Machine for making star nails

A machine for making nails having a star-shaped transverse cross-section, said machine including a bowl feeder that performs a hopper function and that delivers nails having flat heads and a substantially circular transverse cross section in sequential fashion to a nail discharge station, comprising:

• a discharge chute disposed between said bowl feeder and an indexer means for delivering nails in single file to the indexer means;
• a nail accelerating means for delivering nails from said discharge chute to said indexer means, said nail accelerating means positioned between said discharge chute and said indexer means;
• said nail accelerating means including a pair of substantially parallel plates spaced apart from one another by a distance slightly greater than a diameter of a nail shank;
• an air passageway formed in each plate of said substantially parallel plates, said air passageway being angled toward said indexer means so that pressurized air flowing therethrough provides a positive pressure behind a nail positioned between said substantially parallel plates thereby propelling the nail toward said indexer means;
• the indexer means adapted to releasably and simultaneously engage a plurality of nails discharged by said discharge station;
• said indexer means adapted to sequentially receive said nails in a first upright position and to invert said nails into an inverted position where respective heads thereof are positioned below respective points thereof, the indexer means further being mounted for rotation about an axis of rotation;
• the indexer means further including a plurality of nail-receiving slots that are radially disposed with respect to said axis of rotation;
• the indexer means further including a nail-receiving end and a nail-discharging end that are one hundred eighty degrees apart form one another;
• a forming station including a plurality of rotatably mounted form rollers positioned in downwardly spaced relation to said indexer means;
• a transfer means for displacing each nail away from said indexer means and delivering each nail to said forming station;
• each form roller of said plurality of rotatably mounted form rollers having a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart nail head-receiving notches formed in its periphery to engage a head of each nail delivered to said forming station by said transfer means and to pull each nail into forming relation with said plurality of rotatably mounted form rollers;
• each form roller further including a plurality of concavities formed in a periphery of each form roller in circumferentially spaced relation to said nail head-receiving notches, said concavities receiving work-hardened points of said nails to prevent said work-hardened points form being formed by said form rollers;
• each form roller further including a bevel formed in the periphery of each form roller adjacent each nail head-receiving notch so that a short extent of each nail, adjacent its head, is not formed by said form rollers;
• a nail collection means positioned below said forming station;
• a motor means for operating said machine;
• a drive means for interconnecting said indexer means and said motor means;
• and a cooling means for cooling said form rollers;
• whereby a nail having a formed shank drops into said collection means under the force of gravity when it is released by said plurality of forming rollers.