Improvements in, or relating to Lathes and Rod Severing, Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application,. 24th Jan., 1893-Accepted, 18th Mar., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by OSCAR LE GRAND NOBLE; of 114, Lincoln Street,
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, Gentleman.]
Improvements in, or relating to Lathes and Rod Severing, Machines.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 has for its object to provide an attachment for use with a lathe,
whereby pieces of work such as cylindrical rods can be readily and quickly cut off,
without undue waste of material.
The invention consists in the several improvements which I will now proceed to
describe and claim..
Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this Specification :
Figure 1, represents a side elevation of the headstock of a lathe provided with
my improved attachment.
Figure 2, represents an end elevation of the same.
Figure 3, represents a front elevation of the improved attachment, a portion of
the front plate of the casing of the same being broken away.
Figure 4, represents a top view of the attachment, shown partly in horizontal
section.
Figure 5, represents a section on line 5-5, Figure 4.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
In the drawings:
a represents the spindle of a lathe, provided with a chuck b of any suitable con-
struction, said chuck having jaws formed to grasp a rod s or other piece of work
to be treated by the lathe. The construction of the head-stock and of the chuck
forms no part of my invention, and the same may be of any suitable construction.
In carrying out my invention, I attach to the bed a a bracket or support c,
having a base c and a bearing above said base in which is fitted a hub d, on which
is formed a circular casing d'. Said casing contains a plurality of ways or guides,
radiating from the centre of the casing or substantially so, and formed to support
and guide a series of slides e e e e, preferably four in number, to which slides are
affixed the cutting-off tools ffff, each guide being composed of two traps or side-
pieces 9 9.
On the backs of the tool-carrying slides e, are formed projections e¹,
containing threaded sockets, which receive adjusting screws h, there being one screw
for each slide. Said screws radiate from the centre of the casing, and are provided
at their outer ends with pinions h', which are engaged with a face-gear i, which is
fitted to rotate independently of the casing, on a bearing formed therein. The
periphery of the gear i is provided with cog-teeth, arranged to mesh with a
pinion ; affixed to the usual feed-shaft k of the lathe. The feed-shaft k is mounted
in a bearing, which is pivoted at k¹ to the lathe-bed, so that the portion of the shaft
carrying the pinion j can rise and fall freely. The feed-shaft may be raised to
engage the pinion with the teeth, by means of a lever n', pivoted at n' and
engaged at its inner end with the feed-shaft, the outer end of said lever being
engaged with the latch n when it is desired to hold the pinion; in engagement with
the teeth. It will be seen that, when the pinion is engaged with the teeth, the
rotation of the feed-shaft caused by its connection with the spindle a through
the belt m will cause the rotation of the face-gear i, so that the pinions. h¹ and

page_text: the screws will be simultaneously rotated, the screws being thus caused to
feed the slides e and cutting tools simultaneously toward the centre of the
casing, thus causing the cutting tools to gradually enter and cut off the piece
of work, it being understood that said piece is grasped and rotated by the
chuck b, the centre of the chuck being in line with the centre of the casing d'.
The four tools f, pressing inwardly from four points upon the work, are adapted
to sever the latter very rapidly, and without cutting away an
excess of the
metal of the rod or piece being cut or severed, each tool being a comparatively
thin blade, the outer end of which is bevelled, to form an acute cutting angle.
The shape of the cutting ends of the tools may be according to preference.
Obviously, they may be pointed or square and the different shaped tools may
alternate with each other. I do not illustrate the particular form or forms as
the same are well known. When the cutting-off attachment is in operation, the
casing and the hub d are locked and prevented from rotating by means of a
pin o, which is inserted in an orifice o¹ formed in the bracket c and enters a
coinciding orifice in the hub d, so that the cutters ƒ do not revolve during the
cutting-off operation, but have only a radial inward movement. The object of
mounting the casing d so that it can be rotated, is to enable the tools or cutters f
to be adjusted to a uniform distance from the centre or axial line of the work,
preparatory to the cutting-off' operation; and, to enable this to be done, I with
draw the pin o, thus permitting the hub d and casing d¹ to be rotated freely, the
feed-shaft pinion j being at this time disengaged from the teeth, the feed-shaft
being mounted so that it can be raised and lowered, as usually in lathes, so that
when it is desired to discontinue the rotation of the face-gear i by the feed-shaft k,
said shaft is released from the operative position in which it is held by the latch n
and allowed to fall, thus separating its pinion j from the teeth i.
The cutters are composed of straight strips of steel, of uniform width from
end to end, and are inserted in recessed seats formed to receive them in the
slides the strips being somewhat thicker than the depth of said seats, so that the
outer sides of the strips or cutters project slightly outside of the outer faces of
the slides e. The cutters are secured by means of clamping-plates f* extending
across them and secured by boltsff to the slides e, said plates being enabled by the
slight projection of the outer sides of the cutters from the outer faces of the slides,
to bear firmly against the outer sides of the cutters, and thereby securely hold the
cutters and at the same time permit their longitudinal adjustment, to compensate
for wear of their cutting ends, it being necessary only to loosen the bolts f³ to
permit the adjustment of the cutters.
Preparatory to adjusting the cutters, I remove the locking pin o, so that the
casing and its hub d are free to rotate in the bearing in the bracket c. The
casing d is then rotated by hand. The object of releasing the casing d' and
permitting it to be rotated loosely, is to make the operation of adjusting the cutters
more convenient, each cutter being brought to its highest position before being
adjusted, so that the operator can readily and conveniently adjust it to any suitable
gauge. After the cutters have been adjusted, the casing d' is locked by the insertion
of the pin o in the orifices in the bracket c and hub d, and the adjusting devices
removed, and the piece of work to be cut is inserted in place of the adjusting
devices. The feed-shaft is raised to position to engage its pinion ; with the
teeth on the annular feeding gear i. The spindle a is then rotated, and imparts
rotary motion to the piece of work and to the feed-shaft, so that the rotation
of the work is accompanied by an inward feeding movement of the cutting-off
tools, the same being presented simultaneously to the work and caused to rapidly
sever the same.
The cutting-off mechanism above described may be detachably secured to an
ordinary lathe as an attachment therefor; or a head-stock and bed, provided with
the cutting-off mechanism, as shown in Figure 1, may be sold as an independent
machine.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a lathe, the combination with the head-stock, chuck and feed-shaft, of the
cutting-off attachment, composed of a bracket adapted to be attached to the bed ;
a casing secured to said bracket; a series of tool-carrying slides, movable on
guides or ways in said casing toward and from the centre thereof; slide-adjusting
screws, arranged radially in the casing, and provided with pinions at their outer
ends; an annular face-gear, mounted to rotate on a bearing in the casing, and
engaged with said pinions, said gear having peripheral teeth, a movable pinion
on the feed-shaft meshing with the peripheral teeth of said face gear, whereby
the slides may be simultaneously moved by the rotation of the feed-shaft, and
means for moving said pinion to engage it with or disengage it from said peripheral .
teeth.
2. In a lathe, the combination with the head-stock, chuck and feed-shaft, of the
cutting-off attachment, composed of a bracket adapted to be attached to the bed;
a casing secured to said bracket; a series of tool-carrying slides, movable in guides
or ways in said casing toward and from the centre thereof; slide-adjusting screws,
arranged radially in the casing, and provided with pinions at their outer ends; an
annular face-gear mounted to rotate in a bearing in the casing and engaged with
said pinions, said gear having peripheral teeth, and a pinion on the feed-shaft
meshing with the peripheral teeth of said face-gear, whereby the slides may be
simultaneously moved by the rotation of the feed-shaft; the said feed-shaft being
vertically movable to engage its pinion with said face gear or disengage it there-
from; and means for holding the said feed-shaft and pinion in raised position, as
set forth.
3. In a cutting-off attachment for lathes, the combination of the bracket formed
to be attached to the lathe-head, the casing having a hub mounted to rotate in a
bearing in said bracket, a series of tool-carrying slides radially movable in said
casing, means for simultaneously feeding said slides, and a locking device whereby
the casing may be locked to the bracket and prevented from rotating during the
cutting-off operation, and released and permitted to rotate when the cutting tools
are being adjusted, as set forth.
Dated this 24th day of January 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.