IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING CORKS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John McDowall, of Johnstone, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING CORKS."
Sealed the 10th October 1865, and dated the 15th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John McDowall at the
. Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
April 1865.
I, JOHN MCDOWALL, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING CORKS," to be as follows, that is to
say
This Invention has for its object the shaping of corks in a superior and
more rapid manner than hitherto. In one modification of apparatus embody-
ing the improvements, the "quarter" or cork blank is made to rotate whilst
the cutting tool is moved from end to end in a direction parallel to the cork's
surface. The rotatory motion is communicated by means of a spindle driven
in any convenient way, having a small grooved face plate or head, up against
which the quarter is firmly pressed by a following centre spindle, having a
loose cap on its point to allow the quarter to revolve freely. The face plate
or rotating bead may be formed with points or projections, which enter the
portions of the quarter outside of what is to be the end of the finished cork,
which projecting points will insure the forcible carrying round of the cork.
The tool is as it were a narrow tapered segment cut out of a cylindrical

page_text: piece, by preference slightly larger than the cork; the cutting edge is formed
at the end and is slightly oblique, the corners being rounded off. The tool is
held in a clamp which is placed in a socket formed for it in a slide; and it is
intended to provide two or more clamps and tools, constructed and adjusted to
uniformity, so that when one tool requires sharpening it may be removed with
its clamp, and another be inserted without stopping the work. The slide
works in guides in a rest, which is capable of adjustment by set screws, so as
to cause the tool to move either parallel to the axis of the cork, which will
make the cork truly cylindrical, or inclined thereto, which will give the cork
more or less taper or conical form according to the amount of inclination
given to the rest. In order that the quarter may be placed centrally in
position, a movable setter is brought up against an adjustable stop, the quarter
being held against this the following spindle is made to seize it and the setter
is moved back out of the way and turned up to receive a fresh quarter; the
following spindle is held by a catch and ratchet, or by a frictional jamming
contrivance. The tool-holding slide may be moved forward by band or by a
feed motion derived from the rotating spindle; and the apparatus may be con-
structed to be driven by the foot or by power. In a simple and convenient
self-acting feed motion the slide is connected to a lever, formed with a toothed
sector, which gears with and is worked by a screw on a rotating spindle. The
lever is mounted on a movable pin, which is shifted to take the toothed sector
out of gear on the completion of a cut, by a stopping lever, which, by shifting
the main driving pulley also stops the rotation of the cork. This stopping
lever is acted on by a weight or spring, but is put into a catch to set the parts
in motion, being lifted out of the catch at the proper time by a wedge on the
feed lever. With this self-acting feed motion one worker can quite easily
attend to two machines, putting a fresh quarter in position in one whilst that
in the other is being shaped.
In connection with the main shaping apparatus and driving gear, a rapidly
revolving spindle is arranged to receive a circular saw for cutting up the cork
into quarters, and working in connection with a slide and gauge adjusted to the
size required. On the same spindle, and along with or in place of the circular
saw there may be fixed a circular disc knife for finishing the ends of the
corks; also a round cylindrical file or rasp for removing roughnesses from the
inner side of the uncut cork; and finally, a series of circular saws or
revolving cutters for equalising the thickness of the cork before cutting it into
quarters.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John McDowall in the Great Seal Patent Office on tho
18th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, JOHN
MCDOWALL, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John McDowall, Her special licence that I, the said John M°Dowall,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
McDowall, 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 SHAPING CORKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
McDowall, my executors 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 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 John McDowall do hereby declare tho
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
in writing, reference being had to tho accompanying Drawings, that is to
say:-
My said Invention has for its object the shaping of corks in a superior and
more rapid manner than hitherto; and in order that the same and the manner of
performing it may be properly understood, I have bereunto appended two
Sheets of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
a modification of cork-shaping apparatus embodying my improvements.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of the Drawings is a plan of the apparatus; Figure 2
is a front elevation, partly in section; and Figure 3 is a side clevation. The
same reference numerals are used to mark the same parts in all the Figures.
The other Figures are herein-after particularised. The principal parts of the

page_text: apparatus are carried upon a rectangular cast-iron bed plate 1, fixed on an
ordinary wooden table top 2. Below the table top there is a horizontal first-
motion shaft which may be arranged with a treadle, for being driven by
the foot, or with fast and loose pulleys for being driven by power. The
mechanism is contrived and arranged so as to make the " quarter or cork
blank rotate whilst the cutting tool is moved from end to end in a direction
parallel to the cork's surface. The rotatory motion is communicated by means
of a spindle 3, carried in bearings in a small headstock 4, fixed on the bed
plate 1, and having its outer end bearing against a centre pin 5, screwed into
a bracket 6. Between the headstock 4 and the bracket 6.there is fitted
loosely on the spindle 3 a flanged pulley 7, which has passed round it a belt
from a driving pulley below. In the inner face of the pulley 7 there is fixed
a pin 8, which, when in gear bears on a snug on the spindle, and thereby
drives it; but when the pulley is pushed outwards by means herein-after
lescribed, it revolves without turning the spindle. On the inner end of the
spindle 3 there is a small grooved face plate or head 9, up against which the
cork quarter is firmly pressed by a following centre spindle 10, having a loose
cap on its point to allow the quarter to revolvo freely. The face plate or
rotating head 9 is formed with points or projections, which enter the portions
of the quarter outside of what is to be the end of the finished cork, and these
projecting points insure the forcible carrying round of the cork. The rotating
head 9 is formed with circular grooves to admit of the point of the shaping
tool cutting completely through the cork quarter. The tool which is supposed
to be removed in Figure 2 is shown separately, with its clamp or holder in
Figure 4, and detached in Figures 5, 6, and 7. It is a long narrow tapered
segment 11, cut out of a cylindrical piece, by preference slightly larger than
the cork; the cutting edge is formed at the end and is slightly oblique, the
corners being rounded off. The tool 11 is held in a clamp or tool holder 12,
which is set in a socket formed for it in a slide 13, and I prefer to use two or
more clamps and tools constructed and adjusted to uniformity, so that when
one tool requires sharpening it may be removed with its clamp and another be
inserted without stopping the work. The clamp is fitted with two adjusting
screws, one 14, of which regulates its height, whilst the other 15, regulates
its position horizontally, and a screw. 16 in the slide 13 fixes the clamp in its
socket. The slide 13 works in guides formed in a rest plate 17, which is
adjusted on the bed plate I by set screws, so as to cause the tool to move either
parallel to the axis of the cork which will make the cork truly cylindrical, or
nclined thereto which will give the cork more or less taper or conical form
according to the amount of inclination given to the rest. In order that tho

