IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SHAPING WOOD
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Greenwood and John Batley, both of Leeds,
in the County of York, Machine Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SHAPING WOOD."
Sealed the 3rd August 1860, and dated the 1st June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Greenwood and:
John Batley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 1st June 1860.
We, THOMAS GREENWOOD and JOHN BATLEY, both of Leeds, in the County
of York, Machine Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention.
for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND SHAPING WOOD," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain arrangements of mechanism, whereby the
shaping of wood for the construction of railway carriages and other uses may be
greatly facilitated, the object being to cut mortices and rebates, bore boltholes,
and plane and shape up timber, to pattern by the use of self-acting, drills,
rotating cutters, and chisels.. For cutting, boring, and morticing "sills," or
long timbers used in forming tho frames of railway carriages, we use a com-
pound machine, in which the timber is clamped, and there subjected to. the
successive operations requisite to prepare it for use.
The machine consists of an elongated bed fitted with clamps for holding the
timber at rest, and antifriction rollers for facilitating its forward traverse. At
either extremity of this table is a standard, over the vertical face of which

page_text: works a slide fitted with a rotating adze or other suitable cutter, the one cutting
a rebate at one end of the timber, and the other for squaring the opposite end.
The slides in which these cutters are mounted we maintain at an elevated
position by weighted chains, and cause their depression (to bring them into
action) by means of band wheels or other suitable contrivance. The standards
are formed so as to allow the timber to pass endways through them, and the
timber is clamped by the depression of nipping rollers after the nianner of the
platten of a fly press. In advance of the first standard a horizontal drill is
mounted for boring lateral holes in the timber. At about the middle of the
length of the bed of the machine, or midway between the two end standards is
erected a third standard, which carries at its opposite sides a vertical drill and
a chisel for cutting mortices; these tools are operated in any convenient
manner, the drill to commence the mortice that is to be cut, and the chisel to
finish it. The traverse forward of the timber through the timber is effected
by band wheels mounted on the axles of the lower of the respective sets of
clamping rollers.
For cutting mortices a given depth in round work, say, for example, in
naves for the insertion of spokes, we connect the vertical sliding frame which
carries the drill and chisel with a vertical rack bar, in such manner that the
rack bar will act upon the sliding frame and determine the depth the tools
shall cut. The sliding frame is mounted as usual in a suitable standard, and it
carries its own crank shaft and driving pullies.
A horizontal sliding plate, formed with rack teeth to take into the teeth of
the rack bar before mentioned, is fitted to the side of the sliding frame, and
operated by a cam, which, when turned, will project forward the plate and lock
it into the teeth of the rack bar, or draw it back and break the connection.
This rack bar is operated vertically by an inclined slide situate at the foot of
the machine, which slide when thrust forward by a treadle arrangement, will
draw down the rack bar, together with the sliding frame carrying the tools
to bring the latter in contact with their work, but when this pressure is
removed, a balance weight will lift the bar, together with the sliding frame,
to its highest point. The relative vertical adjustment of the rack bar and
sliding frame is effected when the sliding plate is thrown back by turning a
"pinion which is mounted on the sliding frame and gears into the teeth of the
'rack bar. The sliding frame may thus be raised or lowered (while the rack
bar is stationary) to suit the elevation or progress of the work in hand. The
tools are brought successively into operation by any well known mechanical
arrangement.
: In order to provide for varying the position of the work, the saddle which

page_text: carries the mandril is made to slide endwise on a rock frame which is carried
by trunnions. Through the centre of one of these trunnions passes an axle,
which is fitted with a pinion for working into a rack on the under side of the
saddle. This axle is operated by a hand wheel to give the saddle an endway
motion. On the same trunnion is also keyed a segment rack, into which gears
a worm keyed to a shaft which has its bearings in the table that carries the
rock frame. By means of a hand wheel on this shaft the rock frame may be
set to any inclination requisite for presenting the work to the drill or chisel.
The table is itself carried by an under table, and is made capable of sliding
laterally thereon by means of a screw working in a nut attached to the under
side of the upper table, and the under table in its turn is supported on the bed
of the machine, over which it is caused to slide by a segment rack operated by
a hand lever. Thus, independently of the work receiving an axial motion on
its points of support (the position to which it is thus adjusted being maintained
by a dividing plate) the work may be rocked to produce diagonal cuts or
moved endways or sideways under the tool as desired, the depth of cut being
in every case limited by the movements of the rack bar.
