UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H.DOOLITTLE, 0F ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT.

MODE OF MAKING CLASPS FOR HOOP-SKIRTS.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,102, dated September 96, 1865y

cut to properly leave the die. Fig. 9 is a de Be it known that I, J . H. DooLrrrLE, of tail perspective of the sustaining-plate. Fig. Ansonia, of the county of New Haven, in the l0 is a plan of the continuous strip of blanks. State of Connecticn t, have invented a new Fig. 1l is a perspective view of a clasp formed Method of Making Clasps from Sheet Metal for of one of the blanks seen at Fig. 10; and Fig. Hoop-Skirts, Src.; an d I do hereby declare that 12 is a plan ofthe strip of material from which the following is a full and exact description clasps are'manufactured, illustrating the thereof, reference being had to the accompany the mode ofcutting the strip of blanks from a strip ing drawings, making part of this a-pplication. of stock, as will be presently fully explained. My invention relates to certain new and use In the drawings I have fully shown not only ful improvements in the method of making me the method of working up the stock, but also,

To all whom it may concern :

these ends myinvention consists in cutting from a strip of material (from which the clasps are made) a continuous strip of blanks,which passes on through suitable dies, by which the blanks are separated, formed up complete., and

and has for its objects to manufacture such parts of said machinery have no direct con clasps more rapidly and with less waste stock nection with the invention sought to be covered than they have been heretofore made ; and to in this applica-tion. They will therefore not be

tallic clasps for hoop-skirts and other purposes, in detail, the machinery employed; but many

comprehend my invention and use it, I will H and I are two stands, in which are mount proceed to describe the mode in which I have ed,in suitable bearings, four shafts, 7 8 9 10, most successfully practiced it, referring by let carrying on their front outer ends four rotat ters and figures to the accompanying draw ing circular dies or die-rolls, a b o d, between ings,forming part of this application, and illus the faces of which the metallic sheet is fed, as tratin g the machinery by whichI have worked will be presently explained. The shafts 7 and
my said invention. _

of scrap is discharged from the clasp-forming illustrated in the drawings as carrying out the mechanism and the remaining stock is reeled invention herein claimed. for reuse, as hereinafter more fully explained; A is the bed-plate; B, the supporting-frame and my invention further consists in forming or legs of the machine. A short distance above the continuous strip or the series of united the bed-plate A, and supported by it, is ar blanks in such manner that they may be sepa ranged a work-table, J,which is supported by rated and formed up without the makin got' any four colunms,T, and on which are arranged an scrap in said operation of separating and form adjustable stop and guide plate, Z, and a re ing up, as will be hereinafter more fully ex taining spring-pressure roll, m, for guiding and plained. ~ retaining the strip of metal which may be fed To enable those skilled iu the art to fully into the mechanism for forming the clasps.

discharged, while at the same time the strip the construction and operation of the machine

particularly described here, but will be found more minutely explained in another applica tion led simultaneously with this, in which I claim. the improvements in the said machinery. I will in this specification explain briefly

In the drawings, Figure l is a front eleva tion of an improved machine for making clasps
upon my new method. Fig. 2 is an end eleva tion of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sec

8 are geared together in the manner illustrat ed at Fig. 6, and the shafts 9 and l0 are geared together in like manner, and the two lower shafts, 8 and l0, are driven through the me

for causing the stock from which the blanks are K K, from the work-table J, and carries a reel,

at Fig. 7, together with the sustaining-plate sleeve M, which is sustained by two columns,

dium of gears Q R on their back ends mesh tion at y y, Fig. ]. Fig. 4 is a vert-ical section ing into the driving-pinion P on the main driv at z z, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a vertical section at ing-shaft C, said shaft C being provided with new, Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view, a fast and loose pulley, D andE, on which the showing particularly the device for effecting driving-belt runs. the perfect working of the rotary dies driven l The pulley F is for the purpose of drivinga by gearing. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view hanger-pulley, from which a belt extends down at the line & St, Fig. 2, increased scale. Fig.8 to the pulley G of the rcel-shaft Z. This reel is a top view of one of the lower dies shown shaft is mounted in suitable bearings in the

50,102

L, on which the strip of stock passed through discharged through chute It, (see Fig. 1,) the part 2 being carried up outside of the chute It, the rotarydies is wound.
and the operation of dividing or cutting it up, is the strip of blanks,) passing through the con
In Figs. l and 2 I have illustrated the strip of metal from which the clasps are foi med,

and between it and the deflector a3, to the reel

L, (see Fig.1,) and the central portion, 1, (which

by red lines, the line numbered l representing ductor 1 , and thence through the dies c d, by

the portion of stock formed into blanks for Whichlatter dies said strip of blanks-is cut up making the clasps, that numbered (two) 2 the at the points through which the red lines pass remaining stock, which is rewound on reel L, at Fig. 10, and formed up into clasps such as and that numbered 3 the strip of scrap, which shown at Fig. 1l. The operation of the dies
discharged.

is discharged from the machine at the e1 dop on the strip of stock is clearly illustrated at posite to that where the iinished clasps are Figs. 7, 1_, and 2. After the whole length of

vot' the bed A,)and a connecting-link, O, in moved to reel N and the end again fed into the such manner that the stand I may be moved machine, when the dies go through a repeti toward or from the stand H by means ot' its tion of the operation just described. cutting adjusting-screws e and f, while at the same ofi' another strip ol' blanks and forming them
time the pinion P will remain always in gearv with the gears l? and Q, whoseshafts are hung separately in the two stands thus moved t0 ward and from each other. The stopping and starting ot' theniachine are

a curved slot, a2, (two slots, one on each side on >the rcel L, the strip of stock on reel L is re

the strip of stock has been passed through the ' The driving-shaft G is hung in bearings in machine,the surplus stock having been Wound

into clasps, discharging another strip of scrap, -

and rewindiug the surplus stock on reel L; and

so ou, the operation is repeated until the whole ofthe stock; has been made into clasps. It will be seen that by the mode of operation

eli'ected, at the pleasure of thc operator, by an described the manufacture of clasps and other ordinary shipper for shifting the driving-belt similar articles (the dies, Sto., being made read from pulley D to E, and vice versa. The bar ily to suit various-shaped articles) from sheet

y dies c b and c d in line in the direction of the simply separated or out apart on aline they are \ in condition to constitute a perfect clasp (such Q . e ofthe stock through them. The object of the adjustment ofthe stand I as shown at Fi g. 11) without any scrap or waste

of this shipper is partially shown in the draw stock by rotary dies is rendered very rapid and ings (at Figs. l and 2) at b3, and its handle at economical; and it will also be observed that n. The stand H is adj ustablc crosswisefot' the the strip of blanks (see Fig. 10) is such (the bed A, for the purpose setting the two sets ot' blanks being connected at their ends) that when

from and toward H, as just before explained, of the strip of blanks; and it will be under
clasps-different kind of work. y is a bridge or conductor, through which

is to vary the distance between the two sets stood that this peculiar feature ot' my inven of dies a. I) and c d for different lengths of tion may be employed in forming a strip of

blanks to' make other shaped clasps than that shown. It will be understood that the invention de the strip of blanks passes from the iirst set of scribed and claimed in this applicationis inde dies to the next. l It is acurved conduit or chute, through which pendent of the peculiar machine described, the strip ot" scrap passes off from the first set and rests in the mode of operation of manufac

of dies.
N is areel, which may be located at any con

turing` the clasps from-a strip' of stock, though

venient distance from the machine in any prop er manner, and from which the stri) of stock is

the machine I have shown and described I am now successfully working, and it turns out

twentytwo hundred and fifty clasps per minute. Having fully explained the nature ot' my in fed to the machine for-making the clasps. l vention and the mode ofcarrying out the same, The general operation of the machine will be understood from a few words ofexplanation. which I have successfully practiced, what I The reelNbeing piled with acontiuuous strip of claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is. sheet metal ofany desired width and length 1. Forming the clasps orothersimilar articles sayten to twenty feetlong and sixinches wide thc operator, hayingproperly adjusted the ma by means of asuccession of sets of rotary dies,

chine for the kind ot' work to be done, passes when the strip of stock fed to the dies is di the strip along on the table J with one edge vided into several parts, in the manner sub against the face ofthe adjustable stop or guide stantially as hereinbet'ore described. 2. Forming blanks of sheet metal by one set bar l, (see Fig. 2,) the other edge receiving a pressure from the grooved wheel m, to keep it of rotary dies and close together, substantially against the said bar l, and enters the end of the as described, so that in their subsequent sepa said strip of stock between the first set, a b, of ration and forming up no stock is wasted. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set dies and sets the machine in motion. As the strip of stock is drawn through the diese I) it is my hand and affixed my seal.~ JOHN H. DOOLITTLE. [L.s.] divided into three parts, as illustrated at Fig. 12 In presence of by the portions colored blue and red and that

left white, the red portion or part 3 being the

scrap, which is detlected from the die c and

M. DE LACY, Taos. WALLACE, Jr.