IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND DRESSING STONE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND
DRESSING STONE."-A communication from abroad by Jean Philippe
. Kehr and Jean Millet, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 'Sth May 1860, and dated the 21st December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st December 1859.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Oflice for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND
DRESSING STONE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improved arrangements of machinery for
facilitating the operation of cutting stone for the purpose of facing blocks
thereof or of dividing up blocks into slabs. To this end a peculiar construction
of saw blade is, by preference, used, but other forms, being modifications
thereof, may be likewise employed. The blades, whatever may be the form of
their teeth, are made thicker in cross section at their cutting edges than at
their back. The teeth may be chisel shaped, or the saw edges may consist
гр.... 21

page_text: of chisels carried between metal bands or plates. The kind of blade preferred
is made with long vertical chisel-shaped teeth the uppermost being set the
most forward, and the others receding, so that when the saw commences
to operate the teeth will come into action in succession, instead of simul-
taneously.
One of the improved arrangements of mechanism in which these blades are
employed contains four vertical saw frames; which, although taking their
vertical movement from one and the same driving shaft, can be worked inde-
pendently of each other if desired. Two of these saw frames are placed at one
end of the machine, and the other two at the opposite end, but always moving
in vertical and parallel planes. If necessary a greater number of sets of saws
can be used in the same apparatus. Each saw frame is so connected to a draw
bar that while letting it work on the same plane it will allow it also to descend,
so that without moving the block of stone the blades may go through the
block from top to bottom. The draw bars are operated by being connected
by rods to a slide, which receives a reciprocating motion over the bed of the
machine through crank rods connected with a driving shaft. This machine
makes a horizontal cut through the block of stoné.
When it is desired to finish the face of a block of stone, the block is
mounted on a travelling carriage and passed in front of the saw blade, which,
from its peculiar construction, will plane the surface of stone or marble. The
teeth of the saw form so many chisels, each doing the same amount of work at
every stroke. Each tooth presents an angular section, the point of which
attacks the block and detaches from it all superfluous parts; the teeth besides
cutting with the point, are capable of operating at the same time with their
lateral edges, so that the surface is sawn and dressed simultaneously.
Fastened to a vertical frame like an ordinary saw this blade receives a recti-
linear alternating movement following a limited course, with a quickness
regulated according to the nature of the stone that is to be worked. The stone
mounted on a horizontal carriage is advanced gradually against the saw blades.
The saw frame is operated by a crank rod connected with the driving shaft,
which is carried by the standards of the machine, and the reciprocating motion
thus given to the saw frame is caused to rock a click lever, whereby a ratchet
wheel receives a slow rotary movement. On the shaft of this wheel is a spur
pinion, which gears into a rack on the carriage, and thus a progressive motion
is given to the block under operation.
For cutting blocks of stone into slabs, and at the same time planing the
sawn surfaces, a somewhat different arrangement is employed. The stone to
be cut and dressed, instead of moving past the saw frame, must advance upto

page_text: and go through it, the blades being adjusted with respect to each other to suit
the thickness of the slabs to be cut. The block is mounted upon rollers,
which turn in bearings in the bed frame, and to the sides of the block racks
are firmly secured for imparting a traverse motion thereto. Into these racks
gear pinions actuated by spur gearing, which receives motion through a
ratchet wheel and click lever from the reciprocating saw frame, and thus a
progressive motion is given to the block under operation bearing a determinate
relation to the speed at which the saw frame is driven.
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 21st June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery. Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alfied 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND DRESSING STONE," being a com-
munication from Jean Philippe Kehr and Jean Millet, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be perforined, 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

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and in the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents,
relates to certain improved arrangements of machinery for facilitating the
operation of cutting stone for the purpose of facing blocks thereof, or of
dividing up blocks into slabs. To this end a peculiar construction of saw
blade is by preference used, but other forms, being modifications thereof, may
be likewise employed. The blades, whatever may be the form of their teeth,
are made thicker in cross section at their cutting edges than at their back.
The teeth may be chisel-shaped, or the saw edges may consist of chisels carried
between metal bands or plates. The kind of blade preferred is made with
long vertical chisel-shaped teeth, the uppermost being set the most forward
and the others receding, so that when the saw commences to operate, the teeth
will come into action in succession instead of simultaneously. A more par-
ticular description of these saw blades will be given hereafter.
The Invention also includes several novel arrangements of mechanism in
which these blades are employed for cutting and dressing stone.
The one
which I will first describe is fitted with four vertical saw frames which,
although taking their vertical movement from one and the same driving
shaft, can be worked independently of each other if desired. This arrange-
ment is shewn in Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 being a
partial longitudinal elevation, and Fig. 2, a plan or bird's eye view of the
same. A, A, are the saw frames set at opposite sides of the framing B, 'which
may be constructed either of wood or iron. These saws may be made to
operate severally and simultaneously upon different blocks of stone C, or they
may be used to make parallel cuts in a single block. The saw frames are
held by slotted guide pieces D, which allow of their oscillation, and which
guide pieces are bolted to the extremities of draw bars E, to which recipro-
cating motion is imparted, and which are attached at their other extremities
to sockets F. These sockets are secured by tightening screws to cross rods
G, G, upon which they may be set at any required distances apart to allow of
the draw bars E being adjusted to any required position to suit the cut';
these cross rods G, G, are connected together at their extremities by being
bolted to bridle pieces I, I, which terminate in guide rods H, which work in
bracket guides M standing up from the sides of the framing B. Passing
through the bridle pieces I midway between the two cross rods G, G, is a'
cross shaft J, the extremities of which extend beyond the bridle piece to
reccive respectively the crank rods L, which transmit thereto a reciprocating
motion from their other ends, being connected to crank pieces on driving

