IMPROVEMENTS IN MORTISING MACHINES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Parsons, of Toronto Terrace, Brighton,
in the County of Sussex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MORTISING MACHINES."
Sealed the 17th April 1866, and dated the 21st October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st October 1865:
I, WILLIAM PARSONS, of Toronto Terrace, Brighton, in the County of
Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MORTISING MACHINES," to be as follows:―
These improvements are comprised under two principal heads. The
first has reference to the tool employed for cutting the mortice, and the
second to that part of a mortising machine employed to hold the work and
adjust the same to the mortising tool. As regards the improvement in the
mortising tool it consists in forming and fixing the same in such a manner
as to dispense with the necessity for turning round or reversing the position
of the said tool for squaring the mortice as commonly practised. I propose
to effect this by forming the point of the tool of a V-shape, and in fixing
the same in a holder of the following construction:-I form a bracket piece
with a horizontal boss bored out to receive a cylinder of metal, through the
centre of which a hole is formed to receive a long screw, the screwed end
whereof fits into a corresponding screwed. hole through the end of the.

page_text: aforesaid boss. The opposite end of the said screw passes through a
The afore-
square hole in a lever wheel which is fixed thereto by a nut.
said cylinder fits loosely upon the plain part or barrel of the above-men-
tioned long screw, and is held close to the lever wheel aforesaid by a pin
passed through the said screw, so that upon turning round the lever wheel
aforesaid in one direction the aforesaid cylinder into which the end of the
mortising tool is fixed may be drawn outwards, thus enabling the said tool
to be adjusted to the work in a transverse direction, the work being
adjusted longitudinally by the ordinary means. I also form a notch in the
face of the aforesaid boss immediately under the centre thereof; the sides
of this notch are intended to keep one side of the mortising tool vertical in
the work, so that upon moving the said tool from one side of the said slot
to the opposite side thereof the opposite side of the tool will be vertical,
and by these means the necessity for turning round or reversing the tool is
obviated.
In conclusion I would remark that the tool carrier, with its bossed
bracket above described, may be adjusted in the working slide of the
machine to suit the varying widths of timber to be mortised, instead of
adjusting the work to the cutter as commonly practised.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st April 1866..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PARSONS, of Toronto Terrace, Brighton, in the County of Sussex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto:
me, the said William Parsons, Her special licénce that I, the said William
Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Parsons, 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,

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MORTISING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Parsons, my executors or administrators,
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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Parsons, 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, that is to say :-
These improvements are comprised under two principal heads. The
first has reference to the tool employed for cutting the mortice, and the
second to that part of a mortising machine employed to hold the work and
adjust the same to the mortising tool. As regards the improvement in the
mortising tool it consists in forming and fixing same in such a manner as
to dispense with the necessity for turning round or reversing the position
of the said tool for squaring the mortice as commonly practised. I propose
to effect this by forming the point of the tool of a V-shape, and in fixing.
the same in a holder of the following construction :-I form a bracket piece
with a horizontal boss bored out to recieve a cylinder of metal, through the
centre of which a hole is formed to receive a long screw, the screwed end
whereof fits into a corresponding screwed hole through the end of the afore-
said boss. The opposite end of the said screw passes through a square hole
in a lever wheel which is fixed thereto by a nut. The aforesaid cylinder fits
loosely upon the plain part or barrel of the above-mentioned long screw,
and is held close to the lever wheel aforesaid by a pin passed through the
said screw, so that upon turning round the lever wheel aforesaid in one
direction the aforesaid cylinder, into which the end of the mortising tool
is fixed, may be drawn outwards, thus enabling the said tool to be adjusted
to the work in a transverse direction, the work being adjusted longitudinally
by the ordinary means. I also form a notch in the face of the aforesaid
boss immediately under the centre thereof; the sides of this notch are
intended to keep one side of the mortising tool vertical in the work, so that
upon moving the said tool from one side of the said slot to the opposite
side thereof the opposite side of the tool will be vertical, and by these
means the necessity for turning round or reversing the tool is obviated.
In conclusion, I would remark that the tool carrier, with its bossed,
bracket above described, may be adjusted in the working slide of the