page_text: cork quarter may be placed centrally in position, a movable setter 18 is
brought forward, until stopped by an adjustable screw 19, and the quarter
being held in this, the following spindle 10 is made to scize it and the setter 18
is moved back out of the way, and its front end (jointed for the purpose to the
horizontally sliding part 20) is turned up to receive a fresh quarter. The
setter is shown in the Figures.as turned up (and in Figure 3 with a cork
quarter A placed on it); the following spindle 10 is held by a catch and ratchet,
or it might be by a frictional jamming contrivance; it is held in a following
headstock 21, fixed upon the bed plate 1, and is moved backwards and for-
wards by means of a bell-crank lever.22, on which lever there is jointed a spring
catch 23, gearing with a fixed segmental ratchet rack 24. The tool-carrying
slide 17 may be moved forward by hand or by a feed inotion derived from the
rotating spindle. A simple and convenient self-acting feed motion is represented
in the Figures, and the tool-carrying slide 17 is actuated by it, being connected
by a rod 25 to a lever 26, formed with a toothed segment 27, which
gears with
and is worked by a revolving screw spindle 28. This screw spindle 28 has on
it a pulley 29, which receives a driving strap from a pulley on the revolving
shaft below. The lever 26 is mounted on a movable pin 30, which is shifted
to take the toothed segment 27 out of gear on the completion of a cut by
a stopping lever 31, which by shifting the main driving pulley 7 also stops the
rotation of the cork. The centre pin 30 of the lever 26 is carried in upper
and lower arms on a short vertical spindle 32, centred in the bed plate below
and in a bracket above, and the stopping lever 31 is jointed to the lower part of
this spindle 32, so as to binge vertically upon it. The stopping lever 31 rests
in a notch formed for it in a catch plate 33, fixed to the edge of the table,
but it is pulled by a cord 34, which passes over a pulley 85 to a weight. The
lever 26 carries an adjustable wedge piece 36, which on the cut being about
accomplished enters under the stopping lever 31, and forces it up out of its
holling notch, whereupon it yields to the pull of the cord 34, brings the
toothed segment 27 out of gear from the screw spindle 28, and at the same
time shifts over a sliding bar 37 through a notch in which it passes. This
sliding bar 37, carried on pins on the front edge of the bed plate 1, has a
notch at its other end which acts on a lever 38; and this lever shifts over a
forked piece 39, which by acting on the driving belt 40. moves the driving
pulley 7 out of gear. This stops the machine, and the attendant as soon as
convenient draws back the cutting tool and following spindle, removes the
finished cork, puts in a fresh quarter, and by replacing the stopping lever 26
in its holding catch causes the machine to be re-started. With this self-acting
feed motion one worker can quite easily attend to two machines, putting a

page_text: fresh quarter in position in one whilst that in the other is being shaped. In
connection with the main shaping apparatus and driving gear appliances are
provided for conveniently cutting up the cork wood into blanks and for per-
forming other incidental operations. These appliances are shown upon
Sheet 2 of the accompanying Drawings, Figure 8 being a plan, Figure 9 a
side elevation, and Figure 10 a front elevation. A horizontal spindle 41,
driven rapidly by means of a pulley 42, and carried in suitable bearings has
fast on it a small circular saw 43, which projects up through a slot in the
table. A carriage or holder 44, with a raised or T-end 45 is fitted to slide
horizontally across one side of the saw 43. The cork wood to be cut is placed
on this carriage 44 and against the head 45, and is moved by hand across the
saw, the thickness to be cut off being determined by an adjustable gauge
piece 46, against which it is set before commencing the cut. On the same
spindle there may be fixed instead of the saw 43 a circular disc knife for
finishing the ends of the corks; also a rough cylindrical file or rasp for re-
moving roughnesses from the inner side of the uncut.cork, and finally a series
of circular saws as shown in Figure 11, or revolving cutters for equalising the
thickness of the cork before cutting it into quarters. A gauge bar 47 is fitted
in an adjustable holder 48 below the saw, and when rasping or thicknessing
the cork wood it is manoeuvred upon this gauge bar so as to cause the
revolving rasps or saws to act upon the desired parts.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be efficiently 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, the
arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus for shaping corks,
substantially in the improved manner herein described.
. In witness whereof, I, the said John McDowall, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent, Glasgow.
JOHN MCDOWALL. (L.S.)