For the purpose of shaping up wood chiefly to irregular forms we propose to
combine in one machine a travelling bed like that of a planing machine with a
compound fixed head for carrying a vertical cutter spindle, and a dumb tool.
which by means of a hand lever may be kept in contact, the one with the
pattern and the other with the work. The pattern and work are clamped to
the travelling bed, which receives a to-and-fro motion through a hand wheel,
which drives a pinion in gear with a rack on the under side of the table.
Supposing the work in hand to be the grooving of a railway carriage door.
frame, the work is held in position by sliding clamps, which fit into rebates cut
in the face of the table, and are operated severally by a screw lying parallel
therewith, and having its bearings in the table and below the clamp. The
pattern is to be fixed by the side of the work, that the dumb tool by passing
over it may guide the cutter over the work. To produce this grooving of the
door frame, the cutter must have a profile form, the counterpart of that of the
side of the groove desired to be cut. By attaching an arın carrying one or
more blades to the cutter spindle in place of the profile cutter, the machine
may be converted into a planing machine capable of facing up the work..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed"
by the said Thomas Greenwood and John Batley in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 1st December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
GREENWOOD and JOHN BATLEY, both of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine
Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,.
the said Thomas Greenwood and John Batley, Her special license that we
the said Thomas Greenwood and John Batley, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Greenwood
and John Batley, our 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 lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY.
FOR CUTTING AND SHAPING WOOD," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Thomas Greenwood and John Batley, by an instrument in.
writing under our bands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
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 calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Greenwood (on behalf of
myself and of the said John Batley) do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention relates to certain arrangements of mechanism, whereby the
shaping of wood for the construction of railway carriages and other uses may
be greatly facilitated, the object being to cut mortices and rebates, bore bolt
holes, and plane and shape up timber to pattern by the use of self-acting drills,
rotating cutters, and chisels.
We will first describe our improved arrangement of machinery particularly
applicable for cutting, boring, and morticing "sills" or long timbers used in

page_text: forming the frames of railway carriages, and capable of being applied to
analogous work, in which long balks of timber are used, and which, from their
size and weight are very inconvenient to handle. To remedy this incon-
venience, we construct a compound machine in which the timber is clamped,
and then subjected to the successive operations requisite to prepare it for use.
This compound machine is shewn in Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1 being a plan view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation thereof. The machine
may be generally described as consisting of an elongated bed fitted with
clamps for bolding the timber at rest when under the action of one or other
of the cutting tools, and provided also with nipping rollers for facilitating the
forward traverse of the timber after every successive operation to bring up a
fresh surface to the action of the tools. At either extremity of this table is a
standard, over the vertical face of which works a slide fitted with a rotating
adze or other suitable cutter, the one being intended to cut, say, a rebate at
one end of the timber, and the other to square the opposite end. The slides
in which these cutters are mounted we maintain at an elevated position by
weighted chains, and cause their depression (to bring them into action) by
means of hand wheels or any other suitable mechanical contrivance.
standards are formed so as to allow the timber to pass endways through them,
and the timber is clamped by the depression of nipping rollers after the manner
of the platen of a fly press. In advance of the first standard a horizontal drill
is mounted for boring lateral holes in the timber. At about the middle of the
length of the bed of the machine, or midway between the two end standards,
is erected a third standard; which carries at its opposite sides a vertical drill
and a chisel for cutting mortices. These tools, which are operated by the
mechanism to be presently described, are intended to act in combination, the
drill to commence the mortice that is to be cut, and the chisel to finish it.
The traverse forward of the timber through the machine is effected by hand
wheels mounted on the axles of the lower of the respective sets of clamping
rollers.
