IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING OR SHAPING STONE AND OTHER DUBSTANCES.
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James, Earl of Caithness, of Barrogill Castle, in the
County of Caithness, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CUTTING OR SHAPING STONE AND OTHER DUBSTANCES.
Sealed the 4th November 1856, and dated the 26th August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James, Earl of Caithness,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1856.
I, JAMES, Earl of CAITHNESS, of Barrogill Castle, in the County of Caithness,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING OR SHAPING STONE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to mechanical arrangements to be used for cutting,
reducing, shaping, or facing stone for various purposes, such as for paving,
flagging, and building, instead of the ordinary manual process of effecting such
operations. The apparatus consists of a set of vertical parallel bars of metal
arranged in suitable guides in a substantial framing, and furnished at their
lower ends with steel or hardened metal cutting or reducing edges. These
bars are actuated by a crank movement, the rotatory action of which, or other
driving power, elevates them to a certain predetermined height, when they are
allowed to drop upon the face of the stone or other substance under treatment,
and thus chip or cut away the material to the required extent. As the cutting
bars are thus caused to operate, the stone being dressed is caused to traverse

page_text: at a slow rate beneath them, and hence a fair plane surface is produced. The
same machinery or modifications thereof may be employ for breaking masses of
stone, as well as for cutting or reducing vegetable matters, such as whin or
gorse for feeding cattle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James, Earl of Caithness, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES,
Earl of Caithness, of Barrogill Castle, in the County of Caithness, North
Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James, Earl of Caithness, Her special license that I, the said James, Earl
of Caithness, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James, Earl of Caithness, my executors, administrators, or 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 CUTTING OR SHAPING STONE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James, Earl of Caithness, by an
Bastrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
.id 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.
the
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James, Earl of Caithness, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to mechanical arrangements to be used for
cutting, reducing, shaping, or facing stone for various purposes, such as for
paving, flagging, and building, instead of the ordinary manual process of

page_text: effecting such operations. The apparatus consists of a set of vertical parallel
bars of metal arranged in suitable guides in a substantial framing, and fur-
nished at their lower ends with steel or hardened metal cutting or reducing
edges. These bars are actuated by a crank movement, the rotatory action of
which, or other driving power, elevates them to a certain predetermined height,
when they are allowed to drop upon the face of the stone or other substance
under treatment, and thus chip or cut away the material to the required
extent. As the cutting bars are thus caused to operate, the stone being
dressed is caused to traverse at a slow rate beneath them, and hence a fair
plane surface is produced. The same machinery or modifications thereof may
be employed for breaking masses of stone, as well as for cutting or reducing
vegetable matters, such as whin or gorse for feeding cattle.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the two illustrative Figures on the Sheet of explana-
tory Drawings, which I have appended hereunto for the purpose of showing
one modification under which my improvements may be judiciously carried into
practical effect.
Figure 1 on my Sheet of Drawings is a complete sectional side elevation of
the stone-dressing machine as completely fitted up for work; Figure 2 is a
front view of the machine corresponding to Figure 1. The fixed framing of
the machine resembles that of an ordinary engineer's planing machine. It
consists of the two vertical parallel cast-iron side standards A, the front
straight portions of which form the actual guide retainers for the cutter or
chisel bars B. These standards A are each carried upon a timber base C,
and they are connected together transversely by cross bars D, which form
upper and lower guides for the cutter bars. Each framing standard has cast
upon it a front bearing bracket E, and these brackets carry bearings for the
end journals of the main actuating cam shaft F, which operates upon the
cutter bars. The cam shaft in the present instance is cast with its range or
series of cams G solid upon it, one cam for each cutter bar; but this shaft
may be fitted up in various ways, as, for instance, with the cams in loose
pieces, strung on to the shaft by end eyes, and screwed up by a nut at one
end; or the cams may be screwed or bolted into or through lateral holes in
the shaft. Each of the cutter bars B has upon it an adjustable stud arm H,
capable of being fixed by means of a binding set screw at any portion of the
bar's length. It is against the under sides of these stud arms that the
revolving cams of the shaft F strike when at work, so as to elevate and let
fall the whole series of cutter bars in regular succession. The bars may be
either of wood or metal, as represented in the Drawings; they are all shod

