Image
|
Title: |
1874 article - Stevens's shears for cutting metal bars |
|
Source: |
June 1874 American Artisan page 147 |
|
Insert Date: |
1/10/2023 1:00:28 PM |
STEVENS'S SHEARS FOR CUTTING METAL BARS
The annexed engraving illustrates a shears for cutting metal bars, patented in the United States, and for which applications for patents have been made abroad through the American Artisan Patent Agency. The inventor is Mr. W. X. Stevens, of East Brookfield, Mass. The machine is the most powerful, in proportion to its weight, yet brought to our notice. At the same time it is extremely simple in its construction. Two dies are employed. The other parts of the machine, exclusive of the lever and pawl, are two in number, with the exception of the bolts that hold these parts together. One die is fixed, and the other is caused to rotate about the central axis, which is the same for both dies. The dies are square blocks, perforated to suit the bars intended to be cut. One is placed in a recess in the back part of the body of the shears, and the other fits a recess in the plate, from which rise the arms, which terminate in a segment of a toothed wheel. The leverage gained is enormous. The plate which carries the movable die is circular in form, its entire perimeter being the bearing surface. It fits into a circular recess in the body of the machine, and is held to its place by an annular plate attached to the body of the machine by four bolts which pass through the body of the machine from the back side. It is scarcely possible to conceive a simpler construction, or one which would give greater strength with a given amount of material. The dies may be made to cut bars of irregular form, as well as square and circular bars. As their forms are held firmly together, the cutting must be square.
We have been informed by Mr. Stevens that he has accomplished the feat of cutting squarely off a railroad rail by hand with a machine weighing less than 500 pounds. We do not know that this has ever been exceeded by a machine of the same weight. Further particulars may be obtained by addressing the inventor as above. |
|
|
|
|