IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Walter Swinburne, of South Shields,
in the County of Durham, Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GLASS."
Sealed the 15th July 1853, and dated the 14th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Walter
Swinburne at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 14th May 1853.
I, ROBERT WALTER SWINBURNE, of South Shields, in the County of
Durham, Glass Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY TO BE USED
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS " to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of improvements in apparatus or machinery
used for grinding or smoothing plate glass. For this purpose I mount
the bench or table which is intended to bear a sheet of glass to be
ground or smoothed upon wheels or rollers, which run upon rails or in
grooves or guides, so that the bench or table may be moved in either

page_text: direction by means of power applied to the wheels or their axles.
And the wheels, as well as the rails or grooves, may be furnished with
teeth, so that the bench or table may be moved and held more steadily
during the operation of the machinery. By causing the bench or table
to be mounted upon wheels or rollers, as above mentioned, it will be
made capable of being moved in each direction, as may be necessary or
convenient, during the operation of grinding or smoothing a sheet or plate
of glass upon the bench or table, so that the bench or table may be placed
in, and, from time to time, moved into any position which may be
desired during the operation of grinding or smoothing, above mentioned,
for the purpose of causing every part of the sheet or plate to be sub-
jected to the operation.
The runner rubber or piece of glass, which is used for grinding
or smoothing the sheet or plate of glass I fix upon the under side
of a fraine or board in the ordinary manner; and to each end of
the frame or board I attach a rail or bar of wood or iron; and
the outer end of each rail or bar is connected with machinery, so
as to have motion communicated to it; and I prefer to give to the
outer end of each rail or bar a rotary motion, and to give to one of
them a rotary motion in a direction the opposite to that of the other,
in order that by the combined action of the two motions a description
of motion may be communicated to the runner somewhat similar to
the ordinary motion or action of a runner when the same is used for
grinding, smoothing, or polishing a sheet or plate of glass by manual
labour. The mode in which I prefer to give rotary motion to the ends of
the rails or bars is by attaching each of them to a crank upon a rotating
vertical shaft or axle, the length of the crank of the wheel to which
cach end of a rail or bar is attached being the same. The frame or
board to which the runner is attached is placed in a horizontal position
over and upon the table, so that when the runner is brought into action
by the rotation of the cranks, to which the ends of the rails or bars are
attached, as before mentioned, it will rub upon and grind or smooth
that part of the plate of glass upon which it may be acting; and by
altering the position of the table from time to time by the means
herein-before described, every part of the sheet or plate of glass may be

page_text: successively subjected to the operation of the runner. Motion may be
given either to the wheels or rollers of the bench or table, or of a frame
containing the rails or grooves upon which the bench wheels move, or
to the cranks to which the rails or bars of the runner are attached; .by
any convenient description of machinery, and either by steam or other
power. Motion may be communicated by a train of wheels, straps, belts,
or other convenient means. And the machinery for giving motion to
each part or any of the parts of the apparatus above mentioned may be
made self-acting; or all or some of the parts may he made so that the
motious thereof may be controlled or communicated by the attendant.
The speed of the motions communicated to all or any of the parts
of the apparatus may be varied from time to time, and regulated
according to the description of work to be performed, the speed used
for grinding (it is well known) being greater than that used for smooth-
ing or polishing; and in lieu of the runner, which is ordinarily used in
grinding sheets of plate glass, a cushion may, if desired, be substituted
fan the nurbosa of smoothing or polishing a sheet of glass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said. Robert Walter Swinburne in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 14th November 1858..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. [.
ROBERT WALTER SWINBURNE, of South Shields, in the County of
Durham, Glass Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her Lost Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, Her special licence
that I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Walter
Swinburne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times

