IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANING MACHINES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick James Drewry of Burton on Trent in the
County of Stafford Gentleman, Executor of William Morgan Brown Patent
Agent of 38 Southampton Buildings London deceased, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANING MACHINES "
Communicated from abroad by
Henry French Campbell of Concord Merrimac New Hampshire United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th February 1883.
"
WILLIAM MORGAN BROWN Patent Agent of 38 Southampton Buildings London
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANING MACHINES' [Communicated to him from abroad
by Henry French Campbell of Concord Merrimac New Hampshire United States
of America]
This Invention is an improvement on English patent Number 4410, of 1881, and
the same is especially adapted as herein embodied to the class of planing machines
for dressing barrel hoops, but some of the improvements to be hereinafter described
as for instance the presser bar may be generally applied to wood planing machines
with good results.
The invention consists in a cutter head and elastic bed roller, combined with
india rubber covered drawing rollers and corrugated drawing rollers above them,
Also a cutter head and elastic bed roller and feed rollers, combined with a guide
having a series of passages, and provided with guide rollers to bear against opposite
edges of and direct each hoop independently.
Also in a presser foot provided with a curved plate and friction rollers, and
arranged upon a curved supporting bar to rise and fall under the guidance of said
rollers, combined with a cutter head, and means to support the material while
being planed.
Also in the combination of a presser foot having a curved plate, curved arms
secured thereto, and rollers, combined with a curved supporting bar upon which the
presser foot rises and falls under the guidance of the said rollers, and the cutter
head, and elastic bed-roller.
Also in a planing machine, a presser foot, its carrier bar, and ears on said presser

page_text: foot, combined with a lever and link connected to the said ears, and carrying an
adjustable weight to vary the pressure of the said presser foot.
Also, in a cutter head, elastic bed-roller, a series of presser feet, and curved
supporting bar, and means to vary the pressure of the said feet on the material
being planed, combined with a guide having a series of rollers.
In the patented machine referred to, all the hoops being dressed were acted upon
by one long presser bar, which made it difficult, when running more than two
hoops simultaneously, to properly act upon a third thinner one, as the thinner one
was apt to be notched, and in case of a crook or knot to be injured or broken
because its knot or crook was not embedded into the elastic bed-roller below the
cutter.
In this present invention the presser-bar is divided to form a series of presser-
feet, and a foot for each individual hoop is provided, so that its knots or crooks
will be properly embedded into the surface of the elastic bed-roller, no matter what
may be the thickness or shape of the hoop next to it, or of the other hoops being
dressed simultaneously by the revolving cutter head. These presser feet are so
shaped and mounted with relation to the centre of rotation of the revolving cutter
head, that they rise independently in the arc of a circle eccentric to the axis of the
cutter head, but the lower extremity of each-foot, or where it bears upon the hoop,
will, uns it rises, be maintained at the same uniform distance from the cutting edges
of the knives of the cutter-head, thus better ensuring a smooth even surface,
especially in cross grained gnarley wood.
In practice such movement of the presser feet is of great value, not only with
-the class of wood mentioned, but also in adding materially in straightening crooked
hoops sawed by a band saw.
On the occurrence of a sharp crook in any one hoop, the presser foot, it bearing
thereon immediately in front of the cutter head, rises as the abrupt part of the
crook arrives in front of the cutter head, which enables the cutter head to dress the
hoop evenly at the crook, while the fluted drawing rollers at the rear of the cutter
head draw and straighten the boop over the elastic bed-roller, as soon as the hoop
is rendered sufficiently thin and flexible by the action of the knives of the cutter
head, so that the upper side of the hoop, as it passes under the cutter head and
between it and the elastic bed-roller, presents a plane surface, and renders it almost
impossible to injure the hoop, as would be the case on the occurrence of a crook
which was not thus straightened.
Each presser foot is held down upon the hoop by a suitable lever, the power of
which may be changed at will according to the work being done.
The machine herein described is provided with a series of guides having
independent rollers to act upon the edges of each hoop as it passes into the
machine to be dressed, thus dispensing with the necessity of guiding the hoops by
hand in their passage through the machine, and making the machine practically
automatic after the hoops are entered between the feed rollers.
The frame work, the elastic bed-roller, the feed-rollers, the drawing rollers, the
rear presser bar, the revolving cutter head, the bed which holds the bearings for the
rollers and the means for elevating and depressing the said bed, are substantially as
in my patent referred to, where like parts are designated by like letters, and need
not be herein described.
