IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PLANING METALS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66,Chancery. Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PLANING METALS."—A
communication from abroad by William Sellers, of Philadelphia, in the
State of Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Sealed the 14th.November 1865, and dated the 26th July-1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th July 1865.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PLANING METALS,"
to be as follows:-
In nearly all planing machines for metal the work is fastened to a table
which slides to and fro on ways that control its position. To the ways are
secured uprights, and to the uprights are fastened what is termed the cross
head, this being the cross slide of the compound slide rest holding the planing
tool. The cross head is adjusted upon the uprights at varying distances above
the table to suit the size of the work to be planed. Some few machines have
been built with the cross head attached to slides guided in ways fastened to
walls of masonry. The work to be planed resting on platforms in the pit
formed by the side walls. The cross head having no vertical adjustment the

page_text: platforms which support the work are raised or depressed to suit the varying
heights of the material. Supposing the disadvantages overcome in this form
of machine, it would be found well adapted to the heavier class of work, as it
would take up much less room. The moving parts could always be of the
same weight and generally much lighter than the work to be operated upon,
so that it would require less power to drive it.
The object of the present Invention is to overcome various inconveniences
incidental to this class of planing machines, and it consists in supporting the
work to be operated upon on a stationary platform. The cross heads are
supported on uprights or posts as in machines of ordinary construction. These
uprights are arranged to slide in ways provided for that purpose in the sides
of the stationary platform, so that the slides which govern the position of the
tool are below the work to be operated upon in place of above it, as hereto-
fore; and the cross head can be elevated and depressed upon the uprights to
suit the varying heights of the work in place of elevating and depressing the
platform.
The bed of the machine upon which the work to be planed is fastened has
on either side of it racks and planed ways, in which are fitted slides to which
the uprights are firmly bolted. The slides are made to fit the ways accurately
by means of tapered shoes on their upper side. At the top the uprights are
secured together by means of a cross girt. In each of the uprights are
vertical shafts, at the lower end of which are driving pinions gearing with
racks, while on the upper end of the shafts are worm wheels inclosed in cases
in the uprights. These cases are to retain the oil used in lubricating. The
two worm wheels are driven by worms, one being right and the other left
hand thread. The two worms are united by a sleeve. Each of the worms is
provided with a step plate to receive the thrust, which step plate is made of
a spherical form on its back part to ensure a perfect fit on the rubbing
surface next to the worm. The shaft of the worm extends through its case,
and has at its outer end a spur wheel, which has also within it a friction
clutch, the purpose of which will be presently explained. The spur wheel
has on its opposite sides two pinions of the same size gearing into it, one runs
loosely on a stud attached to the uprights, but having fast to it a narrow faced
pulley. Outside of which on the same stud runs a loose pulley of double the
width of face of the other pulley. The other pinion is fast to a shaft which is
carried by bearings in the top of the upright. This shaft has also outside of
the pinion a fast pulley and a loose pulley of the same width face as the
pulleys, but so placed as to have each fast pulley opposite to the loose pulley
of the other set. The first set of pulleys are twice as large as the other

page_text: pulleys. The top of the small set of pulleys is somewhat above the top of the
others, so that a belt passing clear of the large pulley and around the small
pulley; then back around the large pulleys and running continuously in the
same direction, will turn one set of pulleys in one direction and the other set
in the opposite direction. The two loose pulleys, being twice as wide as the
fast pulleys, and the belt being somewhat narrower than the face of the fast
pulleys, if it be shifted to run on the large fast pulley, its other turn will be
on the small loose pulley... In this condition the pinion will drive the spur
wheel.and give motion through the worm and worm wheels to the pinions
which gear with the racks of the table, and will thus drive the uprights in one
direction, which should be in the direction of cut. If the belt be now shifted
off the large fast pulley its own width; only it will run on the two loose
pulleys, thus giving no motion to the worm, but upon shifting it still. farther
until it drives on the small fast pulley its other turn will be still on the fast
pulley, and the uprights will be driven back at twice the velocity with which
they were carried forward. The driving belt which is to run continuously in
one direction can pass around a large pulley at one end of the limit of motion
of the machine, and over a small one at the other end, and either of them may.be
made the driver. The cutting tool is carried in a slide rest, which is arranged
in reference to the cross head, precisely as in ordinary planing machines; and
the cross. head.can be raised or lowered by screws in the uprights, and has
clamping screws to hold it fast at any desired height. The screws have bevil
wheels and a cross shaft to unite them on top. Upon this cross shaft is a
spur wheel loose on a feather, so as to be capable of sliding into or out of
gear with a spur wheel.which receives its motion from a pinion on the end of
the pulley shaft. The friction clutch in the centre of the spur wheel is to be
used in connection with these raising screws. When it is screwed up tight the
motion of the spur wheel will be conveyed to the driving pinions, but when it
is.slacked up the spur wheel will run loose on the worm shaft, and the
uprights will stand still; when it is thus loosed and the spur wheel is thrown
into gear the power of the driving belt is used to actuate the screw in either
direction, thus to raise or lower the cross head.
In order to make the machine automatic in its backward and forward
motion, and to readily alter its length of stroke to suit the work to be planed,
a hollow-screw is provided; the nut of which is attached to the upright; and
motion is given to this screw by means of spur-wheels, one of which is on the
vertical shaft, the other on a sleeve feathered to a screw, at both ends of
which are clutches, and through the centre of the screw passes a vertical shaft
with a thread cut on it. This screw is provided with a stationary nut fast to

