Ax IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING SLATE IN QUARRIES PREVIOUS TO LAYING THEM OPEN, AND FOR CUTTING IN COAL PITS, MINES, AND STONE QUARRIES
Year: 1867

page_text: LELLERD
and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "Ax IMPROVED MACHINE
FOR CUTTING SLATE IN QUARRIES PREVIOUS TO LAYING THEM OPEN, AND FOR
CUTTING IN COAL PITS, MINES, AND STONE QUARRIES."-A communication
from abroad by Joseph Debry, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, in the
Empire of France.
FOR CUTTING SLATE IN QUARRIES PREVIOUS TO LAYING THEM OPEN, AND FOR
CUTTING IN COAL PITS, MINES, AND STONE QUARRIES."-A communication
from abroad by Joseph Debry, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, in the
Empire of France.
Sealed the 21st January 1868, and dated the 27th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th July 1867.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of
No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE
FOR CUTTING SLATE IN QUARRIES PREVIOUS TO LAYING THEM OPEN, AND FOR CUTTING
IN COAL PITS, MINES, AND STONE QUARRIES," a communication to me from abroad
by Joseph Debry, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin, Pas, in the Empire of
France, to be as follows:-
This machine is composed (as illustrated on the annexed Sheets of Drawing,
forming part of this Provisional Specification) of a framing A (Fig. I., Sheet II.)
on which are set columns B, B', B", which fix on to the sides of the gallery.
by means of a screw supporting a plate with points or spikes which entering

page_text: into the material keep the machine from sliding. When the formation of the
sides or walls of the gallery presents some difficulties wooden wedges are placed
between them and the spikes of the plate, or the extremities of the tightening
columns may be fitted with caps in which enter pivots moved by a screw, the
cap being free may take every possible inclination. On the column B' is
set a tool holder O (Sheet II., Fig. I.) turning round an axle C; this tool
holder forms two cheeks between which is held the tool M (Sheet II., Fig. II.)
by means of a pin a; the tool is pierced with small holes into which the pin
enters, and thus serves to set the "burin" or cutting tool at the desired dis-
tance for working on the block. At the extremity of the tool is set a "burin
or cutter N the shape of which varies with the nature of the block; it serves
to enter into the material and makes a notch or cut equal to its thickness, so
that pieces of given dimensions may be detached from the block without
waste. To work the tool there is fixed on the framing a carriage or sliding
rest D having fitted at H a conductor E which can set the tool at a distance
more or less great by means of holes which enter an axle fixed on the carriage.
In order to give great resistance to the tool the frame bears an iron plate
serving to uphold and guide it in its work.
"
or
The machine works as follows:-The support B¹ (Sheet II.) is so placed
that the tool being set at the first hole in the tool holder the "burin
cutter comes near the block to be notched or cut; further the guide is placed
at the height at which it is desired to begin, then by giving movement to the
lever L the cutter makes its incision to a certain depth. This done the con-
ductor with guide is raised one hole and another incision is made, which
permits the obtaining of a slab of slate or a piece of coal or stone, according
to the material operated upon, equal to the distance from the first to the last
hole, or of a lesser dimension. Now as an indefinite length may
be given
to the lever a slab or piece may always be obtained of as large a size as the
block to be cut will permit. Without in any way departing from the prin-
ciple of this machine it is necessary to give to the parts which compose it
arrangements in accordance with the material to be worked upon.
Sheet I. represents the machine in its primitive state, and is well adapted
for working in slate quarries. A, frame; a, cross piece binding the two
frames; B, shaft, the extremity of which forms an eccentric; F, socket fixed
on shaft B; L, lever fixed on socket F; E, tool; d, pin fixing the tool to the
eccentric; c, pivot pin fixed on one of the sides of the framing; D, guide of
the tool travelling on the pivot pin; H, bar or rod connecting the tool with
its guide; I, screw serving to fix the machine to the walls; O, columus tied
together by the plates »; P, conductor of the guide D and of the tool E;

