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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31756-8.txt b/31756-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e000764 --- /dev/null +++ b/31756-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1081 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Screw-Thread Cutting by the Master-Screw +Method since 1480, by Edwin A. Battison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Screw-Thread Cutting by the Master-Screw Method since 1480 + +Author: Edwin A. Battison + +Release Date: March 24, 2010 [EBook #31756] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCREW-THREAD CUTTING SINCE 1480 *** + + + + +Produced by Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper, Louise Pattison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: + +This is Paper 37 from the Smithsonian Institution United States National +Museum Bulletin 240, comprising Papers 34-44, which will also be +available as a complete e-book. + +The front material, introduction and relevant index entries from the +Bulletin are included in each single-paper e-book. + +Typographical errors have been corrected as follows: + + Page 110: "... the spindle, to prevent ..." (had "pindle") + Page 120: "... servants à l'intelligence de plusieurs choses difficiles, + & nécessaires ..." (had "a," "plusiers," "necessaires")] + + + + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION + +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM + +BULLETIN 240 + + +[Illustration] + +SMITHSONIAN PRESS + + +MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY + + CONTRIBUTIONS + FROM THE + MUSEUM + OF HISTORY AND + TECHNOLOGY + + _Papers 34-44_ + _On Science and Technology_ + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966 + + + + +_Publications of the United States National Museum_ + + +The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National +Museum include two series, _Proceedings of the United States National +Museum_ and _United States National Museum Bulletin_. + +In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs +dealing with the collections and work of its constituent museums--The +Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and +Technology--setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of +anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies of each +publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific +organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different +subjects. + +The _Proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in +separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History. +These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date +of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume. + +In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear +longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in +several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related +subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on +the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the +botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been +published in the _Bulletin_ series under the heading _Contributions from +the United States National Herbarium_, and since 1959, in _Bulletins_ +titled "Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology," have +been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of +that Museum. + +The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises +Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in +separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each +paper. + + FRANK A. TAYLOR + _Director, United States National Museum_ + + + + +CONTRIBUTIONS FROM +THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: +PAPER 37 + +SCREW-THREAD CUTTING BY THE +MASTER-SCREW METHOD SINCE 1480 + +_Edwin A. Battison_ + + + + +_Edwin A. Battison_ + +SCREW-THREAD CUTTING BY THE MASTER-SCREW METHOD SINCE 1480 + + _Among the earliest known examples of screw-thread cutting machines + are the screw-cutting lathe of 1483, known only in pictures and + drawings, and an instrument of the traverse-spindle variety for + threading metal, now in the Smithsonian Institution, dating from the + late 17th or early 18th century. The author shows clearly their + evolution from something quite specialized to the present-day tool. + He has traced the patents for these instruments through the early + 1930's and from this research we see the part played by such devices + in the development of the machine-tool industry._ + + THE AUTHOR: _Edwin A. Battison is associate curator of mechanical + and civil engineering in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of + History and Technology._ + + +Directness and simplicity characterize pioneer machine tools because +they were intended to accomplish some quite specialized task and the +need for versatility was not apparent. History does not reveal the +earliest forms of any primitive machines nor does it reveal much about +the various early stages in evolution toward more complex types. At best +we have discovered and dated certain developments as existing in +particular areas. Whether these forms were new at the time they were +first found or how widely dispersed such forms may have been is unknown. +Surviving evidence is in the form of pictures or drawings, such as the +little-known screw-cutting lathe of 1483 (fig. 1) shown in _Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch_. + +This lathe shows that its builder had a keen perception of the necessary +elements, reduced to bare essentials, required to accomplish the object. +Present are the coordinate slides often credited to Henry Maudslay. His +slides are not, of course, associated with the spindle; neither is there +any natural law which compels them to guide the tool exactly parallel +with the axis of revolution. In this sense the screw-cutting lathe in +the _Hausbuch_ is superior because it is in harmony with natural law and +can generate a true cylinder, whereas Maudslay's lathe can only transfer +to the work whatever accuracy is built into it. + +In principle this machine shown in the _Hausbuch_ is very advanced as we +see when we follow the design through to the present time. The artist, +whose drawings give us our only knowledge of the machine, himself was +obviously not very familiar with the details of its function. Reference +to figure 1 shows that the threads on the lead screw and on the work, +wind in opposite directions. This must be an error in delineation since +the two are closely coupled together without any intervening mechanism +so that the only possible result on the work must be a thread winding in +the same direction as on the original screw. The work also is shown +threaded for its entire length; this cannot be accomplished with any one +location of the cross-slide. We are left with the question of whether +this slide was used in two locations or whether the artist, possibly +working from notes or an earlier rough sketch, failed to show an +unthreaded portion on one end or the other of the work. + +[Illustration: Figure 1.--EARLIEST REPRESENTATION FOUND OF A +MASTER-SCREW TYPE of thread-cutting machine. From the inconsistencies, +such as right- and left-hand threads on master and work, it appears that +the artist had scant insight into actual function. From plate 62 of _Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch, nach dem Originale im Besitze des Fürsten von +Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee, im Auftrage des Deutschen Vereins für +Kunstwissenschaft, herausgegeben von Helmuth Th. Bossert und Willy F. +Storck_ (Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1912).] + +Of at least equal importance with the lead screw and work and their +relationship to each other is the tool-support with its screw-adjusted +cross-slide (fig. 2). Just how this was attached to the frame of the +machine so that it placed the tool at a suitable radius is again a +questionable point. The very well-developed cutting tool is sharpened to +a thin, keen edge totally unsuited for cutting metal but ideal for use +on a softer, fibrous substance: undoubtedly wood, in this instance. +Unfortunately, the angle at which the artist chose to show us this +cutter is not a view from which it is possible to judge whether or not +the tool has been made to conform to the helix angle of the thread to be +cut. This cross-slide, in conjunction with the traversing work spindle, +gives us a machine having two coordinate slides yielding the same effect +as the slide rest usually attributed to Henry Maudslay at the end of the +18th century. Actually, an illustration of coordinate slides independent +of the spindle had been published as early as 1569 by Besson[1] and +knowledge of them widely disseminated by his popular work on mechanics. +These slides are shown as part of a screw-cutting machine with a +questionably adequate connection, by means of cords, between the master +screw and the work. + +It was the author's pleasure recently to obtain for the Smithsonian +Institution and identify a small, nicely made, brass instrument which +had been in two collections in this country and one collection in +Germany as an unidentified locksmith's tool (fig. 3). This proved to be +an instrument of the traverse-spindle variety for threading metal. +Fortunately, all essential details were present including a cutter (A in +figure 4); this instrument was identified by the signature "Manuel +Wetschgi, Augspurg." The Wetschgis were a well-known family of gunsmiths +and mechanics in Augsburg through several generations. Two bore the +given name Emanuel: the earlier was born in 1678 and died in 1728. He +was quite celebrated in his field of rifle making and became chief of +artillery to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel shortly before his death in +his 51st year. Little is known of the later Emanuel Wetschgi except that +he was at Augsburg in 1740. Tentative attribution of the instrument has +been made to the earlier Emanuel, chiefly on the basis of his recognized +position as an outstanding craftsman. + +[Illustration: Figure 2.--CROSS-SLIDE for the thread-cutting lathe of +_Das mittelalterliche Hausbuch_, shown in figure 1. It is remarkable not +only for its early date, but also for its high state of development with +a crossfeed screw which had not become universally accepted 300 years +later. The cutter, shown out of its socket, is obviously sharpened for +use on wood.] + +In several respects this little machine differs from its predecessor of +the _Hausbuch_, as might be expected when allowance is made for the +generations of craftsmen who undoubtedly worked with such tools over the +roughly 200 years of time separating them. Another factor to consider +when comparing these two machines is that one was used on metal, the +other probably only on wood. Therefore, it is not surprising to find on +the later machine an outboard or "tailstock" support for the work. The +spindle of this support has to travel in unison with the work-driving +spindle so that it is not an unexpected discovery to find that it is +spring-loaded. Figure 5 shows how this spring may be adjusted to +accommodate various lengths of work by moving the attachment screw to +various holes in both the spring and in the frame. Also visible in the +same illustration is a rectangular projection at the other end of the +spring which engages a mating hole in the "tailstock" spindle to prevent +its rotation. + +[Illustration: Figure 3.--SMALL THREAD-CUTTING LATHE which was made to +be held in a vise during use. It was found as shown here, with only the +operating crank missing. The overall length is approximately 12 inches, +depending on the adjustment of parts. (Smithsonian photo 46525B.)] + +Figure 6 shows the traversing spindle and nut removed from the machine. +Provision has been made for doing this so easily that there is every +reason to believe that, originally, there were various different spindle +and nut units which could be interchangeably used in the machine. +Additional evidence tending to support this concept exists in the +cutting tool (fig. 4), which must have been intended for serious work as +it has been carefully fitted in its unsymmetrical socket. The cutting +blade of this tool, which works with a scraping rather than a true +cutting action, is too wide to form a properly proportioned thread when +used with the existing lead screw. This may well indicate that the tool +was made for use with a lead of coarser pitch, now lost. + +[Illustration: Figure 4.--THE WORKING AREA of figure 3, showing the tool +and signature. (Smithsonian photo 46525A.)] + +Perhaps the most startling feature of this machine when compared with +the machine of the _Hausbuch_, is the absence of a cross-slide for +adjusting the tool. Possibly this can be explained by the blunt scraping +edge on the tool. In actual use, recently, to cut a sample screw, using +a tool similar to the one found in the machine (fig. 7), it was found +advantageous to be free of a cross-slide and thus be able to feed the +tool into the work by feel rather than by rule, as would be done with a +slide rest. In this way, it was possible to thread steel without +tearing, as the cutting pressure could readily be felt and the tool +could release itself from too heavy a cut. Size on several screws could +be repeated by setting the tool to produce the desired diameter when its +supporting arm came to rest against the frame of the machine. The screws +used in the machine itself were apparently made in just such a way. They +were not cut with a die as the thread blends very gradually into the +body of the screw without the characteristic marks left by the cutting +edges of a die. Threads cut with a single-point tool controlled by a +cross-slide usually end even more abruptly than those cut by a die, +while it would be quite simple with a machine of the nature we are +considering to bring the thread to a gentle tapering end as seen in +figure 8 (another view of the screw A in fig. 3) by gradually releasing +the pressure necessary to keep the tool cutting as the end of the +thread was approached. + +[Illustration: Figure 5.--SPRING FOR KEEPING THE FOLLOWER SPINDLE +against the work, showing the method and range of adjustment. Note the +rectangular projection to engage a mating socket in the spindle, to +prevent spindle rotation. (Smithsonian photo 46525.)] + +[Illustration: Figure 6.