IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORGING OR POINTING WROUGHT NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER FOUR-SIDED ARTICLES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents;
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORGING
OR POINTING WROUGHT NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER FOUR-SIDED ARTICLES."―
A communication.
Sealed the 1st November 1856, and dated the 17th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th May 1856.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORGING OR
POINTING WROUGHT NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER FOUR-SIDED ARTICLES, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the forging of four-sided articles by means of two
hammers acting simultaneously on the opposite or vertical sides thereof, and
alternating in their action with the action of a roller or other drawing device,
which presses on the upper side of the article under operation while the under
side is in contact with a suitably shaped anvil. The two hammers are arranged

page_text: to swing horizontally, and to nip the metal between the steel face pieces with
which they are provided. The hammers are pressed forward by two face
cams mounted on a rotating shaft which carries the roller or other drawing
device, and a spring placed between their helves serves to force them apart
again as the pressure of the cams relaxes. The cams are made with heavy
rims, in order to enable them to act as fly wheels.
Secured to the bed plate of the machine (in front of the anvil) is a spring or
its equivalent, for lifting the article under operation off the anvil every time
the roller or drawing device has passed over it, and keeping it raised above
the anvil during the operation of the hammers. By this means the formation
of a burr or fin at the lower angles of the nail or other article is prevented.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents,,66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the, year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 MACHINERY FOR FORGING OR POINTING WROUGHT NAILS,
SPIKES, AND OTHER FOUR-SIDED ARTICLES," being a communication from abroad;
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
by an 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 immediately, after. 'the
date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to the forging of four-sided articles by means of two hammers acting
simultaneously on the opposite or vertical sides thereof, and alternating in their
action with the action of a roller or other drawing device, which presses on the
upper side of the article under operation while the under or opposite side is
in contact with an anvil.
.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews the improved machinery in
front elevation; Fig. 2 is a vertical section, in a plane at right angles to
Fig. 1, passing through the centre of the machinery; and Fig. 3 is a section,
in a horizontal plane, just above the anvil and the hammers. Similar letters
of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A is a strong. cast-iron bed plate supporting two standards B, B, which
contain the bearings for a horizontal shaft. C. A continuous rotary motion is
imparted to this shaft from a belt, ruuning from any suitable motor to the
pulley D. E is the anvil, supported on a block E' on the bed plate A, midway
between the standards B, B, and under the shaft C. F is a short arm, firmly
secured to the shaft C, and having at its extremity a roller G, which, as the
shaft C.rotates, passes as near as may be required to the face of the anvil E.
The two lammers are-arranged to swing horizontally on two upright shafts
H, H, which are supported in suitable bearings in the bed plate and in a
frame I at the rear end of the machine. The said hammers have steel face
pieces a, a, secured by dovetailing to wrought or cast iron heads J, J, which
are attached to the shafts H, H, by means of helves K, K, of wrought iron,
and they are arranged exactly opposite each other a little above the face of
the anvil. The swinging motion of these hammers is produced by two
cams L,. L, on the shaft C, and a spring N placed between their helves,' the
cams serving to drive them towards each other to strike the blow, and the
spring serving to force them apart again as the pressure of the cams relaxes.
These cams are made with heavy rims, in order to enable them to serve as
fly wheels. The hammer heads are provided with steel or hard metal shoes b, b,
on the outer sides of their heads for the cams to act upon. P is a spring,
secured to the bed plate in front of the anvil for the purpose of lifting the
article under operation off the anvil every time the roller G has passed over
it, and keeping it raised above the anvil during the operation of the hammers.

page_text: By this means the formation of a burr or fin at the lower angles of the nail
or other article is prevented. This spring is shewn in Figs. 2 and 3, but is,
omitted in Fig. 1 to expose the anvil.
The operation of the machine proceeds in the following manner :-The:
revolution of the shaft C causes the roller G to pass so near to the face of.
the anvil as to act upon the bar of metal R, Fig. 2, (which is held above it by
the workman standing in front of the machine), and by passing over. it longi-
tudinally towards the point of the article to be produced to reduce it to the
proper vertical dimensions.. The roller G, in passing over the anvil, always.
describes an arc, so that the proper relative vertical thickness of the several
parts of the article must be produced by giving the face of the anvil a form to.
accommodate itself to the form described by the movement of the face of the
roller. The rotation of the roller G upon its own axis is produced by the
friction of its surface upon the metal in passing over it. The lateral dimen-
sions of the article are produced by the simultaneous action upon it of the.
hammers, which action is made to alternate with the action of the roller G by,
a proper arrangement of the cams L, L, upon the shaft C relatively to the
arm F. The workman, after every operation of the roller and hammers, if
necessary, pushes the bar R farther along the anvil, and the operations are.
repeated as often as is necessary to reduce the bar to the proper vertical and
lateral dimensions, after which it is withdrawn. Owing to the arc form which.
is produced by the action of the roller, the article, after being forged in this
machine, requires in many cases to be straightened. It is proper to remark,
that it will not be found indispensable in all cases to have a roller at the
extremity of the arm F, as the arm may be simply rounded or bevilled at its
extremity, which will produce upon the metal over which it passes an effect
very similar to that of a roller. Again, instead of fixing the roller in an-arm
rigidly attached to a rotating shaft, it may be attached to a connecting rod
leading from a crank to the arm of a rock shaft, which gives it an elliptical
instead of a circular motion; or it may be arranged in various other ways. so
as to serve the same purpose; provided always, that it be made to pass near
the surface of a die or anvil, so as to act upon a bar when placed between it
and the said die or anvil in moving in one direction, but to pass the anvil at a
distance sufficient to clear the bar on its return movement in the opposite
direction, as it does when having the circular motion as first described.
Furthermore, in place of the spring P to raise the bar from the anvil while
the hammers act upon it, a small rock shaft with an arm to support the bar
may be employed, and a vibrating motion given to the said arm by connecting
it with a can or excentric on the driving shaft.

page_text: Having thus described the nature and particulars of the Invention of im-
provements in machinery for forging or pointing wrought nails, spikes, and
other four-sided articles, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I wish it to be distinctly understood, that I do not confine myself to the con-
struction of the hammers as herein described, nor do I confine myself to the
precise details herein described of any portion of the machine, as such may be
varied or modified without departing from the principle of action thereof; but
what I claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the combination of a roller or its equivalent, and a die or anvil,
operating as above described, for giving the article the desired form in one
direction, with two hammers operating alternately with the said roller or its
cquivalent for giving the desired form in the other direction, substantially as
herein set forth.
And, secondly, the employment of a spring P, or its equivalent, for raising
the bar or piece of metal under operation sufficiently from the anvil during the
action of the hammers upon it to prevent the formation of a burr or fin at the
corners between the anvil and hammers, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFatt,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)