IMPROVEMENTS ON MACHINES FOR PLANING WOOD, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLI- CABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Varicas, of No. 24, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS ON
MACHINES FOR PLANING WOOD, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLI-
CABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by William
Howard Doane, of Cincinnati, in the County of Hamilton, and State of Ohio,
United States of America.
Sealed the 18th February 1879, and dated the 29th October 1878.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Lionel Varicas at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 29th October 1878.
LIONEL VARICAS, of No. 24, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS ON MACHINES FOR PLANING WOOD, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS
BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by
William Howard Doane, of Cincinnati, in the County of Hamilton, and State of
Ohio, United States of America.
This Invention was designed with a special view to improve the construction of a
certain class of machines for planing wood, but it will be found useful in the con-
struction of other machines which require dressed or planed surfaces on the interior
side or sides of the stand or frame. In the following description I shall however
mention only machines for planing wood, as it is in these machines that the advan-
tages of my Invention are particularly noticeable.
The object of the Invention is to cast the frame or stand of a planing machine
constructed with a vertically adjustable table in a single piece. The table of such
a machine is supported and guided on vertical ways or guides on the interior faces
of the sides of the frame, and as these guides or ways have heretofore been formed
on the sides of the frame it was necessary, in order to provide for the planing thereof

page_text: as required, to cast the sides of the frame separately, and to afterwards connect them
together by girt pieces and by bolts. This necessitated the planing of the sides at
the points where the girts were attached, the planing of the ends of the girts, the
drilling of bolt holes in bolts, the sides of the frame-and-in-the-girts,-and-the-use-of
bolts and nuts to bolt the parts together; all of which required considerable labour
and added materially to the cost of the machine, and the frame was less rigid than
could be desired. All these objections are overcome by this Invention, which con-
sists mainly in the provision of slots in the sides of the frame and of separate and
detachable guides or ways for the table suitably adapted to be applied to the sides
of the frame, through the slots therein, without requiring any dressing or planing
on the interior of such sides, so that such frame, with its sides and connecting girts,
may-all-be-cast-in-a-single-piece-as-heretofore-stated._The_use_of_detachable ways
or guides possesses the further advantage that any lost motion between them and the
table can be taken up by adjusting such ways or guides.
In the accompanying Drawings,-
'
Figure 1 is a perspective view of so much of a planing machine as requires to be
shown to illustrate the Invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section thereof in a plane
indicated by broken line x, x, in Figure 1.
Figures 3 and 4 are detail views of the detachable ways or guides, shewing the
preferred mode of constructing and applying them.
Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a modification in the construction and application of the
detachable ways or guides.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
The frame or stand is composed of the sides or housings A and the girts B which
connect the sides at the ends up to a certain height so as not to interfere with the
vertical adjustment of the table C, located between the sides under cutter head D
and feed and pressure rolls E and F, which turn in bearings on the top of housing A.
In each side or housing of the stand is formed a vertical slot A¹ for the reception of
the detachable vertical ways or guides G on which the table C moves, it being
formed or provided with suitable vertical grooves on its sides adapted to such ways
or guides.
The preferable construction and application of these guides or ways is shewn in
the first four Figures of the Drawing. According thereto these guides consist of a
plate in length about equal to the height of slots A¹, but of less width than such
slots. A straight rail is formed on the inner side of the plate to engage the groove
in the table. Set screws H are screwed into taps in the side edges of the plate,
which screws are screwed out to brace hard against the edges of the slot after the
guide has been placed therein in proper position.
The set screws admit of the proper adjustment of the guide with reference to the
table. The guides are covered by a plate I placed over them and bolted to the sides
or housings A, and in order to maintain the guides firmly in position against any
lateral crowding of the table, backing screws K are inserted in the covering plates I
to bear against the back of the guides, near the top and bottom thereof. The
backing screws are provided with jam nuts / to lock them, and may be used to set
up the guides, to take up any lost motion occasioned by wear.
The guides may be formed and applied as shewn in Figures 5 and 6; or instead
of securing them by screws, as shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, they may be secured
by wedges or by casting soft metal around them after they have been fitted.
Still another modification would be to let guide blocks on the table project
through the slots in the housings A, and move on ways on the exterior sides
thereof.
All these I regard as inferior modifications, and the best form of the Invention so
far devised by me is shown in the first four Figures of the Drawings.
In the example shown the table C is vertically supported upon a central screw
spindle, which is mounted upon a cross bar of the frame, operates in a nut fixed on
the table, and is driven by bevil gearing.

page_text: 1st. The frame or stand constructed substantially as set forth, the sides and ends
thereof being composed of a single piece of casting, and slots being formed in the
sides for the ways or guides of the table arranged and moving between such
sides.
2nd. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of the connectedly cast
housings or sides of the frame provided with slots, the table arranged and moving
between such housings and the detachable ways or guides fixed in said slots.
3rd. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of the side or housing of
the frame having a slot, the detachable way or guide inserted in said slot, and set
screws to fix the guide in the slot.
4th. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of the side or housing of
the frame having a slot, the detachable way or guide inserted in said slot, set screws
to fix the guide in the slot, and backing screws to bear against the back of the
guide.
5th. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of the side or housing of
the frame having a slot, the detachable way or guide inserted in said slot, set screws
to fix the guide in the slot, a plate to cover the guide, and backing screws to bear
against the back of the guide.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Varicas, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth (29th) day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
LIONEL VARICAS. (L.S.)