IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SAWS, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SHEETS OR PLATES OF STEEL AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING
AND POLISHING SAWS, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SHEETS
OR PLATES OF STEEL AND OTHER METALS."-A communication from
abroad by William Jackson Lippincott, of Cincinnati, County of
Hamilton. State of Ohio, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th March 1870.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SAWS, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING
SHEETS OR PLATES OP STELL AND OTHER METALS," to be as follows:--

page_text: This
The ordinary mode of grinding and polishing long saws heretofore
employed was to press them by hand on the periphery of a grindstone,
which revolved rapidly by machinery, the saw being moved along over
the stone by the workman as the grinding progressed, the degree of
pressure of the saw on the stone being regulated by the operator bearing
down with more or less of the weight of his body upon the saw.
mode of operation was liable to many serious objections. The grindstones
not being of uniform hardness throughout tended naturally to wear away
more rapidly at the soft places than elsewhere, and as the saw was laid
the stone and pressed down upon it the stone very soon acquired
an uneven surface, the hard places projecting beyond its surface where
the stone was more abraded. As soon as this inequality increased so as
to impair the accurate rotundity of the stone to any considerable degree
it became necessary to chip off the hard projections and dress down the
stone to a true circle, which caused a great waste of the stone and
considerable expense and loss of time.
upon
Another mode of grinding saws was to place them on a horizontal
table or bed to which the saw was secured by pins or clamps, the bed
and saw traversing back and forth under the grindstone, which revolved
on its axis above it. This mode also had serious objections, the chief of
which were the impossibility of moving the saw sideways under the stone,
according as the back or edge needed most grinding, and the trouble of
securing the saw plate to the bed and removing it when it is required to be
turned, the rising of the saw from the bed of the table during the process
of grinding caused by its elongation from the heat created by the friction
of the stone, and its being confined by clamps at the ends, and the
uneven surface produced by the sand washed from the stone getting
between the bed plate and the saw. It was almost impossible in practice
to keep the bed or table so accurately horizontal and perfectly level as
that the distance between the grinding surface of the stone and the
bearing point of the table (which was constantly changing) should be
so entirely uniform that there should be no perceptible variation in the
thickness of a long saw plate.
By both of these methods it was and still is very difficult to make the
saws of uniform thickness throughout their entire length, whereas
uniformity of gauge is a very important desideratum, and as cast steel
saw plates are almost invariably thicker at one end than at the other
before being manufactured into saws it is a matter of great nicety not only

page_text: to remove the scale and polish the metal, but also to grind it down to a
uniform gauge.
By the machine herein-after described all these difficulties are effectually
overcome, and not only is the work of grinding and polishing saws per-
formed much more expeditiously than by the old process, and a great
saving in the grindstones effected and uniformity of gauge secured, but
also the gauge is regulated to any required thickness of plate, and the
saw so ground as to reduce its thickness at the back more than at the
teeth, so as to give it clearance and prevent friction in the use of the
saw. These important results are accomplished chiefly by using a rest,
or bearing roller, or support, preferably of comparatively small diameter
so as to give a small bearing surface, the said roller or support having
its axis in the same vertical plane as that of the grindstone, whereby
is secured a bearing surface which if the roller be accurately cylin
drical is unvarying in its distance from and parallelism with or inclina-
tion to the surface of the grindstone, and which as it constantly revolves
is kept free from the accumulation of sand by the water always used
in the operation of grinding.
To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use this improved
machine I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.
For this purpose I construct a rectangular frame or bed, from the
opposite sides of which rise two. strong standards, each of which has
a vertical slit extending from the top downwards a suflicient distance,
so as to raise and lower the pillar blocks or boxes which carry the
journals of the shafts to which the grindstone is secured. The journal
boxes are made with a deep groove on each side to receive the face of
the standard on each side of the slit, so that one journal box may slide
up and down in the slit of each standard as between ways.. The grind-
stone shaft is placed horizontally across. the machine between the
journal boxes in which it revolves, and the grindstone is attached to
the shaft midway between the standards at about the centre of the
machine. The grindstone is circular with a plain face or periphery
parallel to the axis of the shaft. The journal boxes carrying the grind-
stone are each attached to and supported by an upright iron rod placed
in the centre of the slit in which slides the journal box, to which rod
it is attached at its upper end by a pin. There are two such rods one
for each bearing. The lower part of each rod has a screw cut on it

page_text: which takes into a female screw in the centre of a large cog wheel,
one such cog wheel being connected with each rod, and the central part
of the cog wheels resting upon their respective standards sustain the
weight of the grindstone. The cog wheels project each through a
narrow opening made for that purpose near the base of its standard.
The two cog wheels are on the same horizontal plane, and between them
connecting them together so as to cause them to rotate in the same
direction is a pinion. The cog wheels being of the same diameter and
the pitch of the screws on the rods being equal the turning of the
cog wheels by the pinion causes the rods to rise or descend equally, thus
raising or lowering the journal blocks uniformly and preserving the
exact horizontal position of the grindstone shaft, which is elevated or
depressed by turning the pinion. The revolution of the pinion in
either direction is effected by two bevil wheels, one attached to the shaft
of the pinion and the other to a horizontal shaft which terminates at
the rear end of the machine in a crank. Immediately under the axis
of the grindstone and parallel with the shaft is a horizontal cylindrical
roller or support, which extends across the machine, its journals resting
on blocks projecting from the inside of the standards. This roller has
no other motion than that on its axis caused by the passage of the saw
over it, and serves as a rest or support for the saw plate sustaining
the pressure of the grindstone upon the saw, the degree of which is
regulated by the depression of the journal boxes in the manner
described. At a suitable distance in front and rear of the rest or roller
are placed a pair of horizontal friction feed rollers, the pressure of
which is regulated by set screws so as to suit different thicknesses of
steel plate. The upper surface of the lower feed roller of each set is
in the same horizontal plane as the upper surface of the rest roller
or support under the grindstone so as to keep the saw perfectly straight.
The lower roller of each pair of friction rollers has a cog wheel attached
to its axis, and these are connected together by a train of pinions and
a cog wheel so as to cause them to revolve in the same direction
and with the same speed, a regular motion being communicated to
them by a driving crank. The two friction rollers in each set are geared
together by pinions.

page_text: the rest roller will touch and grind the saw plate, which adjustment is
effected by turning the before-mentioned crank so as to raise or lower
the stone. The grindstone is caused to revolve by power applied to a
pulley on its shaft. As the centre of motion of the grindstone is fixed
its shaft being held in the position in which it was set by the rods, the
grindstone will wear uniformly at all points, which would not be the
case if it rested on the saw with its bearings loose so that it could
rise and fall. As the stone gradually wears away the bearings of the
journals of the shaft are lowered by turning the rods by means of the
before-mentioned crank. If it is desired to grind down the back of the
saw plate thinner than the teeth, it may be done by giving the rest or
support a slight inclination. If preferred the support instead of turning
freely in its bearings may be attached to the cog wheel forming one
of the train of wheels connected with the feed rollers, in which case
it will revolve with them and should then be of the same diameter.
The position of the rest or support under the grindstone and with its
axis in the same vertical plane as the axis of the grindstone shaft, in
connection with the mode of hanging the stone and elevating and
depressing it, enables me to make an aperture or passage of any required
depth to which any metallic plate passed between the stone and the
rest is made to conform, the stone reducing it to the gauge thus estab-
lished.
This apparatus may be used for grinding and polishing not only long
but other sheets or ulates of steel or other metal which require to
COWS
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, 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 seventy, in the thirty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant

page_text: unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her special licence that I, the
said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 MACHINERY POR
GRINDING AND POLISHING SAWE, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING
SHEETS OR PLATES OF ST: EL AND OTHER METALS," a communication to me from
abroad by William Jackson Lippincott, of Cincinnati, County of Hamilton,
State of Ohio, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:
The ordinary mode of grinding and polishing long saws heretofore
employed was to press them by hand on the periphery of a grindstone
which revolved rapidly by machinery, the saw being moved along over
the stone by the workman as the grinding progressed, the degree of
pressure of the saw on the stone being regulated by the operator bearing
down with more or less of the weight of his body upon the saw. This
mode of operation was liable to many serious objections. The grindstones
not being of uniform hardness throughout tended naturally to wear
away more rapidly at the soft places than elsewhere, and as the saw was
laid upon the stone and pressed down upon it the stone very soon acquired
an uneven surface, the hard places projecting beyond its surface where
the stone was more abraded. As soon as this inequality increased so as

page_text: to impair the accurate rotundity of the stone to any considerable degree
it became necessary to chip off the hard projections and dress down the
stones to a true circle, which caused a great waste of the stone and
considerable expense and loss of time.
Another mode of grinding saws was to place them on a horizontal
table or bed, to which the saw was secured by pins or clamps, the bed
and saw traversing back and forth under the grindstone which revolved
on its axis above it. This mode also had serious objections, the chief
of which were the impossibility of moving the saw sideways under the
stone according as the back or edge needed most grinding, and the
trouble of securing the saw plate to the bed and removing it when it is
required to be turned, the rising of the saw from the bed or table during
the process of grinding caused by its clongation from the heat created
by the friction of the stone, and its being confined by clamps at the
ends, and the uneven surface produced by the sand washed from tho
stone getting between the bed plate and the saw. It was almost
impossible in practice to keep the bed or table so accurately horizontal
and perfectly level as that the distance between the grinding surface of
the stone and the bearing point of the table (which was constantly
changing) should be so entirely uniform that there should be no per-
ceptible variation in the thickness of a long saw plate.
By both of these methods it was and still is very difficult to make the saws
of uniform thickness throughout their entire length, whereas uniformity of
gauge is a very important desideratum; and as cast steel saw plates are
almost invariably thicker at one end than at the other before being manu-
factured into saws, it is a matter of great nicety not only to remove the
scale and polish the metal, but also to grind it down to a uniform gauge.
By the machine herein-after described all these difficulties are effectually
overcome, and not only is the work of grinding and polishing saws
performed much more expeditiously than by the old process and a great
saving in the grindstones effected and uniformity of gauge secured, but
also the gauge is regulated to any required thickness of plate and the
saw so ground as to reduce its thickness at the back more than at the
teeth so as to give it clearance and prevent friction in the use of the saw.
These important results are accomplished chiefly by using a rest or
bearing roller or support preferably of comparatively small diameter
so as to give a small bearing surface, said roller or support having its

page_text: axis in the same vertical plane as that of the grindstone, whereby is
secured a bearing surface which if the roller be accurately cylindrical
is unvarying in its distance from and parallelism with or inclination to
the surface of the grindstone, and which as it constantly revolves is kept
free from the accumulation of sand by the water always used in the
operation of grinding.
Having thus set forth the nature of this Invention, I will now proceed
more particularly to describe the manner of performing the same, for
which purpose I shall refer to to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
in which Figure 1 shews a side elevation of the improved machine
viewed from the right-hand side; Figure 2 shows a side elevation viewed
from the left-hand side; Figure 3 shows a longitudinal section through
the centre of the machine; and Figure 4 shows a transverse section of
the same on line Y, Y, Fig. 1. Similar letters of reference indicate
similar parts in each of the Figures.
I
a is the rectangular frame or bed of the machine, from the opposite
sides of which rise two strong standards 6, 61, cach of which has a
vertical slit c extending from the top downwards a sufficient distance so
as to raise and lower the pillar blocks d, d', or boxes which carry the
journals e, c', of the shaft f to which the grindstone g is secured. The
journal boxes d, d', are made with a deep groove on each side to receive
the face of the standard b, ', on each side of the slit c, so that one
jurnal box d may slide up and down in the slit of cach standard bas
between ways. The grindstone shaft fis placed horizontally across the
machine between the journal boxes d, d', in which it revolves, and
the grindstone is attached to the shaft f midway between the standards
b, b', at about the centre of the machine. The grindstone is circular,
with a plane face or periphery parallel to the axis of the shaft f. The
journal boxes carrying the grindstone arc each attached to and supported
by an upright iron rod placed in the centre of the slit c in which
slides the journal box, to which rod it is attached at its upper end by a
pin i.
There are two such rods h, one for each bearing. The lower
part of each rod / has a screw cut on it which takes into a female screw
in the centre of a large cog wheel k, one such cog wheel being
connected with each rod h, and the central part of the cog wheels k, k¹,
resting upon their respective standards 6, 6, (as seen in Figures 2 and 4,)
sustain the weight of the grindstone. The cog wheels project cach

page_text: l
through a narrow opening made for that purpose near the base of its
standard. The two cog wheels h, k, are on the same horizontal plane,
and between them connecting them together so as to cause them to
rotate in the same direction is a pinion 7. The cog wheels k, k¹, being
of the same diameter and the pitch of the screws on the rods h, h³, being
equal, the turning of the cog wheels k, k', by the pinion causes the
rods, ', to rise or descend equally, thus raising or lowering the journal
blocks d, d, uniformly and preserving the exact horizontal position of the
grindstone shaft, which is elevated or depressed by turning the pinion 1.
The revolution of the pinion in either direction is effected by the bevil
wheels m, m', one attached to the shaft of the pinion and the other to
a horizontal shaft n which terminates at the rear end of the machine
in a crank p. Immediately under the axis of the grindstone and
parallel with the shaft is a horizontal cylindrical roller or support q
which extends across the machine, its journals resting on blocks ", "¹,
projecting from the inside of the standards b, b', (see Figure 4). This
roller has no other motion than that on its axis caused by the passage
of the saw over it and serves as a rest or support for the saw plato
sustaining the pressure of the grindstone upon the saw, the degree of
which is regulated by the depression of the journal boxes d, d, in the
manner described. At a suitable distance in front and rear of the rest
or roller are placed a pair of horizontal friction feed rollers 8, &, s¹, s¹,
the pressure of which is regulated by the set screws (, t, so as to suit
different thicknesses of steel plate. The upper surface of the lower
feed roller of each set is in the same horizontal plane as the upper
surface of the rest roller or support 7 under the grindstone so as to keep
the saw perfectly straight. The lower roller of cach pair of friction
rollers has a cog wheel u, u', attached to its axis, and these are connected
together by a train of pinions &, u, and cog wheel to so as to cause them
to revolve in the same direction and with the same speed, a regular
motion being communicated to them by the crank æ. The two friction
rollers s, s, in each set are geared together by pinions a', as shewn in
Figure 2.
2

page_text: so as to raise or lower the stone.
The grindstone is caused to revolve by
power applied to the pulley x on the shaft f. The feed rollers 8, 8, 3, &',
are set in motion by the crank and train of gearing wheels, and revolve
in such a direction as to cause the saw to pass forward while the
grindstone revolves in contact with it in the opposite direction. As the
centre of motion of the grindstone is fixed, its shaft being held in the
position in which it was set by the rods h, h', the grindstone will wear
uniformly at all points, which would not be the case if it rested on the
saw with its bearings loose so that it could rise and fall. As the stone
gradually wears away the bearings of the journals of the shaft ƒ are
lowered by turning the rods h, h', by means of the before-mentioned
crank p. If it is desired to grind down the back of the saw plate thinner
than the teeth it may be done by giving the rest or support g a slight
inclination. If preferred the support q instead of turning freely in its
bearings may be attached to the cog wheel to forming one of the train
of whicels connected with the feed rollers 8, 8, 81, 81, in which case it will
revolve with them and should then be of the same diameter. Tho
position of the rest or support q under the grindstone g and with its axis
in the same vertical plane as the axis of the grindstone shaft f in con-
ncction with the mode of hanging the stone and elevating and depressing
it enables me to make an aperture or passage of any required depth, to
which any metallic plate passed between the stone and the rest is made
to conform, the stone redueing it to the gauge thus established. This
apparatus may be used for grinding and polishing not only long saws,
but other sheets or plates of steel or other metal which requires to be
dressed and polished.,
Having thus described this improved machine for grinding and polish-
ing saws as communicated to be by my foreign correspondent, what I
claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, a machine for
grinding and polishing long saws consisting of a grindstone supported
on adjustable bearings so as to be raised or lowered at pleasure in the
manner described, and having a cylindrical support for the saw plate to
rest upon as it is being ground, the axis of which is in the same vertical
planc as that of the grindstone, and with one or more pairs of feed
rollers, having pressure screws or their equivalent so as to hold and
guide the saw in its passage under the stone, such feed rollers being
geared so as to have a positive and continuous motion on their axis in
such direction as to feed the saw plate forward either with or against

page_text: the motion of the revolving grindstone, substantially in the manner and
for the purposes herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.
CHA³. D. ABEL. (L.S.)