CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TOBACCO
Year: 1827

page_text: WRIGHT'S SPECIFICATION:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEMUEL
WELLMAN WRIGHT, of Mansfield Street; Borough Road; in the County of
Surrey, Engineer; send greeting.
..!.
WHEREAS His Majesty King George the Fourth, in and by His-Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-first day of August last, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
did give and grant unto me, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, my. exors,
admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole priviledge and
'authority, that I, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their
deputy or deputies; servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Lemuel
Wellman Wright, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others; from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING
TOBACCO;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso-obliging
me, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, by an instrument in writing under
my band and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will
more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Lemuel Wellman Wright, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
the Plan or Drawing hereto annexed, and the following description thereof
(that is to say)-
My Improvements in Machinery for Cutting Tobacco are exhibited in the
accompanying Drawing. Figure 1 is a plan or horizontal view, Figure 2 is
a side elevation, and Figure 3 an end elevation, of a machine; the letters of
reference apply to the same parts in each Figure. a, a, a, a, are the frames
or standards on which the machine is mounted. b, b, the main spindle or
shaft of the machine working across the frame in plummer blocks, having at
one end a drum c driven by a strap connected with any first moving power.
At the opposite end of this main spindle is a wheel d, d, constructed, as will
be seen by the Drawing, to serve both as a fly wheel and cutter wheel. The
arms of this wheel are shaped so as to receive the knives or cutters e, e, e, e,
each cutter being attached by the plates f, f,f, f, and their screws to the arms
of the hinge joints g, g, g, g, which arms are kept in their proper positions by
the set screws h, h, h, h, and by which they are regulated so that the. knives
shall pass in close contact with the front of the cutting box i. At the end of
the main spindle is a small grooved rigger j to be connected by a cross gut
band to the larger grooved rigger k, and by shifting this band a quicker or
slower rotation may be given to the rigger k, which is fitted to turn on the
shaft of the feeding screw 7, and by a clutch m in the collar of the screw
shaft l, and in the boss of the rigger k. The latter carries the screw round
with itself, the opposite end of the screw being supported in the small block n.
The screw works through the nutto which is connected to the paralel or guide
rods p, p, the opposite ends of these guide rods being screwed to the follower q.
By this explanation it will be seen that when the machine is put in motion
the cutters c, e, e, e; passing the front of the cutting box i will cut off. that
portion of the tobacco projected beyond the front of the box by the follower q,
and that the feeding screw 1, turning out of the nut o; sends up the follower
with greater or less velocity as the. motion is regulated by the band on the
riggers j, and k. When the tobacco first put in is cut up, and a fresh quantity
required; the clutch m is thrown out by sliding back the rod r, the bent end
of which works in a groove in the clutch m, and the weight.s, attached
by a cord to the small winch t'on the outer end of the screw shaft having
been previously wound on by the action of the machine, will now. run

page_text: Inrolled the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.