IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL PENS, PARTS OF WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE IN THE PRODUCTION OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Nelson, trading as William Nelson &
Co., of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Steel Pen Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
STEEL PENS, PARTS OF WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE IN
THE PRODUCTION OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES."
Sealed the 16th November 1875, and dated the 31st May 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Nelson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st May 1875.
I, WILLIAM NELSON, trading as William Nelson & Co., of Birming-
ham, in the County of Warwick, Steel Pen Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF STEEL PENS, PARTS OF WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE IN THE PRODUCTION OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES," to be as follows
(that is to say):-
My Invention is entirely restricted to the so arranging and forming
the necessary cutting out tools for cutting out the blanks of steel pens

page_text: and other like articles that the form and arrangement of the said tools
shall conduce to prolonging their working condition, and to economizing
the material that is being cut. This I purpose effecting by so arranging
the tools that in working I cut the articles one out of the other, so as to
allow none or a very small portion of metal to be wasted between the
said blanks so cut out.
By this process I am enabled greatly to economize the steel used for
the manufacture of pens and penholders, percussion caps, and other
similar articles that admit the application of my arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Nelson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
tho 25th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NELSON, trading as William Nelson & Co., of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Steel Pen Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, 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 successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Nelson, Her special license that
I, the said William Nelson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Nelson, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE MANU-
FACTURE OF STEEL PENS, PARTS OF WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPICABLE
IN THE PRODUCTION OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Nelson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, by an instrument in writing under my or 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 Scal Patent Office within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Nelson, 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
My Invention is entirely restricted to the so arranging and forming
the necessary cutting out tools for cutting out the blanks of steel pens
and other like articles that the form and arrangement of the said tools
shall conduce to prolonging their working condition and to economizing
the material that is being cut. This I purpose effecting by so arranging
the tools that in working I cut the articles oue out of the other, so as to
allow none or a very small portion of metal to be wasted between the
said blanks so cut out.
By this process I am enabled greatly to economize the steel used for
the manufacture of pens and penholders, percussion caps, and other
similar articles that admit the application of my improvement as will
be fully understood by the following description, aided by the Drawings
hereunto annexed, which I will now proceed to describe:-
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
In the cutting out of blanks for steel pens, say of the shape shown in
the flat at Fig. 1, I proceed in the following way:-I produce a com-
pound bed, as exhibited at Fig. 2, for placing and adjusting concentrically
on the base part of a fly press, which is a tool or apparatus adapted for
hand labour, the appliance of which may be said to be indispensable in
the manufacture of steel pens, and is an apparatus not only well under-
stood by superior artizans accustomed to pen manufacture, but also to
girls and underworkers used to steel pen making in its various branches,
from the cutting out of the blanks (as at Figure 1) to the piercing,
shaping, and slitting, all of which operations are performed by the aid
of the fly press, except when a portion of such operations are executed by
the agency of steam, when the working tools are arranged and adapted
5 accordingly, but I prefer to continue my description as effected by the
appliances herein-before referred to, and with this view 1 apply to the

page_text: vertical bolster of a press (on the base of which the compound bed,
Fig. 2, has been adjusted) a top tool, such as shown in a front view
at Fig. 3 and face view at Fig. 4, in which the steel parts marked a, a,
and b, b, are the counterparts of the open or vacant spaces c, c, and d, d,
of Fig. 2, and in suitable proximity to the top tool, Fig. 3, a double
cutter is secured at the right distance for alternately dividing off a pen
blank (as will be hereafter scen) by the said cutters passing down
slightly obliquely against the parallel face of the bed e, e, and f, f, with
a scissor-like action, and with tools thus adjusted a strip of steel, as
exhibited at Fig. 5, is passed by the operator in the direction of the
arrow over the bed, Figure 2, when the descent of the bolster by a
swing of the press fly will make the pierce holes 9, g, and h, h, and by
advancing the strip in the direction of the arrow the next descent of the
tool by the repeated swing of the fly will not only pierce out the
holes k, k, and 1, 1, but will divide off the pen blank marked A, when
the next descent of the top tool will divide off the next blank in rotation
marked B, and so ou from C and D until the whole length of steel is
pierced and cut off, thus not only economizing the material by reducing
the waste, but also the time in sustaining the tools in condition by
simply dividing cach blank by a direct cut, as at e, e, and f, f, Figs. 2
and 5. This economy will be apparent when I state that the present
mode of cutting out steel pen blanks is by cutting the blank in one con-
tinuous outline by the descent of a top tool and counter bed of the exact
shape and size of the blank to be cut out, and as a consequence a great
deal of waste is made, with addional work and wear of tools.
In giving effect to this portion of my Invention, as will be well
understood by skilled toolmakers accustomed to the production of steel
pens (as reference to Fig. 6 will show), in which by the same arrange-
ment of the tools and mode of operating I produce the pens in blank, as
therein indicated, the only metal that is wasted being the small curved
appertures that give form to the nibs of the pens, which said appertures,
in like manner as herein-before described, are progressively pierced and
the pen blanks divided off, thereby making about one third more or less
blanks from the same superficies of steel than are produced by the mode
now commonly pursued.
In applying my Invention to the manufacture of percussion caps I
simply pursue (by preference) the mode as illustrated at Fig 7, in which
case I take a strip of copper or other suitable metal, say of the width