page_text: the upright at its upper end, and its lower end is supported in bearings,
between which is held a lever, through the hub of which the shaft is feathered.
Upon the screw of the vertical shaft are two adjustable Duts, which are
provided with clutched projections to match those on the screw, and are
arranged to be clamped fast at any position. A belt shifter cam in vibrating
back and forth actuates a lever, and thus gives motion to the belt shifter rod,
through which the belt passes. The operation of this belt shifting machinery
is as follows-As the planing machinery advances along the bed in either
direction the screw by revolving advances toward one of the stationary nuts
until it comes in contact with its clutch projection, it will then turn the shaft
and screw its upper end in the out in the same direction as the screw has
been moving, and at the same time will shift the belt and start the machine
in the opposite direction, when the screw will recede from the nut with which
it has been engaged, and advance toward the other nut, which is so placed as
to be at the other desired limit of the planer motion as the adjustment of
these nuts in their position on the upright shaft determines the stroke of the
planer. The spur wheel is arranged with internal teeth, also a plate and
pawls. The plate is fast to a shaft running across the top of the machine.
This shaft is stationary except at the moment of reversal of the stroke of the
machine at either end, when it makes half a revolution in one direction at
one end of the stroke, and turns back half a revolution at the other end of the
stroke. At the outer end of the shaft are bevil wheels gearing with two
uprightshafts; one of which through a set of mitre wheels turns a crank plate
attached to the cross head; this crank plate hasan adjustable crankoperating
a segment gear, which gives motion to the feed screw and feed shaft in the
planer cross head in the usual manner. It also in its half turn pulls back and
forth a cord which works the tool lifting machinery. The shafts also give the
feed motion to the vertical slide rests of the planer. These rests consist of
compound rests sliding on the face of the uprights provided with rotating nuts,
which receive their motion from ratchet wheels. The pawl of each ratchet is
actuated by a rod connected with an adjustable crank in a crank plate
receiving its half revolution back and forth from the upright shafts. These
feeds can be thus operated independently of the main cross head feed, and
the vertical slide rests can be used to dress up the sides of work at the same
time that the cross head tool is engaged in planing the top of the material.
In a planing machine arranged as above described the bed of the machine
upon which the work is placed sets above the floor of the shop; upon this it
can be readily adjusted with no side walls to interfere with the handling of
the mass when it is large and unwieldy. In this machine if the base of the

page_text: upright is eight feet, to plane fifty feet would require a length of shop room of
fifty-eight feet, while in the old style of machine to plane fifty feet the space
occupied would be one hundred feet. The racks on the opposite sides of the
platform for the work with the two spur piuions in connection with the worm
wheels and worms above insure a perfect parallelism of the movement of the
machine. The endless belt with the peculiar arrangement of fast and loose
pulleys gives motion to the machine in an efficient manner, and with less than
the ordinary weight of machinery. In this machine the stops and shifting
gear are all attached to the moveable parts of the machine, and travel along
with them, so that in large machines the workman as he rides back and forth
on footboards attached to the moveable upright can at any time alter or
adjust the stops while the machine is running. I have described this as being
accomplished by a screw with a shaft and nut, but it must be evident to any
ingenious mechanic that other devices could be arranged to accomplish.the
same purpose; the theory of operation consisting in operating the stops for
reversal by some part of the machine which has a movement proportional.to
the total longitudinal movement of the planing machine; hence Ido not limit
my claim to the special device described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her host Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that, I the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward-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 Cnannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention för
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PLANING METALS," being a communication

