Mowers and like Machines.
Year: 1885

page_text: .
Mowers and like Machines.
I SAMUEL JOHN SUCH of 19 Great Western Terrace Cheltenham in the county
of Gloucester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING THE KNIVES OF LAWN MOWERS
AND LIKE MACHINES to be as follows:-
**
"
The object of this invention, is to provide automatic apparatus for the purpose
of grinding or sharpening cylindrical, and parallel flat knives such as are used in
lawn mowing and like machines, the said apparatus is arranged so as to be
driven either by hand or by power, and no skilled labour is required to operate
the same.
In carrying out my invention I employ a frame work of iron or wood upon
which the apparatus is arranged as hereinafter described.
A grinding disc which may be of emery, or stone, or other suitable grinding
composition is mounted upon a shaft so that it can revolve therewith and be
traversed longitudinally thereon as hereinafter described; the shaft and con-
sequently the disc is rotated by means of a band or suitable gearing from the
driving shaft.
The traversing motion is given to the disc by means of a worm wheel, suitably
attached to the said disc, and a rack fixed to the frame of the apparatus; the said
worm wheel rotates with and traverses a shaft which may be square, flat, round, or
of other suitable section.
An automatic or self acting backward and forward motion is given to the worm
wheel by means of a series of mitre wheels two of which run loose and in opposite
directions; upon the worm wheel shaft between the two mitre wheels is a sliding
collar or clutch fitted at each end with a suitable number of studs, which fit into
corresponding holes on the inner faces of the said mitre wheels. This collar is
reciprocated as required by means of a movable rod fitted with a counterpoise at
one end, and at the other end with a socketed clip, connected with the sliding
collar; upon the said rod but attached to the part carrying the worm wheel is a
collar, which traverses between two movable collars, each fitted with screws by
means of which the traversing distance of the grinding disc is regulated, the
rotary motion for this arrangement is communicated by means of a short shaft,

page_text: a wheel on one end of which gears into the two hereinbefore described loose wheels
and the other end is geared to the driving shaft.
Two suitable bearings are fixed to the inner side of the frame and through the
centres of these bearings passes the driving shaft at one end of which is one fast
and one loose pulley for power use; at the other end of the driving shaft is an
ordinary adjustable handle for shortening the stroke as the disc wears smaller
when operating the apparatus by hand.
I provide a dovetail-shaped bar, hereafter called the bed, of the same length as
the machine, underneath which bed and near the ends thereof are attached top and
bottom clips suitably fitted to and on the outside of the bearings carrying the
driving shaft; upon one of these clips, I arrange a toothed quadrant gearing into
a worm wheel, which is mounted upon one end of a short shaft; upon the other
end of the said short shaft, I place a hand wheel. The bearings of this short shaft
are attached to the frame.
Upon the top of the bed are one fixed headstock, and two movable headstocks.
The fixed headstock has fitted to it in a suitable bearing a forked mandril upon
the end of which is fixed a pinion arranged to gear into a wheel keyed to the
driving shaft,
The two movable headstocks are so arranged that they can be traversed into
any required position upon the bed and there secured by means of a fishtail-headed
bolt or other suitable means.
I provide a novel arrangement in the top of each movable headstock, for the
purpose of receiving journals or spindles of various sizes. This is effected by
means of a parallel hole through the centre of the top part of each headstock; in
suitable positions in the headstocks I form taper slots to receive the bearings of
various sizes. The bearings are outwardly cylindrical, and made in halves a
somewhat oval shaped hole being provided in the centre, each half of the bearing
is provided with a wedge-shaped projection which accurately fits the said taper
slots; a projection is also formed on the top of one half of each bearing which
projection takes into a corresponding recess in a projection on the top of each
of the other halves for preventing one half from slipping into the hole before the
other half.
By this construction of movable headstocks and their bearings great simplicity
is obtained in fixing cylindrical cutters in the machine. After fixing a cutter
between the headstocks it is necessary to attach an ordinary lathe carrier or dog to
the spindle end between the fork of the mandril. The rotary motion is then
transmitted to the cutting cylinder direct from the driving shaft.
The work is brought to the disc or stone by the following means.
The bed with its headstocks and cutting cylinder is pivotted upon the bearings
carrying the driving shaft in such a manner as to allow of using a disc of any
convenient size, the said bed being oscillated by means of the toothed quadrant
and worm wheel hereinbefore described; I provide the following arrangement to
act as a safe guard, or brake to this part of the apparatus. The bearings carrying
the worm wheel I pivot in the centre; upon the opposite end to the worm wheel
I provide a screw by means of which the bed can be tightened or otherwise
adjusted in any required position.
For grinding parallel flat knives by my improved apparatus I employ a bar of
the same length as the bed, one end of which bar is reduced so as to leave a
shoulder; upon this reduced end and against the shoulder is placed a pair of
the bearings herein before described. (All the cylinder spindles are provided with
a shoulder at each end to adapt them for use with the said bearings.) I use a
similar arrangement to that just described at any convenient position upon the full
sized part of the bar. This bar with its bearing is then placed in the movable
headstocks; by this arrangement the headstocks can be extended or otherwise to
suit any length of knife; upon the reduced end of the bar I provide a screw to
which is fitted a flanged nut, the object of which with the aid of the bearings and

