IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF FIREWOOD
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
ROBERT TERRY, formerly of Manchester Street, Manchester Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, now of 14, Wharf South, Wharf Road,
Paddington, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the thirteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Robert Terry, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Alexander Robert Terry, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alexander Robert Terry, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION
OF FIREWOOD;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that
I, the said Alexander Robert Terry, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexander Robert Terry, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention consists of improvements in machinery for cutting or splitting
wood, and making the same into bundles suitable for firewood.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a plan of the machinery arranged or combined according to
my Invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section thereof; Figure 3, a right
hand side view; Figure 4 shews a front view, with some of the parts removed,
in order that other parts may be better seen; Figure 5 shews a vertical
section of the machinery, and the other views shewn by the Drawings are
detail views of some of the parts, in order that their construction may be more
readily seen and understood. In each of these Figures the same letters are
used to indicate the same parts. a is the framing, the nature of which is
clearly shewn in the Drawings; 6 is the main or driving shaft, which receives
motion from a steam engine or other power by a strap acting on the fixed
drum c. The main shaft by means of the pinion d gives motion to the cog
wheel e, fixed on the cranked shaft f, which turns in suitable bearings, as
shewn. The crank shaft gives motion to the cross head g, by means of the
two connecting rods h; h. At each end of the cross head is fixed a plate
9, which is turned up at right angles so as to form a shelf or ledge g² for the
ends of the blades i, i, to rest on (the ends of the blades i, i, being notched
out in order to their resting on such shelves or ledges 992), and the upper
surfaces of the blades i, i, will, at intervals in their length, be pressed on by
the cross head, and the blades are kept in a vertical position by means of
springs or plates j, j, of steel, which are fixed at their upper ends above the
cross head, and there are openings through the cross head for the passage of
the springs. By these arrangements the blades i, i, when out of the wood,'
will all be closed upon by the spring plates j, which will cause them to range
near together; but so soon as they penetrate the wood, and the blades thereby
become more and more separated, the springs separate and allow of the sepa-
rating of the blades to a greater distance apart; but so soon as the blades

page_text: ascend out of the wood, the cross head causes the spring plates to come
together, and they cause the blades or cutters to come again together, and to
be in proper positions for the next pieces of wood to be operated on. The
blocks of wood (previously cut into the proper sizes) are fed into the machine
in the following manner :-k, k, are two sets of trunks or tubes with hoppers
at their upper ends; these trunks or tubes are carried by standards or sup-
ports, k². These trunks or tubes are kept filled with blocks of wood l, l, as
shewn, so that in the working of the machinery each trunk or tube may deposit
one block at its lower end at the proper time, as will be hereafter explained.
The machine, shewn in the Drawing, is suitably arranged for operating on ten
blocks at a time, so that there are ten supply trunks or tubes k, k, but this
may be varied in making other machines according to my Invention. Each
trunk or tube k has an instrument m for regulating the time when the blocks.
of wood shall be delivered into the machine; one end m' of this instrument.
comes under its tube or trunk k, at one period, and the other or spiked end
m² of this instrument at another period passes through an opening in its tube
or trunk so as to penetrate into the block of wood for the time being opposite
the opening; by which means, when the part m' is under the trunk, no block
of wood can pass, but on the part m¹ moving away, the part m² comes into.
action, so that one block of wood will be allowed to drop out of each trunk or
tube k, the other blocks of wood being supported by the other ends m² of the
several instruments m. In order to actuate the instruments m, there are
springs m³ fixed to the ends of the axes mt, on which the several instruments
m are keyed or fixed, and these springs are acted on in the following manner:-
n is a rod which rises up through the cross head, there being a key n' through.
the upper part of the rod n, as shewn. The lower part of the rod n is formed
into an eye, so that it can be moved up and down notwithstanding the crank shaft:
passes through the eye; n² is a weight which tends at all times to draw down
the rod n. The rising and falling of the bar n gives motion to the levers o, o,
which are fixed to the axes o¹, o¹, and o³, 02, are two arms fixed to the axes.
o', o', and they receive motion by being connected, as shewn, to the eye at the
lower end of the rod n. The levers o, o, have slots at their upper ends, in
order to their being connected to the carriages p, which are hereafter ex-
plained, and the levers work through slots cut in the table a', a¹, of the
machine. The carriages p are employed for the purpose of moving the
wood to the cutters, and from them after they have been cut or split,]
in order to such split blocks being pressed into bundles, received into
suitable apparatus to hold them in the form of square bundles, when being
bound with suitable yarn or cord, all which will be fully described hereafter..

