IMPROVEMENTS IN SLIDE RESTS FOR PRODUCING GEOMETRICAL FIGURES AND DESIGNS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Pudsey Dawson, of Delbury Hall, in the
County of Salop, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SLIDE RESTS FOR PRODUCING GEOMETRICAL FIGURES AND DESIGNS."
Sealed the 22nd December 1870, and dated the 27th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Pudsey Dawson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th October 1870.
I, RICHARD PUDSEY DAWSON, of Delbury Hall, in the County of
Salop, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN SLIDE RESTS FOR PRODUCING GEOMETRICAL FIGURES AND
DESIGNS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to certain arrangements of apparatus for pro-
ducing figures, designs, and devices of an ornamental and geometrical
nature upon wood, metal, and other materials; also to the employment
of face cams, templates, or pattern plates in a special manner upon a
lathe for effecting the automatic movements of the cutters or tools.

page_text: The Invention is specially applicable directly to those lathes known as
“ornamental,” but with certain modifications of the form of "engineer's "
lathes it can be used with them.
The front wheel of the chuck of an ornamental lathe carries wheels
communicating through a radial arm with a spindle or shaft for giving
the necessary rotatory motion to a face cam, template, or pattern plate
which is placed on its free end; this cam acts upon the end of a rod or
lever which is connected to a slide in which the cutter or tool is
mounted, and it is kept against the face by a spring to follow the
hollows and projections of the plate. The motion of the spindle is
governed by a tangent wheel and screw. The tool is a revolving one,
and is driven at a great speed by a band or cord from the overhead
motion of the lathe; it is also adjustable in the slide to determine the
depth of cut, and can be withdrawn at pleasure by hand.
The material to be operated upon is fitted in the lathe in the ordinary
manner, and its rotation is governed by the movement of the chuck,
while at the same time the chuck wheels cause the rotation of the
spindle and cam; the cam forces the rod or lever to the front, and
with it the slide, the movement of which is timed with relation to the
rotation of the material by the diameter or number of chuck wheels
employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Pudsey Dawson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
PUDSEY DAWSON, of Delbury Hall, in the County of Salop, Esquire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Richard Pudsey Dawson, Her special
licence that I, the said Richard Pudsey Dawson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Pudsey Dawson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN SLIDE RESTS FOR PRODUCING GEOMETRICAL FIGURES AND DESIGNS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Pudsey Dawson, 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 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 Richard Pudsey Dawson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to, the
Drawings hereunto, annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to certain arrangements of, apparatus for, pro-
ducing figures, designs, and devices of an ornamental and geometrical
nature upon wood, metal, and, other, materials;, also to the employment
of face cams, templates, or pattern plates in a special manner-upon a
lathe for effecting the automatic movements of the cutters or tools...
The Invention is specially applicable directly to those lathes known as
"ornamental," but with certain modifications of the form of "engineer's "
lathes it can be used: with them..
The front wheel of the chuck of an ornamental lathe carries wheels
communicating through a radial arm with a spindle or shaft for giving
the necessary rotatory motion to a face cam, template, or pattern plate
which is placed on its free end; this cam acts upon the end of a rod or
lever. which is connected to a slide in which the cutter or tool is
mounted, and it is kept against the face by a spring to follow the
hollows and projections of the plate. The motion of the spindle is
governed by a tangent wheel and screw. The tool is a revolving one,
and is driven at a great speed by a band or cord from the overhead
motion of the lathe; it is also adjustable in, the slide to determine the
depth of cut, and can be withdrawn at pleasure by hand..
The material to.be operated upon is fitted in the lathe in the ordinary
manner, and its rotation is governed by the movement of the spindle

page_text: while at the same time the chuck wheels cause the rotation of the
spindle and cam; the cam forces the rod or lever to the front, and with
it the slide, the movement of which is timed with relation to the rotation
of the material by the diameter or number of change wheels employed.
The apparatus is made on the same principle as the ordinary slide
rest for ornamental turning, only it has two slides; the upper slide
carries the tool holder for the fixed cutting tool, eccentric cutter, drill,
or other cutters, all of which can be used with the apparatus. The top
slide has a screw to traverse the tool carriage, and the lower slide has a
spiral spring in the place of a screw, which is secured to the right hand
end of the top slide by a steel pin. The other end of the spring passes
through a small hole at the end of the slide, or is kept in its place by a
steel pin through an eye in the end of the spring, and when the upper
slide is pressed against it it oscillates from the clasticity of the spring.
At the back of the tool carriage under the adjusting screws for regulating
the depth of cut there is an arm firmly screwed on to the end of the slide,
and at the end of this arm or lever is fixed a small steel rubber, which
acts against the template or pattern. On the left hand of the lower slide
is a transverse slide, which moves along as required, or is fixed with a
set screw underneath; this slide carries a spindle, and the end nearest
the lathe head is turned down or fitted with a nut and washers, and
carries any of the change wheels of the spiral apparatus. Motion is
given to the spindle by a tangent wheel or screw when the revolving
cutters are used, but when a fixed tool is used the motion is given by a
winch handle on the end of the spindle, the tangent screw being thrown
out of gear.
On to this end of the spindle a boss is fitted which carries
the various templates or rosettes.
The Invention as far as concerns its application to an ornamental
lathe will be understood by reference to the accompanying Drawings,
of which Figures 1 and 2 are a face and plan view respectively of a
bracket a with spindle 6 therein for carrying the chuck c and other parts
connected with it for holding the piece of wood d or other material to
be operated upon. In front of the piece of wood is a bed plate e formed
with V grooves, for permitting a sliding plate f being moved to and fro
by means of a lever g acting against the edge of the pattern plate or
cam h, fitted on a spindle i carried by a fixed bracket j arranged at the
front of the lathe. This spindle has a worm wheel. k mounted upon it,
which can be turned by an endless screw or worm 7 on the transverse

