AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SHAVING, PARING, STRIKING OUT, AND OTHERWISE WORKING SKINS AND LEATHER
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR SHAVING, PARING, STRIKING OUT, AND OTHERWISE WORKING
SKINS AND LEATHER." A communication from abroad by La Société
Anonyme des Brevets Réunis, of Paris, France, represented by Paul de
Chamberet, President.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd March 1881.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SHAVING, PARING, STRIKING OUT,
AND OTHERWISE WORKING SKINS AND LEATHER." [A communication from abroad
by La Société Anonyme des Brevets Réunis, of Paris, France, represented by Paul
de Chamberet, President.]
Hitherto the shaving of skins has generally been performed by hand or with
the aid of the emery wheel. In the first case the workman can only work for a
few hours daily, while when the emery wheel is employed so much electricity is
developed as to impair the quality of the skin, besides rendering it unfit to be
worked with a knife, as the steel fails to cut and only tears the skin.
The machine forming the subject of the present Invention is designed to remedy
the above objections, and enables all kinds of skins to be shaved and pared with a
regular thickness throughout hitherto impossible. This degree of regularity is
obtained by the arrangement whereby the action of the knives is capable of
adjustment to 1000th of an inch in the manner hereinafter described. With the
aid of this machine the operation is rendered so simple and light that even a
woman or child may perform it without fatigue either sitting or standing.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood I have illustrated
an example thereof in the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a
front view of the machine, and Figure 2 a section on line 1-2; Figure 3 is a view
of the driving end of the machine.

page_text: The machine is furnished with two knives a, b, curved to an arc of a circle, and
fixed on a horizontal shaft c, as clearly shown in Figure 2. A little in front of and
on a level with the cutting edge of each knife is a roller d which smoothes the
skin by rolling over its surface. These rollers d are journalled in the ends of
arms ffixed on collars e upon shaft c. The skin to be operated on is placed on a
marble support g, which may be approached towards the knives or withdrawn by
a screw h with squared head, said support being mounted upon a wood crosshead i
having guide rodsk which slide in cross bars 1, serving like tie rod m to brace the
two side frames of the machine together. Upon the top bar of the machine above
the cutters is placed a sharpening plate n which may be approached towards the
knives by a screw o. The sharpening of the cutters is thus readily effected, and
can be performed without stopping the machine. Rotary motion is imparted to
the knife shaft by pulleys p, p, and a horizontal motion is also imparted to the
knives by means of cams q upon shaft c in contact with friction rollers r mounted
on the side frames, this movement resembling the oblique motion of the knife in
the operation of shaving by hand.
The machine may either be driven by power, as shown, or by hand. The
arrangement and action of the knives may be modified according to the purpose
for which they are employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd September 1881.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SHAVING, PARING, STRIKING OUT,
AND OTHERWISE WORKING SKINS AND LEATHER." A communication from La
Société Anonyme des Brevets Réunis, of Paris, France, represented by Paul de
Chamberet, President.
Hitherto the shaving of skins has generally been performed by hand or with
the aid of the emery wheel. In the first case the workman can only work for a
few hours daily, while when the emery wheel is employed so much electricity is
generated as to impair the quantity of the skin, besides rendering it unfit to be
worked with a knife, as the steel fails to cut and only tears the skin.
The machine forming the subject of the present Invention is designed to remedy
the above objections, and enables all kinds of skins to be shaved and pared with a
regular thickness throughout hitherto impossible. This degree of regularity is
obtained by the arrangement, whereby the action of the knives is capable of
adjustment to 1000th of an inch in the manner hereinafter described. With the
aid of this machine the operation is rendered so simple and light that even a
woman or child may perform it without fatigue either sitting or standing.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood, I have illustrated
an example thereof in the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a
front view of the machine, and Figure 2 a section on line 1-2; Figure 3 is a
view of the driving end of the machine.
The machine is furnished with two knives a, b, curved to an arc of a circle, and
fixed on a horizontal shaft c, as clearly shown in Figure 2. A little in front of
and on a level with, reaching to the circle described by the cutting edge of each
knife, is a roller d which smoothes the skin by rolling over its surface. These
rollers d are journalled in the ends of arms f fixed on collars e upon shaft c.
The skin to be operated on is placed on a marble support g which may be approached
towards the knives or withdrawn by a screw h with squared head, said support
being mounted upon a wood crosshead i having guide rods which slide in cross
bars 7, serving like tie rod m to brace the two side frames of the machine
together. Upon the top bar of the machine above the cutters is placed a
sharpening plate n, which may be approached towards the knives by an adjusting
screw o. The sharpening of the cutters is thus readily effected, and can be performed
without stopping the machine.
Rotary motion is imparted to the knife shaft by pulleys p, p, and a horizontal
motion is also imparted to the knives by means of cams q upon shaft c in contact
with friction rollers r mounted on the side frames, this movement resembling the
oblique or drawing motion of the knife in the operation of shaving by hand.
The machine may either be driven by power, as shown, or by hand.
arrangement and action of the knives may be modified according to the purpose
for which they are employed.
The
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. In a machine for shaving, paring, and striking out skins, the employment
of curved knives a, b, mounted on a revolving shaft c, in combination with rollers d
for smoothing the skin pivoted in arms f fixed on said shaft c, substantially as
shown and described.

page_text: 2nd. The marble support 9 vertically adjustable by means of screw h and cross-
head i, and guided by rods k, in combination with the rotary knives and rollers,
substantially as shown and described, and for the purposes specified.
3rd. In a machine for shaving and paring skins, the sharpening plate n adjustable
by screw o, in combination with the rotary curved knives a, b, substantially as
shown and described.
4th. In a machine for shaving and paring skins, imparting a combined rotary
and longitudinal movement to the knives, the latter movement being obtained
by cams q and friction-roller r, substantially as hereinbefore shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of September, A.D. 1881.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)