The
Referring to Sheet I., A, A, are the two main uprights or standards of the
machine, over the inner face of which the vertical slides B, B, move. On
these slides are cutter spindles, which carry suitable tools for cutting the tenons
or squaring the ends of the timbers intended to form the "sills" of railway
carriages; C, C, are spur wheels, on the shafts of which are pinions that take
into racks on the inside of the slides. These spur wheels C are driven by
pinions on the axles of hand wheels C*; D, D, are pulleys for receiving the
chains of balance or counterweights, and above are the pulleys and com-
pensating slides for holding the driving straps in a state of tension during the

page_text: vertical movement of the slides carrying the cutter spindles; E, E, is the bed
of the machine upon which the timber rests while under operation, and
provided with the weighted friction rollers for adjusting and holding the
timber in its proper place; F, F, is an ordinary construction of drilling
machine for boring the horizontal holes, and one or more of these machines
may be brought to operate upon the balk of timber as it lies clamped upon
the bed E. This drilling machine may be made with several spindles when
various sized holes are required. G. G, are friction rollers supplied with
pressure screws and springs to move the timber from one cutting tool to the
next.
a is a strong upright, which may, if thought desirable, be cast in one with
the standard H that carries the morticing tool, to be presently referred to.
On the upper part of this upright a is mounted a transverse slide b, movable
by rack and pinion. One end of this slide is provided with journals to receive
a vertical drill bar, which is driven through the intervention of a pair of hori-
In advance of
zontal shaft and bevils set in action by driving pulleys c, c.
this drill is a mortising machine H, shewn best in the enlarged views, Figures
3, 4, and 5, Sheet 11.; d is the driving pulley mounted on one end of the
shaft e.
To the other end of this shaft is keyed the spur wheel f, which takes
into a similar wheel g, keyed upon a shaft mounted in the swinging frame 1,
which has its fulcrum on the driving shaft e. The spur wheel g has a moveable
crank pin taking into the eye of a connecting rod i, and actuating the slide
bar or ram, On this slide bar is mounted the bark for carrying the
mortising tool; along this bar is a groove for receiving a feather or key in the
spring handle 1, through which hamile it works freely. This spring handle,
which is stationary, can be turned half round so as to reverse the cutter.
In the lower part of the main casting H is mounted the foot lever m, to
the inner end of which is attached the vertical rod n. This rod is connected
This
to an arm carrying a pawle, which takes into the ratchet wheel o..
ratchet wheel is keyed on one end of the shaft p, to the other end of which is
keyed a bevil wheel, taking into a similar wheel mounted in a journal
on the main casting; 9 is a vertical shaft, the lower end of which passes
through the last-named bevil wheel, and is connected therewith by means of
a key groove. The swinging frame h is attached to this shaft by means of a
swivel joint, and on the upper end of this shaft is cut a screw, which takes
into the clasp nut r, which is opened and closed by the operation of the shaft
bevils and handle s, s, s.
It will be seen that as the ratchet wheel o is actuated by the foot lever m
and pawle the screw 9 will rotate, and thus bring down the swinging

page_text: frame and its crank wheel, connecting rod, and slide bar or ram j, until the
cutter has reached the required depth. On releasing the clasp nut r, the side
of the swinging frame h, on which the crank wheel g is mounted, will be raised
by the counterbalance weight t, thus bringing the cutting tool clear of the
work, so as to allow it to be reversed without fear of coming in contect with
the wood; u, u, are two screw stops for adjusting the range of the swinging
frame.
The second head of our Invention relates to the shaping up of wood chiefly
to irregular forms. To this end we propose to combine in one machine a
travelling bed like that of a planing machine, with a compound fixed head for
carrying a vertical cutter spindle and a dumb tool, which may be termed a
profile cutting machine. By means of a hand lever these tools are kept in
contact, the one with the pattern, and the other with the work.
This compound machine is shewn in Sheet III., wherein Fig. 1 is a plan
view of the machine; Fig. 2, a side elevation; and Fig. 3, an end elevation of
the same.
The pattern and work are clamped, as will be presently explained,
to the travelling bed, which receives a to-and-fro motion through a hand
wheel which drives a pinion in gear with a rack on the under side of the
table. Supposing the work in hand to be the grooving of a railway carriage
door frame, the work is held in position by sliding clamps, which fit into
rebates cut in the face of the table, and are operated severally by a screw
lying parallel therewith, and having its bearings in the table and below the
clamp. The pattern is to be fixed by the side of the work, that the dumb
tool by passing over it may guide the cutter over the work. To produce this
grooving of the door frame the cutter must have a profile form, the counter-
part of that of the side of the groove desired to be cut. By attaching an arm
carrying one or more blades to the cutter spindle in place of the profile
cutter, the machine may be converted into a planing machine capable of
facing up the work.
