Abstract: An assembly machine is disclosed in which a slug of one metal is inserted and staked in a cup formed of another metal. During the staking operation, the shape of the slug and the cup is altered by forming loads thereon. Cups are fed to an assembly position through a plurality of feed chutes which supply the cups to a shuttle. The shuttle operates to alternately receive cups from one feed chute and then the other and to position such cups at an assembly position. A cutter cuts slugs from wire stock and delivers the slugs to the assembly position, where the slugs are inserted in the cups and staked in place. The shuttle operates at a cyclic speed equal to one-half the cyclic speed of the cutter so that the total output of the apparatus is substantially higher than the cyclic operating speed of the shuttle. A combined stock gauge and staking tool is carried by the cutter and the cutter forcibly removes the assembled cup and slug from the assembly position.

Abstract: A method and apparatus of cold forming is disclosed for improving die life. During a first phase a workpiece is initially engaged between a pair of dies with a sufficiently low force and velocity level to reduce die errosion but with a sufficiently high level to produce limited deformation of the workpiece and provide an area of mating engagement between the workpiece and the tool and die. During a second phase the workpiece is subjected to substantially higher deforming force and velocity levels and is further deformedto the desired shape. Such area of mating engagement is sufficiently large to reduce errosion producing localized pressures on the tool and die during such second phase. The disclosed machine is a ball header with the movable die mounted directly on the machine frame rather than on the reciprocating slide. The position of the movable die is controlled by a cam driven pusher so that the movable die position is independent of the position of the reciprocating slide.

Abstract: A ball header is disclosed in which the movable die is mounted directly on the machine frame rather than on the reciprocating slide. The position of the movable die is controlled by a cam driven pusher so that the movable die position is dependent of the position of the reciprocating slide. The machine provides a greater portion of the machine cycle for the movement of the transfer from between the dies after the blank is gripped and controlled by dies. The machine further provides a closed or bushing cutter to improve the shearing of the blanks from the wire stock so that the part formed by the machine can be closer to the finished size of the product to reduce the material content and the cost of finishing operations. The accuracy of the positioning of the movable die is also improved by the mounting of the movable die directly on the frame rather than on the reciprocating slide.