IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OARS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Lawrie, Chief Engineer of Her
Majesty's Dockyard, Chatham, in the County of Kent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OARS AND
SIMILAR ARTICLES."
Sealed the 23rd March 1853, and dated the 4th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Lawrie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th December 1852.
I, ALEXANDER LAWRIE, Chief Engineer of Her Majesty's Dock-
yard, Chatham, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OARS
AND SIMILAR ARTICLES" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a peculiar application of revolving
cutters for the formation of oars from rough pieces of timber which
have been previously sawn out to the general contour of an oar.
These pieces are laid on a bed on a traversing table, and gradually
passed longitudinally beneath the revolving cutters, the action of
which is similar to the dubber of an ordinary wood-planing machine.
The blade of the oar is formed by two sets of straight-edged cutters,

page_text: which are carried round by two revolving discs keyed on to a shaft;
these cutters each turn on stud-pins in the discs, and are actuated
by the traversing of two collars, to which they are connected by
links. These collars are moved by slots or grooves formed in the
traversing table, so that as the table proceeds the deviation of the
slots from the direction of the line of movement cause the collars
to be drawn asunder, thereby turning the revolving cutter on their
respective centres in the discs. This movement of the cutters on
their centres produces a difference in the angle formed by the com-
bination of their cutting edges. When the rough oar is inserted
into the machine it is put in blade foremost, and the cutting edges
which produce the blade forms at that time a very obtuse angle
with each other; but as the table and oar move forward the slots
or grooves in the table act upon the sliding collars, and by causing
them to recede from each other brings the cutting edges of the
cutters by degrees to an angle required, thereby producing the
rectangular portion of the oar at the junction of the blade with the
"loom." At this point the shaping is commenced by another set
of cutters, which are securely bolted to revolving discs keyed on to
a second shaft. The shape of the cutting edge of these cutters
combined is such as to produce a semi-circle when the two discs are
farthest asunder; but when they are made to approach each other
(which is effected by slots on the table, as described with reference
to the blade shapers,) the cutting edge will produce an elliptic;
in this position they commence the shaping of the "loom" or shank
of the oar, beginning at the blade end. As the oar proceeds beneath
these cutters the two revolving discs to which they are bolted are
caused to separate in the manner herein-before described, thereby
drawing asunder to a corresponding degree the sets of cutters
which gradually brings the form of the cutting edge to that of a
semi-circle for producing the rounded portion of the "loom." The
table is now brought back again, and the oar turned over so as to
present its opposite side to the action of the shapers or cutters.
These operations are accomplished in one machine, and the oar is
completed by forming the handle, which is effected by a machine

page_text: similar to a treenail shaper, being a hollow revolving socket which
is fitted with an internal cutter. The end of the oar is introduced
into the revolving socket, and the cutter inside pares off so much as
is required for forming the handle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
l'atent, filed by the said Alexander Lawrie in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 4th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALEXANDER LAWRIE, Chief Engineer of Her Majesty's Dockyard,
Chatham, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Lawrie,
Her special license that I, the said Alexander Lawrie, my exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Lawrie, my 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OARS
AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Alexander Lawrie, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
perforined, 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 Alexander Lawrie, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained 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 self-acting mechanical arrangement
for manufacturing oars and similar articles from rough or partially
prepared blanks by means of suitably disposed cutters acting upon
the blanks during the traverse of the latter through or beneath the
cutters. Each individual blank is laid on a bed on a traversing
table, and is gradually passed longitudinally beneath revolving
cutters, arranged somewhat like the cutters of a wood-planing
machine. The oar-blade is shaped by two sets of straight-edged
cutters, carried on two sets of revolving discs set on a cross shaft,
each cutter being contrived to turn on a stud-pin in the disc by the
action of a traversing collar linked to the cutter. The collar is
moved by a guide-piece or slot working in connection with the
table in such manner that, as the latter proceeds, the deviation of
the slots from the direction of the line of motion causes the collars
to be drawn asunder, thus moving the cutters each upon their stud
centres. This action changes the combined angle of the cutting
edges, as required to suit the shape of the oar, which is placed in
the machine blade first, the opposed cutting edges at this stage
being set to produce a very obtuse angle with each other. But
as the operation proceeds the recession of the sliding collars brings
the cutting edges by degrees to an acute angle with each other, as
required for shaping the rectangular part of the oar at the point
of junction of the blade with the "neck." Here the shaping is
taken up by another set of cutters, so contrived that when farthest
asunder in their actual shaping position any two opposite cutters
combine to produce a semi-circle; but when made to approximate
by the
agency of a suitable differential movement, the cutting edges
produce an ellipse, and they now commence to shape the "loom"
or oar-shank from the blade end. These cutter discs also gradually
separate to bring the cutters to shape a semi-circle to produce the
rounded portion of the loom. The table is now brought back again,

