Snap-hook.
A hook with a spring mousing by which it is prevented from accidental disengagement with the object to which it is attached, as the bitring, hame-ring, or breeching-ring. The mousing formerly consisted of a spring, but a spring latchpiece is now the common form. Fig. 5246 shows a number of forms of snap-hooks which require no particular description. In some the spring forms the latch; in others the spring actuates the latch. In Foster's machine for forming snap-hooks, February 2, 1875, a sliding frame and pawl feeds the wire into radial notches in an intermittingly revolving roulette, which, after the wire is cut off, carries it between guides to center it, and then under a griper, that holds it while the milling mechanism rounds the points. At the next movement of the roulette a plunger carries the wire out, and presses it against a former, where it is bent into U shape. Four side-dies are advanced to cross and form the sides, and two vertical plungers give a semicircular bend to the ends in reverse directions. Upon the withdrawal of these plungers, a mandrel is inserted into the loop, and a rear plunger advances, and bends down the ends, so that they overlap and form a circle. The dies are withdrawn, and a pusher removes the finished article. |
| Snap-hooks. |
