AN IMPROVED CORK- CUTTING MACHINE
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Gedge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
August 1860-A communication from abroad by Barthélemy Belzon,
of St. Paul de Fenouillet, Departement des Pyrénées Orientales, France,
Engineer.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CORK-
CUTTING MACHINE," communicated to me from abroad by Barthélemy Belzon,
of St. Paul de Fenouillet, Departement des Pyrénées Orientales, France,
Engineer, to be as follows:
To obtain a well cut cork by machinery, it was deemed necessary firstly, to
use an imitation of the knife ordinarily used by cork cutters. The knife
employed in this improved machine is endless, and is set in motion (always
following the same direction) by two conical pulleys with nuts, which stretch
the knife. These pulleys are fixed to separate wheels, set in motion by means
of an endless screw, which tooths into each; a projection on the wheels keeps
the knife in position; this movement of the knife being obtained, circular
motion is to be given to the cork in front of the blade, and for this purpose a
chariot is used, which rises and falls with the framing on which it is placed;
by the action of rods and toothed wheels, and the centre of a rod changing
during the revolution of a wheel, the chariot rises as the wheel turns, and a
smaller cork is produced, the chariot being retained in this position by catches

page_text: on the wheel; it will be evident, that if one of the wheels turns more than
another a conical cork will be produced. The chariot is kept against the end-
less screw during the cutting of the cork by a large wheel and band, and small
wheels which turn the cork holders (which are of copper or other metal), and
they are to be changed according to the size of the cork required to be made;
these pieces turn round a moveable metal rod, which never requires changing,
its cylindrical thickness being such that carrying the cork holders its diameter
will not exceed that of the smallest sized cork, and therefore it is only the ends
of the cork holder which will have to be changed. A small spring presses
against the cork during the cutting thereof. The fine cork is made by drawing
back the chariot, when a rod having a small pulley at the end (which presses
against another rod pivoting on a centre, and which acts as a lever) will release
the small spring. Great economy of material is secured by preserving to the
cork its greatest thickness, that is to say, by removing the tare without touch-
ing the cork, which may be retained. A metal piece is placed at right angles
upon a rod having a collar at each end, which slides along two other .rods
forming the two hypothenuses of a rectangular triangle, so that the first-
mentioned piece as it rises (with the framing carrying the chariot) advances an
equal distance, and the sides of the angle are always in such a position that
the knife grazes them, therefore in placing the cork against the sides of the
said piece the tare is removed, and as much cork as is required is preserved.
The parts of the machine may be constructed, some of wood, others of metal,
and slight modifications may be found desirable to suit the several dimensions
and forms of cork required..