A MACHINE FOR CUTTING KEYS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Stansbury, of the firm of Nourse
& Co., of 17 & 18, Cornhill, London, Patent Agents, for the Invention
Sealed the 5th June 1855, and dated the 13th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick Stans-
bury at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th December 1854.
T, CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm. of Nourse & Co., of 17 &
5 18, Cornhill, London, Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A MACHINE FOR CUTTING KEYS," (the same being a communica-
tion from a foreigner), to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the arrangement of a lathe carrying a circular
cutter or saw, with a compound slide rest supporting a vise or carriage swinging
between centres, by which means the bit of the key is brought into the proper
position in contact with the cutter, in order to produce steps or cuts of any
required depth and at any given distance from each other. On the front of
the mandrel is placed the circular cutter or saw.

page_text: The slide rest consists of three parts or slides; the lowest of these parts is
placed parallel with the mandrel, and is so arranged in connection with a lever
and graduated are as to bring the key into the required position opposite the
cutter. The two other parts of the slide move at the right angle to the lower
plate; the central slide is fixed at the requisite distance from the mandrel by
means of an adjusting screw; the upper plate or slide is also moved by a
screw, so as to allow the steps in the key to be made of any required depth.
The motion of this slide is indicated by levers acting upon two graduated
indices. The key is placed on a small stud or pin in the vise or carriage
above alluded to, and the cuts or steps are produced by the operator placing
the key in contact with the cutter by means of a lever attached to the
swinging vise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Frederick Stansbury in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., of 17 and 18, Cornhill,
London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Frederick Stansbury, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Frederick Stansbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, 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
"A MACHINE FOR CUTTING KEYS," a communication from a foreigner, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same iş
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained-in-and-by-the-
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in the arrangement of a lathe carrying a circular
cutter or saw, with a compound slide rest supporting a vice or carriage swing-
ing between centres, by which means the bit of the key is brought into the
proper position in contact with the cutter, in order to produce steps or cuts of
any required depth, and at any required distance from each other.
In the Drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the machine taken from
the front or working side; Figure 2 is an enlarged top view of the graduated
apparatus, by which the depth and order of the cuts is regulated and indicated;
Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the radial guide plate; and Figure 4 is a
vertical transverse section of the compound slide rest, showing the three slides
of which it is mainly composed. The same parts are indicated in all the
Figures by the same letters of reference.
A, A, A, represents the bed plate of the machine; B, B, the band from any
suitable prime mover by which the machine receives motion; C, the band
wheel or pulley; D, the circular cutter or saw fastened on the front of the
mandrel; E, E, E, E, the compound slide rest; F, the swinging vice or
carriage which holds the key to be cut, and presents it to the cutter; G, G,
are uprights supporting the centres between which the carriage F swings; H,
the handle by which the motions of the carriage F are controlled; I is the
key to be cut, placed in a proper vice or holder; and J is the screw which
holds the key in place during the operation; K is a can from which oil is
supplied to the saw or cutter while at work; L is a connecting rod, which
connects the compound rest E, E, E, E, with the upright arm M, which,
moving around its centre N, imparts lateral motion to the compound rest.
O is the arm of a clamp which adjusts the position of the connection between
the rod L and the arm M; P is a curved slot, through which the pin con-
necting L and M passes, and at any point in which said pin may be fixed
by the clamp 0; Q is a slide moving vertically on the arm M; R is a
graduated guide on which the slide Q moves; S marks the arm of a clamp
which fixes the slide Q at any required position on the graduated guide R;
T represents a graduated segment plate, on which the lateral movements of
the arm M are accurately indicated. An enlarged view of this plate is
given in Figure 3. U, U, are the guides on which the compound rest
moves laterally. The compound rest is composed of three slides, resting on

