IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR POLISHING PARTS OF MACHINERY AND THE SURFACES OF OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES
Year: 1884

page_text: I FREDERICK ARTHUR PAGET of 158 Fenchurch Street London E.C and of
13 Riemer Gasse Stadt, Vienna Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR POLISHING
PARTS OF MACHINERY AND THE SURFACES OF OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES
to be as
follows:-
13
These improvements relate to polishing the surfaces of parts of machinery of
iron, steel, brass, &c., or of cutlery, of plate, and also of hard wood, of ivory, and
other hard substances.
"
They consist in an improved subsitute for what are known to engineers and
machinists, cutlers, and other workers in metals, and wood, etc: as "laps" or
wheels of metal; as "glaze-wheels" or wheels of wood; as "buff" or "buffing
wheels or "bobs" or wheels of leather; as "Dolly-wheels" or wheels of cloth, of
list or of felt; as "brush-wheels" or revolving brushes; and for other polishing
wheels used in the mechanical arts.-The working surfaces of all these wheels are
more or less elastic and yielding-It is well known to be impossible to polish with
a hard wheel.-An unyielding disc, even of the finest grain of emery, or other
polishing material, leaves a furrow or scratch on the work.-With most of these
wheels, except with what are known as "buff wheels," the powdered corundum,
emery, glass or crocus, or pumice stone, or chalk & is supplied in a loose state on
to the yielding body of the wheel.-With "buff-wheels " the polishing material is
fixed by means of glue to an elastic rim, usually of thick walrus leather, itself
glued on to a wooden centre.
The working action of all these wheels is known to be extremely irregular and
uncertain; and further, no one of these contrivances offers what may be termed a
continuous apparatus.
The material I combine may also be used in the form of sheets, for instance
affixed to a board it can be employed for polishing knives and other articles.
Now I find that, by uniting the polishing material by means of a suitable
cement with a more or less elastic substance, such as india rubber, cork dust, spent
tan, leather finely ground up paper pulp, or even fine hardwood saw-dust, I obtain
a solid and yet elastic polishing wheel in one piece.-India rubber, whether soft or

page_text: hard-vulcanized, has the draw back that, as it softens under the heat developed by
friction, it causes the wheel to glaze: though whenever water can be applied this
result is avoided. For most purposes I prefer to use cork dust or cork finely
powdered.
I find that with finely ground emery, a proportion of about four times the
weight of the cork to one of that of the emery produces a good result. The cement
employed for uniting the polishing material to the elastic medium may be any
one of those except india-rubber cement, that are now habitually employed for
manufacturing hard emery wheels for grinding purposes.
A thin solution of glue, boiled up with the cork and emery; or heated shell-lac
or also chalk mixed with a solution of silicate of soda may be applied.
The polishing material employed, the cork dust, and the suitable cement, being
first intimately mixed together between a pair of rolls, or otherwise, are placed in
a mould, and subjected to hydraulic pressure. The whole is allowed to set or
harden gradually, by the action of the atmosphere; or this operation is quickened
by the application of heat in an oven or otherwise.
The essential character of this invention therefore consists in intimately mixing
an abrasive material in a state of powder such as ground up emery or glass, with
an elastic medium, such as cork, also in a powdered state, and thereupon firmly
cementing the whole together so as to form a solid and yet yielding body, to be
employed for the above-mentioned purposes.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I FREDERICK ARTHUR PAGET of 158 Fenchurch Street London E C and of
13 Riemergasse stadt Vienna, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my
Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR POLISHING
PARTS OF MACHINERY AND THE SURFACES OF OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
These improvements relate to polishing "buffing" or "finishing" the surfaces of
parts of machinery of iron, steel, brass etc, or of cutlery, of plate, and also of hard
wood, of ivory and other hard substances.
"
They consist in an improved substitute for what are known to engineers, and
machinists, cutlers and other workers in metal and wood &° as "laps" or wheels of
metal, as glaze-wheels," or wheels of wood, as "buff" or buffing "wheels or
"bobs" or wheels of leather;-as "dolly "-wheels or wheels of cloth, of list or of
felt; as "brush-wheels" or revolving brushes: and for other polishing wheels used
in the mechanical arts. The working surfaces of all these wheels, are more or less
elastic and yielding. It is well known to be impossible to polish with a hard
wheel; an unyielding disc, even of the finest grain of emery or other polishing
material, leaves a furrow or scratch on the work.
Diagram 1. in the drawing illustrates this:-The more the polishing wheel
approaches to a true and unyielding cylinder, the more it necessarily tends to
produce a mere series of lines or scores on the work, particularly if the same be .
of a soft metal, Diagram 2 illustrates the action of a buffing wheel, in which
the circumference yields to the work and produces while rotating, a polished
surface.
With most polishing wheels except "buff" wheels the powdered corundum,
emery, glass or crocus, or pumice stone, or chalk etc used as the polishing material,
is supplied in a loose state on to the yielding body of the wheel. With "buff"
wheels the polishing material is fixed by means of glue to an elastic rim,
usually of thick walrus leather or also of thick felt, itself glued on to a wooden
centre.
The working action of all these wheels is known to be extremely irregular and
uncertain, and further no one of these contrivances offers what may be termed a
continuous apparatus.
The material I combine may also be used in the form of sheets; for instance
affixed to a board it can be employed for polishing knives and other articles.
Now by uniting any one of the polishing materials used in the mechanical arts,
by means of a suitable cement, with a more or less elastic substance, such as india
rubber, cork dust, spent tan, leather finely ground up, cotton fibre, hemp or jute,
paper pulp or even fine hard wood saw dust, a polishing wheel with the necessary
amount of elasticity may be obtained in one solid piece. It is also obvious that
the face, as well as the periphery of a wheel, being of the same consistency
throughout, may be used for polishing purposes, which is not the case with the

