The Portland daily press., 1880-02-09
HANsoN's BUTTON MACHINE.
A Valuable Patent and Important Inyen-
ton.

Last Monday morning the PRESS announced
the formation of a new company, called the
Maine Turning Company, composed for the
most part of Portland gentlemen, who had Sc
cured new patent, the invention of Freeman
Hanson of Bar Mills, for the construction of
buttons of all forms, including a perfect oval.
Saturday afternoon large party of gentle
men from this city, including the members OF
the company and the members of the press,
took the 1.15 p. IN. Rochester train and visited
Mr.. Charles McKenney'S mill at Bar Mills,
where Mr.. f. E. Thompson, the manager OF
the corporation, and Mr.. Hanson, the inventor
of the patent, exhibited to them the workings
of the machine.
Mr.. Hanson machine is as admirable for its
simplicity as it is for the variety of its adapta-
tons. It may be called the simplest possible
combination of planning machine, and a turn
ing lathe; although it is strictly neither.
A short horizontal axis revolves with great
rapidity, carving, at one end, a short stout
knife or plane blade. A piece of wood held
firmly in lathe can be revoked on second
axis parallel to the first, and on the some level.
Both axes are capable of horizontal sliding
motion, at right angles to their length, by
which they can be brought near to each other.
knife revolving with great rapidity, bat the
wood not revolving, the knife may be made to
plane off the end of the stuff, across the grain.
If the knife is straight it planes the end square
off, but if it curves, or swerves, from the right
angle it cuts the wood deeper on the side
toward the cutter. If as the wood approaches
the curved knife it is made to revolve slowly,
the end of the stick will be planed into q conf
cal form, round, but of any pattern in which
the knife has been forged, and sharpened !;
- for ,t1ia hboI 2rn
The axes are then separated and the mandril
of the lathe brought up, just far enough to let
the end of the revolving knife cut under the
knob, or acorn just made The end of the
knife is serrated, and as the axes are made to
approach, the end saws off the first acorn
while the edge is shaping the second
The knife axis is brought up toward the
wood by a treadle. and the limit of its approach
is regulated by an adjustable stop, against
which il is brought and held firm by the foot
of the workman. But the lathe axis is capable
of receiving, by an adjustable eccentric, an
oscillating motion to and from the knife, great
er or less according to the adjustment of the
eccentric, and any number of times from two
to eight, during each of the slow revolution s
of the wood, the number being adjusted by re-
placeable cogwhees of various sizes.
If now during the approach of the knife to
the stop against which it is held by the treade,
the wood moves toward it twice in each revo-
luton, the base of the cone or knob becomes
oval instead of being round; if four times in q
revolution the base becomes square, or at least
four sided; if five times, five sided, SC, the
profile of the knob being still determined, as
before. by the curve into which the knife has
been forged and sharpened.
Still further an attachment is made Of an
adjustable pawl and ratchet, so that the revo-
luton OF the wood in the lathe may be varied
almost at WILL giving thus to the bases OF the
buttons or knobs, as great variety OF shape as
the forging of the knives can give to their
profiles Readers acquainted with analytics
will see the variety Of forms which the ma
chine, even without the attachment, gives,
by endeavoring to plot
rae Q-eos. Il. "
in which and u are polar coordinates; is a
whole number less than 9; and G must be less
than half of q.
These machines, it is calculated can manu-
facture from 500 TO 700 shapes day, with a
cost of about SIS, where, by hand carving,
they would cost some $500. They possess two
great advantages over Blanchard lathe, first
in that they require no patterns; secondly they
finish all their work instead Of having to have
it polished by hand.