AN IMPROVEMENT IN FILE-CUTTING MACHINERY
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FILE-CUTTING MACHINERY."
-A communication.
Sealed the 3rd July 1855, and dated the 28th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th April 1855.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FILE-CUTTING MACHINERY"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to cut the teeth of file blanks with
increased precision and rapidity. The present improvement is applicable to
any file-cutting machinery now in use requiring a chisel arm and holder
actuated by shafts and cams or other suitable device. An oblique slot is made
through the outer end of the chisel arm to receive the chisel, and permit it to
cut the teeth obliquely across the file blank. On the lower side of the outer
end of the chisel arm in front of the chisel slot, a lip or flange is provided,
against which the chisel is pressed by the sliding chisel holder.

page_text: The chisel is preferred to be formed with sides tapering upwards, and with
a pivot hole at its back, to receive and turn upon the point of the chisel
holder.
The cutting edge of the chisel is bevilled on both its back and front sides.
A set screw in the outer end of the chisel arm coming through into the slot,
bears against the front side of the chisel a little above the point of the holder
on the other side, whereby the set of the chisel may be slightly adjusted. The
under side of the chisel arm is grooved at right angles with the chisel slot to
receive the sliding-chisel-holder. This groove is-gradually-deepened from the
back to the front end, to allow the front end of the holder a self-adjusting up
and down movement. Near the front end in the bottom of this groove a
small hole is sunk to receive a suitable spring, which presses against the sliding
chisel holder near its forward end.
The chisel holder is slidden back and forth for the purpose of putting in
and taking out the chisel by means of a spring lever, which works on a
fulcrum pin on the under side of the chiseltarm, and lies between two pins in
the holder. The chisel can thus: by sliding the holder. be readily:inserted and
removed as occasion may require; and by means of the seti screw the: set and
firmness of the chisel can be suitably adjusted. Owing to the peculiar form of
the blank and the cutting of the teeth obliquely across it, the edge of the
chisel must accommodate itself to the face of the blank for every blow struck
upon the head of the chisel, so as to out each tooth of equal depth entirely
across the blank.
B
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, "ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting,
.F
- d
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
'ז
די

page_text: 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN FILE-CUTTING MACHINERY," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, consists
of an improved chisel arm and holder, whereby the teeth in the file blank
can be cut with increased precision and rapidity. It is applicable to any file-
cutting machinery now in use 'requiring a chisel arm and holder actuated by
shafts and cains or other suitable device; such machinery being well known
need not be described."
"In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a top view of the chisel arm and
holder with the chisel in its place; Fig. 2 is a view of the under side of the
same Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section in the 'line A, B, of Fig. 1; 1
Fig. 8 is a transverse section in the line C, D, of Fig. 3; Fig. 4 is a view
of the back of the chisel; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the sliding chisel
holder; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view, shewing the groove in which the
chisel holder slides, and the coiled spring which lies under the front end of
the holder.
-
The chisel arm a is constructed of iron or other strong material of suitable
length; breadth, and thickness for the machinery with which it is to be used.
The inner end 6 of the said arm is made of suitable form to facilitate its
connection with the actuating shaft, and it is bent, as at c, for the purpose of
giving the requisite draw and push movement to the edge of the chisel as
actuated in cutting the blank.
An oblique slot'd is made through the outer end of the arm to receive
the chisel e, so as to cut the teeth obliquely across the blank, and the outer

page_text: end of the arm is shaped in conformity with this slot, as seen in the
Drawing. On the lower side of the outer end of the chisel arm in front of
formed, against which the chisel is
The chisel is provided, as shewn in
side, to receive and turn upon the
the chisel slot, a low ledge or lip f is
pressed by the sliding chisel holder g.
Fig. 4, with a pivot hole h on the back
point of the chisel holder. The edge of the chisel is formed by a broad
bevel on the back side and a narrow one on the front side, and the body of
the chisel tapers to a head which is adapted to receive the blow of the striker.
A set screw j in the outer end of the arm projects into the slot d, and
bears against the front side of the chisel a little above the level of the point
of the holder on the other side, whereby the set of the chisel may be slightly
adjusted:
On the under side of the outer half of the arm a shallow groove k runs at
right angles with the chisel slot to receive the sliding chisel holder; this
groove gradually deepens from the back to the front end, to allow the front
end of the holder a self-adjusting up and down movement. Near the front end
in the bottom of this groove a small hole is sunk to receive a suitable
coiled spring 1, which presses against the sliding chisel holder near its forward
end. The holder is fitted into the groove k, and retained in place by two cross
strips m, fastened to the under side of the arm across the groove.
The chisel holder is slidden back and forth for the purpose of putting in
and taking out the chisel by means of the spring rod n, which turns on a joint.
pino at one end, and lies between two pins p in the holder, and is held near
the other end by being slipped over a fast pin q. The chisel can thus by'
sliding the holder be readily inserted and removed, as occasion may require,
and by means of the set screw the set and firmness of the chisel can be
suitably adjusted. Owing to the peculiar form of the file blank and the
cutting of the teeth obliquely across it, the edge of the chisel must necessarily
accommodate itself to the face of the blank for every blow of the striker, so
as to cut each tooth of equal depth entirely across the blank.
The operation is as follows:-The chisel arm descends, bringing some part
of the edge of the chisel to the face of the blank; the chisel rises slightly in
its slot; the spring near the end of the chisel holder is more or less com-
pressed, and the chisel by turning slightly, as required, on the self-adjusting
point of the holder, which is actuated by the yielding pressure spring, adapts
or accommodates its edge to the blank entirely across its face for every cut.
After the delivery of a blow on the head of the chisel the arm rises, the spring
then throws the chisel slightly down, so as to be in advance of the arm,

page_text: when it again descends, and the operation is repeated for each successive cut.
The chisel is held with sufficient firmness to admit of rapid blows, from
two hundred to two hundred and fifty a minute. The structure is simple and
the operation is exact, which is of great practical importance in file-cutting
machinery.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of an Improvement in
File-cutting Machinery, as communicated to me, and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, I claim, the sliding and self-adjusting chisel
holder g, constructed and operating substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)