IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING WOOD
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Robinson, of Rochdale, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, and John Smith, of the same Place,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
SHAPING WOOD."
Sealed the 14th August 1874, and dated the 20th February 1874,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Robinson and
John Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th February 1874.
We, JOHN ROBINSON, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, and JOHN SMITH, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR SHAPING WOOD," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in an arrangement for facilitating the shaping
of panels, mouldings, perforated work, or other such patterns in wood.
For this purpose we use a rotatory cutter or cutters mounted upon an
axis which is carried by an arm jointed to another arm, which is capable

page_text: of being turned upon a shaft carrying a driving pulley. From this
shaft a strap or band passes to a pulley on the axis of the aforesaid joint,
and the said axis by means of another strap or band drives the axis on
which the cutter is mounted, which cutter is thus caused to revolve, and
is at the same timo free to be moved bodily according to the pattern to
be cut.
In place of the two straps or bands one band passing around a carrier
pulley may be employed, or gearing may be substituted.
In order to guide the path of the cutter we propose to use a template
of the pattern, and against which the axis of the said cutter or part
connected therewith runs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent,
filed by the said John Robinson and John Smith in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 20th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
ROBINSON, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and JOHN
'SMITH, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said John Robinson and John Smith, Her special license
that we, the said. John Robinson and John Smith, our exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John. Robinson
and John Smith, our 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING WOOD," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Robinson and John
Smith, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals (or
under the hand and seal of one of us), should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner tho

page_text: 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 John Robinson, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in an arrangement for facilitating the shaping
of panels, mouldings, perforated work, or other such patterns in
wood.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents the machine in sido
elevation; Fig. 2 is an end viow; Fig. 3, a plan view; and Fig. 4, a
section of the table upon which the material to be worked is placed;
and Figs. 5, 6, 7, detached views of parts thercof.
At 1 is the framework carrying a short fixed shaft 2, upon which is
mounted so as turn loosely thereon an arm or bracket 3, which is
jointed by means of a bolt 4 to another arm or bracket 5, upon the face
of which are guides 6 carrying a sliding piece 7, which may be caused
to move upward or downward by turning a pulley handle 8, on the axis
of which is a screw 9 taking into a nut 10 projecting from the said
sliding piece 7. The sliding piece 7 is provided with a block 11 mounted
upon an axis 12, and to this block a rotatory cutter of any required
form is adapted after the manner of fitting such cutters to wood_shaping
machines. At 13 is the driving shaft, upon which there is a pulley 14
carrying a strap 15, which after passing over a guide pulley 16 drives a
pulley 17, turning loosely upon the fixed shaft 2. Fast with this
pulley 17 is another 18, carrying a strap 19, which passes over a
pulley 20 loose upon the fixed shaft 4, and fast with this pulley 20 is
another 21, over which a strap 22 passes, and from thenco to a pulley 23
on the cutter axis 12. Upon the bed plate of the machino is a
standard 24, within which is a sliding part 25 provided at its lower end
with a nut 26 for the reception of a screw 27 turning in a bearing at its
lower end, and provided with a bevil pinion 28 in gear with another 29
handle 31. On the
on an axis 30, which may be turned by the pulley
top of the sliding part 25 is a flat surface 32, which may thus be raised
or lowered at pleasure. The surface 32 constituting a table having been
clevated (say to the position shown by the dotted line) the timber to bo

page_text: cut with a pattern (say that shewn at Fig. 8) is placed thereon, a
template of the said pattern being adapted and the whole clamped in
any convenient manner.
The main shaft 13 being now caused to revolve, motion will be com-
municated by the means above described to the spindle 12, and a cutter
placed in the holder 11 will be caused to revolve. The workman now by
means of a handle 33 guides the said cutter along the template, the
part 11 moving in contact therewith, such irregular movement being
permitted by the joints 3, 4. The spindle 12 is mounted on the sliding
part 7, which is carried by the arm 5, and capable of being moved
downward as the cutting proceeds by a pulley handle 8 adapted to a
screw 9.
The above shows the general operation of the machine, but we will
now describe the arrangement we adopt for holding the cutter, and which
enables us to render the machine more generally useful, referring to
Figs. 9 and 10.
At 5 is the arm denoted by the same number of reference in Fig. 1,
and 20, 21, the two pullies also above referred to, the former of which
drives the cutter spindle 12 by means of the strap 22. In this case
however the said spindle is mounted on a part 40, which is capable of
sliding transversely on V guides 41 carried by the arm 5, which sliding
may by effected at pleasure by turning a pulley handle 42, on the axis of
which there is a screw 43 working in a nut on the said piece 40. The
spindle 12 is not carried direct by the piece 40, but by another
part 44, capable of sliding vertically therein, and which may be moved
upward or downward by a screw 45 working in a nut 46.
The operation for cutting such patterns as that shewn at Fig. 8 will
be the same as that above described, but suppose it desired to cut
housings for stair steps, as seen at Fig. 9, then the starting point for one
cut is obtained by moving the arms 3, 5, after which they are made fast
by set screws or other suitable means, and the machiuc being put in
motion the cutter is traversed in a straight line by the screw 43, and so
on for all the recesses at the same angle, and afterwards for those at the
opposite angle. In order to keep the strap 22 at the proper tension
during the traversing of the cutter a roller 47 carried by a weighted
lever 48 presses thereon. Upon the driving shaft 13 is a pulley 49,
driving another pulley 50, the axis 51 of which carries a cutter 52 for

page_text: moulding curved sweeps or other such parts, the use of which by itself
however is well known. In Fig. 1 this cutter is shewn in the position
for being so used by the full lines, but when the table 32 is to be used in
conjunction with the arms 3, 5, it is as before stated moved to tho
position shown by the dotted lines.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I
desire it to be understood that wo claim as secured to us under the
above in part recited Letters Patent, and for the purposes above set forth,
the general arrangement and construction above described and illustrated
by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Robinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four.
JOHN ROBINSON. (L.B.)