Improvements in Machinery for Grinding Glass Balls for Bottle Stoppers.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Nov., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 12th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Grinding Glass Balls for
Bottle Stoppers.
We, JOHN GARNET LIVERSIDGE, of 1 Hillidge Street, Hunslet, Leeds, in
the County of York, Glass Stopper Maker, and WILLIAM SNOWDON, of
9 Old Bank Chambers, Leeds aforesaid, Consulting Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
It has reference to grinding off the feeding gate or shank left on the ball in the
process of casting; and has for its object the provision of machinery which shall
not only pass the balls under the grinding stones or wheels but shall at the same
time give a twisting movement to the said balls so that they may be left the more
spherically true; that is to say, may be left without the flatness consequent on
contact with the flat side of a stone-or one approximately flat.
We accomplish our object as follows:-A disc is slowly revolved inside a
corresponding annular frame, space being left between the two for the reception
of the balls. A portion of the outer frame--which is stationary-is cut away
to allow the balls to be fed into the aforesaid groove, and to likewise make their exit
after having been forced round the prepared pathway. The balls are so fed into the
grooves that the shanks to be ground off stand out parallel with the axis of the disc,
and so allow themselves to be approached by a grinding wheel whose approximately
flat side smoothes them down. The inner disc revolves slowly in the requisite
direction for travelling the balls. Its face, and that of the frame facing it, is formed
for gripping the surface of the balls so as to hold them (whilst revolving them)
tightly and firmly under the action of the cutting wheel.
A guide against which the shanks may be arranged is fitted on the feeding
path.
There are several ways in which the balls may be held between discs, and travelled
forward in a path and so brought in contact with a grinding wheel or wheels, but
the plan we have described will answer as a description of the action.
Dated this 12th day of November 1894.
WM. SNOWDON.
JOHN GARNET LIVERSIDGE,
His X mark.
Witness to the mark-
CHAS. KIRBY,
152 Thwaite Gate, Hunslet, Leeds.

page_text: declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
It has reference to grinding off the feeding gate or shank left on the ball in the
process of casting; and has for its object the provision of machinery which shall
not only pass the balls under the grinding stones or wheels but shall at the same
time give a twisting movement to the said balls so that they may be left the more
spherically true; that is to say, may be left without the flatness consequent on
contact with the flat side of a stone-or one approximately flat.
We accomplish our object as follows;-reference being made to two sheets of
drawings; Fig. 1 being a plan of a machine made in accordance with our scheme;
Fig. 2 an enlarged portion of this plan, partly in section; Fig. 3 an enlarged
portion of a corresponding sectional elevation; whilst Fig. 4 is a still further
enlarged portion in sectional plan.
A disc A is slowly revolved inside a corresponding annular frame B, space being
left between the two for the reception of the balls C1, C2, C3, etc. A portion of
the outer frame-which is stationary-is cut away to allow the balls to be fed into
the before-mentioned space or groove, at B', and to likewise make their exit at B²
(where they are led away down the incline B³) after having been forced round the
prepared pathway. The balls are so fed into the grooves that the shanks to be
ground off stand out parallel with the axis of the disc and so allow themselves to be
approached by a grinding wheel D whose approximately flat side smooths them
down. The inner disc A revolves slowly in the requisite direction for travelling the
balls, see arrow in Fig. 3. Its face, and that of the frame facing it-see Fig. 4-is
formed for gripping the surface of the balls so as to hold them (whilst revolving
them) tightly and firinly under the action of the cutting wheel.
The cutting wheel D, which is an annular face wheel of restricted breadth of
cutting section, is mounted on the shaft E-which is purposely thrown out of the
centre of the pathway of the balls as shown in Fig. 3. The effect of this
eccentricity permits the balls to get firmly into the grip of the pathway before the
outer edge of the cutting wheel attacks their shanks-which it will be seen doing
about the position of the ball C₁-whilst at a position lying between C3 and C°
the ball has travelled to its maximum position under the wheel. This maximum
position of relative inward travel across the cutting face is shown in the enlarged
section Fig. 4; the corner of the wheel at d (resulting from the inward travel of
the ball having there culminated) producing a rounding action-for explanatory
reasons the then ground off shank is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4. (Several
external wheels may be grouped round a pathway.)
A guide plate F, which should slant down at C, (where the balls are first placed
on it) against which the shanks arrange themselves, is fitted at the side of the 4
feeding path, and this may be carried part of the way round with advantage, say for
example as far as the position C'.
Referring to Fig. 2, G is the pulley on the worm shaft G¹ which slowly revolves
the worm wheel G2, which latter is mounted on the sleeve G³ carrying the disc A.
This sleeve, G³, revolves in the headstock H, which forms part of a casting 4
extending across the bed-plate, and to which the outer annular-frame B is bolted,
see Fig. 1. This same headstock also carries the supporting arms for the worm
shaft G. The cutting-wheel shaft E is carried by three bearings E' E2 E³ (Fig. 1)
and has fast and loose driving pullies E and E³. This shaft requires to be
adjusted by set screws shown at E and E' which may be mounted in any convenient. 5
part of the framing. The bed-plate of the machine J forms a trough for catching
the water used in grinding.
The pathways of the machine here given as an example are built up by side plates
of steel, the internal space lending itself for the reception of a material capable
of providing an elastic pressure on the balls, such as india-rubber or the like,
see Fig. 4.

page_text: There are several ways in which the balls may be held between discs and
travelled forward in a path and so brought in contact with a grinding wheel
or wheels, but the plan we have described will answer as a description of the
action and will serve to show the underlying principle of the invention herein
described.
For instance-The balls may be arranged between discs L L, as shown in
Fig. 5, on the outermost parts of whose flat sides guiding and propelling
pathways are so arranged, that, the ball shanks stand out beyond the periphery
of the discs, and so reach the surface of adjacent grinding wheels M.
Or, specially grooved pathways may be arranged between discs L L as last
described, see Fig. 6, so that the ball (revolved slowly) may in the course
of a revolution present its shank, as it passes round, to a wheel at M. Bridge
pieces, shown diagrammatically at N, unite the inner and outer fixed path,
between L' and L, on each side of the wheel M, whose axis lies in the
direction O, O.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In a machine for grinding glass balls the use of pathways for the reception of
the said balls, one pathway acting as a guide, and the other as a propeller, for the
purpose of rolling the shauks of the said balls under or against a revolving surface
or surfaces.
2. The use of pathways for the reception of balls, one pathway acting as a guide
and the other as a propeller, substantially as described and shown, with the object
and for the purpose set forth.
3. The combination of guiding and propelling pathways working in connection
with an approximately flat grinding wheel, with an eccentric arrangement of the
driving shaft, with the object and for the purpose set forth.
4. The peculiar combination and arrangement of parts shown, giving rise to the
rounding action as set forth in connection with Fig. 4, with the object and for
the purpose specified.
5. In a machine for grinding glass balls the use of a guide plate for the
shanks of the balls to centre themselves against, substantially as described and
shown.
6. The combination of the guiding and propelling pathways for the balls, as
described and shown, in connection with one or more grinding wheels, with the
object and for the purpose set forth.
Dated
10th
1005
1490 100VI
Witness―
WM. SNOW DON,
9 Old Bank Chambers, Park Row, Leeds.
JOHN GARNET LIVERSIDGE,
His X mark.
JOHN ETHELBERT SHAW,
Pontefract House, Pontefract Lane, Leeds.