IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLANING ELECTROTYPE AND STEREOTYPE PLATES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT. to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLANING ELECTROTYPE AND
STEREOTYPE PLATES."-A communication from Robert Wheeler, resident
at Brooklyn in the State of New York IISA
Scaled the 28th January 1859, and dated the 31st July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
July 1858.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLANING ELECTROTYPE AND STEREO-
TYPE PLATES," (a communication from Robert Wheeler, of Brooklyn, in the
State of New York, U. S. A.,) to be as follows:-
Electrotype and stereotype plates have been heretofore reduced to the
required thickness, and their backs and faces made true or parallel with each
other by shaving them by passing them beneath a stationary cutter. From
the nature of the material used in such plates, and in consequence of their

page_text: limited thickness and strength, only a slight shaving or cut can be taken from
them at a time, so that ordinarily they have to be passed beneath the cutter
several times before they can be reduced to proper thickness, and the back
and front of them made true or parallel with each other, thus rendering the
operation a slow and tedious one to be performed.
These improvements consist, firstly, in combining with the ordinary stationary
cutter one or more horizontally rotating cutters, by which the plate is reduced
to the required thickness, and its surfaces made true or parallel with each
other by once passing beneath the cutters; and, secondly, in certain springs
and guides employed to keep the face of the plate in contact with the surface
of the bed on which it is placed to be planed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Davies, Her special licence that I, the said George
Davies, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Davies, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLANING ELECTROTYPE AND STEREOTYPE PLATES," being a
communication from Robert Wheeler, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York,
U. S. A., upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Davies,
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

page_text: Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Davies, 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 fol-
lowing statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say :-
Electrotype and stereotype plates have been heretofore reduced to the
required thickness, and their backs and faces made true or parallel with each
other by shaving them, by passing them beneath a stationary cutter. From
the nature of the material used in such plates, and in consequence of their
limited thickness and strength, only a slight shaving or cut can be taken from
them at a time, so that ordinarily they have to be passed beneath the cutter
several times before they can be reduced to proper thickness, and the back and
front of them made true or parallel with each other, thus rendering the operation
a slow and tedious one to be performed.
These improvements consist in combining with the ordinary stationary
cutter, one or more horizontally rotating cutters by which the plate is reduced
to the required thickness, and its surfaces made true or parallel with each
other by once passing beneath the cutters; and in certain springs and guides
employed to keep the face of the plate in contact with the surface of the bed
on which it is placed to be planed.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for "Improvements
in Apparatus for Planing Electrotype and Stereotype Plates," I will proceed
to describe more in detail the manner of carrying the same into practical effect;
and in order that the Invention may be clearly understood, I have annexed
hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same
with figures and letters corresponding with those in the following description
thereof.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine; Figure 2, an end elevation of
the right-hand end of it; Figure 3, a vertical transverse section; and Figure 4,
a vertical longitudinal section, both taken through the line of the centre of the
cutter shaft. A is the bed of the machine, made much like the bed of the
machines ordinarily used for planing metals; B, 'B', are standards, which have
suitable boxes in their top part, in which the driving shaft C is operated'; D
is the sliding bed, which slides back and forth upon the top sides of the bed A,
and upon which the plate to be planed is placed and secured, it is operated by
the endless screw E, working in the nut F. G is a frame secured to the-sides
of the bed A, at about the centre of the length of the bed, in which are

