US172604A - Improvement in methods of finishing horseshoes - Google Patents

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2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. A. BURDEN.

METHOD OF FINISHING H QRSESHOES. No.17Z,604. Patented Jan. 25,1876.

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J. A. BURDEN. METHOD OF FINISHING IIoRsI sII'oEs. No.172,604. Patented J'an.25,1876,

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UNITED STATES PATENT DEEIGE.

JAMEs'A. BURDEN, 0E TROY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS OF FINISHING HO RSESHOES'.

Specification form ng part of Letters Patent No. 172,604, dated January 25, 1876; application filed October 6, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. BURDEN, of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Horse and Mule Shoes by Machinery of which the following is a specification In that class of horseshoe-machines in which the shoe is bent and swaged into shape before it is creased and punched it has been found extremely difficult, if not impracticable, to give to the crease in its cross-section its proper size and shape. These should conform to' the head of the nail, so that the latter may fit the crease and hold the shoe to its place without looseness or displacement. When the crease is to be made in a straight bar, moving in line with the creaser, this may be accomplished (though with some difficulties) by a proper shapeof the tool; but when the crease curves away from such line, as it does in a bent blank, and the movement is in part across the crease, it is necessary to give to the creaser a beveled or V shape that it may readily enter and leave I the iron on which it operates. Moreover, the strains upon the creaser, which sometimes are considerable, are thus brought partly across its edge, and it requires a thickness of material much greater than the proper width of the crease to resist such strains; and in making creases in straight bars the material between the roll that holds the blank and the creasers becomes chilled when the crease is made sufficiently near to the outer edge, an imperfect crease results, and frequent breakage of the tool. To avoid this the creases in straight bars as well as in curved ones are made too far from the edge, and with creasers too wide and strong to form a proper shoe. The holes in the shoe should also conform to the size and shape of the nails that'are driven through them; There must be a [it between the two to hold the shoe firmly to its place; but whether the crease and holes are made in a straight bar or after it has been bent it has been found impracticable to use a punch as small as these holes require. Many attempts have been made to punch these holes automatically, and while the iron was still heated, but the difficulty of making punches small enough that would withstand the heat and pressure to which they are subjected has hitherto been found an insurmountable objection. They are now universally (so far as I am aware) punched when the iron is cold, one hole at a time, and still the holes are unavoidably made much too large, and the losses and delays from breakage constitute a very important item in the expense of making horseshoes. It is also very important that the holes in h rseshoes, especially those on the sides of the shoe, should be made near the outer edge, otherwise the nails when setting the shoe will be driven Within the walls of the 1100f and injure the horse. holes forces the iron outward into unsightly protuberances on the outside of the shoe, and this, whether the crease has been made before or after the shoe has been bent. The effect diminishes as the holes are made farther from the edge, and to prevent too irregular an outline and bad appearance these holes have to be made nearly along the middle line of theshoe. For these reasons shoes made by machinery have been regarded as inferior to those made by hand, and although perfect in general shape and sold at about the same pass it while heated through another machine,

or part of the same machine, that, pressing against the outer edges, forces the material back to its proper place, narrows the creases and the holes as much as desired, brings the outer edges sufficiently near to the holes, and gives a smooth and perfect outline to the shoe.

The necessity for small tools is thus avoided.

They may be made two or three times thicker than the finished width of the creases and holes, and strong enough to operate in hot iron or in steel.

The machinery that efl'ects these objects may be much varied. I have used several forms. One thatI have found entirely successful is represented in the accompanying drawings.-

Punching the Figure'l is a perspective view of the whole machine made separately from the machines that form the shoe. Fig.2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the middle of the machine along the line .1"- w in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical middle section, at right angles to the former along the line y y in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section along the line 2 z in Fig. 2, showing the slides, the side swages attached, and the cams that actuate them. Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical longitudiinal section through the several dies, and a shoe in place being swaged. Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional viewot' the shaft and cam that actuates the plunger.

Each part is indicated by the same letterin the several drawings.

Thetwo ends of the cast-iron frame are shown atA A. They are connected at the top by two side plates, B B, attached bybolts and nuts, and at the bottom by two bars, 0 O, with screws and nuts. The frame stands upon a. heavy iron plate, D, to which it is bolted. Upon these ends are cast or bolted projections E E E E, to make bearings for the two vertical shafts F F, and, upon the inside, are also cast or bolted the projections G G, to support the slides H H and their guides. The main shafti is supported on the top of the frame. It has its hearings on the ends, and is held in place by caps J J, in the usual manner. At either end may be attacheda pulley or a gear-wheel, through which the machine is put in motion. At about the middle is the cam K, which gives the proper movements to the plunger L, and near the ends are attached bevel-wheels MM, which mesh into the bevelsN N, of the same size and number of teeth, and drive the two upright shafts F F. The plunger carries what I term the upper die. (Shown at 0.) It is fitted to slide up and down within the space formed by the two sides and the two ends, and fills the same. The upper part is hollowed out to receive the cam, and over the top are the caps P P, secured to it by screws and nuts. The orifice thus formed fits the cam at the top and bottom, but is not touched by it at any other point, and a vertical movement only is thus imparted to the plunger. An outline of this orifice is shown by the cross-section, Fig. 6. In the bottom of the plunger a place is provided for inserting the top die, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and this is held in place by a cap, a, with screws and nuts, Figs. 1 and 3. Around the periphery of the cast-iron wheel W are attached by screws the lower dies R B. This wheel has its bearings in boxes fitted in recesses cast in the two ends of the frame, and is held to its place by caps and screws. It is provided with seats around the periphery,

