IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING SCROLLS, FRETS, AND FILIGREE WORK
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Kennan, of Dublin, Ireland, Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
CUTTING SCROLLS, FRETS, AND FILIGREE WORK."
Sealed the 29th September 1865, and dated the 1st April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Kennan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
April 1865.
I, JAMES KENNAN, of Dublin, Ireland, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR CUTTING SCROLLS, FRETS, AND FILIGREE WORK," .to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar combination of machinery or apparatus
for cutting scrolls, frets, or filigree work in wood, metal, or other materials
capable of being so cut, and consists essentially in the employment for that
purpose of a vibrating or oscillating frame in which a fret saw is strained,
such frame deriving its motion direct from a cam having two or more inclines
or actuating surfaces on the first motion shaft, which may be worked by a
foot lever, or otherwise.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention in practice a pair of
standards of any convenient form support a table, upon which the material to
be cut is laid. Beneath this table there is a crank shaft provided with a fly
wheel, and carrying also a cam having two, three, or more inclines formed
thereon, according to the number of vibrations required in the saw frame at
each revolution of the shaft. This shaft may be driven by a foot lever or

page_text: treadle connected with the crank by an ordinary connecting rod. Above the
table there is fitted a rocking shaft working in ordinary bearings, and to
brackets; on the upper and under side of this shaft are fitted two arms, the
one being above and the other below the table. Between the free ends of
these arms is strained the fret saw, by means of a nut and screw, or other
convenient contrivance.
The mode I prefer to adopt for straining the saw consists in passing a short
steel spindle vertically through the free end of one or both the vibrating arms,
and to make one end of this spindle (which is split to receive the end of the
saw blade) conical, with a screw thread on such conical part. By screwing a
nut along the conical screwed portion of the spindle the saw blade will be
tightly grasped and held within the split. The other end of the spindle is
also screwed, but the screwed part has two flat faces filed thereon, to permit
the screw rising through a washer or collar on the vibrating arm, and at the
same time prevent it from rotating therein, the hole in the washer being of a
shape to correspond to the flattened form of the screwed part of the spindle.
A hand nut is screwed on to the end of the spindle, so that by tightening up
this nut the saw may be strained to any desired extent. Motion is imparted
to the rocking shaft arms and saw by means of another arm or lever, which
is secured at one end to the rocking shaft, whilst its lower end carries one or
a pair of antifriction rollers, which are actuated by the cam on the crank
shaft herein-before referred to. The rocking shaft and the three vibrating
arms in connection therewith constitute one arrangement of vibrating or
oscillating frame, receiving its motion direct from a cam, but of course these
parts may be otherwise disposed without departing from the essential feature
of the Invention, as herein-before set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Kennan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES 3
KENNAN, of Dublin, Ireland, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First 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 8
said James Kennan, Her special license that I, the said James Kennan, my

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Kennan, my executors, administrators, or 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING SCROLLS, FRETS, AND FILIGREE WORK,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Kennan, my
executors or administrators, 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 James Kennan, do hereby declare the
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,
reference being bad to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar combination of machinery or
apparatus for cutting scrolls, frets, or filigree work in wood, metal, or other
materials capable of being so cut, and consists essentially in the employment
for that purpose of a vibrating or oscillating frame in which a fret saw is
strained, such frame deriving its motion direct from a cam having two or
more inclines or actuating surfaces on the first motion shaft, which may be
worked by a foot lever or otherwise.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention in practice a pair of
standards of any convenient form support a table, upon which the material
to be cut is laid. Beneath this table there is a crank shaft provided with a
fly wheel, and carrying also a cam having two, three, or more inclines formed
thereon, according to the number of vibrations required in the saw frame at
each revolution of the shaft. This shaft may be driven by a foot lever or
treadle connected with the crank by an ordinary connecting rod. Above the
table there is fitted a rocking shaft working in ordinary bearings, and to
brackets; on the upper and under side of this shaft are fitted two arms, the
one being above and the other below the table; or these arms may both be
cast in one piece, which arrangement I prefer. Between the free ends of
these arms is strained the fret saw, by means of a nut and screw, or other
convenient contrivance.

page_text: One of the various modes which may be adopted for straining the saw
consists in passing a short steel spindle vertically through the free end of one
or both of the vibrating arms, and to make one end of this spindle (which is
split to receive the end of the saw blade) conical, with a screw thread on such
conical part. By screwing a nut along the conical screwed portion of the
spindle the saw blade will be tightly grasped and held within the split. The
other end of the spindle is also screwed, but the screwed part has two flat
faces filed thereon, to permit the screw rising through a washer or collar on
the vibrating arm, and at the same time prevent it from rotating therein, the
hole in the washer being of a shape to correspond to the flattened form of
the screwed part of the spindle. A hand nut is screwed on to the end of the
spindle, so that by tightening up this nut the saw may be strained to any
desired extent. A more simple mode consists in screwing one end of the saw
by a pinching screw to the end of one of the vibrating arms, whilst the other
end of the saw is screwed by a pinching screw to a slide working in a vertical
groove in the end of the other arm, such slide being acted upon by a set or
adjusting screw, whereby the straining of the saw blade may be readily and
simply accomplished. Motion is imparted to the rocking shaft arms and saw
by means of another arm or lever, which is secured at one end to the rocking
shaft, whilst its lower end carries one or a pair of antifriction rollers, which
are actuated by the cam on the crank shaft herein-before referred to. The
rocking shaft and the three vibrating arms in connection therewith constitute
one arrangement of vibrating or oscillating frame, receiving its motion direct
from a cam, but of course these parts may be otherwise disposed without
departing from the essential feature of the Invention, as herein-before
set forth.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 of my Drawings represents a sectional elevation of my improved
fret-cutting machine; Fig. 2 is a back elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a
side elevation thereof; and Fig. 4 is a corresponding front elevation of the
The rest of the Figures are details, which I shall herein-after more
particularly describe and refer to.
same.
A is the standard or main framing of the machine, which may be of wood,
or of ornamental ironwork, which I prefer ; B represents one of two bearings
carried by the main standards, in which the main driving shaft C of the
machine revolves. This shaft is rotated by means of the foot treadle D,

page_text: connecting rod E, and crank F, and carries the triple-action cam G, and fly
wheel H. On the inner and outer peripheries of this cam, which may
consist simply of a rim projecting from and secured to the side of the arms
of the fly wheel, work two antifriction pulleys I, I, which may be covered with
india-rubber on their circumference, to prevent shaking and noise when at
work. These pulleys I are carried by the lower end of a lever arm K, the
upper end of which is keyed on 'to the rocking shaft L, which vibrates in
bearings M secured to the table of the machine; 0, 0¹, are two arms, which
I prefer to cast in one piece, of a C form, and which are also keyed on to the
rocking or vibrating shaft L; the overhanging portions of the arms O, O¹, are
balanced by the counterweight P, and the saw blade Q is strained between
the two vibrating ends of the C-shaped lever, as is clearly shewn in Figs. 1
and 3. Enlarged side and front elevations of the arrangement for straining
the saw are represented respectively at Figs. 5 and 6, and the mode of
securing or fixing the end of the blade to the lower one of the vibrating arms
The
is represented in side and end elevation respectively at Figs. 7 and 8.
end of the saw blade having been passed down through a hole or slit a in the
table is nipped and held firmly between the side of the plate R screwed to
the end of the arm O', and the small plate or washer S, by means of the
pinching screw T, whilst its upper end is similarly nipped between the
adjustable vertical slide U and the plate or washer V by the pinching
screw W. This slide U is held in a slot in the side of the arm O by the
pinching screw X, which passes through a slot 6 in the slide; Y is the
tightening or straining screw, it works through the end of the slide U, and
bears against the top of the vibrating arm, so that on turning this screw the
slide will be drawn upwards, and the saw blade strained to any desired extent.
In order to blow away the sawdust at each upward stroke of the saw, I
propose to employ a self-inflating india-rubber ball Z, or other simple form of
bellows, which is placed underneath the table and above the lower arm O¹, so
that each time this arm rises it will compress the ball and expel the air there-
from, which air is directed by the tube c to the surface of the work at the
point where the saw is operating, and thereby keeping the line of cut
constantly clear to view. The work to be cut is laid upon the table, and
guided by the hands of the operator, whilst the foot actuates the treadle, and
so gives motion to the saw. By making two or more acting surfaces on the
cam G, any number of vibrations of the saw per revolution of the main shaft
may be obtained.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or

page_text: carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combination
of the vibrating arms O, O¹, and K with the antifriction pullies I, I, and
cam G, having two or more actuating surfaces formed thereon, the whole
being arranged and operated substantially in the manner and for the purpose
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Kennan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
W. STEVENSON,
107, Dorset St., Dublin.
JAMES KENNAN. (L.S.)