Instead of the upper smooth drawing rollers shown in the said patent, I have
herein employed, two rollers which are corrugated longitudinally to enable them to
take firm hold of and draw the crooked hoops so as to straighten them while
passing over the bed-roller, after they have been reduced in thickness by the action
of the usual knives of the cutter head.
In front of the feed rollers is placed a hoop-guide, composed of a rectangular
frame properly secured to the adjustable bed, and of a series of vertically placed
rollers, the said rollers, by their location in the frame forming as many spaces or
passages as there are hoops to be dressed when the machine is performning its
maximum work.

page_text: These rollers will form the sides of each of these guide passages, and will turn
independently upon their axes, thereby forcing the hoops from side to side and
guiding them in the proper channel to the feed rollers, and between the cuttor-head
and bed-roller.
The presser-feet are composed of curved metal plates dressed smoothly upon their
concaved faces. Each presser foot has attached to the lugs at its rear side, by
suitable screws two curved arms which receive between them two rollers and each
curved arm has an ear.
Attached to and extended across the frame work from side to side is a strong
curved supporting bar or presser-foot carrier upon which each presser foot is placed,
the said bar being extended through the curved slots of the presser-feet, the said
slots being longer than the said bar is wide, so that the said presser-feet are free to
rise and fall independently guided however in a curved path corresponding with
the curve of the carrier or bar, the latter being so shaped or curved, substantially
as shown with relation to the arc described by the edges of the knives of the
revolving cutter head, that the lower end of each presser foot, whatever may be
its degree of elevation by reason of the thickness or crookedness of the hoop
beneath it, will always leave the same or a like space between the edges of the
said knives and the lower extremity of the presser-foot.
The rolls of each presser-foot, are of such diameter with relation to the thickness
of the curved arms, that the said rollers, and not the arms, como in contact with
the convexed side of the supporting bar thus permitting the casy rise and fall of
each presser foot with the minimum of friction."
The ears of the arms have connected with them by a pin, a link which, at its
upper end is joined with a lever pivotted to a suitable standard rising from the side
of the frame work there being one such standard at each end of the supporting or
carrier bar.
The fulcrum, a rod, is common to all the levers, there being one lever for each
presser-foot. The levers have on them adjustable weights of suitable capacity to
maintain proper pressure of the feet upon the hoop beneath it, the thicker the
hoop and the larger its knots, warts, and crooks, the greater the pressure necessary
to be applied, and vice-versa.
The operator, on the occurrence of a large knot or a bad crook in a hoop may
press upon the lever of the presser-foot holding that hoop while the said large knot
or crook is passing between the cutter-head and bed-roller.
The supporting or carrier bar on which the presser feet are hung and guided, will
be supported on india rubber blocks, such as shown in Figure 5 of the Patent
referred to and marked by the letter i to thus enable the lower extremities of the
presser-feet, when at rest, to be carefully adjusted to place them in their proper
position with relation to the arc described by the edges of the revolving knives,
but thereafter; in operation, the pressers act independently as stated, and adapt
themselves to any variation in the hoops under them.
Instead of employing several independent presser-feet side by side on one
common-carrier bar as described, I might employ the said carrier-bar and place
on it but one presser-foot to bear upon and hold down the work passing under
it, so I do not limit the invention to the width of the presser foot.
The rollera by their rubber surfaces, prevent marring the bark on the hoops.

page_text: -
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Frederick James Drewry Executor of William Morgan-Brown,
deceased, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd August 1883.
FREDERICK JAMES DREWRY of Burton on Trent in the County of Stafford
Gentleman, Executor of William Morgan-Brown Patent Agent of 38, Southampton
Buildings London, deceased, who died on the thirty first day of March One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three. IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANING MACHINES"
(A communication to William Morgan-Brown aforesaid from Abroad by Henry
French Campbell of Concord Merrimac, New Hampshire, United States of America
"
This invention is an improvement on English Patent Number 4410 of 1881, and
the same is especially adapted as herein embodied to the class of planing machines
for dressing barrel hoops but some of the improvements to be hereinafter described
as for instance the presser bar may be generally applied to wood planing machines
with good results.
The invention consists in a cutter head and elastic bed-roller combined with
india rubber covered drawing rollers and corrugated drawing rollers above them
substantially as and for the purpose to be described.