page_text: one of the headstocks is to secure the bar and consequently the knife in any
position.
I employ two movable brackets upon the said bar each of which is fitted with
an arrangement for securing the ends of the parallel flat knives. One end is
secured to the bar by means of a steel key, and the other by means of a set
screw.
To firmly secure the knife between the brackets, the brackets are opened to a
greater extent than the length of the knife the key is then partially drawn out of
one bracket and one end of the knife is placed in the bracket, the other bracket is
then brought up to the knife by hand and secured by means of the set screw after
which the wedge should be lightly struck so as to drive it home and the knife will
be secured.
It will be readily seen that both sides of the knives can be ground or sharpened
with equal facility by reason of the ready means of pivotting the knives and the
bed carrying them.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Sharpening the Knives of Lawn
Mowers and like Machines.
J SAMUEL JOHN SUCH, of 19 Great Western Terrace Cheltenham, in the county
of Gloucester Engineer, 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:-
The object of this invention, is to provide automatic apparatus for the purpose of
grinding or sharpening cylindrical, and parallel flat knives such as are used in
lawn mowing and like machines; the said apparatus is arranged so as to be driven
either by hand or by power and no skilled labour is required to operate the same.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same
by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 is a plan of an
apparatus constructed according to my invention for sharpening the knives of
lawn mowers and like machines a cylindrical cutter being shewn in position for
being sharpened; figure 2 is a side view of the same; figures 3 and 4 are longi-
tudinal sectional views taken through the frame of the machine immediately in
front of the bed and driving shaft.-Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of
the back end the section being taken on line A, B of figure 1. Figures 6, 7, 8,
9, 10 and 11 are views of parts of the machine drawn to a larger scale. Similar
letters of reference in all the figures represent similar parts.
A, is a framework of wood or iron on which the whole machine is arranged
B, B is a driving shaft communicating motion to the shaft C and also to the
mandril in the headstock D by means of cog wheels or pullies a³, b¹, c¹ and d¹;
el, e', are pullies on the driving shaft B to be driven by power a handle f¹, being
also provided for use where steam or like power cannot be obtained; upon the
shaft C is a grinding disc E which may be of emery or stone or other suitable
grinding composition and which rotates therewith, and travels longitudinally
thereon, as hereinafter described.
The means I use to obtain this traversing motion are as follows: upon the sleeve
carrying the disc E are suitable carriers F, F, connected to housing G. figures 1
and 2 between which and at the rear of the housing is a loose worm H gearing
into a rack I; a rotary and consequently a traversing motion is imparted to the
worm H by the following means. I provide a shaft J, which may be of any
suitable section and upon which the worm H slides; upon the end are two mitre
wheels, and j¹, running loose in opposite directions each gearing into a mitre
wheel, fixed to a shaft l', connected to the driving shaft B by bevil gearing m¹;
I do not however strictly confine myself to this worm and rack traversing arrange-
ment as I can if required make use of an ordinary screw and nut for this purpose.
Over the shaft J and carried in bearings upon the same support I provide a
rod K for the purpose of reversing the action of the worm H; between the mitre
wheels and j¹, and upon the shaft J, I provide a sliding collar or clutch L, upon
each end of which are a number of studs arranged to fit into corresponding holes
upon the face of each mitre wheel the object of this being that whatever may be
the direction in which the mitre wheels are running the reversing action can take

page_text: place, the collar or clutch L being connected by a clip having a socket with
mortice hole and stud to the rod K; I provide a collar M fixed to the housing G,
and two collars with thumb screws N, N, for adjusting the same.
It will be seen by reference to figure 5 that a movable counterpoise O is provided
for the purpose of keeping the rod K in its proper position and also for actuating
the automatic feed hereinafter described.
Upon the driving shaft B I provide a dovetail shaped bed P fitted at each end to
suitable carriages and made to rotate thereon as hereinafter described; upon the
bed P, I fix two movable headstocks Q, Q and one fixed headstock D; the means
I employ for securing these headstocks are novel and may be applied to many
kinds of machines, and are as follows:-
I provide a wedge shaped hole upon the under side of the headstock terminating
in a round hole at top, into which I place a suitable fishtail or dovetail beaded
bolt or pin R this pin being acted upon by the nut n¹ firmly secures the headstock
as shewn in figures 8 and 9 which represent face and plan views partly in section
of the headstock.
In the movable headstocks I provide suitable and novel bearings S (shewn
detached in face and plan views at figures 6 and 7 respectively) to receive cutter
knife journals or spindles T' of various sizes; the means I employ for carrying out
this part of my invention are as follows. In the top part of the headstock
I provide a parallel hole of suitable size to receive the bearing S which may be of
wood or any suitable metal; upon the out side of each bearing I provide wedge
shaped projections T, T, and upon the inside is an oval shaped hole to receive the
shaft; in the before mentioned parallel hole in the headstock, I also provide a slot
correspondingly wedge shaped to receive the projection T as shewn at U, U, figure 9
to keep these bearings in their proper position. I also provide male and female
projections on the top or as an alternative I can place studs and corresponding
holes upon their inner faces. I do not wish to limit myself exclusively to these
means of carrying out this part of my invention; I may as an alternative use the
bearings entirely wedge shaped that is to say they may be without any external
round part.
In the bearings S. I fix the cutter to be ground or sharpened and which may be
either parallel as shewn at W, in figure 4, or cylindrical as at V in figures 1 and 3
a rotary motion is then communicated to the cutter from the driving shaft B
through the fixed headstock and mandril D.
For the purpose of oscillating the bed P upon its bearings I provide a shaft X
upon which I fix a worm Y, arranged to gear into a quadrant Z. This shaft X, is
rotated by a hand wheel a, and also by a self acting arrangement b, hereinafter
described, to rigidly secure the bed P with its headstocks, cutters & I provide a
movable bearing c, c, with an adjusting screw.d. For the self acting arrangement
I provide a kind of ratchet wheel d, fixed upon the shaft X and upon which is a
lever and pawl e, this lever and pawl are actuated by means of the counterpoise
lever O hercinbefore described.
The operation of this part of the machine is as follows. The cutter being placed
between the headstocks as herein before described, the shaft X is actuated by hand
in the direction of the disc E, and the pawl on the lever d, is then placed in
position as shewn in figure 5; the machine being then started it will be obvious
that the grinding would continue so long as the shaft X, rotated. In order how-
ever to prevent accident I provide an arrangement (not shewn in the drawing) for
the purpose of throwing the pawl out of gear at any desired place.
For this purpose I employ a metal clip arranged to slide all round, but held
sufficiently tight by friction to pass under the pawl e, consequently whatever the
position in which it is placed upon the wheel d, the cut will cease immediately it
passes under the pawl,-that is to say; supposing the work necessitates any given
number of teeth to be used the clip will be placed there and the work will cease
upon its arrival at the pawl.

page_text: To reverse the motion of the shaft X by hand, the pawl e, is reversed by simply
turning it over and bringing the opposite corner down upon the ratchet wheel.
For fixing parallel knives in the headstocks QI provide a shaft or bar f, at the
end of which I arrange a shoulder, screw, and flanged nut; for the purpose of
pivotting and also securing the same upon the before mentioned bar or shaft
I provide two movable brackets h and h¹, (shewn in elevation and plan views at
figures 10 and 11 respectively) each of which has an adjusting screw i, to allow of
receiving any width of knife.
To firmly secure the knife between the brackets, the brackets are opened to a
greater extent than the length of the knife; the key o¹, is then partially drawn
out of one bracket and one end of the knife is placed in the bracket, the other
bracket is then brought up to the knife by hand and secured by means of the set
screw p¹, after which the wedge o¹, should be lightly struck so as to drive it home
and the knife will be secured.
It will be readily seen that both sides of the knives can be ground or sharpened
with equal facility by reason of the ready means of pivotting the knives and the
bed carrying them.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. An apparatus for grinding or sharpening accurately and automatically, both
cylindrical and parallel knives such as are used in lawn mowing machines and the
like, the said apparatus being arranged to be actuated either by hand or by power
and without the aid of skilled labour substantially as hereinbefore described."
2. In apparatus for sharpening the knives of lawn mowers and the like the
herein described arrangement of worm and quadrant substantially as and for the
purposes herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
3. In apparatus for sharpening the knives of lawn mowers and the like the
herein described construction of bearings in the moveable headstocks in com-
bination with the dovetail headed pins for securing them in position, substantially
as herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
4. In apparatus for sharpening the knives of lawn mowers and the like the
herein described arrangement of bar or shaft having movable brackets, lever nut,
and adjusting screws substantially as and for the purposes herein before described
and represented in figures 4, 10 and 11 of the accompanying drawing.
5. The improved apparatus for sharpening the knives of lawn mowers and like
machines herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 23rd day of March 1886.