Referring to the above mentioned Figures, A, A, is the bed of the machine,
mounted upon suitable standards; and B, B, the longitudinal saddle or upper
slide; C, C, are the movable tables, in which are fitted the sliding bars a.
There is a dovetail groove in this bar for fixing the clamp b by means of a
bolt and nut. d is a screw mounted in the slide for moving the slide, so as to
gripe the timber to be operated upon. Similar clamps are bolted upon the
tables by means of dovetailed grooves in the table made parallel to that in
which the movable clamp b slides. These fixed clamps hold the timber, as
shown in Fig. 3. D is a strong cast-iron standard firmly bolted to a projection
upon the bed, and faced up on one side to receive the cross slide E, which

page_text: is moved vertically over the face of the standard D by means of the screw F
and fly wheel G. This cross slide E carries a transverse saddle H, which can
be moved freely upon the cross slide E. On the saddle H a headstock I is
'fitted, the same being made to slide vertically on the saddle. This beadstock
carries a spindle with its driving pulley. Into this spindle various kinds of
cutters, adapted specially for the work in hand, can be fitted for shaping up
the wood. J is a dumb tool or tracer, which takes into the pattern K to be
copied. This pattern is bolted to the table C, C, parallel to the timber to be
operated upon. L is a projection on the rear of the headstock I, and is fitted
into suitable slides in the saddle H, so that the headstock with its spindle can
be moved horizontally in a line with the bed by means of the hand lever M,
'which is inserted into swivel sockets N, N, mounted in the transverse saddle
and beadstock. As, therefore, the hand lever M is operated to traverse the
'saddle or headstock I, the swivel sockets act as fulcrums for the lever. O is
a spring for facilitating the vertical motion of the headstock when the tracer
is used to pass over an uneven horizontal surface; P is a driving pulley upon
the top of the vertical shaft Q, on which is mounted a fanner R for creating a
blast for blowing away the cuttings. This blast is directed towards the cutting
by a windpipe S. T is a friction bowle with a leathern periphery, for giving
motion by contact to the disc U, for the purpose to be presently explained.
This friction bowle is carried by a sliding piece, which moves vertically over
the face of an upright piece E. It receives an axial motion from the shaft Q,
'which passes through it, and by means of a feather connection allows of the
bowle moving up and down on its shaft. This vertical motion the bowle
receives from the sliding piece which carries it, the sliding piece being jointed
to a rocking arm f', which is mounted on one end of a horizontal cross shaft g.
On the other end of this shaft is keyed the lever h, by which means the
bowle T can be moved either above or below the centre of the disc plate U.
whereby a to-and-fro motion will be imparted to the saddle B. This dise
plate U is mounted on one end of a shaft which passes through the bed A,
and on the other end is a small pulley, which gives motion by means of a
strap to the pulley and fly wheel V, V₁, which are mounted on the end of the
worm shaft W. There is a worm on this shaft, which takes into a suitable
worm wheel keyed on the boss of the vertical spur pinion X, which pinion
takes into a corresponding rack fixed on the under side of the longitudinal
saddle B extending along its whole length. Y is an excentric for engaging a
clutch box into the pulley V or fly wheel V', which are upon the worm
shaft W. At Fig. 4 we have shewn detached a crosshead, and part of a
headstock and spindle for the ordinary squaring up of timber.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Cutting and Shaping Wood," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, we lay no claim to any of the several well-known
arrangements of mechanism shewn in the Drawings, when taken apart and
performing their distinctive operations, the one irrespective of the other; but
what we claim as of our Invention is,-
First, the arrangement of shaping, drilling, and mortising machinery, as
shewn in Sheets I. and II. of the Drawings, and forming together a combined
machine capable of effecting during the transverse work through the machine
the successive operations above set forth.
Secondly, we claim combining in one machine a travelling bed or longi-
tudinal saddle (which carries the work) with a profile cutting machine, as
described with reference to Sheet III. of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, J, the said Thomas Greenwood, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the First day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS GREENWOOD. (L.S.)