page_text: from William Sellers, of Philadelphia, United States, upon the condition
(amongst others) that T, the said William Edward Newton, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
.of their hands and seals, '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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do horeby
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
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
In nearly all planing machines for metal the work is fastened to a table
which slides to and fro on ways that control its position. To the ways
are secured uprights, and to the uprights are fastened what is termed the
cross head, this being the cross slide of the compound slide rest holding the
planing tool. The cross head is adjusted upon the uprights at varying
distances above the table to suit the size of the work to be planed. Some
few machines have been built with the cross head attached to slides moving
and guided in ways fastened to walls of masonry, motion being communicated
to the slides and cross head by means of screws or chains attached to and
supported by the ways. The materials to be planed rest on platforms in the
pit formed by the side walls. The cross head having no vertical adjustment
the platforms which support the work are raised or depressed to suit the
varying heights of the material. A modification of this form may also be
employed (that is to say), in order to decrease the depth of the pit short
uprights may be used and made to slide in ways on top of the walls, the cross
head having an adjustment vertically upon these, but all machines of this
class have heretofore used platforms to support the material to be operated
.upon, which are either adjustable in beight to suit the varying heights of the
material or require that when small the material should be elevated above the
platform to come within reach of the planing tool. Supposing the dis-
advantages overcome in this forn of machine it would be found well adapted
to the heavier class of work as it would take up much less room. The
moving parts could always be of the same weight and generally much
lighter than the work to be operated upon, so that it would require less power
to drive it.
The object of the present Invention is to overcome various inconveniences

page_text: incidental to this class of planing machines, and it consists in supporting the
work to be operated upon on a stationary platform. The cross heads are
supported. on uprights or posts as in machines of the ordinary construction.
These uprights are arranged to slide in ways provided for that purpose in the
sides of the stationary platform so that the slides which govern the position of
the tool are below the work to be operated upon in place of above it as here-
tofore, and the cross head can be elevated and depressed upon the uprights
to suit the varying heights of the work in place of elevating and depressing
the platform.
The method adopted for moving the uprights and cross head so as to
perform the work required will be more clearly understood from the following
description with' the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front
elevation, Figures 2 and 3 are side elevations, and Fig. 4 is a plan of the
machine.
The bed of the machine A, A, (Figs. 1 and 4), upon which the work to
be planed is fastened has on either side of it racks B, B1, and planed ways
C, C¹, in which are fitted slides D, D', to which the uprights E, E¹, are firmly
bolted. The slides D, D¹, are made to fit the ways C, C¹, accurately by
means of tapered shoes F, F¹, on their upper side. At the top the uprights
E, EL, are secured together by means of a cross girt.G. In each of the
uprights E, E, are vertical shafts, H, H¹, at the lower end of which are
driving pinions I, I', gearing with the racks B, B¹, while on the upper end of
the shafts are worm wheels J, J', enclosed in cases in the uprights. These
cases are to retain the oil used in lubricating. The two worm wheels J, J¹;
are driven by worms K, K1, one being a right and the other a left handed
thread. The two worms K, K', are united by a sleeve L, and each of them
is provided with a step plate M, M¹, to receive the thrust. This step plate is
nade. of a spherical form on its back part to insure a perfect fit on the
rubbing surface next to the worm. The shaft of the worm K'extends through
its case, and has at its outer end a spur wheel N, which has also within it a
friction clutch for the purpose to be presently explained. The spur wheel N
has on its opposite side two pinions 0, 0, of the same size gearing into it.
The pinion O runs loosely on a stud Rattached to the uprights, but having
fast to it a narrow-faced pulley P, outside of which on the same stud runs a
loose pulley Q of double the width of face of the pulley P. The other
pinion O¹ is fast to a shaft R', which is carried by bearings in the top of the
upright. This shaft has also outside of the pinion Ola fast pulley P' and a
loose pulley Q', of. the same width of face as the pulleys P and Q, but so
placed as to leave each fast pulley opposite to the loose pulley of the other set.

