IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING VENEERS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
.66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CUTTING VENEERS."-A communication from abroad by John
Nash Lyman, John Abraham Squires, and Miles Aretus Lyman,
all of the City and State of New York, United States of
America.
Sealed the 29th June 1869, and dated the 26th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th January 1869.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CUTTING VENEERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of what is called the
stay log" of a veneer-cutting machine, and which, carrying a log or
section of a log, is made to revolve and present as it rotates the log or

page_text: section to the action of a knife or cutter so as to cut in curvatures
corresponding to the rings of the tree or thereabouts. In this novel
construction the portion of the stay log to which the timber is bolted is
rendered adjustable relatively to its journals so that an excentric adjust-
ment may be given it to suit logs or log sections of different peripherical
or perimetrical curvatures, and to adapt it to avoid cutting from or
through defective portions of the log or section, which in having a
complete revolution given it each cut affords ample time and opportunity
to set or feed up the cutter without stopping or checking the motion of
the machinery. In the operation of the machine the timber or log is
first divided longitudinally into halves or other sections, and the flat
surface of a section of the divided log is secured by screw bolts or other-
wise to the flat surface of the holding bar of the stay log. The veneer
is cut as the log or log section rotates by the contact and passage of the
log over or against a knife or cutter carried by a stout metal frame
which is adjustable horizontally on ways by means of screw shafts
turned by -wheels or pulleys, whereby the knife is adjusted relatively to
the log, and receives the "feed" for cutting a succession of veneers as
the log is rotated. After the log section has been secured to the holding
bar and the knife set or fed to effect a cut the log is adjusted relatively
to its journals by the sliding of cross pieces (on the ends of the holding
bar) within radial guides carried by the journals so that the outer or
convex surface of the log section may revolve at a uniform distance or
nearly so from the knife or cutting edge. Thus by this radial adjust-
ment of the holding bar to the journals the cut or cuts may be made
with the grain or in conformity with the rings of the tree when working
timber cut from trees of different size or girth, and consequently different
curvatures on the side or surface exposed to the cut, or by means
of this adjustment of the holding bar any desired deviation from such
line or lines of cut may be made to avoid defects or flaws in the wood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in 3
the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her
special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING VENEERS," being
a communication to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or
administrators, by an 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
This Invention relates to a novel construction of what is called the
"stay log" of a veneer-cutting machine, and which, carrying a log or
section of a log, is made to revolve and present as it rotates the log or
section to the action of a knife or cutter so as to cut in curvatures
corresponding to the rings of the tree or thereabouts. In this novel
construction the portion of the stay log to which the timber is bolted
is rendered adjustable relatively to its journals so that an excentric
adjustment may be given it to suit logs or log sections of different
peripherical or perimetrical curvatures and to adapt it to avoid cutting
from or through defective portions of the log or section, which in having a

page_text: complete revolution given it each cut affords ample time and opportunity
to set or feed up the cutter without stopping or checking the motion of
the machinery.
Having thus specified the object and nature of the Invention its
description will be proceeded with in reference to the accompanying
Drawing.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional longitudinal view or elevation of the
machine taken mainly through the centre of the revolving mechanism;
Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the same, partly in section; and Fig. 3 is a
transverse section thereof through the line x, x, in Fig. 1.
The stay log represented is in its general features of the ordinary
form and construction excepting that the holding bar A is provided at its
extremities with dovetail pieces a, a, which are fitted to slide vertically
within grooves b, b, formed by ways 8, 8, fast to flanges c, c, on the
shoulders of journals d, d, of shafts B, B, that rotate in bearings e, e, e, e,
of the main frame C. These end pieces a, a, are secured at any
suitable adjustment within the grooves b, b, by means of set screws f.f.
or by any other suitable means, locking or set screws m, m, serving to
steady and hold the slides when adjusted. D is a shaft passing
lengthwise of the machine, and to which the driving power is applied
and by which the same is imparted to the holding bar A by means of
pinions E, E, secured upon the ends of said shaft and gearing with cog
wheels F, F, upon the shafts B, B, that drive or rotate the holding bar A.
By this application of power to both ends of the holding bar torsion of
the latter or tendency thereto is prevented. In the operation of the
machine the timber or log is first divided longitudinally into halves or
other sections, and the flat surface of a section G of the divided log is
secured by screw bolts g, g, or otherwise to the flat surface of the
holding bar A, substantially as in stay logs of ordinary construction.
The veneer is cut as the log or log section rotates in the direction of the
arrow x, Fig. 3, by the contact and passage of the log over or against
a knife or cutter H carried by a stout metal frame I which is adjustable
horizontally on ways h, h, by means of screw shafts J, J, turned by wheels
or pulleys i, i, to adjust the knife relatively to the log, and to give it
"feed" for cutting a succession of veneers from the latter as it is
rotated. K is a stout metal frame seated and preferably made vertically
adjustable by means of screws j, j, on the knife frame or holder I, and

page_text: carrying in front at its lower end a plate for guiding the log section
to and steadying it during its cut. After the log section has been
secured to the holding bar A. and the knife set or fed to effect a cut
said section is adjusted relatively to the journals d, d, by the sliding of
the end pieces a, a, inwardly or outwardly within the grooves b, b, to or
from the axial centre of said journals so that the outer or convex surface
of the log section may revolve at a uniform distance or nearly so
from the knife or cutting edge. Thus by this radial adjustment of the
holding bar A to the journals d, d, the cut or cuts may be made with
the grain or in conformity with the rings of the tree when working
timber cut from trees of different size or girth, and consequently
different curvatures on the side or surface exposed to the cut, or by
means of this adjustment of the holding bar any desired deviation from
such line or lines of cut may be made to avoid defects or flaws in the
wood; also in thus adjusting the log section relatively to the
journals d, d, much timber is saved which otherwise would be lost.
When the log section has been rotated towards and past the knife to
take off a veneer from its peripherical surface the revolving motion of
the timber and its holding bar is continued in the same direction to cut
a second veneer, and so on in succession, the interval which takes place
between the succeeding rotations of the timber past the knife affording
ample opportunity to set or feed up the knife when the log section is
clear of the latter to give to the knife the proper set to effect a
succeeding cut.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Machinery for cutting Veneers," as communicated to me from abroad,
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,―
First. A revolving stay log formed of or comprising a rotating log
holding bar A made adjustable in radial directions relatively to its
journals d, d, for operation in connection with a knife or cutter H of
any suitable description and arranged so as to be fed up to the timber or
log section, substantially as specified.
Second. The combination of the holding bar A with its end pieces or
slides a, a, the ways 8, 8, arranged to form grooves b, b, the shafts B, B,
by which said ways and the holding bar are rotated, and the screws f.f.

page_text: to the slides or end pieces a, a, essentially as shown and described and
for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.