IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SMOOTHING THE SURFACES OF METALLIC NUTS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Horatio Harfield, of 113, Fenchurch Street,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CUTTING AND SMOOTHING THE SURFACES OF METALLIC NUTS."-A com-
munication.
Sealed the 15th August 1856, and dated the 14th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Horatio Harfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th May 1856.
I, WILLIAM HORATIO HARFIELD, of 113, Fenchurch Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SMOOTHING THE SURFACES OF METALLIC NUTS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object, improvements in machinery for cutting
and smoothing the surfaces of metallic nuts, and consists of a peculiar
combination of mechanical parts. For this purpose, a rotatory wheel or disc
having cutters on its under side is mounted on a suitable upright shaft,
provision being made for pressing such wheel or disc into action by the
elasticity of a spring coiled round the shaft or axis. The upright axis or shaft

page_text: receives rotatory motion in any convenient manner. The metallic nuts to be
cut or smoothed are placed on pins fixed to, the links of an endless chain,
which is carried by and receives motion from chain wheels. The part of the
chain which is for the time being-uppermost is supported at the bottom of a
grooved or bent plate fixed on a grooved table. The groove of the bent plate
has inclined sides. The nuts, as they are moved by the chain under the wheel
or disc, are sustained by two plates, one on either side of the groove, and the
nuts are guided by the edges of two other plates, which are adjustable to
accommodate for different sizes of nuts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Horatio Harfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HORATIO HARFIELD, of 113, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth 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
William Horatio Harfield, Her special licence that I, the said William
Horatio Harfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Horatio Harfield, 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 CUTTING AND SMOOTHING THE SURFACES OF
METALLIC NUTS," a communication, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Horatio Harfield, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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 Patênt.

page_text: . NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said. William Horatio Harfield; 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:-
This Invention has for its object, improvements in machinery, for. cutting
and smoothing the surfaces of metallic nuts, and consists of a peculiar
combination of mechanical parts. For this purpose, a rotatory wheel or disc
having cutters on its under sido is mounted on a suitable upright shaft,
provision being made for pressing such wheel or disc into action by the
elasticity of a spring coiled round the shaft or axis. The upright axis or shaft
receives rotatory, motion in any convenient manner. The metallic nuts to be
cut or smoothed are placed on pins fixed to the links of an endless chain,
which is carried by, and receives motion from chain wheels. The part of the
chain which is for the time being, uppermost is supported at the bottom of a
grooved or bent plate fixed on a grooved table. The groove of the bent plātē
has inclined sides. The nuts, as they are moved by the chain under the
wheel or disc, are sustained by two plates, one on either side of the groove,
and the nuts are guided by the edges of two other plates, which are adjustable
to accommodate for different sizes of nuts.
Figure 1 is a top view; Figure 2, a side elevation. of the machine, witli. a
portion of its platform: outside of the line W, W, of Figure 1, cut away;
Figure 3; a vertical section in the line 2,.2, of Figure 1; Figure 4, a plan of the
planing wheel-detached from the machine; and Figures 5, 6, and 7 are views.
of detached portions of the machine.. Similar letters indicate like parts in all-
the Figures:
The rough surfaces of metallic nuts are smoothed off in the aforesaid
machine by the action of cutters i, i, projecting below the 'under surface of
the horizontal planing wheel D: The said cutters i, i, are placed between
flanches, which rise inwardly from the edges of slots in the face of the wheel D,
and they are secured therein in any desired position, by means of set screws j,j,
as shown in Figures 4 and 5. The metallic nuts are operated upon by, the-
planing wheel D; as they are carried in a guiding channel under the centre of.
said wheel, upon pins c,. c, which project from alternate links of an endless
chain composed of the links a and b, as shown in the Drawings.
During a portion of its revolution the said endless chain passes through a...
metal-lined groove f, in the platform F of the machine, which passes directly
under the centre of the planing wheel D. Plates e, e, rest upon the outwardly-
projecting flanches of the lining of the groove f, and project inwards over said

