IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR DRESSING STONE, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Coates, of Sunnyside, near Rawtenstall, in
the County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR DRESSING STONE, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
LETTERS PATENT to Charles Coates, of Sunnyside, near Rawtenstall, in
the County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR DRESSING STONE, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THERE WITH,
Sealed the 1st May 1868, and dated the 27th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Coates at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
27th November 1867.
I, CHARLES COATES, of Sunnyside, néar Rawtenstall, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR DRESSING STONE, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
My improved machinery for cutting or dressing stone consists of a table, to
which a to-and-fro motion is given by steam or other power; this table is
mounted by wheels or otherwise on a bed plate, and to the table the stone to
be operated upon is fixed by a vice or vices, or other equivalents. The cutting
instruments are circular discs or tools mounted on a shaft, which is supported
in radial arms connected to a slide which can be moved up and down on sid
standards; the position of the cutters can be varied by worm and quadrant to
vary the depth of the cut. As the stone moves to and fro it imparts a rotary
motion to the cutters which are thus made to cut in both ways. A slight

page_text: lateral motion is given occasionally to the cutters by a regulating screw or
other other equivalent to vary the point of cutting.
My improved machinery is applicable for producing plane surfaces, or by
varying the diameter of the cutters mouldings or other irregular surfaces
may be produced. The above machinery may be modified by causing the
cutters to traverse to and fro over the stone which in that case would be
stationary.
My improved apparatus connected to the above machinery consists of a
grinding machine for sharpening the cutters when worn; this machine is
composed of a series of grinding dises mounted on an axle; these grinding
discs have bevelled edges, and enter into the spaces between the cutters, and
the grinding discs are made to revolve in the contrary direction to the cutters,
so that when the grinding discs are pressed against the cutters the points or
cutting edges thereof are sharpened.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Coates in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
COATES, of Sunnyside, near Rawtenstall, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Coates, Her special license that I, the said Charles
Coates, my executara, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles Coates, 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR DRESSING STONE, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Coates, 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 lavention, and in what manner

page_text: 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 Charles Coates, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in improved machinery for cutting and dressing
stone by means of circular discs or tools, or their equivalents, the discs being
mounted and working in the manner herein-after described and shewn in the
accompanying Drawings, and constituting a dressing tool or instrument of a
new character. The stone intended to be dressed is placed on a moveable
table, to which a reciprocating motion is given so as to bring the stone under
the operation of the dressing tool. In some cases the stone may be supported
upon a table and a reciprocating motion is given to the dressing tool in the
manner herein-after described.
My Invention also relates to apparatus for sharpening the operating edges
of the discs forming the dressing tool by grinding them in the manner herein-
after described.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying four Sheets of
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machinery for
cutting or dressing stone, Figure 2 is an end view, and Figure 3 a plan of
the same.
a is the bed or foundation plate of the machine to which the standards b
supporting the cross slide care secured; to the bed plate are also fixed the
rails a', a', on which the wheels d₁ of the carriage d travel. This carriage is
moved to and fro by the direct action of a small steam engine, as shewn in
the Drawing, or by a rack and pinion, or other equivalent, like the table of a
planing machine, as may be found most convenient. When the carriage d is
moved by the direct action of a steam engine, as shewn, the crank pin e of
the connecting rod e¹ fits in a slotted arm attached to the driving shaft or to
the wheel, see Figure 8, and by varying the position of this erank pin the
traverse of the carriage d can be regulated. The carriage d supports the
table f, on which the stone to be dressed is fixed by the moveable jaws f¹
which tighten the stone against the fixed jaws f* by the screws f³; the tablef
s caused to swivel on the carriage & by the hand wheel 9 and worm g³, both
of which are fixed on a shaft revolving in bearings fixed to the carriage, the
d

page_text: worm g¹ gearing into the toothed segment f* fixed to the table f which swivels
on the centre f. I wish to observe that the mode of securing the stone to.
the table and of causing the table to swivel may be varied, and that in some
cases the swivelling motion may be dispensed with. The dressing tool or
instrument consists of a series of circular discs of hardened steel, as shewn
detached in Figures 4 and 5. The circumferences of the discs are V-shaped,
and they are mounted side by side on a shaft h¹ supported in bearings in the
supports or arms i, which are keyed on the shaft, supported in bearings
fixed to the slide c. One of the arms i is provided with a toothed segment
or quadrant into which the worm, gears, and this worm is fixed to the
same shaft as the hand wheel j¹, which is turned round by the attendant to
regulate the depth of the cut. The bearings of the shaft i¹ are provided with
regulating screws is acting on friction blocks i to prevent the cutters rising
and dropping if the worm j and segment i do not fit accurately together.
The lateral position of the discs can also be regulated by means of the hand.
wheel k, which is fixed to a screw passing through a nut projecting from one
of the steps of the shaft h³, as shewn in Figure 2, the said step fitting between
shoulders at one end of the shaft h', while the other end of the shaft is made
without shoulders to allow for the lateral motion. In placing the discs h on
the shaft h¹ a washer may be placed between them, as shewn in Figure 5, and
by increasing or reducing the thickness of these washers the distance between
the cutting edges is varied. For most purposes these washers are not required.
The discs are held on the shaft h¹ by a feather key and groove, and they are
tightened together by lock nuts at one end of the shaft h¹ and a shoulder at
the other. The slide c is raised and lowered by the screws c³, bevel wheels
and pinions c³, and cross shaft e, in the same manner as the slide of a planing
machine, or in any other convenient manner.
The mode of operation is as follows:-When the table f is out, as shewn,
Figures 1 and 8, a rough flag or other stone is secured upon it by tighten-.
ing up the jaws f, wooden wedges are then driven between the edges of the
stone and the table to support it; the carriage is then set in motion, and the
attendant by turning the hand wheel brings the dressing tool down until the
highest portions of the stone come in contact with the operating edges of the
discs. As soon as the stone touches the discs they begin to revolve or roll
over the stone, the sharp edges of the discs indenting and crushing and pul-
verizing the irregular projections of the stone. At the return stroke of the
carriage the stone again comes in contact with the edges of the discs, which
are then turned round in the contrary direction to that in which they had been
moved during the forward stroke, the attendant by turning the hand wheel

page_text: gradually lowers the dressing tool in proportion as the inequalities on the sur-
face of the stone are reduced, and, in order to vary the point of contact of the
discs on the stone they are occasionally moved endwise by the attendant turn-
ing the hand wheel k. When the machine is first started it is desirable to
place the table parallel to the sides of the carriage d, and this is effected by
turning the hand wheel g, but as the operation of cutting or dressing proceeds,
the table is occasionally swivelled on the carriage d in both directions in
order that the cuts may cross each other. When the machine is at work it is
desirable to frequently brush off the pulverized particles to keep the surface
of the stone clear. By the combined action of the discs of the dressing took
and the varying position of the stone, the inequalities on the surface are
rapidly removed, and a perfectly true and even surface is obtained; but if it
should be desirable to make a rough surface on hard flagstone to prevent
persons from slipping when walking over them, or for other purposes, diagonal
ridges crossing each other may be made by passing the stone to and fro
several times under the dressing tool when it is in the position shewn in
Figure 8, and then by turning the hand wheel 9, changing the position of the
stone until it assumes a diagonal position in the opposite direction, after which
the stone must be again passed to and fro under the dressing tool.
Figures 6, 7, and 8 represent three views of the carriage d and table f
arranged for holding the flagstones during the operation of dressing the
joints or edges. The flags rest against the fixed jaws f, which are placed in
a slanting position, so that the joints of the flag stones when laid may over-
lap each other, and the stones are tightened up by the screws f³ in the move-
able jaws f; wooden packings are placed between the stones to prevent them
slipping, and to prevent the edges being snipped or broken by the discs. It
is evident that in traversing this carriage to and fro under the dressing tool
h, the edges of the stones will be made true, and that when one edge is
finished the position of the stones can be reversed to present the other edges
to the action of the discs or sharp edges of the dressing tool. It will be ob-
served that the disos do not give a series of blows to the stone, or operate by
any chipping action, but they indent and crush and pulverize the surface of
the stone and reduce it to a state of powder. I am aware that discs, carried
upon rotating or reciprocating arms, and made to act upon the surface of
stone like chisels by means of repeated blows have been before used; but.
the action of such discs so used is a chipping action effected by a series of.
rapid blows, and differs both in mode of application and in result from the
indenting and crushing action of my dressing tool. In some cases, instead of.
mounting a series of discs side by side upon a shaft a spiral cutting edge

page_text: may be formed upon a cylinder, the cutting edges being made V-shaped and
hardened in the usual way.
On Sheet I have shewn a machine constructed according to a modifica-
tion of my Invention, and particularly adapted for cutting or dressing ashlars
or heavy blocks of stone. Figure 9 is a side elevation of the machine with
part of the foundation removed to shew the lower parts. Figure 10 is a
plan, and Figures 11 and 12 are end elevations of the same. In this
machine I have shewn two dressing tools h, but I wish to observe that one
dressing tool or more than two may be used. The main difference between
this machine and the one previously described is, that according to the
arrangement shewn in Sheet 1 the stones are moved to and fro under the
dressing tool, whereas in the machine I am now going to describe the dress-
ing tools are moved to and fro over the stones, which are stationary, or have
only a slight lateral and swivel motion imparted to them. Many of the parts
in this machine, being similar to those above described, are marked with cor-
responding letters of reference. The standards b, b, are fixed upon a suitable
stone or other foundation, and these standards are united by the beams b¹, b¹,
the upper and lower edges of which are V-shaped like the sides of a planing
machine. The slide c is moved to and fro on the beams 6¹ by means of the
chains 8, 8, or by racks and pinions or other equivalents; the upper part of
the slide c is V-shaped to fit the beams b¹, and the lower part is provided
with antifriction rollers c fitting on the under side of the said beams to resist
the upward pressure of the slide. The shafts h¹ of the dressing tools revolve
in the supports i, and the set and the lateral motion of the dressing tools are
regulated by the hand wheels j and k as above described. The traversing
motion is given to the slide c, and cutters by the chains s, which pass around
the toothed pulleys s³, and the guide pulleys ; the pulleys are fixed on
the shafts, on which is fixed the spur wheel s driven by the pinion t on the
intermediate shaft t¹, to which is fixed the wheel to driven by the pinion u on
the driving shaft u¹, which is caused to revolve alternately in contrary direc-
tions by a crossed strap and an open strap passing around the pulleys u. The
strap forks of both the driving straps are fixed to the starting rod v, one end
of which is jointed to the elbow lever v¹, and the motion of the slide c is
reversed by the stop pieces c acting on the adjustable stop pieces on the
side bar, one end of which is also connected to the elbow lever v. This
reversing motion is also like that of a planing machine, and may be consider-
ably modified. The stone or stones to be dressed are held by the screws f³ in
the brackets f¹ supported on the beams f* fixed to the table f on the carriage
d running on the rails a¹. The table is caused to swivel on the carriage by

