IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING AND CUTTING SLATE, STONE, COAL, SALT ROCK, OR OTHER MINERALS." SP
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Chaffer, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Stone Merchant, and Jonah Ellis, of the Vulcan Foundry,
near Warrington, in the same 'County, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING AND CUTTING SLATE, STONE,
COAL, SALT ROCK, OR OTHER MINERALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Chaffer and
Jonah Ellis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 6th December 1855.
We, THOMAS CHAFFER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Stone
Merchant, and JONAH ELLIS, of the Vulcan Foundry, near Warrington, in the
same County, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING AND CUTTING SLATE, STONE, COAL, SALT
ROCK, OR OTHER MINERALS, to be as follows:-
Our Invention is applicable for sawing or cutting blocks of slate, stone, coal,
salt rock, or other minerals from the quarry, and consists, first, in sawing
seams into the slate, or stone, or other minerals by means of a circular saw,
which is made to travel along a bed plate fixed to the slate, stone, coal, salt
rock, or other minerals to be operated upon. The circular saw. may be turned
by hand, or by steam or other power, and the bed plate, after the seam has
been cut, can be removed to any other convenient position for making another
seam.
Another part of our Invention consists in causing a cutting tool to move to

page_text: and fro along a bed plate, and in so moving to cut a scam into the slate, stone,
coal, salt rock, or other minerals, the said cutting tool being made to increase
the depth of the cut by means of a setting-up screw, or other mechanism.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Chaffer and Jonah Ellis in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
CHAFFER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Stone Merchant, and
JONAH ELLIS, of the Vulcan Foundry, near Warrington, in the same County,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Chaffer and Jonah Ellis, her special licence that we, the said
Thomas Chaffer and Jonah Ellis, our executors, administrators, and, assigns,
or such others as we, the said Thomas Chaffer and Jonah Ellis, our
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING AND
CUTTING SLATE, STONE, COAL, SALT ROCK, OR OTHER MINERALS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Chaffer and Jonah Ellis,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jonah Ellis, on behalf of myself and
the said Thomas Chaffer,' 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 thereof, that is to say:-
Our Invention is applicable for sawing or cutting blocks of slate, stone; coal,
salt rock, or other minerals from the quarry, and consists, first, in sawing seams

page_text: into the slate, or stone, or other minerals by means of a circular saw, which is
made to travel along a bed plate fixed to the slate; stone, coal, salt-rock, or
other mineral to be operated upon. The circular saw may be turned by hand;
or by steam or other power, and the bed plate, after the seam has been cut,
can be removed to any other convenient position for making another seam.
Another part of our Invention consists, in, causing a cutting tool to move to
and fro along a bed plate, and in so moving to cut a seam into the slate, stone,
coal, salt rock, or other minerals,, the said cutting tool being made to increase
the depth of the cut by means of a setting-up screw, or other mechanism.
** .:
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, we proceed to set forth
the manner in which the same is to be performed, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, on which similar letters in the various Figures will be
found to denote similar portions of the mechanism.
Drawing No. 1 represents a machine for sawing seams or joints in slate;
stone, coal, salt rock, or other minerals; Figure 1 gives a side view of the
machine, as employed in sawing a seam or joint in rock. A, A, is the
surface of the rock;, B, B, is, a slide or bed, fixed to the rock by bolts passed
through the feet J, J, and to the under side or face of which a rest is fitted,
carrying the axis or shaft N for the saw C; D is the driving pulley, fixed
on, shaft E, and actuated by belt from fly wheel, steam engine, or other
power; F, pinion, fixed on opposite end of shaft E; G, wheel, actuated
by pinion F, and fixed on screw H, by which the rest is moved. Figure:
shows the under side or face of the slide or bed plate; with, shaft,'screw,
rest, &c. K, K, slot in shaft E; L, bevil wheel on shaft E, to slide in slot
K; M, spur wheel on saw shaft N, actuated by spur wheel O(Figure 3),
connected with bevil wheel P, which is actuated by beyil wheel L; R, nut,
attached to, rest plate S, through which the screw H acts on the rest; T, T,
plummer blocks or boxes, attached to rest plate S, for journals of saw, shaft N.
Figure 3 is a section of Figure 2 at the line 1, 2, in which the bevil wheels
L and P, the spur:wheel O; and the nut R are shown more distinctly; V.
spindle or shaft of spur, and bevil wheels O and P sunk in socket in nut R.
Figure 4 is a section at, line 3, 4, showing a strong collar X, fixed to rest
plate S, close up, to the back of bevil; wheel L, so that it may always be, kept
in gear with bevil wheel P, while it is moved backwards and forwards along
the shaft E..
13
In bringing this machine into operation, an opening must first be made or
formed for the admission of the saw. The feet J, J, are then securely fixed.to
the rock, and motion is communicated to the pulley D by a belt. The shaft
E thus driven, gives motion first by the pinion F to the wheel G, which, acting

page_text: on the screw H, gives progressive or retrogressive motion, as the case may be,
to the rest on the slide or bed plate; and, second, by the wheels L and P, and
intermediate spur wheels O and M; to the saw shaft N. The screw H being
quarter inch pitch, it will be seen that in the machine represented, the saw.will
revolve about sixteen times while the rest advances one inch. Unless fór
cutting salt rock and the softer descriptions of minerals, the progress of the
rest, as compared with the revolutions of the saw, would be indeed too rapid;
but these motions may be readily adjusted to each other, as may be required
in different cases, first, by an alteration of relative sizes of the wheel and pinion
G and F, and also by varying the relative sizes of the spur wheels M-and O.
Drawing No. 2 represents machine for cutting seams or joints in slate, stone,
coal, salt-rock, and other minerals. A, A, is the rock, in which the seam or joint
is required to be cut; B, B; are the cheeks or end frames, the feet of which,
C, C, are securely bolted to the rock; D, D, is the slide or bed plate; E, E,
screw in slide, for moving rest F; G, cutter in rest, oscillating on point H;
J, J. two loose pulleys, on screw shaft; K, catch box, on feather on screw shaft.
Figure 2 shows the back of slide, and exhibits the apparatus employed to
reverse the motion of the screw E and of the rest and cutter; -L, semicircular
rod, attached to back of rest F; M, M, tappets, fixed on rod N (which is con-
nected with catch box), and acted on by L; O,.ball and lever, acting on rod
N, to throw the catch box into gear with opposite pulley when it has been
withdrawn by rod L acting on tappet M; P, stay fixing end frames or cheeks;
R, eyelets attached to end frames, to carry rod N; S, cross head for rest
screw, with tappets on each of the four arms; T, T, arins affixed to slide,
to act on tappets on cross head, so as to operate on rest screw and send
cutter downwards. (These arms should also be represented on Figure 1.)
Figure 3 shows section of slide and slide rest, with rod L. Figure 4 shows
cross head for rest screw. Figure 5, end frame, with circular slots and set
screws, to admit of the cutter being presented to the rock at any required
angle.. Figure 6, end frame, with pulley, also showing slots and set screws
with stays P, P, and eyelets for rod N.
When this machine is brought into action, it is necessary that two holes,
say, one inch or one and a half inches in diameter, be sunk in the rock at the
extremities of the cut proposed and to the required depth. The machine is
then fixed by bolts through the feet, so as to bring the cutter precisely over the
line extending from one hole to the other. Power is applied to the two loose
pulleys from a fly wheel steam engine or other mover, by means of a cross belt
over one pulley and a straight belt over the other, and the catch box being
alternately thrown in and out of gear with either pulley, the desired motion is

page_text: obtained, and the process of cutting proceeds. If a cut of only six or nine inches
deep is required, no change of cutter may be necessary; but when deeper cuts
are required, it is desirable to use several cutters of various degrees of thick-
ness, the thickest always being used first. By using a series of four cutters,
the first inch in thickness, the second 16 inch, the third ths, and the fourth
or inch, a cut may be made three feet in depth. The cutter represented
in Drawing No. 2 is intended to oscillate on the pin H, or on a pin or pivot
placed higher or lower on the rest, as may be found desirable, and to cut alter-
nately with its two points; but it is obvious that the purpose of the Inventors
may be also accomplished by using a rest fitted with two screws and likewise
with two cutters, so that the tappets at either end of the slide might act
on the two screws and corresponding cutters alternately. It is farther obvious
that, although in the Drawings the screw is represented as the instrument for
moving the rest on the slide, this operation may also be satisfactorily accom-
plished either by the rack and pinion, the worm, or the chain motions.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be understood that we dis-
claim any novelty in the separate parts of the mechanism; but what we do
claim is,--
First, the application of a slide or bed plate, with a travelling rest attached
to it for carrying the saw or cutter or cutters to sawing or cutting artificial
seams or joints in slate, stone, coal, salt rock, and other minerals, or to forming
slots therein, whether such rest be moved by a screw, as represented in the
Drawings, or by a worm rack and pinion or chain.
And, second, the use of an oscillating double pointed cutter, as shewn in the
Drawings, or of two cutters in one rest, each being acted upon by a sepa-
rate screw to the cutting of slate, stone, coal, salt rock, and other minerals, as
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonah Ellis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JAMES SMITH, of Liverpool,
Timber Merchant.
JONAH ELLIS. (L.B.)