IMPROVED MACHINERY POR MAKING TAPERS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph James Lane, of Cranbrook Place, Old Ford
Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MACHINERY POR MAKING TAPERS."
Sealed the 26th November 1867, and dated the 29th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph James Lane at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th June 1867.
I, JOSEPH JAMES LANE, of Cranbrook Place, Old Ford Road, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING TAPERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, first, to a novel arrangement of machinery for
coating cotton strands with wax or a composition for the manufacture of
tapers; and, secondly, to the cutting up of the coated strands into lengths
suitable for forming matches. Instead of driving by band and independently
the drums or cylinders which are employed for drawing the strands to and fro

page_text: through the melted wax or composition, I use the following contrivance for
effecting the like object. On opposite sides of the vessel containing the
melted wax or composition I mount horizontally in a suitable frame a cylinder
of a size equal to receiving, say, a dozen strands; these cylinders I set suffi-
ciently far apart to enable the coating taken up by the strands to harden during
the passage of the strands from the vessel to the winding-on cylinder. The
cylinders are each driven by the friction of a roller which bears upon one end
thereof; these rollers are mounted so as to slide on a horizontal or radial
shaft fitted with a feather, and they are severally embraced by a sliding plate
carried by the framing, and employed to traverse the friction roller along its
shaft, and thus increase or decrease its driving power according as the tapers
accumulate upon or are withdrawn from either cylinder. Motion is given
from any first mover to the feathered shafts carrying the rollers through bevil
gears and shafting which connect the motions of the two cylinders together.
The sliding plate is fitted with a lug, which is tapped to receive the end of a
traversing screw shaft having its bearing on the end of the framing; keyed to
this shaft is a worm wheel, which takes into a worm keyed on the axle of the
cylinder. As the cylinder is driven by the friction roller the worm will
through the worm wheel drive the traversing-screw; and' cause it: to move the
sliding plate and with it the friction roller, thus. diminishing or increasing the
rate of rotation of. the cylinder, as. desired. The mechanism is so arranged
that as the tapers accumulate on one cylinder the speed of rotation of that
cylinder, will decrease, and the speed of the other cylinder, will, increase,, and
thus the taper strands will, be kept at a uniform. tension or nearly so. To facili-
tate the even laying of the strands on the cylinders, each cylinder is provided
with a transverse screw for traversing a guide plate to and fro, and delivering
the strands on to the winding-on cylinders; these screws are driven by pulleys
and bands. from, the cylinder axle. To keep the cylinders in contact with the
friction rollers.screws are provided to bear upon one end of their axles and
set them up as required. In order to cut up the coated strands or tapers to
an even or uniform length I lay the ends of any given number of strands in a
kind of trough with open ends set opposite an adjustable stop or gauge; this
gauge consists simply of a plate with an edge turned' up at right angles for
the ends of the tapers to abut against while being cut. An adjusting screw
passed freely through a lug fixed on the cutting table enters the thread of a
tapped lug fitted to the sliding plate, and a handle fitted to the plate
completes the gauge. When the tapers are moved forward so that their ends
project beyond the trough a distance about equal to the length to be cut off,
the gauge is then brought smartly up as far as the screw will allow it to

page_text: move, and by striking the ends of the tapers it will adjust them to an
uniform position; a pressing piece operated by the hand or by the foot is
then brought down upon the tapers and caused to hold them firmly, and while
so held a hinged blade is brought down flush with the end of the trough, and
caused to cut off the protruded lengths of tapers.