AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF CUTTER FOR FACING UP WOOD
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Hammond Bentall, of Heybridge, near
Maldon, in the County of Essex, Agricultural Implement Maker, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF CUTTER FOR FACING UP
WOOD."
Sealed the 1st August 1864, and dated the 3rd March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Hammond Bentall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd March 1864.
1, EDWARD HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the County
of Essex, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF CUTTER FOR FACING UP WOOD,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce in a rapid and efficient manner
the facing up of planks and other surfaces of wood. To this end I mount the
work on the bed of an ordinary wood planing machine, backing it up by an
L-shaped or other suitable support, and traverse it past a vertical rotating
face cutter of a peculiar construction, which receiving a rapid rotation will
plane or face up the wood that is submitted to its action with great expedition,
producing a smooth and even surface. This face cutter I make of a thick
disc of steel slightly recessed on one side, so as to leave a plain annular
margin near the periphery. The cutting edges I form by making diagonal or
rectangular transverse cuts across the periphery of the disc of a depth equal to

page_text: about a third or more of the width of the annular band on the face of the disc.
These transverse cuts will, by preference, incline from the outer edge of the
periphery inwards towards the axis of the cutter at the operating side thereof.
But in some cases, where warped wood is to be operated upon that requires
to be pared down in parts as well as planed or faced up, it will be desirable to
make the bottom of the transverso cuts parallel with the nxis of the disc,
whereby the whole width of the periphery will be furnished with a good
cutting edge. The angle of the cutting edge thus formed should be slightly
rounded off. The cutting edges on the face of the disc will be flush
with the plain annular surface before mentioned, and the office of this plain
surface will be to gauge the action of the cutting edges and prevent their
acting irregularly on the wood. The number of cutting edges (which will be
equidistant from each other) around the disc will depend upon the diameter
of the disc used, but they will in all cases be so numerous as to reduce the
length of traverse of the wood through the machine to an infinitesimal amount
during the interval of one cutter following up the cut of that preceding it,
which effect I find to be essential to the proper facing up of wood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Hammond Bentall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the County of Essex,
Agricultural Implement Maker, 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-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Hammond Bentall, Her special license that I, the said Edward
Hammond Bentall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, my executors, adminis.
trators, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF CUTTER FOR FACING UP
WOOD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward

page_text: Hammond Bentall, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 bo
filed in the Great Seal Patent Offico within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
:-
The object of this Invention is to effect in a rapid and eflicient manner the
facing up or planing of planks and other flat surfaces of wood. To this end I
clamp the work on the bed of an ordinary wood planing machine, backing it
up by an L-shaped or other suitable support, and traverse it past a vertical
face cutter of peculiar construction, which receiving a rapid rotation will plane
or face up the wood that is submitted to its action with great economy and
expedition, producing a smooth and even surface on the side of the traversing
plank presented to its action.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews the improved cutter in face
view, Fig. 2 in cross section, and Fig. 3 in edge view; it is made of a thick
disc of cast steel A, A, recessed on one side, so as to leave a plain annular
margin B, B, near the periphery. The cutting edges I form by making
rectangular or diagonal transverse cuts across the periphery of the disc by
means of any suitable cutting tool, and of a depth equal to about a third,
more or less, of the width of the annular band on the face of the disc.
The disc I mount in a slide rest lathe, and traverse the cutter across its
periphery, giving the disc a slight axial motion after every traverse of the
cutter, which axial motion is controlled by the use of a dividing plate.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 represent a disc with the cutting edges lying diagonally
or across the axis of the disc. These transverse cuts, whether formed in a line
parallel to or across the axis of the disc, will, by preference, dip or incline from
the outer edge of the periphery inwards towards the axis of the cutter at the
operating side or cutting face thereof. But in some cases, where warped wood
is to be operated upon that requires to be pared down in parts as well as
planed or faced up, it will be desirable to make the bottom of the transverse
cuts parallel with the axis of the disc, whereby the whole width of the
periphery will be furnished with a good cutting edge. The cutting edges on
the face of the disc will be flush with the plain annular surface before-
mentioned, and the office of this plain surface will be to gauge the action of

page_text: the cutting edges, and prevent their acting irregularly on the wood. The
number of cutting edges (which will be equidistant from each other) around
the disc will depend upon the diameter of the disc used, but they will in all
cases be so numerous as to reduce to an infinitesimal amount the length of
traverse of the wood through the machine during the interval of one cutter
following up the cut of that preceding it, which effect I find to be essential to
the proper facing up of wood.
The cutter I mount by screwing it on to a cast-iron boss keyed on a rotating
horizontal shaft supported in suitable bearings on the side of the planing
inachine, and I time the action of the machine so that the cutter may have
about four thousand revolutions per minute. The speed of traverse of the
wood through the machine will depend somewhat upon the nature of the
work in hand, a comparatively slow speed being desirable for the production
of the best work. The sharpening of the cutter is effected by grinding the
face of the disc.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of an improved con-
struction of cutter for facing up wood, and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim constructing rotary face cutters with a plain
annular gauging surface, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Hanımond Bentall, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of September, in the, year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
T. MAY,
of Maldon,
Essex.
E. H. BENTALL. (LS.)