Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1886.
Complete Left, 11th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 10th May, 1887.
I, THOMAS MILLETT, of 17, Portland Road, Finsbury Park, in the County of
Middlesex, Turner, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improved lathe for turning irregular shapes, especially
half-ovals and the like, and is particularly applicable to the manufacture of such
articles as wooden boot heels in copying lathes.
Instead of chucking a block large enough to produce several articles, e.g. pairs
of hools, I saw a length of wood (or other material to be operated upon) of proper
section into pieces of proper size, cutting off each piece by a diagonal cut.
To chuck the pieces, I prepare a screwed bar slotted longitudinally and capable of
being carried by the ordinary cone contres. The chucking device consists of a
toothed face plate fixed to the bar, a plate engaging with the slot by a feather, and a
nut by which the pieces are held between said plate and face plate. I do not confine
myself to the number of these devices on one bar.
The bar is chucked to the face plate on the head stock by means of a cone centre
and a pair of dogs.
I use two bars, one to be filled with the pieces to be turned while the other is at
work.
The slide carrying the cutters is underneath the bed of the lathe, and the traversing
slide works at right angles with it.
When I use a dummy guide I mount it in the same horizontal plane as that which
contains the bar above mentioned.
It is clear that several sets of the above mentioned mechanism can be mounted on
one bed and driven from one pulley common to all.
When ovals or the like are to be turned on this lathe, the blank will be bored and
threaded on the bar, or cut in two.
I do not confine myself to the use of a dummy guide, as the cutters may be
advanced and retired by gearing.
Other materials besides wood can be operated upon if desired.
Dated this 24th day of June 1886
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, THOMAS MILLETT, late of 17, Portland Road, Finsbury Park, but now of
42, Colvestone Crescent, Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, Turner, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to an improved lathe for turning articles of an irregular
contour, especially those which have a half-oval cross section, and it is particularly
applicable to the manufacture of such articles as wooden boot heels in what are known
as copying lathes, in which a pattern article, or dummy, mounted on the same mandrel
on which are chucked the shapes or rough pieces to be turned, controls in conjunction
with a feeler on the cutter carriage and a counterpoise, the varying distance of the
cutter axis from the mandrel axis; or in which said varying distance is regulated by
means, of suitable gearing.
It consists firstly, in an improved method of, and adjustable guage to be used in,
cutting up the lengths of raw material as received from the saw-mill into shapes
ready for the lathe; and secondly, in an improved detachable mandrel having one or
more single or duplex face plates and cramping plates with tightening nuts fitted
thereupon, in which the shapes can be chucked in quantity.
I attain the objects of my invention by means of the mechanical devices illustrated
in the accompanying figures which are to be taken as part of this specification and
read therewith.
In the manufacture of wooden boot-heels in a copying lathe (to the production of
which articles, as I have pointed out above, my invention is particularly applicable),
it has hitherto been the custom to chuck a rectangular block of wood large enough to
yield, say a dozen heels and to turn it down till it represented six counterparts of a
double dummy, that is a dummy of. the contour and size of two heels,-which
counterparts have been separated by sawing, and then sawn again to separate the
several heels. It followed, therefore, that all the excess of wood in the rectangular
block over the combined mass of the dozen heels was wasted.
According to the first part of my invention, I prevent the great waste characteristic
of and incidental to the old method of manufacture described in the foregoing
paragraph, by making all the severing cuts in the length of raw material as the same
is received from the saw-mill, before chucking and turning, instead of making the
major part of them afterwards; and the said severing cuts are made diagonally in the

page_text: manner next described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 which illustrate the practice of
this part of my invention.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the gauge used according to my invention in making
the several diagonal severing cuts.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of a block containing two heel-
shapes, the several faces of which are indicated by the full lines, the dotted lines
indicating the parallelopiped containing the block:
A is the fence on the saw-bench; B, the sawing gauge; b, its handle; b¹, a
longitudinal slot which allows of the gauge being slid along the saw bench towards
the saw as far as may be necessary for the purpose of effecting the several cuts ;
and C, the length of raw material, which is fed into the guiding grooved until its
leading end c is over the slot 6. The gauge is pushed forward, and the cut indicated
by the full line c¹ in Fig. 2 made. The angle which the cut e' makes with the side of
the parallelopiped is regulated by the angle which the groove d makes with the slot b¹,
and the length of the block is regulated by a stop conveniently fixed for that purpose
on the opposite side of the gauge. The piece c² is necessarily cut to waste.
The gauge is then draw back till it is clear of the saw the length pushed up to
the stop; the gauge again pushed forward, and the second cut made, producing a
block containing two heel-shapes. But as the cut is parallel to the cut c', it is clear
that there will be no more waste in cross cutting the length C until its end is reached,
when a piece as c, equal to c² will be left.
A block cut off from the length C in the way described above, is next placed in
the second guiding groove e with one end resting against the stop e; the gauge is
pushed forward and the cut e² (shewn by a pair of full lines in Fig. 2), is made.
The angle which the groove e makes with the slot 6 is, of course, the same as that
which the cute is required to make with the side e³ of the block.
A half-block containing one heel-shape is next placed within the angular rest fand
the cut made, when it is ready to be chucked, with other half-blocks, in the second
part of my invention, viz., the improved mandrel which is illustrated in the following
figures as adapted specially to the chucking of the shapes produced as above
described, although I wish it to be distinctly understood that this second part of my
invention is not confined in its application to copying lathes to the chucking of heel-
shapes, but can be easily adapted, without in any way departing from its principle or
distinctive features, to the chucking of any other shapes.
Fig. 3 is a front elevation of mandrel constructed according to my invention.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the double dummy, looking at it from the right hand.
Fig. 5 is an elevation of the back of the face-plate on the left hand end of the
mandrel.
Fig. 6 is an elevation of the face of any shape-face plate; and
Fig. 7 is an elevation of a cramping plate.
The last three figures are drawn to a scale three times the size of that on which
Figs. 3 and 4 are drawn.
G and G' are the head and tail stocks respectively, G2 is an open intermediate
bearing, of which there may be as many as may be required to prevent the mandrel
from buckling. The live mandrel H in the head-stock G.carries a pinion h through
which rotary motion is communicated to the shape-mandrel in any convenient way,
and has a face plate h¹ formed upon it. A continuation of it, (indicated by the pair
of dotted lines), receives the double dummy I which is bolted to the face plate h', and
has incorporated with it a face plate i.
The dummy illustrated is of the same contour as a pair of heels placed front to
front in the position shewn in Fig. 3. The distance which separates the two heels is
made up in the dummy by plain dummy-material as will be seen on referring to Fig. 4.
The projecting end of the live mandrel and the nose of the back centre, of the
usual and well known construction, constitute the bearings of the detachable or
shape-mandrel.
The detachable or shape-mandrel J consists of a screwed bar having formed therein

