Improvements in Wood Graining Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 18th July, 1893-Accepted, 26th Aug., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wood Graining Machines.
I, JOHN SHANNON, Manufacturer, residing at No. 102 Seventh Avenue, in the
City of Pittsburg, County of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, and United States
of America, 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 invention described herein relates to certain improvements in graining woods
in imitation of the natural grain or growth of hard close grained woods, by forming
cuts or indentations beneath the surface of soft woods and then applying a suitable
filler to such cut or indented surface. These cuts or indentations have been made
by a roller formed of a series of cutting disks separated by a series of washers of
less diameter than the cutting disks, so that the edges of the disks will project a
sufficient distance into the material brought in contact therewith.
It is desirable in order to produce the best effects that the cuts or indentations
for the filler should be in very close proximity to each other, separated from each
other by an exceedingly thin wall of wood, and it is also desirable that the cuts or
indentations should be sufficiently deep to permit of a slight planing off of the
treated surfaces, without obliterating the cuts or indentations. When the cutting
disks are arranged on a roller so as to produce cuts or indentations of the desired
depth and proximity to each other, the walls of wood become jammed between
adjacent disks and hence the action of the disks is to crush or break down the
fibres of the surface of the wood rather than to form thin walls.
The object of the present invention is to produce the cuts or indentations by
means of a series of two or more rollers provided with peripheral cutting edges, the
cutting edges of one roller being arranged in a plane passing between the cutting
edges of the other roller. It is a further object of this invention to form the cutting
or indenting edges by cutting a series of peripheral grooves in the surface of the
roller, and it is also an object of this invention to construct the roller with a series
of removable longitudinal sections, provided on their faces with a series of cutting
edges. The invention claimed is hereinafter more fully described.
In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this Specification,
Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a graining machine having my invention applied
thereto;
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;
Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner of arranging the design on
the rollers as regards the initial points thereof so that the designs on the rollers
will properly overlap;
Fig. 4 is a view showing the effect produced by each roller;
Fig. 5 is a transverse section of a roller having the removable sections ;
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the same;
Figs. 7 and 8 are sectional views of a molding and the roller for graining the
same, respectively.
In the practice of my invention, the rollers 1, 2 and 3 are mounted in suitable
bearings 4 on opposite sides of the bed 5 of the machine. On the ends of the shafts
of the rollers are secured gear wheels 6, which are caused to rotate in unison by
the interposed pinions 7. A gear wheel 8 on one of the shafts intermeshes with
corresponding wheel on the driving shaft 9.
The rollers are preferably formed of cast steel and the norinhonal custome

page_text: forming screw threads, except that the grooves and cutting edges do not extend
spirally along the rollers. The depth to which the grooves are cut is dependent
upon the depth of cut to be made in the wood and the width of the grooves is
dependent upon the number of intermediate cuts or indentations, as will be herein-
after described.
After the cutting edges have been formed the surfaces of the rollers are covered
with wax or acid resisting material, and the design to be produced is then marked
on the coated surfaces of each of the rollers. The coating is then removed from
the rollers at such parts of the design marked thereon, as are to be in relief on the
wood treated. The rollers are then placed in acid to eat out the exposed portions
of the cutting edges, and the coating is then removed from the other portions
of the rollers.
In lieu of this method of preparing the rollers, the design may be traced on the
rollers in any desired manner, and the cutting edges of the rollers at such points of
the design as are to be in relief may be cut away with a chisel or in any other
suitable manner.
If desired the operative faces of the rollers may be formed by a series of
longitudinal sections 12, which can be removably attached to the body of the roller
by means of a dovetail projection 13 on the sections fitting correspondingly shaped
grooves in the body of the roller, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, or in any other suitable
manner. These sections are attached to the roller, and the cutting edges and the
design are formed on their outer faces in the manner hereinbefore described. The
employment of the removable sections permits of easy changes of the designs to be
produced without removing the rollers from the machine.