--WORK SPINDLE AND ITS NUT removed from the +machine to illustrate how easily another spindle and nut of different +pitch could be substituted. (Smithsonian photo 46525C.)] + +That machines of this general type having the lead screw on the axis of +the work were competitive with other methods and other types of machines +over a long period of time may be seen from figures 9 and 10. The +machine, left front in figure 9 and in more intimate detail in figure +10, can be seen to differ little from that shown in _Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch_ of 1483. The double work-support is, of +course, a great improvement, while the tool-support is regressive since +it lacks a feed screw. + +The development of engineering theory, coupled with the rising needs of +industry, particularly with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, +brought about accelerated development of screw-cutting lathes through +the combination of screw-cutting machines with simple lathes as seen in +figure 9 and in detail in figure 11. One important advance shown here +is driving the machine by means of a cord or band so that any means of +rotary power could be applied, not just hand or foot power. Of greater +interest and technical importance to this study is the provision, seen +to better advantage in figure 11, for readily changing from one master +lead screw to another. This had already been achieved in the Manuel +Wetschgi machine, as far as versatility is concerned, although not in +quite such a convenient way. + +[Illustration: Figure 7.--THREAD OF MODERN FORM recently cut, using the +old screw and nut but with a new tool. The material threaded is +carbon-steel drill rod. (Smithsonian photo 49276A.)] + +Figure 12, the headstock of another and more advanced lathe than shown +in figures 9 and 11 but of the same type, shows "keys" (D), each of +which is a partial nut of different pitch to engage with a thread of +mating pitch. The dotted lines in figure 13 show the engaged and +disengaged positions of one of these keys, and figure 14 shows the +spindle with the various leads, C. At D is a grooved collar to be +engaged by the narrow key shown in operating position at the left in +figure 12 for the purpose of controlling the endwise movement of the +spindle when used for ordinary turning instead of thread-cutting. In +return for greater convenience and freedom from the expense of the many +separate spindles, as typified by the Wetschgi machine, a sacrifice has +been made in the length of the thread which can be cut without +interruption. + +[Illustration: Figure 8.--BINDING SCREW seen at A in figure 3, showing +the long smooth fadeout of the thread below the shoulder. (Smithsonian +photo 49276.)] + +[Illustration: Figure 9.--MAKING SCREWS IN FRANCE in the third quarter +of the 18th century. From _L'Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des +sciences, des arts et des métiers ... receuil de planches sur les +sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques, avec leur +explication_ (Paris: 1762-1772), vol. 9, plate 1.] + +[Illustration: Figure 10.--DETAILS OF THE MACHINE in the left foreground +of figure 9, showing the crude tool-support without screw adjustment. +From _L'Encyclopédie_, vol. 9, plate 2.] + +This reduction in the length that could conveniently be threaded was no +great drawback on many classes of work. This can be realized from figure +16 which shows a traverse-spindle lathe headstock typical of the +mid-19th century. During the years intervening between the machines of +figures 12 and 16, the general design was greatly improved by removing +the lead screws from the center of the spindle. This made possible a +shorter, much stiffer spindle and supported both ends of the spindle in +one frame or headstock rather than in separate pieces attached to the +bed. The screws were now mounted outside of the spindle-bearings, one at +a time, while the mating nuts were cut partially into the circumference +of a disk which could be turned to bring any particular nut into working +position as required. With this arrangement, a wide variety of leads +either right or left hand could be provided and additional leads could +be fitted at any future time. Screw-cutting lathes of this design were +popular for a very long time with instrument makers and opticians who +had little need to cut screws of great length. + +[Illustration: Figure 11.--DETAILS OF THE THREADING LATHE seen in the +right foreground of figure 9 showing the method of drive and support for +the work. From _L'Encyclopédie_, vol. 9, plate 1.] + +The demands of expanding industry for greater versatility in the +production of engineering elements late in the 18th century set the +stage for the evolution of more complex machines tending to place the +threaded spindle lathes in eclipse. Maudslay's lathe of 1797-1800 (fig. +15) appeared at this time when industry was receptive to rapid +innovation. Unfortunately, the gearing which once existed to connect the +headstock spindle with the lead screw has long been lost. At this time +it is quite difficult to say with certainty whether the original gear +set offered a variety of ratios, as was true of slightly later Maudslay +lathes, or a fixed ratio. The plausibility of the fixed ratio theory is +supported by the very convenient means, seen in figure 15, for removing +the lead screw in preparation for substitution of one of another pitch. +All that is required is to back off its supporting center at the +tailstock end and withdraw the screw from its split nut[2] and from the +driving clutch near the headstock. This split nut also would have to be +changed to one of a pitch corresponding to that of the screw. While more +expensive than a solid nut, it neatly circumvents the need (and saves +the time involved) to reverse the screw in order to get the tool back to +the point of beginning preliminary to taking another cut. David +Wilkinson's lathe of 1798 (fig. 17) which was developed in Rhode Island +at the same time shows the same method of mounting and driving the +master screw. At least in the United States, this method of changing the +lead screw instead of using change gears remained popular for many +years. Examples of this changeable screw feature are to be found in the +lathes constructed for the pump factory of W. & B. Douglas Company, +Middletown, Connecticut,[3] in the 1830's. Middletown, at that time one +of the leading metal-working centers in one of the chief industrial +States, had been for many years the site of the Simeon North arms +factory which rivaled Whitney's. In this atmosphere, it is reasonable to +expect that machinery constructed by local mechanics, as was the custom +in those days, would reflect the most accepted refinements in machine +design. + +[Illustration: Figure 12.--WELL-DEVELOPED EXAMPLE of lathe headstock +having several leads on the spindle and provision for mounting the work +or a work-holding chuck on the spindle. Adapted from _L'Encyclopédie_, +vol. 10, plate 13.] + +[Illustration: Figure 13.--END VIEW OF THE HEADSTOCK seen in figure 12, +showing the keys or half nuts which engage the threaded spindle, in +engaged and disengaged positions. From _L'Encyclopédie_, vol. 10, plate +13.] + +[Illustration: Figure 14.--SPINDLE OF FIGURES 12 AND 13, showing the +several leads and the many-sided seat for the driving pulley. Note the +scale of feet. From _L'Encyclopédie_, vol. 10, plate 16.] + +Roughly twenty years later, Joseph Nason of New York patented[4] the +commercially very important "Fox" brassworker's lathe (fig. 18). While +this does have a ratio in the pair of gears connecting the work spindle +and master screw, it is clear from the patent that various pitches are +to be obtained by changing screws, not by changing gears. The patent +sums it up as follows: + + A nut upon the end of the stud ... is unscrewed when the guide + screw is to be removed or changed. The two wheels ... should have + in their number of teeth a common multiple. They are seldom or + never removed and their diameters are made dissimilar only for the + purpose of giving to the guide screw a slower rate of motion than + that of the mandrel whereby it may be made of coarser pitch than + that of the screw to be cut and its wear materially lessened. + +The introduction of gearing between the spindle and the lead screw, for +whatever purpose, could not help but introduce variable factors caused +by inaccuracies in the gears themselves and in their mounting. These +were of little consequence for common work, particularly when coupled to +a screw which, itself, was of questionable accuracy. The increasing +refinements demanded in scientific instruments and in machine tools +themselves after they had reached a relatively stable form dictated that +attention be dedicated to improved accuracy of the threaded components. + +[Illustration: Figure 15.--MAUDSLAY'S WELL-KNOWN screw-cutting lathe of +1797-1800, showing the method of mounting and driving changeable master +screws. (_Photo courtesy of The Science Museum, London._)] + +[Illustration: Figure 16.--HEADSTOCK OF A GERMAN INSTRUMENT-MAKER'S +LATHE, typical of the mid-19th century, showing the traverse spindle, +interchangeable lead screws, and semicircumferential nut containing +several leads. The nut may be brought into engagement by the lever at +top rear of the headstock. This releases the end thrust control on the +spindle simultaneously with engagement of the nut. (Smithsonian photo +49839.)] + +[Illustration: Figure 17.--DAVID WILKINSON'S SCREW-CUTTING LATHE, +patented in the United States in 1798. Note the ready facility with +which the lead screw may be exchanged for another and the same means of +supporting and driving as in figure 15. (U.S. National Archives photo.)] + +An attack on this problem, which interestingly reverts to the +fundamental principle of motion derived from a master screw without the +intervention of other mechanism (fig. 19), is covered by a patent[5] +issued to Charles Vander Woerd, one-time superintendent of the Waltham +Watch Company. The problem is well stated in the patent: + + This invention relates to the manufacture of leading screws to be + used for purposes requiring the highest attainable degree of + correctness in the cutting of the screw-threads of said screw ... + as, for example, in machines for ruling lines in glass plates to + produce refraction [sic] gratings for the resolution of the lines + of the solar spectrum, such machines being required to rule many + thousands of lines on an inch of space by a marking device which is + reciprocated over the glass plate and is fed by the action of a + leading screw after the formation of each line. Great difficulty + has been experienced in constructing a leading screw for this and + other purposes, in which the thread is so nearly correct as to + produce no perceptible variation in the microscopic spaces between + the ruled lines or gratings.... Various causes prevent the + formation of a thread on the rod or blank, which is absolutely + uniform and accurate from end to end of the rod. Among other causes + are the variations of temperature from time to time, the + imperfections of the operating leading screw, the springing of the + leading screw and of the rod that is being threaded, and other + unavoidable causes, all of which, although apparently trivial and + producing only slight variations in the thread at different parts + of the rod or blank, are of sufficient moment to be seriously + considered when a screw of absolute accuracy is desired. + +[Illustration: Figure 18.--NASON'S LATHE, patented in 1854, showing a +master lead screw driven at less than work speed so that the master +could be of a coarser and more durable pitch than the work. U.S. patent +10383.] + +It is interesting to note in figure 19 that Vander Woerd's machine, to +avoid the problems outlined in his patent, has returned to a starkly +simple design. We are not told, however, how he originated this master +screw which is used to produce the accurately threaded work pieces. +Later generations, in the search for ever-greater accuracy, also +returned to the fundamental simplicity of a master screw as we shall see +when we consider the refinements in mechanism necessary to the extended +development of the automobile and the airplane. + +[Illustration: Figure 19.--VANDER WOERD'S PATENT, seen here, covered the +combination of a master screw, toolslide and work in a rigid frame to be +supported and driven by outside means of no required precision. U.S. +patent 293930 dated February 1884.] + +As the power and speed of automobiles and aircraft increased, critical +parts became more highly stressed. Gears and threaded parts were +particularly troublesome details of the mechanism because of the +stresses concentrated in them, and, in the case of gears, because of the +internal and external stresses originating in minute deviations from the +ideal of tooth form and spacing. The problems were not entirely new but +had hitherto been solved by increasing the size of the parts, an avenue +of limited utility to designers in these fields where total weight as +well as the effects of mass and inertia are so important. By making +these parts of heat-treated steel, the strength could be made suitable +while the size and mass of the parts were kept within bounds. The +necessary processes of heat-treating were not always applicable to +finished parts as they sometimes destroyed both finish and accuracy. +Grinding, which was well developed for the simple plane, cylindrical, +and conical surfaces so widely used in mechanisms, had to be extended to +threads and gears so that they could be finished after heat-treating. +Sometimes the gear teeth themselves were ground; for other applications +it was sufficient to improve the accuracy of the gear cutters. + +[Illustration: Figure 20.--A HOB-GRINDING MACHINE patented in 1932 and +incorporating the master-screw principle. Carl G. Olson's U.S. patent +1874592.] + +Attempts to produce gear hobs free of the imperfections and distortions +introduced by heat treatment led to another return to the use of the +master lead screw. Figure 20 illustrates a machine having this feature +which was patented in 1932 by Carl G. Olson.[6] In speaking of the +spindle-driving mechanism disclosed in earlier patents, the patent goes +on to say: + + This driving mechanism includes an integral spindle 20, one + extremity thereof being designed for supporting a hob 22 and the + other extremity thereof being formed so as to present a lead screw + 24. The spindle 20 is mounted between a bearing 26 and a bearing + 28, the latter bearing providing a nut in which the lead screw 24 + rotates.... From the description thus far given it will be apparent + that the rotation of the lead screw 24 within the bearing or nut 28 + will cause the hob to be moved axially, the lead of the screw 24 + being equal to the lead of the thread in the hob. + +Claim 8 which concludes the descriptive portion of the patent states in +part: + + In a hob grinding machine of the class described, a rotary work + supporting spindle, means for effecting longitudinal movement of + the spindle, a tool holder for supporting a grinding wheel in + operative position with respect to the work supported by the + spindle during the rotary and longitudinal movement thereof, ... + +Even before this patent was applied for, another patent was pending for +the purpose of modifying the pitch of the lead screw without the use of +change gears in spite of the wide acceptance of such gear mechanisms for +over a hundred years. + +[Illustration: Figure 21.