IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND REDUCING WOOD, ADAPTED ESPECIALLY TO PREPARE IT FOR THE PREPARATION OF PAPER FIBRE THEREFROM
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Abraham Lee, of the Severn Engineering
Works, Lydney, Gloucestershire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND REDUCING WOOD, ADAPTED ESPECIALLY TO
PREPARE IT FOR THE PREPARATION OF PAPER FIBRE THEREFROM."
Sealed the 28th August 1868, and dated the 3rd March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Abraham Lee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd March 1868.
I, JAMES ABRAHAM LEE, of the Severn Engineering Works, Lydney,
Gloucestershire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND REDUCING WOOD ADAPTED
ESPECIALLY TO PREPARE IT FOR THE PREPARATION OF PAPER FIBRE THEREFROM," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
cutting and reducing wood adapted especially to prepare it for the
preparation of paper fibre therefrom. For this purpose on a massive
bed plate I mount an axle with a crank at one end driven by a steam
cylinder on the same bed plate. On the axle is a large disc; it is flat on

page_text: its side or face, and has one or more cutters upon it standing out from
its face a distance equal to the thickness of the slice it is desired to cut
from the wood. The wood to be cut is placed in an inclined trunk or
tube open at the ends and abutting at its lower extremity on the surface
of the disc in the path of the cutter or cutters, which as they come round
just clear the trunk or tube. The trunk or tube opens at the top for
the wood to be inserted; it is packed full of pieces, the grain of the
wood running by preference lengthways of the trunk or tube. At the
lower end the wood rests against the surface of the disc, and at the upper
end it is pressed upon by a plunger or piston which when the machine
is at work is driven forward by a rack and pinion, and ratchet, or other
similar contrivance a set distance for each revolution of the disc; this
distance corresponds with the thickness of the slice the cutter or cutters
take off from the wood each time they come round. The slices removed
by the cutter pass through an opening or openings formed in the disc
opposite the cutter or cutters, or are otherwise made to fall upon a pair
of rollers or breakers; these rollers or breakers take down the slices
between or under them, breaking them up into morsels of the size
required. The axes of the rollers may be parallel or otherwise adjusted
with the axle of the disc; the rollers are geared together, and one of
the rollers is driven by a pitch chain gear work, or in other similar
manner from the axle of the disc. When more than one cutter is
carried by the disc each cutter does not slice the whole width of the
wood in the trunk or tube, but the cutters divide the width between
them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Abraham Lee in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ABRAHAM LEE, of the Severn Engineering Works, Lydney, Gloucester-
shire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said James Abraham Lee, Her special
licence that I, the said James Abraham Lee, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said James Abraham
Lee, 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 AND REDUCING WOOD ADAPTED
ESPECIALLY TO PREPARE IT FOR THE PREPARATION OF PAPER FIBRE THEREFROM,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Abraham
Lee, 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 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 James Abraham Lee, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
cutting and reducing wood adapted especially to prepare it for the
preparation of paper fibre therefrom. For this purpose on a massive
bed plate I mount an axle with a crank at one end driven by a steam
cylinder on the same bed plate. On the axle is a large disc; it is flat
on its side or face and has one or more cutters upon it standing out
from its face a distance equal to the thickness of the slice it is desired
to cut from the wood. The wood to be cut is placed in an inclined
trunk or tube open at the ends and abutting at is lower extremity on
the surface of the disc in the path of the cutter or cutters, which as they
come round just clear the trunk or tube. The trunk or tube is packed
full of pieces, the grain of the wood running by preference lengthways
of the trunk or tube. At the lower end the wood rests against the
surface of the disc, and when the machine is at work it is driven forward
by suitable apparatus at each revolution of the disc a distance corre-
sponding with the thickness of the slice the cutter or cutters take off
from the wood each time they come round. The slices removed by the

page_text: a is a strong shaft mounted in bearings a¹, a', on a massive bed plate,
on which a steam cylinder 6 is also fixed; by means of a connecting rod
the piston rod is coupled with a crank a on the end of the axis a, and
so the axis is driven. The other parts in connection with the steam
cylinder, and which together with it form a steam engine, require no
detailed description, the engine being of ordinary construction.
cast-iron disc keyed upon the axis, and it has a massive flange or ring c¹
bolted around it, so that it may serve as a fly wheel. The face of the
disc is turned smooth, and into recesses in it are fitted the steel
cutters ; the foot plate of the cutter, by which it is secured to the
disc, fills the recess forming a flush surface, and is fixed by bolts double
nutted; the cutting part ** springs from the foot plate in an inclined
direction so that the edge is about three-quarters of an inch in advance
of the face. Behind the cutters are inclined openings a³ through the
disc, by which the material which the cutters remove is able to pass
to the other side. It will be observed that the four cutters are set at
different distances from the centre of the discs, so that they each travel
in a separate course and act on different parts of the wood submitted to
them, the cuts however slightly overlap each other, so that together
the cutters slice the wood across its entire width. d is an inclined feed
trunk, in which the wood to be cut is placed in pieces of any size which
can be conveniently obtained; pieces two feet long, more or less, and

page_text: several inches wide and thick are suitable. d is a steel bar fixed at the
lower end of the trunk d, it acts as a shear blade with the cutters ct;
d³, d, are rollers projecting through openings in the bottom of the
trunk d, so that the pieces of wood resting upon these rollers may descend
the more easily. d³, d, are other rollers within the trunk which bear
on the top of the wood and hold it firmly whilst it is being cut; the
axes of these rollers pass out through slots in the sides of the trunk, and
are received into bearings which are carried by stems passing through
guide holes bored for them in the bars e, one on either side of the trunk;
the stems of these bearings are surrounded by spiral springs which hold
them down, but allow them to rise as may be required for the passage
of the wood beneath them. d' is another roller at the upper end of the
trunk; the bearings which carry its axis can slide up and down in the
slotted arcs. The bearings are furnished with curved stems working
through guide holes in the tops of the arcs, and springs surrounding
these stems tend constantly to press the roller d' downwards. The
roller d has a spur wheel on its axis which gears with a pinion on an
axis g, carrying also a belt pulley g'.driven by a strap from the pulley a
on the axis a; the roller being thus driven draws in the wood which
is presented to it by the workman and entered into the mouth of the
trunk between it and the first of the lower rollers d². The roller d⭑
having been set approximately to the height required adapts itself by
means of the springs to small variations in the thickness of the wood.
The adjustment for large variations in thickness is effected by the hand
wheel h, having on its axis a pinion gearing with spur teeth on the
arcsff, and these are carried by arms f' mounted so as to be able to
turn on the axis g. The bars e are slotted at their upper ends, and the
axis of the roller d* passes through them, so that these bars will move
with the roller d'; near their lower ends the bars e are jointed to a
cross frame capable of moving up and down in guides in the sides of
the trunk, and having a rack k fixed to it passing out through a guide
in the cover and gearing with a pinion on the shaft l, which is capable.
of being turned by a crank handle, and is held in any position required
by a friction clip. The wood fed in at the top of the trunk is thus
carried forward until it bears against the face of the disc c and is in
position for the cutters to act upon it. As it requires the greater part
of a rotation of the disc to slice the wood from side to side, and as the
wood cannot move forward until the complete slice is taken, the
pulley at which drives the feed gear is not fast on the shaft a, but is

page_text: held thereto by a friction clutch which slips when the wood is resting
against the disc.
m is a hand wheel having on its axis at the lower
end a
screw working into a nut carried by a lever, which is thus
actuated, and which holds the friction clutch in or out of gear. The
pieces of wood cut off by the cutters pass through the disc and are by
the hopper n conducted on to the crushing rollers o, o; these rollers
are formed of a number of cast rings with toothed and plain surfaces
alternately, and the projecting toothed ribs of one roller enter the space
between the ribs of the other roller. By passing between these rollers
the slices of wood removed by the cutters are broken down into small
fragments. The rolls o, o, are geared together, and the spur wheel on
one of them gears with a wheel on the intermediate axis p, on which is
also a larger wheel gearing with a spur wheel on the axis a.
q, q, are
scrapers or clearers entering between the projecting ribs of the rolls o;
they are fixed in bars turning on centres at q', q', and on one of these
bars is a weighted lever q³ which keeps the scrapers or clearers up to
the rolls. The scraper bar having the weighted lever upon it gives.
motion to the other scraper bar by means of inclined spring arms, as is
shown. The small fragments of wood fall from the rolls o into a cave
beneath the machine, from which they are removed for subsequent
treatment to obtain the fibre therefrom; this subsequent treatment is
well understood, it forms no part of this Invention.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the exact details described; but what I claim is, the
arranging and combining machinery for cutting and reducing wood,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Abraham Lee, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
sight