IMPROVEMENTS IN SLATE DRESSING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Whitehead Greaves, of Port Madoc, in the
County of Carnarvon, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SLATE DRESSING MACHINES."
Sealed the 19th March 1861, and dated the 3rd October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Whitehead Greaves
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd October 1860.
I, JOHN WHITEHEAD GREAVES, of Port Madoc, in the County of Carnarvon,
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SLATE DRESSING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for dressing or trimming the edges of slates intended
for roofing and other purposes, and consists in the employment for that pur-
pose of a set of revolving knives or cutters placed obliquely in their frame in
conjunction with a fixed cutting edge and table, upon which the slate to be
dressed is laid, suitable means being employed for guageing at the same time
the various sizes of slates.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Whitehead Greaves in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WHITEHEAD GREAVES, of Port Madoc, in the County of Carnarvon, Esquire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, 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 John Whitehead Greaves, Her special license that I, the said
John Whitehead Greaves, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Whitehead Greaves, my executors, administrators,
or 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SLATE DRESSING MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Whitehead Greaves, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under
the hand and seal of one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 John Whitehead Greaves, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for dressing or trimming the edges of slates and slate
slabs intended for roofing and other purposes, and consists in the employment
for that purpose of a set of revolving knives or cutters placed obliquely in a
frame in conjunction with a fixed cutting edge and table, upon which the slate
to be dressed is laid, suitable means being employed for simultaneously guaging
the various sizes of slates.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now

page_text: proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both Figures.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings represent respec-
tively a side elevation and plan of my improved slate dressing machine. A is
the main framing or support of the machine, and B the cutter shaft rotating
in bearings b, b, and driven either by a strap and driving pulley C, as shown,
or by a treddle movement, winch handle, or other suitable mechanical con-
trivance; this shaft B has keyed on to it a fly wheel D and two wheels or dises
E, E. To the peripheries of these discs E are bolted or otherwise secured the
dressing knives F, F, which are placed at a slight angle to the shaft B, or
separately, as shewn in the Drawing, by which arrangement they operate pro-
gressively upon the slate from end to end. G is a stationary knife secured to
the main framing, and placed so as to be parallel to the shaft B; H is a guage
fixed to the main framing and serving to guage the different sizes of slates and
slate slabs whilst being cut or dressed. The slate to be dressed is laid with
one edge flat upon the fixed knife G, whilst its other edge rests upon the
guage, as shewn at 9 in Figure 1. The knives F, F, as they rotate dress off
the edge of the slate which protrudes beyond the fixed knife G.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the general construction, arrangement,
and combination of machinery or apparatus for dressing slates and slate slabs,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Whitehead Greaves, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN WHITEHEAD GREAVES. (L.S.)