--A HOB-GRINDING MACHINE OF 1933, showing use +of the master screw with a modifier but without change gears. Carl G. +Olson's U.S. patent 1901926.] + +[Illustration: Figure 22.--A SINE-BAR DEVICE to modify the effective +lead of a master lead screw without introducing a complex mechanism +which would be both difficult to make and to operate within the required +close limits. Carl G. Olson's (1933) U.S. patent 1901926.] + +Figure 21 shows a plan view[7] of the machine, and figure 22 a detailed +view of the sine-bar mechanism actuated by the master screw, 6, to +modify the effective pitch of the lead screw in accordance with the +realities of practice as stated in the preamble of the patent: + + This invention relates to material working machines, and + particularly to machines such as hob grinders and the like, wherein + the work is reciprocated through the agency of a lead screw. + + In the manufacture of hobs it is common practice to employ the same + machine for grinding hobs of varied diameters, and in order to + employ such a machine in this manner the pitch of the lead screw, + thereof, which actuates the work carrier, must conform to the axial + pitch of the hob to be ground. This will be readily apparent when + it is understood that the helix angles of hobs vary in accordance + with their diameters and, consequently, the difference between the + normal pitch and the axial pitch correspondingly varies. While the + requirement for the normal pitch may be the same for hobs of + different diameters, it is necessary to change the axial pitch in + accordance with a change in the hob diameter, and this axial pitch + of the hob is equal to the pitch of the lead screw which actuates + the work carrier in grinding machines heretofore used. Hence, in + order to adapt such machines to cover a wide range of leads, it is + necessary to provide a large number of interchangeable lead screws + and obviously this represents a large investment, and the + interchanging of these screws requires the expenditure of + considerable time in setting up the machine for each job. + +Thread-grinding machines were being designed concurrent with the +development of hob-grinding machines. Many were entirely concerned with +features peculiar to the problems of wheel-dressing and to automatic +characteristics. An invention to embody the use of a master screw and +concerned with the precision grinding of worm threads, for use in +gearing, was patented by Frederick A. Ward in this era.[8] That part of +the invention pertaining to the use of a master screw, "a rotary work +holder mounted on said carriage and provided with a driving spindle, an +exchangeable master screw and stationary nut detachably secured to said +spindle and head,..." is shown in figure 23. + +[Illustration: Figure 23.--DETAILS OF A WORK SPINDLE WITH WORK, showing +the use of a master lead screw to control the pitch of a precision worm +thread being ground. From the 1933 U.S. patent 1899654, of F. A. Ward's +worm-grinding machine.] + +Machines embodying the principle of the master lead screw are found in +constant use by industry at the present time for specialized +application. Whenever technological changes again reopen the topic of +thread-cutting to a new degree of accuracy or call for a reevaluation of +popular methods for any other reason, we may expect to see another +resurgence of the master-screw method, for no other design eliminates so +many variables or rests on such firm and fundamental natural principles +as the machine of _Das mittelalterliche Hausbuch_ of 1483, the earliest +such machine now known. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] JACQUES BESSON, _Des instruments mathématiques, et méchaniques, +servants à l'intelligence de plusiers choses difficiles, & necessaires à +toutes républiques_, 1st ed. (Orleans, 1569). [Also available in later +editions in French, German, and Spanish.] + +[2] J. FOSTER PETREE, introduction, _Henry Maudslay, 1771-1831, and +Maudslay Sons and Field, Ltd._ (London: The Maudslay Society, 1949). + +[3] _American Machinist_ (September 28, 1916), vol. 45, no. 13, pp. +529-531. + +[4] U.S. patent 10383 issued to Joseph Nason of New York, January 3, +1854. + +[5] U.S. patent 293930 issued to Charles Vander Woerd of Waltham, +Massachusetts, February 19, 1884. + +[6] U.S. patent 1874592, filed June 8, 1929, issued to C. G. Olson of +Chicago, Illinois, August 30, 1932, and assigned to the Illinois Tool +Works, also of Chicago. + +[7] U.S. patent 1901926, filed February 16, 1928, issued to C. G. Olson +of Chicago, Illinois, March 21, 1933, and assigned to the Illinois Tool +Works, also of Chicago. + +[8] U.S. patent 1899654, filed August 31, 1931, issued to F. A. Ward of +Detroit, Michigan, February 28, 1933, and assigned to the Gear Grinding +Company of Detroit, Michigan. + + * * * * * + +U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1964 + +For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office +Washington, D.C. 20402--Price 20 cents + + +INDEX + + + Besson, Jacques, 107 + + + Douglas, W. & B., Company, 113 + + + Maudslay, Henry, 106, 113 + + + Nason, Joseph, 114 + + North, Simeon, arms factory, 114 + + + Olson, Carl G., 118 + + + Vander Woerd, Charles, 116, 117 + + + Ward, Frederick A., 120 + + Wetschgi, Emanuel, 108 + + Wetschgi, Manuel, 108, 111 + + Whitney arms factory, 114 + + Wilkinson, David, 113 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Screw-Thread Cutting by the +Master-Screw Method since 1480, by Edwin A. 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Battison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Screw-Thread Cutting by the Master-Screw Method since 1480 + +Author: Edwin A. Battison + +Release Date: March 24, 2010 [EBook #31756] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCREW-THREAD CUTTING SINCE 1480 *** + + + + +Produced by Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper, Louise Pattison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="tnote"> +<p>Transcriber’s Notes:</p> + +<p>This is Paper 37 from the Smithsonian Institution United States +National Museum Bulletin 240, comprising Papers 34-44, which will +also be available as a complete e-book.</p> + +<p>The front material, introduction and relevant index entries from +the Bulletin are included in each single-paper e-book.</p> + +<p><a href="#corrections_37">Corrections</a> to typographical errors are underlined +<ins class="mycorr" title="Original: like thsi">like this</ins>. Mouse over to view the original text.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION<br /> +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM<br /> +BULLETIN 240</h1> + +<div class="figright"> + <img src="images/i_002.png" alt="Smithsonian Press Logo" title=" " /> +</div> + +<p class="right" style="clear:both;">SMITHSONIAN PRESS<br /></p> + +<p>MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY</p> + +<p style="font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold;" class="smcap">Contributions<br /> +From the<br /> +Museum<br /> +of History and<br /> +Technology</p> + +<p style="font-size: 1.25em;"><em>Papers 34-44<br /> +On Science and Technology</em></p> + +<p>SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 1.25em;"><em>Publications of the United States National Museum</em></p> + +<p>The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National Museum +include two series, <cite>Proceedings of the United States National Museum</cite> and <cite>United States +National Museum Bulletin</cite>.</p> + +<p>In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs dealing +with the collections and work of its constituent museums—The Museum of Natural +History and the Museum of History and Technology—setting forth newly acquired +facts in the fields of anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies +of each publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific organizations, +and to specialists and others interested in the different subjects.</p> + +<p>The <cite>Proceedings</cite>, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in separate +form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History. These are gathered +in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date of each paper recorded in the +table of contents of the volume.</p> + +<p>In the <cite>Bulletin</cite> series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear longer, separate +publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in several parts) and volumes +in which are collected works on related subjects. <cite>Bulletins</cite> are either octavo or +quarto in size, depending on the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating +to the botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been +published in the <cite>Bulletin</cite> series under the heading <cite>Contributions from the United States +National Herbarium</cite>, and since 1959, in <cite>Bulletins</cite> titled “Contributions from the Museum +of History and Technology,” have been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections +and research of that Museum.</p> + +<p>The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises Bulletin 240. +Each of these papers has been previously published in separate form. The year of +publication is shown on the last page of each paper.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Frank A. Taylor</span><br /> +<em>Director, United States National Museum</em></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> +<h1><a name="Paper_37" id="Paper_37"></a><span class="smcap">Contributions from<br /> +The Museum of History and Technology</span>:<br /> +<span class="smcap">Paper</span> 37<br /> +<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Screw-Thread Cutting by the<br /> +Master-Screw Method Since 1480</span><br /> +</h1> +<p><span class="rnum" style="font-size: larger;"><em>Edwin A. Battison</em></span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p><em>Edwin A. Battison</em></p> + +<h2>SCREW-THREAD CUTTING BY THE <br />MASTER-SCREW METHOD SINCE 1480</h2> +<div class="blockquotn"> +<p><i>Among the earliest known examples of screw-thread cutting machines are +the screw-cutting lathe of 1483, known only in pictures and drawings, +and an instrument of the traverse-spindle variety for threading metal, +now in the Smithsonian Institution, dating from the late 17th or early +18th century. The author shows clearly their evolution from something +quite specialized to the present-day tool. He has traced the patents for +these instruments through the early 1930’s and from this research we see +the part played by such devices in the development of the machine-tool +industry.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Author</span>: <i>Edwin A. Battison is associate curator of mechanical and +civil engineering in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of History and +Technology.</i></p> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Directness and simplicity</span> characterize pioneer machine tools because +they were intended to accomplish some quite specialized task and the +need for versatility was not apparent. History does not reveal the +earliest forms of any primitive machines nor does it reveal much about +the various early stages in evolution toward more complex types. At best +we have discovered and dated certain developments as existing in +particular areas. Whether these forms were new at the time they were +first found or how widely dispersed such forms may have been is unknown. +Surviving evidence is in the form of pictures or drawings, such as the +little-known screw-cutting lathe of 1483 (fig. 1) shown in <i>Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch</i>.</p> + +<p>This lathe shows that its builder had a keen perception of the necessary +elements, reduced to bare essentials, required to accomplish the object. +Present are the coordinate slides often credited to Henry Maudslay. His +slides are not, of course, associated with the spindle; neither is there +any natural law which compels them to guide the tool exactly parallel +with the axis of revolution. In this sense the screw-cutting lathe in +the <i>Hausbuch</i> is superior because it is in harmony with natural law and +can generate a true cylinder, whereas Maudslay’s lathe can only transfer +to the work whatever accuracy is built into it.</p> + +<p>In principle this machine shown in the <i>Hausbuch</i> is very advanced as we +see when we follow the design<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> through to the present time. The artist, +whose drawings give us our only knowledge of the machine, himself was +obviously not very familiar with the details of its function. Reference +to figure 1 shows that the threads on the lead screw and on the work, +wind in opposite directions. This must be an error in delineation since +the two are closely coupled together without any intervening mechanism +so that the only possible result on the work must be a thread winding in +the same direction as on the original screw. The work also is shown +threaded for its entire length; this cannot be accomplished with any one +location of the cross-slide. We are left with the question of whether +this slide was used in two locations or whether the artist, possibly +working from notes or an earlier rough sketch, failed to show an +unthreaded portion on one end or the other of the work.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_107.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 1.— Earliest representation found of a +master-screw type of thread-cutting machine" +title="Figure 1." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 1.—<span class="smcap">Earliest representation found of a +master-screw type</span> of thread-cutting machine. From the inconsistencies, +such as right- and left-hand threads on master and work, it appears that +the artist had scant insight into actual function. From plate 62 of <i>Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch, nach dem Originale im Besitze des Fürsten von +Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee, im Auftrage des Deutschen Vereins für +Kunstwissenschaft, herausgegeben von Helmuth Th. Bossert und Willy F. +Storck</i> (Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1912).