New or Improved Machinery for Reducing the Diameter of and Pointing Screw Blanks, Sewing-machine Needles, and Horse Nails, and for other like Purposes.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 1st June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 27th Feb., 1890-Accepted, 29th Mar., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Machinery for Reducing the Diameter of and
Pointing Screw Blanks, Sewing-machine Needles, and Horse
Nails, and for other like Purposes.
I JOHN SHELDON of No. 10 St. Augustine's Road Birmingham in the County of
Warwick Mechanical Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be
as follows:-
My invention consists of machinery the parts of which are constructed and combined
and operate substantially in the manner hereinafter described.
Machinery constructed according to my invention is particularly applicable to the
preparation of the blanks of wood screws the screw threads of which are formed by
pressure. Machinery constructed according to my invention may also be used for
various other analogous purposes.
"I will describe my invention in connection with blanks for wood screws.
""
The working tools of the machine consist of a pair of symmetrical dies capable of
opening and closing upon one another and which when closed have an "eye
or axial
hole elliptical or nearly elliptical in cross section. The minor axis of the ellipse is
less than the diameter of the blank to be operated upon.
These dies are fixed respectively on the ends of the short arms of a pair of levers
carried by a shaft which slides backwards and forwards in a sleeve which sleeve
carries at opposite points cams which operate on the long arms of the levers the short
arms of which operate the dies. The said sleeve has a reciprocating motion through
an angle of about forty five degrees and by the motion of the sleeve the dies are
alternately closed upon the blanks and opened by the action of the cams on the sleeve.
The dies being open the blank is advanced to a distance equal to the length of the
blank to be operated upon. The dies partially close by the action of the levers and
cams referred to and thereby change the cylindrical figure of the blank into a figure
elliptical in cross section. The dies thus partially closed upon the blank are drawn
towards its end on approaching which they are further and rapidly closed upon the
end of the blank and a tapering or rough pointing of the blank is thereby effected.
The operation I have described is repeated several times preferably five or six the
blank after each operation being compressed in a plane at right angles to the plane
in which it was last compressed that is pressure is applied in the line of the major
axis of the ellipse so that the diameter of the blank is reduced in that direction the
blank being brought to or nearly to a cylindrical figure. By the next pressure in the
same direction the blank is made clliptical the direction of the minor axis of the ellipse
being that of the major axis of the ellipse first formed. In this way the blank is by a
series of operations reduced to the required diameter and roughly pointed without the
disturbance of the molecular condition of the metal which would result if the required
reduction of the diameter were effected at one operation.
The repeated operations I have described are effected by employing several pairs
of tools operating cams and holders each operation requiring one set of the said tools
and appliances. The holders carrying the blanks are fixed to a disc having an
intermittent rotary motion. At each period of rest of the said disk the tools close and
operate on the blank. Several blanks are under operation at the same time each
blank being brought in succession under the operation of the successive dies. By the
angular motion of the disc carrying the blanks they are made to perform in passing
from one position to the succeeding one such an angular motion or partial rotation as
in conjunction with the arrangement of the tools and appliances causes each pair of
tools to operate on the blank in the plane of its longest diameter or in a plane at right

page_text: angles to that in which it was last operated upon and in which it will be next
operated upon.
The motions of the several moving parts are taken from a principal shaft driven by
a steam engine or other prime mover by means of gearing and appliances which I do
not consider it necessary here to describe.
The feeding mechanism is constructed essentially as follows: The blanks to be
operated upon descend by their own weight down a rail of the ordinary kind and are
received in a cup of the ordinary kind. The blank now horizontal is pushed head
foremost into one of the holders which closes upon it during the pause of the rotating
disc carrying the series of holders. After the blank has been finally operated upon a
discharger descends and seizes the blank the holder on the rotating disc opening to
release it. The blank is carried by the said discharger out of the range of the dies
and their appliances and its jaws opening the blank falls into a receiver by which it is
carried out of the machine and dropped into a receptacle. Both the travelling motion
of the discharger and its opening and closing are effected by cams and a secondary
shaft operating through a series of levers.
The application of my invention to purposes other than the treatment of screw
blanks differs in no essential respect from its application to screw blanks as herein-
before described.
Dated this 1st des T1000
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Machinery for Reducing the Diameter of. and
Pointing Screw Blanks, Sewing-machine Needles, and Horse
Nails, and for other like Purposes.
I JOHN SHELDON of No. 10 St. Augustines Road Birmingham in the County of
Warwick Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and the
manner in which the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
My invention consists of machinery the parts of which are constructed and combined
and operate substantially in the manner hereinafter described.
Machinery constructed according to my invention is particularly applicable to the
preparation of the blanks of wood screws the screw threads of which are formed by
pressure. Machinery constructed according to my invention may also be used for
various other analogous purposes.