page_text: spindle m moved by a crank handle n.
It is by this bandle that all the
working parts of the apparatus are set in motion, with the exception of
the cutter or tool o, which is rotated at a high velocity from an overhead
pulley, or by some other means. The spindle carries a pinion p in gear
with a wheel mounted upon a swing lever or radial arm r, for trans-
mitting the necessary motion to the main spindle 6 by gearing into a
pinion thereon. This radial arm is slotted, so that larger or smaller
wheels can be substituted for the one shown; by this means different
degrees of speed can be given to the spindle b to suit the different sizes
or kinds of patterns to be out on pieces of material in the chuck. The
radial arm is centred upon the collars of the bracket a, and it can be
set at any angle by the tightening nut or binding bolt t, which passes
through the quadrant-shaped slot in the short arm 2, which depends
from it, as shewn in Figure 3, which is an end view of the apparatus.
The tool holder can be set forwards or backwards in its plate by the
screw pin vas desired, and be retained in any position by the endless
screw pin w, which is arranged in the sliding plate for determining the
depth of cut, while at the same time it is free to travel across the face of
the article under the action of the cam h. The top plate which slides
in the V grooves is fitted with a screw x at its centre to enable the plate
with the tool to be set nearer to or farther from the centre, so that any
part of the piece of wood under operation can be cut by it; this plate
has
a spring y to ensure the end of the lever g being kept in
contact with the cam h, so that it follows the undulations of it to impart
the proper motion, and obtain or repeat a counterpart of the pattern, as
will be understood. This bottom plate is fitted on the bed plate z by a
metal ring, so that its height can be adjusted. The bed plate slides in a
cradle in the usual manner. I propose to actuate the spindle i by hand,
so that if the tool has not cut deep enough the action can be reversed,
thus the tool would travel over the same portion of the pattern in the
reverse direction and cut that portion of the pattern to a greater depth;
but the spindle may, however, be rotated by any other means, such as a
treadle or a band from a rotating shaft if found desirable. The tool
itself is driven at a high velocity by a band from an overhead motion,
5 or from below. The mandril b of the lathe has a mierometer wheel A
keyed upon it, and this is geared into by a mierometer screw on a
spindle B, so that should concentric lines or annular rings only be
required, I turn the crank handle C and throw the intermediate wheel q
out of gear to stop the motion of the cam and its spindle. The

page_text: mierometer spindle B is held in a socket at one end, while the other
end is arranged in a slotted plate D, so that it can be easily released by
unscrewing the nut Ę, as indicated in the detached view, Figure 4. The
eccentric.chuck E is arranged on a plate, Figure 5, which is free to be
slided in a frame I fixed upon the main spindle b, so that any portion
of the wood under operation can be fitted opposite the cutting. tool o.
There. is. a spring paul on the frame H to take into the teeth of a
wheel I, which is divided into, say, 96 divisions, to enable that number,
or any equal division of that number of rings to, be cut upon, its face,
and the shape of these rings is, determined by the travel of the tool
when moved to and fro in following the pattern on the edge of the
cam plate h..
I have in the foregoing explained how my Invention, is, carried into
effect by a lathe that has the spiral apparatus, but by the aid of the
Drawings it will be readily scen how an ordinary lathe can be. adapted
for cutting geometrical figures or designs upon pieces of wood or other
material by the fitting of my improved apparatus thereto. J, K, L, arc
the ordinary speed pulleys on the mandril 6, and the face of one of
them, L, is divided in the usual manner, with holes for the pin on the
end of the spring lever M to take into when a toothed wheel is being
cut; N is the segmental disc, thrown into gear by an eccentric for
regulating the sliding action of the mandril or spindle b when a screw;
thread is being cut by a fixed tool; P is a stop plate to be fixed upon,
the lower slide, to prevent the tool slide moving when rings are
being cut. To actuate the apparatus the tool (fixed or not) is set at
the centre, the slide that carries the template is pushed forward until
the rubber on the tool slide presses against the template, this extends
the spring. The toothed wheel on the end of the spindle is then put
into gear with the wheel or chuck, an intermediate wheel being on the
radial arm of the spiral apparatus to complete the connection, the winch
handle at the end of spindle is then turned, and all is set in. motion,
the cutting tool is then advanced to determine the depth of cut, or to
produce a waved line, according to the change wheels or to. the form of
the template, or the radius given to the tool in the slide holder. The
patterns can be varied at will by altering the arrangement of the change a
wheels, or using another form of template. The patterns. that can be
cut from one template are endless. When using the revolving cutters
the apparatus is actuated by the tangent wheel, and the fineness of the