After the rollers have been prepared in the manner described, they are so
mounted in their bearings in the machine, that the cuts or indentations b formed by
the roller 2 will be intermediate of the adjacent cuts a formed by the roller 1 and
the cuts or indentations e formed by roller 3 will be intermediate of the cuts a and b,
as clearly shown in Fig. 4. It will be observed that the cuts or indentations care
not only intermediate of adjacent cuts a and b, but are also intermediate of adjaceut
cuts b, and adjacent cuts a.
The arrangement of the cutting edges of one roller with relation to those of the
other rollers may be effected either by adjusting the rollers longitudinally in their
bearings or by properly locating the cutting edges upon the rollers during the
manufacture thereof. By reference to Fig. 4, it will be seen the walls of wood e
formed by the cutting edges of the roller 1 are comparatively wide and consequently
sufficiently strong to permit of cuts a being quite deep without liability of injuring
such walls. As the adjacent cutting edges of the roller 2, straddle the cuts a, these
cuts or indentations permit of the two walls of wood formed by roller 2 to close
together, thus preventing a wedging in and consequent crushing down of said walls
between adjacent cutting edges of the roller 2. The adjacent cutting edges of the
roller 3 will straddle two cuts or indentations a and b, which will permit of a
greater degree of closing in of the walls, and hence there is less liability of wedging
between adjacent cutting edges, as is desirable on account of the diminished
thickness and strength of such walls.
As the same design is formed on each of the rollers it is necessary that the
rollers should be so rotated that the design on the successive roller or rollers shall
exactly overlap the design partially formed on the board by the roller 1. To this
end, the same part of the design on each roller is taken as an initial point, as
indicated at t, y and, in Fig. 3. These points having been established, the rollers
and their driving mechanism are so adjusted that when the initial point r on the
roller 1 is directly below the axis of said roller, the initial point y of roller 2 will
have reached such a point in its rotation that the peripheral distance between the
point of intersection of a vertical plane passing through the axis of roller 2 and
the bed of the machine, and the point y, measuring in the direction contrary to
that of the rotation of the roller, is equal to the distance between the axes of the
rollers 1 and 2. The peripheral distance between the initial point z and the point

page_text: of intersection of a vertical plane through the axis of roller 3 and the bed of the
machine, measured in a direction contrary to that of the rotation of the roller is
equal to the distance between the axes of the rollers 1 and 3.
By reference to Fig. 4 the clearness and sharpness with which the design is
brought out by the multiplicity of cuts and indentations, is clearly shown. The
number of rollers used in producing any given design depends entirely upon the
character of the design, i.e. whether a high or low relief is desired, the number of
rollers used increasing with the sharpness or height of design desired, hence, I do
not limit myself to any specified number of rollers.
While preferring to employ rollers constructed in the manner described, it is
evident that rollers consisting of a series of metal disks and interposed washers may
be employed.
The roller herein described is especially adapted for graining moldings, such as
shown in Fig. 7, as the roller can be turned to the desired contour prior to forming
the peripheral cutting edges. Whereas the turning of rollers consisting of a series
of disks is a very difficult operation on account of the thinness of the disks, and the
consequent liability of their edges being turned over.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. In a
graining machine, the combination of a series of two or more rollers
provided with a series of peripheral cutting edges, said rollers being so arranged with
reference to each other that the cutting edges of one roller shall lie in a plane
passing between the cutting edges of the other roller, substantially as set forth.
2. A roller for graining machine provided with a series of peripheral cutting
edges formed by grooving its operative face, substantially as set forth.
3. A roller for graining machines, having in combination therewith a series of
longitudinal sections removably attached to the periphery of the roller, the
operative faces of said sections being provided with a series of transverse cutting
edges, substantially as set forth.
Dated at Cleveland, Ohio, this Twenty-ninth day of May A.D. 1893.
The State Ohio, Cuyahoga County.
Personally appeared before me a Notary Public in and for said County in said
State the above named John Shannon who signed the foregoing instrument in my
presence and then and there declared the same to be his free act and deed.
THOMAS PIWOUKA,