I will describe my invention in connection with blanks for wood screws.
"
The working tools of the machine consist of a pair of symmetrical dies capable of
opening and closing upon one another and which when closed have an
"
eye or axial
hole elliptical or nearly elliptical in cross section. The minor axis of the ellipse is less
than the diameter of the blank to be operated upon. Or the eyes or axial holes in the
several tools may be alternately elliptical and circular.
These tools or dies are fixed respectively on the ends of the short arms of a pair of
levers carried by a shaft which slides backwards and forwards in a sleeve which sleeve
carries at opposite points, cams which operate on the long arms of the levers, the short
arms of which operate the dies. The said sleeve has a reciprocating motion through
an angle of about forty five degrees and by the motion of the sleeve the dies are
alternately closed upon the blanks and opened by the action of the cams on the sleeve.
The dies being open they advance upon the blank to a distance equal to that portion
of the length of the blank to be operated upon. The dies partially close by the action
of the levers and cams referred to and thereby change the cylindrical figure of the
blank into a figure, elliptical in cross section. The dies thus partially closed upon the
blank are drawn towards its end on approaching which they are further and rapidly
closed upon the end of the blank and a tapering or rough pointing of the blank is
thereby effected.

page_text: The operation 1 have described is repeated several times preferably four or six, the
blank after each operation being compressed in a plane at right angles to the plane in
which it was last compressed, that is, pressure is applied in the line of the major axis
of the ellipse so that the diameter of the blank is reduced in that direction, the blank
being brought to or nearly to a cylindrical figure. By the next pressure in the same
direction the blank is made elliptical the direction of the minor axis of the ellipse
being that of the major axis of the ellipse first formed. In this way the blank is by a
series of operations reduced to the required diameter and roughly pointed without
the disturbance of the molecular condition of the metal which would result if the
required reduction of the diameter were effected at one operation.
The repeated operations I have described are effected by employing several pairs of
tools operating cams and holders, each operation requiring one set of the said tools
and appliances. The holders carrying the blanks are fixed to a drum having an
intermittent rotary motion. At each period of rest of the said drum the tools close
and operate on the blank. Several blanks are under operation at the same time each
blank being brought in succession under the operation of the successive dies. By the
angular motion of the drum carrying the blanks they are made to perforin in passing
from one position to the succeeding one such an angular motion or partial rotation as
in conjunction with the arrangement of the tools and appliances causes each pair of
tools to operate on the blank in the plane of its longest diameter or in a plane at
right angles to that in which it was last operated upon and in which it will be next
operated, upon.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the
manner in which my invention is to be performed. Figure 1 represents in side
elevation and Figure 2 in plan machinery constructed according to my invention for
reducing the diameter of and pointing screw blanks; Figure 3 represents an end
elevation of the machinery taken at the driving shaft end and Figure 4 represents an
end elevation of the machinery taken at the opposite end; Figure 5 represents a cross
section of the machinery taken on the line a, b Figures 1 and 2, the said Figure 5
exhibiting in front elevation the series of working or reducing tools and their position
with respect to one another and Figure 6 represents another cross section of the
machinery taken on the line c, d Figure 2 the said Figure 6 exhibiting the guide
sleeves carrying the cams by which the working tools are opened and closed and
maintained closed and the gearing by which the said sleeves are geared together and
rotated as well as the cam and appliances for operating the sleeve gearing.
Figure 7 represents in longitudinal section the drum in which the sleeves turn
together with their gearing and cams and Figure 8 represents a front elevation of the
same, the said Figures 7 and 8 being drawn to a larger scale than the other Figures
described: Figure 9 represents one of the sleeve cams detached and Figure 10
represents in longitudinal section one of the sleeves detached drawn to the same scale
as Figures 7 and 8: Figure 11 represents one of the pairs of working or reducing
tools of the machine and Figure 12 represents an end elevation and section of one of
the tools; the said tools Figures 11 and 12 being drawn to a larger scale than those
shewn in the machine.
Figure 13 represents the blank before it is operated upon and Figures 14, 15,
16 and 17 represent the manner in which the blank Figure 13 is successively operated
upon by the machine to reduce the diameter of a portion of its shank as hereinafter
particularly explained.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the
Drawings.
