US111013A - Improvement in machines for making spikes - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet. 1.

J. H. SWETT. 11111011111111 FOR MAKING SPIKBS.

No. 111,013. P11911161 Jan, 17, 1871.

2 SheetS-Sheet 2.

J. SWETT, MACHINE FOR MAKING SPIKES.

' No. 111,013. Patented Jan. 17, 1 71.

Figil.

aura taint i fiilitnt cam J AMES H. SWETT, OF PITTSBU RG, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 111,013, dated January 17, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACH NES FOR MAKING SPIKES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. Swn'rT, of Pittsburg, in the conntyof Allegheny and State of 'Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and 1isefnlIn1-' provements in Spike-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theconstrnction and operation of the same, reference being had to thcaccompanying drawings making a part of this specification, in whichtral section through'the machine. 7

Figure 4 represents an elevation of the opposite tillepfathe machine from tbatsl-iown in fig-.2.

l igurefi represents a plan of that part of the machine that underlies the griping-levers, which latter, together wit-bother parts, are represented as removed to better show the devices underneath them.

Similar letters of reference wherethey occur in the several separate figures denote like-parts in all of the drawings.

'-'Heading and pointing spikes by machinery is comparatively an easy operation, if the feeding in of the rod or blank, and the taking out of the spike, be accomplished with unvarying certainty. But whenever, from any cause, and there arfmany, incident to this operation, the feeding in or thedelivcry fails, or if two.. -blanks get in, 01' two spikes remain in between the dies, the rapidity and force with which the machine works must break it down or very much strain it.

hlyinvention ,relates to the means and appliances for the certain feeding in of the rod, bar, or blank, and for the certain removal of the headed spike, with such additional guards against allowing two blanks to get in, or two spikes to remain in, the machine at one and the same time, as to avoid all liability of breaking or strainingthe machine, while it can be run at a speed and with such power as to make the operation succes still ai l'entirely safe one. To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

' In suitable bearings at the rear of the main frame A is hung the cam-shaft B, from which, and by which,all the moving parts of the machine are operated.

The griping-lever c is hung by means of stirrups l) to-heavily-weighted levers E, so that if two blanks or two spikes shonld,.from any nncontrolable cause,

' get into the griping-dies a b at the same time, the

- lraw out and. point the blank,

sful and economical and I 'the slides are pivoted, respectively,

gripinglever c and its die may, by overcoming the weight of the levers E, yie'ldenongh to prevent themachine from breaking-up, which it. would otherwise inevitablydo.

The lever F, the object and purpose of which will be hereafter described, is also hung in amanner similar to, that, and indeed on the same shaft, with the -griping-lever E, but not necessarily so, as the lever B is not so liable to undue strainas is that of thegriping-leverE.

.Toa crank, G, on the cam-shaft B, is attached by a wrist-pin, '0, one end of a connecting-rothH,

the other end of which is attached to a cross-head,

I, on the end of a rock-shaft, J, by which devicesv said shaft gets its motion; and from the opposite end of the cross-head a second connecting-rod, K,

extends to, and is united with, a pawl-head, L, that works loosely on the end of the shaft M.

In this pawl-head L therev ishung a spring-pawl, d, that works over and engages with a ratchet, e, which is fastened on or to said shaft M, and through this mechanism, as above described,'the shaft M receives an intermittent and timed rotary motion, which it in turn communicates, through the gears N 0, to ashaft, P, directly over the shaft M.

On the shafts M I, and centrally between the sidesv of the mainframe, are arranged the pointingwheels ordies Q B, respectively; the perimeters of which pointing-wheels or dies are so shaped as to and-to sever it, or nearly so, from the bar .or rod; though this latter operatiouit sometimes fails to do, owing to the wearing of the dies, orthe inequality of size of the separate and of the same rods; but for which contingency provision is made-,aswill be hereafter explained. r

The header S is operated from the rock-shaft J, but its forward end is connected by a link or pivotco'nnection, f, to a swinging arm, '1, so as to con-.

trol that end of it and bring it properly against the projecting end of the blank that is gripedin the dies to b.

.At the front of the machine, where the spike-rod is fed in,- there is a vertical arm, g, through a notch in which the spike-rod is guided as -it is drawn into the machine.

On ways h h arearrauged the slides t a, and to the feeding jaws U U, which are held apart by a spring, j.

Behind the feeding-jaws U U (see fig. 5) there are arranged wedge-shaped; sliding pieces, I: k, which not only impart to the feeding-jaws a reciprocating motion. by which the, rod is drawn between the pointing-dies or wheels'QiR, but also lateral move between the cam-shaft-B and the rockshaft J By this connection the rock-shaft Y receives its motion, and to cam or: crank-rods Z on this shaft Y are connected rodsmm an, which extend to the forward part of the machine, and are there fastened to the wedge-shaped sliding pieces It It and move-them back and forth; and through these sliding nieces the feeding-jaws- U are operated as follows:

The feeding-jaws catching against the shoulders I 1 in the slides it are moved forward to about the position shown in lig.- 5, when theslides I; begin to move back-again.

