US311548A - Machine for making eyeglass-springs - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheets-Sheet l.

E. J.-WATSON.

MACHINE-FOR MAKING EYEGLASS SPRINGS. No. 811,548.

Patented Feb. 3, 1885,

N PETERS. Fllolmlllhugmph (ModeL) 3 Sheets She-et 2.

E. J. WATSON.

MACHINE FOR MAKING EYEGLASS SPRINGS.

No. 311,548. Patented Feb. 3,1885.

(Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

E. J. WATSON.

MACHINE FOR MAKING EYBGLASS SPRINGS.

No. 311,548. Patented Feb. 3, 1885.

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I nurse Sra'rns PATENT @rrrea EDWIN J. WATSON, or WonoESTEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

ACi-ilNE FOR MAKlNG EYEGLASS=SPRINGS.

SPECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,548, dated February 3, 1885.

Application filed July S, 1881. (Model) T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN J. n'rsoN, of the city and county of W'orcester, and Cour monwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine for Manufacturing Eyeglasssprings by a Continuous and Automatic Operation; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents atop or plan View ofmy aforesaid machine for manufacturing eyeglasssprings. Fig. 2 represents aside view of said machine shown in Fig. 1, looking in the direc tion indicated by arrow 0, same figure. Fig. 3 represents a front side view of the machine, looking in the direction indicated by arrowf, Fig. 1, showing, as do also Figs. 1 and 2, the metal strip from which the springs are made as having been fed forward into said machine preparatory to its being cut and bent over the former of the machine, as will be hereinafter more full y described. Figs. 4 and 5 represent vertical sections through portions of the machine, taken on lines ab and ml, respectively, looking in the direction shown by arrow 9. Fi 6 represents a vertical section through another part of the machine, taken on line a, which will be hereinafter more fully described.

M y invention relates to the manufacture of springs such as are used upon eyeglasses for supporting and holding the same in position upon the bridge of the nose.

It consists in constructing and arranging the several parts of a machine so that a long flat strip of metal (from which the springs are made, which may be coiled upon a spool or reel at a short distance to one side of the machine) maybe drawn forward and fed into and through said machine, short sections cut from the end of the strip, and said sections bent around the surface of a former as fast as they are cut off to form and give to the springs their required shape, all by a continuous and automatic operation, which will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings and specification I have shown and described a former having irregular curved surfaces over which the metal is bent to form the springs; but in the model, which by request was subsequently furnished, I have shown, instead of said former, an equivalent device consisting of two stationary pins or studs fastened in a stationary part and so arranged that the metal may be bent to form the springs in a similar way to that shown in the drawings, the reason for making said change in the model being that I found said devicein practice to be the most desirable and convenient for adjustment.

Up to the present time springs for eyeglasses have been made entirely by hand by the use of some simple device which can be operated by means of a hand-lever, or by connecting said hand-lever with a suitable foottreadle. As will be seen, this is a very slow, and therefore expensive, method, necessitating the employment of a considerable number of bands, which may be dispensed with by the use of one of my machines, one operative being enabled by the employment of said ma chine to produce the work of several by the aforesaid old method, and the springs thus produced are much more perfectly and satisfactorily made.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention belongs to make and use thesame, I will proceed to describe it more in detail.

In the drawings, A represents the bed of the machine, and the parts marked B B B B the legs or standards upon which said bed is supported.

G O are the bearings for the main drivingshaft D, and E E upright standards or housings in which turn the shafts F'G of feed-rolls F G.

Upon shaftl), at the back side of the machine, is securcd a. driving-pulley, H, which may be connected with any suitable and convenient driving mechanism arranged above or below the machine. To the forward end of said shaft D is secured a cam, I, which forces up a horizontal cross-piece, J, when the shaft is in operation. Said cross-piece J is drawn down when the cam does not bear upon the same by means of spiral springs K K,secured to the under side of the cross-piece and to the floor upon which the machine is Supported. Any other suitable device for drawing down said cross-piece may be employed, if desired.

