WHO Shaping, and Bevilling, and in the Machinery therefor.
Year: 1885

page_text: WHO
Shaping, and Bevilling, and in the Machinery therefor.
I, HYPPOLITE BESSON, Mechanical Engineer and I, ERNEST NEILD KENT, Brush.'
maker both of 46 Bonner Road, Bethnal Green in the County of Middlesex do
hereby declare the nature of our said invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHODS OF HOLDING GLASS WHILE GRINDING, SHAPING & BEVILLING & IN THE
MACHINERY THEREFOR. to be as follows:-
The main objects of this Invention are to provide new ineans to supersede the
old methods hitherto practised of holding the glass while grinding either by
machine or by bands, and substituting an improved method of holding the glass by
making nearly a perfect vacuum at the back or in the hollow, or round the body
of the glass. Also this Invention is made to improve the methods and machinery
described in the specification of our former patent granted the 9th May 1884,
No 7461.
The improved method of holding glass, either flat, concave, convex or hollow
consists of fixing the glass on a plate or on a suitable chuck made to suit the form
and shape of the glass to be ground having between their. jointing surfaces small
india-rubber rings or any other suitable packing and to communicate the recess,
space or cavity made between the glass and chuck by the thickness of the packing
to an exhausted or vacuum chamber fitted either at the end of a spindle on which
the chuck is fixed or to an handle, frame, or any convenient place on the apparatus
used for grinding the glass.
The india-rubber rings on the chuck are cemented either on the edge surface of
the plate or chuck or in grooves slightly recessed: instead of rings the india rubber
can be made perforated or parts cut out so as to give enough cavity or space to
allow the atmospheric pressure to hold the glass and also to give enough support.
to the glass to not break by the said pressure. The small cavities or spaces which
are made between the glass and chuck by the india rubber rings perforated or cut
out are connected by small holes made through the chuck to. the spindle or through
the handle, frame, or any convenient place on the apparatus to an exhausted vessel
made cylindric, spheric or of any other suitable form and size to hold the glass
safely during the operation of roughing fining, smoothing, & polishing without
altering the glass from its first fixed position.
The fixing and the taking off of the glass is effected by communicating any
parts of the glass which has india rubber rings or any suitable packing with the
atmospheric pressure or with the exhausted chamber and to obtain this effectively
we fix a two way cock or two cocks on the spindle, handle, frame or to the
.

page_text: apparatus used to fit the glass, which cocks can be connected or disconnected either
with the atmospheric pressure or with the exhausted chamber. In order to fix
the glass on the chuck the cock is turned to communicate with the vacuum
chamber and to take it off, the cock is turned to communicate with the atmospheric
pressure which will easily release the glass by a slight pressure of the hands.
The vacuum in the vessel is regenerated either continually or at intervals of
time by connecting it to a large regenerator which has its vacuum kept constantly
renovated by an air or exhaust pump worked by the engine, shaft or any well
known means.
The regenerator is made to communicate to the grinding, smoothing & polishing
machines by pipes fitted round the rooms in which these machines are working
and branch to every machine or set of machines by suitable joints or by elastic
pipes by this arrangement the exhausted or vacuum chamber which serves to
hold the glass can be connnected and the vacuum renovated at intervals or
continuosly.
To keep the degrees of exhaustion in the regenerator regulated a vacuum gauge
or barometer with a balance valve is fixed, also to each vacuum chamber a small
aneroide barometer is fitted so as to regulate the pressure upon the glass pro-
portionally to the strength of the glass.
When the grinding is manipulated by hands or partly by hands, the glass with
the holding apparatus can be passed from one place to another and in order to
carry these operations in automatic machines we construct the front of the
vibrating frame to receive an interchangeable carriage with its spindle which can
be taken off and fixed to the front of any other machine; the carriage is fixed to
the front of the machine by thumb nuts and screws or any such means and guided
by parallel surfaces.
In bevilling, the glass has to be roughed smoothed, polished and the outline
shaped which means 4 machines; to keep these machines constantly working we
provide 5 interchangeable carriages with spindles on which are fixed the pattern or
template, the chuck which receives the glass and the vacuum chamber so as to
have 4 spindles constantly working and one always ready with a new glass and
the vacuum restored to replace the one removed to the next process.
Sometimes in bevilling glass, it may be advantageous to do the roughing process
by the automatic machine and the other processes by hands: in this case the
carriage with its spindle is not taken off the vibrating frame, but only the glass by
the method already described of turning the two way cock to communicate the
back of the glass with the atmospheric pressure which will counteract the pressure
on the front of the glass and a slight pressure given by the hands will release the
glass, and another glass is placed on the chuck and fixed instantly by turning
the said two way cock to communicate with the exhausted or vacuum chamber.
In order to hold large plate glass, lens or speculum we provide on the frame, or
on the apparatus on which the glass is to be worked several true surfaces or
suction plates having small india rubber rings or any suitable packing the recess
made on each suction plate communicates to the exhausted chamber; these suction
plates in flat glass are placed. at a convenient distance so as to enable any size or
shape of flat glass to be fixed.
The frame or apparatus on which large plates are fixed can be made as an
ordinary frame and worked by hand or the frame may be made as a vibrating
frame with a to and fro movement obtained by rack and pinion or any other
equivalent means.

