A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OR PRODUCING FROM WOOD CERTAIN ARTICLES CALLED MACHINE LIGHTS,' OR WOOD SPILLS OR LIGHTERS, USED FOR LIGHTING PIPES AND CANDLES. AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Greenhill Renshaw, late of Little Nelson
Street, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, and now of Chalton
Street, in the said County, Fancy Box Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OR PRODUCING FROM WOOD CERTAIN ARTICLES
CALLED MACHINE LIGHTS,' OR WOOD SPILLS OR LIGHTERS, USED FOR LIGHTING
PIPES AND CANDLES. AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Greenhill Renshaw
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th March 1860.
I, EDWARD GREENHILL RENSHAW, of Little Nelson Street, City Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Fancy Box Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OR PRODUCING FROM
WOOD CERTAIN ARTICLES CALLED MACHINE LIGHTS,' OR WOOD SPILLS OR LIGHTERS,
USED FOR LIGHTING PIPES AND CANDLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as
follows:
The object of this Invention is the construction of a machine for cutting or
producing from wood certain thin curled, spiral, or twisted shavings or strips
of wood, plain, veneered, stained, dyed, or colored, called "machine lights,"

page_text: lighters, or wood spills, and used for lighting pipes and candles and other
similar purposes.
According to this Invention it is proposed to mount in a suitable frame-
work a plane or planes, or a metal block or blocks fitted with knives or cutters
set at an angle of 45°, to which plane or planes, block or blocks, to-and-fro
motion is communicated by means of an excentric or excentrics. There may
be several such planes or blocks mounted in the framework on the same or on
different sides thereof, or there may be only a single plane or block arranged
and operated as described. The plane, block, or blocks are placed under
the wood to be cut. Each plane may have one or more cutters; the cutters
may be bent at their lower end, and may be set to the proper elevation, and
fixed in position by adjusting screws. The excentric (or excentrics) is driven
by band and pulleys, or by other convenient means, and worked by steam or
otherwise, and there may be a weighted or balance wheel to each excentric.
For connecting plane or cutter-carrying block and excentric there may be
used a connecting rod with eyes, one at each end, but on opposite sides placed
loosely or freely upon the shanks of fixed pins or studs on the excentric and
cutter-carrying block, so as to obtain a continuous to-and fro motion of the
latter. The bar or piece of wood to be operated upon is placed over and kept
to the cutters in a frameholder or guideways by means of a weight and
adjusting screws, which latter do not press tightly against the wood, but allow
it a little play or oscillation, while acted upon by the cutters. As the bulk of
the wood progressively diminishes the weight is free to come down thereon
regularly by a stud on the weight, travelling in a guide slot or by equivalent
contrivance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Greenhill Renshaw in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GREENHILL RENSHAW, late of Little Nelson Street, City Road, in the County 8
of Middlesex, and now of Chalton Street, in the said County, Fancy Box-
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her S
reign, did, for Herself,. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said Edward Greenhill Renshaw, Her special licence that I, the said
Edward Greenhill Renshaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Greenhill Renshaw, 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 Inven-
tion for "A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OR PRODUCING FROM WOOD CERTAIN ARTICLES
CALLED MACHINE LIGHTS, OR WOOD SPILLS OR LIGHTERS, USED FOR LIGHTING
PIPES AND CANDLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Greenhill Renshaw, my execu-
tors or administrators, 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 per-
formed, 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 I, the said Edward Greenhill Renshaw, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Draw-
ings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is the construction of a machine for cutting or
producing from wood certain thin curled, spiral or twisted shavings or strips,
called "machine lights," lighters, or wood spills, and used instead of the
common wood splints, pipe lights, or paper spills, for lighting pipes and
candles, and other similar purposes. The wood from which they are to be
cut may be plain, veneered, stained, dyed, or colored.
In my machine there is mounted in a suitable framework a plane or metal
block, fitted with a knife or cutter set at an angle of 45°, to which plane or
block to-and-fro motion is communicated by means of an excentric. There
may be several such planes or blocks mounted in the framework on the same
or on different sides thereof, or there may be only a single plane or block,
arranged and operated as described. The plane, block, or blocks are placed
under the wood to be cut. Each plane may have one or more cutters; the
cutters may be bent at their lower end, and they may be set to the proper
elevation, and fixed in position by adjusting screws and the excentric driven by
band and pulley, or by other convenient means, worked by steam or otherwise,
and there may be a weighted or balance wheel to each excentric for con-

page_text: necting the plane or cutter carrier with the excentric or its mechanical
equivalent, there may be used a connecting rod with eyes placed and arranged
as herein-after explained, for obtaining the to-and-fro motion of the said
carrier. The bar or piece of wood to be operated upon is placed over and kept
to the cutter in a frameholder or guide ways, by means of a weight and
adjusting screws, which screws do not press tightly against the wood, but allow
it a little play or oscillation while acted upon by the cutter. As the bulk of
the wood progressively diminishes the weight is free to come down thereon
regularly, being steadied by a stud on the weight travelling in a guide slot or
by equivalent contrivance.
The accompanying Drawings particularly exemplify the mode in which the
Invention may be carried into practical effect.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 a plan, partly in section, and
Figure 3 a transverse sectional elevation of a machine constructed according
to my Invention.
A, A, is the framework, securely bolted at bottom to a bed plate or flooring;
B is a plane or cutter carrier, shewn on an enlarged scale in elevation,
Figure 4, and plan, Figure 5, and consisting of a metal block, cut away or
recessed to receive the cutter, and placed at an angle of 45°, that is to say,
the recess is so shaped that the cutter lies at an angle of 45° to the top and
base of the carrier, as shewn at c, Figure 4, and also stands obliquely in a
direction from back to front of the carrier, so as to lie at an angle of 45° to
the face of the carrier, as shewn by b, Figure 5; the carrier B has at d a
curved cut for the descent of the spills, and is recessed at the end e for the
reception of the connecting arm. The carrier is supported on a bracket cast
on the side of the framework, and has a guide groove in its under surface
sliding on a corresponding projection on the upper surface of the bottom of
the bracket to steady it in its travel to and fro upon reciprocating motion.
being communicated to it, or for that purpose it may slide in a V-groove in
the bracket, its under surface being shaped accordingly; a steel plate may be
attached at the side of the frame parallel with the carrier, but long enough to
keep the latter from rubbing against the iron of the frame throughout its
stroke; alternating to-and-fro motion is communicated to the carrier by a
connecting rod or arm, D, attached to and deriving motion from any ordinary.
convenient means for the purpose, as, for example, an excentric or a mecha-
nical equivalent therefor, such as a crank disc, as shewn in the Drawing; the
arm D is attached to the carrier B at one end, being let into a recess at the
end e, and held therein by a transverse bolt and nut e', while the other end of
the arm
s secured by a bolt and nut f to a disc E, keyed on a driving.

page_text: shaft F, to which rotary motion is communicated by any usual means, as by a
driving band passing over a fast pulley G, keyed on the shaft F, and actuated
by a steam engine or other motor. The disc E is shewn in the Drawing
partially broken away to exbibit parts behind it. The connecting arm or
rod D instead of being attached as shewn, may have an eye or ring at each
end on opposite sides, placed loosely or freely, one upon the shank of a fixed
pin or stud on the face of the disc or excentric, and the other upon the
shank of a fixed pin or stud on the carrier block, so as to communicate to-and-
fro motion to the latter. The shaft F is supported in bearings in the frame-
work, and carries a fly wheel H and a loose pulley I, over which the driving
band is thrown when it is desired to stop the machine, by an ordinary fork or
clutch-disconnecting arrangement J. K is the cutter, knife, or plane iron,
placed in its carrier B at an angle of 45°, as explained, and retained in position
by adjusting screws g, g, whereby its elevation and position in the carrier are
adjusted. M is the piece of wood to be cut, which is held in a frame N bolted
to the framework A; the wood is retained in the frame N by screws m, m,
and held down to the cutter by a weight O suspended by a cord P passing
over a pulley Q, and connected to a treadle R, by depressing which the work-
man can raise the weight, in order to place in the frame a fresh piece of wood
to be cut. The pulley Q is supported in a standard S bolted to the frame-
work. As the wood becomes progressively reduced the weight comes down
progressively and continues to bear on it, being steadied in its descent by a
stud n travelling in a guide slot p at the back of the holder N. The screws M
do not press quite tightly against the wood, but allow it a little play or oscilla-
tion when it is acted on by the cutter. The sides of the frame N are bent
forward at right angles to the back as lateral guide ways for the weight
and the wood. The wood to be cut having been adjusted in the holder N,
and the machinery set in motion the carrier B will move to and fro, and the
cutter K will cut or slice from the wood strips or shavings, which will fall in
a curled, twisted, or spiral form, and these are the spills, machine lights, or
lighters before referred to. Instead of a single cutter K the carrier B may be
arranged to carry two or more cutters, and instead of a single carrier B the
machine may be furnished with two or more with corresponding connections
for working them.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that the Invention relates to a machine
for cutting or producing from wood certain articles called "machine lights,"
wood spills, or lighters (used for lighting pipes and candles, and other similar
purposes), and that I do not claim the herein-before described mechanical

page_text: parts thereof separately considered; but that what I claim as my said Inven-
tion in respect of such machine is, the arrangement and combination of parts,
of which the same consists as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Greenhill Renshaw, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
S. E. A. NEWSOME,
Office for Patents,
84, Fleet Street,
London.
E. G. RENSHAW. (L.S.)