page_text: the oar being turned over to present its opposite side to the cutters.
The oar is completed by shaping the handle in a revolving cutter
socket.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1, of my Drawings, is a longitudinal eleva-
tion of my improved oar-making machine, with both ends of the
stationary bed-plate and one end of the traversing table broken
away; Figure 2, is a plan of the same corresponding, showing one
of the traversing tables complete, the other being removed to show
the mechanism beneath; Figure 3, is a longitudinal elevation of
one of the reversing holders for holding the oars during the shaping
process; and Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, are various transverse sectional
details of the holder. Figure 1, on Sheet 2, is an end elevation of
the complete machine; Figure 2, is a transverse section of the same,
taken through one of the cutter shafts; Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, are
detailed views of the rotatory cutters; and Figure 7, represents
side and edge elevations and transverse sections of a complete oar.
The main framing of the machine consists of the two parallel basc
or bed pieces A, connected together at intervals by the cross pieces
B, and carrying standards C, as supports for the overhead cutting
mechanism and other details, as well as journals D, set at regular
intervals asunder, to carry the bearing pulleys E. The peripheries
of all these pulleys are shaped to fit to corresponding longi-
tudinal V grooves at F, on the lower surface of the traversing tables
G, so that the tables may traverse from end to end of their beds
with great accuracy and freedom, like the tables of planing machines.
Motion is communicated to the tables by a first motion shaft driven
by a belt pulley, and carrying a pinion in gear with the large spur
wheel H on the cross shaft I. This shaft has upon it two "stepped"
toothed pinions J in gear, with corresponding toothed racks K
fast to the under side of the tables, so that the revolution of the
driving shaft carries the tables steadily along over their bearing
pulleys. The tables are grooved down the centre to receive the
oar holders L, M, on which the oar blanks are held down and
secured in position by turning the hand-wheel N, which screws
forward the clamp O, abutting against the end of the blank, the

page_text: other end being pressed against the holder P, as arranged in my
Drawings. It is intended that the first side of the oar shall be
shaped on the flat holder L, and the second on the recessed holder
M. The blank is, therefore, first of all secured on the holder L,
and the table being put in motion by putting the cone clutch Q, on
that side in gear, the blank is carried beneath the series of
revolving cutters which act in succession upon the advancing
wood. All these rotatory cutters are driven by separate belt
pulleys R, and their shafts are carried in bearings in brackets S,
capable of sliding horizontally in vertical seats in the standards C,
for giving the necessary differential cut to the wood blanks, the
oar being formed entirely by the combination of the traversing
movement of the table and the cross action of the rotatory cutters
with the individual turning of the latter upon their axes. As
the blade end of the oar passes beneath the first pair of cutters, as
at T in Figure 1, Sheet 2, each opposite cutter forms one of the
flat inclined sides from the centre of the oar to the edge, the oar
blank being held down in transit by the adjustable rollers U.
These rollers are carried in bearings in the ends of the vertical
slides V, which are supported by links W jointed to end levers on
the cross shafts X in the bed. Each shaft X has hung to it a
weighted lever Y, by which the roller is pressed down on the oar,
and a set of longitudinal bars Z, carrying tappets a, are so arranged
that the rollers are each elevated from the oar when no longer
wanted by the action of an incline on the table. In this way
when the table has traversed its full extent all the rollers have
been elevated to allow the finished oar to be removed. A new
blank may then be laid in, and the attendant now brings down
all the rollers by working the lever c. As the oar blade passes
beneath the blade cutters the traversing table carries with it the
adjustable "feeler" bar d, which works through or between a series
of pairs of rollers e, set in the lever arms f, on the lower ends of
corresponding vertical spindles g. These work the cutter heads by
means of the forked lever arms h, which carry rings i, fitting grooves
in the sliding bosses j, on the cutter shaft k. This is the blade

