IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND SMOOTHING GLASS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Hall, of Dartford, in the County of Kent,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND
SMOOTHING GLASS."
Sealed the 12th February 1861, and dated the 21st August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Hall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st August 1860.
I, EDWARD HALL, of Dartford, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND
SMOOTHING GLASS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for grinding
and smoothing glass.
Heretofore, when machinery is used for grinding and smoothing glass it has
been usual to fix or set the glass on a bed or bench, and then by rubbing
apparatus or surfaces to grind the same, after which the glass has been
removed to other machinery, when it has been again set or fixed on a table,
and then smoothed by other rubbing apparatus.
Now, my Invention consists in applying a fast and slow motion to grinding
machines in such manner that the rubbing apparatus or rubbing surfaces may
at one time have a suitably high speed communicated to them for grinding
the glass, which is fixed on the bed or bench of the machine, and then without

page_text: removing the glass to another machine, the smoothing process is performed by
the same machinery and on the same bench, by simply for the time driving it
at a slow speed, using, however, the ordinary smoothing material in place of
the sand or grit employed when grinding.
And the Invention is most conveniently performed by the driving strap being
arranged to work with two drums, the one giving motion directly to the the
grinding machine, the other gearing motion to interposed gearing arranged, as
is well understood, to reduce the speed of the first motion. By such means,
according as the driving strap is shifted on to the one or other drum, the speed
proper for grinding or for smoothing will be communicated to the mechanism;
or the first motion may be changed into a higher or lower speed, and com-
municated to the mechanism by other gearing, so as to render unnecessary the
"unfixing of the gear from the bed or bench on which it is first placed, and
refixing it on another.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HALL, of Dartford, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Hall, Her special licence that I; the said Edward Hall, my:
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Hall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Isles, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR GRINDING AND SMOOTHING GLASS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Hall, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Hall, 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 following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for grinding
and smoothing glass.
Heretofore, where machinery is used for grinding and smoothing glass, it
has been usual to fix or set the glass on the bed or bench, and then by rubbing
apparatus or surfaces to grind the same, after which the glass has been
removed to be again set or fixed on another table, and there smoothed by
other rubbing apparatus.
Now, my Invention consists in applying a fast and slow motion to grinding
machines in such manner that the rubbing apparatus or rubbing surfaces may
at one time have a suitably high speed communicated to them for grinding
the glass, which is fixed on the bed or bench of the machine, and then without
removing the glass to another machine, the smoothing process is performed by
the same machinery and on the same bench, by simply for the time driving it
I at a slow speed, using, however, the ordinary smoothing material in place of
the sand or grit employed when grinding.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a vertical section of a driving motion arranged or combined
in a suitable manner for carrying out my Invention, and by which glass once
fixed on a bed of an ordinary grinding machine or bench may have the process
of grinding and also the process of smoothing perforined thereon without the
necessity of having to remove the glass from the bed of the machine when the
surface has been ground for the glass to be reset or fixed on the bed of
another machine in order to have the process of smoothing performed thereon,
as has heretofore been the practice. Figure 2 shews an end elevation in
section, together with parts of the fly frame and other parts of the machinery ;
Figure 3, a plan in section of the parts shewn in Figure 1 and Figure 4,
which also shews parts of the fly frame. In each of these Figures the same
Jetters indicate the same parts.
I would state that I shall for the most part in my further description
confine myself to describing the combined driving apparatus for giving motion

page_text: to this machinery according to my Invention. The parts of the machinery
shewn by the Drawings beyond the driving motion represent, as far as they
go, the ordinary mechanism of a grinding frame or machine, the nature of
which is well understood, and will consequently require no description.
a is the ordinary central crank axis, by which and the four other crank axes
the fly frame of the machine receives its motion, and it may be stated that
when grinding glass in the machine the ordinary grinding surfaces and
materials are used, and when the process of smoothing is being performed the
ordinary surfaces and materials used as when smoothing glass in a separate
machine. is the ordinary friction driving apparatus, by which the crank
axis a receives motion from the shaft c by means of a bevil toothed wheel on
that shaft taking into and driving the bevil toothed wheel on the conical
friction driving apparatus b. On the shaft c are fixed two cog wheels d and e,
in order to enable the speed of the machine to be changed from the high
speed necessary for the grinding process to the slower speed required for the
smoothing process. f is a shaft which receives motion from a steam engine or
other power,
and from this shaft motion is communicated to the shaft c by
means of the cog wheels g or h, according as the higher or the lower speed is
for the time required to be in action to grind the glass or to smooth it. i, j, k,
are three drums or riggers on the shaft f. The drum or rigger i is keyed or
fixed on the shaft f, and such is the case in respect to the cog wheel g, con-
sequently when the strap is on the drum the higher speed for grinding
will be communicated to the machine. The drum ; is free on the shaft f
and out of connection with the other parts of the gearing, so that when the
driving strap is on the drum or rigger the driving gear will be at rest or out
of action. The drum k also turns freely on the shaft f, but it is fixed to the
cog wheel or pinion h, so that when the driving strap is on the drum or rigger k
the slower speed will be communicated to the fly frame of the machine proper
for performing the process of smoothing. The speed of the grinding and of
the smoothing processes are arranged to be similar to what are now respectively
employed in grinding and smoothing machines when the two processes are
carried on by two separate machines. I is a fly wheel, which I find it desirable
to employ on the shaft f.
I would remark that in the arrangement shewn the speed of the machine is
changed from the higher to the lower and from the lower to the higher speed
by simply moving the driving strap, but it will be evident to a machinist that
such changing of the action of the gearing may be performed by means of
friction clutch boxes or other moving parts suitable for changing for the time
the wheels in action.

page_text: What I claim is the combining driving gear with machinery used for
grinding glass in such manner that the speed of the machinery may when
glass has been ground thereby be changed in a suitable manner to admit of
the process of smoothing being performed by the same machine without
removing the glass, and refixing it in another machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Hall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
EDWARD HALL. (L.S.)