page_text: R, screw passing through the conductor in order to make it rise and fall;
V, fly; X, pinion set on the fly shaft; t, toothed wheel making the screw R
turn to make the conductor travel; K, screw serving to fix this part of the
machine between the sides; b, "burin" or cutter.
Fig. I., Sheet II., represents the machine arranged so as to work equally
well in slate and in stone quarries. A, framing; B, B', B", columns which
fix to the sides of the gallery; O, tool holder; C, axle of this tool holder.
Fig. II. (Sheet II.).
M, tool; N, cutter; D, carriage or sliding rest;
E, conductor fitted at H; L, lever; O, tool holder; a, pin which fixes the
tool. The arrangement shewn in these Figures permits the giving to this tool
every desired inclination.
Fig. 3 (Sheet II.) represents an arrangement suitable for working in stone
quarries. The frame is of woodwork, but the carriage, tool, tool holder,
"burin" or cutter, and lever are still employed.
Fig. 4 represents an arrangement for the low galleries of coal mines.
Fig. 5 represents an arrangement by which the guide D of Sheet I. is
replaced by a tool similar to the tool E of the same Sheet. In this case there
are two tool holders, and therefore two "burins" or cutters which by turns
work and act as guide; when the upper tool works the lower acts as guide,
and vice versa.
The section of the block being made in rising it is the upper tool which
works to the height of the roof or sky line, and arrived there it is the lower
tool which takes up the section and works in descending down to the wall.
It follows from this arrangement that each tool requires an eccentric. The
object of the piece in form of cross C is to advance and retire the eccentric
which governs the come-and-go movement, so that the support F which ties
the two tools is always square with them. The catches D and E serve to
render immoveable that one of the two eccentrics which momentarily ceases
to work.
At Fig. 5 (Sheet II.) A indicates the upper tool holder; B, lower tool
holder; C, cross piece serving to advance and retire the eccentrics so as to
give to the support F a position always square with the tool holders A and B.;
D, upper catch serving to fasten the eccentric; E, lower catch; F, support
tying the two tool holders and supporting them by turns; G, eccentric ;
I, I, mortise of tool holders; J, pin; K, lever changing eccentric at the
completion of each section; L, pin attaching the piece in form of cross C by
its slot to the screw.
Figs. I. and II., Sheet III., represent an arrangement of this improved
machine suitable for making horizontal sections. For this purpose the frame

page_text: ´is represented by a piece of timber A, B, pierced with holes at a distance
apart equal in length to the journey of the carriage. In these holes may enter
a bolt C serving as axle to the lever M on which is set a carriage P moved
by means of a fly V by the screw v. The tool holder R is fitted on the car-
riage and may be placed at various inclinations by means of small holes O in
which are placed screws fixing the tool holder to the carriage or sliding rest;
a handle is fixed to the carriage and serves to enable the workman to open it
to give movement to the lever; at the point r is set the tool, which may be
placed at according to the difficulty of the work; wooden guides N and N'
on which are fitted a rounded bar of iron serve as sliding bars, the one to the
tool, the other to the lever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Gedge, Her special licence that I, the said William Edward
Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Gedge, 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 "AN
IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING SLATE IN QUARRIES PREVIOUS TO LAYING THEM
OPEN, AND FOR CUTTING IN COAL PITS, MINES, AND STONE QUARRIES," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Joseph Debry, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Edward Gedge, 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 Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to

page_text: 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 William Edward Gedge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the four Sheets of Drawing
hereunto annexed and forming part of this Specification:-
This machine is composed of a framing A (Fig. 1, Sheet II.) on which
are set columns B, B, B", which fix on to the sides or surfaces of the gallery
by means of a screw supporting a plate with points or spikes, which. entering
into the material keep the machine from sliding. When the formation of the
sides or walls of the gallery presents some difficulties wooden wedges are
placed between them and the spikes of the plate, or the extremities of the
tightening columns may be fitted with caps in which enter pivots moved by a
screw, the cap being free may take every possible inclination. On the
column B¹ is set a tool holder O (Sheet II., Fig. 1) turning round an axle &
this tool holder forms two cheeks, between which is held the tool M
(Sheet II., Fig. II.) by means of a pin a (Fig. 1). The tool is pierced
with small holes into which the pin enters, and thus serves to set the chisel
or cutting tool "burin" at the desired distance for working on the block. At
the extremity of the tool is set a cutter or chisel N, the shape of which varies
with the nature of the block; it serves to enter into the material, and makes
a notch or cut equal to its thickness, so that pieces of given dimensions may
be detached from the block without waste. To guide the tool there is fixed
on the framing a carriage or sliding rest D, to which is fitted a conductor E for
setting the tool at any given distance by means of holes and an axle fixed on
the carriage. In order to greatly strengthen the tool the frame carries an
iron plate serving to uphold and guide the tool in its work.
The machine works as follows:-The support B' (Sheet II.) is so placed
that the tool being set at the first hole in the tool holder the chisel or cutter
comes near the block to be chipped or cut further, the guide is placed at the
height at which it is desired to begin, then by giving movement to the
lever L the cutter makes its incision to a certain depth; this done the con-
ductor with guide is raised one hole, and another incision is made which
permits the obtaining of a slab of slate or a piece of coal or stone, according to
the material operated upon, equal to the distance from the first to the last
hole or of a lesser dimension. Now as an indefinite length may be given to
the lever a slab or piece may always be obtained of as large a size as the
block to be cut will permit. Without in any way departing from the prin-