page_text: Improvements in the Methods of Holding Glass while Grinding,
Shaping, and Bevilling, and in the Machinery therefor.
:
We HYPPOLITE BESSON, Mechanical Engineer and ERNEST NEILD KENT, brush
maker, both of 46, Bonner Road, Bethnal Green, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying drawings (that is to say):-
--
:
Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section of our improved device applied to a
machine for grinding and polishing the edge of a glass plate. Figure 2 shews the
said device upon a larger scale, partly in section. Figures 3, 4, and 5 illustrate the
method in which it may be used for holding glass lenses of different shapes whilst
being ground and polished.
Similar letters of reference relate to the same parts in the several figures.
The object of our invention is to furnish a device by which glass can be firmly
and securely held, whilst being ground and polished either by machinery or by
hand; so that it can be quickly and easily attached to or removed from the device
when desired, during the different processes of grinding, polishing, shaping or
bevilling.
In figure 1 our improved device for holding glass is shewn applied to a machine
for grinding, shaping, and polishing glasses, of the kind for which we obtained
Letters Patent in Great Britain dated May 9th A.D. 1884 and numbered 7461. In
this machine the glass plate is carried by the lower end of a holder which revolves
in bearings at the outer end of an oscillating frame which can be brought into any
desired position in relation to a revolving grinding table which revolves beneath,
the holder being provided with a pattern or former which presses against a fixed
bar so that when the holder with the glass plate attached is made to revolve, the
latter is reduced by the grinding table to a shape corresponding with that of the
pattern, and its edges bevilled and polished if desired to any required angle.
a is the improved holding device turning in a sleeve or tube 6 fixed to the outer.
end of the oscillating frame c which turns upon an axis d carried in the carriage e
which is fixed upon the support f, on a central pivot at e¹ so that it can be swivelled
to any angle from the vertical. The support f is fitted in a guide g in which it
can be moved up or down by the screw h, bevilled wheels i and wheel k, and the
guide g is carried on a frame 1 made to traverse backward and forward in guides m
by the cam n operated by the driving pulley o and driving the stud p on the
frame. The revolving grinding table is indicated in dotted lines at r.
The improved device for holding the glass plate s which is to be ground, shaped,
and bevilled, is shewn on a larger scale at figure 2 and consists of a plate or
chuck t made to suit the shape of the glass and having a joint made between of
thin india rubber, oil-silk, or other equivalent material v, a shallow recess or space
being left between the glass and the chuck. The chuck is attached by a nut w to
the lower end of the bollow spindle x to the upper end of which is screwed a hollow.
metal vacuum chamber y, a cock or valve z being arranged above the chamber y, and
a threeway cock or valve upon the spindle above the chuck t. The spindle.

