Improvements in or relating to the Cutting and Ornamentation of Hollow Glass Bodies, and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 28th May, 1896-Accepted, 4th July, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Cutting and Ornamentation of
Hollow Glass Bodies, and Apparatus therefor.
A communication from BERNHARD GRUHL, of Dresden, Saxony, Empire of
Germany.
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 111 Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby 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 :-
The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for cutting the edges of
hollow glass bodies, while at the same time any desired pattern can be cut out in
the hollow glass surface either for ornamental or for technical purposes.
The present invention has for its object to cut the edges and to cut through the
surface of hollow glass bodies, when they are in plastic state, by means of an
apparatus, in which suitably shaped cutters can be moved radially relatively to the
hollow glass body placed on a mandrel, the cutting edges of said cutters produce
a scissor-like cut in co-operation with correspondingly shaped edges or recesses in
the body of the mandrel.
In order to prevent any alteration of the shape of the hollow glass body in its
plastic state, the cutting edges of the cutters must be brought into engagement with
the body to be worked, when this scissor-like cut is to be executed, only gradually,
for which purpose the cutting edges of the cutters are made with one or more
points, which penetrate the glass before the other portions of the cutting edge
reach their cutting position.
The apparatus for the practical application of this process consists mainly of a
mandrel fixed to a foundation plate, on which mandrel the hollow glass body is
placed when still hot, of cutters movable relatively to said mandrel and of a
rotatable ring, the movements of which produce the advance and retraction of
the cutters.
In the application of this process the cutters may effect the cutting either
simultaneously, in which case their cutting surfaces correspond to the whole circum-
ference of the body to be operated upon, or they may be advanced in turns, so that
one comes into operation and is withdrawn and another is advanced simultaneously
with the withdrawal of the preceding one and so on throughout the series. When
bodies of large circumference are to be operated upon, it is advantageous in order
to avoid the necessity for making the apparatus of great size, to execute the cutting
in successive portions or stages with one or several cutters, for which purpose the
mandrel with the piece to be operated on is intermittently rotated, and each time
the rotating mechanism makes its inoperative movement, the cutter is brought
against the piece to be cut, which is then at rest, and so the cutting is done in
everal stages.
In the accompanying drawing,
Fig. 1 shows the apparatus in section,
Fig. 2 is the plan of the apparatus with four simultaneously moving cutters,

page_text: of rest of the mandrel.
Figures 5 and 6 show the rotating devices for the mandrel in respectively plan
of underside and side elevation.
Figures 7 and 8 are respectively views of a cutter for simultaneous and for alternate
cutting.
Figure 9 shows a portion of the mandrel with a wavy or crenulated cutting edge
for co-operating with the cutter.
Figures 10 and 11 illustrate the cutting surface of a cutter for producing wavy
cuts, and
Figure 12 shows cutters for producing ornamental cuts in the surface of the
hollow glass object or body.
In the apparatus represented in Figures 1 and 2, there is a metal core or
mandrel e mounted on a central pin 6 of the base plate a. The mandrel may be
either solid or hollow and adapted to be heated. On this mandrel is placed the
hollow glass body to be cut, still hanging on the blow-pipe, and the pipe has a
resting point exactly at the centre of the apparatus, in the support d. On the base
plate a are arranged the movable cutters e, which are guided in guides f. Over
the cutter e is arranged a revolvable ring g to which the cutters are connected by
rollers or pins i sliding in curved slots h, so that when the ring is turned in one
direction, the cutters advance radially towards the work, and when the ring is
turned in the opposite direction the cutters are retracted. The cutting edges of
the cutters are made, according to the circumference of the object to be finished,
either smooth or in the shape of ares, or notched or otherwise and are provided at
one part with a point el which is the first to penetrate the plastic glass.
When the hollow glass body is to be cut throughout its circumference at one
operation, the cutlers in order to encircle the whole of the circumference of the
object must engage with each other. For this purpose there are arranged adjacent
to the points el recesses e 2 into which the edge of the next entter is adapted to fit.
The mode of working the apparatus is very simple; the hollow glass object is
placed by means of the glass-blower's pipe, en which it still hangs, over the
mandrel e which may be heated or which may remain hot in consequence of continuous
contact with hot glass, and then the ring g is turned, whereby the four cutters
operated by said ring, advance uniformly and at first penetrate the glass with their
points and then erect the cutting in their farther advance, in co-operation with the
cutting edge of the mandrel, which de acts as the seon blade of a pair of
scissors or shears.
The shape of the cut varies according to the shape of the cutters and mandrel
emplyed for instance, it may be straight, or as illustrated in Figures 9-11 curved
and wavy, or it may be of any other shape.
P
Sultaneously with the cutting of the edges of the hollow glass objert or boly,
its surface may be decorated by cutting out in it different patterns, aud for this
purpose there are arranged as shown in Figures 1 and 2, plungers mounted on
the cutters e, so that the former are moved radially with the latter to and from the
object to be cut. They have on their inner ends, cutters or punches while in
the mandrel there are recesses or apertures having the shape of the ornamentations
to be produced, which recesses act as dies, so that when the punches » advance, the
latter cut the ornamentations in the plastic glass, the pieces of glass cut out falling
into the mandrel. The decorative cutting of the glass may be effected without
simultaneously cutting the edges of the hollow glass object.
The apparatus represented in Figure 3 shows substantially the same arrangements
as in Figures 1 and 2, only here the four cutters are advanced alternately, the
cutters situated diametrically opposite each other being moved simultaneously
inwards or outwards. For this purpose the cam slots are arranged in the turning
ring and a portion of each slot is straight or concentric and another portion
tangential or gradually inclined, the tangential part for one pair of cutters being
arranged on the right hand side of the straight portion, while for the other pair of

page_text: cutters the tangential part is to the left of said straight portions so that when the
ring is turned in one direction the pins or rollers of the cutters e to be advanced
enter the tangential portions of the slots while those of the cutters retracted are
in the straight portions of the slots. When the ring is turned in the opposite
direction the cutters previously advanced are at first retracted by the inclined parts
of the slots and then, in the further movement of the ring the other pair of cutters
is made to advance by their pins or rollers entering the inclined portions of the
slots.
In the apparatus with only one cutter represented in Figure 4 the mandrel c is
capable of being turned round its pivot b by a ring g' provided with a handle k, this
ring being placed round the neck of the mandrel e carrying ratchet teeth z and pro-
vided with a pawl l. The cutting is effected in several operations, and for this purpose
the mandrel c with the object or body to be cut must turn through a part of a
revolution, but during the cutting it must remain at rest. After the ring gland
the mandrel e which latter is connected to the ring g' by the ratchet gear, have
been caused to make quarter of a revolution by moving the handle k, the stop h
fixed to the base plate a releases the pawl from engagement with the ratchet
teeth z.
The mandrel is thereby stopped, and in the further movement of the
ring the mandrel remains stationary and the handle k moves a bell-crank-lever m,
which is pivotted by a pin o to the base plate a. One arm of this lever m engages
by an open slot with a pin or roller on the handle k, while the other slotted arm
engages with a pin or roller on the cutter e. As soon as the object to be cut is
moved through a corresponding length and stopped by the pawll being released, the
bell-crank lever m, causes during the further movement of the ring gl, the cutter e to
advance and cut the glass, the cutter being retracted when the handle k is returned
to its starting position.
The before described apparatus may be modified without departing from the
spirit of the invention, for example although it is described as provided with one
cutter (Fig. 4) and four cutters (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) three or more than four cutters
may be used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner the
same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. Cutting hollow glass objects or bodies by cutters such as e sliding radially in
relation to the object to be cut the cutters making a scissor-like cut in co-operation
with a cutting edge on a mandrel such as c.
2. Decorating hollow glass objects or bodies by cutting in them any desired
patterns by means of cutters or cutter-carrying plungers such as p moving radially
relatively to the object to be cut and co-operating with dies or cutting edges in or
on a mandrel such as c supporting the glass.
3. Simultaneously cutting and decorating hollow glass objects or bodies by means
of cutters such as e and punches such as a co-operating with cutting edges and dies
on or in a mandrel supporting the object to be operated upon.
4. In apparatus for carrying out the process claimed in Claim 1, 2 or 3 cutters
such as e arranged to be moved uniformly by a ring g and together corresponding
in shape and circumference to the mandrel c the cutting edges of all these cutters
simultaneously grasping the hollow glass object substantially as described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
5. In the apparatus for carrying out the process claimed in Claim 1 2 or 3 the
modification consisting of the arrangement whereby the cutters e are advanced
alternately by means of an intermittent movement of the ring g so that when the
latter is turned in either direction, some of the cutters e are advanced and others
retracted substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
6. In apparatus such as described the modification whereby the cutting is
effected by only one cutter and the glass object or body to be cut together with

page_text: the mandrel is intermittently rotated and the cutter is caused to operate on the
glass when the latter and the mandrel are stationary substantially as described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
7. In apparatus such as described the employment of overlapping cutters for
cutting completely through the glass at their meeting edges substantially as described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 28th day of May 1896
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.