CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TURNING AND CUTTING WOOD AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Wilson, of Barnsley, in the County of
York, Timber Merchant and Bobbin Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TURNING AND
CUTTING WOOD AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 18th January 1859, and dated the 21st July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Wilson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st July 1858.
I, JOHN WILLIAM WILSON, of Barnsley, in the County of York, Timber
Merchant and Bobbin Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
TURNING AND CUTTING WOOD AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to an apparatus to be employed for the purposes of
turning, cutting, sawing, or boring, being particularly applicable to the turning
of wood bobbins, and by the use of which any number of bobbins or spools or
other articles may be turned, cut, or bored simultaneously without requiring
an equivalent increase of driving power, whereby a great economy of time
and power is effected. The improved apparatus consists in arranging a number
or series of turning lathes in a circular framing, each one consisting in a
driving and following headstock as usual, the power being communicated to
the series from a main driving shaft to the driving spindle by means of an

page_text: endless strap or other suitable gearing encircling the periphery of their driving
pulleys, and the tools for turning each separate article are also to be mounted
in suitable rests in a similarly shaped framing, or otherwise fixed between the
two headstocks, the whole system being mounted upon one slowly rotating
shaft so as to impart to each lathe two motions, one round its own axis, and
the series round the central shaft; by this arrangement of apparatus it will be
evident that any number of articles may be produced according to the capa-
bilities or construction of the machine. In turning bobbins, I employ a flat
blade having its surface slightly curved in the formation of the barrel of the
bobbin, and four ordinary turning tools for shaping the ends or flanches; but
any number or arrangement of cutting tools may be employed in the machine
according to the requirement of the work to be performed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John William Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILLIAM WILSON, of Barnsley, in the County of York, Timber Merchant
and Bobbin Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John William Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said
John William Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John William Wilson, 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS-IN-MACHINERY_OR APPARATUS FOR TURNING AND
CUTTING WOOD AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition, amongst others,
that I, the said John William Wilson, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 calenda
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John William Wilson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
The Invention relates to an apparatus to be employed for the purposes of
turning, cutting, sawing, or boring, being particularly applicable to the turning
of wood bobbins," and by the use of which any number of "bobbins" or
"spools" or other articles may be turned, cut, or bored simultaneously without
requiring an equivalent increase of driving power, whereby a great economy
of time and power is effected. The improved apparatus consists in arranging a
number or series of turning lathes in a circular framing, each one consisting
in a driving and following headstock as usual, the power being communicated
to the series from a main driving shaft to the driving spindles by means of an
endless strap (or other suitable gearing), encircling the peripheries of their
driving pulleys, and the tools for turning each separate article are also to be
mounted in suitable rests in a similarly shaped framing, (or otherwise fixed)
between the two headstocks, the whole system being mounted upon one
rotating shaft so as to impart to each lathe two motions, one round its own
axis, and the series round the central shaft; by this arrangement of apparatus
it will be evident that any number of articles may be produced according to
the construction and capabilities of the machine. In turning bobbins I
employ a blade having its cutting edge so curved as to produce the formation
of the barrel of the bobbin, and four or more ordinary turning tools for
shaping the ends or flanches, but any number or arrangement of cutting tools
may be employed in the machine according to the requirements of the work
to be performed.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about two inches to a foot, and having similar letters of reference marked
upon corresponding parts of the apparatus in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 is an end view of the turning apparatus, having a portion of the
framing removed the more clearly to illustrate the interior construction
thereof; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one complete system of the turning
apparatus as arranged (in this instance) for turning bobbins, eight in number
being turned simultaneously, the framing being so constructed as to allow of
a second system being therein contained so as to turn sixteen bobbins from
one central system of driving gearing; Fig. 3 is a detached view of that part
of the apparatus which holds the bobbins, &c., whilst being turned, and is
represented in the position of holding the bobbin or other article; and Fig. 4.

page_text: illustrates the position of the said apparatus when releasing the bobbin after it
has been sufficiently turned, and is in a finished state; Figs. 5 and 6 repre-
sent enlarged views of the several cutters detached.
I shall now proceed to describe the action of the apparatus as applied to
turning bobbins, and hereafter to describe the action of the detached views.
In Figs. 1, 2, A, A, A, is the framing of the machine in which the
central shaft B is supported, upon this shaft is secured the whole system of
driving and following headstocks, consisting in any required number of driving
pulleys C, C, C, and their headstocks D, D, D, and a corresponding number
of the following headstocks E, E, E, which are all supported in the circular
rotating framing F, F, F, together with the brackets G, G, G, for carrying
or supporting the bobbins; II, H, is a guide plate containing two grooves or
channels h, h, one inclined outwards to cause the following headstocks to
withdraw, and one opposite thereto to cause them to advance, the whole of
this arrangement being caused to rotate slowly with the central shaft by
means of the worm and worm wheel gearing i, i, which may be actuated
from the same shaft which gives motion to the band k, encircling and driving
the pullies C, C. The tools or cutters l, l, are of the form, and arranged in
the manner shewn, see also detached Fig. 5, by which peculiar form they
commence to cut at one end of the bobbin barrel and finish at the other, and
are secured on adjustable plates or tables fixed to the stationary framing L, L,
as seen in Fig. 1, and therein shewn as arranged for turning wood bobbins.
The material from which the bobbin is to be turned having been bored, it is
placed in the top carriers or brackets G, G, (supposing the others to be full),
the machine being put in motion, the following headstocks are advanced by
the groove so as to force the pivots into the bore of the bobbin, and against
the key commonly used in wood turning lathes for forcing the bobbins or
articles round, and fixed in the spindles of the driving headstocks, thereby
securing that the action of the machine will cause the bobbin or article to
rotate. It is then submitted (as the series rotate slowly round with the
shaft B) to the gradual cutting or turning of the successively reducing tools
or cutters l, l, and m, m. The tools m, m, see also Fig. 6, form the
flanches at each end, and-1,-1,-the-barrel, until the said bobbin completes the
The
greater part of the circle and leaves the last cutter in a finished state.
groove inclined outwards now causes the following headstock to withdraw its
pivot from the bore of the bobbin, the sliding collar a, (Figs. 3 and 4), pre-
venting the movement of the bobbin along with the said pivot, and such
withdrawing action causes the tie bar b to draw the sliding collar c, and thus
bring the bobbin off the pivot d of the driving headstock, leaving the finished

page_text: bobbin in the brackets, whence it is removed, and a continuous supply being
maintained, a succession of bobbins is produced.
I would remark in conclusion that although I have described herein the
apparatus as applied to turning bobbins, I do not wish to confine myself
thereto, as it is equally applicable to other purposes.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, I am aware that the rotating series of spindles above
described, has been known and used before in an imperfect form, and in
regard to this part of my Invention, I desire it to be understood that I claim
only the form or arrangement in which I have here described and set forth
the same; but I do claim the use and adaptation of a fixed cutter or cutters
as shewn in the enlarged detached Figs. 5 and 6, which shall by their peculiar
curvature and form commence to cut at one end of a bobbin or other article
to be turned, and complete the operation at the other. The curvature of the
cutter 1, 1, Fig. 5, having the effect of communicating by its action both the
properties of a roughing gouge, and finishing and burnishing chisel, whilst the
cutters m, m, Fig. 6, commence at the largest diameter of the flanches, and
proceed inwards, producing a similar finish as the machine continues to
rotate.
In witness whereof, I, the said John William Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JOHN WILLIAM WILSON. (L.S.)