IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bourne, of 66, Mark Lane, London, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND
Scaled the 22nd December 1870, and dated the 6th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bourne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th July 1870.
I, JOHN BOURNE, of 66, Mark Lane, London, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN CUTTING VARIOUS SUBSTANCES," to be
as follows:-
I cut timber, tobacco, and various substances, not by a saw nor by a
knife pressing merely against the substances, but by a knife or knife
edge made very sharp, and moved in the manner of a saw, so as in fact to
constitute a saw, whether band, circular, or any other, but formed without
teeth. And I apply a stationary sharpener, consisting either of a
piece of hone, steel, or other suitable material, or of a succession of

page_text: those pieces to the edge of the moving knife, so as to make the knife
edge rub against such sharpener set at a proper angle with the edge,
whereby the edge is constantly sharpened in the same way in which any
knife is sharpened on a hone, only that in this case the motion is
continuous.
I employ circular, band, or reciprocating knives to cut timber and
other substances in substitution of saws, whereby the cutting is effected
with the production of a smooth surface and without waste.
And I also use such knives or knife edges moving not merely like a
chopper against the substance to be cut, but also endways, like a saw,
to cut tobacco and all kinds of fibrous or other similar substances
requiring to be cut cleanly and without jagging.
I introduce these band, circular, or reciprocating knives moved at a
suitable speed in substitution of saws in all kinds of sawing machines,
and also in substitution of choppers in tobacco machines, and in all
others in which the cutting is effected wholly or mainly by a chopping
motion, and also in substitution of clippers or shears in reaping
machines, and all others in which a clipping action is maintained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bourne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BOURNE, of 66, Mark Lane, London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and -successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Bourne, Her special licence, that
I, the said John Bourne, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Bourne, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS: IN THE
MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN CUTTING VARIOUS SUBSTANCES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Bourne, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Bourne,. 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,. that is to say :-
I cut timber, tobacco, and various substances; not by a saw nor by a
knife pressing merely against the substances, but by a knife or knife
edge made very sharp and moved in the manner of a saw, so as in
fact to constitute a saw, whether band, circular, or any other, but
formed without teeth.. And I apply a stationary sharpener consisting
either of a piece of hope, steel, or other suitable material, or of a succes-
sion of those pieces to the edge of the moving knife, so as to make the
knife edge rub against such sharpener set at a proper angle with the
edge, whereby the edge is: constantly sharpened in the same way in
which any knife is sharpened on a hone, only that in this case the
motion is continuous.
I employ circular, band, or reciprocating knives: to cut timber and
other substances in substitution of saws, whereby the cutting is effected
with the production of a smooth surface and without waste.
And I also use such knives or knife edges moving not merely like a
chopper against the substance to be cut, but also endways, like a saw,
to cut tobacco and all kinds of fibrous or other similar substances
requiring to be cut cleanly and without jagging.
I introduce these band, circular, or reciprocating knives moved at a
suitable speed in substitution of saws in all kinds of sawing machines,
and also in substitution of choppers in tobacco machines, and in all
others in which the cutting is effected wholly or mainly by a chopping
motion, and also in substitution of clippers or shears in reaping
machines and all others in which a clipping action is maintained.

page_text: In the Sheet' of Drawings accompanying this Specification one of
the forms of my Invention is represented as applicable for cutting
tobacco or other similar substances.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a transverse section of the
apparatus, where A is a circular revolving knife; B, a pulley by which
it is rotated, and which is driven by a hand wheel or by other appropriate
means; and C is a lever, one end of which carries the knife and pulley,
and which is moved up and down on its axis X by means of an eccentric
or crank on the shaft D; E, E, are rollers, by which the tobacco or
other substance is fed in; F is a wheel moved round by a friction
ratehet, and which gives motion to the worm wheel G, the axis of
which is also the axis of one of the feeding rollers which is rotated
through a certain distance at each reciprocation of the lever C. The
same letters refer to the same parts in both the Figures.
The tobacco or other substance being duly fed in between the feeding
rollers which are pressed together by a spring resembling a sugar tongs,
as shewn in Figure 2, the rapidly revolving knife A is brought down
upon the protruding substance, and slices off a thin shaving of it. The
knife passes close against the jaws e, e, Figure 2, between which jaws
the substance to be cut is carried by the feeding rollers, and the rotating
knife coming down upon the substance so held slices it off. The circular
knife is virtually a circular saw without teeth, and such a knife may be
used for cutting timber smoothly at once, as also may a band knife, the
mechanism for working which being precisely the same as that for
working a band saw need not further be described, such mechanism
being well known,
The mode of sharpening the knife, whether of the circular or band
kind, is shewn in Figure 3, where a, a', are two pieces of steel, one of
which lies over the other, and so formed as to produce an acute angle
between the two, in which angle the knife rubs in its motion against the
stationary steel pieces, and so is sharpened continuously on much the
same principle on which a carving knife is sharpened by drawing it
between two roughened rollers. Instead of steel any other sharpening
substance, such as hone or Turkey oilstone, may be employed, the only
necessary condition being that the moving knife shall continuously rub
upon some hard body of such configuration and so disposed that the
blunting action of the cut shall be counteracted by the action of the
sharpener applied in the manner described.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
I wish it to be understood that what I claim is, the improved means
and apparatus for cutting various substances, and for maintaining the
cutting edges in proper cutting order, all as described in this Specification
or illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bourne, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.