page_text: a longitudinal groove j, preferably along the top, which receives feathers projecting
inwardly from the cramping plates next described. Upon this mandrel are the shape
face-plates k, single or duplex,-by duplex face plate I mean one which projects
equally from opposite sides only of the mandrel, as illustrated, as distinguished from
one which projects equally in every direction-as may be required by the shape of
the article to be turned, and cramping plates with tightening nuts m arranged in
sets upon the mandrel for the purpose of holding the shapes in the manner illustrated
in Figure 3, each face-plate and cramp being made to hold as many shapes as there
are finished articles represented by the dummy. As many sets or only one set may
be used with one mandrel as may be desired, and according to the length of the
lathe.
The mandrel J passes contrally through both duplex face-plates and cramping
plates.
The face-plates k are in the same plane as the dummy and are pinned to the
mandrel J. The cramping plates are capable of a free lateral motion upon the
mandrel in either direction, the feathers above mentioned engaging in the groovej in
the mandrel and preventing any motion around it.
The face plates and cramping plates have their respective and opposite faces
formed according to the respective ends of the shape to be turned, in order that the
lattor may be gripped firmly without packing being required, and held securely by
simply advancing the cramping plates towards their respective face plates and
screwing up the tightening nuts.
Accordingly, the face plates k, being for boot heels, have their faces k¹ cut with
teeth and sloping away from the mandrel, and the cramps are made with projections l'.
The slope of a face-plate is the same as that of the top face e³ of a heel-shape, and
the projections on the face of a cramping plate are, in cross section, less than the
area of the bottom face e¹ of a heel-shape. Steps 2 project from the face-plates, upon
which rest those sides of the shapes which will be the front of the heels when the cut
is finished. The sloping faces 1, projections and steps are all modified as may
be required to suit the contour of the articles to be turned.
When a detachable mandrel constructed as above described has been filled with
shapes, it is chucked between its bearings in the ordinary way, the logs ³ on the
left-hand face-plate & engaging in the groove in the dummy face-plate i, and thereby
ensuring the correct alignment of the series of chucked shapes with the double
dummy I.
The improved detachable mandrel described above is shewn as fitted with a dummy
representing a pair of heels, and carrying eight heel-shapes, but I wish to point out
that a dummy of any shape can be fitted on my improved niandrel, and the working
faces of the face plates and cramping plates modified. according to the contour of the
shapes to be turned down.
A copying lathe is furnished with a pair of detachable mandrels constructed as
described so that one may be in cut while the other is being filled with unturned
shapes.
The slide carrying the cutters is underneath the bed of the lathe and the traversing
slide works at right angles with it.
I do not confine myself to the use of a dummy inasmuch as the cutters and mandrel
may be mutually approached or separated by gearing.
It is clear that more than one of my improved mandrels can be mounted upon one
lathe, all being driven from one pulley.
When ovals or the like are to be turned in a lathe fitted with my improved mandrel,
the shapes will be bored and threaded on to the bar, or cut in two.
:-
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. A chucking device consisting of a face plate, a cramping plate and a tightening
nut upon a round screwed bar in which a longitudinal groove is formed, and which

page_text: bar passes through face-plate, cramping plate and tightening nut, the face-plate being
fixed to the bar, the cramping plate engaging with the bar by means of a feather
entering the longitudinal groove, and the tightening nut travelling on the bar for the
purpose of advancing the cramping plate towards the face plate; substantially as
hereinbefore described.
2. The combination of a fixed face plate upon a detachable mandrel and having
dogs on the back thereof with a faco-plate forming part of or incorporated with the
dummy, in which face plate there is a groove for the said dogs to engage in,
substantially as herein before described.
3. A sawing gauge consisting of a plate having a slot formed in it by which the
length of material to be sawn and lying in a guiding groove upon said plate can be
fed up to the saw, and guiding grooves formed upon it, the angles which said grooves
make with said slot being regulated according to the angles which the faces of the
said shapes are required to make with each other, substantially as hereinbefore
described with reference to Figs. 10 and 11.
Dated this 11th day of February 1.887.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Patent Agents,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.