Improvements in Veneers.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Sept., 1888
Specification Accepted, 26th Oct., 1888
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Veneers.
We, JOHN BURNS WILSON, of No. 120 Lewis Street, New York City, New York,
United States, Mechanic, and LOUIS CONSTANTINE, of No. 120 Lewis Street, New
York City, New York, United States, Inspector, 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, reference being had to the
accompanying drawings in which :—
Figure 1 is a sectional or edge view of one of our improved veneers.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of same.
Figure 3 is an edge or sectional view of another one of our said veneers having
irregular corrugations.
Figure 4 is an end view of a knife and accompanying machinery adapted to
produce our improved veneers.
Figure 5 is a front view of a part of Figure 4 showing side view of the end
presented in Figure 4 and the remainder of the apparatus broken away as being
unessential to description.
The invention relates to a new and useful improvement in the manufacture of
veneers.
Letters Patent for an improved veneer have been heretofore granted to Alfred
Vincent Newton No. 570 in the year 1867, a communication to him from abroad by
the said John Burns Wilson. Our present invention constitutes an improvement
upon that described in said patent.
By the said former invention a veneer was produced presenting a much more rich
or complicated "figure" of grain than could be produced by the precedent method of
cutting the veneer from the log by means of a straight or flat cut.
For the latter a waved, crimped or corrugated cut was substituted. But a veneer
produced by such waved, crimped or corrugated cut as described in the said former
patent and as heretofore practised by the said John Burns Wilson is open to the
objection that it often presents in parallel and unnatural looking stripes over its
surface those portions of the figure of the wood which are the most enriched by
such cut.

page_text: Such cuts whose waves or corrugations are straight and parallel frequently produce
a veneer whose grain will at the tops and in the bottoms of the corrugations as at A
and B in the drawings approximate closely to the figure of grain produced by an
ordinary straight and level cut, while the grain produced by that portion of the cut
extending between such top and bottom will, inasmuch as it separates the veneer from
the log at a greater or less angle as at C C in the drawings, more or less vary from
the appearance of the grain produced by such straight cut.
The enrichment of the appearance of the grain produced by the former invention
has been great, but the said uniformity of variations has proved objectionable.
The object of the present invention is to remedy this defect and to produce a
veneer, the grain of which shall be vastly richer in appearance than that of a veneer
produced by either a straight or a merely corrugated cut, and in which the variation
and enrichment of the grain shall be so wavy and irregular as to more closely simulate
nature.
We attain this object by means of the present invention which consists in the
production, as a new article of manufacture of a veneer, having sinuous waves crimps
or corrugations A and B as shown in Figure 2, which is a perspective view of a
portion of one of our improved veneers, as same is cut from the log, and prior to its
being pressed out in the usual and well known manner for application to another
shaped surface.
In the production of our said improved veneers, we propose to make use of
machinery and processes which will become the subject of a subsequent application
for Letters Patent, inasmuch as we do not here wish to be confined to any particular
instrument, machine or process of cutting the said improved veneers, as any apparatus
which may he found expedient may be used to produce them and a variety of processes
might be employed with varying success.
In order, however, that one method, at least, of producing our said improved
veneers may be here described we have illustrated the same by one arrangement of
knife and accompanying mechanical parts which is competent to produce the result
desired.
In said Figures 4 and 5 corresponding letters indicate similar parts.
C is a log of wood suitably softened for cutting by means of steam water or other
well known processes, and fixed upon or in relation to the main shaft K, so as to
revolve with the same.
Said main shaft is supported at a convenient height by suitable bearings, one of
which L is shown in Figure 5; it being unnecessary to illustrate the other similar one
at the opposite extremity of the log.
These bearings are permanently secured in the usual way to a stationary bed plate G
and the shaft is then rotated by any desired power in the usual manner.
At one or both ends of said shaft is secured a bevelled gearing M adapted to
engage with a corresponding bevelled gearing N attached to the vertical shaft O
rotating in suitable bearings P P connected rigidly with the frame work of the
structure.
The lower end of said vertical shaft O is provided with a bevelled gearing Q
corresponding to the upper bevelled gearing N, which in turn engages in and
actuates corresponding bevelled gearing R attached to horizontal shaft S turning in
suitable bearings T T.