page_text: 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY TO BE USED IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following Specification or statement thereof,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings (that is to say :)
My said Invention consists of improvements in apparatus or ma-
chinery intended to be used in the grinding or smoothing of plate
glass.
In machinery or apparatus constructed with my improvements I
mount the bench or table which is intended to bear a sheet of glass to
be ground or smoothed upon wheels or rollers, which run upon rails or
in grooves or guides, so that the bench or table may be moved in
either direction by means of power applied to the wheels or their axles.
By causing the bench or table to be mounted upon wheels or rollers,
as above mentioned, it will be made capable of being moved in each of
two opposite directions, as may be necessary or convenient, during the
operation of grinding or smoothing a sheet or plate of glass mounted
upon the bench or table, to cause the bench or table to be placed in,
and, from time to time, moved into such positions as may be requisite
for the purpose of causing every part of the sheet or plate mounted
upon the table to be successively subjected to the grinding or smoothing
operation, and produce a smooth level surface thereon.
The runner rubber or piece of glass which is used for grinding or

page_text: smoothing the sheet or plate of glass I fix upon the under side of a
frame or board by means of clamps, or in any other convenient manner;
and to each end of the frame or board I attach a rail or bar of' wood or
iron, and the outer end of each rail or bar is connected with machinery,
so as to have motion communicated to it; and I give to the outer end
of each rail or bar a rotary motion, and I give to one of them a rotary
motion in a direction the opposite to that of the other, in order that by
the combined action of the two motions a description of motion may be
communicated to the runner frame and runner somewhat similar to the
ordinary motion or action of a runner, as the same is generally used
for smoothing a sheet or plate of glass by manual labour. The mode
in which I prefer to give rotary motion to the ends of the rails or bars
is by attaching each of them to a crank upon a rotating vertical shaft
or axle, the length of the crank to which each end of a rail or bar is
attached being the same. The runner frame or board to which the
runner is attached is placed in a horizontal position over and upon the
table or plate mounted upon it, so that when the runner is brought into
action by the rotation of the cranks to which the ends of the rails or
bars are attached, as before mentioned, it will rub upon and grind or
smooth that part of the plate of glass upon which it may be acting;
and by continually changing or, from time to time, altering the position
of the table by the means herein-before described, every part of the
sheet or plate of glass may be successively subjected to the operation of
the runner.
Motion may be given either to the wheels or rollers of the
hench or table, or to the cranks to which the rails or bars of the
runner are attached, by any convenient description of machinery, and
either by steam or other power. And the action of the runner or
rubber may be increased by loading the runner frame to such extent as
may be deemed requisite to produce the desired effect.
For the purpose of more clearly describing my said improvements I
have in the accompanying drawings shewn several figures of apparatus
or machinery, in the construction of which my said improvements have
been introduced. These drawings represent different views of such
apparatus or machinery, similar parts being in each of the drawings
marked or indicated by similar letters or figures of reference.

page_text: Figure 1, is a plan or top view of an apparatus or machine con-
structed with my improvements, but having a long single rail or bar
D, D', placed above the runner frame, instead of a single rail or bar at
each end of such frame, as herein-before described; Figure 2, is a plan
or top view; and Figure 3, a side elevation (on an enlarged scale) of the
runner frame, to which the runner rubber or piece of glass or material
used for grinding or smoothing is attached; and Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7,
are representations (on a similar scale) of some of the parts of the
runner frame detached from it. A, A, (Figure 1) is the bench or
table which is intended to bear the sheet of glass to be ground or
smoothed, and which sheet of glass is secured on the surface of the
bench or table in the manner commonly practised for such purpose.
This bench or table is mounted on wheels or rollers, which run upon
rails or in grooves or guides, so that the bench or table may be moved
laterally in either direction, as herein-before mentioned, and by the
means herein-after more particularly described, being nearly the same
as are used for giving traversing motions to the benches or tables now
employed for the purpose of polishing glass. The bench or table is
moved in each direction, as may be necessary or convenient, during the
operation of grinding or smoothing the sheet or plate of glass upon the
bench or table by means of the screwed shaft B*, which has one of its
bearings at a position under the table A, A, and at the other end
carries a bevil wheel B, which receives motion according to the direc-
tion in which the bench or table A, A, is required to be moved from
one or other of the bevil wheels B, B, in the manner commonly
adopted in machinery of this description. The shaft B*, is furnished
with a toothed pinion, which takes into the teeth of a rack along the
under side of the table in the ordinary manner for the purpose of
giving motion to the table. The bearing of the shaft B*, next to the
bevil wheel B, is made moveable, so that the bevil wheel B, may be
put into
with either of the wheels B', B, for the purpose of giving
motion to the shaft B*, in either direction, and reversing that motion
at pleasure; and the machine is furnished with the ordinary means for
bringing--the wheel B, alternately into gear with the wheels B, B;
these means for giving motion to wheel B. and consequently to the
gear