made wider than the disk of the wheel, on

which to place the dies, and from every second one ribs extend to the shaft, to increase its lateral strength. Theselower dies receive the shoe to be swaged. The middle elevated portion has at its base the shape to be given to the inside of the shoe. Above the thickness of the shoe it tapers, and extends upward one or one and a half inch. This enables it to receive a shoe with imperfections on its inside. The base or horizontal part is pressed when in use by the under or creased side of the shoe, and extends from the middle elevated part to about the inside of the crease. There is a hole through the middle to receive a bolt and a rib on the bottom, by which it is secured to the wheel. The upper die is a rectangular block, with a tapering vertical hole through the middle, that fits over the elevated part of the lower die. Its under surface has the shape of the upper surface of the shoe, and may extend out a little beyond the shoe, or (as I rather prefer it) fall a littlesay, an eighth of an inchwithin the outer edge. The shoe is placed upon the elevated part of the lower die. The upper die comes down upon it and presses it firmly against the bottom or horizontal part, and the two hold it in place while the side dies or swages come up and press the outer edge into proper shape and close up sufficiently the creases and holes. A wedge, S, that is insert: ed over the top of the upper die and presses against the plunger, serves to adjust the proper height of the die, and it is held in place and regulated by a screw and nut. (Seen in Fig. 3.)

The vertical shafts on the sides of the machine are held to-thei'r bearings by caps and screws U U in the usual manner. They carry eccentrics T T, which operate the slidesH H. These slides move on ways made in orifices cast in the ends of the frame, and on the projections Gr Gr. They are held in place sidewise 1 by guides V V, and these are adjusted and I held by the set-screws X X X in the frame.

The ends of the slides that embrace the cocentrics are fully shown in Fig. 4. The orifices are made on the same principle as that in the plunger. The eccentrics press against those sides only that are at right angles to the movement of the slides.

it is necessary that the plunger should stand stationary to hold the shoe in place; and, to

effect this object, a part of the cam that aetu-" ates the plunger is made concentric with the shaft, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 6.

The shoes to be swaged are placed on the dies on the wheel, either by hand or automatically, and at every revolution of the main shaft the wheel is revolved sufliciently to bring another shoe in place under the upper die. To effect this movement a part of the plunger and of the cam that moves it are cut away, as shown at Z in Figs. 2 and 3. An eccentric, b, is attached to the shaft, around which is the strap 0, connected by screws and nuts to the upper part d that extends upward to the lever e, to which it is attached by a joint. The shaft f,

To these slides are at-' tached, by screws and bolts, the side dies or on which this lever vibrates, has its bearings on two upright pieces, 9 g, attached to the caps J J. To the other end of the lever H is attached, by a joint also, the pawl z. A spring, It, holds the pawl to its place and against the stop j.v

The pawl, in its upward movement, drops in against the elevated part of a lower die and presses the wheel around by its downward movement, and the eccentric is so adjusted that the movement of the wheel takes place when the dies are wholly disconnected. Should there be anyfailure in the wheels being brought accurately to its place by the pawl, the upper die, sliding down the conical elevated part of the lower die, brings it to its place and holds it there until the shoe is completed.

In those cases in which a straight blank or bar is creased and punched before it is bent into the form of a horseshoe, the swaging to close up the creases and holes to a proper size may be eflected in a very simple manner. The blank may be put in place by hand and a reciprocating movement of a swage or die adapted to press against the parts of the blank that need it will be all the machinery required. A more rapid way is to pass the blank between two rolls, one of which is in part cut away and the remainingpart fitted to give the requisite compression upon the blank; and with shoes that have been bent and swaged before they .wish to be understood as limiting my claims to the precise machinery described; but

What I do claim as an improvement in the manufacture of horse and mule shoes by machinery is- The method of first making the creases and nail-holes of broader dimensions than is proper in the finished shoe, in order thereby to employ punches and creasers of large dimensions, and then partially closing said creases and nail-holes, reducing them to their proper sizes,

and at the same time imparting evenness of contour to the blank by dies acting to compress the blank edgewise, substantially as described.

JAMES A. BURDEN. Witnesses:

,ESEK OowEN, JoHN J. HASSETT.

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