page_text: The pulleys P and Q are twice as large as the other pulleys Pi and Q¹. The
top of the small set of pulleys P¹, Q1, is somewhat above the top of the other
pulleys P and Q, so that a belt passing clear of the large pulley and around
the small pulley, then back around the large pulleys P, Q, in the manner
shown in the Drawing, and running continuously in the direction indicated by
the arrow, will turn one set of pulleys in one direction and the other set in the
opposite direction. The two loose pulleys Q and Q¹are twice as wide as the
fast pulleys P, P¹, and the belt being somewhat narrower than the face of
the fast pulleys, if it be shifted to run on the fast pulley P, its other turn will
be on the small loose pulley Q'. In this condition the pinion O will drive the
spur wheel N, and give motion through the worm and worm wheels to the
pinions I, I, which gear with the racks B, B¹, of the table, and will thus
drive the uprights in one direction, which should be in the direction of cut.
If the belt be now shifted off the fast pulley Pits own width only it will run
on the two loose pulleys QQ, and thus give no motion to the worm, but
upon shifting it still farther until it drives on the small fast pulley P¹ its other
turn will be still on Q, and the uprights will be driven back-at twice the
velocity with which they were carried forward. The driving belt, which is to
run continuously in one direction can pass around a large pulley S at one end
of the limit of motion of the machine and over a small one S¹ at the other end,
and either of them may be made the driver. The cutting tool Tis carried in
a slide rest U, which is arranged in reference to the cross head V precisely as
in ordinary planing machines, and the cross head V can be raised or lowered
by screws W, W, in the uprights, and has clamping screws to hold it fast at
any desired height. The screws W, W, have bevil wheels and a cross shaft X
to unite them on top. Upon this cross shaft X is a spur wheel Y, loose on я
feather, and so arranged as to be capable of sliding into or out or gear with
a spur wheel Z, which receives its motion from a pinion a on the end of the
pulley shaft R. The friction clutch in the centre of the spur wheel N is to
be used in connection with these raising screws. When it is screwed up
tight the motion of the spur wheel will be conveyed to the driving pinions,
but when it is slackened the spur wheel will run loosely on the worm shaft
and the uprights will stand still. When it is thus loosed and the spur wheelX
is thrown into gear with Z the power of the driving belt is used to actuate
the screw W in either direction, and thus to raise or lower the cross head.
"In order to make the machine automatic in its backward and forward
motion, and to readily alter its length of stroke to suit the work to be
planed, a hollow screw 6 is provided, the nut c of which is attached to the
upright, and motion is given to this screw by means of spur wheels d, one of

page_text: which is on the vertical shaft H and the other on a sleeve feathered to the
screw b. The number of threads in the length of the screw 6 must be in
excess of the number of revolutions the driving pinions I, I, will make in
running the whole length of the bed. Atboth ends of the screw bare clutches,
and through the centre of the screw passes a vertical shaft e with a thread cut.
on it of the same pitch as that of the screw 6. This screw is provided with a.
stationary nut e fast to the upright at its upper end, and its lower end is
supported in bearings between which is held a lever e¹, through the hub of
which the shaft is feathered. Upon the screw of the shaft e are two adjust-
able nuts d', d¹, one above and the other below the hollow screw b. These
nuts are provided with clutch projections to match those on the screw b, and
are arranged to be clamped fast to the screw e at any position. The lever o¹ is
connected by a link to the lever fat the foot of a vertical shaft g. At the top
of g is a similar lever h, united by a link to a belt shifter cam i; this in
vibrating to and fro actuates a lever j, and thus gives motion to the belt
shifter rod k,provided at its other end with the fork or eye k¹, through which
the belt passes. The operation of this belt-shifting machinery is as follows:-
As the planing machinery advances along the bed in either direction the screw b
revolving advances toward one of the stationary nuts d' until it comes in
contact with its clutch projection; it will then turn the shaft e and screw its
upper end in the nut e' in the same direction as the screw 6 has been moving.
At the same time (through the various levers and cam f, g, h, i, and j, to the
belt fork ¹), will shift the belt and start the machine in the opposite direction.
The screw 6 will then recede from the nut d' with which it had been engaged
and will advance toward the other nut d', which is so placed as to be at the
other desired limit of the planing motion as the adjustment of these nuts in
their position on the upright shaft e determines the stroke of the plane. The
spur wheel Z is arranged with internal teeth, also with a pawle plate 7 (as
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to Alfred Vincent Newton,
bearing date July 31st, 1862, No. 2175), which is fast to a shaft m and
runs across the top of the machine. This shaft is stationary except at the
moment of reversal of the stroke of the machine at either end, when it makes
half a revolution in one direction at one end of the stroke and turns back half
a revolution at the other end of the stroke. At the outer end of the shaft m
are bevil wheels gearing with the two upright shafts n and o. One of these n
through a set of mitre wheels turns a crank plate p attached to the cross
head. This crank plate has an adjustable crank operating a segmenty, which
gives motion to the feed screw and feed shaft in the-planer cross head in the
usual manner. It also in its half turn pulls to and fro a cord r, which works

