A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CORKS AND BUNGS
Year: 1815

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, DAVID
REDMUND, of Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, in the City of London and
County of Middlesex, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of December,
in the fifty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said David
Redmund, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said David Redmund, my exors, admors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF CORKS AND BUNGS;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if I, the said David Redmund, shall not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
David Redmund, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained by the description following, and in the Drawings and Figures
hereunto attached (that is to say):-
Instead of employing a knife of the form or kind commonly used by cork
cutters in the manufacture of corks, and applied by hand to the cork bark, I
make use of a new or improved machine or cutter presenting its edge in a
circular form to the cork bark from which the finished cork or bung is to be
cut, which machine or cutter I cause to revolve on its axis by any of the
many well-known means employed for giving such a motion, and while revolv-
ing either cause it to advance against the cork bark, or the cork bark against
the cutter, with such a pressure as is sufficient to force the cutter through
the cork bark. As my said Invention consists not in the way or ways by
which said machine or cutter may be made to revolve, advancing against the
cork bark, or the cork bark advancing against it, but in the form of my said
machine or cutter, I proceed to give such a full description of my said machine
as will enable any competent workman to understand its form and construc-
tion, and how it may be made and fitted for use.
I take a piece of sheet steel, or any kind of steel capable of bearing a good
edge, and being brought into the form of a plate by hammering or rolling, and
I cut it into the form represented in Figure 1, of which the edge A, B, is
that which, when brought into form as hereafter described, forms the circular
cutting edge of my said machine or cutter. The said edge A, B, is made as
much shorter than the distance from C to D as the circumference of the
smaller end is intended to be less than that of the larger end of the finished
cork. E and F the connecting pieces or arms which unite A, B, D, C, with the
lower piece G, H, and these arms or connecting pieces should be about a
quarter of an inch longer than the breadth of the part marked A, B, D, C.
The piece of steel being brought into the above-described shape, or one nearly
similar (for the angles represented in the part A, B, D, C, may be varied a
little), I then heat it, and bend the part A, B, D, C, round a conical mandrel
of a diameter proportioned to the cork or bung for the manufacture of
which the cutter is intended to be used. I make the two arms E and F
either straight or a continuance of the same cone, and I bend the part G, H,
into the form of a cylindrical ring, bringing the ends G and H together,
which I then unite, as also the edges of the part A, C, B, D, by soldering,
brazing, or welding. I then cut or turn a male screw on the cylindrical
part G, H, and this being done, the whole will be found to have assumed the

page_text: form represented in Figure 2. I now screw it into the breech I, Figure 3,
which I fix on the mandrel K of a lathe, and then with proper tools applied
to the inside and outside of the conical part A, D, I reduce it by turning it to
such a substance as will allow the two edges a and b (see Figures 3 and 4)
to come close together when compressed on the outside by the cork bark
out of which the finished cork or bung is cut when the machine is put to work).
I then reduce the arms E and F to about the same thickness, and to a width
about equal to that of E or F, Figure 2 (or more or less as the machine or
cutter may be intended for corks or bungs of larger or less diameter than the
one shewn in the Drawings). I next harden and temper the conical part
A, D, cut out the spiral opening between a and b (Figure 4), round off the
corner c, and bevel off the corner at d, keeping the circular cutting edge a
little lower at c than at d (to make it present an inclined edge to the cork
bark, that is, the cutting edge, except a small portion at d, forms a spiral of a
small angle on the smaller end of the truncated cone A, D. My machine or
cutter being thus (or by any other suitable method or methods) brought into
form, I then reduce the edge a from the outside down to nothing, making
that part a circular bevel of some breadth, but not finished as a cutting edge.
With a whetstone I sharpen the cutting circular (or slightly spiral) edge,
keeping the bevel on the outside, and then my machine or cutter is fit for
work.
It is shewn entire in Figure 4. Figure 5 is another view of it, and in
all the Figures the same letters refer to the same parts. When employed in
the manufacture of corks it is fixed on a mandrel, and secured in its place by
a screw or any other suitable means, and any of the well-known means now
in general use are employed to cause the mandrel, and consequently the
cutter, to revolve on its axis, while the cork bark, contained in a box or groove,
s pressed against it, or while the machine, by moving the framework which
carries it, is made to press against the cork bark (but I prefer pressing the
cork bark against the cutter). When the cutter has been worked through the
cork bark, the box or groove containing the cork bark is drawn back, and the
finished cork or bung is left in the conical part. Another portion of the cork
bark is then presented to the cutter by moving the piece of cork bark in the
box or groove, or a fresh piece is put into the box or groove and the operation
is repeated, every cock as it is finished pressing forward the cork or bung cut
immediately before it from the inside of the cone into the space between the
arms E, F, whence it drops on to the floor, or into a box set to receive the
finished corks, or should it not fall out of itself it may be made to do so by a
slight touch of a finger.

page_text: Having described the method of making and working one of my said new
or improved machine or cutters, no competent workman will find any difficulty
in conceiving that two or three or more of them may, by proper framing, be so
placed as all to be made to revolve and perform their work at the same
instant and by one operation, each cutting out its finished cork from from the
piece or pieces of cork bark (contained in the box or groove) pressed up
against them. It may be necessary to remark that though in the machine or
cutter which I have described the part G, H, Figure 2, is cut or turned into
a male screw, which fits into the female screw I of the breech, Figure 3,
this is not indispensibly necessary, as all that is wanted is to keep the conical
part securely attached to its breech, which may be done in various ways well
known to mechanics, as by driving the parts G, H, tight into the breech, and
pinning it through with a metal pin or pins.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Redmund, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixteen.
Inrolled the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixteen.