IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SAWING TIMBER
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SAWING TIMBER."-A com-
་་བཟ་་
tion from abroad by Léon Olivier of Paris France.
munication from abroad by Léon Olivier, of Paris,
France
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th March 1875.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
3 County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SAWING
TIMBER," to be as follows:-
"
This Invention relates to improved machinery for cutting or sawing
wood, which, in order that it may be more readily understood, I have
> illustrated by way of example in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: The Invention further consists in the combination with the foregoing
of a bar, plate, or equivalent device, made by a weighted lever or other
means to press against the timber at a short distance in advance of the
cutters, with the object of preventing the splitting of the wood by
opposing a certain amount of resistance to the cutting action.
j,j, Figure 1, fast and loose pulleys on the shaft b, which is mounted
in bearings in a bed ;, adjusting stop; m, carriage traversed along
beds by pulleys t, t¹, t, the gearing being arranged to give a quick
return motion to the carriage; o frames to which the timber is fixed
by bars p having dogs or cramps v attached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special licence
that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SAWING TIMBER," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Léon Olivier, of Paris, France, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: 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 Alexander Melville Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 accom-
panying Sheets of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :—
This Invention relates to improved machinery for cutting or sawing
wood.
The Invention consists more particularly in the arrangement of the
cutter holder, which is made in the form of a disc keyed on a shaft, and
of considerable thickness at the centre for greater strength, and
gradually thinned off towards the circumference, the said disc being
plane on one side and conical at the other. Upon the plane surface of
this disc is firmly secured, by means of screws, a ring of steel or cast
iron, constituting the cutter holder proper, the cutters consisting of
blades either knife edged or saw toothed, as the case may be. This ring
or cutter holder is provided with a number of radial grooves of dove-
tailed or other form, in which the cutters are fitted to slide, the cutters
being each made adjustable in its groove so as to project more or less
beyond the circumference of the holder by a screw mounted in the ring
and traversing a nut on the back of each blade.
By arranging the blades or cutters in the above manner they are
capable of being independantly adjusted.
Two distinctive features of the Invention are,-
1st. The employment to hold the cutters firmly in place in their
respective grooves of two set screws pressing against the back of each
cutter blade near its working end and holding the blade firmly against
the dovetailed or rebated edges of the groove, thereby preventing all
vibration and ensuring a perfect action, whether in cutting or sawing,
without the use of compound irons.
2nd. That the cutters or tools are alternated with intervals or spaces,
whereby the sawdust is enabled to readily escape, which is essential to
good work.

page_text: The blades, whether knife edged or saw toothed, being made precisely
alike in size and shape may be readily exchanged, the one kind for the
other.
Instead of fitting the cutting tools in a separate ring, as before
described, the grooves may be formed in the face of the disc itself and
the blades fitted therein as before.
The Invention further consists in the combination with the foregoing
of a bar, plate, or equivalent device, made by a weighted lever or other
means to press against the timber a short distance in advance of the
cutters with the object of preventing the splitting of the wood, the
pressure opposing a certain amount of resistance to and limiting the
separation of the fibre to the cutting action of the tools. This pressure
will regulated inversely according to the hardness of the wood and
the tenacity of its fibres.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood, I have
illustrated it, by way of example only, in the accompanying Drawings,
in which Figure 1 shows an end view of a machine for sawing or cutting
wood with the improvements applied.
Figure 2 shows a portion of the tool carrier in section on a larger
scale; Figure 3, a face view; and Figure 4, a section of same taken on
line 1, 2, Figure 3.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all these
Figures.
a, conical disc or tool holder keyed on a shaft b; c, ring or tool holder
proper secured to disc a by screws d; c, radial grooves varying in
number according to the diameter of the disc a; f,f¹, tools fitted in
grooves e. The tools f, Figures 2, 2 bis, and 3, are made saw toothed,
and those fare made knife edged. Each tool is made adjustable in its
groove e by a screw g mounted on the ring c and traversing a nut h on
the back of the tool; i, i, binding screws by which each tool is firmly
clamped in its groove near its working end. By means of these screws
the cutting edges of the whole set of tools may be adjusted in the same
plane, which is an important advantage.
j,j, Figure 1, fast and loose pulleys for driving the shaft b, which is
mounted in bearings on a bed k; l, adjusting stop; m, carriage on which
the timber to be sawn or cut is placed, the said carriage being traversed

page_text: along beds by gearing driven from pulleys t, t, t¹, and so arranged as
to give an accelerated return movement to the carriage; o, uprights to
which are attached frames p provided with dogs or cramps r. A suitable
number of these frames and cramps are employed, according to the
length of the carriage m, which is adapted to that of the timber to be
sawn or cut.
In order to prevent the vibration to which the disc a is liable while
in work when made of very large diameter, I propose to place three
friction rollers at back of same in contact with its sloping surface, as
shown in Figures 1 and 5. u represents the lowest of these rollers, and
u¹, u², two other rollers bearing against the disc on cither side of the
centre and nearer thereto than roller u.
Each of the rollers is mounted in slides with its axis parallel to the
surface of the cutter disc so as to bear uniformly on the latter.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend to
limit myself to the precise arrangement of machine herein-before
described, and that I reserve the right to employ in combination with
the cutter disc any suitable arrangement for operating the carriage upon
which the timber to be sawn or cut is traversed to and fro and fed up to
the cutter disc, and that what I do claim as the Invention to be pro-
tected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The combination of a revolving conical disc having radial grooves
in its plane surface (or in a ring attached to such surface) to receive the
removable sawing or cutting blades, each adjustable by an independent
screw mounted on the disc or ring as described, whereby the machine
may be readily adapted either for sawing or cutting, the arrangement of
the saw blades, when such are used, also facilitating the discharge of the
sawdust, all as set forth.
2nd. The employment in combination with the grooved disc of
binding screws therein near its periphery for holding the cutters or
blades firmly in place within their respective grooves and near the
working ends of the cutters, whereby all vibration of the latter is pre-
vented, and obviating the use of compound irons or cutters, all as herein-
before specified.
3rd. The employment in combination with a sawing or cutting disc,
as described, of a bar, plate, or equivalent device for pressing against

page_text: the balk of timber at a short distance in advance of the cutters with
the object of preventing the splitting of the wood, as herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenth-fourth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-five.