IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN JOINTING OR EDGING WOOD STAVES FOR THE ManufactuRE OF CASKS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Thornley and Thomas Buxton, of Burton-
upon-Tront, in the County of Stafford, Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN JOINTING OR EDGING WOOD
STAVES FOR THE ManufactuRE OF CASKS."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Thornley and
Thomas Buxton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition and Declaration, on the 26th April 1875,
pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act,
1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
THORNLEY and THOMAS BUXTON, of Burton-upon-Trent, in the County
Stafford, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS wo are in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY USED IN JOINTING OR EDGING WOOD STAVES FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OF CASES," and have petitioned Her most Excellent Majesty Queen
Victoria, to grant unto us, our executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that we are the first and truc Inventors thereof, and that
the same is not in use by any other person or persons to the best of our
knowledgo and belief.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Thornley and Thomas
Buxton, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, to be as
follows:-
•
Our present Invention relates to machinery for jointing or edging
wood staves used in the manufacture of casks, and has for its object to
prevent the waste of timber by the machines now used in jointing or 1
edging cask staves by an improved method of centring such staves, and
thereby to supercede the present practice of sorting such staves to
certain widths, and thus to effect a considerable saving of timber and
labour.
In order that our said Invention may be more casily and more fully
understood and be more readily performed, we now proceed to explain
the same with the aid of the accompanying Drawing which forms part of
this Specification, reference being made thereto by the numerals and
letters marked thereon, and which reference applies to each Figure of
the said Drawing where the same index numerals and letters appear.
Figuro 1 is a side elevation of a jointing machine, shewing our
improvements, which are colored for convenience of reference; Figuro 2
is a plan view of the same, partly in section; Figure 3 is an end elevation
of the same, with the pillars supporting the machinery removed.
2
Figure 4 is a vertical section of the centring apparatus looking 2
towards the front end of the machine; Figure 5 is a vertical section of
the same looking towards the back end of the machine; Figuro 6 is a
horizontal section of the same on the line A, B, Figure 1.
Figure 7 is a sido elevation of the cam for forcing open the legs which
carry the cutter spindles; Figure 8 is a front elevation of the same.
8
Our present improvements consist, firstly, in applying to the said
machinery a self-acting apparatus or arrangement for regulating the
distance apart or gauge of the cutters to suit different widths of staves
to be dressed or jointed, which arrangement is as follows:-The legs a
are jointed at a' and open and close similarly to a pair of compasses; 3
these logs a carry the cutter spindles and the cutters c, consequently

page_text: the opening and closing of the said legs regulate the distance apart of
the cutters c. The said legs a are so opened at each revelution of the
cam & as to separate the two opposite cutters c sufficiently to allow the
widest stave to pass between them and be operated on or jointed. The
said cam d is mounted on the shaft and operated by any suitable
motive power. As the wedge portion d³ of the cam d arrives at the
highest part of its circuit it presses against and opens the two studs e;
these studs are fixed in separate slides e¹, which slides are attached to
the legs a by the studs e, so that on opening the studs e the legs a and
with them the cutters c are simultaneously and regularly opened. The
stave fto be dressed or jointed is now placed in position on the table g,
and the two opposite cutters c closed sufficiently to properly operate on
and dress or joiut such staves, by means of the weights h, cords h¹, and
pullies h³. The cutters caro securely held in that position by the
projections i on the back of the weigh shaft i¹ being pressed against the
said slides e¹ by the weighted lever attached to and operating the said
weigh shaft . The weighted lever is operated by an eccentric j
fixed on the cam shaft d¹, which eccentric at each revolution lifts or
raises the said lever , and thus liberates the slides e¹ and leaves them
free to be opened by the cam d, as herein-before described.
For centring the staves f in the direction of their width, upon the
table g we fix or attach to each of the legs a a stud or projection k,
which studs pass over and engage with the catches 7, as the said legs a
are opened out; these catches are attached to the slides m, which
slides m are moved towards each other on the closing of the legs a and
moved from each other by the weighted arm of the lever n, the studs k
being thereby released from the catches by the rising of the legs a in
the usual way; the said slides m in thus moving operate the 1 levers n,
which levers n are pivotted or jointed at n² to the shafts o, on which
shafts o are fixed two other levers p, one on each shaft, and these levers p
operate similar slides q, moving them horizontally to and from each
other; these slides q are provided or formed with projections which
pass through slots or openings in the table g and form the guides for
centring the staves; the said projections or guides being moved
simultaneously and equally, necessarily fix the stave centrally between
the cutters. When the centring of the stave is thus effected the
apparatus is held in position as herein-before described for holding the
cutters c in position. Staves are by this arrangement dressed or jointed
with the least possible waste of timber.

page_text: Our said improvements consist, secondly, of the following arrange-
ment for centring staves to be jointed, of different lengths:-The two
slides q with their carriages and consequently the projections or guides 1,
are moved from the position shewn in full line in Figure 1, to the position
required, say as shewn by the dotted lines in the same Figure; this b
movement is effected by removing the bolts which secure the carriages q¹
of the slides q to the table, and then sliding the said carriages and
slides to the desired position to suit the length of the staves to be
jointed.
9.
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Having thus fully described and ascertained the nature of our said 1
Invention and the method of performing the same, we claim as our
Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, the method or methods
of centring wood staves of different lengths and widths between tho
cutters, so that such staves are jointed or edged without unnecessary
waste of timber, substantially as herein described and shewn in the 1
Drawing.
Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Thornley and Thomas
Buxton, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-five.