CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING OR SAWING WOOD
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEO-
PHILUS RICHARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of August, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Theophilus Richards, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Theophilus Richards, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Theophilus Richards, my execu-
tors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
CUTTING OR SAWING WOOD," being a communication from a foreigner residing
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said Theophilus Richards, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto nad, win
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Theophilus Richards, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say:
This Invention of improvements in cutting or sawing wood consists in the
employment of a novel construction of machinery, applicable particularly to the
cutting of vencers or thin slices from a block of wood.
The details of the construction, and the general arrangement of the parts
of this improved machine, (as communicated to me by a foreigner residing
abroad,) are represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a horizontal view of the machine complete as it would appear if
viewed from above; Fig. 2, a longitudinal elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is
an elevation, taken at the right-hand end of Fig. 2; and Figure 4 is a section,
taken transversely through the machine, and through the block of wood to be
cut, near the centre of the circular cutter, in the dotted line A, A, in Fig. 1.
Fig. 5 is an end clevation of that part of the machine which produces an
alternating sliding or travelling motion of the carriage in which the circular
saw is mounted; Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation, taken longitudinally through
this part of the machinery in the dotted line B, B, in Fig. 1; and Fig. 7 is
also a sectional elevation, taken transversely through the same.
The respec-
tive letters of reference point out similar parts of the machinery in all the
preceding Figures. Upon the horizontal shaft A the driving pulley B is fixed,
and also the fly wheel C, the latter carrying a band or strap a, a, (shewn by
dots,) which gives rotary motion to the circular saw. The shaft or axle that
the circular saw is fixed upon is represented at D having a driving pulley E,
over which the strap a, a, passes; and F is the saw affixed to the reverse end
of the horizontal shaft, seen best in Fig. 4. These parts are mounted in a
sliding carriage G, which is supported by the bench or standards H, E, and
are represented upon an enlarged scale detached from the machine in the
several Figures of the Drawings in Sheet II. The driving strap or band a, a,
as before said, embraces the fly wheel C, and is actuated thereby; it also
passes over the carrier pullies I and J. The axle of the pulley J is mounted
in a box or socket b, which slides in a slotted bearing c in the standard II,
and this box with the pulley is forced outward by a weighted lever K, K,
attached to the sliding rod d, (see Fig. 2,) for the purpose of keeping the

page_text: band a in tension. A long bar or connecting rod M is attached at one
end to the sliding saw carriage G, and at the other end to a reciprocating
driver N, which is carried by antifriction rollers e, e, working between
the edges of the parallel rails L, L, affixed to standards O, O, as shown
in Figures 1 and 2. Upon these standards are also mounted the axles
f of two band wheels Q, Q, over which an endless band or strap P, P, is
distended. A transverse bar g, passed through the driver N, and over the
endless band or strap P, is made fast to that endless strap, and at each
extremity of this transverse bar g an antifriction roller i, i, is attached, which
rollers work in vertical grooves h in the upright ends of the driver N. Upon
the main shaft A a pulley S is fixed, from whence an endless strap k is con-
ducted to a pulley R on the shaft f of one of the band wheels Q, so that by
the rotation of the shaft A, not only is the circular saw F made to revolve
through the agency of the pullies C and E, and the band a, a, but also through
the pullies S, R, and strap k, the wheels Q, Q, and endless band P (which
actuate the driver N of the sliding saw frame), are made to revolve at the
same time. It will now be perceived, that as the endless band P travels
round the wheels Q, Q, the driver N will be carried along with it by means of
the transverse bar g, which is attached to the band P, and that when the bar
9 has passed over the further wheel Q it will descend, and its rollers i, i, slide
down the vertical grooves h of the driver N to the lower parts of these,
The rollers i, i, still acting in the grooves h, the band will as it continues
revolving carry the bar g, and with it the driver N back again, or in a retro-
grade direction, and then conduct the bar upward over the other wheel Q, and
so on, thus causing the driver to be traversed to and fro, which, through the
agency of the rod M, connected to the driver, will give the reciprocating
sliding movement to the carriage G of the circular cutter F. The block of
wood T, from which the veneer is to be cut, is made fast to a vertical frame
U, U, by means of screws 1, 1, as represented in Fig. 1. This vertical frame
U is mounted on a horizontal frame or carriage W, which slides upon the
stationary bearings or bed X, and the advancing or receding movement of the
carriage W, with the frame U, and block of wood T, for the purpose of
bringing the wood up to the saw F or of withdrawing it therefrom, are
effected by a screw Y, turned by a winch m, as shewn in the horizontal
view, Fig. 1. The vertical frame U with the block of wood attached is slidden
up and down in the carriage W by the agency of the rack V, affixed to
the back of the frame, and the pinion Z upon the horizontal shaft n (see
Fig. 1), which is moved by a winch p at its end, in order to bring the lower
part of the block of wood T against the edge of the circular saw, and the up
grooves.

page_text: and down movements of the frame U are guided by iron flanges q, q, working
in vertical grooves in the carriage W, as shewn in Fig. 1. The peculiar kind
of saw F proposed to be used in this machine is formed as a circular plate,
presenting a perfectly plane surface on one side, and at the back part is bevilled
or wedge-shaped, for the purpose of throwing off the veneer when cut from the
block, and there is a thin plate of metal placed behind the saw as a guide to
conduct the veneer o, o, away, as shewn in Fig. 4. Let it be supposed that
the block of wood T has been made fast to the frame U, as described, and
that by the adjusting apparatus the block T has been advanced and brought
down to the edge of the circular saw F: rotary motion must now be given to
the main shaft A, when the pulley C will, through the agency of the band a, a,
cause the pulley E and circular saw F to revolve rapidly; the belt from
the pulley S on the main shaft at the same time acting upon the pulley R, will
give rotary motion to the shaft f and wheel Q, and thereby cause the endless
band P to travel, and to carry the bar g with the driver N to and fro, in the
way above explained, and the sliding carriage G of the circular saw being
connected with the driver N through the rod M, the sliding carriage G with
the circular saw will by these means be made to reciprocate horizontally, for
the purpose of carrying the saw through the block of wood, and always keeping
it in working contact, and the veneer thus cut, by passing the circular saw through
the block will bend over upon the shield, as shewn at o, o, in Fig. 4. The
block must now be lowered a certain distance in order to resume the cutting,
that is, for the purpose of effecting a further slice from the block in continuation
of the same vencer. This is done by means of levers acting upon a driving
click, which takes into a ratchet wheel on the shaft of the pinion. This ratchet
wheel r, r, fixed upon the shaft n of the pinion Z, has a driving click s taking
into its teeth. This click s is affixed to the upper end of a vibrating lever t, t,
which works loosely upon the axle n, and the lower part of this lover is con-
nected by a rod u to a right-angle lever v, v. There aro two of these right-
angled levers v and w working upon stationary fulcrum pins in their angles,
the lower arms of which levers are coupled together by a pin and fork at a. On
the side of the sliding bar or rod M, which connects the driver N with the
carriage G of the circular saw (as before described), there are two small studs
y and fixed. These studs, as the bar or rod M moves to and fro, respectively
come into contact with the upper end of one of the right-angled levers v or w,
and by pushing it back cause the lever t to vibrate, and thereby to drive the
clicks forward, and give so much rotary movement to the ratchet wheel ras
will turn the pinion Z sufficiently to lower the rack V and the frame U, and
thereby bring down the block of wood T into the proper situation to be again

page_text: acted upon by the rotary saw when it returns. It will now be seen that the
action of the levers last described (worked by the reciprocating rod which moves
the saw frame to and fro) being in communication with the click and ratchet
wheel, causes the pinion to lower the frame with the block of wood gradually as
the saw cuts the slice or veneer from it, until the veneer has been severed from
the whole depth of the block; when this has been done the frame with the block
must be raised again, and the block moved forward toward the saw a distance
equal to the thickness of the intended veneer, which, as before said, is effected
by turning the horizontal screw Y. This screw slides the carriage W backwards
or forwards upon the bed X, and in order to advance the block of wood with
the greatest possible exactness, there is a graduated circular plate affixed verti-
cally to the bed X, upon the face of which plate an index on the end of the
screw shaft Y works, for the purpose of regulating the distance by the turning
of the screw, that the carriage with the block of wood shall be moved forward
after each thickness of veneer has been cut off.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theophilus Richards, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.