IuPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING SLATE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Orme Carter, of 12, South John Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IuPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING SLATE."
Sealed the 20th December 1859, and dated the 15th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Orme Carter
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th July 1859.
I, WILLIAM ORME CARTER, of 12, South John Street, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING SLATE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for sawing
slate; for this purpose I employ a beam or frame of metal exceeding in length
the slab of slate to be cut, and furnished with a handle at each end. On the
under side of the beam or frame, guides are formed or fixed in which two
standards slide; these standards carry binding screws, by which the beam or
frame may be clamped to the slab of slate to be cut. On the beam or frame
a slide is mounted; it carries an axis which is turned by a crank handle, and
has mounted on it the circular saw or saws for cutting the slab. The beam
or frame also has a rack formed on it, into which a pinion on the slide gears,

page_text: and this pinion receives a slow motion from the axis which carries the saw or
saws by a suitable train of toothed wheels, and in this manner, while the
apparatus is in operation, the slide is caused to travel gradually forward as
the cut progresses. If it is desired to cut entirely through the slab of slate, a
single saw of sufficient size is used; but if it be desired to groove the slab, two
saws of smaller diameter are mounted on the same axis, and afterwards the
space between the two saw cuts is cleared out in the ordinary mauner. The
saws are so arranged that when at work they cut upwards or out of the work.
A machine constructed in this manner is portable, and is at the same time
readily fixed for use by clamping it to the slab to be cut; a machine arranged
in the manner above described may be adapted to cut slate out of the slab
rock.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Orme Carter in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ORME CARTER, of 12, South John Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Orme Carter, Her special licence that I, the said William
Orme Carter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Orme Carter, 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 SAWING SLATE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Orme Carter, my executors 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 Inven-
tion, 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.

page_text: axis e, which is turned by a crank handle; this axis has mounted on it one or
more circular saws e', according to the number of cuts to be made in the slab.
On the top of the beam or frame there is a rack a', into which a pinion f
carried by the slide, gears; this pinion receives motion through a train of
wheels from a pinion g on the axis e, which carries the circular saw or saws.
The pinion 9 gears with a toothed wheel h, which turns freely on an axis i;
this wheel h transmits motion by means of the pinion h³, to the toothed wheelj,
to which a pinion is fixed, and this gears with the toothed wheel k, fixed on
the axis i; this axis carries the pinion f, which gears with the rack on the
frame a; by this means when the axis e is rotated by the crank handle, the
axis will also be caused to rotate, but at a greatly reduced speed, and in this
manner when the apparatus is in operation the slide d will be caused to travel
gradually forward as the cut progresses. If it is desired to cut entirely
through the slab of slate, a single saw of sufficient size is used; but if it be
desired to groove the slab, two saws of smaller diameter are mounted at the
required distance apart on the axis e, as shown in the Drawing, the portion
between the cuts being removed in the usual manner. When it is required
to cut or groove in a slab or block of slate, the machine is placed on the slab
or block parallel to the cut or cuts to be made, and the standards c, c, are then
slid towards each other until the screws c³ bear against the bottom of the slab,
and on tightening up the screws the machine becomes firmly fixed to the
slab or block; the axis e is then caused to revolve in such a direction that the
saws cut upwards out of the work, and as the cut progresses the saw or saws
are moved forward as above described.
The gear for travelling motion may be arranged by worm wheel and cog
wheels in place of the numerous cog wheels above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Orme Carter, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM ORME CARTER. (L.8.)