page_text: ordinary buffing wheel;-India rubber when used alone and only soft vulcanized,
has the drawback, that as it melts under the heat developed by friction, it causes
the wheel to glaze though;-whenever water can be applied this result is
avoided. If hard vulcanized, it simply produces an ordinary inelastic emery
wheel. For most purposes I prefer to use cork dust or cork finely powdered from
cork cuttings or waste, such as is extensively used in the manufacture of the well
known "Kamptulicon" or "Linoleum" floor cloth, I find that with finely ground
emery, a proportion of about four times the weight of the emery to one of that of
the cork produces a good result.
These proportions have to be varied with the polishing material employed.
Thus when chalk or whiting is used for polishing ivory or born, the weight of the
chalk should be only twice that of the cork. Wheels for polishing glass lenses for
which "rouge" is employed, should also be made with an amount of polishing
material about twice that of the elastic medium or the cork dust. The proportion
of the cork will also somewhat vary with the kind of cement used.
The cement employed for uniting the polishing material to the elastic medium
may be any one of those, except india rubber cement, that are now habitually
employed for manufacturing the ordinary hard emery wheels for grinding purposes.
I find that a mixture of india rubber and sulphur, produces a wheel rather too
hard for most polishing work even when the cork used is equal in weight to that
of the india rubber. A thin solution of glue boiled up with the cork and emery:
or heated shellac, or also chalk mixed with a solution of silicate of soda, may be
employed.
The polishing material to be used, the cork dust, and the suitable cement being
first intimately mixed together between a pair of rolls or otherwise are placed in a
mould and subjected to pressure, I find that especially for smaller discs, the pressure
given by a common hand screw press is quite sufficient, though a hydraulic press,
such as is used for making ordinary emery wheels, is a convenient machine for the
purpose. According to the nature of the cement employed the whole is allowed to
set or harden gradually by the action of the atmosphere, or this operation is
quickened by the application of heat in an oven or otherwise.
I have made an excellent elastic bond or agglutinating material for these
polishing discs out of a composition of common shellac, sulphur, and linseed oil.
The shellac is ground up into a fine powder and, together with the flowers of
sulphur and linseed oil is intimately mixed with the emery or other polishing
material and with the finely powdered cork. This may be done between a pair of
rollers or also in a common mixing mill, or even by hand. Very efficient wheels
for buffing iron and steel made be made by mixing 12 parts by weight of cork
with 48 parts of fine emery, 12 of shellac, four of linseed oil and six of sulphur.
This mixture is placed in a cast iron mould with cover similar to the moulds
ordinarily used in making emery wheels; is put under a slight pressure, and tho
whole is then subjected in an oven or otherwise, to a temperature sufficient to melt
the shellac and the sulphur. The cost of this cement may be reduced by taking a
portion of pitch or Trinidad tar in lieu of the shellac. A suitable proportion is
about 50 per cent of pitch to the weight of shellac employed. When very thin
discs of the material are required they can be strengthened by interposing woven
wire sheets at right angles to the longitudinal axis, or, sheets of canvas may be
glued or otherwise fixed to the faces of the disc.
In cases where such a disc has to be often inserted on, or removed from the
working spindle, it may be made with a centre or boss of wood grooved out or
otherwise and to which the elastic material is suitably fixed. On account of the
elasticity of the substance of these discs, they are not liable to be broken by a blow,
as is the case with the ordinary hard emery wheel so that this extra strengthening
is very seldom required.
It is obvious that these polishing buffing or finishing discs or face-wheels are
applicable to any of the known and existent machines now in use for polishing,
buffing and finishing.

page_text: "
Now I am aware that for many years a composition of soft india rubber and
pumice stone has been used for erasing ink marks from paper-I have also experi-
mented with a similar mixture of soft india rubber and emery for polishing parts
of machinery but I found that this composition, though efficient if used at a slow
speed, when rotated at the speeds used in practise for polishing machinery soon
glazes" through the heat generated, and thereby becomes incapable of polishing
any material whatever-I am further aware that discs of solid cork, necessarily of
a small diameter and fed with emery powder have been occasionally used for
polishing glass and also gun metal-Strips of the composition termed Linoleum,
which is well known to consist of cork dust agglutinated by means of oxidised
linseed oil and on the surface of which powdered emery or other abrasive material
is supplied, are also commonly used for cleaning cutlery by hand. But the
essential character of this invention consists in intimately mixing an abrasive
material in a state of powder, such as ground up emery or glass, with an elastic
medium, such as cork also in a powdered state, and thereupon firmly cementing
the whole together so as to form a solid and yet yielding body to be employed for
the above mentioned purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1 For polishing hard substances such as above mentioned, the use of a known
polishing or abrasive material in a powdered state, cemented together with cork
also in a finely comminuted state, so as to constitute an elastic and yielding body,
as above described.
2. For polishing iron and steel the employment of emery in a state of powder,
combined with a suitable proportion of cork, also in a powdered state, and
cemented together in the form of discs or of annular face wheels to be rotated by
suitable machinery.