I will describe the machine as arranged for reducing, without pointing, the
diameter of portions of the shanks of screw blanks.
e, e², e³, and e, (see Figure 5) are the four pairs of working tools of the machine,
each pair of tools being carried on the short arms of pairs of levers f, which are
jointed to snugs or enlargements on the shafts, the several shafts h, h working
through guide sleeves i, i and being connected to the disc h² to which a reciprocating
sliding motion is given. The pairs of working tools e, e³ e³ and e* are simultaneously

page_text: opened and closed for gripping and releasing the several screw blanks under
operation by means of the cams, 2 on the ends of the sleeves i, i acting upon the
long arms of the levers f,f on the short arms of which the tools are carried. The
said cams have rises at opposite points (see Figures 8 and 9). The sleeves i, i
carrying the cams turn in the tubular bearings 3 supported by the fixed drum i*
(see Figure 7) and the said sleeves i, i are geared together by the pinions 2³, 25 on
them. By driving one of the pinions, in the manner hereinafter described, a
reciprocating motion through an angle of about 45 degrees is simultaneously given to
the several sleeves i, i. It is by this angular motion of the sleeves that the working
tools e, e², e³, e, are simultaneously opened and closed, that is, when the sleeves i, i are
turned in one direction the rises of the cams 22, are brought between and made to
separate the long arms of the tool levers f, f and thereby close the tools, and when
the said sleeves i, i are turned in the opposite direction so as to take the rises of the
cams out of action, the said tools open by the action of springs not shewn in the
drawing.
The shape of the working tools will be best understood by referring to the enlarged
views Figures 11 and 12. Each pair of tools consists of two symmetrical dies fixed
in holders on the short arms of the operating levers f.
The eyes or acting openings of the several pairs of dies are preferably
alternately elliptical and circular or they may all be elliptical so that the blank is
first changed from a circular figure in cross section to an elliptical figure in cross
section, next from an elliptical figure in cross section to a circular figure in cross
section the last pair of dies or tools giving a circular figure in cross section to the
blank.
The reciprocating sliding motion of the several pairs of tools is effected by the
crank on the crank shaft l'connecting rod k³, cross head 3 and adjusting connecting
piece 4, the latter being secured to the disc h² to which the several shafts h, h are
bolted. The crank shaft is driven from the driving shaft 12 through the pinion 13
and spur wheel 14.
The reciprocating angular motion is communicated to one of the pinions gearing
the several sleeves i, i together by the cam m² on the countershaft m of the machine
operating the oscillating arm m³ turning on the centre m³, the said arm m³ being
connected by the connecting rod m³ to a collar on one of the sleeves i as best seen
in Figure 6. The countershaft m is driven from the crank shaft / through the bevil
wheels me.
The several parts of the mechanism which I have described are so arranged that
the working tools are made to close upon the blanks when the said tools have
reached the end of their back or return stroke in the direction of the holders of the
machine, the forward or advance stroke of the said closed tools upon the blanks in
the direction of the end of the blank effecting the drawing or reduction in diameter
of the said blanks as hereinafter explained. During the forward stroke of the tools
they are kept closed by the long arms of the tool levers f travelling upon the rises
of the cams (see Figure 1).
The holders in which the several screw blanks are held during the operation of
the closed dies or tools e, e², e³, e¹, upon them and while the angular motion is given
to the said blanks, are marked n, n, n. The said holders n, n, n, are carried by a
drum p fixed on the shaft p2 the said drum working in a fixed cylindrical case or
bearing. The said drum carrying the holders n has an intermittent rotary
motion given to it and is brought to rest by the mechanism hereinafter described,
each movement of the drum carrying it through the sixth of a rotation. By this
intermittent motion communicated to the holders, the several blanks carried by them
are brought in succession under the operation of the several pairs of tools e, e², e³, e¹.
Each holder n consists of a pair of levers the short arms of which are closed by
the action upon their long arms of the sliding wedges n² (see Figure 1) pressed
outwards or from the holders by coiled springs around the rods of the said wedges,
each pair of levers being opened to release the finished blank by means of the cam
lever q operated by the eam q² on the countershaft m, the inner arm of the said cam

page_text: lever acting against the outer end of the rod carrying the wedge n² when by the.
intermittent motion of the drum p, the said holder has come to rest and brought the
said rod opposite the said. cam lever q (see Figure 2).
The intermittent motion of the drum p carrying the holders n is effected by the
stop wheel on the shaft p² of the drum p and the stud wheel 2 on the end of the
countershaft m (see Figure 4).
The said stop wheel r is provided with six radial slots 3, in which the stud 24
on the rotating stud wheel ² successively engages to give motion through a sixth of
a rotation to the said stop wheel and consequently to the drum p carrying the
holders n.
On the stud escaping from the slot the circular edge of the stud
wheel works in one of the curved recesses in the stop wheel and thereby prevents
the further rotation of the said stop wheel drum and holders, until the stud 23
engages with another of the slots as will be understood by an examination of
Figure 4.
?"
The screw blanks to be operated upon descend by their own weight down the
slotted rails and are received in the cup s². The blank in the cup s² now horizontal
is pushed head foremost by the lever 3 and its horizontal rod operated by the
cam s on the shaft m into one of the holders n in the drum p which drum has come
to rest.