page_text: the tool-lifting machinery. The shafts n ando also give the feed motion to
the vertical slide rests sandt of the plane. These rests consist of compound
rests sliding on the face of the uprights E, E', provided with rotating nuts on
the screws W. These nuts receive their motion through cog wheels from
ratchet wheels u. The pawl of each ratchet is actuated by a rod v connected
with an adjustable crank in the crank plate, and receives its half revolution to
and fro from the upright shafts n and o. These feeds can be thus operated
independently of the main cross head feed and the vertical slide rests can be
used to dress up the sides of work at the same time that the cross head tool is
engaged in planing the top of the material. Ina planing machine arrangement
as above described the bed of the machine upon which the bed is placed sets
above the floor of the shop; upon this it can be readily adjusted with no side
walls to interfere with the handling of the mass when it is large and unwieldy.
This machine takes up less room than planing machines of ordinary con-
struction as it will plane a length equal to its own length less the length
of the base of the upright, while in planing machines with the tool stationary
and the work moveable the space required in length is equal to twice the
longest length the machine is capable of planing. Thus in this machine if
the base of the upright is eight feet, to plane fifty feet would require a length
of shop room offifty-eight feet, while in the whole style of machine to plane fifty
feet the space occupied would be one hundred feet, the racks on the opposite
sides of the platforin for the work with the two spurpiuions in connection with
the worm wheels and worms above insure a perfect parallelism of the move-
ment of the machine. The endless belt with the peculiar arrangement of fast
and loose pulleys gives motion to the machine in an efficient manner and with
less than the ordinary weight of machinery. The peculiar manner of operating
the stops which control the length of movement and reversal of the planing
machinery has great advantages. In planing machines in which the work
moves the stops are attached to the moveable platform, while in planing
machines in which the tool moves the stops are usually fastened to the ways
and adjustable in position. In the improved machine the stops and shifting
gear are all attached to the moveable parts of the machine and travel along
with them, so that in large machines the workman as he rides to and fro on
platforms attached to the moveable uprights can at any time alter or adjust
the stops while the machine is running. This is described as being accom-
plished by the screw b, shaft d, and nut d', but it must be evident to any
ingenious mechanic that other devices could be arranged to accomplish the
same result, the theory of operation consisting in operating the stops for
reversal by some part of the machine which has a movement proportional to

page_text: the total longitudinal movement of the planing machine; hence I do not limit
my claim to the special device described.
me,
Having thus fully described the Invention that has been communicated to
I desire it to be understood that I do not claim the use of a planing
machine in which the cutting tool traverses over the work that having been
done before; but what I do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is,
First, the use of traversing uprights to support the cross head, and upon
which the cross head may be elevated and depressed to suit the varying
heights of the material to be operated upon in combination with a fixed plat-
form provided with ways, slides, or their equivalents, arranged so as to avoid
the necessity of raising the materials to be operated upon from the platform so
as to come within reach of the cutting tool.
Second, I claim actuating the traversing uprights of planing machines for
metal from a revolving shaft or shafts attached to and moving with the
uprights as described.
Third, I claim the use of an endless belt in combination with fast and loose
pulleys, or their equivalents, when applied to planing machines of the
character described.
Fourth, I claim reversing the direction of the movement of the cutting
tool, as described and for the object specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
W. E. NEWTON.
(L.B.)