50S 
N A 
1 X. 
rollers, being now put in motion, will draw the iron 
through, and, prefling it into the cavities or dies, form 
the iron into nails, one joined to the other, which mull 
afterwards be feparated by means of inftruments aCting 
as nippers, (hears, chifels, &c. The rollers, being made 
to work very clofe to each other where the edge of the 
nail is formed, will prevent much of the metal from being 
prefled out on each fide of the nail; and what is prefi'ed out 
may be cut off by inftruments. adapted to the purpofe. 
Several pairs of rollers may be made to work together, and 
each pair may have feveral rows of dies cut on them, fo as 
to form the imprefiion for feveral firings of nails ; and a 
rod of iron, being put into each of them, will roll out as 
many firings of nails with one revolution of the roller's. 
A pair of rollers may all'o have the greater part of their 
furface cut with dies, and a flat bed made to pal’s between 
the rollers, fo as to form flieet-nails ; all of them connected 
to one another by thin plates of the iron of which they are 
compofed ; and this would require each nail to be cut 
out, or feparated from the fheet by proper inftruments. 
Mr. Clifford's fecond invention confifts, ift. in drawing 
the iron or other metal into a tapering or wedge-like form, 
according to the length and thicjcnefs of the different 
fizes of nails to be made. zdly. The nails are to be cut 
out of thofe wedge-like or tapering plates by means of a 
punch, the face of which is made according to the fize, 
taper, and form, of the nail to be cut out; as alfo having 
a hollow bolfter, the hollow' or aperture of which mult 
alfo be made of the fize and form of a nail, and confe- 
quently to fit and receive the punch above-mentioned. 
The punch, thus fitted to the bed, and Hiding in a proper 
frame to keep it fleady, will, by a blow, or by prelfure, 
cut or force part of the taper-plate into and through the 
aperture of the bed fitting to it, and by which the nail is 
formed. This operation is by the manufacturers of buckles, 
buttons, &c. called cutting-out. 3dly. To form the heads 
of liorfe-nails called roj'e-lieads, and others of nearly a 
dimilar kind ; after the operations of drawing and cutting 
out, the nail is to be put into a heading-tool, alfo called 
abed, which bed receives the nail, excepting a (mail por¬ 
tion at the thick end, out of which the head is formed by 
a punch or die. This die, by blow or preflure, forms the 
head as required; and when the nails are made of hard 
iron, after they are cut in the way deferibed, the thick end 
is made hot before they are put into the bed, or heading- 
tool. 4thly. Another method adopted in the manufacture 
of nails is, by cutting them out of or from plates of equal 
thicknefs, and afterwards to point them either by ham¬ 
mer or other preflure. 5thly. In making nails that are 
of a triangular form, the plate or ftrip of iron is prefi’ed or 
damped into a die, having impreflions cut to the form of 
fuch nails, after which they are cut out by a punch. 
Mep. of Arts, vol. vii. and ix. 
About fifteen years ago, a very extenfive trade was 
e’ftablifhed in Birmingham and Sheffield of cut brads: 
that kind of nails called brads, having no head, or at lead 
only a fmall projecting leaf on one fide, was eafily cut 
out by machinery, without the trouble of forging; but 
latterly the method has been improved, fo far as to 
produce all kinds of fmall nails. The iron is rolled out 
to large thin flieets, of the proper thicknes to form a nail; 
this is cut up by flrong (hears into parallel flips or rib¬ 
bands, the width of them being equal to the length of 
the intended nails, which are cut off, one at a time, from 
the end of the (lip: the cutting-line is not exaCtly per¬ 
pendicular to the length of the piece, but rather inclined, 
fo as to make the nail which is cut off fharp at one end ; 
the next time the cutting-line is inclined the other way, 
fo that the head of one nail is cut from the fame edge of 
the flip as the point of the next, and fo on alternately. 