</p></div> + +<p>Of at least equal importance with the lead screw and work and their +relationship to each other is the tool-support with its screw-adjusted +cross-slide (fig. 2). Just how this was attached to the frame of the +machine so that it placed the tool at a suitable radius is again a +questionable point. The very well-developed cutting tool is sharpened to +a thin, keen edge totally unsuited for cutting metal but ideal for use +on a softer, fibrous substance: undoubtedly wood, in this instance. +Unfortunately, the angle at which the artist chose to show us this +cutter is not a view from which it is possible to judge whether or not +the tool has been made to conform to the helix angle of the thread to be +cut. This cross-slide, in conjunction with the traversing work spindle, +gives us a machine having two coordinate slides yielding the same effect +as the slide rest usually attributed to Henry Maudslay at the end of the +18th century. Actually, an illustration of coordinate slides independent +of the spindle had been published as early as 1569 by Besson<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and +knowledge of them widely disseminated by his popular work on mechanics. +These slides are shown as part of a screw-cutting machine with a +questionably adequate connection, by means of cords, between the master +screw and the work.</p> + +<p>It was the author’s pleasure recently to obtain for the Smithsonian +Institution and identify a small, nicely made, brass instrument which +had been in two collections in this country and one collection in +Germany as an unidentified locksmith’s tool (fig. 3).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> This proved to be +an instrument of the traverse-spindle variety for threading metal. +Fortunately, all essential details were present including a cutter (<span class="smcap">A</span> in +figure 4); this instrument was identified by the signature “Manuel +Wetschgi, Augspurg.” The Wetschgis were a well-known family of gunsmiths +and mechanics in Augsburg through several generations. Two bore the +given name Emanuel: the earlier was born in 1678 and died in 1728. He +was quite celebrated in his field of rifle making and became chief of +artillery to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel shortly before his death in +his 51st year. Little is known of the later Emanuel Wetschgi except that +he was at Augsburg in 1740. Tentative attribution of the instrument has +been made to the earlier Emanuel, chiefly on the basis of his recognized +position as an outstanding craftsman.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_108a.png" style="width:400px;" alt="Figure 2.— Cross-slide for the thread-cutting lathe of +Das mittelalterliche Hausbuch, shown in figure 1. It is remarkable not +only for its early date, but also for its high state of development with +a crossfeed screw which had not become universally accepted 300 years +later. The cutter, shown out of its socket, is obviously sharpened for +use on wood." +title="Figure 2." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 2.—<span class="smcap">Cross-slide</span> for the thread-cutting lathe of +<i>Das mittelalterliche Hausbuch</i>, shown in figure 1. It is remarkable not +only for its early date, but also for its high state of development with +a crossfeed screw which had not become universally accepted 300 years +later. The cutter, shown out of its socket, is obviously sharpened for +use on wood.</p></div> + +<p>In several respects this little machine differs from its predecessor of +the <i>Hausbuch</i>, as might be expected when allowance is made for the +generations of craftsmen who undoubtedly worked with such tools over the +roughly 200 years of time separating them. Another factor to consider +when comparing these two machines is that one was used on metal, the +other probably only on wood. Therefore, it is not surprising to find on +the later machine an outboard or “tailstock” support for the work. The +spindle of this support has to travel in unison with the work-driving +spindle so that it is not an unexpected discovery to find that it is +spring-loaded. Figure 5 shows how this spring may be adjusted to +accommodate various lengths of work by moving the attachment screw to +various holes in both the spring and in the frame. Also visible in the +same illustration is a rectangular projection at the other end of the +spring which engages a mating hole in the “tailstock” spindle to prevent +its rotation.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_108.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 3.— Small thread-cutting lathe which was made to +be held in a vise during use. It was found as shown here, with only the +operating crank missing. The overall length is approximately 12 inches, +depending on the adjustment of parts. (Smithsonian photo 46525B.)" title="Figure 3." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 3.—<span class="smcap">Small thread-cutting lathe</span> which was made to +be held in a vise during use. It was found as shown here, with only the +operating crank missing. The overall length is approximately 12 inches, +depending on the adjustment of parts. (Smithsonian photo 46525B.)</p></div> + +<p>Figure 6 shows the traversing spindle and nut removed from the machine. +Provision has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> made for doing this so easily that there is every +reason to believe that, originally, there were various different spindle +and nut units which could be interchangeably used in the machine. +Additional evidence tending to support this concept exists in the +cutting tool (fig. 4), which must have been intended for serious work as +it has been carefully fitted in its unsymmetrical socket. The cutting +blade of this tool, which works with a scraping rather than a true +cutting action, is too wide to form a properly proportioned thread when +used with the existing lead screw. This may well indicate that the tool +was made for use with a lead of coarser pitch, now lost.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_109.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 4.—The working area of figure 3, showing the tool +and signature. (Smithsonian photo 46525A.)" title="Figure 4." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 4.—<span class="smcap">The working area</span> of figure 3, showing the tool +and signature. (Smithsonian photo 46525A.)</p></div> + +<p>Perhaps the most startling feature of this machine when compared with +the machine of the <i>Hausbuch</i>, is the absence of a cross-slide for +adjusting the tool. Possibly this can be explained by the blunt scraping +edge on the tool. In actual use, recently, to cut a sample screw, using +a tool similar to the one found in the machine (fig. 7), it was found +advantageous to be free of a cross-slide and thus be able to feed the +tool into the work by feel rather than by rule, as would be done with a +slide rest. In this way, it was possible to thread steel without +tearing, as the cutting pressure could readily be felt and the tool +could release itself from too heavy a cut. Size on several screws could +be repeated by setting the tool to produce the desired diameter when its +supporting arm came to rest against the frame of the machine. The screws +used in the machine itself were apparently made in just such a way. They +were not cut with a die as the thread blends very gradually into the +body of the screw without the characteristic marks left by the cutting +edges of a die. Threads cut with a single-point tool controlled by a +cross-slide usually end even more abruptly than those cut by a die, +while it would be quite simple with a machine of the nature we are +considering to bring the thread to a gentle tapering end as seen in +figure 8 (another view of the screw <span class="smcap">A</span> in fig. 3) by gradually releasing +the pressure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> necessary to keep the tool cutting as the end of the +thread was approached.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_110.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 5.—Spring for keeping the follower spindle +against the work, showing the method and range of adjustment. Note the +rectangular projection to engage a mating socket in the spindle, to +prevent spindle rotation. (Smithsonian photo 46525.)" title="Figure 5." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 5.—<span class="smcap">Spring for keeping the follower spindle</span> +against the work, showing the method and range of adjustment. Note the +rectangular projection to engage a mating socket in the <ins class="mycorr" +title="Original: pindle"><a name="corr_37_1" id="corr_37_1"></a>spindle</ins>, to +prevent spindle rotation. (Smithsonian photo 46525.)</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_110a.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 6.—Work spindle and its nut removed from the +machine to illustrate how easily another spindle and nut of different +pitch could be substituted. (Smithsonian photo 46525C.)" title="Figure 6." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 6.—<span class="smcap">Work spindle and its nut</span> removed from the +machine to illustrate how easily another spindle and nut of different +pitch could be substituted. (Smithsonian photo 46525C.)</p></div> + +<p>That machines of this general type having the lead screw on the axis of +the work were competitive with other methods and other types of machines +over a long period of time may be seen from figures 9 and 10. The +machine, left front in figure 9 and in more intimate detail in figure +10, can be seen to differ little from that shown in <i>Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch</i> of 1483. The double work-support is, of +course, a great improvement, while the tool-support is regressive since +it lacks a feed screw.</p> + +<p>The development of engineering theory, coupled with the rising needs of +industry, particularly with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, +brought about accelerated development of screw-cutting lathes through +the combination of screw-cutting machines with simple lathes as seen in +figure 9 and in detail in figure 11.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> One important advance shown here +is driving the machine by means of a cord or band so that any means of +rotary power could be applied, not just hand or foot power. Of greater +interest and technical importance to this study is the provision, seen +to better advantage in figure 11, for readily changing from one master +lead screw to another. This had already been achieved in the Manuel +Wetschgi machine, as far as versatility is concerned, although not in +quite such a convenient way.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_111a.png" style="width:400px;" alt="Figure 7.—Thread of modern form recently cut, using the +old screw and nut but with a new tool. The material threaded is +carbon-steel drill rod. (Smithsonian photo 49276A.)" title="Figure 7." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 7.—<span class="smcap">Thread of modern form</span> recently cut, using the +old screw and nut but with a new tool. The material threaded is +carbon-steel drill rod. (Smithsonian photo 49276A.)</p></div> + +<p>Figure 12, the headstock of another and more advanced lathe than shown +in figures 9 and 11 but of the same type, shows “keys” (<span class="smcap">D</span>), each of +which is a partial nut of different pitch to engage with a thread of +mating pitch. The dotted lines in figure 13 show the engaged and +disengaged positions of one of these keys, and figure 14 shows the +spindle with the various leads, <span class="smcap">C</span>. At <span class="smcap">D</span> is a grooved collar to be +engaged by the narrow key shown in operating position at the left in +figure 12 for the purpose of controlling the endwise movement of the +spindle when used for ordinary turning instead of thread-cutting. In +return for greater convenience and freedom from the expense of the many +separate spindles, as typified by the Wetschgi machine, a sacrifice has +been made in the length of the thread which can be cut without +interruption.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_111.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 8.—Binding screw seen at A in figure 3, showing +the long smooth fadeout of the thread below the shoulder. (Smithsonian +photo 49276.)" title="Figure 8." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 8.—<span class="smcap">Binding screw</span> seen at <span class="smcap">A</span> in figure 3, showing +the long smooth fadeout of the thread below the shoulder. (Smithsonian +photo 49276.)</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +<img src="images/i_112.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 9.—Making screws in France in the third quarter +of the 18th century. From L’Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des +sciences, des arts et des métiers ... receuil de planches sur les +sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques, avec leur +explication (Paris: 1762-1772), vol. 9, plate 1." title="Figure 9." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 9.—<span class="smcap">Making screws in France</span> in the third quarter +of the 18th century. From <i>L’Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des +sciences, des arts et des métiers ... receuil de planches sur les +sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques, avec leur +explication</i> (Paris: 1762-1772), vol. 9, plate 1.</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_112a.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 10.—Details of the machine in the left foreground +of figure 9, showing the crude tool-support without screw adjustment. +From L’Encyclopédie, vol. 9, plate 2." title="Figure 10." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 10.—<span class="smcap">Details of the machine</span> in the left foreground +of figure 9, showing the crude tool-support without screw adjustment. +From <i>L’Encyclopédie</i>, vol. 9, plate 2.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>This reduction in the length that could conveniently be threaded was no +great drawback on many classes of work. This can be realized from figure +16 which shows a traverse-spindle lathe headstock typical of the +mid-19th century. During the years intervening between the machines of +figures 12 and 16, the general design was greatly improved by removing +the lead screws from the center of the spindle. This made possible a +shorter, much stiffer spindle and supported both ends of the spindle in +one frame or headstock rather than in separate pieces attached to the +bed. The screws were now mounted outside of the spindle-bearings, one at +a time, while the mating nuts were cut partially into the circumference +of a disk which could be turned to bring any particular nut into working +position as required. With this arrangement, a wide variety of leads +either right or left hand could be provided and additional leads could +be fitted at any future time. Screw-cutting lathes of this design were +popular for a very long time with instrument makers and opticians who +had little need to cut screws of great length.