Also in a cutter head and elastic bed roller and feed rollers combined with a
guide having a series of passages, and provided with guide rollers to-bear-against
opposite edges of and direct each hoop independently substantially as will be
described
Also in a presser foot provided with a curved plate and friction rollers, and
arranged upon a curved supporting bar to rise and fall under the guidance of said
rollers combined with a cutter head, and means to support the material while
being planed.
Also in the combination of a presser foot having a curved plate, curved arms
secured thereto, and rollers, combined with a curved supporting bar upon which
the presser foot rises and falls under the guidance of the said rollers, and the cutter
head, and elastic bed roller as will be described.
Also in a planing machine, a presser foot, its carrier bar, and ears on the said
presser foot, combined with a lever and link connected to the said ears, and
carrying an adjustable weight to vary the pressure of the said presser foot, as
will be herein described.
Also, in a cutter head, elastic bed-roller, a series of presser feet, and curved
supporting bar, and means to vary the pressure of the said feet on the material
being planed, combined with a guide having a series of rollers to operate as will be
described
In the Patented machine referred to, all the hoops being dressed were acted
upon by one long presser bar, which made it difficult, when running more than
two hoops simultaneously, to properly act upon a third thinner one, as the thinner
one was apt to be notched, and in case of a crook or knot to be injured or
broken because its knot or crook was not embedded into the elastic bed-roller
below the cutter.
In this present invention the presser bar is divided to form a series of presser-
feet, and a foot for each individual hoop is provided so that its knots or crooks
will be properly embedded into the surface of the elastic bed-roller no matter what
may be the thickness or shape of the hoop next to it, or of the other hoops being
dressed simultaneously by the revolving cutter head, These presser feet are 80
shaped and mounted with relation to the centre of rotation of the revolving cutter
head, that they rise independently in the arc of a circle eccentric to the axis of

page_text: the cutter head, but the lower extremity of each foot, or where it bears upon the
hoop, will, as it rises, be maintained at the same uniform distance from the cutting
edges of the knives of the cutter head, thus better ensuring a smooth even surface,
especially in cross grained gnarley wood.
In practice such movement of the presser feet is of great value, not only with
the class of wood mentioned but also in aiding materially in straightening crooked
hoops sawed by a band saw
On the occurrence of a sharp crook in any one hoop, the presser foot, it bearing
thereon immediately in front of the cutter head, rises as the abrupt part of the
crook arrives in front of the cutter head, which enables the cutter head to dress
the hook evenly at the crook, while the fluted drawing rollers at the rear of the
cutter head draw and straighten the hoop over the elastic bed-roller as soon as
the hoop is rendered sufficiently thin and flexible by the action of the knives of
the cutter head, so that the upper side of the hoop, as it passes under the cutter
head and between it and the elastic bed-roller, presents a plane surface, and renders
it almost impossible to injure the hoop, as would be the case on the occurrence of
a crook which was not thus straightened.
Each presser foot is held down upon the hoop by a suitable lever, the power of
which may be changed at will according to the work being done
The machine herein described is provided with a series of guides having
independent rollers to act upon the edges of each hoop as it passes into the machine
to be dressed, thus dispensing with the necessity of guiding the hoops by hand in
their passage through the machine, and making the machine practically automatic
after the hoops are entered between the feed rollers
Figure 1. represents in front elevation a planing machine embodying this present
invention
Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof on the line x-x Figure 1
Figure 3, a side elevation on a larger scale of one of the improved presser-feet,
the curved guide for it being shown in section. Figure 4 a rear side elevation of
a presser-foot.
Figure 5, is an enlarged detail of part of the hoop guide detached from the
machine.
In the drawing like letters denote like parts
The framework A the elastic bed-roller D the feed-rollers b and A¹ drawing
rollers G. F. the rear presser-bar O, the revolving cutter-head B, the bed which
holds the bearings for the rollers A¹, D, F, G, and the means for elevating and
depressing the said bed, are substantially as in my Patent referred to where like
parts are designated by like letters, and need not be herein described
Instead of the upper smooth drawing rollers shown in the said Patent, I have
berein employed two rollers a³, 6%, which are corrugated longitudinally to enable
them to take firm hold of and draw the crooked hoops so as to straighten them
while passing over the bed-roller D, after they have been reduced in thickness by
the action of the usual knives of the cutter-head B.
In front of the feed-rollers A', H, is placed a hoop-guide composed of a rectangular
frame c', properly secured to the adjustable bed marked D³, and of a series of
vertically placed rollers e, the said rollers, by their location in the frame e², forming
as many spaces or passages as there are hoops to be dressed when the machine is
performing its maximum work.
