IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATCHMAKERS' PEG-WOOD AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN TOOLS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Norman Harmer, of Whittlesea, and
Alfred Stafford Wright, of Doddington, both in the County of
Cambridge, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF WATCHMAKERS' PEG-WOOD AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN TOOLS OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.'
"
.
Sealed the 14th December 1875, and dated the 18th June 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Norman
Harmer and Alfred Stafford Wright at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 18th June
1875.
We, JOSEPH NORMAN HARMER, of Whittlesea, and ALFRED STAFFORD
WRIGHT, of Doddington, both in the County of Cambridge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WATCHMAKERS' PEG-WOOD AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND
IN TOOLS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates more especially to the manufacture of watch-
makers' peg-wood, but is also applicable to the manufacture of butchers*
skewers and other such like shaped pegs of wood.

page_text: The object of the Invention is to obtain straighter, smoother, and
more regularly shaped articles than those heretofore employed. It
consists in forcing the strips of wood intended to form the peg, skewer,
or other article through suitable cutters, whereby the desired shapes and
sizes are produced with accuracy and despatch, and the surfaces smoothed į
and finished.
The tool or apparatus I prefer to employ for this purpose consists of
suitable hollow cutters or dies mounted in a frame or otherwise sup-
ported, one behind the other, in such manner that the roughly prepared
strips of wood may be driven or otherwise forced through the first, or 1
what we call the roughing-out cutter or die, and then through the
second or finishing cutter or die, whereby the intended shape and sizo
are imparted to the peg, skewer, or other article, the roughing-out and
finishing being thus effected at one operation, that is, by a single passago
of the strips through the tool or apparatus. If preferred, however, the
cutters or dies may be so arranged that the strips may be passed through
each cutter or die in succession, thus doing the work in two or more
operations instead of one.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
:
filed by the said Joseph Norman Harmer and Alfred Stafford Wright
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
NORMAN HARMER, of Whittlesea, and ALFRED STAFFORD WRIGHT, of
Doddington, both in the County of Cambridge, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Joseph Norman Harmer and
Alfred Stafford Wright, Her special licence, that we, the said Joseph
Norman Harmer and Alfred Stafford Wright, our executors, admini-
atrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Norman
Harmer and Alfred Stafford Wright, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to

page_text: 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF
WATCHHAKERS' PEG-WOOD AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN TOOLS OB
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,” upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Joseph Norman Harmer and Alfred Stafford Wright, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
their, or one of our or 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joseph Norman Harmer and Alfred
› Stafford Wright, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
Our Invention relates more especially to the manufacture of watch-
makers' peg-wood, but it is also applicable to the manufacture of
butchers' skewers and other such like shaped pegs of wood.
The object of the Invention is to obtain straighter, smoother, and
more regularly shaped articles than those heretofore employed. It
› consists in forcing the strips of wood intended to form the peg, skewer,
or other article through suitable cutters, whereby the desired shapes
and sizes are produced with accuracy and despatch, and the surfaces
smoothed and finished.
such manner that the roughly
or otherwise forced through the
cutter or die, and then through
whereby the intended shape and
The tool or apparatus I prefer to employ for this purpose consists of
O suitable hollow cutters or dies mounted in a frame or otherwise
supported, one behind the other, in
prepared strips of wood may be driven
first, or what we call the roughing-out
the second or finishing cutter or die,
5 size are imparted to the peg, skewer, or other artiole, the roughing-out
and finishing being thus effected at one operation, that is, by a single
passage of the strips through the tool or apparatus. If preferred;

