IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PEARLS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PEARLS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY."
Communicated to him from abroad by Ellen. R. Roads of Paris France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd December 1882.
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28. Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PEARLS' AND OTHER
ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY" Communicated to him from abroad by Ellen. R. Roads
of Paris France.
"
:
According to this invention, instead of employing toothed saws as heretofore for
cutting pearls and other articles of Jewellery, a thin disc without teeth is made to
revolve very rapidly or a thin blade without teeth is made to reciprocato rapidly
while the pearl or article to be cut is pressed against the edge of the disc or blade,
being held firmly in a holder of the following description. It consists of a disc
fixed on a central bolt which projects from a slide by which the disc can be
advanced towards the cutter or withdrawn from it. On the edge of the disc is cut
a thin-groove of sufficient depth to admit the edge of the cutter, 'and on each side
of the disc near its edge is mounted on a pivot a book shaped lover having its
hooked end projecting over the edge of the disc and having its other end bearing
against the edge of a cam that is mounted on the disc. The pearl or article to be
cut is inserted under the hooked ends of the levers and then by turning the cams
the hooked ends are caused to clamp it firmly against the edge of the disc which
can then be turned so as to present the article towards the cutter, and advanced as
the cutter passes through the article. On the disc may be fitted several-sets of the
lovers and cams so that one article may be clamped or unclamped while another is
being cut. By employing toothless cutters as above described the cutting is
effected very quickly with very littlo waste.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st June
1883.
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PEARLS AND OTHER
ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY" A communication to me from Abroad by Ellen. R.
Roade [sic] of Paris, France,
According to this invention, instead of employing toothed saws as heretofore for
cutting pearls and other articles of jewellery, whereby considerable waste and
damage by chipping takes place, such cutting is effected by the edge of a very thin
steel disc or blade without teeth and having in the first case a very rapid rotary
motion or, in the second case, a rapid reciprocating motion. The pearl or other
article, being held securely in any suitable manner, is moved against the thin edge
of the disc or blade which on account of its rapid motion readily cuts through the
article.
The
Various arrangements may be employed for holding the pearls or other objects
and for bringing them under the action of the disc or blade. A suitable arrange-
ment for this purpose is shewn on the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1
shews an end view of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a front view of the same.
pearl is held on a disc A by means of a clamping device B, shewn separately at
Fig. 3. It consists of a double hook shaped lever pivotted at a a to either side of
the disc, and having a tail b which is actuated by turning a cam C also mounted
on the disc A and rotated by a button c. By the action of this cam the upper
booked ends of the double lever B which overlap the edge of the disc are moved
more or less towards such edge, as indicated by the dotted lines Fig. 3, and are
thus made to grasp a pearl of any size firmly against the edge of the disc. The
disc A is mounted upon a bolt D carried by a dovetailed slide which can be moved
to and from the cutting disc G while at the same time the disc A is turned by
hand so as to bring the part of the pearl exposed between the hook or fork of the
double lever in contact with the edge of the cutting disc, so as to be cut through
thereby, the disc A having a narrow groove in its periphery to allow of the
entrance of the disc G therein as indicated at Fig. 2. The disc A might be
provided with a series of the clamping levers B; for operating on several pearls
consecutively during one rotation of the disc A. The pearls having been cut
through, they are released from the levers by turning back the cams C.
Having thus described the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim
First. The use for cutting pearls or other jewellery of thin discs or blades
without teeth to which a rapid rotary or reciprocating motion is imparted,
substantially as herein described.
Second. The construction of apparatus for cutting pearls or other jewellery
arranged and operating as herein described with reference to the accompanying
Drawings.
-
In Witness whereof I the said John Imray have hereunto set my hand and
seal this twenty-first day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand