IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING WOOD
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Carnegie Kirk, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, and David Thomson, of Johnstone, in the County
of Renfrew, North Britain, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CUTTING WOOD."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk
and David Thomson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
30th July 1880.
ALEXANDER CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, and DAVID THOMSON, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING WOOD."
This Invention has for its object the construction of an improved and simple
machine, combining in a compact and convenient form arrangements for cutting
wood in various ways.
The framing of the improved machine is in the form of a table or hollow rectangular
pedestal, or in any other suitable form, giving a convenient height to the working
parts. Across the upper part of the framing there is carried a rotating horizontal
shaft or "block" fitted for the attachment to it of cutters for acting on the wood.
One purpose for which the machine is designed is that of dressing boards straight
and even or out of twist, the boards being passed over the rotating cutter block to
be acted upon on their under sides. The depth of action or cut is determined by
the positions of horizontal guide plates or tables before and behind the cutter block.
Each table is carried upon a light frame or grating, on which it can be moved by
an adjusting screw or otherwise, so as to give room for removing the cutters or the
rotating block when required, or for the escape of chips when the block is
operating on a board beneath it, as hereinafter described. The adjustment of the
tables for height is applied to their supporting frames or gratings, and is such as to
keep the inner edges of the tables nearly at the same distance from the cutter block
in all positions. For this purpose the gratings may be fitted on inclined guides, or
they may be arranged in any other suitable way. When they are mounted on
radius links, two duplex links instead of four single links of the ordinary kind are

page_text: used for each grating, and screw pins with conical centres and check nuts are used
instead of ordinary joint pins to connect the parts. This improved arrangement
imparts great steadiness, whilst the centre pins can be screwed up for wear,
as well as serving for adjusting the grating transversely to a small extent.
When a board has been dressed or evened on its under side it frequently requires
to be thicknessed or dressed on its upper side, for which purpose provision is made
for passing it back through the machine without turning it over. Two pairs of
feeding rollers are placed beneath the top guide plates or tables, and as close as
convenient to the cutter block on each side, and the board is passed between these
rollers so as to have its upper side acted on by the cutter block. Rollers are also
provided at the ends of the machine to assist in supporting the board. The lower
feeding rollers near the cutter block are carried in a movable frame fitted in
vertical guides in the main framing, and the lower part of the movable frame is
connected to the main framing by one or two screw spindles fitted with a worm-
wheel or worm wheels, to be turned by a horizontal worm or worms for adjusting
the height of the rollers. At one end of the framing a vertical spindle is fitted with
pulley for driving it by, and is made with a head to receive cutters for operating
on the edge of a board passing through the machine. This vertical spindle may be
carried on a slide block made adjustable transversely to suit different widths of
board, and acting in concert with a fixed guide; or the guide may be adjustable
transversely, and the block carrying the vertical spindle be fixed. Provision may
be made for raising the vertical spindle so as to protrude through an opening in
the upper table where it may be used for cutting mouldings, or be combined with
two independently adjustable side guides, arranged like those of the horizontal tables
for cutting straight the edges of boards which are too wide to be conveniently
handled on the horizontal tables.
2
A small further addition renders the machine capable of checking boards, for
which purpose an overhanging cutter head is provided on one end of the main
cutter block or shaft, and for presenting the board to this cutter head a table or
rest with holding, adjusting, and fence details is fitted on a bracket cast upon the
movable frame, the vertical screw adjustment of which serves also for determining
the depth of action of the check cutters. For tenoning, two cutter heads are
arranged at the side of the machine to operate simultaneously on the upper and
under sides of the board, and one of these cutter heads may be on the end of the
main cutter block or shaft, the other being on a separate shaft.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk and David Thomson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th January 1881.
ALEXANDER CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, and DAVID THOMSON, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain. IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING WOOD."
"
Our said Invention has for its object the construction of an improved and simple
machine, combining in a compact and convenient form arrangements for cutting
wood in various ways.
One purpose for which the machine is designed is that of dressing boards straight
and even or out of twist, the boards being passed over a rotating cutter block to be
acted upon on their under sides. When a board has been dressed or evened on its
under side, it frequently requires to be thicknessed or dressed on its upper side, for
which purpose provision is made for passing it back through the machine without
turning it over. At one end of the framing a vertical spindle is provided for
operating by means of a cutter head on the longitudinal edge of a board passing
through the machine. A small further addition renders the machine capable of
checking boards; and for tenoning, two cutter heads may be arranged at the side of
the machine to operate simultaneously on the upper and under sides of the board;
and one of these cutter heads may be on the end of the main cutter block or shaft,
the other being on a separate shaft.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, we hereunto append two Sheets of explanatory
Drawings, to be hereinafter referred to, and representing a wood cutting machine as
made with our improvements.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, is a side elevation of the
machine, and Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section. Figure 3, on Sheet 2, is an
end elevation. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are use to mark the
same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The framing of our improved machine is in the form of a table or hollow
rectangular pedestal 4 (or in any other suitable form) giving a convenient height
to the working parts. Across the upper part of the framing 4 there is carried in
suitable bearings a rotating horizontal shaft or block 5 fitted in the usual way, for
the attachment to it of cutters for acting on the wood, and having fast on it a
pulley 6 for a driving belt. When the under side of a board is being operated on,
the depth of action or cut is determined by the positions of horizontal guide plates
or tables 7 before and behind the cutter block 5. Each table 7 is fitted with a
thin steel strip 8 at its inner edge, and is there cut away underneath to suit the
sweep of the cutters, and each table is carried upon a frame or grating 9 on which
it can be moved by an adjusting screw 10 (or it might be in any other convenient
way) so as to give room for removing the cutters or the rotating block 5 when
required, or for the escape of chips when the block 5 is operating on a board
beneath it, as hereinafter described. The adjustment of the tables 7 for height is
applied to their supporting frames or gratings 9, and is such as to keep the inner
edges (8) of the tables nearly at the same distance from the cutter block 5 in all
positions. For this purpose the gratings 9 may be fitted on inclined guides, or
they may be arranged in any other suitable way. When they are mounted on
radius links, two duplex links 11, instead of four single links of the ordinary kind,
are used for each grating 9, and screw pins 12 with conical centres and check
nuts are used instead of ordinary joint pins to connect the parts. Each duplex
link 11 consists, as it were, of two links, united by or formed in one piece with a
transverse bar 13. The centre pins 12 on which the lower parts of the links 11

page_text: are jointed are tapped through snugs or projections cast for the purpose on the
main frame 4, and the upper centre pins 12 are similarly tapped through parts
formed for them on the gratings 9. This improved arrangement imparts great
steadiness, whilst the centre pins 12 can be screwed up for wear as well as serving
for adjusting the gratings 9 transversely to a small extent. The frames or
gratings 9 are adjusted inwards or outwards by means of screw spindles 61 which
are tapped through nuts held in snugs on the frames, these nuts as well as blocks
through which the spindles pass, and by which they are connected to the fixed
framing, being fitted to swivel to accomodate the angular movements of the
supporting links 11.
In the Drawings a board 14 is represented as being passed through the machine
beneath the cutter block 5 for the purpose of being dressed on its upper side.
For feeding the board 14 through the machine in this way, two pairs or feeding
rollers 15, 16, are placed beneath the top guide plates or tables 7, and as close as
convenient to the cutter block 5 on each side, and the board 14 is passed between
these rollers 15, 16, so as to have its upper side acted on by the cutter block 5.
Rollers 17 are also provided at the ends of the machine to assist in supporting the
board 14. The upper feed rollers 15 have their journals in bearings formed in
blocks 18, which, when not raised by the board, rest on the top edge of the frame 4,
and which are connected by rods 19 to weights 20 below to give the necessary
pressure for feeding, whilst being free to rise to accomodate inequalities in the
board. Springs may be substituted for the weights 20. The lower feeding
rollers 16 are carried in a movable frame 21 fitted in vertical guides in the main
framing 4, and the lower part of the movable frame 21 is connected to the main
framing by one or two screw spindles 22 fitted with a worn wheel 23, or worm-
wheels to be turned by a worm or worms on a transverse horizontal shaft 24,
which can be turned by means of a handle 25 for raising or lowering the movable
frame 21, and thereby adjusting the height of the lower feed rollers 16. The two
pairs of feed rollers 15, 16, are driven by means of gearing partly indicated by
dotted circles in Figure 2, and shown in edge view in Figure 3. A shaft 26
carried partly by an overhanging bracket 27 has on it a pulley 28 for a driving
belt and a pinion 29, which last drives a spur wheel 30. The spur wheel 30 is in
one piece with, or fixed to a pinion driving two large spur wheels 31, which are
on the same shafts with, or fixed to, pinions 32 gearing directly with pinions on
the lower feed rollers 16, and through intermediate pinions 33 above with pinions
on the upper feed rollers 15.
At one end of the main framing 4 there is fitted a vertical spindle 34, with a
pulley 35 on it for a driving belt, and with a head 36 to receive cutters for
operating on one longitudinal edge of a board 14 passing through the machine.
This vertical spindle 34 may be carried, as shown, on a slide block or saddle 37, 4
which is adjustable transversely on guides, to act in concert with a fixed guide or
fence for the board to suit different widths of board; or the guide or fence may be
adjustable transversely, and the block 37 carrying the vertical spindle 34 be fixed;
or again, both parts may be adjustable. In the Drawings, and most fully in
Figure 3, an adjustable fence or guide 38 is shown, being movable by two transverse 4
screw spindles 39, geared together by bevil wheels and a longitudinal spindle 40;
the spindles 39 having handles 41 on their ends, by means of either of which the
fence can be adjusted as required. Provision may be made for raising the vertical
spindle 34, so as to protrude through an opening in the upper table 7, where it may
be used for cutting mouldings, or be combined with two independently adjustable 5
side guides arranged like the horizontal tables 7, for cutting straight the edges of
boards which are two wide to be conveniently handled on the horizontal tables 7.
For guiding boards which are being passed along the horizontal tables 7, there is
provided a lateral guide or fence 42, which is adjustably connected by pairs of
links to a pair of brackets 43, which can be fixed by a clamping screw upon one of 5.
the tables 7.
For checking boards, an overhanging cutter head 44 is provided on one end of

page_text: the main cutter block or shaft 5; and for presenting the board to this cutter head,
a table or sliding rest 45, fitted with holding, adjusting, and gauge details, is carried
on a bracket 46 fixed to or cast on the vertically moving frame 21, or it might be
on a separate vertical slide. On the bracket 46 there is fixed a guide block 47, on
which the sliding rest 45 can be moved to pass the board under the cutter head 44.
On the sliding rest 45 there is fitted a screw press 48, for clamping or fixing the
board; and at one side of the rest 45 there is fitted in bearings a horizontal
spindle 49, having on it an arm or blade 50, serving as a gauge or stop, and
which can be adjusted and fixed by a pinching screw to suit different sizes of
board.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what we believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to us by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of machines for cutting wood,
substantially in the improved manner herein before described.
2. The combined separately adjustable tables (7), and their supporting frames (9),
arranged substantially as and for the purposes berein before described.
3. The improved duplex links (11, 13,) and their connection to the fixed and
movable parts by adjustable centre pins, substantially as and for the purposes
bereinbefore described.
4. The combination of the lower feed rollers (16), and their vertically adjustable
carrying frame (21) with the arrangements for passing the board under the cutter
block (5), substantially as hereinbefore described.
5. The combination of the vertical cutter spindle (34) and its accessories with
the main parts of the machine, as hereinbefore described.
6. The combination of the cutter head (44), sliding rest (45), and their accessories
with the main parts of the machine, as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Thomson, on behalf of the said
Alexander Carnegie Kirk and myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
DAVID THOMSON. (L.S.)