US1675913A - Method of making eyelets - Google Patents

Description

July 3, 1928.

1,675,913 E. L. SIBLEY METHOD OF MAKING EYELETS Filed May 5, 1926 Patented July 3, 1928.

units!) STATES EDVARD L. SIBLEY, OF BENNINGTON, VERMONT.

METHOD OF MAKING EYELETS.

Briginal application filed December 19, 1925, Serial No. 76,525.

Serial No. 106,975.

May 5, 1926.

This invention relates to a method or process of making eyelets or tubular rivets of the well-known Challenge eyelet type, and specifically to a method or process of making that form of such Challenge eyelets which forms the subject of my application for patent filed December 19, 1925, Serial No. 76,525, (patented January 18, 1927, No. 1,615,0d8) of which application this present case is a division in accordance with the requirement of the United States Patent Office made in the application aforesaid.

The blanks from which the eyelets or tubular rivets are made, are cut, as by suitable punches and dies, from a strip or ribbon of suitable metal, and have a central sol d portion from which a number of fingers radiate, and these fingers terminate in lateral projections, the fingers being formed into a tubular barrel or body portion and their lateral projections being utilized to form the bottom flange; the construction being such that in the act of setting, the ceutral solid portion is utilized to receive the cooperating members of the setting tool, press or machine to be thereby driven through the material on which the article or tubular rivet is to be set, without first. cutting an opening in the material, and then by a further movement. of the setting tool or press, the barrel or body is collapsed and is spread out laterally to form a head or flange opposite to the flange formed of the lateral projections on the fingers. In accordance with the invention of the application mentioned, th lingers are subdivided for a portion of their length so that in the setting of the eyelet or tubular rivet, the head formed by collapsing the barrel or body will be composed of twice as many sections or parts as there are fingers, and thus the strength and appearance of this collapsed end will be enhanced.

The invention herein consists of a method or process of forming eyelets or tubular rivets 0r fasteners in which the component barrel or body-forming portions are scored longitudinally so that when the fastening is applied or set, these fingers will divide along the lines of the scoring and produce twice as many heading or flange-forming elements as there are fingers, to thereby enhance the security of the fastening and also improve its appearance.

Divided and this application filed In order to differentiate this invention from the prior art so far as I know it, it is to be said that it is old to form an eyelet or tubular rivet. from a radiate blank, and it is also old to form such a device by drawing a one-piece body and slitting it between ends in order to aid the collapsing of the barrel or body in the act of setting to form the head, but so far as I am aware, it is new and original with me to score or divide the fingers of a radiate blank in the act of forming the blank. My method or process results in a decided economy in the manufacture of the eyelets or tubular rivets.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated. Figure 1 is a schematic plan view illustrat ing a ribbon or piece of stock showing the scorings, the scored blanks, and the openings in the stock after the blanks are cut out. Fig. 2 is a plan view of one ofthe blanks. Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of the fasteners. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of one of the fasteners. Fig. 5 is a cross section. Fig. 6 is a top plan view and Fig. 7 is a bottom plan of'oue of the fasteners set. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 9 a top plan view illustrating how the solid center of the fastener may be punched out when set, in order that the fastener may be used for ribboning' papers together in accordance with required practice under some laws or customs.

The eyelets or tubular rivets of this invention are formed from a radiate blank, such as shown in Fig. 2, in which there is a solid central portion 1 and four, more or less, fingers 2 radiating from this solid central portion, and each of these fingers terminates in the curved lateral projections 3 from one side only, which, when the blank is pressed to shape, as in Fig. 3, come together so as to form the bottom flange, as

shown in Fig. 7; but, as already stated, the

flange-forming projections may extend from both sides of the fingers as shown in my Patent No. 1,469,757, granted October 2 1923.

In order to facilitate the heading over of the fastener in setting and to enhance the security of the flange formed by said heading over and to improve the appearance of the set fastener, I provide the lingers with 'scorings or slits 4 extended longitudinally llt) thereof between the solid center and the ends of the fingers, so that when the fastener is set the headed-over portion will be divided into twice as many parts as there are fingers, as shown in Figs. 6 and, 9.

I/Vhere law or custom requires documents to be ribboned together, the same press that is used to set the fasteners may be used to punch a hole through the central solid por tion, as indicated at 5 in Figs. 8 and 9, so that the ribbon may be passed through as in an ordinary open-ended eyelet.

In the manufacture of the eyelets or tubular rivets of this invention, I may take a ribbon or strip 6, of suitable metal and first form therein the scorings or slits 7 and then, in the same or another press, punch out the blanks, as shown at 8, leaving the cuts 9. In the operation of forming the fasteners and in order to involve the least possible waste of stock the punches and dies may be arranged so that the fingers of adjacent fasteners will overlap.

After the blanks, as shown in Fig. 2, are out, they are drawn to shape to form the bodies of the fingers into substantially parallel relation, constituting the barrel of the device, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, and the bottom flange 10 will be turned up toward the solid central portion, instead of extending flatwise or at right angles to the barrel. 'Asalready stated, the barrels of the eyelets, extend upwardly and outwardly through the slot or open top of the feed trough or track, while the upwardly curved bottom flanges extend cross-wise of the trough or track, or at right angles to the sides thereof, and thus the flanges 0f the eye lets are prevented from overlapping and hence jamming in the trough or track.

Not only has the upturned flange the functions stated but in addition it has the following advantages, namely :-In the act of setting the fastener this upturned flange flattens out under pressure and extends parallel with the material fastened, as shown in Fi s. 5 and 8, instead of cutting into the material or forming a sharp shoulder against which the flange formed on the opposite end of the eyelet might operate as a shear during the heading-over or setting operation, and this is a particularly important feature in using the eyelets on a small thickness of material.

It is possible to carry out the manufacture of the devices by slitting the ribbon of stock first and then cutting out the eyelet blanks, or the slitting and the cutting out may be done at one operation.

Variations in the details of construction are permissible within the principle of the invention and the claims hereinafter made.

What I claim is 1. The method of making eyelets having a series of longitudinally slitted fingers, which consists in slitting the stock and forming the fingers about such slits, so that there is a slit extending lengthwise in each finger between its ends, and then forming the thus slitted blank cut from the stock into a collapsible eyelet, whereby when the eyelet is collapsed or set the fingers will divide along the lines of the slits and produce twice as many heading or flange-forming elements as there are fingers.

2. The method of making eyelets having a series of longitudinally slitted fingers, which consists in first slitting the stock and thereafter forming the fingers about such slits, so that there is a slit extending lengthwise in each finger between its ends, and then drawing the thus slitted blank out from the stock into a collapsible eyelet, whereby when the eyelet is collapsed or set the fingers will divide along the lines of the slits and pro duce twice as many heading or flange-forming elements as there are fingers.

The method of forming fastening devices having a series of longitudinally slitted fingers of the character described, comprising the slitting of the finger forming stock and the punching out of the devices so as to include the slits within the contour of the punches and dies used in cutting out the blanks.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 3rd day of May A. D. 1926.

EDWVARD L. SIBLEY.

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