US380413A

US380413A - Die for upsetting metal bars

Info

Publication number: US380413A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1888-04-03
Anticipated expiration: 1905-04-03

Description

(No Model.) I

W. R. WEBSTER.

DIE FOR UPSBTTING METAL BARS. No. 380,413. Patented Apr. 3, 1888.

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WITNESSES: INVE NTOR.

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\VILLIAM R. IVEBSTER, OF ATHENS, PENNSYLVANIA.

DIE FOR UPSETTING METAL BARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,413, dated AprilS, 1888.

Application filed Se; tember 25, 1884. Serial No. 143,995. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WIL IAM R. WEnsTnR,

- a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Athens, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dies for Swaging Metal Bars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the spreading and thickening of the ends of metal bars in the process of converting them into what are known as eye-bars for bridges and the like.

Prior to my invention eye-bars were formed from flat rectangular bars by methods which, while differinginsome details, may be grouped as follows: First, by upsetting the heated end of a bar in a die of the required shape and while it was clamped between plain die-faces; second, by piling the end to be formed into an eye and then swaging the thickened end into shape; third, by upsetting the end of the bar in dies in which the sides, faces, or both the sides and faces were made to yield or move outward, so as to permit the bar to spread or spread and thicken without at any time leaving room enough for any considerable bending or buckling; fourth, by upsetting the end, so as to thicken it, then upsetting the thickened end in spreading-dies, and then forging down the spread and thickened end to the required shape and thickness in forming-dies. The necessity of the two upsetting operations in the last-mentioned method arose from the diificulty found in preventing the bars from folding and buckling, the only method practiced for preventing this being to so form the dies that they would engage the corners or edges of the bars and thus support them longitudinally while being upset-a plan suffr ciently effective when thickening the ends, but not practicable where any considerable spreading was required. The spreading of the eye in this method was accomplished by the same means as in the first, but the preliminary thickening diminished the tendency to buckle or fold between the flat die-faces. Another distort and engage the metal of the bar along the center or medial line of its fiat side or sides, the tendency to buckle is entirely overcome and the metal will expand evenly on both sides of its line of engagement with the diefaces when upset by pressure in the line of its length and of its said engagement; and l have also discovered that a very slight engagement along the medial line of the bar is sufficient to entirely overcome the tendency to buckle, and that by forming the die-faces between which the bar end is clamped so that they, or one of them, will engage the metal of struction of dies to be used for spreading the ends of QYGbZllS, and my present invention therefore consists, first, in a spreading-die having a longitudinal projecting rib extending along one of its faces, so as to distort and engage the metal of the bar to be upset along the center of one of its flat sides; second, in the use of the projecting rib on one die-face, as above described, together with a corresponding groove or depression along the center of the opposite (lieface; and, third, in so forming the die-faces that while the center of the bar to be upset will be engaged by the longitudinal projection aforesaid,and thus prevent it from buckling, the distance between the upper and lower diel'aces will be greater either in whole or in part than the thickness of the flat bar, and thereby afford room for the thickening of the bar during the operation of spread ing itinto an eye.

Reference being now had to the drawings which illustrate my invention, Figure l is an end elevation of a die embodying my invention and constructed in accordance with my preferred mode. the upper part of said die; Fig. 3, a side elevation of said upper part; Fig. i, a plan view of the lower die. Fig. 5 is an end elevation ofa modified form of die embodying my inven- Fig. 2 is an end elevation of too other pressure.

tion; Fig. 6, an end elevation of a metal bar as it appears after being indented in the die shown in Fig. l, and Fig. 7 an end elevation of a bar as it appears after it has been indented in the die shown in Fig. 5.

A is the upper die; B, the lower die; 0, the bar to be spread or spread and thickened in such dies.

1 and 2 are the spaces left on each side of the bar, into which the metal is forced in the process of spreading it into an eye. Along the face of one of the dies, which together make up the spreading die, I form a longitudi nal projection, (indicated by the letter a,) and preferably beveled off, as shown, and in my preferred construction of the spreading-die I form in the opposite die-face a corresponding longitudinal depression, such as is indicated by the letter bin the drawings. This depression, however, is not essential, and the one die-face being provided with a longitudinal projection the other one may be left fiat, as is shown in Fig. 5, or may be made with a projection like the other die.

The bar 0, the end of which is to be spread into an eye, is heated to the proper temperature and placed in proper position upon the lower die, as is shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 4. The .upper part of the die is then brought into ,proper position upon the bar, which is, of course, clamped securely to prevent its slipping in the dies. Any of the wellknown means of so clamping the bar may be employed. The end of the bar clamped between the two die-faces is then forced back by means of a plunger operated by hydraulic or The projection a, which lies along the center of the heated end of the bar when it is clamped between the two die-faces, readily indents itself into the surface of the bar and prevents it from buckling under the pressure of the plunger, while at the same time it permits the metal to flow freely in lines parallel to and away from the longitudinal axis along which the metal of the bar is engaged with the projection. In this way the buckling of the bar or its bending as a whole away from the center line of the dies is prevented, and an equahdistribution of metal on each side of the longitudinal axis is insured.

My reason for preferring to use a projection on one die-face in connection with a depression in the other die-face is the very obvious one that in this device there is no variance in the thickness of the metal after it has been spread, the metal being rather distorted than indented and being readily brought back to a flat form.

It is very desirable in most cases that the bar should be thickened as well as spread in the process of forming an eye upon it, and this thickening is provided for in the manner shown in the drawings-that is, by so forming the die-faces that they will support the bar between them without coming in contact with it throughout the breadth of its sides, it being sufficient to prevent buckling that the longitudinal projection alone should be in contact with the bar on one side and that such bar should be supported on the other side. The upsetting of the metal will cause the projection and the depression where'it is used to take a firm hold on the bar, and the metal will thus flow upward, or upward and downward, as well as outward on each side of the center of the bar. With dies such as are shown in Fig. 1 the metal is or may bejuniformly' thickened, while in dies of the character shown in Fig. 5 the metal is thickened only on each side of the center of the bar.

As shown in the drawings, the projection a and depression I) are both'formed with broad flaring sides meeting in the center line of said dies. It is not necessary that either the projection or depression should be as broad with respect to the bar as they are shown, and on the other hand they may be made broader than the bar without in any way departing from my invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters of rectangular bars, a die-face for supporting one side of the bar to be spread, in combination with a die-face having outwardly projecting and converging sides meeting along the center line of said die-face for supporting the bar on the other side along its medial line, while permitting it to spread and thicken on each side of said line while being upset.

3. In a spreadingdie for shaping the ends of rectangular bars, a die-face for supporting one side of the heated end of the bar, having a central longitudinal depression, in combination with a die-face for supporting the opposite side of said end, having a central longitudinal projection, said depression and projection being arranged to coact in distorting the bar along its medial line.

4. In a spreading-die for shaping the ends of rectangular bars, a die-face for supporting one side of the heated end of the bar, having a broad central longitudinal depression of uniform cross-section, in combination with a dieface for supporting the other side of said heated end, having a broad central longitudinal projection of uniform cross-section, whereby the bar is prevented from buckling during upsetting, while it is free to expand on each side of its medial line and to thicken simultaneously to any desired extent.

WILLIAM R. WEBSTER.

Witnesses:

CHAS. A. BUTTER, CHARLES A. MAHONY.

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