CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING BOARDS FOR FLOORING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1831

page_text: TU ALL
سمبـ
MUIR, of Hutchinson, Glasgow, Scotland, Engineer, send greeting.
MALOUR
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,.
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
at Westminster, Twenty-second day December, in the second year of His.
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Malcom Muir, His especial licence that I, the said. Malcolm Muir, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,. the said Malcom:
Muir, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years.
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING
BOARDS FOR FLOORING AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is.
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Malcom. Muir, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain.
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within. six calendar months next and immediately after the date:
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference;
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
. NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Malcom Muir, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and.
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described.

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention of Certain Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for
Preparing Boards for Flooring and other Purposes consist in certain additions
to the machinery for which His Majesty was pleased to grant to me, the
said Malcom Muir, His Royal Letters Patent, dated the First day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, for my
Invention of Certain Machinery for Preparing Boards for Flooring and other
similar Purposes, the Specification of which was duly inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery, the principle part of which said machinery was
designed for preparing boards for flooring, and in the Specification is called the
flooring machine; but there still remained certain parts of the board prepared
by this machine to be operated upon by hand in order to bring those parts of
the boards to an uniform thickness. I now adapt to the said machine rotatory
cutters for the purpose of removing all the superfluous wood from the back of
the board, at the same time that it is under the operation of the flooring
machine.
The manner in which I effect this object is exhibited in the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and will be fully understood by the following description
thereof, that is to say:-
Fig. 1 is a side view or elevation of the improved part of the flooring.
machine. Fig. 2 is a section of the same, taken in the dotted line A, B,.
in Fig. 3, which is a horizontal view or plan of the same, the several letters
of reference pointing out the corresponding parts of the machinery in all the
Figures.
The flooring machine to which I adapt the rotary cutters is likewise.
partially represented in the Drawings, viz., the pitched and toothed wheels,
part of the pitched chain, and of the plate of metal A, A, that forms the
bench that the board moves upon, and in which the plain irons are fixed.
These parts are fully described in the aforesaid Specification, but are here
exhibited to shew their relative position and connection with the new part.
The board a, a, being made to move along the bench A, A, by the means
described in the former Specification, is brought under the operation of the
rotary cutters b, b; these rotary cutters are designed for the purpose of:
reducing the back of the board to a parallel thickness with its face, and
consist of adz or broad chissel-edged steel bars mounted on arms projecting
from an axle c, which turns in bushes on the standard or frame d, d,
secured to the plate of metal or bench A, A, by any suitable means, its
rotary action being communicated by a band e, e, from the large drum.

page_text: of the machine, passed round a pulley or rigger f fixed upon the end of
the axle of the cutters. The chissel or adz blades are to be adjusted and
fixed upon the arms by means of screws, so as to enable them to cut. to
any desired depth, and rotary motion being by the above means given to
the cutters, as the board passes under them, the superfluous thickness on
the back of the board is taken off by a rapid succession of strokes of the
cutters, and it is thereby reduced to a parallelism with the face of the board.
previously rendered smooth by the planeing irons, as described in the former
Specification. In order to prevent the board from rising during the operation,
it is kept down by rollers g, g, mounted upon two axles, the ends of which
axles are introduced into grooves formed in the sides of the standard
frame d, d, and are pressed upon the back of board by the bow or span-
ner b, b, and tho weighted lever i. The progress of the board upon the
bench is effected by hooks or catches J in the links of the endless chain K, K,
which take hold of the end of the board and bring it forward as the chain
travels; it will therefore be perceived that when the end of the board has
arrived under the axle of the chain wheel the hook J will leave it. I therefore
cause the motion of the board to be continued, by placing another similar
board at the end of the former, and by dragging it forward by another catch
upon the chain, to be operated upon as before, and thereby propel the first
board through the machine, and thus by the following board continue the
operation.
It is to be observed, that I do not intend to confine myself to the employ-
ment of any precise number of cutters to be attached to the rotary axle, as
their numbers will be regulated by the quality and condition of the wood to be
operated upon, and the speed with which they are made to turn. Neither
do I intend to confine myself to the precise situation of the rotary cutters
shewn in the Drawing, as respects the other parts of the machinery, for I may
find it convenient to employ more than one set of rotary cutters in one
machine; and I intend, in the event of preparing rough planks and boards, to
employ similar rotary cutters, both upon their under and upper surfaces.
By this adaptation of the rotary cutters I am enabled to finish the flooring
boards at once in my machine, and thereby dispense with hand labour of
adzing, which formerly was necessary after planeing, in order to bring the
boards nearly to an equal uniform thickness or parallelism.
In witness whereof, I, the said Malcom Muir, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
MALCOM (L.s.) MUIR.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of April, in
the second year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Malcom Muir came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-two.