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_113.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 11.—Details of the threading lathe seen in the +right foreground of figure 9 showing the method of drive and support for +the work. From L’Encyclopédie, vol. 9, plate 1." title="Figure 11." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 11.—<span class="smcap">Details of the threading lathe</span> seen in the +right foreground of figure 9 showing the method of drive and support for +the work. From <i>L’Encyclopédie</i>, vol. 9, plate 1.</p></div> + + +<p>The demands of expanding industry for greater versatility in the +production of engineering elements late in the 18th century set the +stage for the evolution of more complex machines tending to place the +threaded spindle lathes in eclipse. Maudslay’s lathe of 1797-1800 (fig. +15) appeared at this time when industry was receptive to rapid +innovation. Unfortunately, the gearing which once existed to connect the +headstock spindle with the lead screw has long been lost. At this time +it is quite difficult to say with certainty whether the original gear +set offered a variety of ratios, as was true of slightly later Maudslay +lathes, or a fixed ratio. The plausibility of the fixed ratio theory is +supported by the very convenient means, seen in figure 15, for removing +the lead screw in preparation for substitution of one of another pitch. +All that is required is to back off its supporting center at the +tailstock end and withdraw the screw from its split nut<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and from the +driving clutch near the headstock. This split nut also would have to be +changed to one of a pitch corresponding to that of the screw. While more +expensive than a solid nut, it neatly circumvents the need (and saves +the time involved) to reverse the screw in order to get the tool back to +the point of beginning preliminary to taking another cut. David +Wilkinson’s lathe of 1798 (fig. 17) which was developed in Rhode Island +at the same time shows the same method of mounting and driving the +master screw. At least in the United States, this method of changing the +lead screw instead of using change gears remained popular for many +years. Examples of this changeable screw feature are to be found in the +lathes constructed for the pump factory of W. & B. Douglas Company, +Middletown, Connecticut,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> in the 1830’s. Middletown, at that time one +of the leading metal-working centers in one of the chief industrial +States, had been for many years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> the site of the Simeon North arms +factory which rivaled Whitney’s. In this atmosphere, it is reasonable to +expect that machinery constructed by local mechanics, as was the custom +in those days, would reflect the most accepted refinements in machine +design.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_114a.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 12.—Well-developed example of lathe headstock +having several leads on the spindle and provision for mounting the work +or a work-holding chuck on the spindle. Adapted from L’Encyclopédie, +vol. 10, plate 13." title="Figure 12." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 12.—<span class="smcap">Well-developed example</span> of lathe headstock +having several leads on the spindle and provision for mounting the work +or a work-holding chuck on the spindle. Adapted from <i>L’Encyclopédie</i>, +vol. 10, plate 13.</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_114b.png" style="width:300px;" alt="Figure 13.—End view of the headstock seen in figure 12, +showing the keys or half nuts which engage the threaded spindle, in +engaged and disengaged positions. From L’Encyclopédie, vol. 10, plate +13." title="Figure 13." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 13.—<span class="smcap">End view of the headstock</span> seen in figure 12, +showing the keys or half nuts which engage the threaded spindle, in +engaged and disengaged positions. From <i>L’Encyclopédie</i>, vol. 10, plate +13.</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_114c.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 14.—Spindle of figures 12 and 13, showing the +several leads and the many-sided seat for the driving pulley. Note the +scale of feet. From L’Encyclopédie, vol. 10, plate 16." title="Figure 14." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 14.—<span class="smcap">Spindle of figures 12 and 13</span>, showing the +several leads and the many-sided seat for the driving pulley. Note the +scale of feet. From <i>L’Encyclopédie</i>, vol. 10, plate 16.</p></div> + +<p>Roughly twenty years later, Joseph Nason of New York patented<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> the +commercially very important “Fox” brassworker’s lathe (fig. 18). While +this does have a ratio in the pair of gears connecting the work spindle +and master screw, it is clear from the patent that various pitches are +to be obtained by changing screws, not by changing gears. The patent +sums it up as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A nut upon the end of the stud ... is unscrewed when the guide +screw is to be removed or changed. The two wheels ... should have +in their number of teeth a common multiple. They are seldom or +never removed and their diameters are made dissimilar only for the +purpose of giving to the guide screw a slower rate of motion than +that of the mandrel whereby it may be made of coarser pitch than +that of the screw to be cut and its wear materially lessened.</p></div> + +<p>The introduction of gearing between the spindle and the lead screw, for +whatever purpose, could not help but introduce variable factors caused +by inaccuracies in the gears themselves and in their mounting. These +were of little consequence for common work, particularly when coupled to +a screw which, itself, was of questionable accuracy. The increasing +refinements demanded in scientific instruments and in machine tools +themselves after they had reached a relatively stable form dictated that +attention be dedicated to improved accuracy of the threaded components.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_115.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 15.—Maudslay’s well-known screw-cutting lathe of +1797-1800, showing the method of mounting and driving changeable master +screws. (Photo courtesy of The Science Museum, London.)" title="Figure 15." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 15.—<span class="smcap">Maudslay’s well-known</span> screw-cutting lathe of +1797-1800, showing the method of mounting and driving changeable master +screws. (<i>Photo courtesy of The Science Museum, London.</i>)</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_116a.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 16.—Headstock of a German instrument-maker’s +lathe, typical of the mid-19th century, showing the traverse spindle, +interchangeable lead screws, and semicircumferential nut containing +several leads. The nut may be brought into engagement by the lever at +top rear of the headstock. This releases the end thrust control on the +spindle simultaneously with engagement of the nut. (Smithsonian photo +49839.)" title="Figure 16." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 16.—<span class="smcap">Headstock of a German instrument-maker’s +lathe</span>, typical of the mid-19th century, showing the traverse spindle, +interchangeable lead screws, and semicircumferential nut containing +several leads. The nut may be brought into engagement by the lever at +top rear of the headstock. This releases the end thrust control on the +spindle simultaneously with engagement of the nut. (Smithsonian photo +49839.)</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +<img src="images/i_116.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 17.—David Wilkinson’s screw-cutting lathe, +patented in the United States in 1798. Note the ready facility with +which the lead screw may be exchanged for another and the same means of +supporting and driving as in figure 15. (U.S. National Archives photo.)" title="Figure 17." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 17.—<span class="smcap">David Wilkinson’s screw-cutting lathe</span>, +patented in the United States in 1798. Note the ready facility with +which the lead screw may be exchanged for another and the same means of +supporting and driving as in figure 15. (U.S. National Archives photo.)</p></div> + +<p>An attack on this problem, which interestingly reverts to the +fundamental principle of motion derived from a master screw without the +intervention of other mechanism (fig. 19), is covered by a patent<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +issued to Charles Vander Woerd, one-time superintendent of the Waltham +Watch Company. The problem is well stated in the patent:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This invention relates to the manufacture of leading screws to be +used for purposes requiring the highest attainable degree of +correctness in the cutting of the screw-threads of said screw ... +as, for example, in machines for ruling lines in glass plates to +produce refraction [sic] gratings for the resolution of the lines +of the solar spectrum, such machines being required to rule many +thousands of lines on an inch of space by a marking device which is +reciprocated over the glass plate and is fed by the action of a +leading screw after the formation of each line. Great difficulty +has been experienced in constructing a leading screw for this and +other purposes, in which the thread is so nearly correct as to +produce no perceptible variation in the microscopic spaces between +the ruled lines or gratings.... Various causes prevent the +formation of a thread on the rod or blank, which is absolutely +uniform and accurate from end to end of the rod. Among other causes +are the variations of temperature from time to time, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +imperfections of the operating leading screw, the springing of the +leading screw and of the rod that is being threaded, and other +unavoidable causes, all of which, although apparently trivial and +producing only slight variations in the thread at different parts +of the rod or blank, are of sufficient moment to be seriously +considered when a screw of absolute accuracy is desired.</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_117a.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 18.—Nason’s lathe, patented in 1854, showing a +master lead screw driven at less than work speed so that the master +could be of a coarser and more durable pitch than the work. U.S. patent +10383." title="Figure 18." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 18.—<span class="smcap">Nason’s lathe</span>, patented in 1854, showing a +master lead screw driven at less than work speed so that the master +could be of a coarser and more durable pitch than the work. U.S. patent +10383.</p></div> + +<p>It is interesting to note in figure 19 that Vander Woerd’s machine, to +avoid the problems outlined in his patent, has returned to a starkly +simple design. We are not told, however, how he originated this master +screw which is used to produce the accurately threaded work pieces. +Later generations, in the search for ever-greater accuracy, also +returned to the fundamental simplicity of a master screw as we shall see +when we consider the refinements in mechanism necessary to the extended +development of the automobile and the airplane.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_117.png" style="width:300px;" alt="Figure 19.—Vander Woerd’s patent, seen here, covered the +combination of a master screw, toolslide and work in a rigid frame to be +supported and driven by outside means of no required precision. U.S. +patent 293930 dated February 1884." title="Figure 19." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 19.—<span class="smcap">Vander Woerd’s patent</span>, seen here, covered the +combination of a master screw, toolslide and work in a rigid frame to be +supported and driven by outside means of no required precision. U.S. +patent 293930 dated February 1884.</p></div> + +<p>As the power and speed of automobiles and aircraft increased, critical +parts became more highly stressed. Gears and threaded parts were +particularly troublesome details of the mechanism because of the +stresses concentrated in them, and, in the case of gears, because of the +internal and external stresses originating in minute deviations from the +ideal of tooth form and spacing. The problems were not entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> new but +had hitherto been solved by increasing the size of the parts, an avenue +of limited utility to designers in these fields where total weight as +well as the effects of mass and inertia are so important. By making +these parts of heat-treated steel, the strength could be made suitable +while the size and mass of the parts were kept within bounds. The +necessary processes of heat-treating were not always applicable to +finished parts as they sometimes destroyed both finish and accuracy. +Grinding, which was well developed for the simple plane, cylindrical, +and conical surfaces so widely used in mechanisms, had to be extended to +threads and gears so that they could be finished after heat-treating. +Sometimes the gear teeth themselves were ground; for other applications +it was sufficient to improve the accuracy of the gear cutters.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_118.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 20.—A hob-grinding machine patented in 1932 and +incorporating the master-screw principle. Carl G. Olson’s U.S. patent +1874592." title="Figure 20." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 20.—<span class="smcap">A hob-grinding machine</span> patented in 1932 and +incorporating the master-screw principle. Carl G. Olson’s U.S. patent +1874592.</p></div> + +<p>Attempts to produce gear hobs free of the imperfections and distortions +introduced by heat treatment led to another return to the use of the +master lead screw. Figure 20 illustrates a machine having this feature +which was patented in 1932 by Carl G. Olson.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> In speaking of the +spindle-driving mechanism disclosed in earlier patents, the patent goes +on to say:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This driving mechanism includes an integral spindle 20, one +extremity thereof being designed for supporting a hob 22 and the +other extremity thereof being formed so as to present a lead screw +24. The spindle 20 is mounted between a bearing 26 and a bearing +28, the latter bearing providing a nut in which the lead screw 24 +rotates.... From the description thus far given it will be apparent +that the rotation of the lead screw 24 within the bearing or nut 28 +will cause the hob to be moved axially, the lead of the screw 24 +being equal to the lead of the thread in the hob.