IMPROVEMENTS IN BORING METALS IN THE SOLID
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Greenwood, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BORING
METALS IN THE SOLID."
Sealed the 22nd October 1867, and dated the 24th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Greenwood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th May 1867.
J, THOMAS GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BORING METALS IN THE SOLID," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the boring out from the solid of barrels for
guns, cannon, shafting, and other articles requiring a cylindrical chamber
or opening to be formed in them. Great delay has hitherto been occasioned
in clearing out the chips formed by the drill in boring into or through
solid metal, and defective drilling has often resulted from the accumu-
lation of the borings. In order however to avoid these inconveniences,
and to ensure perfect lubrication of the drills, I propose to set up in a
tank one or more fixed vertical drills, and to suspend the work over the
same, lowering it over and at the same time rotating it around the drill.
The tank I propose to charge with water or other lubricant, keeping the
level of the same above the cutting edge of the drill or drills, and the work
will therefore be lowered down into the lubricant as the operation proceeds.

page_text: When boring gun barrels or other light work I may conveniently arrange
around a central spindle three, four, or more carriers for receiving the work.
The carriers being capable of sliding in vertical guides will descend as the
boring proceeds, or a self-acting motion may be applied for raising the carriers;
a pinion working in a rack attached to the carrier and actuated by hand may
be used. The work, say for example a gun barrel, is secured to a short
vertical spindle mounted in bearings in the top of the carrier, and this spindle
is made fast by a sliding bolt to a pinion mounted above it. The central
spindle is formed with spur teeth and constitutes an elongated pinion suitable
for driving the pinions set around it, at whatever elevation they may be;
rotary motion being given to the central spindle or elongated pinion the
pinions around and gearing into it will be driven, and they will thus drive
the work suspended from the spindles with which they are respectively con-
nected. As, therefore, the work is fed to the drills the steady boring of the
barrels will be ensured. This operation may be continued without interruption
until the boring is completed, as the chips or borings will fall by their own
gravity, while the lubricant will have constant access to the drill.
The mechanism will require modification to suit different kinds of work,
but in all cases the work pendent in the lubricant will as the operation
proceeds discharge the chips without the aid of the attendant, and thus render
the boring operation continuous instead of intermittent as heretofore, when
solid metal has been bored.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Greenwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Greenwood, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Greenwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Greenwood, 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,

page_text: 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 BORING METALS IN THE SOLID," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Greenwood, my executors or administrators, by an
5 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 Thomas Greenwood, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to the boring out from the solid of barrels for guns,
cannon, shafting, and other articles requiring a cylindrical chamber or opening
to be formed in them. Great delay has hitherto been occasioned in clearing
out the chips formed by the drill in boring into or through solid metal, and
defective drilling has often resulted from the accumulation of the borings.
In order however to avoid these inconveniences, and to ensure perfect
lubrication of the drills, I have contrived the arrangement of drilling
machinery shewn in the accompanying Drawing, wherein the work to be
drilled is mounted vertically above a tank containing lubricating material,
and bored upwards from its lower end by fixed drills mounted in the
tank.
Fig. 1 shews in side elevation the improved drilling machinery arranged
for boring gun barrels; Fig. is a central vertical section of the same;
Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. 4 is a sectional plan taken in the line 1, 2, of
Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a plan partly in section of the tank and its fittings.
A is a cylindrical tank to the bottom of which is bolted a central
standard cast with a broad flange or base plate; this standard is composed of
four flat-sided vertical members A¹, disposed radially around a short pillar A*
and united together at top, as shewn at Fig. 1. On the top of the standard is
fixed a casting B, which forms the bearing for a driving shaft C; this shaft
is fitted with loose and fast belt pullies and also a bevil pinion which gears
into a bevil wheel keyed on to a vertical spindle D. The foot of this spindle
is stepped into the top of the pillar A2, which also carries a bearing for it to
run in, and the upper end of the spindle is fitted with a bearing. Carried by
the top of the standard keyed to the spindle D is an elongated spur pinion E,

page_text: into the teeth of which gear spur pinions e, e, e, e, for the purpose to be
presently explained. F, F, are four slides fitted to the standard, as shewn
best at Fig. 4, and capable of sliding up and down it independently in guides
provided for them; these slides F each carry a vertical spindle f, on which the
pinions e before mentioned are severally mounted loosely. Each spindle is
provided with a clutch 9 which slides on a feather on the spindle, and is caused
to engage with the boss of the pinion e when the rotary motion of the pinion
is required to be communicated to the spindle. An excentric stud projecting
from a short rock shaft h and operated by a handle enters an annular groove
in the clutch, and thus lifts it or depresses it as required; these spindles f are
intended to rotate the barrels or other work submitted to the action of the
drills, and for this purpose they are severally fitted at their lower end with an
excentric stud, which when the spindle is rotating bears against a projection
from the barrel and drives it round under the action of the drill.
The barrels to be drilled are shewn at G; they are dropped into and
steadied by bearings i, i*, carried by the slides F, and by means of rings
clamped to their upper ends they are suspended from the upper bearings i.
The bearings i, i*, are carried by their several slides F; the upper bearings
are fixtures, but the lower bearings i* are adjustable in guides to which they
are clamped to suit different lengths of work; these guides are formed at the
lower end of the slides F, and in them are also fixed adjustable bearings k for
steadying the cutting edge of the drills H, which stand up from the bottoni
of the tanks; these drills are stationary and they rest upon fixed coned seats,
being provided with coned heads to rest in those seats.
This arrangement
allows of the drills being readily removed for grinding, or of being replaced
by others to suit a different kind of work. The work will in general be
allowed to descend by its own weight and slide over the drill until the slide
which carries it is arrested by a stop, but in order to raise the work the pro-
vision shewn best at Fig. 1 is made. This consists of a vertical rack a cast
on the slide F, into which gears a spur pinion 6 mounted on a short spindle 6',
which carries at its outer end a second spur pinion 63; in gear with this is a
spur pinion keyed to the boss of a hand wheel c, which is carried by a stad
axle c supported on a bracket attached to the tank A. When therefore it is
required to lift the work clear of the drill it is only necessary to turn the hand
wheel c, and the pinion b will raise the slide F and the work with it. To
retain the slide in the elevated position a ratchet wheel d and pawl are
provided, and to prevent the drill rising out of the tank with the work a
forked arm I is made to embrace the drill and offer an obstruction to the
coned head of the drill passing upwards; this forked arm is keyed to a rock

page_text: shaft I, which is turned by a handle (see Fig. 5) to disengage the arm from
the drill when the drill is required to be moved.
The tank I propose to charge with water or other lubricant, keeping the
level of the same above the cutting edge of the drills, and the work will
therefore be lowered down into the lubricant as the operation proceeds. When
boring gun barrels or other light work three, four, or more slides or carriers
for receiving the work may be conveniently arranged around the central
standard. The carriers being capable of sliding in the vertical guides will
descend as the boring proceeds, or a self-acting motion may be applied to
regulate the descent of the carriers when the machine is adapted for heavy work.
It will now be understood that rotary motion being given to the central elongated
pinion E, the pinions around and gearing into it will be driven, and they will
thus rotate the work suspended below their respective spindles. As therefore,
the work is fed to the drills the steady boring of the barrels will be ensured.
This operation may be continued without interruption until the boring is com-
pleted, as the chips or borings will fall by their own gravity; while the lubricant
will have constant access to the drill.
It will be obvious to any mechanic that the mechanism will require
modification to suit different kinds of work, but in all cases the work pendent
in the lubricant will as the operation proceeds discharge the chips without the
aid of the attendant, and thus render the boring operation continuous instead
of intermittent as heretofore when solid metal has been bored.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in
boring metals in the solid, and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement of apparatus above described
whereby I am enabled to render the boring of solid work a continuous in lieu
of an intermittent operation..
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Greenwood, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
HENRY F. HAILES,
66, Chancery Lane.
THOMAS GREENWOOD. (L.8.)