IMPROVEMENTS IN LATHES FOR TURNING BUTTONS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.” TURNING BUTTONS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Spill, of Bromley-by-Bow, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LATHES FOR
TURNING BUTTONS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.”
TURNING BUTTONS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.'
32
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Spill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th April 1875.
I, DANIEL SPILL, of Bromley-by-Bow, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LATHES FOR TURNING BUTTONS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows
-
It has hitherto been the practice in turning buttons and similar
articles to employ a machine having two spindles, mounted in line with
each other and revolving at a high speed, the cutting tools being fixed
in the said spindles, and the material to be operated upon being fixed
between thom by means of so called "steady and "grip," which
"

page_text: together form a pair of tongs, the grip and the cutting tools being
worked by the operator by means of handles requiring a considerable
amount of manual labour, skill, and dexterty in their manipulation.
Now according to my Invention I actuate the said grip and tools by
means of a cam or cams in connection with levers and rods in a self- 5
acting manner, the cam so actuating the grip and tools as to open and
close the former, and push one or both tools backwards or forwards as
required. By this arrangement a girl can with very little labour and a
small amount of skill do a large amount of work.
For some materials or articles which are turned very quickly, I prefer 1
to use a self-feeding appliance to obviate the danger incurred by feeding
with the hand. For this purpose I employ a revolving-ring- or equi-
valent revolving appliance taking the place of the "steady," or to work
on one side of the " steady." The ring has holes all round corresponding
to the cyc in the "steady," and the pieces to be operated on are by 1
springs held up against the holes, and come in their turn against the
“grip” when they are turned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel Spill in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
SPILL, of Bromley-by-Bow, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Daniel Spill, Her special licence that I,
the said Daniel Spill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Daniel Spill, my executors, administrators
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to tunc and at all tunes thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the

page_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LATHES FOR TURNING
BUTTONS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Daniel Spill, my exccutors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 sıx
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Daniel Spill, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to say.
It has hitherto been the practice in turning buttons and similar
articles to employ a machine having two spindles, mounted in line with
each other and revolving at a high speed, the cutting tools being fixed
in the said spindles, and the material to be operated upon being fixed
between them by means of so called "steady" and "grip," which
together form a pair of tongs, the grip and the cutting tools being
worked by the operator by means of handles requiring a considerable
amount of manual labor, skill, and dexterity in their manipulation.
Now according to my Invention I actuate the said grip and tools by
means of a cam or cams in connection with levers and rods in a self-
acting manner, the cam so actuating the grip and tools as to open and
close the former, and push one or both tools backwards or forwards as
required By this arrangement a girl can with very little labor and a
small amount of skill do a large amount of work.
For some materials or articles which are turned very quickly I prefer
to use a self-feeding appliance to obviate the danger incurred by feeding
with the hand. For this purpose I employ a revolving ring, or equi-
valent revolving applianco taking the place of the "steady," or to work
on one side of the " steady." The ring has holes all round corresponding
to the eye in the "steady," and the pieces to be operated on are by

page_text: springs held up against the holes, and come in their turn against the
"grip" when they are turned.
And in order that this my Invention may be more fully understood I
will now proceed to describe the same with reference to the accom-
panying Drawings, of which Fig 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus
constructed according to my Invention and suitable for turning buttons
of vegetable ivory, wood, and similar substances, Fig. 2 is a plan of the
same; and Figs. 3 and 4, are details
.
"
a is the framing of the apparatus or lathe, 6 and 6', are spindles
revolving in bearings on the framing; at their ends opposite one another
they carry the tools for turning the front and back of the button respect-
ively; they are driven by straps taking on the pulleys o and c'; d is the sō
called "grip," and e the so called "steady," forming together a pair of
tongs, between which the piece of material to be operated upon is held;
vis a plate with a slot in, whereby the "steady "is held; the " grip
works in the same slot which serves as a guide for it; k is a cam
mounted on a spindle o revolving in bearings and caused to turn by
means of a pinion m, the teeth of which gear with teeth formed on the
circumference of the cam k, the pinion m is mounted on the spindlo p
which is caused to rotate in its bearings by strap taking on the pulley n.
The cam k is on the outside formed with a groove in which a roller
works; the roller is mounted on a bar or connecting rod g, which at
one end is guided in the bracket q, and at the other end is attached to
a spring by means of a screw and nuts, as shown, whereby the
tension of the spring can be regulated. The spring fis, by preference,
Jointed below, as shewn, and serves to push the " grip d against the
piece of material between the " ‘grip” d and the "steady" e The
groove in the front side of the cam k is so shaped as to actuate the grip
in a self-acting manner, so as to open and close it as required, allowing
the piece of material operated upon to drop in the moment when the
operation thercon is finished, and the operator then immediately places
another piece in the "grip," and so on.
"
The back of the cam k is likewise formed with a groove, as shewn at
Fig. 3, in this groove a roller works. This roller is mounted on a
stud in the bar or bracket 2¹, which by means of a set screw is fixed on
a square bar / that is guided in the framing a but, by preference, works

page_text: through stuffing boxes, as shown, in order to work steadier. The bar h
has at the other end a similar bracket 2. Through the brackets i and ¿¹
I pass the screws j and 7', which abut against the ends of the spindles
and b', the staples & and s¹ connect the screws 3 and 7' to the spindles b
and 6' respectively, and thus the latter are made to partake of the move-
ment of the bar / which is self-acting, as described, and by the shape of
the back of the cam k so timed and arranged that the tool on the end
of the spindle & first cuts the face of the button held by the grip, and
then the tool on the end of the spindle 6' cuts the back of the button,
then the grip is opened as aforesaid, the button falls out, a new piece
of material is put in, and the operation is repeated.
When the lathe is to operate on bonc, I arrange the spindles and 6¹
to move in opposite directions by means of suitable rod and lover con-
nections from the cam, which latter then must be modified in shape
accordingly.
In converting existing lathes I find it convenient to arrange the
bar hat the back of the lathe instead of through the centro, as here
shown.
Fig. 4 shows a part of my self-feeding appliance which is suitable for
some materials or articles which are turned very quickly. is a ring
which is made to revolve on four rollers placed equidistantly within it,
but not shown here; it may be formed with ratchet teeth all round and
be actuated by a pawl Motion is communicated to it by lever and
rod from a roller working in the outer groove of the cam k. The ring t
is formed with holes through it, as shown; at each hole there is a spring u
for holding the piece of material; e is the "steady" against which the
grip is actuated, as before described, and as the pieces in their turn
come against the "grip," they are turned by the tools, as before
described. The pieces are fed in at leisure and without the hand of the
operator coming near the tools or grip. When the ring t is used the
steady is made plain, that is, without the ordinary serrated gripping
ring surface, but the ring has to be similarly roughened around each hole
on the side against the grip.
Any other suitable cam or cam arrangement besides those here shown
may be used so long as the grip and tools are operated in a self-acting
manner, as described. It is also obvious that the details of the machine

page_text: Firstly. Operating the gripping and cutting tools by self-acting
means or appliances, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Secondly. Feeding the materials to be operated upon by self-acting
appliances, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Spill, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
1