IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING POINTED, CONICAL, AND CYLINDRICAL CORKS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Nathan Frankenstein at the Office
⚫of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st March
1862. A communication from abroad by Mr. H. Hubert, of Linden,
Hanover.
I, NATHAN FRANKENSTEIN, of 12, Clarendon Villas, Mildmay Park, London,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING POINTED, CONICAL, AND
CYLINDRICAL CORKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention is a machine which cuts corks by means of hollow cylindrical
or conical knives, being made to pass perpendicularly through cork which has
been cut into strips, the strips being as long as they can. The length of the
cut corks will correspond with the depth of the strips & the thickness of the
cut corks with the diameter of the hollow knives. An endless band passing
over a wheel sets the machine in motion. This wheel is fixed on the centre
of an axis which it causes to revolve with it. This axis runs horizontally
from the front to the back of the machine & this is the centre axis.
At the back end of the centre axis a small toothed wheel is fixed, the
revolution of the centre axis causes this small toothed wheel to set two other
larger toothed wheels in rotation one above the small toothed wheel & one
below it. On the upper toothed wheel is a handle which causes a beam to
oscillate. Both the handle & the beam can be fixed at different points,
according to the depth of cork required to be cut. At the front end of the
beam which is parallel with the centre axis a perpendicular hollow revolving

page_text: axis is fixed, the beam causes this hollow axis to go up & down. A
bevelled wheel at the front end of the centre axis acting on a bevelled
wheel on the hollow axis makes the hollow axis revolve; the hollow axis
therefore goes up & down & revolves. At the lower end of the hollow
axis the knife is fixed which according to its kind cuts cylindrical or
conical corks. On the lower toothed wheel is a pin which pushes forward
a rack-work handle which handle is pulled back by india-rubber bands.
This handle pushes a horizontal axis at the bottom of the machine slowly
round. On the front end of this axis a bevelled wheel, by means of another
bevelled wheel makes two small toothed wheels revolve horizontally &
push forward the strips of cork to be cut at any required velocity. Under-
neath the space through which the strips of cork pass, there is a screw with
a cork surface, which screw raises the strips of cork to any required height.
The space for the strips of cork can be widened at will by means of two
screws according to the width of the strips of cork to be inserted. Running
through the centre of the hollow perpendicular axis, there is a fixed rod &
piston which pushes the corks out of the knife after it has cut them. The
piston at the same time sharpens the inner edge of the knife & is cylindrical
or conical according to the knife used. A spring with a hone attached
sharpens the outer edge of the knife. The knife for cutting cylindrical corks
is a hollow cylinder & is made of a kind of bell metal which is better adapted
to this purpose than steel. The knife for cutting conical corks is a hollow
cone & is equally slit four times lengthwise. A box with a rackwork edge
can be made to pass underneath the knife just as if it were a strip of cork.
This is used for cutting corks out of such small pieces of cork which cannot
be passed underneath the knife in any other way. I can here remark that
hollow corks could also be cut by this machine by means of two knives
together, the one being within the other.
By this machine ninety thousand corks per day can be cut, the knives last
for several months & it is not liable to get out of repair. Because the knives
sharpen themselves it can be kept at work continually one man only being
required to feed it.