A NEW AND IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PLANING SCREW NUTS AND BARS OF ANY PRISMATIC FORM
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bell-
ford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th April 1855.-A cómmunication.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX' BELLFORD, of 32, Essex St., Strand,
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW AND IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PLANING SCREW NUTS AND BARS OF ANY
PRISMATIC FORM," a communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new and improved machine for planing prismatic
bars, screw nuts, etc., and consists in attaching a series of cutters to the
periphery of a rotating disc, which cutters being so arranged or attached to
the disc that each cutter will project a trifle farther out from the centre or
shaft of the said disc than the one immediately behind it, and by being thus,
attached to the disc causes the whole of the cutters during one of its revolu-
tions to plane or pass over a surface equal in width to one side of the nut or
bar to be planed. In connection with the disc or cutters thus attached there
is used an intermittingly moved mandril, which at every revolution of the
disc turns a certain required.distance, and presents an unplaned side of a nut
or bar to the action of the cutters; also for the peculiar means employed for
operating the mandril above referred to, and also for the means employed
for throwing the driving pulley in and out of gear with the machine.

page_text: A rectangular frame carries a vertical shaft, the lower end of which is stepped
in a cross piece attached to the lower part of the frame, and the upper and of
the shaft has its bearing in a cross piece attached to the upper part of the frame.
To the upper part of the shaft there is fixed a disc, to the periphery of which
a series of vertical cutters are attached. The disc is not perfectly circular,
but varies a trifle therefrom, so as to be of a scroll form, and thereby allow each
cutter to be a little further from the shaft than the one immediately behind it.
The cutting edges of the whole number of cutters therefore will, during one
revolution of the disc, pass over a surface equal in width to the difference
between the smaller and greater diameters of the disc. At the front part of
the frame there is secured by a set screw a platform or table, on which a
horizontal mandril works in suitable bearings. To one end of this mandril
there is attached a ratchet, and a loose drum is also placed on the mandril
and connected to the ratchet, when it is turned in a direction toward the
disc by a spring pawl in the usual manner. To the drum there is attached
a cord, which passes over a pulley attached to the frame, which cord has a
weight attached to its end.
There is a lever fixed to one side of the platform, to the upper edge of
which there is a pin attached, catching in the teeth of the ratchet in con-
sequence of a spring; the upper end of this lever passes up underneath the
disc, and is acted upon at every revolution of the disc by a projection attached
thereto. To the under surface of the disc there is attached a toothed wheel, into
which a pinion gears, the said pinion being on the upper part of a vertical
shaft working in suitable bearings attached to the frame. Just below the
pinion and on the same shaft there is a bevel toothed wheel, which gears into
a bevel pinion at the inner end of a horizontal shaft, and at the opposite end
of this shaft there is a loose driving pulley or crank.
There are a series of radial arms, which are connected at their centre or
point of junction by a pin to a cross bar of the frame. To one of the arms there
is attached a pin. Directly over the cross bar there is a sliding bar, to which
one end of a spiral spring is fastened, and the opposite end to an arm of the
frame. To the outer end of the sliding bar there is attached a clutch, and to
one side of the bar there is a lever, having a notch cut in it, which notch fits
over a pin on the sliding bar, and keeps the clutch connected to the loose
driving pulley, and consequently connects the driving pulley with the shaft.
Supposing that nuts of hexagonal form are to be planed, they are placed
upon the mandril; the platform or table is then adjusted the proper height
by operating the set screw, and motion is given the shaft in consequence of
power being applied to the pulley or crank. The disc is made to rotate by

page_text: means of the gearing, and as the cutters project gradually further from the
centre of the disc, in consequence of its scroll form, the cutters will plane off
one side of the nuts at one revolution of the disc, the sides of the nutts being
equal in width to the space or difference between the longer and shorter
diameters of the disc. When the disc has made one revolution, the projection
strikes against the upper end of the lever and depresses it, and throws the
pin on the said lever out of the ratchet, and the weight rotates the drum,
and consequently the mandril and nuts, the space or distance of one tooth of
the ratchet, and a new side of the nuts is presented to the action of the
cutters; and the above operation is repeated until all the sides of the nuts are
planed. As the shaft rotates, the arm strikes against one of the radial arms,
and moves it a certain distance at every revolution of the shaft. When the arm
to which the pin is attached is moved, the said pin throws the lever upwards,
and the notch is raised from the pin on the sliding bar, and the spring
consequently operates the bar, and disconnects the clutch from the pulley or
crank. The number of arms of course corresponds to the number of sides
of the nuts; if square nuts or bars are planed, four arms will be required.
By the above Invention it will be seen that no feed motion is required,
because the cutters, during one revolution of the disc, move over the whole
surface of the sides of the nuts or bar to be planed, and consequently the
machine is rendered extremely simple; it works rapidly and requires but little
attention.