IMPROVEMENTS MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TIMBER INTO LATHS, STRIPS, FLOORING AND OTHER BOARDS AND PIECES, ALSO POR CUTTING METALS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Wilson, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the
County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TIMBER INTO LATHS, STRIPS, FLOORING AND
OTHER BOARDS AND PIECES, ALSO POR CUTTING METALS AND OTHER
MATERIALS."
Sealed the 7th June 1870, and dated the 11th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th December 1869.
I, HENRY WILSON, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TIMBER INTO LATHS, STRIPS, FLOORING AND OTHER
BOARDS AND PIECES, ALSO FOR CUTTING METALS AND OTHER MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of an arrangement of one or more knives fixed
in a frame and works at one end by an eccentric which gives motion to a
bar or shaft to which the knife holder is attached by a swivel at each end,
a connecting rod working on a pin in the eccentric and connected to a
moveable crank at the other end, which gives a reciprocating motion to
a shaft on which is fixed an adjustable crank working a rod or bar

page_text: carrying the other end of the knife holder. By the adjustable crank or
lever a sliding or slicing motion is given to the knife in addition to the
alternating up and down motion of the knife holder. The feeding motion
is formed of a toothed roller running the whole length of the knives and
is worked by a ratchet wheel with palls and bit moved by a rod working
in a slotted plate attached to the eccentric.
I also sometimes construct my machine with an eccentric in the centre
of the connecting rod, or by two connecting rods working from a single
or double eccentric and attached to the bars or rods that work the
knives with adjustable cranks or levers, which cranks or levers can in
connection with the eccentric be so arranged that the motion of the
knives may be varied according to the requirements of the material to
be cut.
I also sometimes form the knife like a saw cither by one serrated
blade, or by a series of knives similar to reaper knives, and in order to
bring them into operation I attach a connecting rod to the adjustable
crank; this sets in motion a lever fitting into a sliding block or fulcrum,
the use of which is. to lengthen or shorten the stroke of the swivels
carrying the ends of the bars which receives a reciprocating motion from
the lever, and so produces a slicing, chopping, and sawing motion com-
bined. The reciprocating or sawing motion may be so arranged that it can
be moved any proportionate number of times faster than the up-and-
down or slicing motion of the machine, and the feed motion is so
arranged that any thickness or width of material may be cut, and by
fixing all the working gear above the cutter or knives long boards or
other materials may be cut or sliced instead of being sawn in the
ordinary manner, this arrangement being applicable to the formation of
flooring and other boards, tiling, and venetian blind, laths, and all other
articles of a like nature.
By the arrangements above described or their equivalents I can apply
the power for giving the knives or cutters a sliding or sawing motion
instead of as in other machines of a like sort a chopping motion, this
application of motion being such as to lessen very greatly the power
required to drive the machine, and also to enable the operation of
steaming to be dispensed with, which operation is essential in all other
methods and destroys and renders brittle the wood by extracting the
resinous qualities from it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILSON, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the
year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Henry Wilson, Her special licence that I,
the said Henry Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Henry Wilson, 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
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CUTTING TIMBER INTO LATHS, STRIPS, FLOORING AND OTHER BOARDS AND
PIECES, ALSO FOR CUTTING METALS AND OTHER MATERIALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Wilson, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 Scal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Wilson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, referring to the Drawings accompanying these
Presents, namely:-
:-
Fig. 1, a front elevation of one arrangement adopted by me; Fig. 2,
end elevation of same; Fig. 3, elevation of another arrangement; Fig. 4,
part elevation of an arrangement with a saw cutter; Fig. 5, elevation of
another arrangement; Fig. 6, end elevation of same. For reference

page_text: thereto the letters herein-after mentioned will be found placed on the
parts represented in the said Drawings.
My Invention has reference (see Figs. 1 and 2) to an arrangement of
one or more knives A fixed in a frame B and worked at one end by an
eccentric C which gives motion to a bar or shaft D to which the knife
holder is attached by the swivel E at each end. A connecting rod working
on a pin G in the eccentric C and connected to a moveable crank at
the other end affords a reciprocating motion to a shaft on which is fixed
an adjustable crank H working a rod or bar carrying the other end of
the knife holder. By the adjustable crank or lever a sliding or slicing
motion is given to the knife in addition to the alternating up-and-down
motion of the knife holder. The feeding motion can be formed of a
toothed roller I running the whole length of the knives, and is worked
by a ratchet wheel with palls and bit moved by a rod L working in a
slotted plate attached to the eccentric, or as I generally prefer I uso the
following arrangement (shown in Figs. 5 and 6), that is, I have a
shaft A, upon which is fixed a number of pulleys b, b, b, b, b; a belt or
chain of leather or any other suitable material is driven by these pulleys
and passes round the rollers O*. Small sharp spikes are fixed in thesc
belts and rollers for catching the wood and carrying it under the knife;
a second series of rollers D* are placed above these belts and rollers for
the purpose of preventing the wood from rising as it is carried towards
the knife. A flat plate of metal or other material e is attached to the
shaft carrying the, roller D*, the use of this flat plate being to keep the
wood down to the bed of the machine and prevent the knife lifting
it with the up stroke; this plate is either weighted or kept down by
springs.
I also construct my machine (as shown in Fig. 3) with an eccentric
in the centre of the connecting rod, or by two connecting rods working
from a single or double eccentric and attached to the bars or rods that
work the knives with adjustable cranks H or levers with cranks, or
levers can in connection with the eccentric be so arranged that the
motion of the knives may be varied according to the requirements of
the material to be cut.
I also sometimes form the knife like a saw (see Fig. 4) either by
one serrated blade or by a series of knives similar to reaper knives, and
in order to bring them into operation I attach a connecting rod A³ to the
adjustable crank H; this sets in motion a lever fitting into a sliding

page_text: block or fulcrum, the use of which is to lengthen or shorten the stroke of
the swivels carrying the ends of the bars which receives a reciprocating
motion from the lever B³, and so produces a slicing, chopping, and
sawing motion combined. The reciprocating or sawing motion may be so
arranged that it can be moved any proportionate number of times faster
than the up-and-down or slicing motion of the machine, and the feed
motion is so arranged that any thickness or width of material may be
cut, and by fixing all the working gear above the cutter or knives long
boards or other material may be cut or sliced instead of being sawn in
the ordinary manner, this arrangement being applicable to the formation
of flooring and other boards, tiling, and venetian blinds, laths, and all
other articles of a like nature.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and in what manner the same may be performed, I hereby
declare that I claim, the "Improvements in Machinery for Cutting
Timber into Laths, Strips, Flooring and other Boards and Pieces, also
for Cutting Metals and other Materials," it being understood that by the
arrangements above described or their equivalents I can apply the power
for giving the knives or cutters a sliding or sawing motion instead of as
in the other machines of a like sort a chopping motion, this application
of motion being such as to lessen very greatly the power required to
drive the machine, and also to enable the operation of steaming to be
dispensed with, which operation is essential in all other methods, and
destroys and renders brittle the wood by extracting the resinous qualities
from it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
30 Witness,
ARCHIBALD ELLIOTT,
Raglan Terrace,
Stockton.
HENRY WILSON. (L.S.)