page_text: operated the horizontally rotating cutters H, H, and to which are attached
the stationary cutter I, and the guides J, J. The cutters H, H¹, are secured
in position and adjusted by set screws or other means to proper height in the
arms K, which arms are secured to and. operated by the vertical shaft L..
These cutters are so adjusted in height above the plane of the sliding bed as to
cut the plate, being operated upon to within such degree of its required thick-
ness as that the cut given by the stationary cutter I shall complete the operation.
The stationary cutter I is formed, secured, and adjusted in the manner generally
employed in the ordinary machines.
The endless screw E is operated to move the sliding bed D forward (or
towards the right-hand end of the machine) from the pulley M, belt O, and
pulley N, through the mitre wheels P, P', and is reversed in motion to bring
the bed back to the opposite end of the machine by the pulley Q, belt R, and
pulley S. The pulleys N and S have each a loose pulley of the same size
placed by their side, upon the first of which the belt of the forward movement
is thrown, when the sliding bed has completed its forward movement, and the
belt of the reverse movement, when the bed has completed its backward
movement. These changes of the belts from their fast to their loose pulleys
respectively are effected by the shifters T, T', the first of which is moved by a
stop on the forward end of the bed D, striking against the side of the lever U,
causing the belt of the forward movement to shift from its fast to its loose
pulley, as the bed completes its forward movement; and the other to produce
the backward movement of the sliding bed, by a similar stop on the back end
of the bed striking against another lever similar to the last named (not
shown), to shift the belt of the backward movement from its fast to its loose
pulley, when the bed has completed its movement in that direction. When
the sliding bed has completed its movement in either direction, it remains
stationary until it is started to be moved in the opposite direction by shifting
proper belt from its fast to its loose pulley by the handle V, at one end. of
the machine, or by a similar handle (not shewn) at the other end, according
to the direction in which the bed is to be moved. This stationary position of
the sliding bed, and the starting-of-it-in_a_contrary direction by the hand of
the operator, is rendered necessary in order that time may be given to put on
the plate to be planed, and to take it off when planed without requiring the
constant and close attention of the operator that would be required if the
movements of the sliding bed were automatically governed. The pulleys of
the backward movement of the sliding bed are so proportioned in size relatively
to those of the forward movement of it, that they move the endless screw much
faster than the latter, to save time in running the bed back to the position
the

page_text: to receive a new plate. W is a semicircular band attached to the back of the
frame G, upon which is placed a series of springs X, to bear upon the plate
being planed, and keep its face in contact with the plane of the sliding bed,
upon which it is placed. The plate is kept in position and pressed to the
sliding bed (after it has been operated upon by the rotating cutters) by the
guide J and roller Z, to hold it to be operated upon by the stationary cutter I,
and is pressed to the bed to keep it straight and level after passing the sta-
tionary cutter by the roller a and guide J¹. The vertical shaft L is operated
from the driving shaft C, by the belt c running over the pulleys d and e.
To operate the machine, the sliding bed D is ruu back to its full limit,
and the plate to be planed is placed against a slightly raised ledge on its back
end. The endless screw E is then revolved by putting the belt of the forward
movement upon its fast pulley, and the sliding bed moved forward by it at the
same time that the rotating cutters H, H', are revolved to cut the plate to a
thickness. The plate being pliable and subject to spring, the face of it is kept
in contact with the plane of the sliding bed by the springs X until it is
operated upon by the rotating cutters, after which it is held in place by the
guide J and roller Z, until it has passed beneath the stationary cutter I, which
cutter takes off a shaving or smoothing cut, which finishes the operation; after
which the roller a and guide J¹ keep it in shape until it is taken off from the
bed. When the sliding bed has moved to the end of its travel in its forward
direction, the belt of the forward movement is shifted from its fast to its loose
pulley, and the bed remains stationary until the finished plate is taken off from
it, when the belt of the reversing movement is shifted by hand (by the lever
before named) from its loose to its fast pulley, causing the screw E to revolve
in a contrary direction, to move the sliding bed back to the position first
named, to be ready to receive another plate to be operated upon as before.
The great facility with which the machine operates, enabling it to complete
the planing and trueing of the plate by once passing beneath the cutters, gives
it an advantage over any other heretofore used for the purpose.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention, together
with the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I desire it to be
distinctly understood that I do not claim as the Invention communicated to
me, any of the devices herein described when separately considered, as they
have heretofore been used separately or in other combinations; but what I do
claim as the Invention of the said Robert Wheeler is,-
Firstly, the combination of the rotating cutters H, II, with the stationary
cutter I, in the mauner and for the purpose set forth.

page_text: Secondly, the combination of the springs X, guides J and J¹, and rollers Z
and a, as described, and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
GEORGE DAVIES. (L.S.)