page_text: Each of the two carriages p consists of the upright plate p, having flanched
wheels at each end to run on the rails a³, a2, fixed on the table a of the
machine, and the plate p is supported in its upright position by the two
centre plates p¹ at their ends resting and sliding on the table a, and the plates
p carry springs p³, which, as the carriages go in, pass the blocks, when they
have descended from their trunks or tubes, and come into positions suitable
for moving the blocks from under the cutters after the blocks have been split;
the springs p³ fixed to the plate p pressing on the blocks, when the blocks
come against the springs a fixed on the table a¹ of the machine. And in
order to keep the blocks upright as they go into and out of the machine,
springs a, a, fixed to the table a', are used. And it is by reason of the plates p
passing against. the springs of the instruments m as the carriages go out to
deliver the split wood; and come back into the machine to bring in fresh blocks
of wood to be split, that the springs are moved, and consequently the instru-
ments m put into action so as to regulate the supply of blocks of wood on to
the table a¹ into position to be taken in by the return of the carriages p, p,
towards the centre of the machine, all which will readily be traced on a careful
examination of the. Drawings. The blocks of wood having been split and
carried out by the carriages p, they are next to be operated on by passing
pressing rollers q, q, to which they are brought by the going out of the
carriages, and they will drop into the openings or guides r, r, and the revo-
lution of the rollers q, q, will pass the blocks between them, and as the split
blocks descend through between the rollers in a somewhat compressed state,
they will enter openings in the plates, which rests properly upon the parts t, t,
so that each split block will be held about the middle of its length by the
plate; in which condition, when the plate is removed from the rests t, t, the
several split blocks may be tied or bound round with suitable yarn or cord, and
thus be held as bundles of fire wood. Motion is communicated to the rollers
9, q, in the following manner :-u is a pinion on the main shaft or axis, which
takes into and drives a cog wheel on the axis of one of the pairs of rollers q, q,
and on the axis of this roller q is fixed the cog wheel v, which takes into and
drives one of two intermediate cog wheels w, w, and these intermediate cog
wheels gearing together, the second one gives motion to a cog wheel x, fixed
on the axis of one of the other pair of rollers q, as is indicated by red circles,
shewing the pitch lines of the several cog wheels above mentioned. The
pairs of rollers 9, 9, are respectively geared together by cog wheels Y. Y.
Having thus described the nature of this machine, I will proceed to explain
how the cross cutting of the wood is accomplished, the description thus far
even only shewing how the wood is cut or split in one direction by a series of

page_text: parallel cutters. And in order to obtain the cross cuts every alternate cutter
is made with an opening or slot in it, so as to receive cutters z, as will be seen
in the enlarged views of these parts shewn separately; these cutters z slide
freely in the slots or openings formed in the cutters i, and they are brought
together into the centre by the springs before described, so that they as well as
the cutters z will be as near as they can come together when they are about to
penetrate the wood, and the cutters as well as the cutters i can separate
from one another as they enter the wood.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would remark, that I make no claim to the separate
mechanical parts herein described, nor do I confine myself to the details, as
herein explained, so long as the peculiar character of my Invention be
retained; but what I claim is the mode, herein described, of combining parts
into a machine.
I also claim the mode of arranging and constructing cutters i and z, so as
simultaneously to cut or split in two directions, as described.
And I also claim the use of the rollers q, q, with suitable receivers for the
split blocks, in order to facilitate the binding of the bundles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Robert Terry, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
ALEX. (L.S.) R. TERRY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Alexander Robert Terry came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.