Now the jaws U U do not commence to slide back with the pieces k until the shoulders 2 on said slides come against them; but the slides it, between the shoulders l 2, are tapering, and crowd the jaws U up laterally against the spike-rod, the points or spurs 3 3 biting into the metal of the rod if neccs' sary and seize it firmly, whatever variations there may be in the spike-rod or rods, and they will always vary slightly.

The spike-rod being llrmly griped, the jaws U carry it up to, and in between, the pointing-rolls Q it, which draws down aml shapes-the blank and also points it; the projections 4 on the pointing-rolls meet, or nearly so, and pinch off, or nearly so, the blank fromthe spike-rod.

The blank being so far pre ared is then caught by the nippers an, behind the pointing-rolls. and carried to, and left in, the die I).

The griping-lever 0 now operates, bringing its die a down upon the blank, and the header comes up and forms the head.

When the blankis completely severed from the spike-rod by the'pointing rolls or dies, the nippers a a takcand transfer it to the heading mechanism without any trouble.

But it frequently happens,- from the wearing of the dies, the difi'erenee in the'thickness of the rod,'0r the springing or yielding of any part of the machine, that the blank is not entirely severed from the spikerod, and there is metal connection between them snfiicient to'rcquire an immense pull by the nippers upon the blank to separateitfrom the rod.

This must be and is provided for, but in making this provision for forcing the separation between the two another, and possibly a greater, difiiculty arises, namely, the tendency to draw the blank, spike-rod and all, through or into the machine. To-prevent this the jaws U, in front of the rolls, are still griping and holding th'e'spikc-rod, and, in addition to this, a clamping-mcchanism, 0, connected to the lever F, is brought down upon the spike-rod to aid, if necessary, in holding the rod back against the action and force of the nippers 11 21. This can be readily done when a bar is fed inand through.

It might possibly be desirable to cut off the blanks from the bar at 0, and feed in the blanks as such to the pointing-rolls, in which event the feeding-jaws U alone are relied on for carrying them to the rolls.

The gripmg-jaws a a are separately hung and opcratcd, aml are also separately adjustable, still they work in perfect, harmony with each other, as will be explained.

0n ways 1) p are arranged two sets of slides or sectional slides q q. I

Each nipper a is pivoted to its section q, while at the rear of the nipper there is .an obliqueslot, 0, through or in which a pin or stud, s, in the other section 'q', works to open and close said nippers.

To each of the slides or sections 11' q there is attached a rod, 1, that extend backward, and are united to the c'ank pin or shaft 1-, extending across or through the cranks .7; on the rock-shaft Y.

While the pins '5 s are moving through the slots rothc nippers are closing or opening, as the case may be.

- When the pins arrive at the ends of the slots then the nippers, slides and all, go together,

WVhen thenippe'rs have brought and deposited in v the heading-dies one blank they immediately return for another, and during this return motion the blank just deposited in the heading-dies is headed. As the nippers bring up the next blank they push the finished spike out of the dies where it has just been headed. This has been usually done by bringing the blank against the finished spike and making the former push out the latter; This is avery dangerous operation, and is the cause of many accidents to spike-machines; for the blank is thus brought against the tapered point of the finished spike, and the latter, instead of being pushed out of the die, rides upon the blank, and so a spike and a blank will both come into or be in the die at the same time, a matter I have strivenin my invention to avoid, which I do as follows:

The portions a a of the nippers seize the blank, and immediately behind these port-ions are steel dies to, a, which take against the pointed portion of the finished spike and carry it out in advance of the drawing in of the blank, and so separating the two operations that this overriding cannot take place.

As the point of the spike is a little broader than the head portion, owing to its being squeezed out under thepointing-rolls, these dies a u will readily seize that portion as they too project further than the portions a a, and thus force out the finished spike, while they make a val], as it were, or separation, between the spike and the blank that prevents their getting togetheror overriding one another. The dies at a are removable and adjustable.

Behind the ways p 11,011 which the nipper-slides work, are set-screws v c, by which either nipper of the pair a a may be moved to or from the headingdie or the spike in it, or both moved, asthc running through of the spikes or blanks may require.

The griping-jaws U U and the pointing-rolls Q It travel at about the same speed, so that there shall be no slip between them and the rod or bar they are operating upon.

And that the heading and griping and delivering may be accurately timed and changed when the rods vary, or the parts become a little worn, the crankwrist w, on the crank V, is made adjustable, and another adj nstment may be made at a: on the crank 2, by which the throw or motion of these parts may be adjusted or timed.

Having thus fully described my invention,

I claim- 1. In combination with the point-lug and headingdies and nippers, .the feeding-jaws U and mechanism to impart to said jaws the reciprocating and lateral movements described so as to feed and hold the spikerod or blank, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the wedge shaped; and

shouldered pieces 7; and mechanism for reciprocating the same, wit-lithe feeding-jaws U and pointing-dies, substantially as described.

The combination of the nippers a, sectional slides q-q, adjustable slides 11, and reciprocating connecting-rods t, substantially as described.

4. As an improvcment'on nippers for spike and nail-machines, the points or spurs a a on the faces of the jaws and in'rear of the nippiug-surfiiccs, as and for the purpose described.

. JAMES H. SWETT.

Witnesses:

A. Rfirouonzron, EDMUND MAssoN.

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