IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TENONS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Geeves, of Thornhill Square, Barnsbury, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TENONS."
Sealed the 21st January 1868, and dated the 23rd July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Geeves at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd July 1867.
I, WILLIAM GEEVES, of Thornhill Square, Barnsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TENONS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cutting
tenons.
According to my Invention I arrange tenon cutting machinery to produce
two tenons simultaneously one at each end of a bar or piece of wood at any
required distance, the one from the other and so that without any setting out
of the work on the bars or pieces of wood any number of them may be tenoned
at each end to exactly the same length. The frame of the machine is similar
to two lathe beds side by side and parallel the one to the other, on one of the
beds there are mounted two similar beads capable of being set and clamped
to the bed at any desired distance the one from the other. Each of the heads
carries two axes one over the other and parallel to the bed; they are driven by
belts passing around pulleys upon them. Each axis carries at its inner end a
circular saw, and there is a space or distance left between the two saws carried

page_text: by the same head equal to the thickness of the tenon it is desired to produce.
The other bed of the machine also has two heads capable of being clamped
upon it at any desired distance apart; each of them carries a vertical axis, the
upper end of which projects and is adapted to receive two circular saws upon
it, the distance between which can be adjusted by introducing washers of
different thicknesses between them. There are belt pulleys on these axes
receiving driving belts, and these and all the axes of the machine are driven
from one driving drum or cylinder parallel to the beds; across the two beds
and in between the heads on each of them two guide rails are clamped, and
a carriage with wheels runs upon them. Upon this carriage the bar or piece
of wood to be tenoned is laid and held up against suitable stops, and to enable
the workman to place the bar or piece accurately on the carriage one of the
guide rails carries an adjustable stop up to which the end of the bar or piece is
caused to butt in placing it on the carriage; the workman then pushes the
carriage forward along its guide rails and the bar or piece of wood is carried
first between the saws on the vertical axes, and so two parallel saw cuts are made
into each end of the bar or piece at a distance apart equal to the thickness of
the tenon required; afterwards as the carriage is pushed further forward
the bar or piece of wood is carried between the saws on the horizontal axes
and so receives two transverse saw cuts at each end, one on either side and
these saw cuts penetrate down to the cuts previously made by the saws on the
vertical axes, and so complete the tenons. In this way any desired number
of bars or pieces may be tenoned so as to be exactly similar the one to the
other and then the machine may be easily readjusted to cut tenons of other
sizes and at other distances apart; carriages of different widths are employed
to suit the length of the bars or pieces to be tenoned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Geeves in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GEEVES, of Thornhill Square, Barnsbury, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said William Geeves, Her special licence that I, the said William
Geeves, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Geeves, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TENONS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Geeves, 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 Geeves, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cutting
tenons. According to my Invention I arrange tenon cutting machinery to
produce two tenons simultaneously one at each end of a bar or piece of
wood at any required distance the one from the other, and so that without
any setting out of the work on the bars or pieces of wood any number of
them may be tenoned at each end to exactly the same length. The frame
of the machine is similar to two lathe beds side by side and parallel the one
to the other. On one of the beds there are mounted two similar heads
capable of being set and clamped to the bed at any desired distance the one
from the other. Each of the heads carries two axes one over the other and
parallel to the bed; they are driven by belts passing around pulleys upon
them. Each axis carries at its inner end a circular saw, and there is a space
or distance left between the two saws carried by the same head equal to the
thickness of the tenon it is desired to produce. The other bed of the machine
also has two heads capable of being clamped upon it at any desired distance
apart; each of them carries a vertical axis the upper end of which projects
and is adapted to receive two circular saws upon it, the distance between.
which can be adjusted by introducing washers of different thicknesses between
them. There are belt pulleys on these axes receiving driving belts, and these
and all the axes of the machine are driven from one driving drum or cylinder
parallel to the beds; across the two beds and in between the heads on each

page_text: a right and left handed screw to correspond with the thickness of the tenon
required, and a screw at the top of the standard tightens the brasses upon
the axes. The guides a², a³, of the frame receive upon them other heads c, c,
adapted to carry vertical axes, each head consisting of a base plate clamped to
the guides in any position required by the bolts c', the base plates have upon them
standards which at their upper ends carry bearings for the axes c³, the axes
being reduced in these bearings as is shown. On the under side of the base
plate of each head is a hanging frame c carrying a lower bearing for the
axis, and this hanging frame rests against the rail as of the frame a so as to
steady it. The axes have belt pulleys upon them, as is shown, and at the
upper end of each are two circular saws c³, the one fixed in position the other
adjustable by interposing washers of varying thicknesses between the two saws.
d, d, are guide rails which are laid across the guides a¹, a¹, a³, a³, and are
clamped down to them by bolts & passing up through clamping plates on the
under side of the guides and screwing into tapped sockets formed in the guide
rails d. e is a carriage with grooved wheels & running on the guide rails;
e is the plate of the carriage on which the piece of wood to be tenoned which
has previously been cut to the form and length required is placed; a board of
suitable thickness is laid on the bed of the carriage underneath the wood to
adjust its height in relation to the saws. e³, e, are small standards on the
carriage carrying the rocking frame e, the
weights. The saws being accurately adjusted in position the piece of wood
to be tenoned is placed on the carriage, when at the front of the machine its
end is butted up against the adjustable stop fixed to one of the guide rails d,
and it rests against the standards. The wood is held down against the bed
of the carriage by the weights & resting upon it. The workman pushes the
carriage with the wood upon it towards the back of the machine, using the end
of the frame e as a handle, and first the two saws make two horizontal
cuts in each end of the wood at a distance apart equal to the thickness of the
tenon;
then the other saws 6', 6', make two vertical cuts at each end of the
wood and leave the tenons clear.
arms of which are weighted by
In witness whereof, I, the said William Geeves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM GEEVES. (L.s.)