page_text: at their lower ends with notched or serrated steel face pieces mortised into
the ends of the bars and retained by set screws; it is these faces which act
upon the stone I beneath, so as to cut or chip away the surface, and dress it
as is required. The cam shaft is actuated by the end fast and loose pulley
arrangement J, and as it revolves continuously, the cams, being disposed
helically upon the shaft, raise up and let fall the whole of the operating cutter
bars in regular succession in line at right angles with the direction of traverse
of the stone I beneath them. The stone I is supported upon bearing rollers
or upon a carriage beneath, and it is moved forward a short distance after
each revolution of the cam shaft, so as continually to present a fresh undressed
portion to the cutting action. This movement is effected in the present
instance by the stud crank pin K fast in the face of the fast belt pulley, or
attached to the end of the shaft itself. This crank pin is entered into a short
slot in the upper end of a descending inclined rod L, the lower end of which
is jointed at M to the catch lever of the ratchet wheel N; this ratchet wheel
is fast on the outer end of a central horizontal chain pulley shaft O beneath
the stone; thus, as the ratchet action operates in concert with the cam shaft
movement, the chain gradually draws forward the stone as required. When
a fresh stone is to be put into the machine, the whole of the cutter bars are
elevated clear off its surface by pulling down a chain connected to the lever P,
which works upon a fixed stud Q on the top of the main framing. The other
end of this lever P extends to the centre of the machine, and it has attached
to it here a short pendant link R carrying an open frame S. The bottom
bar T of this frame, which is adjustable at different heights by slots in the
two vertical pieces, comes beneath all the stud arms H of the cutter bars B,
so that when the pendant chain of the lever P is drawn down, the action lifts
all the cutter bars clear off the stone. In some instances it may also be
necessary to elevate the whole of the cutter bars from the stone at the instant
that the latter is traversed forward after each revolution of the cam shaft, so
as to allow the stone to move forward freely without being in any way
restrained by the pressure of the cutter faces. This action is accomplished in
the present instance by a small cam U on the extreme end of the cam shaft;
this cam has its working face in contact with an anti-friction pulley on the
the free end of a lever V, which is carried upon a fixed stud centre W on
the standard of the framing; this lever is linked intermediately at X to the
lower end of a rod Y, which passes upwards to the outer end of a lever
working on a fixed stud centre Z on the framing. The opposite end of this
smaller lever carries an antifriction pulley, which comes beneath the longer
lever P, so that when the cam U acts so as to depress the lever V the lever P

page_text: is raised, taking up with it all the cutter bars. This movement is of course
only momentary, lasting merely long enough for the free unrestrained shift of
the stone beneath. As the stud arms H of the cutter bars are all adjustable
as to height upon the bars, any amount of fall may be given to the cutters
with great facility, as the higher the stud arms are, the shorter fall will
the bars possess. In the illustrative example of the machine, given in the
Drawings, the notches of all the cutting faces of the bars, except those of the
two outside ones, run in the line of the stone's traverse. The two outside
cutters have their notches running the reverse way to prevent any chance of
injury to the edges of the stone.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,--
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus,
or means for cutting or shaping stone and other substances, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of cutting or shaping stone and other sub-
stances by means of a revolving cam or lifter shaft operating upon a line or
series of cutter bars, which cut or dress the face of the stone or operate upon
other substances by means of lower cutter ends or face pieces.
Third, the system or mode of relieving the stone operated upon from the
pressure of the cutter bars, by elevating the set of cutter bars at proper
intervals, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James, Earl of Caithness, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
CAITHNESS. (L.S.)