Upon said shaft S is fixed an eccentric cam U suitably connected in the usual way
by straps or otherwise with the eccentric rod V which rod is at its opposite extremity
secured to knife carriage E by an attachment adapted to admit of slight oscillation of
the carriage and its knife, in a direction at right angles to the oscillation produced
by the eccentric U as for instance, by a ball and socket joint I, as illustrated in the
drawings.
The knife carriage E is constructed of suitable material in the ordinary way, and to
it is bolted or otherwise permanently fixed the knife B.
The knife carriage is provided on its bottom with means whereby its stability
relatively to the log may be maintained without interfering with its oscillations,

page_text: We prefer the triangular hevelled track W, in which engages the triangular rail F,
the angle of bevel of said track and rail being different so as to admit of rocking
motion to the extent desired. The track W is so mounted in relation to the bed
plate G that former may be moved and adjusted nearer or away from the log, as
required in order to give the knife the requisite position and regulate the thickness of
the veneer.
This adjustability may be effected in any well known way by means of bearings H
sliding in suitable tracks Y and operated by screws X or otherwise.
The eccentric cam U must also be so secured to its shaft S as to be adjustable
correspondingly with the track W. This may be done in any of the numerous well
known ways.
At the further extremity of the knife carriage E we mount an eccentric roller A
which by its revolution under the carriage tilts or rocks it slightly in its bevelled
track F.
This eccentric A is to be mounted in the usual way in any convenient place to
produce the aforesaid result and is revolved by connecting same with the same power
which drives the main shaft.
B is a knife of peculiar construction, being corrugated as shown in Figure 5. The
corrugations should not be so excessive as to cause the veneer to be torn in the process
of cutting as hereinafter described.
The amount of corrugation will depend upon the quality of the wood from which
the veneer is to be cut and will vary with different species of wood and different
thickness and qualities of veneer desired.
The operation of the mechanism described is as follows. The main shaft being
revolved rotates with it the log and at the same time, by means of the connecting
mechanism described, causes the knife carriage to oscillate from right to left by reason
of eccentric U and also to rock slightly in a direction at right angles to said
oscillation, whereby the edge of the knife is caused to draw from right to left along
the length of the log, and simultaneously to rock slightly toward or away from the
centre of the log.
By this means a veneer is cut which possesses, not only corrugations, crimps or
waves such as are described in the said former Letters Patent No. 570 in the
year 1867 the latter being merely straight corrugations in which all the ridges and
depressions were straight and parallel to each other, but by means of the present
invention as described a veneer is produced having also what we call "sinuousities"
in the corrugations that is to say, the ridges and depressions of the corrugations are
no longer straight, but are sinuous, not only in a horizontal direction within the main
plane of the surface of the veneer but also sinuous in a direction at right angles
thereto, and also more or less sinuous in all intermediate directions.
It will be seen that by imparting sinuousity to the corrugations in the direction of
the latters length, the irregularity and variety of the appearance of the grain through-
out the finished veneer is increased, and a veneer produced of entirely different and
greatly improved appearance as compared with that secured by said former Letters
Patent.
We also further add to the appearance of the figure of the grain by varying the
depth relative to each other of each wave, crimp or corrugation as illustrated by the
sectional view Figure 3.
By means of combining the said sinuousities with such variations in depth of
corrugations infinite variety in the appearance of the grain may be secured.
Our improved veneer may be cut as aforesaid lengthwise of, crosswise of, or at any
intermediate angle with the grain of the log.
As in the case of the said former invention we propose generally in the use of our
improved veneers to press them out flat, to apply to plane surfaces but they may be
made adapted and applied to corrugated or otherwise shaped surfaces with perfect
facility as will be understood by those familiar with the manufacture and use of
veneers,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
-
First. As an article of manufacture a veneer whose surface as cut from the wood
contains sinuous corrugations substantially as and for the purpose described.
Second. As an article of manufacture a veneer whose surface as cut from the wood
contains sinuous corrugations of various depths substantially as and for the purpose
described.
Third. As an article of manufacture a veneer the surface of which as cut from
the wood contains corrugations of various depths substantially as and for the purpose
described.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents.