Improvements in Apparatus or Machinery for Sawing Stone.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1897
Complete Specification Left. 5th Oct. 1897 - Accepted. 6th Nov.
1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus or Machinery for Sawing Stone.
We, GRÉGOIRE WINCQZ and HUBERT MACHEPY, of Soignies, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
-
Our invention relates to machines for sawing stone by means of a wire, par-
ticularly a helicoidal wire, to which a continuous longitudinal movement is
imparted by an arrangement of pulleys. The improvements have reference to
the descent of the pulleys which conduct the wire from one end to the other of
the saw cut. They allow of simplifying the construction and working of the
said machines and of obtaining in a constant manner the exact tension of the
wire necessary for effecting a good cut so that the wire descends uniformly under
the action of the weight and consequently proportionately to the sawing and
whereby the maximum amount of work can be obtained.
Instead of causing this descent mechanically either by means of screws or
by means of cords or chains we effect the same by means of a weight of water added to
the weight of the arm. To this end it is only necessary to place receptacles
in any suitable manner upon the bearings or sockets in which rotate the axes
of the pulleys which must descend with the wire as it cuts into the stone.
By more or less filling these receptacles with water any required load can be
obtained. The raising of the conducting pulleys is effected by means of two
small winches but it can be effected automatically oy placing in the receptacles
a weight greater than is necessary and by partially equilibrating this weight by
means of counterweights suspended from cords or chains passing over one or
two pulleys and attached to the receptacles. This allows of effecting an
automatic and rapid raising of the wire by simply allowing the water to run out
of the receptacles.
Upon the boxes containing the bearings or sockets of the axes of the pulleys
conducting the wire we fix the receptacles to which are connected the counter-
weights by means of cords or chains. The required quantity of water is placed
in the receptacles to obtain an excess of weight sufficient to cause the descent
of the wire. When requiring to raise the pulleys it is only necessary to open
cocks on the receptacles in order to empty them.
It is evident that these arrangements can be varied in any different ways, for
example, flexible tubes provided with one or two cocks can be attached to the
receptacles so as to allow of introducing water into the said receptacles or of
emptying them in a convenient manner.
We may employ an arrangement allowing the same movement as those herein-
before described by replacing the water receptacle by suitable loads less than the
counterweights which are connected to the said loads but which are immersed
in water contained in fixed receptacles..
The load placed upon the pulleys is equal to the weight of the arm plus the

page_text: load resting upon the box of the bearings of the axis of this pulley minus the
weight of the counterweight which is itself diminished by the weight of the volume
of water which it displaces in its receptacle, that is to say, the load upon the
pulley is equal to the weight of the volume of water displaced by the counter-
weight less the difference between the counterweight and the weight of the arm
added to the load.
This arrangement is very convenient in operation and moreover, offers the
advantage that when the sawing wire breaks the pulleys will not fall to the
ground but only descend so far as to cause the counterweights to rise until they
displace a volume of water of a weight equal to the difference of the counter-
weights and the weight of the arms added to the load. It is also obvious that
this arrangement requires no flexible tube and is particularly suitable for a proper
working of the apparatus.
Finally we obtain the most complete arrangement possible by uniting the two
preceding arrangements, that is to say, by retaining the receptacles of the first
described arrangement and adding thereto the receptacles of the last described
arrangement we can thus very exactly, and as required, regulate the load neces-
sary for effecting the descent during the working of the apparatus.
Dated the 6th day of Janua 1897
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Apparatus or Machinery for Sawing Stone.
We, GREGOIRE WINCQZ and HUBERT MACHERY, of Soignies, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Manufacturers, 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:—
Our invention relates to machines for sawing stone by means of a wire, par-
ticularly a helicoidal wire, to which a continitous longitudinal movement is
imparted by an arrangement of pulleys. The improvements have reference to
the descent of the pulleys which conduct the wire from one end to the other of
the saw cut. They allow of simplifying the construction and working of the
said machines and of obtaining in a constant manner the exact tension of the
wire necessary for effecting a good cut so that the wire descends uniformly under
the action of the weight and consequently proportionately to the sawing and
whereby the maximum amount of work can be obtained.
Instead of causing this descent mechanically either by means of screws or
by means of cords or chains we effect the same by means of a weight of water added to
the weight of the arm. To this end it is only necessary to place receptacles
in any suitable manner upon the bearings or sockets in which rotate the axes
of the pulleys which must descend with the wire as it cuts into the stone.
By more or less filling these receptacles with water any required load can be
obtained. The raising of the conducting pulleys is effected by means of two
small winches but it can be effected automatically by placing in the receptacles
a weight greater than is necessary and by partially equilibrating this weight by
means of counterweights suspended from cords or chains passing over one or
two pulleys and attached to the receptacles. This allows of effecting an
automatic and rapid raising of the wire by simply allowing the water to run out
of the receptacles.

page_text: To enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe how it can
be carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:-
Figure 1 is an elevation of apparatus for sawing stone constructed according
to our invention; and,
Figure 2 is an elevation partly in section illustrating a modification of such
apparatus.
We will first describe our invention by reference to Figure 1.
Upon the boxes containing the bearings or sockets C, C₁ of the axes of the
pulleys P, P conducting the wire we fix the receptacles B, B₁ to which are
connected the counterweights D, D₁ by means of cords or chains E, E¹. The
required quantity of water is placed in the receptacles B, B to obtain an excess
of weight sufficient to cause the descent of the wire. When requiring to raise
the pulleys P, P¹ it is only necessary to open the cocks G, G¹ on the receptacles
in order to empty them.
It is evident that these arrangements can be varied in many different ways,
for example, flexible tubes provided with one or two cocks can be attached to
the receptacles B3, B₁ so as to allow of introducing water into the said receptacles
or of emptying them in a convenient manner.
It is unnecessary to further describe or to illustrate these simple variations of
construction, but we will describe and illustrate an arrangement which we may
employ and which will allow the same movements as those herein before described
by replacing the water receptacles by suitable loads less than the counterweights
which are connected to the said loads but which are immersed in water contained
in fixed receptacles.
This arrangement is represented at Figure 2.
The load placed upon the pulley P (and it is the same with the pulley P¹) is
equal to the weight of the arm plus the load B resting upon the box of the
bearings of the axis of this pulley minus the weight of the counterweight D
which is itself diminished by the weight of the volume of water which it dis-
places in its receptacle M, that is to say, the load upon the pulley P is equal
to the weight of the volume of water displaced by the counterweight D less the
difference between the counterweight D and the weight of the arm added to
the load B.
This arrangement is very convenient in operation and moreover, offers the
advantage that should the sawing wire break, the pulleys P, 1" will not fall to
the ground but only descend so far as to cause the counterweights D D¹ to rise
until they displace a volume of water of a weight equal to the difference of the
counterweights D and the weight of the arms added to the load B. It is also
obvious that this arrangement requires no flexible tube and considerably assists
the proper working of the apparatus.
Finally we obtain a most complete arrangement by uniting the two preceding
arrangements, that is to say, by retaining the receptacles B, 1 of the first
described arrangement and adding thereto the receptacles M, M of the last
described arrangement we can thus very exactly, and as required, regulate the
load necessary for effecting the descent while the apparatus is at work.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we,claim is:
In apparatus or machinery for sawing stone by means of a wire, the herein
described means for causing the descent and ascent of the wire, consisting in
loading the bearings or sockets of the conducting pulleys with the aid of recep-
tacles containing water and partly equilibrated by free counterweights, or counter-
weights immersed in fixed water receptacles in such a manner that the descent
of the wire is produced by the excess of the loads over the counterweights and
that, to raise the wire, it is only necessary to allow water to run out of the
receptacles, this arrangement in case of the wire breaking also allowing the

page_text: counterweights to emerge from the water in the fixed receptacles and thereby
equilibrate the loads and prevent the pulleys from descending to the ground,
substantially as set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 5th day of October 1897.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.