A similar cross-piece, J, is also arranged near from the flat metal strip k, are bent by means of the swinging cam-arms M M, (which are hinged at their lower ends at H to cross piece J,) and by the fingers L L, which are formed or secured on the heads L L of shafts L L the latter being partially turned or rocked in their bearings L L by racks'L L and pinions L L. Said pinions are secured to the ends of shafts L L while the racks are formed on the inner upper ends of vertical arms M 1W, which are hinged to cross-piece J, thus being operated up and down by cam I, so as to turn shafts L L part way around,

as shown by arrows in Figs. 1 and 6, when moved up, and back again when moved down. By the aforesaid operation the pins or turningfingers L L bend the sections h of strip is around the surface of the heads L L up to the points shown by h h, when the bend is then completed by the curved ends 1' r of the swinging or rockingarms M M being forced up against the curved surfaces It W, as hereinafter described.

Said cam-arms M Mare provided with camsurfaces m m upon their outer sides, which are made to bear upon the rounded ends n n of adjustable parts it n by means of a flat or other spring, N, which bears against the inner sides of said cam-arms, as represented in Fig. 3 of the drawings. In this instance spring N is made in hoop form, and secured at the center to a detachable piece, 0, which is in turn secured to cross-piece J.

' In order that said cross-piece J and crosspiece J may be made to travel in vertical lines when operated by their cams I I and springs K K, ways are formed in the legs B B", as represented by dotted linesp in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, for them to slide up and down in. A guidepiece, 0, is also secured to the cross-pieces at q g, which is provided with vertical holes through the same, so that it may slide up and down on vertical stationary rods P, secured in the under side of bed A. By the upward movement of cross-piece J it will be seen that the cam-arms M M, owing to the shape of their camsurfaces at m, will first travel in a vertical line for a short distance, for the purpose hereinafter stated, and then commence to gradually move toward the former L, and by the time the bending-fingers L L have bent the section h around the heads L L as before described, the rounded ends r r of said camarms have reached the proper point to comnience bending the ends of the springs. They continue to travel toward the surface of the former L until they reach the positions represented by dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings, thereby bending the metal strip it into the shape represented by dotted lines h, and finishing the spring,ready to be punched and secured to the rims of the eyeglasses.

The short section h is in this instance cut from the metal strip in the following manner: To the top ofadjustable part a over the line traversed by the metal strip k, is secured a guide, a, through which said strip passes as it is fed forward, saidguide when securedin position forming a rectangular-shaped opening, t, a trifle larger than the strip, as represented in Fig. 5. Similar-shaped guides au are also secured in an inverted position, as represented in Fig. 4, to the top of each of the arms M M. The end a of guide a and the end a of the guide a coming next to guide a are made square and sharp, and of hardened steel, thus forming sharp cutting-edges at v v on said guides. Therefore when the arms move up in a vertical line, as. before stated, the section h is cut off, preparatory to its being bent over the surface of the former L, by the cutting-edge 12 passing by the stationary cutting-edge a, the strip is being held in position by bearing upon the under side of the guide it. (Shown in Fig. 5.)

Slots are formed in bed A, as is represented by lines A, for the reception of cam-arms M M M M", which also serve to hold the upper ends of said arms in position laterally when in operation.

Power is imparted from the main drivingshaft D to turn the feed-rolls F G by securing pulleys Q and R upon said shaft D and shaft G, and connecting the same by means of an endless belt, S, fitted over said pulleys.- The upper feed-roll, F, simply rests upon the lower one, and is turned by the latter, being fitted to turn in loose bearings F Ffl-which slide up and down in suitable ways formed in the standards E E. It is forced down, so as to produce sufficient pressure upon the metal strip 70 to feed the same forward, by means of spiral springs T T, arranged between the upper sides of said loose bearings and the under side of acap-piece, U, secured to the tops of standards E E.

In order that a strong friction may be produced upon the strip k by the feed-rolls F G to properly feed it forward when said rolls are in operation, a band of rubber, leather, or similar material, a, is fitted and secured in a groove formed entirely around the periphery of roll G. A similar band, as, may also be secured over the periphery of the upper feed-roll, F, if desire The rolls F G feed the strip 70 forward a sufficient distance to form the spring, when said strip is then stopped while a piece is cut off and bent over the former L, as before described, by the upper roll, F, being raised off of the surface of the strip. This is done in this instance by securing or forming ribs 3 3 (see Figs. 1 and 3) on the periphery of roll G at each side of the band 20, the distance between their ends g/ 3 (shown in Fig. 3) being just sufficient to allow the strip to be fed forward the required distance.

If preferred, the feed-rolls may be arranged to alternately turn and stop to feed forward and stop the strip, as before'described, or any similar and convenient feeding mechanism employed for the purpose.

