NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SWORDS, MATCHETTS, AND KNIVES, WHICH SAID MACHINERY MAY ALSO BE EMPLOYED FOR GRINDING GUN-BARRELS AND FILES, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edgar Brooks, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SWORDS, MATCHETTS, AND KNIVES,
WHICH SAID MACHINERY MAY ALSO BE EMPLOYED FOR GRINDING GUN-BARRELS
AND FILES, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
Sealed the 10th October 1861, and dated the 15th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edgar Brooks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
April 1861..
I, EDGAR BROOKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "NEW OR
IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SWORDS, MATCHETTS, AND
KNIVES, WHICH SAID MACHINERY MAY ALSO BE EMPLOYED FOR GRINDING GUN-BARRELS
AND FILES, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My new or improved grinding machinery consists of one or more metallic
disks, divided on their faces by projecting radial or other divisions, the
compartments thus formed being filled with the grinding material, which
may be either the ordinary grinding stone or any grinding composition. I

page_text: ordinarily employ two of such disks, each of the said disks being fixed on
the end of a rotating shaft. The two shafts are ordinarily placed in the
same line and are made to rotate in opposite directions. Or the shafts may
be inclined to one another so as to make the faces of the disks inclined to
one another. The disks are made parallel or are inclined to one another,
according to the shape of the articles to be ground. The said disks may be
brought into contact and made to grind their acting surfaces true. The
articles to be ground are passed between the opposed faces of the rotating
disks and are ground on both sides. When cylindrical articles, as gun-barrels
are ground they are turned round so as to bring every side in succession
under the operation of the grinding disks. When only one side of an article
requires grinding one disk only may be used, the articles being supported
against a fixed support. For polishing I use either a polishing composition
cast between the divisions in the faces of the disks or the surfaces of the
metal disks without divisions may be dressed with polishing material in the
ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edgar Brooks in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDGAR
BROOKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edgar Brooks, Her special licence that I, the said Edgar Brooks, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edgar
Brooks, 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 "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING SWORDS, MATCHETTS, AND KNIVES, WHICH BAID
MACHINERY MAY ALSO BE EMPLOYED FOR GRINDING GUN-BARRELS AND FILES; AND
FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the

page_text: said Edgar Brooks, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Edgar Brooks, 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 :-
My Invention consists of new or improved machinery for grinding and
polishing swords, matchetts, and knives, and also for grinding gun-barrels and
files, and for other like purposes, constructed in the manner herein-after
described and represented in the accompanying Drawing.
My said new or improved grinding machinery consists of one or more
metallic discs, divided on their faces by projecting radial and circular divisions,
or by other divisions, the compartments thus formed being filled with the
grinding material, which may be either the ordinary grinding stone or any
grinding composition. The faces of the discs thus made constitute the acting
surfaces of the grinding machinery. The said disc or discs are mounted on
the end of a rotating shaft or rotating shafts, as herein-after explained.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of grinding machinery constructed
according to my Invention, in which said machinery two rotatory discs, the
axes of which are in the same line, are used; Figure 2 is a front elevation of
the acting face of one of the said discs; Figure 3 is a plan of Figure 1; and
Figure 4 is an end view of the same.
a, b, are the metallic discs, on the faces of which discs, and near their
circumference, projecting radial divisions c, c, are made, which divisions form,
with the circular divisions c³, c, a series of compartments which are filled with
grinding stones or other grinding composition, marked d, d. The said grinding
discs a, b, are mounted on the ends of the shafts e, f, respectively, the said
shafts turning in bearings g, g, on the uprights h, h. The said shafts e, f, are
capable of a sliding or to-and-fro motion in the said bearings g, g. Motion in
opposite directions is given to the said shafts e, f, and discs a, b, by driving
bands passing over the pulleys e, f, on the said shafts. By means of the
levers or treadles i, k, keyed to the shafts,, motion is given to the arms 1, P,
also keyed to the shafts, k, respectively. The said arms 1, 2, act on the
links m, m³, and upon the collars n, n², on the shafts e, f. By pressing upon
or raising the lever or treadle i or ka sliding motion may be given to either of

page_text: the shafts e, f, and the opposed faces of the discs a, b, may be brought nearer
to or further from each other, the distance between the said discs being
determined by the thickness of the articles to be ground.
In using my, machinery the workman sits in front of the discs a, b, and
placing his feet upon the treadles i, k, gives the required pressure to the discs
a, b, and the articles to be ground are passed between the opposed faces of the
rotating discs and are ground on both sides. When cylindrical articles, as
gun-barrels, are ground, they are turned round so as to bring every side in
succession under the operation of the grinding discs a, b. When only one side
of an article requires grinding, one only of the discs a, b, may be used, the
articles being supported against a fixed support. When worn the discs a, b,
may be brought into contact by depressing the treadles i, k, and their acting
surfaces ground truly. The shafts e, f, of the grinding discs a, b, may be
inclined to one another, so as to make the faces of the said discs incline to one
another, the inclination being regulated by the shape of the articles to be
ground. When the grinding blocks d, d, are worn down they can be removed
from the divisions, and fresh blocks inserted in their places.
In constructing polishing machinery according to my Invention, I take a
disc or discs similar to the discs a, b, having divisions made on their faces, and
I cast in or secure between the said divisions the requisite polishing compo-
sition. The said polishing discs are mounted on rotating shafts, and are used
in the same manner as that of the grinding discs herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawing. Or the surfaces of the metal
discs may be made plain, that is, the discs may be without divisions on their
faces, and the said plain faces dressed with the polishing material in the
usual way.
Invention, and the manner of
understood that I do not limit
Having now described the nature of my
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the Drawing,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion; but I claim as my Invention the new or improved machinery for
grinding and polishing swords, matchetts, and knives, and also for grinding
gun-barrels and files, and for other like purposes, constructed in the manner
herein-before explained and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, grinding and polishing machinery, consisting essentially of one or more
metal discs mounted on a rotating shaft or rotating shafts, the faces of the
said discs having projecting divisions made on them; the compartments
formed by the said divisions being filled with the grinding or polishing
material, and thereby forming the acting surfaces of the said discs, or con-

page_text: structing polishing machinery of one or more metal discs, the faces of which
are plain, and dressing the said faces of the discs with the requisite polishing
material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edgar Brooks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
JOHN HENRY LAWRENCE,
Greenway Terrace,
Coventry Road,
Birmingham.
EDGAR BROOKS. (L.B.)
Albion Works
Liverpool St.,
Birmingham.