page_text: ciple of this machine it is necessary to give to the parts which compose it
arrangements in accordance with the material to be worked upon.
Sheet I. represents the machine in its primitive state, and well adapted for
working in slate quarries. A, frame; a, cross pieces binding the two frames;
B, shaft, the extremity of which forms an eccentric; F, socket or bracket
fixed on shaft B; L, lever fixed on socket F; E, tool; d, pin fixing the tool
to the eccentric; c, pivot pin fixed on one of the sides of the framing; d, guide
of the tool travelling on the pivot pin; H, bar or rod connecting the tool with
its guide; I, screws serving to fix the machine to the walls; O, columns tied
together by the plate r; P, conductor of. the guide D and of the tool E;
R, screw passing through the conductor in order to raise and lower it; V, fly;
✗, pinion set on the fly shaft; t, toothed wheel by which the screw R is
turned to make the conductor travel; K, screws serving to fix this part of
the machine between the sides or walls; b, cutter or chisel ("barin ").
Fig. I. (Sheet II.) represents the machine arranged so as to work
equally well in slate quarries and in coal pits. A, framing; B, B', B", columns
which fix to the sides of the gallery; O, tool holder; C, axle of this tool
holder; a, pin, which fixes the tool; D, carriage; L, place for the lever.
Fig. II. (Sheet II.). M, tool; N, chisel or cutter ("burin"); D, car-
riage or sliding rest; E, conductor; L, lever. The arrangement illustrated
by these Figures permits every desired inclination to be given to the tool.
Fig. 3 (Sheet II.) represents an arrangement suitable for working in
stone quarries. The frame is of woodwork, but the carriage, tool, tool holder,
chisel or cutter, "burin," and lever are still employed.
Fig. 4 represents an arrangement for the low galleries of coal mines.
Fig. 4 (Sheet II.) represents an arrangement of this improved machine
suitable for making horizontal sections. For this purpose the frame is repre-
sented by a piece of timber A, B, pierced with holes at a distance apart equal
in length to the journey of the carriage. In these holes may enter a bolt C,
serving as axle to the lever M, on which is set a carriage or slide rest P moved
by means of a fly V by the screw v, the tool holder R is fitted on the carriage,
and may be placed at various inclinations by means of small holes O, in which
are placed screws fixing the tool holder to the carriage or sliding rest; a
bandle P is fixed to the carriage, and serves to enable the workman to give
movement to the lever; at the point r is set the tool, which may be placed
at according to the difficulty of the work. Wooden guides N and N¹ on
which is fitted a rounded bar of iron serve as sliding bars, the one to the
tool, the other to the lever.
Fig. 5 represents an arrangement by which the guide D of Sheet I. is

page_text: replaced by a tool similar to the tool E of the same Sheet. In this case there
are two tool holders, and therefore two chisels or cutters "burins", which
alternately work and act as guide, when the upper tool works the lower acts as
guide, and vice versa. The section of the block being made in rising it is the
upper tool which works to the height of the roof top or sky line, and arrived
there it is the lower tool which takes up the section, and works in descending
down to the wall. It follows from this arrangement that each tool requires
an eccentric. The object of the piece in form of cross C is to advance and
retire the eccentric which governs the come-and-go movement, so that the
support F which ties the two tools is always square with them. The catches
D and E serve to render immovable that one of the two eccentrics which
momentarily ceases to work.
At Fig. 5 (Sheet II.), A indicates the upper tool holder; B, lower tool
holder; C, cross piece, serving to advance and retire the eccentrics so as to
give to the support F a position always square with the tool holders A and B.
D, upper catch, serving to fasten the eccentric; E, lower catch; F, support
uniting the two tool holders, and supporting them by turns; G, eccentric;
I, I, mortice of tool holders; J, pin; K, lever changing eccentric at the
completion of each section; L, pin, attaching the piece in form of cross C by its
slot to the screw.
Sheet III. shews a machine on the same principle as those above described,
with the application of a helical screw in which roll friction rollers fixed
to the tool holder; the rotary motion given to this tool communicates to it a
forward motion together with its rotating impulsion. The effect of these
simultaneous actions of the tool holder is to cause it to penetrate into the
block to be cut, and to make a vertical section. A indicates the supports of
the machine; B, coupling boxes joining these supports, two and two; C, tool
holder; D, D', sliding rings or brackets for fixing the tool holder at the desired
height; E, belical screw, in the grooves of which run friction rollers, which
advance the tool holder.
The machine represented, Sheet IIII., is intended for making horizontal
sections, and is based upon the principle of the screw like that above described
and illustrated, Sheet III., from which it differs only in that it may advance
a certain distance each stroke of the chisel which it gives in the block. A
indicates a metal plate toothed like a rack; C, D, movable frame, furnished
in front with two claws or clicks a; b, movable plate sliding on the plate A,
and provided on one of its sides with two other claws or clicks. e, f, pro-
jections against which the ring G strikes by its one tooth. In the rotary
movement given to the tool when it goes from left to right the tool strikes

page_text: the projection e, which it drives along together with the frame C, D, in the
reverse movement of the tool, that is to say, from right to left; this tooth
strikes the projection f, but it cannot drive it back, it being held by the clicks
in front of the frame, and therefore it is the machine itself which is displaced
sliding on the rack, and thus effecting a horizontal cut in the block to be
chipped.
Claim is made,-
Firstly, to the mechanical application of the cutters or chisels ("burins")
cutting in slate quarries, in mines, and in stone quarries before they are
laid open "crabotage."
Secondly, to the mechanical principles upon which this new application
is based.
Thirdly, to the machine herein described whatever may be the shape, the
arrangement, the dimensions of its constituent parts, and the materials used in
its construction, as well as the method of fixing my machine to the sides or
surfaces of the galleries.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.