IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPLITTING WOOD OR OTHER MATERIAL, AND FOR FORMING THE PIECES SO SPLIT INTO BUNDLES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Redmayne at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th September 1880.
THOMAS REDMAYNE, of Sheffield, in the County of York. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPLITTING WOOD OR OTHER MATERIAL, AND FOR
FORMING THE PIECES SO SPLIT INTO BUNDLES."
My Invention relates especially to machinery or apparatus used for the purpose
of preparing wood to be used for the purpose of kindling fires; and it has for its
objects, first, improved methods of constructing and arranging machinery or
apparatus to be used for splitting or chopping such wood into pieces of n size
suitable for the purpose, and, second, improved machinery or apparatus to be used
for collecting such pieces of wood in bundles of suitable size, and holding them
together whilst they are tied.
In order to carry out the first part of my Invention for the purpose of splitting
or chopping wood into pieces of the proper size, which may be varied to suit
varying circumstances, I take a vertical chamber or hopper open above and
below, into which the wood which is to be split is supplied. In plan the opening
through the hopper is of such size that its length is equal to or somewhat greater
than that of the pieces of wood to be cut, whilst its breadth is sufficiently great to
admit freely the blocks of wood from which the pieces or sticks are to bo split.
These blocks are fed in from above in such position that their grain runs in the
direction of the length of the pieces to be cut, and they may be fed down by their
own weight, or by weights, friction rollers, or other convenient means.
Below the lower open end of the hopper is arranged a corresponding opening
upon the upper surface of a table or stand, through which opening the lower part
of the wood in the hopper descends into a horizontal channel, the depth of which
is slightly greater than the thickness of the pieces to be split off, its width being
the same as that of the hopper. In the upper part of the channel just in front of
the hopper I arrange a transverse knife blade, the ends of which pass through
slots in the sides of the hopper and are secured to lugs upon the frame, its edgo
being adjusted, preferably directed slightly downward at a height from the bottom
of the channel equal to the thickness of the pieces to be cut; and in the back of
the channel I arrange a horizontal plunger of metal or other suitable material,
which can be made to travel or oscillate backward and forward in the channel for a
distance somewhat greater than the length of the pieces of wood to be split, by means

page_text: of one or more connecting rods, and cranks, excentrics or cams, and fly wheel, upon
a driving shaft actuated by steam, hand, or other convenient power.
The hopper containing the blocks to be split is of considerablo height, and its
lower edges are fitted and adjusted in horizontal longitudinal guides or slides, and
it is connected by connecting rods or links to the bar or attachment by which the
plunger is made to travel as already described, so that as the latter works backward
and forward, the hopper with the wood contained in it travels with it in the same
direction.
The front upper edge of the plunger is provided with a knife blade projecting
slightly. The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The hopper being supplied
with blocks of wood of suitable size and character for the purpose required, and
the driving shaft being set in revolution, the plunger as it is drawn back is
accompanied by the hopper and the blocks of wood in the latter.
When they have reached the back end of their stroke, the lower end of the
wood drops into the channel behind the front fixed knife blade, and when tho
plunger makes its forward stroke it forces the wood against the knife blade, by
which a slice is split off of the thickness required, and is forced forward by the
continued action of the plunger through the front part of the channel which it fills.
The projecting knife blade upon the upper edge of the plunger holds down the
slice thus split off, and keeps it of a sufficiently uniform thickness. As the slice
is forced forward the block from which it is split, together with the hopper in
which the block is placed, travel forward until the slice is entirely separated, and
they then return without it and the process is continued as long as desired, each
succeeding slice as it is split from the bottom of the block forcing the previous one
"forward-along-the-channel-through the front of which they are delivered.
In order to further split or divide into sticks or pieces the slice of wood-produced-
in the way described, I arrange a sufficient number of vertical- knife blades_in_the
the front part of the channel through which the slico is forced. These blades have
their edges directed towards the wood which is being expelled, and are preferably
arranged in advance of each other, so that the slice of wood comes in contact with
them in succession instead of simultaneously. The part of the channel where they
are placed is made sufficiently wide to allow the soveral pieces to be separated.
I prefer to fix the knives by fitting their upper and lower ends into corresponding
openings in flat metal plates preferably of steel, fitting into recesses in the top and
bottom of the channel respectively; the upper ends of the knives may project
above the upper steel plate so as to be readily fixed and adjusted, and a separate
loose cover may be fixed above them to prevent them from injury.
Instead of the arrangement already described, the upper end of the hopper may
be suspended by pivots, its lower end being connected to the cranks, excentrics,
or cams, which drive the plunger so that it and the blocks of wood inside it travel
backward and forward in the same direction as and together with the plunger.
Or the hopper may be fixed to the frame of the machine, its front side only being
moveable and travelling backward and forward with the wood.
In order to prevent the risk of breakage by the accidental pressure in the
hopper of pieces of iron or other substance too hard to be split, I prefer to arrange
the machine, or that part of it which carries the fixed knife blade, so that it
is capable of moving endways for a short distance, and I retain it in its normal
position by means of one or more adjustablo spiral or other springs, sufficiently
strong to resist the ordinary pressure of the wood against the knife blade whilst
being split, but capable of yielding to a sufficient extent if a material incapable of
being split be present. I make the connecting rods which actuate the hopper as
already described readily moveable, so that they can be disengaged and the entire
hopper removed if desired.
In order to carry out the second part of my Invention, by means of which
pieces or sticks of wood prepared in the way above described, or in other ways,
can be made into bundles, I take a vertical cylinder of cast iron or other strong
material and of an internal diameter somewhat larger than that of the bundle which

page_text: is to be made. I fix this cylinder upon a strong stand or other foundation, and in
its lower end I fit loosely a plate or piston, which is connected by rods and levers to
a treadle by which when desired it can be forcibly raised in the cylinder. I make
the cylinder of such height that when the piston is at the bottom the cylinder
rises above it to a height somewhat less than half the length of the sticks which
are to be made into bundles. At one side of the upper (edge of the cylinder I
arrange adjustable guides or slides in which can slide horizontally a flat plate, the
inner end of which when moved inward forms part of the circumference of the
upper edge of the cylinder. I arrange a second treadlo connected to the sliding
plate described by levers and rods, in such way that when the treadle is forced
down the sliding plate is forcibly pressed toward the cylinder, and when the
pressure is removed from the treadle the plate is withdrawn by a weight or spring.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The piston being at the bottom of the
cylinder and the second treadle being released, the person using it fills the cylinder
with a sufficient number of pieces of wood to form a bundle. He then applies
sufficient pressure to the second treadle, so that the sliding plate is forced forward,
its inner curved edge compressing the pieces of wood into a solid bundle, and
whilst they are so held he ties them with a suitable string or ligature immediately
above the edge of the cylinder and at the centre of their length. When so tied be
releases the second treadle, and applying pressure to the first treadle the piston is
raised and forces the finished bundle completely out of the machine, from which
it is removed and the process repeated with great ease and rapidity. I prefer to
make the cylinder of slightly greater internal diameter at its lower end than above,
so that the picces of wood may be more readily fitted into it. The cylinder may
be divided vertically into two separate parts, one such part being connected to the
sliding plate and moving with it. The sliding plate and the piston may be arranged
so as to be operated when desired by steam or other convenient power. Machinery
or apparatus constructed according to my Invention may be used for slicing or
splitting other materials as well as wood, and instead of sticks of wood, metal
wires, or other materials may be formed into bundles by the apparatus last
described.