page_text: the hand wheel g, which is connected by a train of wheels to the shaft of the
worm g³, and the worm gears into the toothed segment f* fixed to the table f
The attendant turns the hand wheel g round or partly round after every
traverse of the slide c, or as often as may be required. The operation of the
machine shewn on Sheet 2 is similar to that of the machine first described.
When the machine is set to work it is evident that the wheels d of the
carriage d must be locked to hold the carriage rigid while the slide c and
dressing tools traverse to and fro; the discs on coming in contact with the
stones roll over and are turned round by the stones, the irregularities on the
surface of which are crushed and pulverized until a true face is obtained.
In Figure 10 I have shewn one of the dressing tools A made with discs as
described in reference to Figures 4 and 5, and the other dressing tool is shown
as being made with spiral grooves and projecting cutting edges as shewn
detached in Sheet 3, Figure 13. When the dressing tools are made in this.
manner the blocks forming a part of the cutter are put on a shaft and
secured by lock nuts and a shoulder as previously described.
Figures 14 and 15 represent two views of another mode of constructing the
dressing tools; in this case the cutting edges h are made of thin segmental
shaped pieces of steel of any required length secured to the shaft by the bush
h³, ring h³, and lock nut h*.
Figures 16 and 17 represent two views of a dressing tool in segments
suitable for dressing mouldings.
On Sheet 4, Figures 18 and 19 represent two views of a dressing tool made
of discs suitable for cutting semicircular grooves in stones.
Figures 20 and 21 represent a similar dressing tool for producing a mould-
ing. It is evident that by increasing or diminishing the diameters and vary-
ng the arrangement of the discs various irregular forms may be produced on
the surface of stones.
Figures 22, 23, and 24 represents three views of a machine for grinding
the edges of the discs above described. The machine consists of a spindle w,
o which two of the discs h are secured, as shewn best in the plan view
Figure 24; this spindle is turned slowly round by the wheel w¹ on the spindle
Iriven by the pinion on the boss of the pulley x². The grinding diso y is
nade by preference of a composition of emery and caoutchouc, or any other
rinding agent fixed to the shaft y', which is provided with a fast and loose
ulley for the driving strap. On the shaft y¹ is also fixed the pulley y' for
riving by means of the strap and tightening pulleys the pulley a³; by
his arrangement a rapid rotary motion in the direction of the arrow in Figure
8 is given to the grinding disc and a slow motion in the contrary direction
'

page_text: to the discs h, the spindle on which the same are mounted is supported in the
slide rest supported on a cross slide a³, both of which are capable of
adjustment.by hand wheels and screws to accommodate the discs to be ground
to the grinding disc. When the two inner edges of a pair of discs h have
been ground they are taken off the spindle w, and then turned round to bring
In the
the other edges together ready to be ground in the same manner.
Drawing only one grinding disc y is shewn, but two or more grinding discs
máy be employed to act on any number of the discs h simultaneously. The
saihe machinery may be used for grinding the spiral cutting edge of the
dressing tool by allowing it to move laterally on its axis.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described certain con--
venient arrangements of machinery for carrying the same into operation, I
wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the details given, which
may be to a certain extent varied, but what I claim is-
First. The combination of parts forming respectively the machines for
dressing stone by the rolling and crushing action of the dressing tool arranged
and operating in the manner described and shewn in the accompanying
Drawings.
1 Secondly. The use and application of the dressing tool, consisting of discs
or of a spiral cutting edge as herein described.
Thirdly. The apparatus shewn and described for supporting and holding the
stone or stones during the operation of cutting or dressing.
And, lastly. The method of sharpening the cutting edges of the dressing tool
by using the apparatus shewn in Figures 22, 23, and 24 as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Coates, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight.
CHARLES COATES. (L.s.).