page_text: .
t
revolves in a hollow tube or sleeve b the exterior of which is shaped to lie in the
brackets c¹, c², upon the outer end of the oscillating frame c, where it is held by a
screw and wing nut c'. A toothed wheel d¹ is keyed upon the axis of the spindle
and gears with the corresponding wheels d³, d³, carried by the oscillating frame o
as shewn in figure 1, and driven by the pinion d' upon the axis d, which axis also
carries a pulley do which can be driven by a cord from any convenient driving
pulley. d is a pattern or former, of the shape to which it is desired that the
glass 8 should be ground, and d7 is a fixed bar or guide against which the edge of
the pattern de is pressed by the weight of the frame c when inclined or by a
separate weight or spring.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The vacuum chamber y is connected
at by means of the cock z, the threeway cock z¹ being closed, with a flexible
or other pipe communicating with a vessel or chamber in which a vacuum is
maintained by means of an air-pump or other means. The cock z is then closed
and the glass 8 is adjusted in its place upon the chuck t and pressed against the
india rubber joint v, the cock z¹ being then opened, when the glass becomes strongly
and firmly held in its place by the vacuum formed in the recess or space behind it.
The sleeve or tube b is then placed in the brackets c¹, c, and is fixed by the screw
and nut c. The oscillating frame c is then adjusted so that the edge of the glass 8
is at the proper height and angle of inclination to be operated upon by the
revolving grinding table r. The proper pattern or former de keyed upon the
hollow spindle is pressed against the guide bar d' and the pulley d is set in slow
revolution. The edge of the glass 8 is thus automatically ground to an oval or
other shape corresponding with that of the pattern do, and its edge is bevilled to
an angle determined by the inclination of the carriage e round the central pivot
at el. At the same time the entire apparatus is preferably made to move slowly
backward and forward upon the grinder r by means of the revolving cam n and
stud p or other equivalent means in order to keep the grinding table level.
The threeway cock 2 is made so that after closing the passage through the
spindle, it can open a communication between the chuck t and the external air
through the side of the spindle x. When therefore it is desired to remove the
glass s from the chuck the cock 2¹ is moved as described, and the vacuum between
the glass 8 and the chuck t being destroyed, the former can be without difficulty
removed.
Another glass can be substituted, or the same glass replaced, by altering the
cock 2¹, so as to re-open a communication with the vacuum chamber y whilst the
glass is pressed upon the india rubber joint v, and this can be repeated as long as
a sufficient vacuum remains in the chamber y. This latter vacuum can be renewed
when necessary by reconnecting the chamber y at 22 with the pipe from the
exhausting apparatus or receiver.
In bevilling, the glass has to be roughened, smoothed, polished, and the outline
shaped, by means of four different machines; and in order to keep them going,
we provide five interchangeable sleeves or tubes b, with their internal spindles x,
chucks t, exhausted chambers y, and cocks z and 2¹, together with the requisite
patterns or formers do, so that we have four spindles constantly working, and a
fifth always ready with a fresh glass and the vacuum restored in its chamber y, to
replace the one removed to the next machine. Each sleeve or socket b is connected
or disconnected by the screw and nut c¹.
In cases where it is advisable to effect the roughing process only by the automatic
machine, and the remaining processes by hand, the sleeve or tube b which forms
a carriage for the revolving spindle x need not be removed, but only the glass
itself 8, which is done as already explained by turning the cock 2¹ so as to admit
air behind the glass, which is then removed, and another substituted by placing it
on the chuck t and connecting the space behind it with the vacuum chamber y by
turning the cock z¹.
. The device consisting of the spindle the chuck t, the vacuum chamber y, and
the two cocks zia³, may be used as a handle or support for glass which is to be

page_text: ground or polished by hand without the use of automatic machinery, te glass
with the holding device being passed from one process to another until finished.
The face of the chuck may be made of any desired shape and size to fit flat or
other glasses which are to be held. Some of these shapes are illustrated in
figures 3, 4, and 5, figure 3 being a section and figure 4 a front view of a
chuck holding a double convex glass lens 8, and figure 5 a section of a chuck
holding a concavo-convex lens 8. In these figures the glass 8 is shewn supported
upon three india rubber or other rings v, at equal distances apart, the space in
each ring being made to communicate with the central passage of the chuck, and
through it with the vacuum chamber, by means of branch passages v. Any number
of supporting and jointing rings may be used they being arranged so as to support
the glass with as little strain upon the latter as possible.
It is evident that the shape of the chuck may be varied to hold any glass.
Where articles, such as hollow drinking glasses, are to be ground or polished, the
chuck is made to enter the hollow part against which it is made tight by one or
more india rubber or other jointing rings.
Suitable pipes are fitted in the room or place where the operations are carried
on, to which the vacuum chambers y can be quickly connected and disconnected
for the purpose of renewing the vacuum within them when necessary, and aneroid
or vacuum guages may be fixed upon each vacuum chamber y to indicate the
amount of vacuum remaining, as well as upon the main chamber which is exhausted
by air pumps or other means as first described.
The vacuum chamber y may be kept permanently connected with the main
chamber by a flexible or other pipe, a stuffing box or other equivalent device being
used to allow the rotation of the chuck, and adjustable guages may be fixed upon
the chuck in order to facilitate the adjustment of glasses of different sizes and
shapes.
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 :-
1. The combination of the hollow spindle or handle x, chuck t, joint v, vacuum
chamber y, and cocks z and z¹, all arranged and operating substantially as and for
the purposes described and shewn in the drawings.
2. The combination of the spindle x, chuck t, joint v, vacuum chamber y, cocks >
and z', and pattern or former d³, sleeve b and screw and nut c', with the automatic
glass grinding and bevilling machine, substantially as described and shewn in the
drawings.