</p></div> + +<p>Claim 8 which concludes the descriptive portion of the patent states in +part:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In a hob grinding machine of the class described, a rotary work +supporting spindle, means for effecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> longitudinal movement of +the spindle, a tool holder for supporting a grinding wheel in +operative position with respect to the work supported by the +spindle during the rotary and longitudinal movement thereof, ...</p></div> + +<p>Even before this patent was applied for, another patent was pending for +the purpose of modifying the pitch of the lead screw without the use of +change gears in spite of the wide acceptance of such gear mechanisms for +over a hundred years.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_119.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 21.—A hob-grinding machine of 1933, showing use +of the master screw with a modifier but without change gears. Carl G. +Olson’s U.S. patent 1901926." title="Figure 21." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 21.—<span class="smcap">A hob-grinding machine of</span> 1933, showing use +of the master screw with a modifier but without change gears. Carl G. +Olson’s U.S. patent 1901926.</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_119a.png" style="width:400px;" alt="Figure 22.—A sine-bar device to modify the effective +lead of a master lead screw without introducing a complex mechanism +which would be both difficult to make and to operate within the required +close limits. Carl G. Olson’s (1933) U.S. patent 1901926." title="Figure 22." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 22.—<span class="smcap">A sine-bar device</span> to modify the effective +lead of a master lead screw without introducing a complex mechanism +which would be both difficult to make and to operate within the required +close limits. Carl G. Olson’s (1933) U.S. patent 1901926.</p></div> + +<p>Figure 21 shows a plan view<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> of the machine, and figure 22 a detailed +view of the sine-bar mechanism actuated by the master screw, 6, to +modify the effective pitch of the lead screw in accordance with the +realities of practice as stated in the preamble of the patent:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This invention relates to material working machines, and +particularly to machines such as hob grinders and the like, wherein +the work is reciprocated through the agency of a lead screw.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the manufacture of hobs it is common practice to employ the same +machine for grinding hobs of varied diameters, and in order to +employ such a machine in this manner the pitch of the lead screw, +thereof, which actuates the work carrier, must conform to the axial +pitch of the hob to be ground. This will be readily apparent when +it is understood that the helix angles of hobs vary in accordance +with their diameters and, consequently, the difference between the +normal pitch and the axial pitch correspondingly varies. While the +requirement for the normal pitch may be the same for hobs of +different diameters, it is necessary to change the axial pitch in +accordance with a change in the hob diameter, and this axial pitch +of the hob is equal to the pitch of the lead screw which actuates +the work carrier in grinding machines heretofore used. Hence, in +order to adapt such machines to cover a wide range of leads, it is +necessary to provide a large number of interchangeable lead screws +and obviously this represents a large investment, and the +interchanging of these screws requires the expenditure of +considerable time in setting up the machine for each job.</p></div> + +<p>Thread-grinding machines were being designed concurrent with the +development of hob-grinding machines. Many were entirely concerned with +features peculiar to the problems of wheel-dressing and to automatic +characteristics. An invention to embody the use of a master screw and +concerned with the precision grinding of worm threads, for use in +gearing, was patented by Frederick A. Ward in this era.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> That part of +the invention pertaining to the use of a master screw, “a rotary work +holder mounted on said carriage and provided with a driving spindle, an +exchangeable master screw and stationary nut detachably secured to said +spindle and head, ...” is shown in figure 23.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_120.png" style="width:600px;" alt="Figure 23.—Details of a work spindle with work, showing +the use of a master lead screw to control the pitch of a precision worm +thread being ground. From the 1933 U.S. patent 1899654, of F. A. Ward’s +worm-grinding machine." title="Figure 23." /> +<p class="caption2">Figure 23.—<span class="smcap">Details of a work spindle with work</span>, showing +the use of a master lead screw to control the pitch of a precision worm +thread being ground. From the 1933 U.S. patent 1899654, of F. A. Ward’s +worm-grinding machine.</p></div> + +<p>Machines embodying the principle of the master lead screw are found in +constant use by industry at the present time for specialized +application. Whenever technological changes again reopen the topic of +thread-cutting to a new degree of accuracy or call for a reevaluation of +popular methods for any other reason, we may expect to see another +resurgence of the master-screw method, for no other design eliminates so +many variables or rests on such firm and fundamental natural principles +as the machine of <i>Das mittelalterliche Hausbuch</i> of 1483, the earliest +such machine now known.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Jacques Besson</span>, <i>Des instruments mathématiques, et +méchaniques, <ins class="mycorr" title="Original: servants a l'intelligence de plusiers choses difficiles, & necessaires"><a name="corr_37_2" id="corr_37_2"></a>servants à l’intelligence de plusieurs choses difficiles, & +nécessaires</ins> à toutes républiques</i>, 1st ed. (Orleans, 1569). [Also +available in later editions in French, German, and Spanish.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <span class="smcap">J. Foster Petree</span>, introduction, <i>Henry Maudslay, 1771-1831, +and Maudslay Sons and Field, Ltd.</i> (London: The Maudslay Society, +1949).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>American Machinist</i> (September 28, 1916), vol. 45, no. 13, +pp. 529-531.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> U.S. patent 10383 issued to Joseph Nason of New York, +January 3, 1854.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> U.S. patent 293930 issued to Charles Vander Woerd of +Waltham, Massachusetts, February 19, 1884.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> U.S. patent 1874592, filed June 8, 1929, issued to C. G. +Olson of Chicago, Illinois, August 30, 1932, and assigned to the +Illinois Tool Works, also of Chicago.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> U.S. patent 1901926, filed February 16, 1928, issued to C. +G. Olson of Chicago, Illinois, March 21, 1933, and assigned to the +Illinois Tool Works, also of Chicago.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> U.S. patent 1899654, filed August 31, 1931, issued to F. A. +Ward of Detroit, Michigan, February 28, 1933, and assigned to the Gear +Grinding Company of Detroit, Michigan.</p></div></div> + + +<p class="center" style="font-size:0.8em"><br /><br /><br /> +U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1964</p> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p class="center">For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office<br /> +Washington, D.C. 20402—Price 20 cents</p> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>Index</h3> + +<p>Besson, Jacques, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /><br /></p> +<p>Douglas, W. & B., Company, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /><br /></p> +<p>Maudslay, Henry, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /><br /></p> +<p>Nason, Joseph, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></p> +<p>North, Simeon, arms factory, <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br /><br /></p> +<p>Olson, Carl G., <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /><br /></p> +<p>Vander Woerd, Charles, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /><br /></p> +<p>Ward, Frederick A., <a href="#Page_120">120</a></p> +<p>Wetschgi, Emanuel, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></p> +<p>Wetschgi, Manuel, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></p> +<p>Whitney arms factory, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></p> +<p>Wilkinson, David, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="tnote"> +<a id="corrections_37" name="corrections_37"></a> +<h3>Transcriber’s corrections</h3> +<p>Page <a href="#corr_37_1">110</a>: “... the spindle, to prevent ...” (had “pindle”)</p> +<p>Page <a href="#corr_37_2">120</a>: “... servants à l'intelligence de plusieurs choses difficiles, +& nécessaires ...” (had “a,” “plusiers,” “necessaires”)</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Screw-Thread Cutting by the +Master-Screw Method since 1480, by Edwin A. 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Battison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Screw-Thread Cutting by the Master-Screw Method since 1480 + +Author: Edwin A. Battison + +Release Date: March 24, 2010 [EBook #31756] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCREW-THREAD CUTTING SINCE 1480 *** + + + + +Produced by Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper, Louise Pattison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: + +This is Paper 37 from the Smithsonian Institution United States National +Museum Bulletin 240, comprising Papers 34-44, which will also be +available as a complete e-book. + +The front material, introduction and relevant index entries from the +Bulletin are included in each single-paper e-book. + +Typographical errors have been corrected as follows: + + Page 110: "... the spindle, to prevent ..." (had "pindle") + Page 120: "... servants a l'intelligence de plusieurs choses difficiles, + & necessaires ..." (had "a," "plusiers," "necessaires")] + + + + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION + +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM + +BULLETIN 240 + + +[Illustration] + +SMITHSONIAN PRESS + + +MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY + + CONTRIBUTIONS + FROM THE + MUSEUM + OF HISTORY AND + TECHNOLOGY + + _Papers 34-44_ + _On Science and Technology_ + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION . WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966 + + + + +_Publications of the United States National Museum_ + + +The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National +Museum include two series, _Proceedings of the United States National +Museum_ and _United States National Museum Bulletin_. + +In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs +dealing with the collections and work of its constituent museums--The +Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and +Technology--setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of +anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies of each +publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific +organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different +subjects. + +The _Proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in +separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History. +These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date +of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume. + +In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear +longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in +several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related +subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on +the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the +botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been +published in the _Bulletin_ series under the heading _Contributions from +the United States National Herbarium_, and since 1959, in _Bulletins_ +titled "Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology," have +been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of +that Museum. + +The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises +Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in +separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each +paper. + + FRANK A. TAYLOR + _Director, United States National Museum_ + + + + +CONTRIBUTIONS FROM +THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: +PAPER 37 + +SCREW-THREAD CUTTING BY THE +MASTER-SCREW METHOD SINCE 1480 + +_Edwin A. Battison_ + + + + +_Edwin A. Battison_ + +SCREW-THREAD CUTTING BY THE MASTER-SCREW METHOD SINCE 1480 + + _Among the earliest known examples of screw-thread cutting machines + are the screw-cutting lathe of 1483, known only in pictures and + drawings, and an instrument of the traverse-spindle variety for + threading metal, now in the Smithsonian Institution, dating from the + late 17th or early 18th century. The author shows clearly their + evolution from something quite specialized to the present-day tool. + He has traced the patents for these instruments through the early + 1930's and from this research we see the part played by such devices + in the development of the machine-tool industry._ + + THE AUTHOR: _Edwin A. Battison is associate curator of mechanical + and civil engineering in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of + History and Technology._ + + +Directness and simplicity characterize pioneer machine tools because +they were intended to accomplish some quite specialized task and the +need for versatility was not apparent. History does not reveal the +earliest forms of any primitive machines nor does it reveal much about +the various early stages in evolution toward more complex types. At best +we have discovered and dated certain developments as existing in +particular areas. Whether these forms were new at the time they were +first found or how widely dispersed such forms may have been is unknown. +Surviving evidence is in the form of pictures or drawings, such as the +little-known screw-cutting lathe of 1483 (fig. 1) shown in _Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch_. + +This lathe shows that its builder had a keen perception of the necessary +elements, reduced to bare essentials, required to accomplish the object. +Present are the coordinate slides often credited to Henry Maudslay. His +slides are not, of course, associated with the spindle; neither is there +any natural law which compels them to guide the tool exactly parallel +with the axis of revolution. In this sense the screw-cutting lathe in +the _Hausbuch_ is superior because it is in harmony with natural law and +can generate a true cylinder, whereas Maudslay's lathe can only transfer +to the work whatever accuracy is built into it. + +In principle this machine shown in the _Hausbuch_ is very advanced as we +see when we follow the design through to the present time. The artist, +whose drawings give us our only knowledge of the machine, himself was +obviously not very familiar with the details of its function. Reference +to figure 1 shows that the threads on the lead screw and on the work, +wind in opposite directions. This must be an error in delineation since +the two are closely coupled together without any intervening mechanism +so that the only possible result on the work must be a thread winding in +the same direction as on the original screw. The work also is shown +threaded for its entire length; this cannot be accomplished with any one +location of the cross-slide. We are left with the question of whether +this slide was used in two locations or whether the artist, possibly +working from notes or an earlier rough sketch, failed to show an +unthreaded portion on one end or the other of the work. + +[Illustration: Figure 1.