page_text: groove nearly to the pins c, c, which rise from the links a, a, of said endless
chain; which plates are firmly secured and form supports for the nuts whilst
they are carried under the face of the planing wheel, and are operated upon
by its cutters. The edges of said nuts are supported during their progress
under the planing wheel D, by the side plates d, d, which rest upon the
aforesaid plates e, e, and which are secured in any desired position by means
of the set screws g, g, which pass through transverse slots in said side plates,
and also through apertures in the plates e, e, and the flanches of the lining.
plate of the groove finto the platform F.
From the front side of the machine to a point under the centre of the
planing wheel D, the chain groove f inclines upwards; and from said point
the said groove passes horizontally forwards to the rear side of the machine.
The upward inclination of the said chain groove enables the nuts to be brought
gradually under the cutter wheel, and prevents the periphery of said wheel from
striking against the sides of the nuts as they approach, and arresting their
progress.
The endless chain passes over the grooved roller A, placed at the front end
of the chain groove f, and over the actuating horned wheel B, situated at the
after end of said groove. The series of double horns h, h, of the wheel B,
embrace between them the narrow links b, b, of the endless chain, and pass
between the ends of its broad links a, a, which enables said wheel when put in
motion to impart the requisite movement to the endless chain. The shank of
the forked bearing support r of the wheel A is secured in a projection from
the slotted plate S, which is secured to the under side of the platform F by
means of the set screws t, t, which enables the endless chain to be tightened.
or loosened as circumstances may require. The horned wheel B is secured
to the shaft K, which works in the bearings v, v, that are secured to the rear
side of the platform F. The shaft G of the planing wheel D is secured
within its supporting boxes in such a manner that it can be so adjusted as to:
be brought within any desired distance of the platform F, and also in such a
manner that the said shaft can be moved lengthwise in its journal boxes and be
pressed downwards.by the action of a spring. The lower journal box of the
shaft G is at the extremity of the arm n which projects from the upright E, .
and the upper end of said shaft is received into a socket. in the adjustable-
journal box p, that is secured in an aperture in the extremity of the arm o,
which forms the upper extremity of the upright E. Near the upper end of the
shaft G an annular groove is formed in its periphery, and a feather m, which
passes through a transverse slit in one side of the socket in the box. p, passes

page_text: into the said annular groove in the shaft. The feather m, being considerably
narrower than the annular groove in the shaft G, and the socket in the box p
being of the requisite depth, the said feather serves to secure the upper end of
the shaft G within the box p, and at the same time allows the shaft to play
upwards, until its upper end is brought in contact with the bottom of the
reversed socket in said box. A helical spring encloses the lower portion of
the shaft G, which spring rests upon a shoulder on the shaft just above the hub
of the planing wheel, and the upper end thereof bears against the under side
of the outer extremity of the supporting arm n, and which therefore serves to
give the face of the planing wheel D an elastic bearing upon the face of the
nuts operated upon thereby, when the said shaft is secured. within its suspending
box in such a manner as to allow longitudinal play therein. Above the lower
journal box of the shaft G a sleeve is placed upon said shaft, the weight of
which is received upon a washer resting upon the said journal box. A bevil
wheel H on the shaft G rests upon the upper end of the aforesaid sleeve k;
the shaft G plays freely through the bevel wheel II and the sleeve k, but is
prevented from turning within said wheel and sleeve by a feather and groove,
or other equivalent device. The inner end of the shaft J which carries the
driving bevil pinion I is supported by the pendant o¹, from the curved portion o
of the standard E, and the outer end of said shaft works in a journal box
secured to the side of said standard. Motion is communicated from the driving
shaft J to the nut carrying endless chain by means of the band u, which
connects a pulley on said driving shaft with a pulley on the shaft K of the
horned wheel B. The planing wheel D may be adjusted to the proper position
to suit the thickness of the nuts operated upon by means of the nut q, which
works on a screw shank projecting from the upper end of the socket journal
box p, and the set screw p¹, which passes through a vertical screw aperture in
the side of the perforation in the arm o, and bears against the side of said
journal box, as shown in Figure 3. The metallic nuts to be operated upon are
placed upon the steadying pins c, c, rising from the links a, a, of the endless
chain at any portion of the space between the grooved roller A, and the
periphery of the planing wheel. The said nuts are gradually brought in contact
with the cutters of the planing wheel as they pass up the inclined plane to a
point under the centre of said wheel, and from that point to the opposite side
of the planing wheel the cutters i, i, trim off all the rough portions of the
upper sides of the nuts, and reduces them to perfectly smooth surfaces.
Having thus fully described the improved machine for smoothing the sides
of metallic nuts, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters

page_text: Patent, is, the arrangement of the planing, wheel- D, and the nut carrying
endless chain, with the partially inclined and partially horizontal groove f; the
sustaining plates e, e, and the edge-guiding, plates d, d, or their equivalents;
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, tlie said William Horatio Harfield, liave hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six..
Witness,
CHAS. AAUEUSEN..
WH. HARFIELD. (L.s.)