page_text: however, the cutters or dies may be so arranged that the strips may be
passed through each cutter or die in succession, thus doing the work in
two or more operations instead of one.
In the Drawings Figs. 1 and 2 represent one form of the tool or
apparatus we employ for the purposes of this Invention, Fig. 1 being
a front view, and Fig. 2 a section. A is a hollow cutter or die, the hole
through which is of the form the peg, skewer, or other article is
intended to take; it is screwed or otherwise fixed to a plate B from
which rise two standards C, C; D is another cutter of a shape suitable
to prepare the strips of wood for the action of the cutter A, being in fact
what we call a roughing-out cutter, it is carried by a cross bar E fixed to
the standards C, C, as shewn; F is a cross head connecting the upper
ends of the standards C, C, and having a hole G in the middle which
serves as a guide for conducting the strip of wood to the roughing-out
cutter D. The centres of the cutters A and D and of the guide G are
arranged in line, so that when a suitably prepared strip of wood is
placed with its end in the guide G and forced downwards, it is conducted
to the roughing-out cutter D, which removes some of the superfluous
material, and imparts to the wood its own form (which may be
triangular, square, or any other form that may be found suitable or
convenient). The strip of wood thus prepared by the roughing-out
cutter is next acted upon by the cutter A which imparts to it the
finished form desired.
It will be understood that the strips of wood may be forced through
the tool or apparatus by blows of a hammer or mallet, by means of a
lever press, or other convenient means.
In some cases the roughing-out cutter D may be dispensed with, as
also the guide G, the cutter or die A only being used, but we prefer to
employ both the roughing-out cutter and the guide.
Fig. 3 represents the section of a machine or apparatus adapted to {
produce larger quantities of pegs or other articles than the more simple
apparatus above described. A, A, are hollow cutters or dies similar to
those described in reference to Figs. 1 and 2, any required number
being disposed on the plate B of the machine; C is a stage or table
supported above the cutters A. by means of standards D. The stage C ;
is perforated with holes E, E, central with the cutters A; F is a box
containing holes or division G, G, corresponding with the holes E, E, in

page_text: the stage O. The table or stage O may be made to project at the sides
or ends of the machine, thus forming supports for the box F (or a
continuation thereof), whilst the strips of wood are being inserted in the
holes G, G, in readiness for being slid in under the plungers H, H, as
herein-after described.
We sometimes employ a plate or false bottom F to the box F, in
order to prevent the strips of wood from falling through the holes or
divisions G, G, before the box F is in position over the dies when the
plate or false bottom F is withdrawn. The plate or false bottom F¹
may however be dispensed with when the holes and dies are arranged in
a single, straight, or zig-zag. line; H, H, are plungers mounted on a
cross bar I which slides in guides in the standards D, the said plungers
corresponding to the holes or divisions G, G, of the box F. An up-and-
down motion may be imparted to the cross bar I and plungers H, H, by
means of the lever J, the latter being connected to the cross bar I by
the link K. The box F may be removed from or placed under the
plungers at will by being slid out or in on the stage O, and it will be
found convenient to employ three or four of such boxes.
The mode of operating the machine is as follows:-The box F whilst
standing on the plain part of the stage or table O is to be filled with
prepared strips of wood, one in each hole or division G. It is then slid
in under the plungers H, H, and the false bottom F (when such is
employed) is withdrawn. The lever J is then pulled pulled down, the
plungers enter the holes or divisions G and force the strips of wood
from them through the holes E in the stage or table O into the cutters A;
the lever is then raised, the box F withdrawn, and another similar box
(or a continuation of the same box) which has in the meantime been
filled with strips on the stage or table O is slid under the plungers and
the before described operations repeated. The pegs or other articles
after passing through the cutters A may drop into a receptacle beneath
the bench or table L supporting the machine.
If preferred the box F may be removed from the machine for the
purpose of being filled with strips of wood instead of being filled on the
stage O, and in that case the plate or false bottom F', as before described,
must necessarily be employed to prevent the strips from falling out whilst
the box is being removed to the machine.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to or may be performed, we would have
it understood that what we claim as our Invention is,-
First. The manufacture of watchmakers' peg-wood and other similar
articles by forcing strips of wood through cutters as herein-before
described.
Second. The construction and use of tools and apparatus arranged
and adapted, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in
the Drawings and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Norman Harmer, on..
behalf of myself and the said Alfred Stafford Wright, have here- ]
unto set my hand and seal this Seventeenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
JOSEPH NORMAN HARMER. (L.S.)
Patentee.