IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, CARVING, AND ENGRAVING
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BROWN JORDAN, of Cottage Road, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-five, in the eighth year of Her reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Brown Jordan, my exors, aduiors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Thomas Brown Jordan, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Thomas Brown Jordan, my exors, adíiors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-on-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, CARVING, AND ENGRAVING;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, requiring me, the said Thomas
Brown Jordan, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, & to cause the same to be enrolled in Her

page_text: said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Brown Jordan, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following instrument in writing, reference being had
to the letters and figures therein contained, and to the Drawings therein
referred to.
The idea of carving by machinery has long been entertained by mechanics,
and consequently in consulting the records of mechanical invention we find
accounts of various attempts which have from time to time been made towards
the accomplishment of this object, some of which have been attended with
partial success. The carving machines hitherto constructed have one feature
in common, viz., the use of revolving tools; most of the machines admit of the
tool being moved in various directions, in an horizontal plane, and some of the
machines admit of a motion being given to the work, as well as to the tool; in
most of them also the path of the tool is governed by a templet, either fixed
upon or under the work, and the cross section of the moulding or form
produced is a counterpart of the section of the tool used. The modifications
and arrangements of these machines have been various, and my Invention has,
for its object the construction and arrangement of an improved machine for
copying or reproducing almost any description of cut; carved, and engraved
surface. I will now proceed to describe the arrangements employed in the
construction of such improved machine, and which are delineated in the
annexed Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a plan; Fig. 2, a front elevation; Fig. 3, side elevation. The
same letters of reference are used to denote the same parts in every Drawing.
A, B, C, D, is a cast-iron frame, forming the bed of the machine; the upper
portions of the sides A, B, and C, D, are planed perfectly straight, smooth, and
parallel, and they serve as a railway for the wheels E, F, G, H, to run on;
these wheels are mounted between centres, which are fixed to the frame I, J,
K, L, and are so adjusted as to ensure the steady motion of the frame in an
horizontal plane, and in the direction of the lower rails only. M, N, O, P, is
the floating table or chuck of the machine, to which the work and patterns are
attached, and it is furnished with wheels, which roll on the upper edges of the
frame I, J, K, L, the like precaution of nice adjustment being observed.
will readily be seen that this arrangement gives the workman the power of
moving the work about in every possible direction in an horizontal plane.
It

page_text: Other details in the construction of this part will be better understood after tho
whole has been generally described. 1, 2, 3, 4, are the supports for the
vertical slide and other parts connected with the cutting and tracing apparatus;
5, 6, is the slide; and 7, 8, a bar cast on the slile, which has a T groove
through its whole length, and to which the headstocks for the mandrils 9, 10, 11,
are clamped at any required distances asunder. Motion is given to these
mandrils by the band 12, which is driven by any first mover at such a rate as
to produce from five thousand to seven thousand revolutions of the cutters per
minute. Q, R, is the treadle, which is managed by tho workınan's foot, and
serves to raise and depress the cutters; its connection with the horizontal bar,
carrying the pullies 13 and 14, is fully shewn in the Drawings; the weights S, S,
are a counterpoise to that of the slide and parts connected with it, which can
be varied at pleasure, according to the number of mandrils in use. 15 is a
stop screw, which regulates the range of the slide to which it is fixed, so that
it cannot turn in its bearings; it passes through a free hole in the bracket 16,
which serves as the stop to the locking nuts 17 and 18, and these may be fixed
on any part of the screw, so as to determine the distance through which the
slide shall move. In very large machines it is requisite to introduce some
mechanical arrangement for giving the workman more command over the
movements of the floating table, and I find that shewn in the Drawings con-
venient for the purpose; but it is obvious that several modifications of the
rack and pinion or the screw may be used with nearly the same effect. The
arrangement shewn in the Drawings consists of the steering wheel U and its
axle, which passes across the centre of the lower rolling frame, and is furnished
with a drum of three or four inches diameter, about which is coiled the centre
portion of the wire line V, V, while its ends are fixed to screws W, W, which
pass through sockets cast in the floating table, and consequently turning the
steering wheel to the right or left will give a corresponding motion to the
work just inside the steering wheel, and on the same axis there is a small
cogged wheel X, which serves to fix the axle, and consequently to stop the
motion from right to left whenever the detent Y is dropped into its cogs.
In some cases, as where the floating table and work are very heavy, it
may be desirable to move the table by the steam power, as in the following
manner-Z, Z, is an endless band, passing over pullies fixed to the bed
of the machine, to which a slow motion is communicated from the first mover
at a, a; it passes through the jaws of a clamp b, which is so arranged as to
allow both sides of the band to pass freely when the bandle of it is in a central
position, and to clamp the frame to the right or left portion of the band when
in either of those positions. Of course the result of this is, that when the left

