IMPROVEMENTS IN BAND SAW MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
-
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BAND SAW MACHINES.” — A
communication from abroad by Baxter Dodridge Whitney, of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th May 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BAND SAW MACHINES,"
a communication, to be as follows:―
The first part of this Invention relates to apparatus to be applied to a
band saw to give it a smooth and even support against the material
being cut. I place at the back of the saw where the upper and lower
guide blocks meet the plate a disc or face plate which is rotated con-

page_text: tinuously by suitable gearing in a direction opposite to that in which
the saw travels in such a manner that the saw always has a smooth and
even surface to support it against the material being cut. The saw is
adjusted a little to one side of the centre of the said disc. As the latter
revolves continuously while the saw is working, the latter will not form
in the disc a crease or groove, which would tend to bind and heat the
saw and thereby produce friction and rapid wearing of the parts. I use
the ordinary wooden guides, but provide them with oil holes, and with a
pad of felt or other suitable material which lies in contact with the said
revolving disc, and spreads the oil thereon. The said blocks are kept 1
in place by binding plates and screws. The said disc is slightly recessed
to insure its wearing evenly.
I sometimes provide the said blocks with adjusting mechanism,
whereby they can be set to the right or left to counteract the tendency
of the saw to swerve from a straight line.
Instead of the aforesaid revolving disc I may use a revolving cylinder
mounted on a vertical shaft behind the back edge of the saw; the said
cylinder is lubricated in the same manner as the disc.
The said Invention relates, secondly, to a contrivance to compensate
for the expansion and contraction of band saws, and thereby prevent the 2
breakage of the same. According to this part of the said Invention I
employ an adjustable shaft and rocking arm in combination with an
india-rubber spring or other suitable spring. The rock shaft carries
journal bearings in which the wheel or pulley shaft of the saw revolves.
The said rock shaft is supported in boxes which are fitted in recesses in
The said rock shaft also has an
a slide, and are adjusted by set screws.
arm on which the aforesaid spring bears, and thereby gives the required
support to the wheel shaft.
The wheels or pulleys on which the saw is carried are made concave
or dished to give them elasticity.
I modify the above apparatus by using a slide for carrying the journal
boxes of the wheel shaft and provided with projections extending into the
concave side of the wheel. The slide is supported by levers in a line
with the downward pressure of the saw.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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
BAND SAW MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by Baxter
Dodridge Whitney, of Winchendon, Massachusetts, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to bo particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
This Invention relates,-
First. To apparatus applied to a band saw to give it a smooth and

page_text: Figure 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus embodying the first part
of my Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is a longi-
tudinal section on the line x, x, Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a front elevation, and Figure 5 is a plan illustrating the
aforesaid adjusting mechanism according to the second part of this
Invention; Figure 5* is a section on the line x, x, Figure 5.
Figure 6 is a plan, partly in section, of an apparatus embodying the
third part of my said Invention; Figure 7 is a front elevation of the 1
same.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
I will first explain the manner of carrying into practise the first part
of this Invention as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. This apparatus may
be attached to the frame of any band saw machine in the proper position 2
between the wheels or pulleys. I place at the back of the saw blade,
where the two guide blocks a, b, meet the same, a disc or face plate c
which is rotated continuously, and therefore the saw always has a smooth
and even surface to support it against the material being cut. The said
disc is mounted on a shaft d which works in a square metal box e,
forming part of the frame A, or attached to the same, and occupying
the whole of the space between the said disc and the worm wheel f
which is also fixed on the shaft d. This worm wheel gears with a worm
on a vertical or other shaft which receives motion from the driving shaft
of the machine, and imparts it to the shaft d. The saw is preferably 3
placed a little to one side of the centre of the said disc, as indicated by
the dotted line g, g, and it follows, from this arrangement of the disc in
relation to the saw, that the liability of the latter to form grooves or
channels in the disc is greatly diminished, and the consequent binding

page_text: and heating of the saw, and friction and rapid wearing of the parts will
be prevented; and to prevent the formation of a protuberance or high
part at the centre of the disc, by reason of the saw not passing over the
same, I form a recess or depression at the centre of the said disc.
The wood guides or guide blocks a, b, are provided with oil holes h,
and with a pad i of felt or other suitable material which lies in contact
with the said revolving disc, as shown in Figure 3, and spreads the oil
thereon. The said blocks a, b, are kept in place by binding plates j and
screws k.
Instead of the aforesaid revolving disc I may use a revolving cylinder.
mounted on a vertical shaft behind the back edge of the saw, or a metal
band running on rollers and crossing the direction of the saw's motion.
The said cylinder or band would be lubricated in substantially the same
manner as the disc c.
The apparatus shewn in Figures 4, 5, and 5ª is more especially
designed to be used in sawing logs, beams, or other long pieces of timber,
which are placed on a carriage travelling in a straight line across the
path of the saw. The blocks a, b, are provided with adjusting mechanism
whereby they can be set to the right or left to counteract the tendency
of the saw to swerve from a straight line. This mechanism consists
chicfly of the radius plate m, which is adjusted to any desired angles on
the under plate m¹ on which it is held by the tongue and groove m*.
The adjustment of this plate m is effected by means of the set screws
which, as clearly shown in Figure 4, are arranged on opposite sides of
the shaft, and when adjusted the said plate is tightly secured by the
binding screws n.
8
According to the third part of the said Invention I employ an
adjustable rocking shaft o in combination with an india-rubber
spring q or other suitable spring, or a weight instead of the spring.
The rock shaft o forms a fulcrum, from which the journal bearings r
extend, and in these journal boxes the wheel or pulley shaft s of the
saw revolves. The said rock shaft is supported in boxes t which are
fitted in recesses in a slide u, and are adjusted by set screws or other
suitable means to the proper height. The aforesaid spring 9 gives to
the wheel shafts an elastic support, which holds the shaft up with the

page_text: required tension to make the saw tight on its pulleys, but allows the
said shaft to adjust itself automatically to the contraction and expansion
of the said saw. When the saw contracts the spring q yields and allows
the shafts to be drawn down; and when the saw heats and expands
the said spring raises the shaft. With this apparatus the friction of the
rock shaft in the journals is very slight, and the said apparatus is very
sensitive to variations of the saw's temperature.
The wheels or pulleys to on which the saw is carried are made with
concave or dished arms w¹, as clearly shown in Figure 6, to give them
elasticity, and to bring the tension of the saw directly in a line with the
journal box of the shaft s.
In some instances the elasticity obtained by this construction of. the
said wheels may be sufficient to counteract the effect of the contraction
and expansion of the saw blade without any further provision for that
purpose.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I do not limit myself to the precise
details of construction and arrangement of the parts of my improved
apparatus as shown in the Drawing, but may modify the same to suit
particular circumstances without departing from the essence of my
Invention as herein set forth, and that I claim,-
First. In combination with a band saw and its side guides a revolving
disc or other moving support travelling across the path of the said saw
and operated independently of the same, for the purpose specified.
Second. The apparatus for adjusting the side guides of a band saw to
counteract its tendency to deviate from a straight line, constructed and
operating as herein set forth.
Third. The rock shaft and parts connected therewith for supporting
the saw wheel shaft of a band saw on a fulcrum in such a manner as to 3
permit the automatic adjustment of the said shaft as the saw blade
expands and contracts, as herein set forth.
Fourth. The wheels or pulleys of a band saw constructed with concave
clastic arms, as herein set forth and for the purpose specified.

page_text: Fifth. In a band saw machine the combination of the herein described
improvements with each other and with the other parts of the machine,
for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROB. LAKE. (L.S.)