AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF FLATTENING OR SHAPING WIRE, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED THEREFOR.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Foxwell, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Card Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF FLATTENING OR SHAPING WIRE, AND IN THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED THEREFOR.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Foxwell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th January 1875.
I, DANIEL FOXWELL, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Card Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of thé said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF FLATTENING OR SHAPING
WIRE, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED THEREFOR," to be as
follows:-
.
The object of this Invention is to obtain flat or other shaped metal
wire of greater strength in proportion to its transverse section or area
than can be obtained by the present mode of manufacture, the wire

page_text: being principally intended to be used in the making of wire cards for
carding engines, although it may be usefully employed for other purposes
where it is desirable to obtain the maximum strength in the minimum
space. I take ordinary round drawn wire and cause it to be subjected
to a continuous hammering as it passes from.one drum through suitable
guides or tension drags made of two pieces of metal or other substance,
the inner surfaces of which are covered with leather or other suitable
material to the taking-up drum or roller, which is driven by power in
the ordinary way. The hammer is actuated by tappets, cams, or springs,
or in any desired manner; and if other shapes are required to be
hammered all that is necessary is to form recesses in the hammers and
anvils of the shape required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel Foxwell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th July 1875.
I
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
FOXWELL, of the City of Manchester, Card Manufacturer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Daniel Foxwell, Her special
license that I, the said Daniel Foxwell, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Daniel Foxwell, 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 "AN IMPROVED
MODE. OR METHOD OF FLATTENING OR SHAPING WIRE, AND IN THE MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS USED THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Daniel Foxwell, 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
.

page_text: 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 Daniel Foxwell, 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, reference being had to the figures and letters on
the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings (that is to say):—.
The object of this Invention is to produce flat or other shaped metal
wire of greater strength and hardness in proportion to its transverse
section or arca than can be obtained by the present mode of manu-
facture, the wire being principally intended to be used in the making.
of wire cards for carding engines, although it may be usefully employed.
for other purposes where it is desirable to obtain firmer and harder
grained metal. with greater strength. I take ordinary. round drawn.
wire and cause it to be subjected to a continuous hammering as it passes
from a letting-off drum through suitable guides or tension drags to a
winding-on drum or roller driven by power in the ordinary way, and
the hammer which is actuated by a tappet, cam, or 'eccentric and spring,
or in any other manner, can act on one, two, three, or more wires as
may be desired..
On the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings Fig. 1 is a front
elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, Fig. 3 an end clevation, Fig. 4 a transverso
section, and Fig. 5 an cularged view of some of the parts of an arrange-
ment of machinery and apparatus in which three round wires are
flattened by a hammer forced down by an eccentric and raised by a
spring.
On legs or standards a is fixed a frame to which is fitted a block c
and slide d, kept in their places by plates e and bolts f, and in the upper
end of the block there is an anvil g, and at the bottom of the slide a
hammer ; the bottom of the block rests on a wedge i supported on a
slab or table k at the bottom of the frame, and the top of the slab is so
inclined as to make the top of the wedge perfectly level; and for
adjusting the wedge and holding it at any required position I employ..
screws m and set nuts n, the screws passing through tapped holes in the
snugs o.
In the top of the slide d there is a small cup or hollow to
which is fitted the bottom of a rod p, having at the top a semicircular

page_text: bearing in which is placed an eccentric on the smart 7 working i
bearings at the top of the frame 6, and mounted with a pulleys and fly.
wheels t, the pulley being connected by a strap to a large pulley on any
suitablo driving shaft. In the slide d there is a slot and a recessed
hole v, and through the slot is passed a strut or support w held firm by
fitting its ends in recesses formed in the frame, or by any other means,
and in the recessed hole there is a spiral spring having its upper end
in contact with the end of the hole, and its lower end resting on the
strut or support w.
The wires to be flattened, marked a¹ in Figs. 1 and 2, are placed as
coils on the drums 6', and working loose on spindles fixed to the table c¹,
and from the drums the wires are passed onwards between tension
drags d', and through guiding holes in the plates e¹, f¹, to the winding-on
drums held to vertical shafts g¹ working in bearings in the frame h¹, and
to the shafts are fixed pulleys k communicating by crossed straps /
with pulleys n¹ fixed to the horizontal shaft o¹ having at one end the fast
pulley p. The guiding holes in the several plates e, f, aro level with
the bottoms of the drums next the flanges, so that the wires shall con-
tinuously wind on at the bottom and gradually raise the wire on the
drums as the winding proceeds, and the tension drags which are made
by two pieces of metal or other substance have on their inner surface.
strips of leather or other friction material, the drag on the wires being
regulated by the screws q'.
In Fig. 2 it will be seen that the centres of the letting-off drums and
the winding-on drums are not in line, the object being to enable the
wires to be let off and wound on without coming in contact or interfering
with each other, and when the shafts g', o', are caused to revolve the
hammer moves up and down with great rapidity and hammers the wires
into a hardened and flattened shape, admirably adapted for enabling the
teeth of wire cards to be of greater strength for resisting the wear and
tear than any teeth of equal area hitherto made.
The diamater of the round wires and the size, strength, and arrange-
ment of the machinery and apparatus are varied according to the
requirements, and when round wires are required to be hammered into
other shapes than flat all that is necessary is to form shapes or recesses
in the hammer and anvil of the shape required.

page_text: Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Inven-
tion, and one manner in which the same can or may be performed, I
desire it to be understood that I claim the flattening or shaping of round
wires by causing them to be subjected to a continuous hammering as
they pass from letting-off to winding-on drums, and also the machinery
and apparatus for effecting the object, as herein described and illustrated
on the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings, or any modification
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