US1342415A - Nail-distributing machine - Google Patents

Description

J. M. BENJAMIN. NAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

- APPLlCATlO-N FILED JULY 11,1918.

1,342g41-5. Patented June 8, 1920.

4 SHEETSSHEET I.

J. M. BENJAMIN.

NAiL DISTRlBUTiNG MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11.1918.

1,342,4L5. Patented June 8, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. M. BENJAMINP NAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1918.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

1,342,415. Patented June 8,1920.

I. M. BENJAMIN.

NAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, I918.

1,342,41 5. Patented June 8, 1920-;

4 SHEETS--SHEET 4- IIIII I tim orrrca.

JoHN M. BENJAMIN, 0F BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 U-NITEnsH'oE" MACHINERY CORPORATION, NEW JERSEY.

,or PATER-SON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION-OE,

NAIL-DISTRIBUTING E.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. BENJAMI a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain lmprovements in Nail-Distributing Machines, of which the following description, 111 connection with the accompanying drawings,

is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to nail distributing machines and is particularly, though not exclusively, applicable to mechanism' orga'nized to handle headed or collar nalls. I

The common forms of nails known as collar nails and headed nails are easily and accurately handled in raceways in which they are supported by their enlarged portlons, that is their collars or heads, in substantially vertical position, point downward. In many machines to which .it. is des rable to supply such nails automatically, the nalls must be delivered to the machine in the reverse position, that is to say, point upward. A feature of the present invention, accordingly, consists in the combination with a nail raceway, of a member, for. e ample a distributer cylinder, for distribut ng nalls received from the raceway, and means for receiving nails from the raceway, inverting them, and delivering them to the distrlbuter cylinder. The nail inverting means may convenientlybonsist of a distributer disk interposed between the raceway and distributer cylinder and rotating about a horizontal axis in such a way that a nail may be received from the raceway point first in a suitable passageway in the disk and delivered from the said passage to the cyllnder head first. V 1

In this connection, a further important feature of the invention consists in the provision of a plurality of raceways, which may contain nails of different sizesor lengths, in combination with a correspondreceive nails from the respective raceways and deliver them as a single load to a single distributer cylinder.

Another feature of the invention resides inthe combination, w1th means for reversing the nails received from a raceway, of

, means for variably predetermining the number of nails to be delivered from "the raceway -to the reverser. By thegutili'zation Specification of Letters Patent; Patented- J n 8 1920. Application filed Jul 11, 1918. Serial No. 244,'399. V

of this ifeature, it becomes'possible .to deliver to the distributer cylinder any prede-' termined number of nails 'thatmaybe desired to constitute the load eventually to be delivered. When a plurality of raceways are provided, it becomes possible to predetermine separately the number of nails to be delivered-by. each individual raceway, and consequently a load can "be produced which will contain nails inany desired numbers and arrangement as to,

length or size. The number of nails to be delivered from :a-raceway in asingle rotat-ion of the distributer disk may, advantageously, be predetermined and controlled by the provision of means such, for example, as a'separator' responsive'to the movement of the disk for delivering to the passages or holes inthe disk a predeters' mined number of nails during thefi'otation V of the disk; Itis desirable that provision be made for predeterminately varying the number of nails thus delivered and means for securing this result are, 'accordi ly, provided by the present invention." specifically, in the particular embodiment of the invention herein "shown and described, the nail separator is operated by an actuator having a plurality ofpinsa rranged to impart a series of movements to the separator, and cam, or other suitable means is ter member to retain the nails therein, of a yielding shutter to permit the passage of a provided for placing any desired number of sa d pins in operative position. i 1 r projecting nail upon movement of the dis- I tributer'member without endangering the mechanism of the machine, 7

Another feature of the invention relates to the provision, for a cylindrical member having nail guiding passages opening upon its periphery, of i a .detachable casjing for 80- ore:

- erably automatic, for closing the nail passage leading to the distributer 7 member 7 free access to the )parts.

completing thewalls of the passages, which casing consists of a flexible band of thin material- .This flexible band is preferably secured in .place byfa thumb screw or similar binding meansand, consequently, may

be very easily removed to afford access to the cylinder. I prefer also to mount the cylinder in such fashion'that it maybe easily separated or lowered away from the distributer disk when it is desired to obtain Still further features, of the invention comprise means for disposing nails accu- 1 may in jverticalposition just, prior to their deliveryfrom the raceway and means,-prefwhen the parts of the machine are separated to gainaccess to the interior mechanism.