page_text: shaping action for the horizontal movement. The guide rollers e,
following the line of the guide plate d, actuate the vertical spindles g,
in such manner as to traverse the sliding bosses j, inwards towards
cach other for cutting the narrower thicker portion of the oar blade.
The sliding bosses are each set loosely on the cutter shaft on a
feather, so as to turn with the shaft, and each carries four link
pieces, the opposite ends of which are linked at m, to the tail of
cach cutter n. Four cutters are used in each disc o, each cutter
being moveable on its stud centre p, in the disc, which is keyed fast
upon the shaft. The two discs are set opposite to each other, so
that the edges of the cutters embrace the oar from each side. The
inner disc, or that nearest the centre of the duplex machine, carries
as well two additional links passing across to the two ends of a
pair of double-ended levers set on fixed centres q in one of the discs.
The other ends r, of these levers are linked by the rods s, to the
outside sliding boss t. In this way the boss t has a reverse
sliding motion a scompared with the inner disc, and this boss t
then carries four links u, jointed to the tails of the cutters in the
outer disc, just as in the first instance. In this way the simul-
taneous traverse of the bosses turns the entire set of cutters upon
their centres from the position shewn at T, where the flat portion
of the blade is being formed to that indicated at v, where the
shoulder portion commences as the oar traverses along beneath.
Whilst this is going on, the vertical incline piece or guide w, on
the table gradually forces up the pulley arm x, fast to the vertical
sliding bracket S of the cutter shaft. This carries up the cutters
with a gradual sweep in relation to the oar's traverse, so that the
cutters are brought by degrees into lighter cut as the neck of the
oar is approached. It is to be understood that the oar is first of
all so set at the commencement of the action that the tip of the
blade is just outside the "roughing" cutter y. This roughly forms
the oar in the manner which I have described, and the blade then
enters beneath the "finishing" cutter z, which is arranged in every
respect like the first, and is actuated by the same details. Whilst
this blade-shaping action is going on, the rounded part of the neck

page_text: All this is effected by
All these individual
and the loom of the oar are being formed.
the second sets of cutters 1, 2, behind.
cutters or knives are fixed in their discs, and the shaping action
is entirely produced by the traverse of the discs upon their shafts.
The necessary movement is obtained from the guide bar 3, fast on
the table, this bar being thus traversed between the rollers 4, on
the link pieces 5, which again are on the lower ends of the vertical
spindles 6. The upper ends of these spindles carry cross-heads 7,
attached to the horizontal slide brackets in which the cutter shafts
revolve. One cutter shaft only in each bed is so arranged, the
opposite or inner ones 8 are also capable of sliding; but each is
connected to its neighbouring shaft so as to have a reverse or oppo-
site motion. Each individual cutter is screwed fast down on its
seat in the disc, with its cutting edge set forward in the direction
of revolution, and in a line with the axis of revolution. Each duplex
cutter is driven by the belt pulley R, made wide enough to allow
of the longitudinal traverse of the shafts without interfering with
the belt action. The cutter discs are all keyed fast upon their
shafts, and the two shafts 8, 9, in cach case are connected to rotate
together by a key 10, on the end of the shaft 8, entered into a
correspondingly grooved socket 11, in the shaft 9. In this way
the shafts may be drawn asunder or approximated without inter-
fering with their connection as regards turning together. The
cutters in both these discs are exactly similar, the cutting edges
being rounded out, as at 12. When the oar blank is first placed
in the machine these cutter discs are at their furthest point
apart, as indicated at 13; but the action of the guide bar 3,
coming into play, shifts the cutter brackets in the manner which
I have already described. This traverse communicates a similar,
but reverse, action to the corresponding cutter disc by the link
14, jointed at its opposite end to a lever turning on a fixed
centre at 15, in the fixed framing. The opposite lower end of
this lever carries a link 16, jointed to the bracket bearing, so that
the two cutter discs can thus approximate and recede simul-
taneously. In this way these two after cutters act just like the