page_text: defined by the parallel lines E and F, and of the desired guage in thick-
ness, and set my tools in a diagonal direction, and by piercing out the
small angular parts not required for percussion caps the strip would be
divided up into as many strips as there are cap blanks (say five), and such
strips after being so divided up, as indicated by the outlines, each
marked m, I take each strip of partially formed blanks and pass it
through suitable tools, as attached to the bolster of a fly press, that shall
divide off each blank through the dotted lines marked n, and at the same
time as each separate blank is divided off a circular shaping punch
simultaneously descends and puts the blank into the form as shown in a
top and side view at Fig. S, by taking the blank down into a hollow bed,
and as the shaping tool ascends I apply a striker, which strikes off from
the end of the shaping punch cach cap in succession as formed, an
appliance that is not novel in the production of hollow caps that have
a tendency to stick to the end of the shaping punch on which they aro
formed.
I have not thought it necessary to diversify the shape of the caps or
the order in which they may be conveniently produced by my improved
arrangement, as this will be understood by experienced toolmakers
accustomed to their production.
At Figs. 9 and 10 I have represented in an end and flat view, drawn
to an enlarged size, differently formed joints for broach pins, and at
Figs. 11 and 12 I have shown in the flat the form in which I pierce and
divide off the bits of metal from which such broach pin joints are made,
and to produce which I pursue the following method :—I take a strip of
metal, as at Fig. 13, and pass it in through the rectangular orifice
marked o, o, Fig. 14, which is a front view of a compound bed, of which
Fig. 15 is a top view, and which strip of metal is stopped by abutting
against the vertical face of the part p, standing at the back of the guide
piece q. The parallel dotted lines on this part, as seen at Fig. 15,
indicate the direction the strip, Fig. 13, is fed in at.
In the guide
piece a rectangular hole is made, the use of which will be hiercafter
referred to.
Figs. 16, 17, and 18 represent front, back, and side views respectively
of a compound top tool for screwing up in the bolster of a fly press, and
for illustration I will assume that the top tool, Fig. 16, is placed
vertically over the bed, Fig. 15, so that the part is in position for

page_text: descending into the rectangular hole in the part q, at which time by
laterally withdrawing the strikert (by the attendant pulling towards her
the lever handle u, to which it is attached by reason of its working on
the fulcrum v, as shown in dotted lines), the strip of metal, as at
Fig. 13, may be advanced, and the descent of the top tool will simul-
taneously perform two operations, videlicet, pierce out the hole w, as
at Fig. 13, and then by aid of the cutter off marked * (shown at
Figs. 16 and 18) divide off the small forward bit marked y, Fig. 13,
on the forked part of which the shaper z (as shown at Figs. 16 and 18)
descends and presses this part into a semicircular form, with the flap
part taken down vertically by the cutter & until it assumes the form as
at y', when the strikert (after the ascent of the compound top tool)
advances and presses the part forward in the groove in which it has been
partially shaped, when another tool (which may be worked either hori-
zontally, vertically, or diagonally with the bed) operates on the semi-
formed joint, and places it into the finished shape, as shown in an end
and flat view at Fig. 9, Fig. 11 simply representing the blank of which
it has been formed, but these parts are exhibited enlarged for better

page_text: desire to protect by these my in part recited Letters Patent is, the
economizing of material by the use of tools and labour in the production
of small articles made from sheet metal, and which particularly applies
to the cutting out of the blanks of steel pens and other small ware not
hitherto so produced by the compound tools and operations herein
described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Nelson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent,
WILLIAM NELSON. (L.S.)
16, Ann St.,
Birmingham.