IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING CUT NAILS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James McDowall, of Irvine, in the County of
Ayr, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING CUT NAILS,"
Sealed the 16th March 1875, and dated the 19th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James McDowall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th September 1874.
.
I, JAMES MCDOWALL, of Irvine, in the County of Ayr, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING CUT NAILS," to be as follows, that is
to say :-
This Invention relates to machinery for cutting nails from strips of
sheet metal, and has for its object to improve and simplify the feeding
and cutting actions.

page_text: In a machine made with the improvements the feeding is effected by
means of an endless pitch chain or an endless metal band carried by a
frame, to which a horizontal vibratory motion is imparted by a con-
necting rod actuated by a crank, eccentric, or cam on a revolving shaft.
This vibratory movement causes the nails to be cut with the taper 5
alternately to the right and to the left; and the vibrating frame is
⚫ centered as near the cutters as can be conveniently managed, so as to
keep the end of the metal strip always in the proper position. Catches
are fixed on the endless chain or band at suitable intervals for catching
against the outer end of each metal strip in succession. Any convenient 1
number of the strips are arranged in a pile between guides, and the
lowest one is fed forward by the chain or band, whilst those above are
kept back by a gauge stop adjusted to allow only one to pass.
The feed catches are prevented from acting on two strips at once by
a revolving wedge turned by the chain itself, and the thin edge of the 1
wedge entering between the bottom strip and the next lifts up the
latter so as to be clear. Instead of such revolving wedge the strips or
their back ends may be held between vertical spindles, the lower parts of
which have screw threads on them.
By means of any convenient gearing the vertical spindles are made to 2
make one turn in the time taken to cut up one strip, and as only one
strip can get in between the screw threads at a time only such one is at
each revolution lowered into a position to be acted on by the feed chain.
The feed action carries the metal strip over the upwardly projecting edgo
of a fixed cutter, and the nail, sprig, or nail blank is cut off by a 2
descending cutter, which may be carried as heretofore by a bell-crank
lever; it is however preferred to fix the upper or moving cutter in a
block fitted to slide in vertical guides and actuated by a revolving crank
or eccentric.
The progressive feed motion of the endless chain or band may be pro- 3
duced by means of a common ratchet wheel and pawl movement; it is
however preferred to produce it by means of what is known as a
noiseless cam feed movement, which admits of very minute and accurate
adjustment.

page_text: allowed for by arranging a universal joint in the spindle transmitting
the motion to the pulley or sprocket wheel of the endless chain.
Instead of feeding the metal strip on an endless chain or band it may
be moved along a smooth fixed surface on the vibrating frame by means
of eccentric frictional palms working with a reciprocating action, as in
the noiseless feed motion, and bearing on the top of the strip. In this
case the end of each strip may be moved from under the pile within
range of the main feeding palm by means of lateral reciprocating
eccentrics arranged to act on the edges of the bottom strip.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James McDowall in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MCDOWALL, of Irvine, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James McDowall; Her special licenco
that I, the said James McDowall, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James McDowall, my 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 thercin
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 MAKING CUT NAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James M'Dowall, 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.

page_text: 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 James McDowall, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say -
My said Invention relates to machinery for cutting nails from strips of
sheet metal, and has for its object to improve and simplify the feeding
and cutting actions.
In a machine made with one modification of my improvements the
feeding is effected by means of an endless pitch chain or an endless
metal band carried by a frame, to which a horizontal vibrating motion
is imparted by a connecting rod actuated by a crank, eccentric, or cam
on a revolving shaft, such vibratory motion causing the nails to be cut
with the taper alternately to the right and to the left.
According to another modification which I now prefer the metal strip
is fed or moved along a smooth fixed surface on the vibrating frame by
means of one or more eccentric frictional palms working with a recipro-
cating action as in the noiseless feed motion.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing a
cut nail making machine as constructed with my improved feeding and
other appliances. In these Drawings the same reference numerals aro
used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 is a plan of the machine as made with the vibrating plate
and frictional palm feed motion; Figure 2 is a side elevation, and
Figure 3 is a sectional end elevation.
Figures 4 and 5 are a plan and a side elevation of parts of the feed
motion as enlarged.
The framing of the machine consists of a massive casting 1, which is
formed with bearings for a first-motion driving shaft 2 partly supported

page_text: by a bracket and bearing 3, and having on it a fly wheel 4 and fast and
loose pulleys 5 for a driving belt. A pinion 6 on the shaft 2 gears with
a spur wheel 7 on the principal shaft of the machine, which shaft is
almost entirely concealed within the frame casting 1, and has eccentric'
pins formed on each end of it, one being for working the cutter slide 8
and the other for working a slide 9 connecting to the heading details.
On the cutter slide 8 there is fixed in the usual way the cutter or
knife 10, which on the slide moving downwards in its vertical guides
severs the blank nail from the end of the strip of sheet iron. Between
the knife 10 and the back of its slide I introduce a long wedge with an
adjusting screw at the top, by means of which the edge of the knife can
be very accurately set relatively to the under or fixed cutter 11. A.
catch 12 suspended by arms passing up to pivots. at the top of the cutter
slide 8. and acted on by a spring 13 serves for carrying down the blank
to the spring nipper 14. The slide 9 at the back of the machine, and.
which also works in vertical guides, is made with a cross bar 15, and
this bar is connected by links 16 to the back ends of levers 17 fixed on
the ends of a transverse shaft 18. The levers 17 carry and actuate the
heading pieces 19, which are made to operate as in certain existing cut.
nail machines. There are also connected to the back slide 9 two.
links 20, which with a toggle joint action give motion to the horizontal
bar 21 for pressing and holding the nail blank against the steel block.
immediately beneath the under 'cutter 11 during the heading process.
Below the bar 21 there is a rod 22 with the spring nippers on the end
of it for receiving the severed blank and holding it until the bar 21
moves forward; and this rod 22 is at its back end jointed to a bell
crank 23, to the horizontal arm of which there is jointed a bar 24'
working in vertical guides on the face of the slide 9, and fitted with a
pin or antifriction roller, so as to be acted on by a cam 25 fixed on the
revolving pin which works the slide 9.
On the back end of a shaft 26, driven from the main shaft by spur
gearing 27, giving half speed, there is fixed a disc 28 carrying an
eccentric pin or roller 29, which is adjustable by a screw, and as the
shaft revolves this pin 29 acts alternately on two horns fixed adjustably.
to a lever 30 fast on the end of a rocking shaft 31 carried in bracket
bearings. On the front end of the rocking shaft 31 there is fixed a
lever 32 fitted with a pin, with which there is engaged a notched link 33-
>

page_text: having its inner end jointed to a snug on the under side of the feed
plate 34; and in consequence of these connections transverse movements
are imparted to the feed plate at intervals, such movements being of
course timed to suit the other operations of the machine.
The inner end of the feed plate 34 is fitted with a cover (supposed to
be removed in Figure 4), which is formed or fitted with a vertical
stud 35, by means of which the feed plate is centred in an eye formed in.
the inner end of an overhanging bracket 36, and this bracket is hinged
as indicated by dotted lines at 37 to a front part of the framing, so as
that (when certain parts are disconnected) the feed plate can be turned 1
forward away from the cutters for examination or to give access to the.
cutters and parts immediately connected therewith.
At the forward part of the feed plate 34 there are fixed four vertical
rods 38, and the strips of sheet iron for making the nails are placed in a
pile between these rods, as indicated by red lines in Figures 4 and 5.
It is not necessary that the strips, should be all of exactly the same
length, but they are arranged with their inner ends dressed up against
or square with a fence or gauge bridge 39 fixed across the line of feed,
and under which only one strip, the bottom one of the pile when there.
is more than one, can pass at once.
1
A part of the surface of the feed plate is formed by a movable piece 40
fitted so as to be capable of a short longitudinal movement in a recess
formed in the feed plate; and this movable piece 40 is formed with
bearings for a short transverse horizontal spindle 41 formed with an
eccentric or cam palm 42, and having fixed on one end a lever 43 fitted 2
with a pin to engage in a notch or gab of a link 44 connecting it to a
bell crank 45. This bell crank is centred on a bracket, and has its other
end jointed to a rod 46, which is guided vertically, and has on it a pair
of adjustable stops to be acted on alternately by a striker fixed to the
cutter slide 8. As the slide rises the action on the parts just described 3
is to pull the palm lever 43 over towards the slide, and the lever first
turns until its eccentric palm grips the metal strip firmly down on the
movable plate 40, but the motion continuing moves the plate and the
strip and so feeds the strip inwards to the extent necessary for severing
the next nail blank. When the palm lever 43 is moved outwards by 3
".

page_text: As a catch 52 of the chain comes forward it encounters the back of one
of the wedges 53 and causes the thin edge to enter between the bottom.
strip and the next so as to lift the latter up clear of the chain catch, and
in doing this it turns round the wedge piece into a position to be acted
upon in a similar way by the next catch as it comes forward in its turn.
Instead of using the revolving wedges the strips or their back ends may
be held between vertical spindles, the lower parts of which have screw
threads on them.
By means of any convenient gearing the vertical spindles are made
to make one turn in the time taken to cut up one strip, and as only one
strip can get in between the screw threads at a time only such one is at
each revolution lowered into a position to be acted on by the feed chain.
The progressive feed motion of the endless chain or band may be pro-
duced by means of a common ratchet wheel and pawl movement; I
however prefer to produce it by means of what is known as a noiseless
cam feed motion, which admits of very minute and accurate adjust-
ment.
.The vibratory movement of the frame carrying the feed chain may be
allowed for by arranging a universal joint in the spindle transmitting
the motion to the pulley or sprocket wheel of the endless chain.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated, and that I do not
claim the arrangement or mode of working the cutters or the parts for
heading the nails, although I have had occasion to refer thereto; but
that what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arranging and combining together of parts to form feeding,
mechanism for presenting strips of metal to be cut into nails, sprigs,
or nail blanks, substantially in the improved modes herein-before.
described.
'
2. The feeding of the metal strip by means of a plate or frame,
arranged to vibrate intermittently about a vertical axis near the cutters
so as to present the strip in alternately reversed oblique positions, and
thus have the nails, sprigs, or nail blanks cut with the requisite taper

page_text: alternately in opposite directions without turning over the metal strip,
substantially as herein-before described.
3. The fixing of the upper cutter in a slide block working in vertical
guides and moved by a crank or eccentric pin, as hercin-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James McDowall, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JAMES MCDOWALL. (L.S.)