Improvements in Apparatus for Bevelling Glass and Polishing the Bevel.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 28th Apr., 1894
Improvements in Apparatus for Bevelling Glass and Polishing
the Bevel.
A communication from CARL CHRISTIAN MEINZOLT, of Sydney, Colony of New
South Wales, Cabinet Maker.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention is a departure from the usual mode of bevelling sheets of plate
glass, and in order to carry out the invention certain novel apparatus has been
devised. The sheet or sheets of glass are mounted upon a table that is susceptible
of angular adjustment in a vertical plane. The cutting or grinding discs (preferably
emery discs) are mounted on a travelling carriage that is placed near the bottom
edge of the sheet that is to be bevelled and is caused to travel backwards and
forwards by any suitable known appliance. The appliance shewn in the drawings
consists of a screw of the nature of a Whitworth screw that is used in conjunction
with the slide rest of a lathe, and which may be caused to reverse the direction of
the motion of the traverse of the carriage. The grinding surfaces of the grinding
discs are lubricated by water or other suitable lubricant that is contained in an
overhead tank and which flows over the surface of the disc into a trough and from
thence is conducted by a race or pipe to a well from whence it is pumped up again
to the overhead tank. The table is preferably mounted on wheels or runners, so
that when the grinding of the bevel has been completed, the table with the glass
upon it may be moved bodily forward to the polishing or burnishing apparatus.
The vertical angle at which the table has been set to produce a bevel of a given
angle, is reduced to zero by lowering the table to the horizontal position, pre-
paratory to the table being run forward to the polishing appliances, which are
carried by a horizontal slide and are connected thereto in such a way as to be
susceptible to a certain amount of vertical motion, so that the polisher which is
constructed at an angle equal to the complement of the angle at which the table
was originally set, may be caused to bear down automatically upon the bevel and
polish its surface. The polisher is -weighted with heavy weights, so that the
proper intimacy of contact between itself and the bevelled surface may be insured.
For a similar purpose the grinding disc on the travelling carriage is provided with
springs or other suitable means so that the disc may always be in contact with the
surface of the bevel as the glass is cut or ground away. For grinding circular
shaped bevels special apparatus is required that will be hereafter more fully
described and explained.
In the accompanying drawings ;—
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a double table machine one of the tables being
removed so as to show the other clearly. The travelling carriage cutting or
grinding discs, overhead tank, and connections, well, and lifting pump, being also
shown.
Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same, the guides on which the travelling carriage
runs heing shewn in section. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same but with the addition of
the polishing appliances, and shews the connection between the travelling carriage
and the polishers. Fig. 4 is a view of the head of the travelling carriage, shewing
the discs, and driving pulley therefor, and the means adopted for keeping the
grinding discs in contact with their work.
Fig. 4 is a view of the non-cutting side of the disc.

page_text: Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of the driving pulley of the carriage.
Fig. 5 is a side view of the pulley, and Figure 5B is a side view of the pulley and
the hanger carries it.
Fig. 6 is a detail shewing the slides, screw, and appliances for giving motion to,
for reversing the motion of, and for supporting the travelling carriage.
Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the table carrying the glass in a horizontal position
and in contact with the polishing appliance.
Fig. 7 is a sectional side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the polishing
appliance.
Fig. 7B is a front elevation of the same."
Fig. 7° is a back elevation of the same.
In the drawings the apparatus is shewn double, i.e. with two tables, one on each
side of the travelling carriage, and with two grinding discs, one for each table.
A is the framework that supports the top of the table, B the top which is hinged
on the side nearest the travelling carriage.
CC are quadrants for lifting the top B and adjusting it to any desired angle.
The central portion of the table is preferably made of rods or bars a a of sufficient
strength to support the sheets of glass D D. Between the two tables are
mounted the slides E E for carrying the carriage head F which is provided
with bearings or journals to receive the transverse shaft G, to the extremities
of which are secured the cutting or grinding discs H, the faces of which may be
composed of any suitable cutting material.
The discs H should be so mounted as to admit of a limited amount of lateral
play, and render them capable of being forced outwards towards their work by
suitable appliances, such for instance as the springs g. On the central portion of
the shaft G is firmly keyed a pulley J which is geared by a band to another
pulley K below, which is the driving pulley for rotating the discs H. The details
of this pulley K and the way it is mounted are shewn in Fig. 5. L is a screw that
runs the whole length of the table. The two extremities of this screw are made
plain or unthreaded and run in journals. One end of the screw is provided with
fast and loose pulleys K, and is connected by a driving band to motor. The thread
of the screw L is milled out to form a groove l, shewn particularly in Figs. 5 & 6.
The screw L passes through the threaded extremities of hangers M M (Fig. 5).
The pulley K is firmly connected to journals which rotate freely in the
hangers M M. The pulley is also provided with a key k¹ which enters the groove /
and ensures two results, first, that the pulley K shall rotate with the screw and thus
impart the desired rotary motion to the discs H, and second, that the hangers M
shall be caused to travel along the screw taking with them the carriage head F.
When the carriage has arrived at either end of the screw, it will strike tappets or
stops n n, thereby causing the rod N (Fig. 6) to remove the band from one to
another of the pulleys k, thus causing a reversal in the direction of the rotation of
the screw.
It will thus be seen that rotary motion is imparted to the screw from
the motor through the pulleysk and this motion not only travels the carriage along
longitudinally, but at the same time imparts rotary motion to the cutting or
grinding discs and makes the bevel on the edge of the glass at any angle to which
the table may be set, while at the same time the springs g on the disc shaft G will
keep the discs H in contact with their work.
O is an overhead tank that is supplied with any suitable lubricant such as water
that will flow down through the flexible pipe o on to the face of the grinding
disc H which runs in a trough on the carriage head, and which may also be
provided with a hood to prevent the splashing of the lubricant.
The lubricant will flow from the trough h down the pipes ¹ into a race or pipe h²
that will conduct the lubricant to a well h³ from whence it will be raised by a pump
or as shown in the drawings an elevator or equivalent back to the overhead
tauk ().
The grinding operation having been satisfactorily concluded the tables A. will be
run along the rails a' until they are opposite the polisher standard P, but the top of

page_text: the table should have been previously lowered from the position shewn in Fig. 2 to
that shewn in Fig. 7. The polishing appliance is shewn in its several details in
Fig. 7 and on an enlarged scale in Figs. 74, 7, 7c. The polisher standard or
frame P is provided with a dovetail or guide p, that guides and carries the polisher
carriage p. This polisher carriage pl is provided with a vertical dovetail or guide
on which the polisher block p² may move vertically. The polisher block should be
bevelled to an angle equal to the complement of the angle at which the table was
originally set and should be covered with felt or other suitable material p³ and top-
weighted with lead or other suitable material pt. The polisher carriage is connected
to the disc carriage by a connecting rod po shewn in Fig. 3. In a case such as that
shewn in the drawings where the apparatus is doubled the two polisher carriages
will be connected together by a cross bar pe and the connecting rod will be
attached to the cross bar. It is evident that one carriage A at least should
always be kept in reserve and supplied with the glass sheets to be bevelled, so that
when the glass upon the table that is in action is run forward to the polisher, the
table that is in reserve may be run forward with the sheets of glass upon it to be
ground in their turn.
For grinding or cutting bevels that are segments of a circle, ovals, or other
curves, a considerable modification in the shape of the apparatus is required, and
other appliances will have to be employed. The carriage then, instead of travelling
longitudinally, will travel round a centre and the glass to be bevelled will be
secured to a template of the same peripheral form as the curve of the glass to be
bevelled. This apparatus is shewn in Sheet IV, in which Fig. 8 is a side elevation
of the apparatus specially designed for bevelling curves.
Fig. 9 is a plan of the same shewing the glass, one side of which is in the form
of the segment of a circle secured on the template, having a similar peripheral
curve.
Figs. 10 & 11 are details on an enlarged scale of the disc shaft and means for
adjusting the same to any required bevel.
Qis a stout vertical standard that is provided with horizontal brackets qq that
support a vertical driving shaft R that carries a driving pulley r. Loosely mounted
upon the shaft R is a bracket S to the outer extremity of which is pivotted another
bracket T, the pivot between the two brackets being the axis s of the pulley s¹ that
drives a third pulley s² which is in gear with a fourth pulleys on the disc shaft t.
It will thus be seen that the disc shaft t is carried at the outer extremity of a
doubly articulated bracket very similar to the two top joints of the human finger,
but capable of moving in either direction. The disc shaft t is transversely pivotted
at t¹ to the outer extremity of the forward bracket T and is provided with a rigid
lateral extension t2 which overlies the top of the bracket T, and is provided with an
adjustable screw whereby the rigid arm t² may be elevated or depressed and the
angle at which the cutting or driving disc t will impinge against the edge of the
glass be thereby adjusted..
The disc shaft t extends beyond the under-side of the cutting disc t* so that it
may come in contact with the edge of the template U upon which the glass D is
laid and will thus enable the disc to follow the peripheral curve of the glass.
It is evident that owing to the double articulation of the compound bracket S-T,
the disc at the extremity may be caused to follow any curve whether the same be
regular or irregular and will at the same time bevel the glass to an angle to which
the disc may be set.
In order to polish a curved or irregular bevel it will only be necessary to
substitute a polisher or buffer for the cutting or grinding disc t shown in
Figure 8.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is ;—
1. In an apparatus for bevelling and polishing glass a table upon which the glass

page_text: is secured and that is susceptible of adjustment to the angle at which it is desired
to bevel and polish the glass in combination with a travelling or rotating grinding
-disc as herein set forth.
2. In apparatus for bevelling and polishing glass, a table upon which the glass
is secured and that is susceptible of adjustment to the angle at which it is desired to
bevel and polish the glass, in combination with a carriage that carries a grinding
-disc, and which travels backwards along the edge of the glass upon the table, as
and for the purposes herein set forth.
3. In apparatus for bevelling and polishing glass, one or more grinding discs that
are mounted upon a travelling carriage that is provided with suitable appliances for
causing it to be moved to and fro and at the same time communicate rotary motion
to the discs, the discs being mounted in such a manner that they shall automatically
be caused to bear against the surface of the glass as it is cut away as herein
specified.
4. In apparatus for bevelling and polishing glass a travelling carriage that
carries the grinding discs for forming the bevel on the glass in combination with
one or more polishing appliances, which are so constructed as to maintain an
intimacy of contact with the bevel and at the same time be caused to move to and
fro along the bevel by the action of the travelling disc carriage to which it is
connected as herein specified.
5. In apparatus for bevelling and polishing curved or irregular edges of sheet
glass, a doubly articulated bracket such as S-T, in combination with a cutting or
grinding disc or polishing appliance that may be adjusted to any desired angle and
with a template upon which the glass is laid and which shall be of the peripheral
form of the edge of the glass to be bevelled and with suitable means for rotating
the cutting disc or polisher as and for the purposes herein set forth.
6. The general arrangement construction and combination of parts in my
improved apparatus for bevelling and polishing glass whether the edge of the glass
be straight curved or irregular as herein described and for the purposes set forth.
· Dated this 13th day of February 1894.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.