--EARLIEST REPRESENTATION FOUND OF A +MASTER-SCREW TYPE of thread-cutting machine. From the inconsistencies, +such as right- and left-hand threads on master and work, it appears that +the artist had scant insight into actual function. From plate 62 of _Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch, nach dem Originale im Besitze des Fuersten von +Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee, im Auftrage des Deutschen Vereins fuer +Kunstwissenschaft, herausgegeben von Helmuth Th. Bossert und Willy F. +Storck_ (Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1912).] + +Of at least equal importance with the lead screw and work and their +relationship to each other is the tool-support with its screw-adjusted +cross-slide (fig. 2). Just how this was attached to the frame of the +machine so that it placed the tool at a suitable radius is again a +questionable point. The very well-developed cutting tool is sharpened to +a thin, keen edge totally unsuited for cutting metal but ideal for use +on a softer, fibrous substance: undoubtedly wood, in this instance. +Unfortunately, the angle at which the artist chose to show us this +cutter is not a view from which it is possible to judge whether or not +the tool has been made to conform to the helix angle of the thread to be +cut. This cross-slide, in conjunction with the traversing work spindle, +gives us a machine having two coordinate slides yielding the same effect +as the slide rest usually attributed to Henry Maudslay at the end of the +18th century. Actually, an illustration of coordinate slides independent +of the spindle had been published as early as 1569 by Besson[1] and +knowledge of them widely disseminated by his popular work on mechanics. +These slides are shown as part of a screw-cutting machine with a +questionably adequate connection, by means of cords, between the master +screw and the work. + +It was the author's pleasure recently to obtain for the Smithsonian +Institution and identify a small, nicely made, brass instrument which +had been in two collections in this country and one collection in +Germany as an unidentified locksmith's tool (fig. 3). This proved to be +an instrument of the traverse-spindle variety for threading metal. +Fortunately, all essential details were present including a cutter (A in +figure 4); this instrument was identified by the signature "Manuel +Wetschgi, Augspurg." The Wetschgis were a well-known family of gunsmiths +and mechanics in Augsburg through several generations. Two bore the +given name Emanuel: the earlier was born in 1678 and died in 1728. He +was quite celebrated in his field of rifle making and became chief of +artillery to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel shortly before his death in +his 51st year. Little is known of the later Emanuel Wetschgi except that +he was at Augsburg in 1740. Tentative attribution of the instrument has +been made to the earlier Emanuel, chiefly on the basis of his recognized +position as an outstanding craftsman. + +[Illustration: Figure 2.--CROSS-SLIDE for the thread-cutting lathe of +_Das mittelalterliche Hausbuch_, shown in figure 1. It is remarkable not +only for its early date, but also for its high state of development with +a crossfeed screw which had not become universally accepted 300 years +later. The cutter, shown out of its socket, is obviously sharpened for +use on wood.] + +In several respects this little machine differs from its predecessor of +the _Hausbuch_, as might be expected when allowance is made for the +generations of craftsmen who undoubtedly worked with such tools over the +roughly 200 years of time separating them. Another factor to consider +when comparing these two machines is that one was used on metal, the +other probably only on wood. Therefore, it is not surprising to find on +the later machine an outboard or "tailstock" support for the work. The +spindle of this support has to travel in unison with the work-driving +spindle so that it is not an unexpected discovery to find that it is +spring-loaded. Figure 5 shows how this spring may be adjusted to +accommodate various lengths of work by moving the attachment screw to +various holes in both the spring and in the frame. Also visible in the +same illustration is a rectangular projection at the other end of the +spring which engages a mating hole in the "tailstock" spindle to prevent +its rotation. + +[Illustration: Figure 3.--SMALL THREAD-CUTTING LATHE which was made to +be held in a vise during use. It was found as shown here, with only the +operating crank missing. The overall length is approximately 12 inches, +depending on the adjustment of parts. (Smithsonian photo 46525B.)] + +Figure 6 shows the traversing spindle and nut removed from the machine. +Provision has been made for doing this so easily that there is every +reason to believe that, originally, there were various different spindle +and nut units which could be interchangeably used in the machine. +Additional evidence tending to support this concept exists in the +cutting tool (fig. 4), which must have been intended for serious work as +it has been carefully fitted in its unsymmetrical socket. The cutting +blade of this tool, which works with a scraping rather than a true +cutting action, is too wide to form a properly proportioned thread when +used with the existing lead screw. This may well indicate that the tool +was made for use with a lead of coarser pitch, now lost. + +[Illustration: Figure 4.--THE WORKING AREA of figure 3, showing the tool +and signature. (Smithsonian photo 46525A.)] + +Perhaps the most startling feature of this machine when compared with +the machine of the _Hausbuch_, is the absence of a cross-slide for +adjusting the tool. Possibly this can be explained by the blunt scraping +edge on the tool. In actual use, recently, to cut a sample screw, using +a tool similar to the one found in the machine (fig. 7), it was found +advantageous to be free of a cross-slide and thus be able to feed the +tool into the work by feel rather than by rule, as would be done with a +slide rest. In this way, it was possible to thread steel without +tearing, as the cutting pressure could readily be felt and the tool +could release itself from too heavy a cut. Size on several screws could +be repeated by setting the tool to produce the desired diameter when its +supporting arm came to rest against the frame of the machine. The screws +used in the machine itself were apparently made in just such a way. They +were not cut with a die as the thread blends very gradually into the +body of the screw without the characteristic marks left by the cutting +edges of a die. Threads cut with a single-point tool controlled by a +cross-slide usually end even more abruptly than those cut by a die, +while it would be quite simple with a machine of the nature we are +considering to bring the thread to a gentle tapering end as seen in +figure 8 (another view of the screw A in fig. 3) by gradually releasing +the pressure necessary to keep the tool cutting as the end of the +thread was approached. + +[Illustration: Figure 5.--SPRING FOR KEEPING THE FOLLOWER SPINDLE +against the work, showing the method and range of adjustment. Note the +rectangular projection to engage a mating socket in the spindle, to +prevent spindle rotation. (Smithsonian photo 46525.)] + +[Illustration: Figure 6.--WORK SPINDLE AND ITS NUT removed from the +machine to illustrate how easily another spindle and nut of different +pitch could be substituted. (Smithsonian photo 46525C.)] + +That machines of this general type having the lead screw on the axis of +the work were competitive with other methods and other types of machines +over a long period of time may be seen from figures 9 and 10. The +machine, left front in figure 9 and in more intimate detail in figure +10, can be seen to differ little from that shown in _Das +mittelalterliche Hausbuch_ of 1483. The double work-support is, of +course, a great improvement, while the tool-support is regressive since +it lacks a feed screw. + +The development of engineering theory, coupled with the rising needs of +industry, particularly with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, +brought about accelerated development of screw-cutting lathes through +the combination of screw-cutting machines with simple lathes as seen in +figure 9 and in detail in figure 11. One important advance shown here +is driving the machine by means of a cord or band so that any means of +rotary power could be applied, not just hand or foot power. Of greater +interest and technical importance to this study is the provision, seen +to better advantage in figure 11, for readily changing from one master +lead screw to another. This had already been achieved in the Manuel +Wetschgi machine, as far as versatility is concerned, although not in +quite such a convenient way. + +[Illustration: Figure 7.--THREAD OF MODERN FORM recently cut, using the +old screw and nut but with a new tool. The material threaded is +carbon-steel drill rod. (Smithsonian photo 49276A.)] + +Figure 12, the headstock of another and more advanced lathe than shown +in figures 9 and 11 but of the same type, shows "keys" (D), each of +which is a partial nut of different pitch to engage with a thread of +mating pitch. The dotted lines in figure 13 show the engaged and +disengaged positions of one of these keys, and figure 14 shows the +spindle with the various leads, C. At D is a grooved collar to be +engaged by the narrow key shown in operating position at the left in +figure 12 for the purpose of controlling the endwise movement of the +spindle when used for ordinary turning instead of thread-cutting. In +return for greater convenience and freedom from the expense of the many +separate spindles, as typified by the Wetschgi machine, a sacrifice has +been made in the length of the thread which can be cut without +interruption. + +[Illustration: Figure 8.--BINDING SCREW seen at A in figure 3, showing +the long smooth fadeout of the thread below the shoulder. (Smithsonian +photo 49276.)] + +[Illustration: Figure 9.--MAKING SCREWS IN FRANCE in the third quarter +of the 18th century. From _L'Encyclopedie, ou dictionnaire raisonne des +sciences, des arts et des metiers ... receuil de planches sur les +sciences, les arts liberaux, et les arts mechaniques, avec leur +explication_ (Paris: 1762-1772), vol. 9, plate 1.] + +[Illustration: Figure 10.--DETAILS OF THE MACHINE in the left foreground +of figure 9, showing the crude tool-support without screw adjustment. +From _L'Encyclopedie_, vol. 9, plate 2.] + +This reduction in the length that could conveniently be threaded was no +great drawback on many classes of work. This can be realized from figure +16 which shows a traverse-spindle lathe headstock typical of the +mid-19th century. During the years intervening between the machines of +figures 12 and 16, the general design was greatly improved by removing +the lead screws from the center of the spindle. This made possible a +shorter, much stiffer spindle and supported both ends of the spindle in +one frame or headstock rather than in separate pieces attached to the +bed. The screws were now mounted outside of the spindle-bearings, one at +a time, while the mating nuts were cut partially into the circumference +of a disk which could be turned to bring any particular nut into working +position as required. With this arrangement, a wide variety of leads +either right or left hand could be provided and additional leads could +be fitted at any future time. Screw-cutting lathes of this design were +popular for a very long time with instrument makers and opticians who +had little need to cut screws of great length. + +[Illustration: Figure 11.--DETAILS OF THE THREADING LATHE seen in the +right foreground of figure 9 showing the method of drive and support for +the work. From _L'Encyclopedie_, vol. 9, plate 1.] + +The demands of expanding industry for greater versatility in the +production of engineering elements late in the 18th century set the +stage for the evolution of more complex machines tending to place the +threaded spindle lathes in eclipse. Maudslay's lathe of 1797-1800 (fig. +15) appeared at this time when industry was receptive to rapid +innovation. Unfortunately, the gearing which once existed to connect the +headstock spindle with the lead screw has long been lost. At this time +it is quite difficult to say with certainty whether the original gear +set offered a variety of ratios, as was true of slightly later Maudslay +lathes, or a fixed ratio. The plausibility of the fixed ratio theory is +supported by the very convenient means, seen in figure 15, for removing +the lead screw in preparation for substitution of one of another pitch. +All that is required is to back off its supporting center at the +tailstock end and withdraw the screw from its split nut[2] and from the +driving clutch near the headstock. This split nut also would have to be +changed to one of a pitch corresponding to that of the screw. While more +expensive than a solid nut, it neatly circumvents the need (and saves +the time involved) to reverse the screw in order to get the tool back to +the point of beginning preliminary to taking another cut. David +Wilkinson's lathe of 1798 (fig. 17) which was developed in Rhode Island +at the same time shows the same method of mounting and driving the +master screw. At least in the United States, this method of changing the +lead screw instead of using change gears remained popular for many +years. Examples of this changeable screw feature are to be found in the +lathes constructed for the pump factory of W. & B. Douglas Company, +Middletown, Connecticut,[3] in the 1830's. Middletown, at that time one +of the leading metal-working centers in one of the chief industrial +States, had been for many years the site of the Simeon North arms +factory which rivaled Whitney's. In this atmosphere, it is reasonable to +expect that machinery constructed by local mechanics, as was the custom +in those days, would reflect the most accepted refinements in machine +design. + +[Illustration: Figure 12.