Abstract: A felting needle, with thousands of its counterparts, must be identically reproducible and uniform so that consistent duplication of the finished product of felted material is possible. The method of the present invention, as well as the apparatus of this invention for practicing the method, have the capability, for the first time, of exact duplication of a felting-needle barb, with rounded contours on all faces and edges which contact the fibers, and with uniform size, shape and finish, all produced by a method which is essentially a one-step process reducing the number of steps of the manufacturing procedure to a minimum. Thus the apparatus and process provide a barb-forming tool which has a recess or cavity formed therein which is the exact mirror image or mating counterpart of the shape or outline of the barb and barb-recess to be formed in the needle, and which, with such contour-controlling and material-constraining cavity, produces an exact cavity, throat and barb each time the tool strikes the needle.

Abstract: A unitary coining die assembly is provided which is mountable on the frame of an underdriven coining press independent of the press slide. The die assembly is positioned on the frame above the slide and is comprised of a mounting plate attached to the frame and a pair of support plates suspended therebeneath. An upper coining die is carried by the mounting plate, and a vertically displaceable lower coining die is carried by the lower support plate. A ring providing a die cavity cooperable with the coining dies is carried by the upper support plate. The support arrangement provides for the lower coining die to be pivotal laterally about an axis spaced from the die axis to facilitate access to the component parts. Further, the portion of the upper support plate is pivotal about the same axis to provide access to the die cavity ring and upper coining die.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a unit piece for a `V` pulley of the type in which a pair of unit pieces of the same configuration are assembled in back-to-back relation to each other into a single complete pulley, said unit piece having a central flat portion and a circumferential `V` groove forming portion continuous with the flat portion, characterized by the steps of preparing a forging stock of a disk form of which the outer diameter is equal to the outer diameter D.sub.1 of said pulley unit peice and the thickness is equal to the thickness T of the flat portion of said pulley unit piece; and cold-forging said forging stock for deforming an outer circumferential portion thereof so that the thickness of the portion is gradually reduced radially outwardly to define a cylindrical portion of height L as well as an outermost circumference of thickness T.sub.1 and n innermost circumference of thickness T.sub.2 (T.sub.1 <T.sub.