AN IMPROVED MACHINE POR CUTTING LEAVES OF WOOD, SUCH AS THOSE COMMONLY CALLED SCALEBOARD
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, BENJAMIN
PARSONS, of York Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, and
EDWARD ESDAILE, of the City Saw Mills, City Road, in the County of Middle-
sex, Machine Sawyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Ninth day of November, in the seventh year of Her reign, did
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile, Her especial licence, that we, the
said Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile, our exors, adñiors, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile, our
exors, adors, 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, in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, our Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE POR
CUTTING LEAVES OF WOOD, SUCH AS THOSE COMMONLY CALLED SCALEBOARD;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging us, or one
of us, the said Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile, by an instrument in
writing under our, or one of our hands and seals, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's

page_text: High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and 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, we, the said
Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention to consist in a multiplication of the knife or cutter of the
machine, and in a provision for supplying the place of the additional quantity of
wood thereby subtracted from the block at each stroke of the machine, which
without such provision would render the block unsteady when acted upon, and
prevent any effective operation of the machine. And in further compliance
with the said proviso, we, the said Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile, do
hereby describe the manner in which our said Invention is to be performed, by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Drawing No. 1.-Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 is a plan, of our
"improved machine for cutting leaves of wood, or what is commonly called
a scaleboard machine." The general arrangment of its construction and its
operation is the same as the common machine called a scaleboard machine,
excepting those parts shewn in the Drawings colored, which contain our
improvements.
Drawing No. 2.-Figure 3 is a vertical section, taken on the red line a, b,
of Figure 2, Drawing No. 1; and Figure 4 is also a vertical section, full size,
taken on the red line c, d, of Figure 2, Drawing No. 1, at a right angle with
the edge of the knives or cutters. The operation of the machine is as follows,
and will be described with reference to all the Figures, similar letters being
used to denote similar parts in them all. The machine is represented at
rest. The leather belt A leads from a fixed pully on the driving shaft, not
here shewn, and which gives motion in the direction of the arrows to the
pulley B, which is loose on the shaft C. The machine is put in motion by the
lever D moving the clutch E in gear with the pulley B, which puts in motion
the shaft C and the clutch F, shewn in gear with the drum G. On the
drum G is fixed the one end of the leather belt H, and the other end to the
under side of the bed plate I at the point J.
on to the drum G, moves the bed plate I forward in the direction of the
arrows, and so cuts off three leaves of wood from the log K by the three
knives marked 1, 2, 3, which are firmly fixed by wooden wedges into the mouth-
piece L of the bed plate I. The knives 1, 2, 3 are not placed at a right
The leather belt H being rolled

page_text: angle with the edge of the bed plate I, or line of its motion, as in the common
scaleboard machine, but at any other angle that may be desirable. The angle
we now use is shewn in Figure 2. The knives 1, 2, 3, and the adjusting
bars M, are shewn in Figure 4 set to cut sixteen leaves per inch; the edge
of the first knife 1 being one-sixteenth of an inch above the face of the bed
plate I, the edge of the second knife 2 being two-sixteenths of an inch above
the face of the bed plate I, and the edge of the third knife 3 being three-
sixteenths above the face of the bed plate, as shewn by the dotted lines 1, 2, 3.
The adjusting bars M are shewn raised about five twenty-eighths of an inch
above the face of the bed plate, so as to prevent the log of wood K from falling
down behind the knives and tilting up before during the stroke of the machine.
The bars M are adjusted by the packing pieces N under them and adjusting
screws O. When the bed plate I has moved the required distance forward, the
roller pivot P, fixed on the under side of the bed plate I, will have arrived at
the point shewn by the dotted circle Q, and so have pushed the lever R to the
position shewn by the dotted lines S, by which the clutch F is drawn out of
gear with the drum G, and put in gear with the drum T. The drum T being
thus put in motion in the direction of the pulley B, rolls up the chain U,
which, passing round the pulley V, is fixed to the under side of the bed plate at
the point W, and so moves the bed plate backward until the chain X is
tightened up, one end of which being made fast to the under side of the bed
plate and the other end to the lever R, moves that lever back again to the
position it was in before, and so moves the clutch F out of gear with the
drum T and into gear again with the drum G, when the bed plate I, will
again move forward and cut off other three leaves from the log K, as before
described. It will be observed that the drums G and T are loose on the
shaft C, and that while the leather belt H, is being rolled on to the drum G,
the chain U is being unrolled from the drum T, and while the chain U is
being rolled on to the drum T the leather belt II is being unrolled from the
drum G; but to prevent these drums unrolling too fast or farther than
required, strong friction springs Y are applied to them. The clutches E and
F are made to revolve with the shaft C by the keys Z. The lever R is kept
in the one position or the other by the projection e on the spring f. The
weighted lever g and weight h are to keep down the log K with sufficient
pressure against the face of the bed plate I. Though the Drawings represent
per inch, it will be understood
the knives set to cut sixteen leaves of wood
that the knives and adjusting bars may be set to cut any number of leaves
per inch, ranging from four to two hundred and sixty leaves.

page_text: Having now described the construction and operation of our improved
machine, it may be as well here to observe, that with a machine constructed
as herein-before described it is not necessary that all the three cutters or
knives should be in operation at all times, for 1, 2, or 3 may be used at a
time, dependent upon the power of the engine employed to turn the driving
shaft, provided only that the support bars are adjusted accordingly. Nor is
our Invention limited to three cutters or knives, as any number may be used
consistently with the convenient adjustment of the edges of the knives, provided
the support bars are elevated accordingly; and it is evident that the elevation
and depression of the support bars may be affected in various ways.
But we claim as our Invention the multiplication of the knife or cutter of
the machine, and the application of adjusting support bars, herein-before
described, or an adjusting support of any other suitable kind, to fill up the
additional vacant space under the block which the additional knives or cutters
create by the additional slices which they cut off, and which additional vacant
space, if not provided for, would make the block unsteady, and cause the
leaves cut off to be of unequal thickness. But by our adjusting support this
imperfection is prevented, while the additional knives or cutters cause a
greater quantity of leaves to be cut in a given time than where one blade
only is used as heretofore, and therefore enables us to furnish them to the
public at a cheaper rate.
And such our Invention being to the best of our knowledge and belief
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion
of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of Her said Majesty's
Colonies or Plantations abroad, nor in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, or Man, we do hereby declare this to be our Specification of
the same, and that we do verily believe this our said Specification doth comply
in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in the
said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained.
Wherefore we hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to
our said Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
BENJAMIN (L.S.) TARSONS.
EDWARD (L.S.) ESDAILE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Benjamin Parsons and Edward Esdaile
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification 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.
Enrolled the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four.