IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CORKS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CORKS."-
A communication.
Scaled the 17th September 1858, and dated the 1st April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st April 1858.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CORKS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of corks, by giving them
their cylindrical form by mechanical meaus, thereby superseding hand labor.
The principle upon which it is based is as follows:-A cylindrical knife having
an internal diameter equal to that of the corks to be manufactured has a
rotary motion imparted to it, and against this rotating knife the piece of cork
(which has been previously cut square) is pressed by means of a reciprocating
bar or pusher, and is thereby cut away by the knife and caused to enter it.
The shaft of the knife or cutter is also hollow, and inside it are adapted two

page_text: small tubes of different diameters, which remain stationary whilst the cutter
rotates, and the diameter of which corresponds to the diameter of the knife
employed. When one cork has been cut, and a second piece of cork is
operated upon, it drives the first one into the tube, and when it has arrived at
the end of this tube it enters a trough, by which it is conducted to any suitable
receptacle. The operation of the machine is continuous, the knife or cutter
being fed with cork by an attendant; this may be done by any unskilled
person, who may feed several cutters at once.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
ou the 1st October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CORKS," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto anuexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of "Improved Machinery for Manufacturing Corks," has,
for its object, the manufacture of corks by giving them their cylindrical form
by mechanical means, thereby superseding hand labor. The principle upon
which it is based is as follows:-A cylindrical knife or cutter having an
internal diameter equal to that of the corks to be manufactured has a rotary
motion imparted to it, and against this rotating knife or cutter the piece of cork
(which has been previously cut square) is pressed by means of a reciprocating
bar or pusher, the angles and outer parts of the blocks are thereby cut away
by the knife, and the cylindrical piece is caused to enter the rotating knife or
cutting instrument.
The shaft of the knife or cutter is also hollow, and forms a guide through
which the finished corks are discharged from the machine; or to the hollow
shaft may be adapted a fixed guide tube, the diameter of which corresponds
with the diameter of the knife employed. When one cork has been cut and
a second piece of cork is operated upon, it drives the first one into the tubo,
and when it has arrived at the end of this tube it enters a trough, by which it
is conducted to any suitable receptacle. The operation of the machine is
continuous, the knife or cutter being fed with blocks of cork of suitable
dimensions by an attendant; this may be done by any unskilled person, who
may feed several cutters at once.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a perspective of one
arrangement of the principal working parts of the machine, and shewing the
manner of actuating the same. Fig. 1, Sheet II., represents in side elevation,
and Fig. 2, in plan view, that part of the machine in which the cutting
operation takes place, and shewing two knives or cutters arranged according
to the present Invention, but some of the parts are arranged somewhat
differently to the mode shewn in Fig. 1, but as the principle of their operation
remains the same, the Figures in Sheet II, may be considered merely as a
modification of the arrangement shewn in Sheet I. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal
vertical section (on a larger scale) of a single cutter and its accessories taken
through the middle of the cutter.
A horizontal bar A (Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet II.,) extends the whole
length of the machine, and carries a pendent bar D, which is capable of
working in guides mounted on the standards M of the framing M, B,. these
guides being moveable and therefore capable of adjustment nearer to or further
from each other, according to the size of the corks to be cut. On each side of

page_text: the guides Care mounted bracket bearings S, S, S', S', which carry the hollow
shafts N, N', and upon these shafts N, N', are keyed the pullies P, P¹, to
which rotary motion is communicated from the main driving shaft by means of
driving bands, as shewn in the perspective view Fig. 1, Sheet I. On the
extremities of the shafts N, N', 'are screwed the cutters (as seen at e, e, Fig. 3),
which may vary in diameter according to the size of the corks to be cut.
These cutters abut against the guides C, and the other extremities of the
lollow shafts N, N', lead to chambers or receptacles G, G', into which the
corks fall as they are pushed out of the hollow cutter shafts, and are thence
conducted into bags E, E', (Fig. 1,) suspended thereto. These various parts
aro mounted upon longitudinal traverses B, B, B1, B¹, suitably arranged for
that purpose.
Upon referring to the perspective view, Fig. 1, Sheet I., it will be seen
that the horizontal bar A, to which the pendent bar D is attached in any con-
venient manner, has a reciprocating motion communicated to it by means of a
cam K, mounted on a shaft H below, and which is driven by a band or strap
passed round the pulley I on the said shaft. The cam K rotates between two
pendent arms D*, attached to the under side of the horizontal bar A, and
consequently as the cam K rotates it moves the bar A to and fro in guides in
the upright standards T, T, of the framing.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The workman or attendant
places upon the guide C the piece of prepared or squared cork h, which will
by the rotation of the cam shaft H be pushed forward by the bar D and
pressed against the cutter F; this latter will, by its rotation, be made to cut
the cork into a cylindrical form, and the cork as it is formed is pushed into
the tubular cutter. The cutter is provided with a spring piece i, (Fig. 3,) which
serves to facilitate the removal of the cuttings, and consequently diminishes.
the resistance to the working of the cutter.
In the machines which have been constructed and worked by the Inventor,
the cutters have been driven at the rate of one hundred and eighty revolutions
per minute; the pushers D making at the same time twelve oscillations, (that
is to say,) six forward and six backward motions, so that each pair of cutters
will make seven hundred and twenty corks per hour. The diameter of the
outters, and consequently of the corks produced varies from about a quarter of
an inch to an inch, and their length from one and a half inch to two and a half
inches. The workshop contains five pairs of cutters, which are driven by a
small steam engine of one and a half horse-power; the number of attendants
-employed are ten (women) for feeding the blocks of cork to the cutters, and

page_text: cight for "squaring" the pieces of cork previously to being submitted to the
rounding machine.
By the employment of this apparatus the cork will be much more advan-
tageously operated upon than by hand; another advantage being that the
corks produced will be found to be truly cylindrical.
Having now described this Invention as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I desire it to be understood that what I consider to be new and
thereforo wish to claim as the Invention secured to me under the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the mode of constructing, applying, and
working cylindrical or tubular cutters, and also the mode of feeding or
supplying the pieces or blocks of corks to the cutters, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the First day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
5
Witness,
J. W. MOFFAtt,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)