises, when the link being removed
therefrom, the machine is ready to repeat the several actions
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Lovell Preston in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 30th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS LOVELL PRESTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Lovell Preston, Her special
licence that I, the said Thomas Lovell Preston, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Lovell Preston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times 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 Inven-
tion for "A MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Lovell Preston, by an

page_text: instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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
iminediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Lovell Preston, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the saine is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say):
.
Figure 1, represents my Invention in side elevation; and Figure 2,
represents the same in front elevation. Figure 5, represents a
portion of the same. a, is the main shaft of the machine, which is
driven by the pulley b; the notions of the several parts of the
machine are effected by cams and an eccentric on the shaft a. The
pieces of sheet metal or blanks to be bent by my machine into links
for chain are of the form represented in plan in Figure 3, the said
pieces of metal or blanks being made to assume by my said machine the
form represented in Figure 4. The said pieces of metal or blanks
are placed in the feeder i (shewn separately in Figure 5), and sup-
plied or fed to the machine in the following manner:-c, d, are two
rods joined at top by the cross piece e; the pieces or blanks f
Figure 3, are placed upon the rods c, d, as shewn in Figure 5; that
is to say, the said rods pass through the openings in the said pieces
or blanks, and the column of blanks is placed between the uprights
g, h; the lower ends of the said uprights are of a width somewhat
greater than the length of the said blanks, and when the cross
piece e, rests upon the tops of the uprights g, h, the rods c, d, do
not reach to the bottom of the said uprights by the thickness of one
of the said blanks, so that the lowest blank is detached from the
said rods. The feeding apparatus Figure 5, occupies the position re-
presented at i, in Figure 1 (in Figure 2, the said feeder is omitted
for the purpose of making the other parts of the machine more
intelligible); k, is a slide working on the bed ; this slide has an alter.

page_text: nating horizontal motion, the advance motion being produced by the
cam m, connecting rods n, o, and cranked lever p. The return motion
of the said slide is produced by the spring q. On the advance
motion of the slide k, the end thereof passing under the uprights g, h,
(Figure 5), pushes the bottom and detached blank r, Figure 5, out
of the feeder and on the horizontal faces of the dies s, t, as shewn in
Figure 2, in which said figure the blank is represented at r. The
die u, u, next descends vertically; the said die sliding in the
guides v, v, and being actuated by the excentric w, and connecting
rod. By the descent of the said die, the blank is bent in its middle
and carried down between the side dies s, t, the said blank having
during the descent of the die u, u¹, assumed a U shape. The side
dies s, t, next approach each other by sliding in the horizontal
guides y, z, and close the vertical and parallel sides of the blank
upon the part u', of the die u, u³, and thus give to the said blank
the form represented in Figure 4. The closing of the dies s, t, is
effected by the descent of the arch 1 (shewn in Figure 2, in dotted
lines); 2, 3, are two slots in the ends of the said arch 1, the said
slots being inclined to one another as represented. Pins 4, 5, in
the dies s, t, enter the said inclined slots 2, 3, and as the said arch
is made to descend by the cam 6, and connector 7, the inclined
slots 2, 3, force the pins 4, 5, and dies s, t, to move horizontally, and
close upon the blank, as herein-before described. The return motion
of the dies s, t, is effected by the springs 8, 9, shown in dotted lines
in Figure 2, raising the arch 1. The blank is now bent upon the
part u, of the die u, u', and is removed therefrom in the following
manner: besides the vertical motion in the slides v, v', herein-before
described; the bolt or portion u¹, of the said die has a sliding hori
zontal motion communicated by the excentric 10, connecting rod 11,
and cranked lever 12; and after the blank has been bent as de-
scribed, the bolt u¹, moves in the direction indicated by the arrow
in Figure 1, whereby it is withdrawn from the said blank, and the
said blank falls from the machine. The return motion of the
bolt u', is effected by the spring 13. The several parts are, after
the succession of motions described, brought again into the positions

page_text: represented in the Drawing, ready for the reception and bending of
another blank.
Having now described the nature of my said 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 method of
carrying my Invention into effect herein described, and represented
in the accompanying Drawing, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim the
bending of blanks of the form represented in Figure 3, of the ac-
companying Drawing, or any modification of the said form, into the
form represented in Figure 4, of the accompanying Drawing, or any
modification thereof, by the operation of a vertically descending die
upon which the blank is bent, and horizontally moving dies, by
which the said blank is closed upon the said vertically descending
die.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lovell Preston, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-three.
THOMAS LOVELL PRESTON. (L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT.