IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF PRODUCING STRIPS OR PIECES OF WOOD FOR PRINTERS' USE, AND KNOWN AS REGLETS, FURNITURE, SIDE STICKS, RULES, AND BLOCKS FOR WOOD LETTERS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Bryceson at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 17th March 1881.
JOHN BRYCESON, of Islington, in .the County of Middlesex, Wood Working
Machinist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF PRODUCING STRIPS OR PIECES
OF WOOD FOR PRINTERS' USE, AND KNOWN AS REGLETS, FURNITURE, SIDE
STICKS, RULES, AND BLOCKS FOR WOOD LETTERS."
"
This Invention relates mainly to a novel mode of preparing the several pieces of
wood used by printers in separating the lines of type, and in securing the "forms
in the chases.
For these purposes it is exceedingly important that the pieces, of whatever kind,
should be not only accurately gauged in respect of their depth and thickness, but
should be so made as to possess no tendency to swell unevenly when subjected, as
they must be, to the action of the alkaline liquor employed in cleaning the type.
It has been found that the wood used for these purposes, however accurately
planed, is liable to become rough by swelling unequally under the action of the
cleaning liquid, and that this swelling is due in great part to the fact that the
wood fibres are compressed in the act of planing, and are liable to swell so soon as
moisture is applied thereto. In order to prevent this tendency of the pieces,
whether reglets, furniture, sidesticks, or rules, to swell unequally and thereby to
present difficulties to the compositor in respect to the securing of his type in
the chase, I propose to cut out the pieces and finish them at one and the same
operation, that is to say, I so operate with a rotating saw as not only to cut out
the pieces to the size and shape required, but also to give them the requisite finish
without the use of a plane or any other smoothing instrument or appliance.
• To ensure this novel result, I have found by experiment that two conditions are
requisite, viz., an uniform motive power and great speed and steadiness in the saw.
Without these the action of the saw is irregular, and a smooth surface is
unattainable. To obtain an uniform power I have hitherto employed a steam
engine fitted with a fly wheel of some four tons in weight, and I have given to the
saw a circumferential speed of about 15,000 feet per minute. The rotary saw
which I employ has teeth of a common form but with no "set," and this saw I
mount upon a bench of such solidity as to preclude the possibility of its being put
in vibration by the driven saw.

page_text: By imparting to the saw this rapid'speed, which is greatly in excess of the rate
at which saws have hitherto been run, I obtain not merely a ripping, but a smoothing
action, and produce thereby the various articles above mentioned of a quality
superior to those in the market, not merely in respect of accuracy of gauge, but by
reason also of the surface fibres having been severed or cut through instead of
pressed to a smooth surface. By the use of reglets thus formed the difficulty now
experienced by printers from portions of the lines of type remaining loose while
the other parts are tightly held owing to the irregularities in the thickness of the
reglets caused by their swelling unequally is avoided, as is also the necessity for
unlocking the type and wedging up by the insertion of layers, of paper.
My Invention equally applies to the cutting of blocks for the formation of wood
types, in which accuracy of gauge is as important as it is with respect to reglets
and to printers' furniture.
In general I prefer to use well seasoned oak, but other woods may be employed
from which to form the strips, pieces, or blocks, if thought desirable.