page_text: shaft Bx, alternately in opposite directions, being made self-acting, in
the ordinary manner used in constructing machinery for polishing plate
glass. The bevil wheels B', B4, are mounted on the tubular boss or
collar B, which is secured upon the shaft B, so that it will not slide
endwise in either direction, but when not secured by the clutch B',
will allow the shaft B, to revolve freely within it. Upon the shaft B',
is a clutch B', the inside of which is furnished with grooves, sliding
endwise upon feathers fixed along opposite sides of the shaft in the
ordinary way; this clutch is brought into and thrown out of gear by
means of the cranked lever B, which is centred upon a pin at B', in
the framing of the machinery; and one end of the shorter arm of this
lever takes into the circular groove of the clutch B'. When the clutch
is in gear the collar B, and its wheels are fixed upon and revolve with
the shaft B; but by means of the lever B, the clutch may at any time
be taken out of gear, and the action of the apparatus which gives
motion to the table thus arrested. By means of the apparatus which
I have described the bench or table A, A, may have a continually
alternating motion given to it, or may be, from time to time, placed in
or moved into any position which may be desired during the operation
of grinding or sinoothing, above mentioned, for the purpose of causing
every part of the sheet or plate of glass upon the surface of the bench
or table to be successively subjected to the operation, and thus pro-
ducing a smooth level surface thereon. The runner rubber or picce of
glass which is used for grinding the sheet or plate of glass fixed upon
the bench or table A, A, is attached to the under side of the runner
frame C, C, by means of the T clamps C', C', (separately represented
in Figures 4, and 5,) which are each attached to the frame C, C,
by screws C, C, which pass through the slot in the straight stem
of the clamp; and the screws C³, are furnished with nuts, by which
the clamps can be fixed in any position to which they may be
adjusted. The screws C and C³, are threaded into plates C
which are fastened or attached to the upper side of the runner frame
C, C, by screws or rivets. The edges of the plate or sheet of glass
or other material used as the runner or rubber are clipped or clasped

page_text: by those parts of the T clamps C, C, which project below the under
surface of the runner frame to an extent nearly, but not quite, equal
to the thickness of the runner. The under or lower parts C*, of
the clamps are formed of wood or other like material so that no risk
may be run of injuring the surface of the plate or sheet of glass to be
smoothed or polished. By means of clamps, such as I have described,
the runner is held firmly upon the under side of the runner frame
while the apparatus is in operation. The upper surface of the frame
C, C, has attached to it a rail or bar of wood or iron D, D', the ends of
which project beyond each end of the frame, and are respectively con-
nected with cranks E, E, (shown in Figure 1,) which are set on their
respective spindles, so that when in the position shewn in the Figure
they shall be in opposite directions to each other and they receive
rotary motion in opposite directions the one to the other by means
herein-after described, in order that by the combined action of these
two motions a description of motion may be communicated to the
runner or rubber somewhat similar to the ordinary motion or action of
a runner or rubber, when the same is used for smoothing a sheet of
glass by manual labor, as herein-before mentioned. The cranks E, E',
are respectively mounted on the vertical spindles F, F, which are
respectively supported in suitable bearings, and respectively carry
the
Devil wheels G, G, which are respectively geared into by other bevil
wheels H, E, mounted on the horizontal shaft I. This shaft I, carries
also another bevil wheel J, which is geared into by the bevil wheel K,
on the horizontal shaft B, which shaft receives motion from another
horizontal shaft M, M, lying immediately over it, by means to be
presently described. In Figure 1, of the Drawings a considerable
portion of the shaft M, M, is represented as broken away and removed,
in order to shew the shaft B, which is placed below it, and the wheel
gearing carried by the shaft B, with greater distinctness. The crank E,
is connected to the end D, of the bar D, D', by the crank pin working
in a brass d, which is connected to the end D. of the bar D, D', by
means of the guide or adjusting slide rods d', d', which slide in eyes or
guides dd, attached to opposite sides of the end D, of the bar D, D',