The cutting is performed by the fly-prefs, proper dies or 
efitters being applied in it: the lower or fixed die con- 
fids of a cutter or bar of fteel fet up edgeways, and one of 
the angles of its upper fide is ground to a fharp ftraight 
edge. The Aider of the prefs carries a die, confiding of 
a fquare bar of fteel moving perpendicularly by the aCHon 
of the ferew ; and, when it is forced down, one of its flat 
Aides applies exactly againfl the ftraight edge of the fixed 
cutter above-mentioned ; but, when the moving cutter is 
raifed up to the higheft, a part is obferved where its flat 
fide is cut away in fuch a manner as to leave a confider- 
able fpace between its face and the edge of the fixed 
cutter at one end of the edge, but touching it at the 
other. By this means, when the end of a flip of iron is 
prefled againfl the face of the moving cuttei'in its reduced 
part, a fhort piece of the end of the flip will projeCl over 
the edge of the fixed cutter, and, the moving cutter being- 
forced down by the ferew of the prefs, the fhoulder of the 
part^ which is cut away comes down upon the end of the 
flip, cutting it off to the line of the edge of the fixed 
cutter, and therefore removing a fmall piece from the 
end, which, being of a proper breadth at one end, and re¬ 
gularly tapered away to nothing at the other, makes a 
very good brad. The circumftance of its being parallel 
in the other direction, is the great recommendation to 
this kind of nail, becaufe it will drive without firfl mak¬ 
ing any hole in the wood, and does not fplit : the point 
of a nail of this kind is like the edge of a chifel, and, the 
length of this edge being fet acrofs the grain of the wood, 
when driven down, it cuts through, and divides all the 
fibres of the wood it meets with, and, by turning the 
divided ends of them down, as it is driven deeper, their 
elafticity binds the nail forcibly between them, fo that 
this nail will hold in the wood fafler than any other 
kind, but, being parallel in the other direction, does not 
tend to open or fplit the wood in the direction of the 
grain. 
Meflrs. Wilmore and Tonk obtained a patent, in i8o3, 
for a method of cutting nails, which they have thus de¬ 
feribed. They take a nail-rod, of a fize fuitable to that 
of the nail intended to be manufactured, and, applying it 
to a common ferew-prefs, mounted with proper cutters, 
cut off from the end of the rod two pieces at once, ob¬ 
liquely acrofs the rod in one place, and direCtly acrofs it 
in another. Two ftuds or tops are fet up, which are 
attached to the prefs, and are moveable in the direction of 
the rod, for the purpofe of afeertaining the length of the 
nail; and both ftuds are adjuflable in the crofs-direCtion 
of the rod, fo that the obliquity of the cut, according to 
the kind of nail to be made, is thereby determined, as 
well as the length of the nail. This is called the firfl 
operation. The fecond operation is to anneal the pieces 
fo cut off, if the iron fhould not be fufficiently malleable, 
which is done in the ufual and well-known manner. 
The third operation is that of heading, which, for clafp- 
head nails, confifts of two parts, one for gathering, and 
the other for forming the head of the nail. The firfl part 
of this operation is performed by putting a piece, cut off 
the rod of iron as before deferibed, into a pair of clams, 
leaving as much of the thick end projecting above the 
clams as is fufiicient to form the head. Thele clams have 
fteel bits let into them with fharp edges, which pi^efs only 
againfl the two oppofite Aides of the piece, and which have 
the effeCl of two chifels, when the punch of the prefs is 
brought down upon the piece with confiderable force, and 
raife or gather up iron towards forming the head. The 
fecond part of this operation is to put the nail, thus pre¬ 
pared, into another pair of clams, having bits to cor- 
refpond to the under fide of the head ; and the punch, 
having the imprefiion of the upper fide of the head en¬ 
graved or funk into it, is brought to prefs ftrongly upon 
the head in the clams, and thereby the clafp-head is pro¬ 
perly formed. 
For nails intended to have rofe-heads, or any other 
kind of heads exbept clafp-heads, the firfl part of this 
heading-operation is not abfolutely neceflary; but the 
bits, which for clafp-nails mull have (harp edges, muff for 
the other nails have blunt edges, to prevent the under¬ 
cutting. For the fecond part of this operation, the piece 
is put either into a pair of clams, or into the tool com- 
* monly 
