IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR WORKING OF MARBLE. STONE. GLASS, AND SIMILAR MATERIALS."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Knowles, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Marble Merchant, and Edward Taylor Bellhouse, of the same
Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OR WORKING OF MARBLE. STONE. GLASS, AND SIMILAR MATERIALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Knowles and
Edward Taylor Bellhouse at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 16th May 1855.
We, JOHN KNOWLES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Marble
Merchant, and EDWARD TAYLOR BELLHOUSE, of the same Place, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OR WORKING OF MARBLE, STONE, GLASS, AND SIMILAR MATERIALS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain constructions and arrangements of machinery
or apparatus for effecting the intermediate processes in the working of marble,
stone, glass, &c. which occur between the grinding or sanding & the polish-
ing or finishing processes, such intermediate processes having hitherto been
effected by manual labor only.
According to the present Invention, the stones or other substances employed
in preparing or smoothing the surfaces of marble, stone, or glass, are cemented
diagonally into wooden or metal boxes; & two, three, or more of these boxes,
each containing a stone, are fitted loosely inside the compartments of a larger
or main box. At the top of each compartment of the main box is fitted
a piece of vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic material, such material
being thus interposed between the top of the main box and that of the smaller

page_text: or loose one containing the rubbing stone. The marble, stone, or glass to be
smoothed or prepared is fastened to a traversing bed or table, and the block
containing the stones or other smoothing materials is moved backward &
forwards along the surface to be smoothed by means of a suitable driving rod.
As the boxes which contain the stones are smaller than the compartments of
the main block or box, an alternate oblique motion will be obtained. As the
work proceeds, stones or other materials of various degrees of fineness are
used. The loose boxes are prevented from falling out of these compartments
when the block is elevated by small screws for that purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Knowles and Edward Taylor Bellhouse in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 15th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
KNOWLES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Marble Merchant,
and EDWARD TAYLOR BELLHOUSE, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Knowles and Edward Taylor Bellhouse, Her special license that
we, the said John Knowles and Edward Taylor Bellhouse, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Knowles and
Edward Taylor Bellhouse, our executors, administrators, or 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
Treland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR WORKING OF MARBLE, STONE, GLASS, AND SIMILAR
MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Knowles and Edward Taylor Belthouse, by an instrument in writing under
our bands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Knowles and Edward Taylor
Bellhouse, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our said Invention relates to certain constructions and arrangements of
machinery or apparatus for effecting the intermediate processes in the working
of marble, stone, glass, &c. which occur between the grinding or sanding and
the polishing or finishing processes, such intermediate processes having hitherto
been effected by manual labor only.
According to the present Invention, the stones or other substances employed
in preparing or smoothing the surfaces of marble, stone, or glass, are cemented
diagonally into wooden or metal boxes; and two, three, or more of these boxes,
each containing a stone, are fitted loosely inside suitable compartments in a
larger or main box or carrier. At the top of each compartment of the main
box or carrier is fitted a piece of vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic
material, such material being thus interposed between the top of the main
box and that of the smaller or loose box containing the rubbing stone.
The marble, stone, or glass to be smoothed or prepared is fastened to a
traversing bed or table, and the box or carrier containing the rubbing stones
or other smoothing materials is moved backward and forwards, along the
surface to be smoothed by means of a suitable driving rod. As the boxes
which contain the stones are smaller than the compartments of the main box
or carrier, an alternate oblique motion will be imparted to the rubbing stones
during the backward and forward traverse of the carrier. As the work pro-
ceeds, stones or other materials of various degrees of fineness are used. The
loose boxes are prevented from falling out of their compartments when the
main box or carrier is elevated by small screws for that purpose.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we shall
now proceed particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose we
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of the main box or carrier with
the rubbing stones contained therein; Figure 2 is an end elevation of the
same; and Figure 3 is a plan of the under side of the apparatus, corresponding
to Figure 1. The marble or other material A to be operated upon is laid or
fixed upon the traversing table B, and the block C is traversed backwards and
forwards by the driving rod D, actuated either by hand or by any suitable

page_text: driving mechanism. The stones or other smoothing materials E, E, E, are
connected obliquely into the small boxes F, F, F, which boxes fit loosely into
the compartments of the main block C, by which means an alternating oblique
motion is imparted to the stones E, E, E, and to their containing boxes F, F, F.
In the compartments of the main block G, G, G, are pieces of vulcanized
india-rubber or other suitable elastic material, interposed between the tops
of the boxes F and the under side of the back of the main block C, for the
purpose of deadening the shock at the commencement of a stroke, as well as to
impart à general easy and yielding movement to the smoothing stones E, E, E.
A set of thumb screws H, H, H, are fitted in the divisions of the compartments
in the main block C, and enter the sides of the boxes F, for the
purpose of
preventing such boxes containing the stones E, from dropping out when
the main block C is lifted off the marble or other material to be smoothed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that we do not confine or restrict ourselves
to the precise details or arrangements which we have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the
principles or main features of our said Invention; but what we consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machines or apparatus
as above described for the purpose of effecting the intermediate processes in
the working of marble, stone, glass, and similar materials.
Second, the construction and arrangement of blocks for smoothing marble
or other similar materials, wherein such blocks are composed of a number of
smaller boxes working freely therein, and containing the necessary smoothing
stones, as herein-before described.
Third, the application and use of any suitable elastic medium interposed
between the boxes containing the smoothing stones and the main carrying
block, for the purposes herein-before referred to.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Knowles, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.