IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR TURNING SCREWS, BOLTS, AND BLANKS FROM WIRE OR RODS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hamilton Ela Towle, of No. 20, Budge Row,
Cannon Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR TURNING SCREWS, BOLTS,
AND BLANKS FROM WIRE OR RODS."-A communication from abroad
by Francis A. Pratt, of Hartford, Connecticut, United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hamilton Ela Towle
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st August 1872.
I, HAMILTON ELA TOWLE, of No. 20, Budge Row, Cannon Street, in
the City of London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR TURNING SCREWS, BOLTS,
AND BLANKS FROM WIRE OR RODS," a communication, to be as follows:-
:
This Invention. consists in the employment of a hand or foot lever
which actuates both the clamping device and the feeding mechanism

page_text: .
The clamping device or collet is conical, and is forced into a corre-
sponding cavity; said collet is slotted that it may yield, and is located
in the front end of the mandrel, and is pressed up by a hollow sleeve
which passes through the entire length of the mandrel, and works loose
in the spindle. The outer end of the, sleeve receives the short end of
two right angled levers, whose centres are fixed in a collar which is
fastened upon the mandrel, the levers being acted upon by a conical
sleeve or wedge revolving upon the mandrel, the wedge being connected
to the aforesaid lever by a forked piece working in a slot in the sleeve,
the whole rotating together when pressed up, thereby avoiding any
external pressure. Connected with the lever is a rack which acts upon
a pawl connected with the feeding arm, the feeding arm or carrier
having upon its upper end a hole through which the wire passes. A
small collar is clamped upon the wire to be fed; the arm coming in
contact with the collar presses the wire forward by the action of the
lever through the rack and pawl.
The operation is as follows:-To release the wire the lever is brought
forward a certain distance, whereby the wedge is withdrawn from under
the long ends of the right angled levers. A further movement forward
made by the lever causes the pawl upon the arm or carrier to engage
with the rack, and the carrier moves the wire forward by pressing upon
the collar which is clamped upon the wire; a backward movement of
the lever closes the collet upon the wire, and the operation of turning
from the projecting end of the wire on the front end of the spindle
commences.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hamilton Ela Towle in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 1st February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HAMILTON
ELA TOWLE, of No.: 20, Budge Row, Cannon Street, in the City of 3
London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
. Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year of
our Lord: One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,; 3.

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said Hamilton Ela Towle, Her special.
licence that I, the said Hamilton Ela Towle, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hamilton Ela Towle,
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 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR TURNING SCREWS, BOLTS, AND BLANKS FROM
WIRE OR RODS," a communication to me from abroad by Francis A.
Pratt, of Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hamilton Ela Towle, 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 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 Hamilton Ela. Towle, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming part of this Specification :-
My Invention consists in the combination and arrangement of well-
known mechanical devices by which a wire or rod from which the
screws, bolts, or blanks are to be formed is fed automatically by definite.
and determined lengths to a machine which operates upon and cuts off;
a certain length each time the wire is advanced, and by which, it is
held firmly and securely while it is operated upon by the machine..
Its object is to advance the wire uniformly and regularly at each
movement of the machine with the least expenditure of labor, and to
provide an automatic holder which shall gripe the wire at the proper'
instant and hold it securely.
Figure 2 is a view of the piece fitting on Figure 1 at x, y

page_text: rack bar and the wire:
#
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of my improved apparatus.
Figure 5 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 6 is a cross section of
a modification of the part a, b, shown in Figure 4.
Figure 7 shows additional' views of the pawl n' and pin o'; shown in
Figures 5 and 6.
.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
A is part of the frame of the machine; B, B¹, are boxes attached
to the frame A, to form bearings for the revolving spindle D; C is a
hollow cylinder or shell attached to B and containing the working parts of
the griping mechanism; D is a hollow revolving spindle running in the
boxes B and B'; E is a cap screwed on the spindle D; F is a bar 'secured
to the frame A at one end: It carries the sliding rack let into its upper
side; G is à standard supporting the outer end of the bar F and also
the wire W: The standard G, the bar F, and also the wire W are
represented as broken. They may be of convenient length: H is a
box movable on the bar F and operated by the lever J.; I is also a box
sliding on the bar F, it carries a pawl for taking into the rack, and
also a device for holding against the bar F by a pawl or by friction;
K is an arm attached to the frame of the machine to act as a
fulcrum
for the lever J; L is a rack sliding in a rectangular groove in the
upper side of the bar F. Within the cap E are the circular split.
jaws c for griping the wire; they are inserted in the spindle D before
screwing on the cap E, and have an inclined surface working against
the interior surface of the cap, so that when they are pushed forward
they are contracted by the wedge-shaped aperture and firmly gripé the
wire W. These jaws are made to spring outward, so that they have
a constant tendency to press backward by means of the inclined front
surface. Jaws having different sized apertures are also used for different
sized wires: The parts for working the jaws are contained in the
shell C. A long hollow plunger à extends through the spindle D
and presses against the jaws c. At the rear end of this plunger are
two levers e, e¹, which have short arms working in sockets in the
plunger and longer arms extending forward nearly parallel to it. These
arms of the levers are forced out from the axis and allowed to return
again under the influence of the expanding jaws c 'by means of the
inclined faced annular collar f, which moves backward and forward

