IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SPLINTS FOR MATCHES."
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Tillett, of Banner Street, in the Parish of
St. Luke's, in the County of Middlesex, Splint Cutter, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SPLINTS FOR MATCHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Tillett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with the Petition, on the 23rd
March 1859.
I, FREDERIC TILLETT, of Banner Street, in the Parish of St. Luke's, in tho
County of Middlesex, Splint Cutter, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SPLINTS FOR
MATCHES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing machinery for cutting splints for
matches by combining a set of reciprocating lancers or cutters (for grooving
the block to be cut into splints) with a knife or cutter for slicing off the
grooved portions in such manner that the cut of the slicing knife shall take
place at right angles, or nearly so, to the cut of the grooving instruments. The
block to be cut may either. remain at rest during the operation, in which case
the slicing knife must have imparted to it a reciprocating motion (at or nearly
at right angles to that of the grooving cutters), or the said knife may remain
at rest, and the grooved block be moved up past it. The cutting edges of
both the knife and the grooving cutters may either be at right angles or
inclined to the directions in which they respectively move. I prefer causing

page_text: the grooving cutters to move horizontally and the slicing knife vertically, but
this arrangement may be modified as desired. The Invention also consists in
causing the face plate to work upon a spring instead of being afixed as
heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederic Tillett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
TILLETT, of Banner Street, in the Parish of Saint Luke's, in the County of
Middlesex, Splint Cutter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederic Tillett, Her special licence that I, the said Frederic Tillett,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Frederic Tillett, 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 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 CUTTING SPLINTS FOR MATCHES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Frederic Tillett, my exccutors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Frederic Tillett, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:
:
My Invention consists in constructing machinery for cutting splints for
matches by combining a set of reciprocating lances or cutters (for grooving
the block to be cut into splints) with a knife or cutter for slicing off the grooved

page_text: portions in such manner that the cut of the slicing knife shall take place at
right angles, or nearly so, to the cut of the grooving instruments. The block
to be cut may either remain at rest during the operation, in which case tho
slicing knife must have imparted to it a reciprocating motion (at or nearly at
right angles to that of the grooving cutters), or the said knife may remain at
rest and the grooved block be moved up past it. The cutting edges of both
the knife and the grooving cutters may either be at right angles or inclined to
the directions in which they respectively move. I prefer causing the grooving
cutters to move horizontally and the slicing knife vertically, but this arrange-
ment may be modified as desired.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, Figure 2 is a
plan, and Figure 3 is a vertical section, through the line a, b, of Figure 1, of a
machine for cutting splints for matches constructed according to my Invention.
A is the frame, which is bolted or screwed firmly to a bed plate or floor; B is
a bracket bolted to the frame A, which carries a guide C; D is a screw,
supported in bearings formed on each end of the guide C. One end of this screw
carries a ratchet wheel E, into the teeth of which a rod F, acting as a pawl,
takes. This pawl is connected through a band G to an eccentric H on a shaft
I, to which shaft rotary motion is communicated through a pulley J, J; K is n
threaded nut working along the screw D, and to this nut a metal block L is
screwed or bolted; L' is a slot formed in the guide C, through which the bolt
connecting the block to the nut travels; M is a block of wood from which the
splints are to be cut; N is the lance carrier, set at an incline, as shewn at
Figure 1; and N¹ are the lances, which are inserted in a box which is placed
in an aperture formed through the lance carrier, and there held by a screw or
screws. The carrier N is free to slide in V-grooves formed in guides O, O',
and has a reciprocating horizontal or nearly horizontal motion imparted to it, as
will be hereafter explained; P is a guillotine knife or cutter, which travels in
grooves formed in the guides P1, P1, and which works at right angles or
nearly so to the lances N¹; Q is a frame which works in V-grooves formed
in a guide Q', secured to the frame A. A horizontal reciprocating motion is
imparted to this frame Q through a shaft R, connected to it by a link at one
end, which shaft carries a crank R', connected to the shaft I, and to which
rotary motion is imparted through the pulley J; S is a bracket to connect the
carrier N to the frame Q; c is a steel plate fitted to the guide O, between
which and the knife the splints pass; V is a fly wheel to regulate the motion
of the whole machine. There are three distinct motions in the machine;
first, that which causes the wood to advance to the knife; second, the recipro-

page_text: cating motion of the lance carrier; and third, the vertical motion of the
knife.
I will now describe the action of the different parts of the machine. To
place a block of wood on the guide C, the pawl is removed from the teeth in
the ratchet wheel, and allowed to, rest on a bracket T (Figure 1) formed for
that purpose; the ratchet wheel is turned by hand in the reverse direction to
that in which the pawl pushes it, whereby the nut Ķ is driven backwards along
the screw D, taking with it the block L until the block is brought far
enough back to allow of the wood M being placed on the guide C. The pawl
F is then thrown into gear, and at every revolution, of the shaft I moves the
ratchet wheel in the direction of the arrow one tooth, which causes the wood to
advance far enough for the guillotine knife at each stroke to slice off the
thickness of a splint. As the shaft I revolves it communicates a reciprocating
motion to the frame Q, which imparts a similar movement to the lance carrier
N, the lances in which, as the carrier passes the wood M, lance or cut it with
as many cuts as there are lances, in a horizontal direction; as soon as they
have passed the wood the knife P descends, and the wood falls in splints.
for matches between the knife P and the steel plato c on to a receiver d..
I fit an apparatus not shewn in the Drawing for holding down and steadying
the wood, the pressure on which is regulated by springs and screws or
- otherwise.
And having now described the, nature of my said Invention, and in what.
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in machinery for cutting splints for matches the combination and method
of action of a set of reciprocating lances or cutters for cutting the block to be
formed into splints, and of a guillotine knife or cutter working at right angles
or nearly so to the said lances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Tillett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, One thousand.
eight hundred and fifty-nine.