IMPROVEMENTS DJ SAWING MACHINERY
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS DJ SAWING
MACHINERY."-A communication from abroad by Pierre Emile
Counord, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th October 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAWING
MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved feed arrangement for sawing
machinery, the chief object being to allow of wood of varying thicknesses

page_text: being divided up into equal parts, whether an endless band or blade
saw be used. The two feed rollers which carry the timber past the
blade are mounted on independent sliding carriages. These carriages
each consist of a horizontal sliding bar furnished with rack teeth on
its upper edge, and having a pendent arm fitted with bearings to receive
the axle of a vertical feed roller. The horizontal bars are arranged
parallel to each other at the same level, and slide in guides carried by
standards; they are so arranged as to move either independently one of
the other, or simultaneously to or from each other, so as to centre the
wood with respect to the saw. This simultaneous movement of the
carriages is effected by means of a pair of sector wheels, which are
mounted on the top of the framing of the machine, and gear each into
one of the racks of the sliding carriages. The sectors also are so
arranged as to gear into each other; the movement of the one sector
will thereby ensure a corresponding motion being imparted to each
carriage. Keyed to but pendent from the axles of one of these sector
wheels is a weighted lever, the tendency of which is through the gearing
already described to press the feed rollers (which are mounted on their
respective carriages) towards each other. By lifting this weighted lever
the rollers will be caused to recede from each other, and thus allow of
a baulk of timber being inserted between them, the weighted lever
being then allowed to fall; the rollers will grip the timber and centre
it with respect to the saw by the connection of one of the rollers to
driving gear. The timber will now be fed up to the saw blade. To
enable a cut to be made through any desired plane of the timber, pro-
vision is made for adjusting and fixing the feed apparatus on the bed
of the machine. For this purpose the standards which carry the feed
apparatus are made to slide by means of a traversing screw,
and thereby
advance cither of the two feed rollers towards the line of cut. Pro-
vision is also made for adjusting (and fixing by means of a clamping
screw) the carriage in which the driven feed roller is mounted with
respect to the guides and their standards.

page_text: SPECIFICATION I Pursuance of the contVNS VI The Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Alfred
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my exccutors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time.
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there.
after 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 SAWING MACHINERY," being a communication to me
from abroad by Pierre Emile Counord, of Paris, in the Republic of
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say)
This Invention relates to an automatic feed apparatus for guiding
wood intended to be sawn, the action of which differs essentially from

page_text: those at present in use. In sawing machines as at present constructed
one of the feed rollers is fixed, whilst the other (provided with a counter-
weight) is capable of being opened out more or less according to the
thickness of the wood to be sawn, so that by the action of sawing planks
of an uniform thickness are obtained except when the workman varies
the position of the fixed roller with respect to the blade of the saw. In
this apparatus on the contrary the two rollers are moveable, and the one
cannot approach or recede from the saw blade without the other baving
a like motion at the same time. This arrangement allows of wood of
divers thicknesses being divided up into equal parts.
With a two-roller apparatus both straight and crooked wood can be
sawn, but when the apparatus is intended exclusively for sawing straight
wood additional rollers may be used to prevent oscillation.
In the accompanying Drawing the improved feed apparatus is shewn
as applied to an endless saw-frame. Fig. 1 shews in longitudinal ver- 1
tical section the mechanism for driving the automatic feed apparatus,
and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view; Fig. 4 a
front, and Fig. 5 a plan view of the automatic feed apparatus.
The automatic feed apparatus consists of a frame I upon which is
mounted two slides G, H, which severally carry one of a pair of feed 2
rollers Q, Q. These slides are toothed on their upper surface to gear
into their respective sectors E, F, of unequal width, which sectors are
also in gear the one with the other. The sector E (which is the narrower
of the two) is furnished at the extremity of its shaft with a counter-
weight K, which acts upon the two rollers Q, Q', and causes them to 2
nip the wood that is to be sawn. The slides G and H are attached to
the frame I by means of bracket guides L and M. The slide H is
furnished at one end with a screw N, which passes through a lug O,
cast on the end of the slide G, and this screw by means of a thumb-
nut P prevents the rollers from moving the one towards the other more 3
than a determined distance. Upon the shaft of the toothed roller Q is
fixed a chain wheel D to receive a chain by which that roller is driven,
thereby rendering the apparatus automatic. The frame I of the apparatus
is capable of being moved transversely upon its foundation plate R, and
its adjustment is effected by the small fly wheel S, Figures 3 and 4, 3
mounted upon the screw T, which passes through a tapped lug U fixed
on the frame I. The counterweight K tends constantly to draw the
rollers one towards the other.

page_text: In varying by means of the screw T the position of the apparatus with
respect to the blade of the saw shewn in blue lines at Fig. 3, the wood
may be sawn to any required thickness.
When the two sectors E and F are of the same diameter, the distance
traversed by the rollers to and from the line of the saw cut will by
reason of the axial motion of the sector be equal; by varying their
diameters the movement may be such that the recession of one roller
will be, say, one-half, one-third, or one-fourth that of the other. Thus,
instead of dividing the wood into two equal parts, it may be divided
into unequal parts of determinate variations of thickness.
With this apparatus the wood may be sawn to any given thickness,
but in this case the slide or roller carrier H must be made fast. This
may be readily effected by tightening the screw V, Figures 3 and 4, and
throwing the narrow sector E out of gear with the rack of the carrier H
(by sliding it into the dotted position of Fig. 5), and leaving the roller
carrier G alone movcable. The position of the apparatus can then be
regulated with respect to the saw blade by means of the screw T.
0
When one roller only is left adjustable the arrangement employed for
giving motion to the chain which renders the apparatus automatic will
be the same as when they are both adjustable. This arrangement con-
sists of a pulley X, Figures 1 and 2, which receives motion from a band
actuated in any well-known manner. A pinion B mounted upon the
samo axle as the pulley drives the toothed wheel A, and this wheel
carries also on its axle a chain wheel c, around which passes the pitch
chain d, which gives motion to the chain wheel D of the driven feed
roller. By varying the diameter of this chain wheel c, the speed at
which the wood is fed up to the saw can be regulated. This driving
gear is mounted upon a sliding carriage, which is capable of being
adjusted by a screw for the purpose of keeping the chain at a proper.
tension.
The above-described feed apparatus is applicable to timber sawing
machines generally, whether the saws have continuous or alternating
motion. The conformation of the apparatus may however require
modification to suit varying circumstances. The same remark applies
to the system employed to render the apparatus automatic and capable
of producing a continuous or intermittent motion, according to cir-
cumstances.

page_text: When it is desired to saw up unsquared timber the concave rollers
q, q', (Fig. 6) should be substituted for the rollers Q, Q'.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Sawing Machinery," as communicated to me by my foreign cor-
respondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, E
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim, imparting to the feed rollers a sympathetic motion
to or from the plane of the saw cut in the manner and for the purpose
A. V. NEWTON. (L.s.)