page_text: portion is clamped, motion is given to the work in that direction in which it is
travelling, and the opposite direction is obtained by reversing the clamp, but
the band itself always travels in the same direction. Fig. 4 is a front elevation
of a part of the machine, with the additions requisite for cutting on the round,
and a side elevation of the headstocks and turning plate, &c. A, B, represent
headstocks, which are fixed to the floating table for the purpose of supporting
the work between centres, in order that it may be carved on every side; several
pairs of these may be fixed on the table at one time, dependant on the number
of picces it is intended to cut. The mandril of A is provided with a wheel c,
having a screw cut in its edge suited to the threads of the screw d, which
when in use is placed across one end of the floating table in the bearings e, e,
and is adjusted to gear with the wheels of all the front headstocks in use. The
back headstocks B are fixed to the table exactly opposite the front. ones, and
are used for supporting the other ends of the pieces of work and pattern.
When the table is thus fitted with its headstocks and work supported between
centres, any motion given to the wheel M, which is the head of the large screw,
will move all the pieces of the work through a certain angle, and present another
face of it to the cutters, and if this turning of the screw is continued from
time to time and the cutters made to operate on the new portion presented at
cach turn, of course the whole circumference would eventually be carved. At D
there is a cogged wheel fixed on the screw d, with a detent or click for fixing
the screw in any required position. For some descriptions of work, as spiral
work, it is desirable to have the power of turning the guide screw at a given
rate while the work is being cut, and this is readily accomplished by the
wheels M, E, F, G, being thrown in gear. The axle of the wheels E, F, works
in a socket cast in the floating table, and it may be removed at pleasure; but
when in use n wheel of any other number of cogs may take the place of
F, and the wheel G may be changed in like manner; this last wheel is fixed to
the same axle as the drum II, having its bearing in a socket cast on the lower
frame. About this drum is coiled the centre portions of a wire cord K, the
ends of which are fixed to the bed of the machine in the same way that
the ends of the band V are fixed to the floating table. N, N, Fig. 4, are two
elevations of a cast iron plate, which is used between the centres for fixing
busts, brackets, and other elaborate subjects, which require a variety of motions
in order that the cutter and tracer may be able to reach all the parts. O, P, Q,
is the end of the plate; s is the centre, which works on the centre of the front
headstock, as shewn at S' in the side elevation; a similar centre is provided in
the other end of the plate to work on that of the back headstock
R is a pin
or carrier, which fits into a hole in the face plate of the front headstock.

page_text: V
may
T, U, is the chuck for the work or pattern; it is furnished with a spill, turning
in a socket in the plate, and with cogs in its circumference, so that the detent
fix it in any required position. When the work and pattern is mounted
in this way, the workman can move it to any angle about the axis S', W, and
also to any angle about the axis X, Y, and consequently can bring the cutters
perpendicular to every side of it, except that by which it is fixed to the
chuck; of course a number of these turning plates may be used at one time,
as already explained in other cases, and when the chucks are moved each
must be moved through the same angle.
Having now described all the parts of the machine, I will return to it in its
most simple form, to explain the mode of using it; and I will illustrate this
explanation by supposing that an original carving has been produced by hand,
of which a number of copies are required, and that it is a subject carved in
bold relief on one face only. When (as I have assumed) the same subject is
to be often repeated, I find it expedient to get a metal cast of the original
carving for my pattern, and I fix this to the floating table of the machine
under the tracer, as shewn at d, e, f, g, Figures 1 and 3. I then fix on each
side of it pieces of wood or other material of the proper size to carve it out of, as
at h, i, j, k, and the number of these which can be done at one time is only
limited by the relative size of the work and of the machine; two only are
shewn in the Drawings, and these are represented further from the pattern
than is requisite in practice, in order to make it more clear. Having fixed
the tracer in its socket and adjusted the cutters m, m, so that they are over
the centre lines of the blank pieces when the tracer n is over the centre line of
the pattern, and brought the points of the three to the same level, the machine
is ready to be set in motion; when the cutters are at full speed they must be
brought into action by withdrawing the pressure of the foot from the treadle,
and thus allowing the cutters to come down, which will immediately cut away
some superfluous part of the material, and then by gradually moving about the
table with the hands and keeping the tracer constantly floating over the contour
of the pattern with the foot, a fac-simile of it is very speedily produced on as
many pieces as may have been put down for the purpose. In an elaborate
piece of work it is of course requisite to use a variety of cutters and tracers; it
is important also that the cutters and tracer used together should be of the
same size, and that the form of the cutting edge should be such as to produce
the figure of the tracer by revolution about its axis; the larger cutters are
generally used first to rough out, and the smaller ones afterwards for cutting
out the minute parts of the design; some of the leading forms of the cutters
are shewn in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, but these may be greatly varied to suit

