Improved Method of and Apparatus for Working in Pearl Shell or similar material, applicable in the Manufacture of Buttons and similar articles.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Nov., 1892-Accepted, 25th Feb., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Apparatus for Working in Pearl Shell or
similar material, applicable in the Manufacture of Buttons and
similar articles.
I, WALTER EVERETT TAFT Manufacturer of Providence, Rhode Island,
United States, 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 :-
My invention has reference to an improved method of and apparatus for working
in pearl shell or similar material for the purpose of manufacturing buttons and
similar articles.
In the working of these articles as at present, the tools employed are rapidly
dulled so as to require almost constant sharpening which greatly increases the cost
of the work, and it is the object of my invention to produce the said articles with
greater rapidity and economy than heretofore, and to this end my invention consists
in first chipping or roughening the surface of the blank to be turned, and then
cutting off the chipped surface until the desired point has been reached. This
result being accomplished by certain manipulations and machinery as will be
hereafter described more fully.
Fig. 1 represents a plan view of my improved tool for carrying out my
invention.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line x, x of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 represents a face view of a blank as first cut from shell etc.
Fig. 4 is a central section of the same.
Fig. 5 represents the blank provided with a chipped or roughened surface, to
carry out my improvement.
Fig. 6 represents the said blank with the chipped or roughened surface removed
to a smooth condition.
Fig. 7 represents a central section of the blank shown in Fig. 6.
Figure 8 represents a chipped or roughened button blank for making ornamented
buttons.
Fig. 9 represents the said blank with the chipped or roughened surface removed
to a smooth condition or certain position of the blank, the remainder being left
ornamented.
Fig. 10 represents a central section of the same.
Referring to the drawings A, designates the tool holder, preferably made of iron
in one solid piece; the shaft bis journaled in the said holder, and upon the said
shaft b, are placed the conical cutters C, C', one of said cutters C¹ being secured
to said shaft, as by the set screw o, and the other cutter C, being left loosely
thereon, the shaft b, is driven by means of a belt running on the pulley e;
F, represents a chuck, made of wood in the present instance, for holding the
button blank f, the said chuck being made to revolve as usual being mounted in.
the live spindle of a lathe, while the tool holder A is mounted in the screw-
spindle. These cutters or tools can be used in a common drill or engine lathe,
or upright drill, or in fact any machine where the tool can be held in a line with
the work to be operated upon, therefore I do not confine myself to any particular
construction of a machine for using the tools.
In operation the chuck F being made to revolve as usual, the cutter C¹, is driven
at a rapid speed for the purpose of smoothing the blank f, and the said blank
revolving against the cutter C, causes said cutter to revolve and have a hacking
or chipping action upon the surface of the blank f, causing the substance to chip
TD 077

page_text: off, while the cutter C' finishes the surface. In the drawing are shown figures to
illustrate the working of my improvement. In Figures 3 & 4 are shown the
blank as cut from a shell in the usual manner. Figure 5 shows the same blank
after having its surface chipped or roughened by the action of the loosely mounted
cutter C, and Figure 6 illustrates the said blank after having its chipped surface
cut away to a smooth condition by the action of the revolving cutter C', the
preliminary chipping or roughening of the surface serving to prepare the said
surface, so that the finishing cut can be made at a greatly reduced expense for
tools. The face of the blank may be chipped or roughened in any desired form,
for making the button or other article, and the chipped surface may be either
entirely smoothed away, or a portion of the same may be left for the purpose of
ornamentation, as shown in Figures 8, 9 & 10, in which the annular surface a, see
Figure 8 is chipped deeper than the central, and outer surface a¹. By this means
a great number of ornamental effects may be produced in such articles simul-
taneously with the forming of the same. In carrying out my improvements I
prefer to operate simultaneously at opposite side of the axis of the revolving
blank, a chipping or roughing cutter or mill C being arranged for action at one
side, and a smoothing cutter at the opposite side of the same, the same being held in
the screw spindle of a lathe while the blank is made to revolve in a chuck attached
to the live spindle of the lathe, the loose cutters being adapted to revolve on the
shaft at one side of the axis of the blank by their peripheral contact with said
blank, while the cutters fixed to the shaft operate to cut away and smooth the
chipped or roughened higher portions of the blank by operating at the opposite
side of the axis of the said blank, and by performing the chipping and smoothing
simultaneously, saving in time and expense will be effected but the said steps may
be performed disjointly in different machines if desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
'
1. The combination, with a chuck adapted to hold the blank from revolution, of
the positively driven smoothing cutter arranged at one side of the line of the axis
of the chuck and the loose chipping cutter arranged at the opposite side and made
to rotate by pressure against the surface of the revolving blank; substantially as
described.
2. The combination, with the chuck adapted to hold the blank, the cutter holder
adapted for revolution upon its axis the positively driven smoothing cutter, arranged
at one side of the axis of the holder, and the loose chipping cutters arranged at
the opposite side and means for revolving the cutter holder substantially as
described.
3. The combination, with a chuck adapted to hold the blank for revolution, of
the cutter shaft, the cutters one of which is tight and the other loose upon the
shaft, and arranged at opposite sides of the line of the axis of the chuck and
means for revolving the shaft and the attached cutters while the loose cutter is
being revolved by contact with the surface of the blank, substantially as described.
4. The combination, with the cutter holder and the shaft arranged transversely
of the axis of the holder, of the cutters one of which is tight and the other loose
upon the shaft, and arranged upon the shaft at opposite sides of the line, of the
axis of the holder, and means for revolving the said holder and shaft substantially
as described.
5. The combination, with the chuck adapted to hold the blank for revolution, of
the cutter holder, the shaft arranged transversely of the axis of the holder, the
cutters one of which is tight and the other loose upon the shaft and arranged at
opposite sides of the line of the axis of the chuck and means for revolving the
shaft and the attached cutter while the loose cutter is being revolved by contact
with the surface of the blank, substantially as described.
6. The method of working in pearl shell or similar material which consists in

page_text: first chipping or roughening the surface of the same, and then cutting away the
said chipped or roughened surface, as set forth.
7. The method of working in pearl shell or similar material, which consists in
first chipping or roughening the surface to different depths, and then cutting away
the higher portion of the chipped or roughened surface as set forth.
Dated this 29th day of November 1892.
W. E. TAFT,
By L. W., per F. B.