IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING AND CUTTING STONE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, and of No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in
the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING AND CUTTING STONE."
-A communication from abroad by Pierre Joseph Morisseau, of Paris,
Sealed the 3rd October 1861, and dated the 9th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
April 1861.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING AND CUTTING STONE,"
a communication to me from abroad by Pierre Joseph Morisseau, of Paris,
Miller, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates principally to the construction of an improved
machine designed to execute by mechanical means not only the dressing, but
also the grooving or furrowing of millstones, but is also applicable, with
slight variations, to cutting and dressing stone and other hard bodies. This
machine, which works with great regularity, performs the striating or
furrowing of the surface of the millstone under operation with a precision

page_text: and facility which leave nothing to be desired, and that to any depth and
with any interval required, either for the channels intended for the passage
of the air or for simple grooves. The machine rests and is kept by its own
weight on that part of the millstone which it is required to dress or groove.
In this position it can be moved with facility over all the divisions of the
periphery of the stone, being guided in this movement by two gudgeons fixed
on the frame at two extreme points, and sliding in an annular groove made
in an iron ring, which embraces the millstone for that purpose, and which is
adjusted thereto by set screws. The two longitudinal sides of the machine
are each provided with a long screwed rod, on which is mounted a mitre
wheel. These mitre wheels work with screwed bosses on the screws between
two projections on a moveable carriage, and gear with two similar wheels
fixed at the ends of a long ratchet cylinder mounted in the said carriage;
hence it will be understood that the rotation of the said ratchet cylinder will,
by means of the mitre wheels, cause the carriage to travel the whole length
of the screws, that is to say, the length of the machine. On this carriage
slides transversely a second carriage, on which are two supports carrying a
shaft driven by suitable gearing, and grooved throughout its length, on which
shaft is mounted, by means of a key, a cam or tappet, which drives the ratchet
cylinder by means of a click and suitable levers. The cam or tappet works
between two projections on the second carriage, which supports and guides
the cutting tool or hammer. This second carriage (in which the tool carrier
works vertically in a dovetail groove) can be moved to any part of the machine
by the hand of the workman, and held in any one place as long as may be
desired. The tool or hammer is capable of adjustment in the tool carrier to
any height, and the tool carrier is jointed to a lever actuated by the before-
mentioned cam or tappet, by which it is alternately raised and dropped, the
height of the fall, and consequently the depth of the groove, being regulated
by the workman means of a hand lever. Thus the workman is enabled not
only to remove the hammer or tool instantly to any required part of the stone,
and cause it to attack the surface with any force and to any depth required,
but also to keep it acting upon any one part as long as he may desire. When
the first carriage has arrived at the end of the screws (and consequently at
the end of the machine) it can be taken back to the starting point by means
of a crank handle, which turns the screws in the reverse direction. The dust
produced by the operation of the tool on the stone is constantly blown away
by means of a small bellows actuated by each upward movement of the tool
carrier.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer. and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Davies, Her special licence that I, the said George Davies,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I, the said George
Davies, 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
MACHINERY FOR DRESSING AND CUTTING STONE," a communication to me from
abroad by Pierre Joseph Morisseau, of Paris, Miller, upon the condition,
(amongst others) that I, the said George Davies, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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. George Davies, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings, that
is to say :-
This Invention relates principally to the construction of an improved
machine designed to execute by mechanical means not only the dressing but
also the grooving or furrowing of millstones, but is also applicable, with slight
variations, to cutting and dressing stone and other hard bodies. This machine,
which works with great regularity, performs the striating or furrowing of the
surface of the millstone under operation, with a precision and facility which
leave nothing to be desired, and that to any depth, and with any interval

page_text: required either for the channels intended for the passage of the air or for simple
grooves. The machine rests and is kept by its own weight on that part of the
millstone which it is required to dress or groove. In this position it can be moved
with facility over all the divisions of the periphery of the stone, being guided
in this movement by two gudgeons fixed on the frame at two extreme points,
and sliding in an annular groove made in an iron ring, which embraces the
millstone for that purpose, and which is adjusted thereto by set screws. Tho
two longitudinal sides of the machine are each provided with a long screwed
rod on which is mounted a mitre wheel. These mitre wheels work with
screwed bosses on the screws between two projections on a moveable carriage,
and gear with two similar wheels fixed at the ends of a long ratchet cylinder
mounted in the said carriage. Hence it will be understood that the rotation
of the said ratchet cylinder will by means of the mitre wheels cause the
carriage to travel the whole length of the screws, that is to say, the length of
the machine. On this carriage are two supports carrying a shaft driven by
suitable gearing and grooved throughout its length, on which shaft is mounted
(by means of a key) a cam or tappet which drives the ratchet cylinder by
means of a click and suitable levers. The cam or tappet works between two
projections on the second carriage, which supports and guides the cutting tool
or hammer. This second carriage (in which the tool carrier works vertically
in a dovetailed groove) can be moved to any part of the machine by the hand
of the workman and held in any one place as long as may be desired. The
tool or hammer is capable of adjustment in the tool carrier to any height, and
the tool carrier is jointed to a lever actuated by the before-mentioned cam
or tappet, by which it is alternately raised and dropped the height of the fall,
and consequently the depth of the groove, being regulated by the workman by
means of a hand lever. Thus the workman is enabled not only to remove
the hammer or tool instantly to any required part of the stone, and cause it
to attack the surface with any force and to any depth required, but also to
keep it acting upon any one part as long as he may desire. When the first
carriage has arrived at the end of the screws (and consequently at the
end of the machine) it can be taken back to the starting point by means
of a crank handle which turns the screws in the reverse direction. The dust
produced by the operation of the tool on the stone is constantly blown away
by means of a small bellows actuated by each upward movement of the tool
carrier.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for " Improve-
ments in Machinery for Dressing and Cutting Stone" I will now proceed to
describo the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried

page_text: into practical effect, and in order that the same may be distinctly understood I
have annexed hereunto one Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have
marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with
those in the following explanation thereof, that is to say :-
In the annexed Drawing Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the
machine; Figure 2 is a plan or horizontal view as seen from above. And
Figure 3 is a view of the driving end of the same.
The machine rests by its own weight upon that part of the millstone A which
it is desired to operate upon, and it may be moved with ease on to any portion
or division of the circumference of the stone, being guided in this movement
or alteration of, position by means of two gudgeons or pins fixed at two
extreme points of the frame B, and sliding in a circular groove a, made in the
iron ring C, which embraces the circumference of the millstone A, and is
adjusted and fixed thereto by set screws.
Each of the longitudinal sides of the machine is provided with a long
screwed rod 6 upon which is mounted a bevil wheel. c. These wheels have
bosses screwed internally, and work between two projecting pieces forming
part of the frame or carriage D. This carriage also supports
a
long ratchet
or grooved cylinder E extending the whole width of the machine, and to the
extremities of which are keyed bevil pinions e gearing respectively with the
wheels c on the screws b. It results from this arrangement that by the rotation
cylinder E the carriage D can be caused to travel the whole length of the
screws 6, and consequently of the machine itself. On the carriage D are two
brackets or supports carrying a shaft f, which is grooved throughout its entire
length so as to receive a key connecting a cam g thereto, which cam is intended
to communicate motion to the cylinder E, as hereafter described. This cam
is held between two projections or bosses g¹ fixed on a second carriage F which
carries the cutting tool or hammer m, and also serves as its guide. This
carriage, which is mounted on V slides on the carriage D, is moved by hand
by the workman by the aid of a lever h, and can be slidden from end to end
of the machine, and arrested at any point desired. The tool carrier k moves
vertically in V slides formed in front of the carriage F for that purpose; to
this piece are attached jaws which hold the cutting tool or hammer m, the
position of which latter can be regulated to any height desired above the
surface of the stone upon which it is intended to operate. The tool carrier k
is connected by a joint to a lever n actuated by the cam g, the abrupt pro-
jections of which give an increased action to the hammer. This lever n is thrust
away from the said cam by a spring o fixed to the carriage F in such a manner
that contact only takes place in proportion as the spring is compressed by the

page_text: pressure of the lever h. The action of this mechanism is rendered more
sensitive by the combination of several spring levers all controlled by the same
handle h. It will hence be perceived that the more the lever h is pressed
down the more action the cam 9 has on the lever n, the ascent and descent of
which is communicated exactly to the hammer, and in this case the latter acts
on the stone to a correspondingly greater depth, the reverse of which will
evidently take place if the lever h is moved in the reverse direction. When this
lever is raised it comes in contact with a lever p, the extremity of which works
in a fork r and acts against a screws, which can be raised or lowered to any
desired degree to limit the ascent of the said lever p. To this latter is jointed
a vertical rod carrying a ratchet or catch t which gears into the grooves or
teeth of the ratchet cylinder E. In this manner the greater the ascent of the
lever p the further the catch t will cause the cylinder E to rotate, and the
more the carriage D will be displaced on the screwed rod b.
It now remains to explain the driving gear and the transmission of movement
to the various parts of the machine. The pulley u, mounted on the vertical
fly wheel shaft G, receives motion directly from the driving power; this shaft
communicates movement by the aid of a pair of bevil wheels to the horizontal
shaft H, the end of which carries a grooved pulley round which passes a cord,
passing also round a similar pulley on the shaft f carrying the cam g which
actuates the double bevilled hammer or tool m, as above described. The
workman directs the tool carriage F by hand to any point of the width or depth
of the machine, whilst by raising the handle h he also determines at will the
movement of the lower carriage D, and causes it to act successively by means
of the ratchet cylinder E and screwed rods b, on every point lengthwise of the
machine. Thus the attendant operative can not only move the tool or
hammer m instantly to any possible point of the millstone A, and cause it to
attack the surface with any force or to any depth required, but he can also
hold the tool fixed upon any one particular point as long as he thinks fit.
When the carriage D is at the end of its course it is taken back to the start-
ing point by means of a crank which acts directly upon the ratchet cylinder E.
The wheels c then slide upon the screws b, which remain fixed. To keep the
driving strap or band on the pulley u at its necessary tension, whatever may
be the position of the carriage D on the frame B, an elastic cord or band must
be used for that purpose. The sand or dust produced during the work on that
part of the stone under operation, is constantly expelled by a small bellows x
actuated by each upward movement of the tool carrier k.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for
Improvements in Machinery for Dressing and Cutting Stone," together with

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion, that I claim as the Inven-
tion communicated to me by the said Pierre Joseph Morisseau the general
construction and arrangement of the apparatus as shewn in the Drawings and
above described, whether adapted for dressing and grooving millstones, or to
perform other analogous work on stone or other similar hard substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
GEORGE DAVIES. (L.s.)