The holder n closing, grips the blank and by the step like or intermittent motion
of the drum p the blank is carried in succession opposite the several pairs of
tools e, e², e, e, to be operated upon by the said tools. After the blank has been
finally operated upon a discharger or pair of fingers t descends by the action of the
cam u through the lever and parts at a and seizes the blank, the holder n opening to
release it. The blank is carried by the said discharger or pair of fingers tout of
the range of the tools and the jaws of the said discharger opening, the blank falls
into a receiver by which it is carried out of the machine and dropped into a
receptacle.
The discharging mechanism as well as the feeding mechanism differ in no essential
respect from mechanisms used for similar purposes in screw threading or worming
machines and I therefore do not think it necessary more fully to describe the
same.
I will now describe the action of the machine upon one blank. A blank of the
kind represented in Figure 13 having been fed to one of the holders n, the said
holder closes upon it and by the intermittent motion of the drum p the said blank
is carried opposite, say, the pair of tools e and comes to rest. The tools e being
open make their back or return sliding motion in the manner before described
so that the open tools pass onto the blank to a distance equal to that portion of
the length of the blank to be operated upon. The tools e now partially close upon
the blank by the action of the cams 2 and the mechanism hereinbefore described and
afterwards make their advance sliding motion, that is, move towards the end of the
blank. By the pressure and travelling of the nearly closed tools e upon the blank the
cylindrical form of that part of the blank to be wormed is changed into an elliptical
form in cross section as represented in Figure 14. The tools e having thus operated
upon the blank open and by the angular motion of the drum p the partially reduced
blank Figure 14 is carried opposite the second pair of tools e² and comes to rest. The
said second pair of tools e² now operate upon the blank in a plane at right angles to
the plane in which the first pair of tools e operated upon it so as to give the reduced
portion of the blank a cylindrical figure as represented in Figure 15. The blank
figure 15 is next carried opposite to and operated upon by the pair of tools e³ which
acts upon it in the same direction as the pair of tools e² so as to give the reduced
portion of the blank the elliptical form represented in Figure 16. The blank,
Figure 16 is next carried opposite to and operated upon by the fourth pair of tools et
by the action of which pressure is applied to the blank in the line of the major axis of
the ellipse so as to give the reduced part of the blank the cylindrical form repre-
sented in Figure 17. Thus, each pair of tools operates on the blank in the plane of
its longest diameter or in a plane at right angles to that in which it was last

page_text: operated upon and in which it will be next operated upon as will be understood by an
examination of Figures 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. By the operations described the blank
is lengthened and the portion of the blank operated upon has a cylindrical figure of a
reduced diameter.
Although for convenience of description I have described the successive operations
of the tools e, e³, e³, e¹ upon one blank yet it must be understood that four
blanks are under operation at the same time, each blank being brought in succession
under the operation of the successive tools. More than four pairs of working tools
may be used in the machine.
When the screw blanks are to be pointed as well as portions of their length reduced
in diameter the tools e, e, es, et (and the other tools employed) as they approach the
end of the blanks are further and rapidly closed on the blanks and a tapering or rough
pointing of the blanks thereby effected. For this purpose the sleeve cams 2 are
somewhat modified in configuration and the further and rapid closing of the
tools e, e², e³, e¹ by the action of the modified sleeve cams is effected by the
operation of a second rise on the cam m² on the shaft m, which second rise does not
come into action until the drawing down or reducing tools have travelled nearly to
the ends of the blanks; the said second rise then operating through the oscillating
arm m³ connecting rod m³ and collar gives a further motion through a small
angle to the pinions and sleeve cams 2 for the pointing operation as described.
The application of my invention to purposes other than the treatment of screw
blanks, such for example as the reducing and pointing of sewing machine needles,
and horse nails, and like articles, differs in no essential respect from its application
to screw blanks as hereinbefore described and illustrated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and
the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as my
invention of "New or improved machinery for reducing the diameter of and pointing
screw blanks, sewing machine needles and horse nails and for other like purposes:"
First. The construction and combination of parts hereinbefore described and illus-
trated in the accompanying drawings for holding and releasing the blanks or articles
to be reduced in diameter or reduced in diameter and pointed and giving them an
intermittent motion around the principal axis of the machine substantially as described
and illustrated.
Secondly. The construction and combination of parts hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings for effecting the closing and opening of the
dies or drawing tools and for maintaining the closed position of the said dies or tools
during their travelling over that portion of the blanks or articles to be reduced in
diameter or to be both reduced in diameter and pointed, substantially as described and
illustrated.
Thirdly. The construction and combination of parts hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings for giving the reciprocating sliding motion
to the series of working dies or tools of the machine.
Lastly. The arrangement of the holders and holding mechanism with the working
dies or tools and their appliances so that the blank or article is in each operation com-
pressed or reduced in a direction at right angles to that in which it was last operated
upon and in which it will be next operated upon substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Dated this 15th day of February 1890.
JOHN SHELDON.