IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND, TACKS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Heathfield, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND, TACKS."-
A communication from abroad by John Henry Geary, of Fairhaven,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th June 1868, and dated the 17th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Heathfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th January 1868.
I, RICHARD HEATHFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND TACKS,"
to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists of the construction and arrangement of
parts of machinery for the manufacture of nails and tacks substantially
as herein-after described. The strip of iron or metal from which the
nails or tacks are to be made is fed into the machine against a stop.

page_text: The piece of metal to be made into a nail or tack is cut off from the
end of the strip by a fixed cutter and a moveable cutter having motion
in a vertical plane; the said moveable cutter consists of two parts of
unequal size and having different ranges of motion. During the cutting
off of the piece from the end of the strip the two parts of the moveable
cutter move simultaneously, and constitute virtually one cutting tool.
After the cutting off of the piece of metal the larger part of the cutter
ceases to descend, but the smaller part continues to descend, and by its
motion effects the carrying of the cut-off piece to the gripping dies and
its delivery into the said dies for the purpose of being headed; this is
effected in the following manner-Under the smaller part of the
moveable cutter is a spring arın, and the cut-off piece of metal on its
separation from the strip is held at the end to be headed between the
end of the said smaller part of the moveable cutter and the said spring
arm, and on the descent of the said smaller part of the moveable cutter
is carried down between the gripping dies. By the closing up of the said
dies the cut-off piece is held firmly for the heading process. Before
the approach of the heading punch the smaller part of the moveable
cutter rises and the spring arm retires from the path of the heading
punch by a horizontal motion when the heading punch advances and
heads and completes the nail or tack. On the retiring of the heading
punch and opening of the gripping dies the nail or tack is forced from
the machine by a knocker off.
The motions of the several parts described are all or mostly effected
by cams on the principal shaft of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Richard Heathfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HEATHFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, 3
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the

page_text: thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Richard Heathfield, Her special licence
that I, the said Richard Heathfield, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Heathfield, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF NAILS AND TACKS," a communication
to me from abroad by John Henry Geary, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Richard Heathfield, 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 Richard Heathfield, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The said Invention consists of the construction and arrangement of
parts of machinery for the manufacture of nails and tacks substantially
as herein-after described. The strip of iron, or metal from which the
nails or tacks are to be made is fed into the machine against a stop.
The piece of metal to be made into a nail or tack is cut off from the.
end of the strip by a fixed cutter and a moveable cutter having
motion in a vertical plane. The said moveable cutter consists of two
parts of unequal size and having different ranges of motion. During
the cutting off of the piece from the end of the strip the two parts
of the moveable cutter move simultaneously and constitute virtually
one cutting tool. After the cutting off of the piece of metal the
larger part of the cutter ceases to descend, but the smaller part
continues to descend and by its motion effects the carrying of the cut
off piece to the gripping dies and its delivery into the said dies for the

page_text: purpose of being headed; this is effected in the following manner :-
Under the smaller part of the moveable cutter is a spring arm, and
the cut off piece of metal on its separation from the strip is held at
the end to be headed between the end of the said smaller part of the
moveable cutter and the said spring arm, and on the descent of the
said smaller part of the moveable cutter is carried down between the
gripping dies. By the closing of the said dies the cut off piece is
held firmly for the heading process. Before the approach of the heading
punch the smaller part of the moveable cutter rises and the spring
arm retires from the path of the heading punch by a horizontal motion,
when the heading punch advances and heads and completes the nail
or tack. On the retiring of the heading punch and opening of the
gripping dies the nail or tack is forced from the machine by a knocker
off.
The motions of the several parts described are all or mostly effected
by cams on the principal shaft of the machine.
Having explained the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed
'to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner
in which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation, Figure 2, in transverse
section, and Figure 3 in plan, partly in horizontal 'section, a machine
for the manufacture of nails and tacks constructed according to the
said Invention; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 represent separate views of
the knocker off and working tools of the machine on a larger scale,
and Figure 9 represents some of the cams of the machine. The same
letters of reference indicate the same parts in each Figure of the
Drawings.
a, b, is the compound moveable cutter, and c is the fixed cutter
(indicated in dotted lines in Figures 5 and 7). The parts a, b, of the
moveable cutter move in a vertical plane and have different ranges of
motion given to them as herein-after described. The said parts a, b,
of the cutter are carried by the levers a, b, turning on the centres a³, b³.
The descending motion of the lever a² is effected by the cam d (shown
separately in Figure 9) on the principal shaft e, and the descending
motion of the lever is effected by the cam f (shown separately in
Figure 9) on the said shaft e. The return motions of the levers a², b³,
and the compound cutter a, b, are effected by springs, one of which