page_text: loose on the spindle D. Motion is communicated to it by means of
the sliding box H, which has a projection 9 extending through an
opening in the shell C, and entering a circular groove cut in the
circumference of the collar f. The box H receives its motion by the
hand lever J, which is pivoted on the said box and works in a ring m
attached to the arm K as a fulcrum. In order to alter the position of
the jaws in the inclined inner surface of the cap E to gripe a slightly
larger or smaller wire, the annular block j carrying the pivots of the
levers e, e', can be advanced or withdrawn along a screw thread on
the rear end of the spindle D to slightly alter the position of the levers
to give a greater or lesser throw to the plunger d. The block. j may
be set in its position by the clamp nutsk and l. The rack L has a
reciprocating motion back and forth given to it by the movement of
the box H. The rack L and box H are connected by the parth working
in the slot in such a manner that the box H moves a short distance
before communicating motion to the rack L. This arrangement is for
the purpose of allowing the collar f to be moved first to unclasp the
wire from the jaws before it is moved forward by the rack L. The.
sliding box I has a standard a, through which the wire W passes, and
to which it is held by a collar and set screw or some similar device..
This standard a also carries the pawl n working in the teeth of the
rack L. This pawl is pressed into the rack by the spring s. Passing
through the pawl is a pin o for the purpose herein-after described. On
the under side of the box I there is a projection 6 corresponding to
the projection a, in which is a pawl p pressed into a fine rack in the
bottom of the bar F by the spring t. This pawl has the pin q passing.
through it. These pins o and q are for the purpose of throwing the
pawls out of gear. This purpose is effected by turning the cam v around
the box I (see Figure 2), so that the pins slide up the inclined surfaces
and raise the pawls.
A modification of the last described parts is shewn in Figures 5, 6,
and 7. The upper pawl ¹ is released from the rack by pressing in the
pin o', which moves the inclined surface of n¹ out of the nick in o' and
raises the pawl. In place of the lower pawl p and the fine rack on-F
a friction plug p' is used, which simply presses on the bottom of the
bar F with a force regulated by the screw u¹ and spring #.
The operation of my Invention is as follows:-The end of a wire
or rod is passed through the apertures in the top of the standards G

page_text: P
and a, and then through the tube d and jaws. c. The pawls n and
are raised, and the box I moved as far as possible to the left. The
collar is then clamped to the wire next to a and the pawls loosened.
On moving the sliding box H to the left from the position shewn in
the Drawing, it moves freely until the part h strikes the end of the slot i
when it carries the rack with it and pushes it through the box I, which
is retained in its position by the pawl p on the plug p¹. When the
collar reaches and passes under the levers e and e¹ the arms are
raised and the plunger d pushed forward, thereby firmly clasping the
wire in the jaws c. When the sliding box I is moved to the right it
first releases the levers e and e³, and after the motion lost by the slot i
is taken up it moves the rack L and with it the box I and the wire W
a distance regulated by a gauge or otherwise. On reversing again the
movement of H the rack is returned and the wire griped by the jaws,
as before described. The box I thus progresses along the rack until
it reaches the end of the shell C, when it is returned to commence
again, as before described. When the sliding box I has moved to its
extreme position to the right the pin o¹ (see Figure 5) comes in contact
with the end of the shell C and raises the pawl n' so that the box
can advance no further by the action of the rack.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. The combination of the devices h, i, or equivalent contrivance
with the releasing mechanism d, e, f, g, the advancing mechanism
L, I, and the interior parts of I, so that the wire is unclasped before
it is moved and clasped before the rack is pushed back, as herein
described.
Second. The construction and arrangement of the sliding box I
and its interior parts, as shewn in Figures 5, 6, and 7, and as herein a
described.
Third. The combination of the levers e, e¹, the collar f, the plunger d,
and the jaws c, as herein described.
'
Fourth. The adjustable block j in combination with the levers e, e¹,
and the plunger d for the purpose of altering the position of the levers a
e, e¹, as herein described.

page_text: Fifth. The reciprocating rack L in combination with the sliding
block I and its interior mechanism, constructed and arranged as herein
described:
In witness whereof, I, the said Hamilton Ela Towle, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
W. ROBT. LAKE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
HAMILTON E. TOWLE. (L.S.)