Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Driving Chains Chiefly Applicable for Velocipedes and other Purposes in Mechanical Engineering.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Jan., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 5th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 16th Dec., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Driving Chains Chiefly
Applicable for Velocipedes and other Purposes in Mechanical
Engineering.
I, HENRY ANDREWS, of 57, Vyse Street, Birmingham, Die Sinker and Tool
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention to be as follows:
My invention for improvements in and in the manufacture of driving chains
refers to the kind known as roller chains, and relates to the manufacture of
the several parts forming the chain.
I will first describe the process of making the spindle or axle, for the roller
and upon which it rotates.
For this purpose I employ a pair of press tools suitably constructed to receive
and engage with the spindle, when cut from steel wire, of the required length
and guage, this is placed in a longitudinal aperture in the bed or die and finds
its bearing upon four seats one in each corner of the said aperture the press
tool is provided with a longitudinal groove upon its face and corresponds with
the aperture in the bed and into which it will pass when those tools are set in
the well known manner, the round wire or spindle being placed in the bed and
the tool brought down the groove engaging upon the spindle, with a required
power forces the same through the aperture in the bed, the seats cutting two
corresponding flats and forming shoulders on each end of the said spindle these
flats preventing rotation of the same when in their fixed position in the side
links.
Another part of my invention relates to the process of hardening the bearing
surface of the said spindles without effecting the ends which are left soft for
the purpose of rivetting the side links together. This I attain by making a
small cap of iron or steel and of a suitable shape and size to fit on each end
of the spindle while being hardened.
Or by another mode I construct the said spindle by stamping out an oblong
Llank from sheet steel of a required gauge each end being so shaped as to dove-
tail one into the other I then make the said blank into a tube which is afterwards
hardened in the usual way and into which I force a length of wire leaving the
tube fixed lightly on the centre the interlocking of the ends of the blank form-
ing the tube prevents any expansion the length of wire being a little longer than
the tube admits of the side links being placed thereon while the ends remain
soft for rivetting the tube forming a hardened surface for the roller.
Another part of my invention I form the rollers by press or cutting out tools
as a circular disc from sheet steel of a required thickness and centrally pierce a
circular hole therein by employing press tools in those holes I force a hardened
steel spit or plug and place the same between a pair of planishing dies of a
suitable shape and depth and when struck together by mechanical power, a
true roller and of equal thickness and a smooth and uniform hole is effected.
The above process is applicable to rollers drilled as hitherto but the holes
being smooth and all of one size reduces friction on the spindle.

page_text: Another part of my invention consists in employing the said steel spit or plug
for holding the roller during the process of skimming or turning off the surplus
metal, or I may employ the spit or plug to hold the roller central if I should
prefer to clip the same by an ordinary press, in this case the spit would fit into
à hole bored in the centre of the clipping punch.
Another part of my invention consists in cranking the ends of the outer link
outwards so as to give room for the inner link of a thicker guage of metal than
hitherto the object being to give greater durability to the frictional part of the
link.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Driving Chains Chiefly
Applicable for Velocipedes and other Purposes in Mechanical
Engineering.
I, HENRY ANDREWS, of 571, Vyse Street, Birmingham, Die Sinker and Tool
Maker, 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:-
My invention for improvements in and in the manufacture of driving chains,
refers to the kind known as roller chains, and relates to the manufacture of
the several parts forming the chain.
I will describe my invention as applicable to one of its many purposes, that is
a driving chain to be employed to velocipedes.
And in order that my said invention may be the more readily understood I
have hereto appended a sheet of drawings, in which similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts.
Figures 1 to 7 inclusive shew my mode of constructing the spindle or axle for
the roller and upon which it rotates. Figure 1 shews the spindle, a, or axle cut
from steel wire, of a required length and guage, Figure 2 shews the same re-
duced, or flattened at its ends thus forming shoulders b, so that when in position
in the side links rotation is prevented. These flats are formed by passing the
same through a suitable die.
Figures and 4 shews the process of hardening the bearing or working sur-
face of the said spindle a, to effect this I employ the metallic caps e as Figure 3
which are placed over the ends b, of a, as Figure 4 the ends only are thus pro-
tected and left soft for rivetting the side links together.
Figures 5, 67 I employ the spindle a in its soft condition, but pierce or
stamp from sheet steel a blank d as Figure 5 configurated at each end, so that
when bent as a tube it can be dovetailed together as Figure 6, this tube or case
is now hardened, into which is forced the soft spindle a as Figure 7, the exposed
ends admit of the side links being placed thereon for rivetting together, the
tube or case forming a hardened surface for the roller.
Figures 8 to 12 inclusive shew my mode of constructing the roller, for engaging
upon the spindle or axle.
Figures 8 and 9 shews the roller e stamped or pierced from steel as a cirular
disc, which has the circuar hole f bored or pierced through its centre as
Figure 10, I then drive or force the hardened steel "spit" 9 Figure 11, into

page_text: the hole fas Figure 12 and by placing the same between planishing dies, which
are brought together by mechanical power I produce a true roller.
Figure 13, shews the outer link h on two views the ends of which I crank
at h¹ the object of which is to give room for the inner link of a thicker gauge,
so as to give greater durability to the frictional parts.
not limited to the
Figure 14 shews a section of a chain constructed according to my invention.
It will be understood that my invention is
above description as I may modify or
vary the same without depart-
ing from the principle of my invention, for instance I may employ the
spit" and planishing dies to rollers drilled as hitherto, or for the purpose of
holding the rollers during the process of skiming or turning off the surplus
metal, or for holding the roller central while clipping the same in an ordinary
press. Further I may employ the dovetail or locking arrangement to bushes as
now in application, or I may construct a roller by the same process as the tube
or case.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is;
-
In "Improvements in and in the manufacture of driving chains, chiefly
applicable for velocipedes, and other purposes in mechanical engineering."
1. The construction of the spindle a with reduced or flattened ends, forming
shoulders b, formed by passing the same through a suitable die, substantially
as and for the purpose herein before described and illustrated by Figures 1 and 2.
2. The construction of the spindle a with shoulders 6 as (Claim 1) with the
employment of the caps c to the ends of a, substantially as and for the purpose
herein before described and illustrated by Figures 3 and 4.
3. The construction of the tube or case d for receiving the soft spindle a,
substantially as and for the purpose herein before described and illustrated by
Figures 5, 6, 7.
4. The construction of the roller e stamped or pierced as a circular disc, pro-
vided with the hole f substantially as and for the purpose herein before described
and illustrated by Figures 8, 9, 10.
5. The construction and employment of the "spit" g, to the hole f, of the
roller, e substantially as and for the purposes herein before described and illus-
trated by Figures 11 and 12.
6. The construction of the outer link h cranked at the ends h¹ substantially
as and for the purpose herein before described and illustrated by Figures 13
and 14.
7. The general construction and combination of parts, substantially as and
for the purposes herein before described in the foregoing specification and illus-
trated by the accompanying sheet of drawings.
Dated thin 1th dor.
1000
THOMAS KENDRICK,
Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.