page_text: different styles of work, although a good selection of the forms shewn are
sufficient for all ordinary purposes. The outline of these Figures is the form
of the tracer, and the dotted lines shew that of the corresponding cutters. It
will be quite obvious to any person acquainted with machinery that the fixing
of the work and pattern between the centres, Fig. 4, already described, would
not make any difference in the manipulation for cutting it, as it is merely a
different mode of chucking, by which we obtain the advantage of being able
to cut it on all its sides; this remark, however, only applies to cases in
which a pattern is used, there are others which require further notice. As,
for instance, when it is required to produce spirals on the surface of a
cylinder or cone, or when the machine is employed to plough grooves or
hollows, in these and similar cases a pattern is not generally required.
Spirals of any pitch may be obtained by using the change wheels F, G,
Fig. 4, in gear with the band K, the cross motion of the table from right
to left being stopped by dropping the detent Y into the cogs of the wheel X.
As many pieces of wood or other material as are intended to be cut at one
time are roughed out as if for turning, and fixed between the centres on the
table, so as to be parallel to each other, and to the bed rails, and over the
centre line of each piece a cutter suitable for producing the required section of
the groove is adjusted on the bar, as before described. The change wheels,
shewn in the Drawings, would produce a spiral of 1 turn in ten inches, and of
course other numbers would be put on to obtain them of different pitches, as in
the screw-cutting engines already well known. When the machine is used in
this manner it is better to drive the table backwards and forwards by turning
the hand wheel L, instead of moving it in the usual way. This of course
causes each piece of work to revolve at a rate bearing a fixed proportion to the
space through which it is driven in the direction of its length, and consequently
the cutters will produce the spiral required. When several spiral lines running
parallel to each other are required on the same piece, it is merely requisite to
move the screw through a certain number of revolutions and parts, indepen-
dently of the change wheels, and then throwing it in gear with them again,
and proceeding as before. N, O, Fig. 4, is a small wheel and detent for doing
this without moving the other wheels.
Figure 5 shews another modification of the machine for carving patterns
on the surface of a cylinder from a flat guide or drawing. In these
Figures all the parts similar to those already described are in black lines
and the variations in red. The black letters of reference are also used
to distinguish the same parts which they refer to in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and there-
fore the black portions of the Drawing is already fully described. a, b, c, d,

page_text: is the cylinder, of wood or other material, prepared for receiving the pattern,
and mounted between centres, which are fitted into sockets cast on the
inside of the lower frame. There is a face plate fixed on the end of the
cylinder a, b, c, d, having a groove in its edge for carrying the wire band e, f,
which is passed once round and fastened to it at ono point. The ends of this
band are carried in opposite directions, and fixed to the screw g and bracket h,
the screw being used to strain it, and at the same time to connect the floating
table with the cylinder, which is secured between the centres of the lower
frame. The upper frame or floating table, as I have before called it, has one
half of its top removed, so as to admit of the cutter acting on the work in
every possible position of the frames; the other half is used to fix the drawing
templet or other guide for the tracer on, as shewn at i, j. In this arrange-
ment the same combination of two rectilinear motions are used to cause the
whole surface of the pattern to pass under the tracer; but one of these motions
is used to produce a rotation of the work on its axis only while it is allowed to
move in the direction of its length with the other, so that if the floating table,
or rather frame, is moved from right to left, the work simply revolves on its
axis, and makes one entire revolution in the same time that the flat pattern
is passing its whole width under the tracer, (to insure which with accuracy, of
course the width of the pattern must be exactly equal to the circumference of
the cylinder. And if the frames are moved backwards or forwards on the
bed rails, then both pattern and work are moved in the direction of their
length only, while any combination of these motions of the frame will produce
similar compound motions in the surface of the cylinder, and consequently the
pattern cut on the cylinder would print a fac-simile of the guide from which
it is cut.
In the above description I have found it requisite to mention and refer to
many parts, elements, and arrangements of machinery which are well known
to machinists, and some of which, particularly the arrangements necessary for
the combination of the rectilinear motions of the floating table, whereby any
variety of lines, whether straight or curved, may be obtained without any
angular motion of the moving parts, are described in the Specification of
Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of November,
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and
granted to me for "improvements in the manufacture of blocks or surfaces for
urface printing, stamping, embossing, and moulding." And I hereby declare
hat I do not claim as of the Invention intended to be secured to me by these
Letters Patent the producing the above-mentioned rectilinear motions of the
loating table, or the several parts and elements of machinery herein-before

page_text: described when taken séparately, or when employed otherwise than as herein-
after particularly mentioned for the purposes of my said Invention.
I do claim is, ---
But what
First, the improvement in machinery for cutting, carving, and engraving,
wherein the tracer and cutter or cutters are moving simultaneously over the
pattern and work respectively in one plane, while the pattern and work
have their motion simultaneously in another plane at right angles to it.
And, secondly, the improvement in machinery for the purposes aforesaid,
wherein the surface of a cylinder is cut, carved, or engraved from a flat
pattern or guide, the tracer and cutter or cutters moving simultaneously over
the pattern and work respectively in one plane, the pattern and work having
their motion simultaneously in another plane at right angles to the former, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Brown Jordan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Thomas Brown Jordan, in the
resence of
THOS B. (L.S.) JORDAN.
D. T DELL
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Thomas Brown Jordan 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.