IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING TOBACCO
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thornton Read, Engineer in Her Majesty's
Royal Navy, at present residing at Ardrishaig, in the County of Argyle,
North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
CUTTING TOBACCO."
f
Sealed the 27th February 1866, and dated the 15th September 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thornton Read
'at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th September 1865.
I, EDWARD THORNTON READ, Engineer in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, at,
present residing at Ardrishaig, in the County of Argyle, North Britain, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING TOBACCO," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its objects, to simplify the construction and improve
the efficiency of apparatus for cutting tobacco.
In one modification there is a wooden sole, which may be fitted with a,
drawer to contain the tobacco. .Near one corner of the sole there is fixed a
metal standard on which, a handled lever is centred. To a short arm formed;
on this lever, a little below the line of the handle there is jointed one end of
a horizontal knife plate, the other end of which is formed with an inclined,
slot working on a pin in a standard fixed in the sole. When the handle is
raised the knife plate is kept horizontal, or nearly so, in consequence of its
slotted end sliding upon the pin. The knife is fixed, by screws to the knife,

page_text: plate, and can be conveniently removed or replaced. A board or plate is
fitted to slide transversely under the knife, and upon this the tobacco is put.
being held by a clamp if wished. The sliding plate may be fed forward by
one hand as the tobacco is being cut by means of the other; or it may be
moved automatically in various ways. According to one plan a cord attached
to the plate is wound up on a barrel or spindle fitted with a pulley or ratchet
wheel, the actuating pawl or equivalent detail of which is connected by a cord
or link to the main lever, so that when the lever is being raised for a fresh
cut the plate bearing the tobacco is moved forward a step.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Thornton Read in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th March 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THORNTON READ, Engineer in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, at present
residing at Ardrishaig, in the County of Argyle, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Thornton Read, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Thornton Read, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Edward Thornton Read, my executors, administrators, and
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING TOBACCO," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Thornton Read, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 mouths
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Thornton Read, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention has for its objects to simplify the construction and
improve the efficiency of apparatus for cutting tobacco.
And in order that the Invention and the manner of performing it may be
properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory
Drawings to bo herein-after referred to, and representing a tobacco cutter
embodying my improvements.
.
Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section; and Figure 2 is a plan of
the apparatus.
In the modification represented in the Drawings there is a wooden sole 1,
upon which is fitted a drawer 2 to contain tobacco. Near one corner of the
sole 1 there is fixed a metal standard 3, in the upper forked end of which a
handled lever 4 is centred. To a short arm or projection 5, formed on the
under side of this lever 4, there is jointed one end of a horizontal knife
plate 6, the other end of which is formed with an inclined slot 7, working on
When the handle 4 is raised
a pin 8 in a standard 9, fixed in the sole 1.
the knife plate 6 is kept horizontal, or nearly so, in consequence of its slotted
end 7 sliding on the pin.8. The knife 10 is fixed by screws to the knife
plate 6, and can consequently be conveniently removed or replaced. The
cuiting strain does not, however, act on the holding screws, as the upper edgo
of the knife bears against projections 11, formed for the purpose on the
knife plate 6. A board or plate 12 is fitted to slide transversely under the
knife 10, and upon this the tobacco to be cut is put; being held by a clamp
if wished. The sliding plate 12 may be fed forward by one hand as the
tobacco is being cut by means of the. other, or it may be moved automatically
in various ways. According to one plan, which is shown in the Drawing, a
rack 13, fixed on the under side of the plates 12, is acted upon by a pinion on
a spindle 14. There is a grooved pulley 15 on this spindle 14, and a
small lever piece 16 (conveniently centred on the spindle) has jointed to it
a frictional piece 17, which grips the pulley 15 and turns it, when the lever
-piece 16 is pulled up, but relieves itself on falling back. A small screw 18,
which can be adjusted in the lever piece 16, to give more or less feed, is
connected by a cord 19 to the main lever 4, and whenever this lever 4 is
raised the plate 12, with the tobacco upon it, is moved forward by the action
of the parts just described.
The details may obviously be modified in various ways.
inexpensive instrument is wanted, the drawer 2 and the
Thus, if a very
automatic feed

page_text: details may be dispensed with, and the standards 3, 9, may be shortened so
as to have their bottom flanges in the positions indicated in dotted lines
at 20. Or the feed may be effected by hand by means of a screw or pinion,
and instead of the feed plate 12 moving in a straight line, it may be arranged
to turn round a pivot for cutting the tobacco into small particles. Instead
of there being a knife plate 6 and a knife 10 in two pieces, the knife
may be shaped to serve for both. On the other hand, a second knife may be
fixed on the other side of the plate 6, so as to give two cuts at once. The
Drawing represents in full size a convenient size of the apparatus, but it
may also be made in other sizes. The instrument may be made double,
acting by extending the lever 4 on the other side of its fulcrum, and there
connecting to it duplicate cutting and other details. Instead of the lever 4
being worked by band it may be worked by power or by a treadle, being for
that purpose connected to a revolving crank or otherwise. The knife may be
arranged to cut down to or against a board, or it may be arranged to work
past a counter cutting or resisting edge so as to have a shearing action.
Finally, one or two pins may be fixed to the sole behind the knife for the
tobacco to be fed up to when the moveable feed plate 12 is not used.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be effectively performed, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but
that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, generally
the constructing and arranging or combining together of the parts of
apparatus for cutting tobacco substantially in the manner herein-before
described, and more particularly the described mode of obtaining the parallel
or nearly parallel movement of the knife.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thornton Read, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,"
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
EDW. T. READ. .(L.S.)