page_text: is represented in Figure 2 and marked g; x is a stop against which
the strip is fed between the cutters. The said stop is carried by the
lever a of the cutter a. A spring similar to that marked g gives
the return motion to the lever a². his a spring arm fixed at the
free end of the said spring arm being situated immediately under the
part 6 of the moveable cutter a, b. i is a lever for moving the said
spring arm horizontally out of the way of the heading punch. The
said lever i is jointed at to the lever of the cutter b and partakes
of the rising and falling motions of the said lever 62. The lever i
is actuated by the cam k on the shaft e; is the fixed gripping
die, and m is the moveable gripping die. The said moveable gripping
die m is carried by the lever n turning on the centre n and worked
by the camp (shown separately in Figure 9); q is the heading punch
carried by the lever r turning on the centre. The said lever r of
the heading punch q is worked by a crank 8 on the end of the
shaft e and a connecting rod t; u is the knocker off for removing the
finished nail or tack from between the gripping dies 1, m. The said
knocker off consists of two spring blades fixed to a rod by the pin u³.
The said knocker off has a sliding motion given to it by a
projection on the fly wheel w acting on the outer end of the said
knocker off. The return motion of the knocker off is effected by
the spring us. The knocker off is shown separately on a larger scale
in Figure 4.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The strip of metal 2 from
which the nails or tacks are to be made is fed into the machine against
the stop x.
After the feeding of the end of the strip 2 between the
cutters a, b, and c, the said cutters and the spring arm h, gripping
dies l, m, and heading punch q have the respective positions best seen
in the enlarged views of the said parts represented in front elevation in
Figure 5, and side elevation in Figure 6. By the action of the cams d, f,
upon the levers a, b, the parts a, b, of the moveable cutter descend
together, forming virtually one cutting tool, and cut off between the
fixed cutter c a piece of metal from the strip 2. On the separation of
the cut off piece from the strip it is held at the end to be headed between
the part 6 of the cutter and the spring arm h. After the piece has been
cut off the part a of the cutter ceases to descend, but the part & con-
tinues to descend, and by its motion carries down the cut off piece
between the gripping dies l, m, the said cut off piece being held while

page_text: On the cut off
being carried to the gripping dies between the end of the part 6 of the
cutter and the spring arm h. The cut off piece after it has been carried
down between the gripping dies l, m, occupies the position represented
in front elevation in Figure 7, and side elevation in Figure 8 of the
Drawings, and is marked 3. The said Figures 7 and 8 also exhibit
the positions of the part 6 of the cutter and the spring arm h. It will
be seen by an examination of Figure 7 that the end only of the cut
off piece 3 from which the head of the nail or tack is to be made is
held between the cutter 6 and spring arm h, and that the said cutter b
and arm h are out of the line of the gripping dies l, m.
piece 3 reaching the position represented in Figures 7 and 8 the
moveable gripping die m advances, and the said cut off piece is
gripped between the said die m and the fixed die 1. The cut off piece 3
is thus held firmly for the heading process. After the advance of the
gripping die the part b of the cutter rises, and the spring arm h is
drawn back horizontally (by the action of the lever i upon the said
spring arm h) out of the path of the heading punch q, which heading
punch then advances and heads and completes the nail or tack held
between the gripping dies 1, m. The heading punch 9 and gripping
die m retiring the nail or tack is forced from between the gripping
dies l, m, should it stick to either of the said dies by means of the
knocker-off u actuated by the projection on the fly wheel w. The
several parts of the machine having assumed the relative positions
represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, the strip 2 is again fed between
the cutters a, b, c, when the operations herein-before described are
repeated.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described
and illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of the said Invention; but I claim as the said Invention of
improvements in machinery for the manufacture of nails and tacks,-
Firstly. The construction of the compound moveable cutter a, b, and
parts connected therewith for cutting off the piece of metal from which
a nail or tack is to be made, and for carrying the cut off piece between
the gripping dies, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Secondly. The combination with the said compound cutter a, b, of a
spring arm h, and parts connected with it for holding the cut off piece
on being carried between the gripping dies, substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Heathfield, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD HEATHFIELD. (L.S.)
HENRY GEORGE HEATHFIELD,
Birmingham.