page_text: pullies N mounted on the driving shaft (). This reciprocating motion of the
shaft J is converted into a rectilinear motion by means of the guide rods and
guides H and M, which motion is conveyed through the rods E to their
respective saw frames.
From the above description, it will be seen that the machine is easy and
convenient to work, and that it admits of being applied with facility to large
stone cutting works as well as to temporary sheds adjacent to buildings in
course of erection. If necessary, a greater number of sets of saws than those
shewn in the Drawing can be used in the same apparatus. The saw frames,
it will be understood, are so connected to their respective draw bars, that
while the draw bar works on the same plane it will allow the saw frame to
descend, so that without moving the block of stone, the blades may go
through the block from top to bottom. When it is desired to finish the face
of a block of stone the block is mounted on a travelling carriage,as shewn in
Sheet II. of the Drawings, by which it is passed in front of the saw blade.
The peculiar construction of this blade, the teeth of which form so many
chisels, will ensure the rapid surfacing of the block of stone or marble, each
tooth doing the same amount of work at every stroke. Fig. 3 represents the
dressing machine in side elevation as set up and at work; Fig. 4, a plan or
bird's eye
view of the saine; and Fig. 5, a transverse section and front view
at the saw frame side of the machine. Figs. 6, 7, and 8, are detached views
on an enlarged scale of the different tools which may be employed in this
machine according to the work to be performed.
A principal feature of the improved cutting and dressing machinery may
be said to consist in the peculiar construction of cutting tool employed, the
teeth of which are so formed as to enable them to cut with their points and
their sides so that blocks under operation may be cut through and dressed
simultaneously. The tool may consist of a single blade of steel shaped as
shewn in the detached views, Figs. 6 and 7, or it may be composed of several
chisels or cutters a, Fig. S, carried by bands P. When operating with the
machine shewn in Sheet II., the block of stone is moveable, it being mounted
in a carriage C,which moves on parallel ways for the purpose of bringing the
whole surface of the block under the action of the cutting tool. The saw
blade, whatever may be its construction, is held in the side of a vertical
reciprocating frame Q, which is arranged in a precisely similar manner to
that of a large saw for cutting up timber in the baulk. At each descent of
the cutting tool P motion is communicated by the tool carrier to a crank
lever L, which by means of a click which it carries on its short arm,gives an
intermittent axial motion to a ratchet wheel M mounted upon a cross shaft m.

page_text: Keyed on this shaft is a pinion p, which gears into a rack attached to the
carriage C,and thereby gives a traverse motion to the work. Motion is com-
municated by means of a portable engine or other motive power machinery to
the crank shaft O,which carries the two pullies N, N',and also the fly wheel,
and by the connection of the saw frame Q with the crank shaft through a
crank rod O', a reciprocating motion is transmitted to that frame. For
cutting blocks of stone into slabs, and at the same time planing the sawn
surfaces, a somewhat different arrangement is employed.
The stone to be cut and dressed, instead of moving past the saw frame,
advances up to and goes through it, the blades being adjusted with respect to
• each other to suit the thickness of the slabs to be cut. The block is traversed
over antifriction rollers, which turn in bearings in the bed frame, the traverse
motion being obtained through spur gearing taking into racks beneath the
carriage which carries the stone. The spur gearing receives motion through
. a ratchet wheel and click lever from the reciprocating saw frame, and thus a
progressive motion is given to the block under operation, bearing a determinate
relation to the speed at which the saw frame is driven.
In Sheet III., Fig. 9 is a side elevation of this arrangement of machine
set up to work; Fig. 10 is a plan or bird's-eye view of the same; and
Fig. 11 is an end view, the carriage on which the stone to be operated is
placed being shewn in section. The progressive forward movement of the
stone is obtained in the following manner :-The racks C1, Fig. 3, which
are cast in one piece with the carriage C,are driven by pinions p mounted
upon the cross shaft p'. This shaft carries also a spur wheel R, which gears
into a pinion mounted upon the shaft of the ratchet wheel S. A click 8,
jointed to a rock lever worked by an eccentric Q, keyed on the driving
shaft A, takes into the teeth of the ratchet wheel S,and by giving an inter-
mittentaxial motion to the wheel S,causes the stone to move gradually up to
the saw blades. The driving shaft is cranked for the purpose of communi-
cating through the crank rods a motion to the frame B which carries the
saws. Rotary motion is communicated to the crank shaft A by the pullies
0,0¹, tue action of the machine being regulated by means of the fly wheel U.
The stone P to be operated upon is set upon the carriage C, which runs upon
'a set of rollers C*, the axles of which work in brackets t¹ mounted upon the
bed frame L. In order to fix and retain the stone upon the carriage, each of
the bars m of the carriage C carries a cramp or holdfast n, against which the
stone bears, it being further secured by the set screws V of the transverse
bare, and which may be set at any required position according to the dimen-
sions, of the stone.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improved machinery
for cutting and dressing stone, as communicated to me from abroad, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim constructing
machinery for cutting and dressing stone, as above described and shewn in the
Drawings.
Iu witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)