IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING FILRO
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Jackson and Joseph Burdekin Jackson,
both of Sheffield, in the County of York, File & Steel Manufrs.,
trading under the Style or Firm of Spear & Jackson, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING
FILRO"
Sealed the 19th November 1872, and dated the 27th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Jackson and
Joseph Burdekin Jackson at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th May 1872.
We, ROBERT JACKSON and JOSEPH BURDEKIN JACKSON, both of
Sheffield, in the County of York, File & Steel Manufrs., trading under
the Style or Firm of Spear & Jackson, do hereby declare the nature
of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
CUTTING FILES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar combination and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for cutting files, and consists essentially in the

page_text: employment in a file cutting machine of an eccentric ratchet which
imparts a slight irregularity to the teeth of the file, which approaches
nearer in appearance to a hand made filc, the objectionable regularity or
uniformity of the teeth in the ordinary machine cut file being by our
arrangement of machinery obviated.
The rest of the machinery which is combined with the said eccentric
ratchet comprises a vertical ram for carrying the file cutting tool which
is adjustable therein, the said ram being guided in upper and lower
bearings provided with caps tightened up by screws and having a lifting
head secured thereon. A spring compressor is also employed actuated
by an upper set of levers and a shaft, which are connected by a screw
spindle, nut, and links with a lower lever and roller, the roller travelling
along an inclined surface attached to the bed. The bed and cradle are
supported on a stationary bed plate, which carries also the upright
standards or side frames of the machine. The file is held down on its
bed by a vertical rod or bar working in guides and actuated by a lever
and shaft. A presser and a bracket for the feed motion are fitted to
one side of the machine, and a leading screw is fitted to work in bearings
in the stationary bed plate, being actuated through a ratchet wheel by
means of levers and a shaft and provided with a break.
The entire machine is driven or actuated from a main driving shaft,
having a fly wheel and fast and loose driving pullies mounted thereon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Jackson and Joseph Burdekin Jackson in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
JACKSON and JOSEPH BURDEKIN JACKSON, both of Sheffield, in the
County of York, File and Steel Manufacturers, trading under the Style
or Firm of "Spear and Jackson," send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
2

page_text: and grant unto us, the said Robert Jackson and Joseph Burdekin
Jackson, Her special license that we, the said Robert Jackson and Joseph
Burdekin Jackson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Robert Jackson and Joseph Burdekin Jackson,
3 our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING FILES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Robert Jackson and Joseph
Burdekin Jackson, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Robert Jackson and Joseph
Burdekin Jackson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :—
Our said Invention relates to the general combination and arrange-
ment of machinery or apparatus for cutting files, and to a peculiar
cccentric ratchet feed motion applicable therto and to existing file
cutting machines of a similar character, its object being to vary or
impart a slight irregularity to the distances between the teeth, thereby
causing a file cut after this fashion to resemble more closely the hand
cut files, the objectionable regularity. or uniformity in the teeth of
ordinary machine cut files being by this arrangement of feed obviated.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.

page_text: Figure 1 of our Drawings represents a front elevation of our improved
file cutting machine; Figure 2 is a corresponding longitudinal vertical
section of the same; and Figure 3 is an enlarged detail of a portion of
the improved feed mechanism.
be
A is the stationary bed of the machine, upon which are bolted the two
side standards or uprights B, B, carrying the driving shaft C, which
works in the bearings a, a; D is the sliding bed, and E the cradle
mounted thereon, upon which cradle is laid the file blank to be cut.
The sliding bed is fed forward at each cut by means of the screw
spindle F working in the nut G attached to the under side of the sliding
bed, the said spindle being carried in bearings H, H, at each end of the
stationary bed; is a collar on the screw spindle to which a sufficient
amount of friction is imparted by wooden or other friction blocks pressed
against it by the break screw c (Figure 1). Upon the said screw
spindle F there is keyed an eccentric collar d (Figure 3), upon which
is mounted and keyed the ratchet wheel I, or the said wheel may
mounted eccentrically upon the screw spindle in any other convenient
manner. The amount of eccentricity of the ratchet wheel may vary
according to the degree of irregularity required in the file teeth, but we
find in practice that about 1/8 of an inch of eccentricity will give a
good result.
On the end of the screw spindle there is also mounted a
spur pinion K for the purpose of running back the bed for the com-
mencement of a fresh blank, as herein-after explained. The eccentric
ratchet wheel is actuated by a tooth e in the reciprocating arm L, which
is jointed at fto the slotted vibrating upright lever M mounted on one end
of a rocking shaft N (shewn dotted in Figure 2), working in brackets
on one side of the stationary bed. The opposite end of the said rocking
shaft carries a lever arm (shewn dotted in Figures 1 and 2), upon
which bears the lower end of a sliding rod O working in guides i and
actuated or depressed by a cam k acting on an antifriction roller / in
the end of the sliding rod. This cam k is mounted on the driving shaft C,
which also carries the ordinary fast and loose driving pulleys P, P', and
fly wheel Q; the rod O is elevated again by the action of a spring m
attached to the arm M¹ of the lever M before referred to. The cam k
depresses the rod O at every revolution, and in so doing causes the
tooth e of the jointed arm L to move the ratchet wheel I round one
tooth, thereby turning slightly the screw spindle (F) and feeding forward
the bed carrying the file blank the requisite distance for the next cut.