--WELL-DEVELOPED EXAMPLE of lathe headstock +having several leads on the spindle and provision for mounting the work +or a work-holding chuck on the spindle. Adapted from _L'Encyclopedie_, +vol. 10, plate 13.] + +[Illustration: Figure 13.--END VIEW OF THE HEADSTOCK seen in figure 12, +showing the keys or half nuts which engage the threaded spindle, in +engaged and disengaged positions. From _L'Encyclopedie_, vol. 10, plate +13.] + +[Illustration: Figure 14.--SPINDLE OF FIGURES 12 AND 13, showing the +several leads and the many-sided seat for the driving pulley. Note the +scale of feet. From _L'Encyclopedie_, vol. 10, plate 16.] + +Roughly twenty years later, Joseph Nason of New York patented[4] the +commercially very important "Fox" brassworker's lathe (fig. 18). While +this does have a ratio in the pair of gears connecting the work spindle +and master screw, it is clear from the patent that various pitches are +to be obtained by changing screws, not by changing gears. The patent +sums it up as follows: + + A nut upon the end of the stud ... is unscrewed when the guide + screw is to be removed or changed. The two wheels ... should have + in their number of teeth a common multiple. They are seldom or + never removed and their diameters are made dissimilar only for the + purpose of giving to the guide screw a slower rate of motion than + that of the mandrel whereby it may be made of coarser pitch than + that of the screw to be cut and its wear materially lessened. + +The introduction of gearing between the spindle and the lead screw, for +whatever purpose, could not help but introduce variable factors caused +by inaccuracies in the gears themselves and in their mounting. These +were of little consequence for common work, particularly when coupled to +a screw which, itself, was of questionable accuracy. The increasing +refinements demanded in scientific instruments and in machine tools +themselves after they had reached a relatively stable form dictated that +attention be dedicated to improved accuracy of the threaded components. + +[Illustration: Figure 15.--MAUDSLAY'S WELL-KNOWN screw-cutting lathe of +1797-1800, showing the method of mounting and driving changeable master +screws. (_Photo courtesy of The Science Museum, London._)] + +[Illustration: Figure 16.--HEADSTOCK OF A GERMAN INSTRUMENT-MAKER'S +LATHE, typical of the mid-19th century, showing the traverse spindle, +interchangeable lead screws, and semicircumferential nut containing +several leads. The nut may be brought into engagement by the lever at +top rear of the headstock. This releases the end thrust control on the +spindle simultaneously with engagement of the nut. (Smithsonian photo +49839.)] + +[Illustration: Figure 17.--DAVID WILKINSON'S SCREW-CUTTING LATHE, +patented in the United States in 1798. Note the ready facility with +which the lead screw may be exchanged for another and the same means of +supporting and driving as in figure 15. (U.S. National Archives photo.)] + +An attack on this problem, which interestingly reverts to the +fundamental principle of motion derived from a master screw without the +intervention of other mechanism (fig. 19), is covered by a patent[5] +issued to Charles Vander Woerd, one-time superintendent of the Waltham +Watch Company. The problem is well stated in the patent: + + This invention relates to the manufacture of leading screws to be + used for purposes requiring the highest attainable degree of + correctness in the cutting of the screw-threads of said screw ... + as, for example, in machines for ruling lines in glass plates to + produce refraction [sic] gratings for the resolution of the lines + of the solar spectrum, such machines being required to rule many + thousands of lines on an inch of space by a marking device which is + reciprocated over the glass plate and is fed by the action of a + leading screw after the formation of each line. Great difficulty + has been experienced in constructing a leading screw for this and + other purposes, in which the thread is so nearly correct as to + produce no perceptible variation in the microscopic spaces between + the ruled lines or gratings.... Various causes prevent the + formation of a thread on the rod or blank, which is absolutely + uniform and accurate from end to end of the rod. Among other causes + are the variations of temperature from time to time, the + imperfections of the operating leading screw, the springing of the + leading screw and of the rod that is being threaded, and other + unavoidable causes, all of which, although apparently trivial and + producing only slight variations in the thread at different parts + of the rod or blank, are of sufficient moment to be seriously + considered when a screw of absolute accuracy is desired. + +[Illustration: Figure 18.--NASON'S LATHE, patented in 1854, showing a +master lead screw driven at less than work speed so that the master +could be of a coarser and more durable pitch than the work. U.S. patent +10383.] + +It is interesting to note in figure 19 that Vander Woerd's machine, to +avoid the problems outlined in his patent, has returned to a starkly +simple design. We are not told, however, how he originated this master +screw which is used to produce the accurately threaded work pieces. +Later generations, in the search for ever-greater accuracy, also +returned to the fundamental simplicity of a master screw as we shall see +when we consider the refinements in mechanism necessary to the extended +development of the automobile and the airplane. + +[Illustration: Figure 19.--VANDER WOERD'S PATENT, seen here, covered the +combination of a master screw, toolslide and work in a rigid frame to be +supported and driven by outside means of no required precision. U.S. +patent 293930 dated February 1884.] + +As the power and speed of automobiles and aircraft increased, critical +parts became more highly stressed. Gears and threaded parts were +particularly troublesome details of the mechanism because of the +stresses concentrated in them, and, in the case of gears, because of the +internal and external stresses originating in minute deviations from the +ideal of tooth form and spacing. The problems were not entirely new but +had hitherto been solved by increasing the size of the parts, an avenue +of limited utility to designers in these fields where total weight as +well as the effects of mass and inertia are so important. By making +these parts of heat-treated steel, the strength could be made suitable +while the size and mass of the parts were kept within bounds. The +necessary processes of heat-treating were not always applicable to +finished parts as they sometimes destroyed both finish and accuracy. +Grinding, which was well developed for the simple plane, cylindrical, +and conical surfaces so widely used in mechanisms, had to be extended to +threads and gears so that they could be finished after heat-treating. +Sometimes the gear teeth themselves were ground; for other applications +it was sufficient to improve the accuracy of the gear cutters. + +[Illustration: Figure 20.--A HOB-GRINDING MACHINE patented in 1932 and +incorporating the master-screw principle. Carl G. Olson's U.S. patent +1874592.] + +Attempts to produce gear hobs free of the imperfections and distortions +introduced by heat treatment led to another return to the use of the +master lead screw. Figure 20 illustrates a machine having this feature +which was patented in 1932 by Carl G. Olson.[6] In speaking of the +spindle-driving mechanism disclosed in earlier patents, the patent goes +on to say: + + This driving mechanism includes an integral spindle 20, one + extremity thereof being designed for supporting a hob 22 and the + other extremity thereof being formed so as to present a lead screw + 24. The spindle 20 is mounted between a bearing 26 and a bearing + 28, the latter bearing providing a nut in which the lead screw 24 + rotates.... From the description thus far given it will be apparent + that the rotation of the lead screw 24 within the bearing or nut 28 + will cause the hob to be moved axially, the lead of the screw 24 + being equal to the lead of the thread in the hob. + +Claim 8 which concludes the descriptive portion of the patent states in +part: + + In a hob grinding machine of the class described, a rotary work + supporting spindle, means for effecting longitudinal movement of + the spindle, a tool holder for supporting a grinding wheel in + operative position with respect to the work supported by the + spindle during the rotary and longitudinal movement thereof, ... + +Even before this patent was applied for, another patent was pending for +the purpose of modifying the pitch of the lead screw without the use of +change gears in spite of the wide acceptance of such gear mechanisms for +over a hundred years. + +[Illustration: Figure 21.--A HOB-GRINDING MACHINE OF 1933, showing use +of the master screw with a modifier but without change gears. Carl G. +Olson's U.S. patent 1901926.] + +[Illustration: Figure 22.--A SINE-BAR DEVICE to modify the effective +lead of a master lead screw without introducing a complex mechanism +which would be both difficult to make and to operate within the required +close limits. Carl G. Olson's (1933) U.S. patent 1901926.] + +Figure 21 shows a plan view[7] of the machine, and figure 22 a detailed +view of the sine-bar mechanism actuated by the master screw, 6, to +modify the effective pitch of the lead screw in accordance with the +realities of practice as stated in the preamble of the patent: + + This invention relates to material working machines, and + particularly to machines such as hob grinders and the like, wherein + the work is reciprocated through the agency of a lead screw. + + In the manufacture of hobs it is common practice to employ the same + machine for grinding hobs of varied diameters, and in order to + employ such a machine in this manner the pitch of the lead screw, + thereof, which actuates the work carrier, must conform to the axial + pitch of the hob to be ground. This will be readily apparent when + it is understood that the helix angles of hobs vary in accordance + with their diameters and, consequently, the difference between the + normal pitch and the axial pitch correspondingly varies. While the + requirement for the normal pitch may be the same for hobs of + different diameters, it is necessary to change the axial pitch in + accordance with a change in the hob diameter, and this axial pitch + of the hob is equal to the pitch of the lead screw which actuates + the work carrier in grinding machines heretofore used. Hence, in + order to adapt such machines to cover a wide range of leads, it is + necessary to provide a large number of interchangeable lead screws + and obviously this represents a large investment, and the + interchanging of these screws requires the expenditure of + considerable time in setting up the machine for each job. + +Thread-grinding machines were being designed concurrent with the +development of hob-grinding machines. Many were entirely concerned with +features peculiar to the problems of wheel-dressing and to automatic +characteristics. An invention to embody the use of a master screw and +concerned with the precision grinding of worm threads, for use in +gearing, was patented by Frederick A. Ward in this era.[8] That part of +the invention pertaining to the use of a master screw, "a rotary work +holder mounted on said carriage and provided with a driving spindle, an +exchangeable master screw and stationary nut detachably secured to said +spindle and head,..." is shown in figure 23. + +[Illustration: Figure 23.--DETAILS OF A WORK SPINDLE WITH WORK, showing +the use of a master lead screw to control the pitch of a precision worm +thread being ground. From the 1933 U.S. patent 1899654, of F. A. Ward's +worm-grinding machine.] + +Machines embodying the principle of the master lead screw are found in +constant use by industry at the present time for specialized +application. Whenever technological changes again reopen the topic of +thread-cutting to a new degree of accuracy or call for a reevaluation of +popular methods for any other reason, we may expect to see another +resurgence of the master-screw method, for no other design eliminates so +many variables or rests on such firm and fundamental natural principles +as the machine of _Das mittelalterliche Hausbuch_ of 1483, the earliest +such machine now known. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] JACQUES BESSON, _Des instruments mathematiques, et mechaniques, +servants a l'intelligence de plusiers choses difficiles, & necessaires a +toutes republiques_, 1st ed. (Orleans, 1569). [Also available in later +editions in French, German, and Spanish.] + +[2] J. FOSTER PETREE, introduction, _Henry Maudslay, 1771-1831, and +Maudslay Sons and Field, Ltd._ (London: The Maudslay Society, 1949). + +[3] _American Machinist_ (September 28, 1916), vol. 45, no. 13, pp. +529-531. + +[4] U.S. patent 10383 issued to Joseph Nason of New York, January 3, +1854. + +[5] U.S. patent 293930 issued to Charles Vander Woerd of Waltham, +Massachusetts, February 19, 1884. + +[6] U.S. patent 1874592, filed June 8, 1929, issued to C. G. Olson of +Chicago, Illinois, August 30, 1932, and assigned to the Illinois Tool +Works, also of Chicago. + +[7] U.S. patent 1901926, filed February 16, 1928, issued to C. G. Olson +of Chicago, Illinois, March 21, 1933, and assigned to the Illinois Tool +Works, also of Chicago. + +[8] U.S. patent 1899654, filed August 31, 1931, issued to F. A. Ward of +Detroit, Michigan, February 28, 1933, and assigned to the Gear Grinding +Company of Detroit, Michigan. + + * * * * * + +U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1964 + +For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office +Washington, D.C. 20402--Price 20 cents + + +INDEX + + + Besson, Jacques, 107 + + + Douglas, W. & B., Company, 113 + + + Maudslay, Henry, 106, 113 + + + Nason, Joseph, 114 + + North, Simeon, arms factory, 114 + + + Olson, Carl G., 118 + + + Vander Woerd, Charles, 116, 117 + + + Ward, Frederick A., 120 + + Wetschgi, Emanuel, 108 + + Wetschgi, Manuel, 108, 111 + + Whitney arms factory, 114 + + Wilkinson, David, 113 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Screw-Thread Cutting by the +Master-Screw Method since 1480, by Edwin A. 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