Doubling or bending the wires to the form of a staple. The wires are held in a tool adapted to the purpose, called a doubler, and bent by the pressure of another tool, called the bender, which is formed like a small reaping hook, but without any edge. The doubler is a wooden handle, having a steel gauge fixed in the end of it, to the stop of which the ends of the pieces of wire are applied, and doubled into the form of a staple, over a small fiat bar of steel (bridge) fixed in the doubler, perpendicular to the length of the wire ; and by means of the stop of the gauge, the proper part of the wire is presented to the bridge, so that the two ends or legs of the staple, when formed, shall be exactly of the same length : The bridge is, of course, the same breadth as the distance between the two legs and points of the sta ple, which is formed by bending or doubling the wire over it. The workman, having adjusted the wires in the doubler, presses the bender (held in the other hand) against them; and thus, by one operation, bends them to the form of the letter L, over one angle of the bridge, and by repeating it over the other angle doubles them, forming 30 or 40 staples together very quickly.
Bending. The workman now removes the wires from the bridge of the doubler by a small steel knife, or spatula, introducing its point under the shank, and be tween the legs of all the staples at once, and thus lifts them off from the bridge over which they were doubled, and conveys them suspended on the blade of this knife to a very curious little machine, which gives them the knee bend. The workman hangs the staples upon a small brass bar, or ruler, fixed in the machine, and then withdrawing his knife, leaves them, and prepares to double another packet of wires. The machine has an axis extending its whole length, which is about eight inches ; and this is turned with a regular and equable motion, by the same wheel-work as the common roast ing jack; and the workman, from time to time, winds up the handle, to keep it always in motion. The axis has ten small levers, or claws, upon it, at different parts of its length , and opposite to each is one of the rulers, with staples on it always ready to be bent. Each claw does one at once. The rulers being placed rather in clined, the staples always have a tendency to run down towards the axis, but are prevented from falling ow the end of it by a knob or projection on the top of the ruler. Over this knob one staple is lifted at every revolution of the axis, by a small detent, called the kicker, which lies concealed in a groove in the upper surface of the ruler, like a knife blade in its handle ; but is lifted up at every revolution of the axis, and then raises one sta ple over the stop, and it slips down an inclined plane, or continuation of the ruler, towards the axis. At the bot
tom or this inclined ruler is a sort of die, or recess, into which the legs of the wire staple fall ; and then the claw, or lever, upon the axis coining past, gives the knee bend to the wire, by forcing its point while it is held in the dies, and bending it over a proper rest. The instant the claw has passed by, the spring of the wire causes it to leap out of its die, and make way for another, which is kicked down at the next revolution. Thus every turn of the spindle crooks ten staples ; and the workman keeps it constantly supplied, so as to bend all immense number per day. This machine is said to have been in vented about 1775, by a Quaker, whose name we have forgotten.
This is the process of forming card wires, as at pre sent practised ; but some more complete machines have been invented by ingenious mechanics : One is in use in the neighbourhood of Halifax, in Yorkshire ; and another, similar in its properties, is preserved in the re pository of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. London. It was invented by Mr Joseph Beard of Cogeshall, in Essex, who received a reward from the Society of a silver medal and 40 guineas for it, in 1805. This machine displays so much ingenuity, that we re quested and obtained permission of the Society to have a drawing made of it, which is given in Plate CXI. 2. It has not been published in the volumes of their Transactions. The machine is double, having parts to make two complete card wires at once. It receives two wires at once, from two reefs, on each of which a coil of wire is placed. The wires pass between a pair of rollers, by which they are drawn into the machine, which cuts off a proper length from the ends, and bends the pieces into the proper form, then drops them into a drawer beneath, and proceeds with two others. Our draughtsman has found it necessary, for simplicity, to exhibit only one of the halves of the machine, which is by itself a complete machine; and in this division some alterations were necessarily made in the form of some few of the parts, which were in the original common to both halves. This drawing is not, therefore, to be con sidered as an exact representation of the machine in the Society's possession, though it contains all the essential parts and movements. AA, Plate CX1. Fig. 2. is a main axis, which puts all the parts in motion. It has a fly wheel C fixed on the end of it, and is turned round by a handle B; or it might receive its motion from any ma chinery, by an endless band, or strap and pulley, as it does not require any attendance.