IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING STAVES FOR CASES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Stokes Cressey, of Burton-upon-Trent, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING STAVES FOR
CASES."
Sealed the 12th August 1859, and dated the 21st May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Stokes Cressey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1859.
I, THOMAS STOKES CRESSEY, of Burton-upon-Trent, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING
STAVES FOR CASKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cutting
staves for casks. Heretofore in cutting staves for casks, a circular saw have
sometimes been employed, and a saw of this description has been mounted on
a bench or frame furnished with a template or guide, by which the wood to be
cut into a stave is governed as it passes the saw, and while the cut is being
made, so that the stave may be cut of the contour desired, that is to say,
broader at the middle than at the two ends. At the same time that the
stave is thus cut to form, a bevilled edge is produced to it by presenting the
wood to the saw in an inclined position; and in machines of this description,
before the cut commences, the wood is set to the desired inclination, which
remains the same all through the cut, and a stave is thus produced having an
edge of a uniform bevil from end to end. For a special arrangement of a
machine arranged on the principle above mentioned, (together with other

page_text: machines,) a Patent has been granted to me, dated the 19th November 1858,
and numbered 2630. Now, in cutting staves for casks of a superior descrip-
tion, it is desirable that the bevil of the edge of the stave should increase
in passing from the centre towards each end. In order to effect this, I
employ a template or guide to govern the bevil of the edge of the stave, in
addition to the template or guide heretofore employed to govern its contour.
The wood to be cut I prefer to mount on a carriage, such as is described in
the Specification of my former Patent above referred to, the carriage being
governed in a similar manner, but in place of supporting the back of the
carriage on a straight rail, as in that machine, I substitute for the rail a
template or guide, which as the carriage passes over it, inclines it more or
less, and so regulates the bevil to which the edge of the stave is cut.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Stokes Cressey in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
STOKES CRESSEY, of Burton-upon-Trent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Stokes Cressey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING STAVES FOR CASKS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their bands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
saw, and while the cut is being
contour desired, that is to say,
At the same time that the stave
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cutting
staves for casks. Heretofore in cutting staves for casks a circular saw has
sometimes been employed, and a saw of this description has been mounted on
a bench or frame furnished with a template or guide, by which the wood to be
cut into a stave is governed as it passes the
made, so that the stave may be cut of the
broader at the middle than at the two ends.
is thus cut to form, a bevilled edge is produced to it by presenting the wood
to the saw in an inclined position, and in machines of this description, before
the cut commences, the wood is set to the desired inclination, which remains
the same all through the cut, and a stave is thus produced having an edge of
a uniform bevil from end to end. For a special arrangement of a machine
arranged on the principle above mentioned (together with other machines) a
Patent has been granted to me, dated November 19th, 1858. Now, in
cutting staves for casks of a superior description, it is desirable that the
bevil of the edge of the stave should increase in passing from the centre
towards each end. In order to effect this, I employ a template or guide to
govern the bevil of the edge of the stave, in addition to the template or guide
heretofore employed to govern its contour. The wood to be cut I prefer to
mount on a carriage, such as is described in the Specification of my former
Patent above referred to, the carriage being governed in a similar manner;
but, in place of supporting the back of the carriage on a straight rail, as in
that machine, I substitute for the rail a template or guide, which, as the
carriage passes over it, inclines it more or less, and so regulates the bevil to
which the edge of the stave is cut.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 an end view of a
machine for cutting staves for casks, in such manner that the bevil of the
edge of each stave increases in passing from the centre towards each end.
The general arrangement of this machine is similar to the one described in
the Specification of my former Patent above referred to, but in place of the
back of the carriage, to which the wood to be formed into a stave is fixed,

page_text: being supported on a straight rail, as in that machine, it is supported on a
; template or guide, which is of a suitable shape to cause the carriage to incline
more when the ends of the stave are being cut than when cutting the centre
of the stave. a, a, is the bench or table; b, b, are two circular saws, to which
motion is communicated from the pulleys b¹; c, c, are the carriages on which
the pieces of wood to be formed into a stave. are clamped. The machine is
furnished with two such carriages, one to each saw, but only one carriage is
shewn in its place on the machine. The front of the carriage is furnished
with flanged rollers, which run on the template d, and the workman, when
moving the carriage c past the saw, presses the carriage against this template,
and the stave is thus cut to the required form. In order to cut the edge of
the stave to the desired bevil, the rollers e, e, at back of the carriage run on
the template f, which is of a suitable form. to cause the carriage c, to incline
more when the ends of the stave are being cut than when the centre is being
cut. A side view of this template is shewn seperately at Figure 4
At Figures 1 and 2 the carriage is shewn to be at its starting point, the
.rollers e, e, resting on the highest parts of the template f. As the carriage
is moved onwards past the saw, the carriage becomes less and less inclined by
reason of the rollers descending into the hollows of the template, and the
carriage will be least inclined when the centre of the stave is being cut.
After the centre of the stave is passed, the carriage will become more and
more inclined, until the end of the stave is cut; by this means the bevil
to which the edge of the stave is cut is greater at the ends than at the
.centre.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details herein described; but what I claim is, the combination
of machinery herein described for cutting staves for casks.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
THOMAS STOKES CRESSEY. (L.S.)