page_text: one another, and moving in proper guides. The bottom one, which carries
the other two, moves laterally; the middle and upper ones move at right
angles to the movement of the bottom one. V is an adjusting screw, regulating
the position of the middle slide upon the bottom one. When this position is
fixed, the two slides are held together firmly by a clamp at the back of the
machine, not seen in the Drawings. W represents the handle of a crank
attached to the screw which moves the upper slide upon the middle one. ✗
(see Figure 4) marks the lower slide of the compound rest; Y, the middle
slide of the same; and Z (Figures 2 and 4), the upper slide of the same. A'
is a graduated are on the slide Z, so divided as to indicate in hundredths of an
inch the total distance the slide Z travels in making the deepest cut; B', a
graduated are, indicating the proportions in which the total depth of cut is
divided between the several bits of the key; C, C¹, are slots in the upper
slide Z, through which project pins D', D', supporting the transverse bar E.
The pins D¹, D', are attached to the middle slide, and do not move with
the slide Z. F', a slide on the bar E', the position of which is fixed by the
clamp screw Gat any point on the bar; H' is a stud projecting from the
slide F, which, when the slide Z is moved back and forth, imparts motion
to the lever I¹; 1, J, and K' are a series of levers connected together; the
third K' being bent at right angles at its centre L, and prolonged into the
index arm M', which traverses the arc B¹. N¹ is a lever, which through
the centre L gives motion to the index O', traversing the graduated are A¹.
The upper slide Z moves against a spring at the back of the machine, and
not shewn in the Drawings, which imparts steadiness and accuracy to its
movements.
The object of my key-cutting machine is to cut key blanks into any number
of bits or steps of any required width or depth, and to vary to the utmost
extent the combinations in which bits of different dimensions may be arranged.
Thus, millions of keys may be produced, no two of which shall be alike. In
order to accomplish this, it is necessary to regulate the lateral motion of the
blank as it is presented to the cutter, and the transverse motion which controls
the depth of the cut, and finally to indicate in advance and with precision the
cxact combination to be produced, so that it may be recorded.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-
The compound rest E, E, E, E, is moved laterally on its guides U, U, by
means of the arm or lever M, whose fulcrum is at N, and whose motions can
be governed with precision by the radial segment plate T, over which it travels.
This plate has grooves or holes in its surface, into which fits a pin, governed
by a spring and thumb-piece on the slide Q. The starting point of the rest in

page_text: any given case is adjusted with accuracy by altering the point of attachment
of the rod L to the arm M by means of the clamp O and slot P. The starting
point of the upper slide Z, which carries-the-swinging-carriage-to-which-the
key is attached, is regulated by adjusting the position of the middle slide Y on
the bottom slide X; this is done by means of adjusting screw V, and when
the proper position is attained, the slides X and Y are clamped together by a
clamp screw. The total amount of motion of the upper slide Z in any given
series of combinations is determined in advance, and is indicated by the index
0¹ on the arc A¹, said index being moved by means of the lever N¹ attached
to the pin D' which projects through the slot C. The pin being fixed and
the levers unaltered, the indication will be according to a constant proportion.
The graduation I have adopted in practice is one which indicates the amount
of motion in hundredths of an inch. The motion to be given to slide Z
depends upon the depth of the deepest cut to be made in the key blank,
and the motion is imparted by the screw driven by the crank handle W.
As the slide Z moves back and forth, the lever I' is moved by the stud H'
on the bar E, and through the levers J¹ and K', it imparts motion to the
index arm M¹ moving over the arc B¹. The amount of motion communicated
to this index by the total movement of the slide Z will depend upon the
position of the slide F¹ on the bar E¹. When the slide F¹ is in the position
shewn in Figure 2, the smallest amount of motion will be communicated to M¹
by any given movement of slide Z; but when the slide F is at the other end
of the bar E, as seen in Figure 1, the greatest amount of motion will be given
to index arm M¹. Thus, by altering the position of F', the arm M' may be
made to traverse any required number of divisions on the graduated arc B¹
for any given motion of Z, and the total depth of cut may thus be proportioned
between the various bits of the key according to any pre-arranged scale of
combinations. The arrangement of the carriage F, so as to swing between
centres, enables the key to be withheld from the action of the cutter until
the blank is brought into the exact position required; it also makes the
ends of the bits convex instead of concave, as they would be if cut by a
circular cutter while held by a fixed holder or carriage.
Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what I claim
under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, the construction and
arrangement of a machine, substantially such as above described, the same
consisting mainly of a lathe carrying a circular saw or cutter, in combina-
tion with a compound slide rest and a series of levers and arms or screws,
constructed in the manner described, for the purpose of indicating with

page_text: accuracy upon suitably graduated arcs or plates the operations of the machine.
And particularly I claim the swinging carriage or holder marked F in the
Drawings, and constructed and operating substantially in the manner herein-
before described. And I further claim the compound slide rest, with its
graduated arcs and indexes, constructed and operating substantially in the
manner herein-before described, and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY. (L.S.)