The parts a it, against which the cam-arms M M ear, are made adjustable by forming IIO slots 2 z in the same, so that they may be moved back and forth on their holding-screws z 2. They hear endwise against the ends of adjusting-screws c 2, which turn in bed A. By adjusting said parts a a in or out and changing the form of the cam-surfaces m m of cam-arms M M and that of the heads L" L, their fingers and former L, any desired shape may be given to the eyeglasssprings made by the machine, the feed-motion being made to conform therewith by lengthening or shortening the ribs or flanges y g on feed-roll G.

In this instance the former Lis represented as being recessed or cut out in circular form at each side to receive the heads L L and the bending-fingers L L formed or secured upon projecting ears or flanges formed upon said heads, the fingers being far enough from the surface of the heads to allow the metal strip to pass between themi. 6., between the tingers and heads-but, if preferred, any other suitable way of arranging and securing the fingers upon turning heads, so that they will bend the sections it over a suitable former, L, to form the springs h, may be employed.

The operation of the machine may be briefly summed up thus: Supposing a long strip, k, to be coiled upon a suitable spool or reel arranged at a short distance from the machine. The attendantpasses its loose end through a guide, V, secured to the side of one of the standards E. He then pushes it through between the rolls and into the machine by hand a sufficient distance to form the first spring. He now starts the machine, when the ribs 3/ y on the lower feed-roll, G, immediately raise the upper feed-roll off of the strip la, so that it will not be fed farther forward. The edges o and v on the cam arm M and guide a then cut the strip to form the springsection 71, when said section is then bent into the shape It to form the finished spring by the bendingfingers L L and curved ends M" of arms M M, as before described. During the aforesaid operation the ribs y y have traveled in contact with the upper roll, F, nearly their whole length, and by the time the cam-arms M M have been drawn down and the bending-fingers L L turned back into their original positions, ready to form the next spring, the ends of said ribs pass out of action with said roll F, thus allowing the latter to drop down and bear upon the strip to feed it forward again, when the operation before described is repeated.

As the springs are finished upon the former L they may be pushed forward off of the former L, and discharged into a proper receptacle by means of any suitable and convenient device.

Having described my aforesaid machine for manufacturing eyeglass-springs, whatl claim therein as new and of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Inamachinefor making eyeglasssprings from long fiat strips of metal by a continuous and automatic operation, the combination of a suitable rigid former, L, the heads L L provided with bending-fingers L L, the means for operating said heads and fingers, the rocking cam-levers M M, the means for operating said levers, and the means for feeding forward the strips from which the springs are made, and for cutting them into sections of proper length to form said springs preparatory to the bending operation, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of the former L with cam-arms M M, provided with cam-surfaces m m, guides to a", and cutter o, turning-heads L L'", provided with bending'fingers L L, guide it, provided with cutter o, bed A, feed rolls F G, provided with friction-bands w or and ribs y y, and guide V, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination of feed-rolls F G with shafts F G, turning in suitable bearings, standards E E, springs T T, cap U, pulleys Q It, shaft D, bearings O G, and pulley H, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination of cam I on shaft D, spiral springs K K, or their equivalents, and cross-piece J, with legs B 13, bed A, camarms M M, provided with guides aa, spring N, adjustable parts a a guide a, heads L L", provided with bending-fingers L L, and former L, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination of cam I on shaft D, spiral springs K K, or their equivalents, and cross-piece J, with vertical arms M M, provided with racks L L, bed A, pinions L L, rocking shafts L L, bearings L L, heads L" L", provided with bending-fingers L L, camarms M M, and former L, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. The combination of former L with beads L L", provided with bendingfingers L L, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

7. The combination of former L with camarms M M, adjustable parts a n arranged in proper supports, and cross-piece J, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

8, The combination of cams I I and springs K with cross-pieces J J, arms or levers M M M M", part 0, vertical rods P, and bed A, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

9. The combination, with cam-arm M, provided with guide a" and cutting-edge o, and means for operating said earn-arm, of bed A, adjustable part a", an (:1 guide a, provided with cutting-edge o, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

10. The combination of cam-arms M M with bed A, and adjustable parts a a, provided with holding-nuts 2, slots .2, and adjustingscrews a, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

EDWIN J. WATSON. Vvitnesses:

ALBERT A. BARKER, WALTER B. N OURSE.

ICO

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