IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBE CUTTERS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Parkes, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TUBE CUTTERS."
Sealed the 15th March 1867, and dated the 18th September 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Parkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th September 1866.
I, THOMAS PARKES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TUBE CUTTERS," to be as follows:-
Tube cutters as ordinarily constructed consist of a nearly semicircular claw
on the end of the handle, in which claw the tube to be cut is supported, and
a rotary or other cutter working in the line of the handle. By pressing the
cutter against the tube supported by the claw and giving a rotary motion to
the tube cutter the tube is cut or divided.
In constructing tube cutters according to my Invention I employ three
rotary cutters which act simultaneously on the tube being cut, two of the said

page_text: cutters being supported by the claw, and the third by an arm or lever jointed
to the body of the cutter. The said arm or lever and the body of the cutter
are jointed together somewhat after the manner of the jointing together of
the two parts of a pair of pliers. The claw is on one side of the body instead
of at its end as in the ordinary cutter. The arm or lever carrying the third
cutter is pressed towards the claw by a screw working through the handle of
the cutter; by turning this screw the third cutter may be pressed forcibly
towards the claw of the cutter.
In using a tube cutter made according to my Invention the tube or rod to
be cut is placed in the claw upon the edges of the two rotary cutters carried
by the said claw. By means of the screw described the third cutter carried
by the arm or lever is pressed against the tube or rod with the required
degree of force. On turning the cutter around the fixed tube or rod the
three cutters act simultaneously on the said tube or rod, and by maintaining
the required degree of pressure of the cutters on the rod or tube by means of
the screw the tube or rod is rapidly cut through. A supplementary chisel-
ended cutter may be fixed in the arm or lever carrying the third cutter for
the purpose of cutting or shaving off the burr formed by the action of the
rotary cutters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Parkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
March 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PARKES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, .Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Parkes, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Parkes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Parkes, 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBE
CUTTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Parkes, 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 Thomas Parkes, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
Tube cutters as ordinarily constructed consist of a nearly semicircular claw
on the end of the handle, in which claw the tube to be cut is supported, and a
rotary or other cutter working in the line of the handle. By pressing the
cutter against the tube supported by the claw and giving a rotary motion to
the tube cutter the tube is cut or divided.
In constructing tube cutters according to my Invention I employ three rotary
cutters which act simultaneously on the tube being cut, two of the said cutters
being supported by the claw and the third by an arm or lever jointed to the body
of the cutter. The said arm or lever and the body of the cutter are jointed
together somewhat after the manner of the jointing together of the two parts of
a pair of plyers. The claw is on one side of the body instead of at its end, as
in the ordinary cutter. The arm or lever carrying the third cutter is pressed
towards the claw by a screw working through the handle of the cutter; by turning
this screw the third cutter may be pressed forcibly towards the claw of the
cutter.
In using a tube cutter made according to my Invention the tube or rod
to be cut is placed in the claw upon the edges of the two rotary cutters
carried by the said claw. By means of the sciew described the third cutter
carried by the arm or lever is pressed against the tube or rod with the required
degree of force. On turning the cutter around the fixed tube or rod the three
cutters act simultaneously on the said tube or rod, and by maintaining the
required degree of pressure of the cutters on the rod or tube by means of the
screw the tube or rod is rapidly cut through. A supplementary chisel-ended
cutter may be fixed in the arm or lever carrying the third cutter for the
purpose of cutting or shaving off the burr formed by the action of the rotary
cutters.

page_text: Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same is
to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation a tube cutter constructed according to
my Invention, and Figure 2 is a plan of the under side of the same. The
same letters indicate the same parts in both Figures.
a is the handle of the cutter, and 6 is the claw of the same, situated on one
side of the body c. The said claw supports two rotary cutters d, e, working
in a slot or opening 6 in the said claw b; opposite the claw 6 and body c is
an arm or lever fjointed in the manner represented to the body cat f³, the
forked end of the short arm of the lever f supports a rotary cutter 9 and the
long arm of the lever is made by the pressure of the spring at h to bear
against the lower end of the screw i working through the handle a of the cutter.
The three cutters d, e, g, are situated in the same plane, by turning the screw i
by its handle the third cutter 9 carried by the lever f may be pressed
forcibly towards the cutters d, e, carried by the claw b, or be removed the
required distance from the said cutters d, e. In using the tube cutter Figures 1
and 2 the tube or rod k to be cut is placed in the claw 6 and upon the edges of
the two cutters d, e, in the manner represented in the Drawing, the screw i
having been so far withdrawn as to cause the separation of the cutter g to a
sufficient distance from the cutters d, e, to permit of the ready introduction
of the tube or rod k. By now turning the handle the screw i is made to
depress the long arm of the lever f and raise its short arm, and cause the
cutter g carried by the said short arm to bear with the required degree of
force against the tube or rod k. The tube or rod having been fixed the
instrument is carried round the fixed tube or rod as a centre, the three rotary
cutters d, e, g, acting simultaneously on the said tube or rod and by maintaining
the requisite degree of pressure of the three cutters on the rod or tube by means
of the screw i the tube or rod is rapidly cut or divided. In places where it
is not possible or convenient to carry the tube cutter round the tube so as to
make the said cutter perform a rotary motion upon the tube, the cutting
off of the tube may be effected by giving the cutter a reciprocating motion
through a little more than one-third of a circle, an advantage not possessed
by tube cutters of the ordinary construction.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and represented as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of Invention.
my

page_text: But I claim as my Invention the improvements in tube cutters herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
constructing tube cutters in which three rotary cutters, two supported by the
claw of the instrument, and the third by an arm or lever jointed to the body
of the instrument are made to act simultaneously upon the tube or rod,
substantially as described and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Parkes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
THOMAS PARKES. (L.S.)