IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING VENEERS
Year: 1858

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Vincent Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
April 1858: A communication.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON; of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING
VENEERS," to be as follows:
This Invention relates to improvements on the machine for cutting veneers,
for which I obtained Her Majesty's Letters Patent, bearing date the 11th day
of May 1857.
The present Invention dispenses with the turntable in the original machine
and all the feed attachments and appendages thereon, and in place thereof the
following arrangement is employed. Attached to the follower or block, which
carries the wood to be cut into veneers, are four upright sliding friction dogs
or pawls, which operate upon the faces of four upright standards carried by
the upper table. These pawls are set in action by means of a shaft and con-
necting rods and arms, so arranged as to thrust forward or draw back the
pawls, and thus hold the follower and its
backwards over the face of the knife.
traverse is prevented from touching the
just before the cutting stroke begins. The upper table, which carries the
log in suspension when it is passing
By this means the log on its back
knife, the tripping of the follower is
f

page_text: vertical standards, is formed with an open space or well, down which the log
passes, and it is fitted with horizontal slides, which are operated independently
of each other by means of screws adjustable by hand for the purpose of
keeping the log steady as it descends.
The follower which passes through the upper table with the log is provided
with moveable clamps on its under face to grip the upper edge of the log, the
clamps being adjustable by hand screws in the follower, and capable of moving
independently of each other.
For the purpose of suspending the follower at some fixed point above the
table to allow of access to the knife or other underlying parts of the
machinery, an arrangement of pawls is mounted on the follower, and ratchet
teeth are formed in the standards to receive the pawls. These are all con-
nected by short levers and rods to a common rock shaft, which carries a hand
lever capable of being fixed at any required position. By rocking this hand
lever the pawls may be all simultaneously thrown into action, and taking into
the rack teeth will carry the weight of the log and its follower.
In this improved machine the knife table is pushed out from under the
upper table when required, and drawn back again by the operation of the
machine instead of by hand labor. This is effected by means of a horizontal
rack and tumbling pawl. The rack is permanently attached to the under
table, and passes through a bush in a crosshead, to which the under table is
keyed. On this crosshead a tumbling forked pawl is mounted, and when
it is required to draw out, the knife table the keys connecting it to the cross-
head are knocked out, and the connection is re-established by the pawle taking
into teeth at the outer end of the rack. The return motion, therefore, of the
crosshead will thrust out the knife table from below the upper table. By
shifting, the tumbling pawle and connecting it with the other end of the rack,
the under table will at the next movement of the crosshead be restored to its
proper relative position..