Other more or less important features of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description of the practical embodiment thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, 1nwh1ch;

Figure 1 is'aview in side, elevation of a nail distributing mechanism embodying my invention; x e i I i Fig. 21s a view of the mechanism in front elevation;

IFigsJ3, 4 and 5 arefragmentary views illustrating details of the nail separators;

' Fig. 7 is Fig. 6 shows a detail of the meansifor V supportingthe nail distributing cylinder;

i '7 1 v 7 a perspective View of the driving and controlling mechanlsm.

Referring-now to Fig. 1, 10 indicates a suitably disposed portion of the machine pon which the nail distributing mechanism is mounted. A bracket 12 bolted to the frame 10 serves to support the distributer. Two hoppers or'd'rums 14, 16 are j mounted to rotatefabout parallel, horizontal axes extending from front to rear, being supported and guided by rolls l8 and driven from a shaft 20 through pinions 22 meshing with gears 24; secured to the drums. The shaft :20 is driven from the main driving shaft 23 by a gear 25 mounted upon the shaft 20 andmeshingwith a gear 26 upon the said shaft 23. 7 Power is received from suitable source by a driving pulley 28,.

tinuously, while the operation of the nail distributer may be stopped, whenex' er d e-V sired, by disen'gagi'ng the clutch.

a The an drums 14, 16 may contain any suitable or usual means for feeding nails deposited therein to raceways-36, 38,-*-respectively, wherein the nails are supported in approximately vertical position by their heads or collars, as shown in Figs-1 and 4:.

'Rowsjof nails in the raceways 36, 38 are retained, and the nails delivered fromthe '8 lower ends of the raceways, one at a time, by a separator mechanism which will now be described. Fingers 40,42 mounted for horizontal sliding movement in a guide way44 in the front of the distributer frame are normally held apart and in position' to closethe lower ends of theiraceways by a] compression spring 46, and are moved toward each other against thetension of the spring 46 by separator levers'4l8, 5.0 pivoted at. 52, 547respectively, and drawn together by a spring 56 of suflicient strength toovercome the spring 46. The separator levers act upon the fingers through slidinglinks 58, 6Q,"the angularly turned ends of which f engage lugs 62, 64: upon the slides 40', 4-2;

'The sliding links 58, 60 are formed in hori% zontal cross sectlon, as shown 1n Flg. '5, a

face 66 engaging the shank of,.. and acting as a stop for, the lowermost nail in the raceway as the row of nails supported in the raceway descends, when the. separator finger is moved to uncover the lower end of theraceway; When the separator finger andthe sliding link are moved in the oppo} site direction to the position shown in Fig.

5, the lowermost nail is separated from the remainder of the row and allowed to drop into a distributing disk which will be'described hereinafter.

In order to insure an accurate vertical.

position'of the'nail, prior to its release, a

stop 68, with itsacting face in'vertical alinement with the surface 66 is provided. Ver tical adjustment ofthe stop to position 'it properly for engagement with the head of the nail is effected by a screw 70, 'see Fig. 4, the adjustment being secured by a binding screw 72. It will be observed that the separator fingers are yieldingly actuated in both.

directions by springs, hence, there is no danger of breakage of parts of the machine, in

the event of a misplaced or a misshapen nail being encountered. .7

As the nails are separated'one by one from the lower ends of the raceways, they drop through guiding passages '74, 76 into radial holesin the distributer disks 78, 80. Inasmuch as these distributer disks are alike in construction andoperation, it will'suflice to describe one of them in detail.