page_text: As the ratchet wheel I is eccentric it follows that the increments of
motion imparted to the screw spindle will be continually increasing and
diminishing in extent through every complete revolution of the ratchet
wheel in lieu of such movements being all uniform, as would be the
case were the ratchet wheel mounted concentrically upon the screw
spindle; R is a lever mounted on the bracket n, and furnished with a
projecting arm R¹ for lifting the end of the arm L and clearing the
tooth e from the ratchet wheel I, when it is required to run the file bed
back again by hand, which operation is effected by means of the spur
wheel S gearing into the pinion K and actuated by the winch handle
and hand wheel T; the said spur wheel and hand wheel are mounted
loosely upon the spindle o which is secured to the bracket p, and when
the machine is at work the spur wheel S is slid outwards along its
spindle, so as to bring it out of gear with the pinion K, the lever R
being allowed to drop on to the spindle o, as shewn in Figure 3, but
when the sliding bed is to be run back the spur wheel S is thrown into
gear with the pinion K, as shewn in Figure 2, and the lever R is held
up by resting upon the boss q of the spur wheel S, thus keeping the
pall elevated clear of the ratchet teeth during the running back of the
sliding bed. The cutting tool (not shewn in our Drawings) is adjustably
fitted into the lower end of the vertical ram or tool carrier U. This ram
slides in bearings r, r, and is elevated by a snail cam V on the driving
shaft acting upon an adjustable piece 8 in a projecting arm W secured
to the ram. The blow is imparted by the helical spring t, which bears
at its lower end upon the arm W and at its upper end against an adjust-
able annular compressor u which slides freely on the ram.
This com-
pressor is drawn down so as to compress more or less the spring, and
thereby increase or diminish its power and the force of the blows im-
parted to it by means of two levers X, X¹, mounted on the cross shaft Y,
and bearing upon projections v, v, on the two side lugs w, w, forming
part of the compressor. One of these levers X₁ is counterweighted and
prolonged, and is connected by the links x to the screw adjusting
spindle Z, the lower end of which is also connected to one end of the
lever y. This lever works on a fulcrum at z, and carries a roller 1 at
its opposite end, which travels up the inclined end of and along the
rail 2 fixed to the sliding bed. By turning the adjusting spindle Z by
means of the handles 3 it is obvious that the spring t may be compressed
to give any force of blow required at the commencement or tapering
end of the file blank. As the blank is fed along and the part presented

page_text: to the cutter becomes wider and thicker the force of the blows increases
by reason of the roller 1 travelling up the incline at 2, and causing the
spring to be more and more compressed until it attains its maximum
force by the time the widest and thickest part of the file blank is reached,
this force being then maintained throughout the remainder of the blank
by the roller 1 travelling along the highest portion of the rail. In
order to check any reaction or undue vibration of the spring t an adjust-
able break block 4 of wood or other suitable material is pressed against
it laterally, the said block being attached to a vertical slotted bar 5
hinged at its upper end and pressed upon at its lower end by a transverse
blade spring 6, which is fixed by nuts at 7, 7, to the side standards B.
The file blank is held firmly down upon its bed by the vertical sliding
bar 8 which slides in bearings 9, 9, in the framing, and is pressed down
upon the blank by the action of the weighted lever 10, mounted on the
transverse shaft 11, the weight on the lever (not shewn in our Drawings)
being made adjustable so as to enable the pressure to be varied as may
be found requisite.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The peculiar combination and arrangement of machinery or
apparatus for cutting file blanks, as herein-before described and illus-
trated by our Drawings.
Second. The application and use to and in file cutting machines of
an eccentric ratchet wheel for effecting a certain amount of irregularity
in the teeth of machine cut files, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Jackson and Joseph
Burdekin Jackson, have to this our Specification set our hands
and scals, the Twenty-third day of November One thousand cight
hundred and seventy-two.