page_text: machine to suit the varying widths of timber to be mortised, instead of
adjusting the work to the cutter as commonly practised.
And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible I
now proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying'
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet
of Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral figures and
. letters of reference marked thereon, respectively as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improved mortising machine;
Figure 2, a front elevation thereof; Figure 3, a sectional elevation of the
tool holder, hereafter referred to, drawn to a scale of one half-full size
Figure 4, a transverse section through the line A, B, at Figure 3.
.1
;
con-
A is the stand of the machine; B, an upright bolted to A; C, a sliding
piece held in position by the pieces a, a, screwed to B; D, a lever connected
by a pin at 6 to the bracket E cast upon the piece A; the lever D is
nected by a rod G to the piece C by a pin at d; H is an adjustable weight
for balancing the long arm of the lever D and tool holder and tool, which
are of the 'following construction, shewn more clearly at Figures 3 and 4.
I is a casting formed with a long boss K; this casting is connected by the
bolt and nut at e to the sliding piece C, and is capable of being adjusted
either higher or lower on the piece C, and may be retained in proper
vertical position by the projecting piece f, the edges whereof are planed
true and parallel, as also the edges of the piece I, K. L is a cylinder of
metal fitting true in a corresponding shaped hole, bored in the piece I; K;
M is a long bolt passed through a hole formed in L, to which it is con-
nected lengthwise by the shoulder 1, and washer and pin at 2; N is a screw
cut on M, this screw passes through a screwed hole formed in a square
piece of metal O, which is fitted-into a corresponding shaped recess formed
in the part I of the piece I, K. P is the mortising chisel screwed into a
*hole in the piece L, and further secured thereto by the nut g. The cutting
edge of the chisel P is formed as a wedge, as at Figure 4, for the purpose
hereafter stated. By turning round the bolt M by the wheel Q, the piece L
with the chisel may be moved either outwards or inwards in K to adjust the
chisel to the wood to be mortised. R is a screw for tightening the piece
L in any desired position; S is a sliding bed plate, working between guide
pieces 3, 3, screwed to the stand A; h is a toothed rack formed at the
under side of S, this rack takes into the teeth of a pinion T fixed on a
spindle i, suitably supported; U is a wheel for imparting rotatory motion

page_text: to the pinion T and table S, the wood to be mortised being securely held
in position on S by the parts W, X; the piece W is cast on S, and the
piece X is adjustable by the screw k, which passes through a screwed hole
formed in the lug Y, which is also cast on the piece S. The operations of
this machine are as follows:-The chisel being adjusted transversely to the
wood which is to be mortised, the workman then proceeds to adjust the
chisel into the position denoted by the dotted lines at Z, Figure 4, so that
upon the workman pressing down the lever D, the chisel will make a
vertical cut in the wood, and thus cut one end of the mortise square; and
when the workman has advanced and cut the wood the entire length of
the mortise he then reverses the position of the chisel to that shown by the
dotted lines at Z, Figure 4, by which the other end of the mortise may be
cut square, or by leaving the chisel in the position shewn at Z2, Figure. 4,
the ends of the mortice may be cut bevil.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature of my said
Invention, together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, I hereby declare that what I claim as my
Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:-—
I claim making the cutting tool or chisel of a mortising machine of a
V shape, and connecting such said tool to a horizontal cylinder of metal
capable of being moved partly round either to the right hand or to the left,
so as to bring the sides of the chisel upright or square with the surface
of the wood to be mortised, by which I am enabled to square the
ends of the mortise without turning the chisel round for that purpose,
as heretofore practised, as constituting "Improvements in Mortising
Machines."
In witness whereof, I, the said William Parsons, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM PARSONS. (L.S.)