These rollers will form the sides of each of these guide passages, and will turn
independently upon their axes, thereby forcing the hoops from side to side and
guiding them in the proper chanuel to the feed-rollers, and between the cutter-head
and bed-roller.
The presser feet are composed of curved metal plates få dressed smoothly upon
their concaved faces, and shaped as shown in the Drawing Figure 3. Each presser-
foot has attached to the lugs g² at its rear side, by suitable screws 2, two curved
arms h² m² which receive between them two rollers 1, n², and each curved arm h³
has an ear 3.

page_text: Attached to and extended across the frame work A from side to side is a strong
curved supporting bar or presser-foot carrier 02, upon which each presser foot is
placed, the said bar being extended through the curved slots p² of the presser-feet,
the said slots being longer than the said bar is wide, so that the said presser feet
are free to rise and fall independently, guided however in a curved path corre-
sponding with the curve of the carrier or bar o³, the latter being so shaped or
curved, substantially as shown, with relation to the arc described by the edges of
the knives of the revolving cutter head, that the lower end of each presser-foot,
whatever may be its degree of elevation by reason of the thickness or crookedness
of the hoop beneath it, will always leave the same or a like space between the edges
of the said knives and the lower extremity of the presser foot.
The rolls, 2, 2, of each presser foot, are of such diameter with relation to the
thickness of the curved arms h² m² that the said rollers, and not the arms, come in
contact with the convexed side of the supporting bar o³, thus permitting the easy
rise and fall of each presser foot with the minimum of friction.
The ears 3, of the arms h² m², have connected with them by a pin 4 a link 5
which at its upper end is joined with a lever 6, pivoted at 7 to a suitable standard
rising from the side of the frame work A. there being one such standard at each end
of the supporting or carrier bar.
The fulcrum 7, a rod, is common to all the levers 0, there being one lever for
each presser-foot. The Levers 6, have on them adjustable weights 8, of suitable
capacity to maintain proper pressure of the feet upon the hoop beneath it, the
thicker the hoop and the larger its knots, warts and crooks, the greater the pressure
necessary to be applied and vice-versa.
-The operator, on the occurrence of a large knot or a bad crook in a hoop may
press upon the lever of the presser-foot holding that hoop while the said large knot
or crook is passing between the cutter-head and bed-roller
The supporting or carrier bar o³ on which the presser feet are hung and guided,
will be supported on india rubber blocks, such as shown in Figure 5 of my patent
referred to and marked by the letter i to thus enable the lower extremities of the
presser-feet, when at rest, to be carefully adjusted to place them in their proper
position with relation to the arc described by the edges of the revolving knives,
but thereafter, in operation, the pressers act independently as stated, and adapt
themselves to any variation in the hoops under them.
Instead of employing several independent presser-feet side by side on one common
carrier-bar o³, as described, I might employ the said carrier bar and place on it but
one presser-foot to bear upon and hold down the work passing under it, so I do not
limit my invention to the width of the presser foot
The rollers F. G, by their rubber surfaces, prevent marring the bark on the
boops.
What I claim is
1. The cutter-head and elastic bed-roller, combined with the india rubber
covered drawing rollers, and the corrugated drawing rollers above them, to operate,
substantially as described
2nd. The cutter-head, bed-roller, and feed rollers, combined with the guide having
a series of passages and provided with guide-rollers to bear against opposite sides
of and direct each hoop independently, substantially as described.
3. The presser-foot f' provided with the curved plate the friction rollers n
and arranged upon the curved supporting bar o³, to rise and fall under the guidance
of said rollers, combined with the cutter head, and means to support the material
while being planed, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
4. The combination of a presser foot having a curved plate f³, curved arms, h², m²,
secured thereto, rollers 12, n³ with the curved supporting bar o' upon which the
presser-foot rises and falls under the guidance of the said rollers and the cutter-head
and bed roller substantially as described.
5. The presser-foot, its carrier bar, and ears 3 on said presser foot, combined with
the lever 6 having its fulcrum at 7 and connected by links 5 to the ears 3, and

page_text: carrying an adjustable weight to vary the pressure of the presser-foot, substantially
as described.
6. The cutter-head, elastic bed roller, the series of presser feet, the curved
supporting bar, and means to vary the pressure of the said feet on the material
being planed, combined with the guide having a series of rollers to operate
substantially as described.
In witness whereof I the said Frederick James Drewry have hereunto set my
hand and seal this first day of August in the year of our Lord, One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
FREDERICK JAMES DREWRY. (L.S.)