page_text: for the purpose of allowing the necessary variations and adjustments of
the length of the bar in the various positions in which it is placed by
the cranks E, E, as they revolve in opposite directions. The shaft B
which, by means of the connections before described, communicates
motion to the bench or table A, A, and to the ruuner frame, receives its
own motion from the shaft M, M, by means of one or other of the
three toothed wheels N, N, N, fixed upon a collar N', N', upon the
shaft M, M. Either of the wheels N, N, N, may be geared into correc-
sponding toothed wheels on the shaft 13. These wheels are made of
different sizes in order that the speed of the apparatus may be regulated
or changed as desired, and cach pair of corresponding wheels is thrown
into and out of gear with each other (as may be required) by means of
the handle or lever O, which has its fulcrum at O', in the framing of
the machinery, and takes into a groove O, formed round the boss or
collar N, on which the wheels N, N, N, arc mounted. The boss N¹, N',
with its wheels N, N, N, are secured upon the shaft M, M, so as that
they may revolve together with it by means of a feather along one side
of the shaft M, M, taking into a corresponding longitudinal slot or
groove in the interior of the boss in the ordinary manner. The shaft
M, M, receives motion by means of the wheel gearing P, from the
shaft Q, which latter shaft is provided with fast and loose strap
pullies Q', Q, and is driven by a strap from any suitable prime mover
in the ordinary manner.
The mode of operating with this machinery for the purpose of grinding
or smoothing a plate or sheet of glass is as follows:-The sheet or plate
of glass to be ground or smoothed is, in the first place, attached to the
surface of the bench or table A, A, by a wet cloth, or by cementing it
with gypsum, or in any convenient manner. The plate or shect of
glass which is to act as the runner or rubber is then laid on the surface
of the plate or sheet of glass to be ground or smoothed, and attached to
the under surface of the runner frame C, by means of the T clamps, in
the manner before described. The runner frame and runner being in
a horizontal position over and upon the table, (as shewn in Figure 1,)
when the runner is brought into action by the rotation of the cranks

page_text: E, E, to which the ends of the rail or bar D, D', are attached, as
before mentioned, the runner will rub upon and grind or smooth that
part of the plate of glass upon which it may be acting, and by the
continual alteration of the position of the bench or table from time to
time, by the incans herein-before described, every part of the sheet or
plate of glass may be successively subjected to the action of the runner,
for the purpose of causing the whole of its surface to be ground or
smoothed.
The speed of the motions communicated to all or any parts of the
apparatus, may be varied from time to time, and regulated according
to the description of work to be performed, the speed used for grinding
it is well known requiring to be greater than that used for smoothing a
sheet of glass. And, in lieu of the plate of glass which I have described
as being employed as the runner or rubber for grinding and smoothing
plates or shects of glass, a runner of any other fit material may
desired, be attached to the runner frame.
if
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed. I declare that, except as
herein-after expressly mentioned, I do not claim any of the elements or
parts of the machinery herein-before described separate or apart from
the combination thereof with the other parts or elements for the purpose
of forming the improved apparatus herein described. And that what T
do claim as my Invention is,-
Firstly, the mode of giving motion to the runner or rubber or the
runner frame of apparatus or machinery used for grinding or snoothing
plate glass by means of cranks revolving in opposite directions, so as to
cause the runner or rubber to move over and in contact with the sheet
or plate of glass to be ground or smoothed in manner and for the
purposes herein-before described.
Secondly, the mode of constructing a skeleton or runner frame of
such apparatus or machinery as aforesaid in manner herein-before
described.
And, thirdly, the combination of all the parts herein-before described
in the formation of apparatus or machinery for grinding or smooth-

page_text: <lescribed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, ha.e
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
R. W. SWINBURNE. (L.S.)
Witness,
E. J. GASKILL
Clerk to Robertson, Brooman, & Co.,
166, Fleet Street.