page_text: first pair, the discs 1 being the roughers, and 2 the finishers.
They take up the shaping of the oar from the rectangular portion
17 of the neck, where the latter joins the blade, and the shaping
guide-plate directs the distance asunder of the two pairs of discs in
such manner that the rectangular portion of the neck shall be
swept up first into a flat elliptical section 18, thence running into
a rounded elliptic 19, and finally gliding into a cylindrical sec-
tion 20, for the loom. This completes the oar, with the exception
of the handling, and all the rollers are then elevated clear of the oar
by the action of the traversing incline already referred to. This
acts throughout the entire line of rollers, and carries them all clear
of the oar.
It will be seen that all these rollers are shaped circum-
ferentially in such manner as to fit to the finished oar, so that
they may not injure the shaped edges by their pressure. In a
single machine, with only one bed and table, the oar may be
entirely finished on both sides on the single table; but when a
duplex machine, like the one which I have represented, is used, the
oar shaped on one side is removed from the first table and carried
to the second, whilst the first table is run back for a fresh blank.
Or, by another plan, the detached reversible holder 21 may be
used; this consists of a series of lengths laid in line, and joined
together to form a continuous holder; this is set up on the table
first of all, with its flat side 22 up, so that the rough blank may
be laid down and shaped upon it, the blank being held by the
clamps 23, 24. The partially shaped oar is then removed, and the
holder is turned round to bring its hollowed side 25 up, and the
oar is laid in this hollow for being finished. Such reversible
holders may
be made with two flat and two concave sides, so that
each holder may answer for two lengths of oars. To facilitate the
running back of the table after each cutting action I arrange it so
that the bearing rollers shall be on an incline of a few inches. In
this way, when the table is released from its forward traversing
action, it runs quickly back by itself. Or, instead of this plan, the
quick return gearing of the common planing machine may be used.
The oar is now ready for handling; this is accomplished by the

page_text: socket cutter 26, which may be conveniently placed between the
two beds at 27. It consists simply of a tubular shaft 28, run-
ning in the two bearings 29, and driven by the belt pulley 30.
The end of this shaft is bored out with a bell mouth 31, and in
this is a correspondingly shaped cutter 32, with its edge in the line
of the shaft's axis. The loom of the oar is presented to this
mouth, and it is pushed therein as the cutter shapes up the handle.
At 33 is a second small cutter, passed into the socket at right
angles to the socket's axis, and this rounds the end of the handle,
as shewn in the Plan, when the handle is completely shaped.
Having now 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 conclu-
sion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to the precise details or
arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or refer to, as
many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I con-
sider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Inven-
tion secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,―
First. The general arrangement and construction of machinery,
apparatus, or means for the manufacture of oars and similar articles,
as herein-before described.
Second. The system or mode of shaping oars and similar articles
by means of rotatory cutters, arranged to approach to and recede
from each other, in combination with cutters turning on individual
stud centres, in rotatory discs or carriers, so as to obtain a com-
bined differential shaping movement.
Third. The system or mode of manufacturing oars, wherein the
blanks are entirely shaped on one side by one continuous differen-
tial operation.
Fourth. The system or mode of running back the carrying tables
by means of an incline or slope.
Fifth. The application and use of a reversible or rotatory oar-
holder for shaping the reverse sides of the oar with one setting.

page_text: Sixth. The system or mode of shaping the handles of oars by
an inside rotatory or socket cutter.
Seventh. The system or mode of bringing the rotatory cutters
into and out of cutting action by inclined guides or planes, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Lawrie, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Third day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
ALEXANDER LAWRIE. (L.S.)