The distributer disks are mounted for ro-j tation upon a horizontal axis 82 which is driven by a miter gear 84, meshing with 'a miter gear 86 on the upper end of a vertical sleeve 88. The disk 80 is connected by a 7 hub 89 to a separator actuator, herein shown a a anel pin disk 90. The distributer disk 80 is provided with radial holes 92 for the reception of nails from the nail guiding passage 76. The actuator 90 is provided with a series of radial pins 94 corresponding in number to the holes 92. Each pin 94 is provided with a square shank 96, see Fig. 1, mounted to slide radially in a guide passage 98 formed in the disk 90, and has a pin 100 projecting from its side. The pins 100 engage in a cam groove 102 formed in the inner face'of a cover disk 104 loosely mounted upon the axis 82 to permit rotation of the cover disk relatively to the pin disk. A spring pressed pin provided with a handle 106 is mounted in the cover disk 104, and the pin disk 90 is provided with a circular series of holes 108 corresponding in number to the number of nail holes in the distributer disk 80, in any one of which holes 108 the spring pressedpin may be engaged to secure the pin disk and cover disk together against relative rotation. By withdrawing the pin 106, the cover disk may be rotated relatively to the pin disk, and the shape of the groove 102 is such that by such relative rotation the pins 94'wi1l be successively retracted or projected, depending upon the direction of the rotation. The construction and arrangement are such that any desired number of the pins 94 may be projected from the periphery of the actuator.

Formed upon the lower end of the separator lever is a cam 110 which normally is in position to be engaged by the pins 94 in succession as the distributer and separator disks are rotated together. These disks rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig.3 and the upper end of the separator lever is swung outwardly by the engagement with the cam face 110 of one of the pins 94, while simultaneously the upper end of the separator lever 48 is swung in the opposite direction by the corresponding pin 94 in the actuator upon the opposite side of the machine.

The full entry of the nails into the holes 92'is insured, and their escape, during the rotation of the distributer disks, is prevented by a cover or guard member 112 hinged at 114 and provided with downwardly extending segmental guard fingers V 116 embracing a portion of the periphery of the distributer disks. The guard member 11.2 is locked down by a button 118 which may be turned downwardly, as seen-in Fig. 2, to release the guard andpermit it to be swung outwardly and upwardly to obtain access to the parts of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3. The pivots 52, 54 of the separator levers are mounted in the guard member and, consequently, the said levers and their connected slides 58, 60 are also swung out of the way when the guard is lifted. A

plate 120',"mounted upon a sliding block 122, pressed rearwardly by engagement therewith of the pivot stud 54 is moved forwardly, transversely of the nail passage 76, by a spring 124 to close the lower end of the passage when the cover or guard member is released, thus avoiding the dropping out of the nail which may be in the passage 76 at such time.

The guard member 112 is provided with shutters 126 yieldingly held by springs 128 I in position to close the front of the nail pas sages 74, 7 6. In the event of a nail not dropping completely out of the passage 74, for example, into a hole 92, the shutter 126 may yield to allow the passage of projecting head of the nail when the rotation of the disk 7 8 starts, and the shutter will immediately snap back into closed positionwhen the projecting nail head has passed byit. Any possibility of bending nails or breaking parts of the mechanism at this point is thus eliminated.

At the lower end of the sleeve 88 a star wheel 130 is mounted to rotate horizontally about a fixed upright axis 132. Rotation of the star wheel is effectedintermittently by engagement -with the successive teeth thereof, of a pin 134 projecting from the lower face of a disk 136 driven from a vertical shaft 138 through a cl'utch140. Near its upper end, the'shaft 138' carries a gear 142, which is in driving engagement with the gear 26 upon'the driving shaft 23. By virtue of this construction, the upper portion of the shaft 138 is continuously driven, as long as the driving shaft 23 rotates, but the lower portion of the shaft and the star wheel driving pin 134are ,not operated as long as the clutch stop 144 remains in-the position in Fig. 7,keeping the clutch disenga ed. f

ecured to and rotating with the star wheel 130 is a distributer cylinder 146 having, in its periphery, nail guiding passages 148 equal in number to the total number of holes 92 in both distributer disks '78, 80. A casing 150 surrounding the distributer cylinder completes the walls'of the guide passages 148 and retains the nails therein; 1i5 This casing is preferably in the form of a flexible band of thin metal, the ends of which are secured by a binding screw 1.52 and. which may be radially removed to afford access to the nail passages by loosening the said screw. Thecylinder 146*is rotatably supported upon a flange 154 at theupper end of a vertically movable, non-rotatable sleeve 156 surroundingthe stationary axis 132. The sleeve 156 is provided with a hub 158, to which is pivoted a handle 160, having an inwardly projecting dog 162 which is normally engaged in the recess 164- in the upright member 132 to support the in the disk 178 comes beneath the lug 182, which drops into the notch, the clutch stop 144 descending into position to disengage the clutch 140 and to stop the rotation of the cylinder. When the load of nails has been discharged from the transferrer 186, the transferrer is returned until the detent 220 drops into a depression 228 in the plate 224 which serves to maintain the transferrer station- "ary until it is desired to move it again to all the nail passages 148.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: The nails to be distributed and arranged are placed in either or both of the" hoppers 14, 16. If it be desired to-supply Trails of two lengths in. each load deliveredfor example, long nails for the rear of a heel and shorter nails for the breast-the nails of diiierent lengths areplaced in the two hoppers respectively; If nails all-of one combination of a raceway, a distributer length are required, they may be placed in both hoppers or, if the number of nails to :be'delivered in a load does not exceed the number of holes 92, in one of the distributer disks,,the nails may be placed in one hopper only. The hoppers, having been thrown into operation by engaging the clutch 30, 32, act in the usual manner to supply nails to the raceways. Each of the cover disks 104 is set to leave projecting from the periphery of its corresponding pin disk a number of pins 94 corresponding to the number of nails which it is desired to secure fromthe corresponding raceway and hopper, the remaining pins 94 being retracted and, therefore, inoperative to actuate the separators tates through half a revolution@ Simultaneously, the shaft 82 carrying the distributer disks 78, 80 receives, through the gears 86, 84, a complete revolution. During this revolution of the distributer disks, the

separator levers are'actuated as many times as there are pins 94 projecting, del1ver1ng at each actuation a nail from the raceway through the passage 7 4 or 7 6 into the correto the distributer disks point downward.

In the continued rotation of the disks, however, the nails are inverted and drop out of the holes 92 into the passages 148 head downward, in which position they are subsequently deposited in the transferrer 186.

After a complete revolution of the distributer disks and a half revolution of the distributer cylinder, the lug 182 drops into one of the notches 180, and the movement of the distributer is stopped. The desired number of nails is now contained in the distributer cylinder ready to be delivered to the transferrer when the latter is moved'to what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a nail distributing machine, the

combinationof a raceway, a distributer cylinder, and means for receiving nails from the raceway, inverting them and delivering them to the distributer cylinder.

2. In a nail distributing "machine, the

combination ofa plurality of raceways, a

distributer cylinder and means for receiving nails from the raceways, inverting them and deliveringthem to the distributer cylinder. p

3. In a nail distributing machine, the

disk arranged to receive nails from the race 4, In a nail distributing machine, the

combination of a plurality, of raceways,'a'

plurality of distributer disks arranged'ad acent to the raceways in position toreceive nails therefrom, and a distributer cylinder arranged adjacent to the disks in to receive nailstherefrom.

' 5.In a nail distributingv machine, the

combination of a plurality of raceways, a

plurality of distributer disks arranged one" adjacent to each raceway in positions to recelve nails from theraceways respectlvely,

position and a single distributer cylinder positioned V Y to receive nails from all ofsaid disks,

6. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of aninclined raceway, a disreceive nails therefrom,

7. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of an inclined raceway, a distributer disk adjacent to the delivery end of the raceway, anda. distributer cylinder rotatable about an upright axis in position to receive nails from the disk.

8. In a hall distributing" machine, the

' combination of a plurality 5f inclined raceways, a plurality of vertically rotatable distributer disks at the delivery ends f the frac'eways to the distributer members, and

v of each.raceway,a nail separator at the deraceways, and a horizontally rotatable distributer cylinder located adjacent to the disks in position to receive nails therefrom. I 9. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of airac'eway, means for delivering nails from the raceway, means for reversing thenails, and means for variably predetermining the number of nails to be delivered. g

10. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a raceway, means for delivering a variablypredetermined number of nails from the raceway, anda vertically rotatable distributer disk arranged to receive the nails as they are delivered from theracewayf l1. In a nail combination of a raceway, a vertically rotatable distributer disk, means for delivering a variably predetermined number of mails from the, raceway to the disk, and a distributer cylinder arranged to receive the nailsfrom the disk. I

12.. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a plurality of raceways, a plurality of distributer members arranged to receive nails from the raceways, and

means for delivering a variably predeter- 1 .mined number of nails from the raceways 13. In a nail distributing machine, the

to the distributer members.

combination of a plurality. of raceways, a

plurality of distributer members arranged to receive nailsfrom the respective raceways, means for delivering na1lsv from the means for variably predetermining the numbersof nails delivered to the respective distributer members. I

14. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a plurality of raceways, a distributer disk adjacent tothe delivery end livery end of each raceway, and means for actuating the respective separators independently, variably predetermined numbers of times to, deliver corresponding numbers of nails from the raceways to the respective separators. a i 1 15. In a nail distributing machine,-the combination of a raceway, a rotary dis- ".end of the raceway, a nail separator in cooperative relation to the raceway, and means for simultaneously imparting a completev rotation to the distributer member and actuating the separator a variably predeter- V mined number of times.

16. In a nail distributing machinepthe comb nation of a" raceway, a movabledistrlbuter member adjacent to the delivery end of the raceway, said memberbeing provided w1th aseries of nail; receiving holes,

a r and means for moving said member to present all of said holes in succession to the enddistributing machine, the

of the raceway and delivering nails the raceway to a variably predetermined number of the holes. i

17. In anail distributing machine, combination of a raceway, a rotary 'dlstributer disk adjacent to the delivery end plurality of pins arranged to impart a series of movements to the separator, and. 7

means for withdrawing any desired number of said pins from operative position;

19. In a nail distributing machine, the

combination of a'raceway, a nail separator,

an actuator for the separator including a plurality of pins arranged to impart a series of movements to the separator, and

cam means for placing any'desired number of said pins in operative position.

20. In a nail distributing machine, the comblnation of a movable distributergmemfber, a rigid, stationary guard member, and a yielding shutter in the guardmemberto permit the passage of a'nail projecting from the distributer member.

f 21. In a nail distributing :machine, the combination of a rotary distributer member having nail receiving holes in its periphery,

. a rigid guard member close to the periphery of the distributer member, and a yielding. shutter in the guard member in the path of any; nail which may project from a hole in the, distributer member;

' 22. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a cylindrical distributer member having nail guiding passages opening upon the periphery of the cylinder, and

a detachable casing for completing thewalls of the passages, said cas ng consisting of a I flexible band of thin material. 7

.23. In a nail. distributing machine,,

I j combination of a cylindrical distributer trlbuter member adjacent to the delivery.

, means for securing the casing in place.

2 1. In a nail distributing machine, the

combination of a distributer member, a second distributer member, and means r'or normally maintaining the second -member in position to receive nails from the first member, said means being constructed and arranged to permit -the membersto be easily separated manually to afiord access thereto.

25. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a distributer member, a distributer cylinder beneath the member, and means for normally maintaining the cylinder in position to receive nails from the member, constructed and arranged to permit the cylinder to be lowered away from the member manually to aflord easy access to' means for adjusting the spacing of said members. I

27. In a nail distributing machine for collar nails, the combination of a raceway, and a stop arranged to engage the lowermost nailwhile it is in the raceway, comprising members having faces in the same vertical plane for engaging respectively the shank and head portions of the nail, and means for efl'ecting relative vertical adjustment between said members.

Y 28. In a nail distributing machine, the

combination of a member provided with. a

nail guiding passage, a relatively movable cover member, andmeans separate from said cover member rendered lnoperatlve by relative approaching movement of said members for closing the passage when the members are separated.

29. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of adjacent, separable members cooperating to form a normally open nail guiding passage, and means separate from said members movable transversely of the passage for automatically closing the passage when said members are separated.-

30. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a member provided with a partially inclosed nail guiding passage, a cover member pivoted thereto and cooperating to complete the passage, and yieldingly actuated means retracted by relative ap- 'proaching movement of said members for closing the passage transversely when the members are separated.

In testimony whereof. I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN M. BENJAMIN.

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