Improvements in the Manufacture of Sewing Needles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Oct., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 17th June, 1899-Accepted, 18th Nov., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Sewing Needles.
We, JOHN MORGAN, of Studley, near Redditch, in the County of Warwick,
Needle Manufacturer, and JOHN CASSELL, of Astwood Bank, near Redditch
aforesaid, Foreman of Works, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
-
This invention relates to improvements in the process of forming the eyed
ends of needles and has for its object, to simplify the process of manufacture
by dispensing with the side burrings usually produced by the operation of
stamping up the eyes and by obviating the threading of the needles upon wires,
technically known as spitting," prior to the removal of the said burrs by
grinding or filing.
According to the old process, needles are made from a length of wire.
sufficient to form two needles, which is pointed at each end and then the middle
part is brightened to facilitate the stamping and eyeing processes, the former.
of which is effected by acting on the said middle part in a stamp which produces
what is known in the trade as a "burr," consisting of a flat or spread-out web
of metal on each side of the pair of eyes formed by the stamp. The blank is
now eyed and the next stage is to remove the burrs, which is commonly done
by first spitting" the double length blanks by threading the eyes upon a pair
of fine wires and filing off the burrs, then breaking the lengths transversely
between the eyes so as to form two pieces the heads of which are finished by
rounding off with a file. Or the needles are threaded on to spits and then
broken into single lengths and the burr is ground off and the head shaped on a
stone.
Now in order to avoid the production of such side "burrs" and to obviate
the laborious process of threading the lengths onto wire spits previous to filing.
propose to operate upon the middle of the double length wires by tools that
will only spread out the metal laterally to a breadth corresponding to the width
the eyed head required, without any side burrs or webs, which only occur at
the junction of the one head with the other. In other words, the cross section
of the needle at the eyed part is of the finished shape required. The lengths
are then broken across the thin web dividing the two heads, which have prac-
tically straight transverse ends above the eyes, thus leaving only a very slight
amount of superfluous metal to be removed from the opposite corners. These
corner burrs are removed and the heads are perfectly rounded off by applying
them, without previously threading on spits, to a rapidly revolving stone, which
is so adjusted relative to the needle blanks as to only act upon those parts
which it is desired to get rid of.
The principal difference between the improved tools and those ordinarily
employed resides in the hub, which is so constructed that the impression it
makes upon the die is of such a character as to swallow up all the "burr" or
in other words, to displace the metal that would otherwise form the burr,
inwards and thus leaving it around the eye instead of spreading it outwards.

page_text: The tools consist of top and bottom female dies having counterpart sinkings
of the figure of the two needle head ends to be produced, with the head sinkings
being a little broader and deeper than the shanks of the needles and they are
also separated by a slightly set-down division with the centres of the sinkings
having raised punch-like middle. parts, the combined depths of a pair of which
are equal to the depth of the eye sinking to be formed, and these parts taper
away into ribs which form the thread leads adjacent to the eyes. The whole of
the side walls of the sinkings are chamfered to give the desired figure to the
needle eyes.
Dated this 17th day of Ontahan 1800
Improvements in the Manufacture of Sewing Needles.
We, JOHN MORGAN, of Studley, near Redditch, in the County of Warwick,
Needle Manufacturer, and JOHN CASSELL, of Astwood Bank, near Redditch
aforesaid, Foreman of Works, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
-
This invention relates to improvements in the process of forming the eyed
ends of needles and has for its object, to simplify the process of manufacture
which is performed in such a way that no side burrings, such as are usually
produced by the operation of stamping up the eyes, are formed, whilst the
operation of threading the needles upon wires, technically known as "spitting,"
prior to the removal of the said burrs by grinding or filing is dispensed with.
According to our invention, we propose to operate upon the middles of the
double length wires from which needles are made, by tools that will only
shape the heads without producing any side burrs or webs, other than those
which occur at the ends, or at the junction of the one head with the other.
The lengths are then broken across the thin web dividing the two heads, thus
leaving only a very slight amount of superfluous metal at the opposite corners,
which is removed, and the heads perfectly rounded off, by any suitable process.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a length of wire, pointed
at each end and from which two needles are fashioned.
Figure 2 represents the said blank after the "stamping" of the middle part,
which forms the eye sinkings a, and a slight web a² dividing the two needle
lengths a, a, from one another.
Figure 3 represents a plan and Figure 4 an edge view after the eyes have
been pierced.
Figure 5 represents the two partly-fashioned needles formed by breaking the
double length shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 in two across the web a², dividing
the two heads a³. 1, b indicates the small excresences or flattened pieces of
superfluous metal, which are removed by grinding or otherwise.
Figure 6 represents a plan of one of the improved stamping dies.
in
Figure 7 is a sectional view of the pair of dies, upon an enlarged scale,
taken through the dotted line Figure 6 and with a needle head between them.
Figure is a like sectional view but with the needle head removed. Figure 9
is a longitudinal section of Figure 7 upon the dotted line ¹, whilst Figure 10

page_text: is a diagramatic view of the tools in operation, and upon a still further enlarged
scale.
The improved tools consist of top and bottom female dies c, d, each having
double counterpart sinkings or matrices c¹, c², d¹, d³, respectively of the figure
of a longitudinal half of the two needle head-ends to be produced, and being
separated by a raised division c³ which forms the dividing web a², whilst the
centres of the matrices have raised punch-like middle parts or posts ct, c³, d³,
the combined depths of a pair of which are equal to the depth of the eye sink-
ing to be formed, and these parts taper away into ribs e, c', which form the
thread leads a (see Figure 5) adjacent to the eyes.
The said matrices e¹, c², d¹, d², are each made of a depth fully equal to one
half the cross sectional depth or thickness of the needle head to be produced,
and further, the said matrices are of a width greater than the diameter of the
wire of the blank to be operated upon, so that on a needle blank being sub-
jected to the action of a pair of such dies, the punch-like middle parts e, d³,
(which have inclined sides c8, 8,) act upon the metal first, or in advance of the
other parts of the matrices and the metal displaced by them rises up the
inclined walls or sides and around the said posts as represented in the diagram
Figure 10, whereby the said matrices are almost completely filled up before
their bottoms and outer walls are reached by the said displaced or flowing metal
and the said bottoms and outer sides only come into operation for finally giving
the desired shape to the parts of the heads surrounding the eye sinkings. Con-
sequently no burr is produced, as the whole of the metal is swallowed up by
the extended matrices and goes to assist in the formation of the heads instead
of being spread outwards or displaced into side burrs.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
First Making the eye ends of needles by stamping a piece of wire between
a pair of dies, the matrices of which are formed in the manner herein described,
so that they displace or gather up the whole or nearly the whole of the metal
into the walls of the eyes instead of forcing it outwards into 'burrs," substan-
tially as herein described and set forth.
16
Secondly-The improvements in the means for, and process of, making
needles herein described and set forth, whereby the formation of excessive
"burrs" is prevented and the necessity of spitting the double-eyed needle
blanks is obviated.
Datal 41 10th day of 1800
JOHN
MORGAN.
JOHN CASSELL.
By Hy. Skerrett,
24, Temple Row, Birmingham,
Agent for Applicants.