A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR PROCESS OF CUTTING OR WORKING CORK, FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
HARVIG, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, and FELIX
MOREAU, of Holywell Street, Milbank, in the said County, Sculptor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of August now last past, did
give and grant unto us, the said John Harvig and Felix Moreau, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John Harvig
and Felix Moreau, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said John Harvig and Felix Moreau, 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 of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the said
United Kingdom called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
our Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR PROCESS OF CUTTING OR WORKING
CORK, FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging us, the said John Harvig and Felix Moreau, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
us, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Harvig and Felix Moreau, do hereby declare that the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particu
larly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
as follows, that is to say:-
The sheet of cork is put between the rollers a; the circular rollers 6, baving
teeth similar to a rasp or saw, turning rapidly, pare the outside or rind of the
sheet of cork in a circular manner c; we then, by means of circular saws or
blades d, or any other convenient means, cut the sheet in the cross direction
into pieces of a sufficient width to form the length of the intended cork. We
now fix upon an unlimited number of the bars e, the small blades f, the bars f
borne by
a lever, which we call a lozenge g, to press the bars h upon the cork;
this pressure makes the scale i descend, and carry the apparatus of the lozenges
as far as the circular knives or saws k, placed underneath or above or at
the head of the machine, which divide the cork between the bars e and h; to
make the pressure cease, the scale i reascends by means of the spring 1;
the lozenge g is opened by hand by the knobs m. Each bar bears away
its square of cork parallel at distances determined by the length of the
opening n. The double frames o, placed obliquely for making the corks
conical, are moved one in the other in their grooves p, and together in
the grooves 7, carried by the bars r and screws s. The forward motion having
taken place to the external frame produces the opening of the pivots t. The
scale i pressed down by the pressure of the frames o against the triangle u,
which makes the scale i descend by its pressure of the bar v, each piece of
cork introduces itself between the pivots t. The returning movement tightens
or confines the said pivots against the ends of the said pieces of cork. A trans-
verse bar x, magnetised, if made to act upon iron pullies, or non-magnetized,
if upon any other pullies, and a cat-gut cord fixed to the two extremities sur-
rounding the pullies y, is thrown from right to left between the grooves in the
course of the double frames o by two oblique bars z, and makes the triangle
turn, and also the pieces of cork, against the edges of the stationary or moveable
blades or cutters a, a, placed parallel to the grooves q, in number equal to the
'pieces of cork which cut away the superfluous parts. A similar bar and cord
may be placed over and in contact with the front pivots. Instead of these
magnetized or non-magnetized bars and cord, a rack and pinions may be used;
the continued movement of the frame carries them against another series of
stationary or moveable blades or cutters b, b, placed rather nearer to the axis
of the pieces of cork, completes the operation; the pivots are then drawn away
from the finished corks, which drop down. Beneath the foremost of the

page_text: interior frames c, c, is placed a series of small circular whetsones or files d, d,
of any description, moved by its course with a stationary strap, fixed in the
frame e, e, surrounding the pullies of their beam next the blades; a spring f, f,
pushes it against the rail g, g. The machine is put in in motion by a crank or
lever h, h, to the back of the frame i, i, connected to any motive power which
may be thought desirable.
We do not confine ourselves to the precise forms and dimensions and
materials herein-before mentioned, but we consider those we have stated to be
the best suited to the purpose. We claim, as our Invention,
First, the whole apparatus belonging to the lozenges, and the series of bars
carried by the lozenges, herein-before described.
Secondly, the obliquity of the frame, which allows the corks to be cut in a
conical form.
Thirdly, the arrangement of the unlimited number of blades or cutters,
stationary and moveable.
Fourthly, a magnetized or non-magnetized bar, with a cord sent from right
to left by oblique bars.
And lastly, we claim the peculiar combination of machinery, herein-before
described, for the purpose of cutting or working cork. But we do not claim
the exclusive use of any of the component parts of such machinery which are
not hereby expressly claimed, otherwise than as forming part of such com-
bination.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harvig, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord