IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN THE DRESSING OF MILL-STONES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmundson Scholes, of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County
of Lancaster, Corn Miller, for an Invention of" IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR USE IN THE DRESSING OF MILL-STONES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmundson Scholes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd February 1881.
EDMUNDSON SCHOLES, of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster, Corn
Miller. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN THE DRESSING OF MILL-
STONES."
"
My Invention relates to the dressing of mill-stones, that is to say, to the scoring
of the
This is
lands with fine grooves or cracks, as is well understood.
ordinarily accomplished by a skilled workman with a steel tool termed a mill pick.
The object of my Invention is to facilitate and expedite the process, and to render
it less dependant upon the skill of the workman. To this end I mount the pick
upon a special handle or lever, and for the said lever I provide a fulcrum which
permits the pick to be traversed in a straight line, and I raise the said handle or
lever by means of a revolving cam, and employ a screw and feed motion to advance
the pick to the extent of the distance between the cracks. In the apparatus which
I have constructed, a framing carrying the parts of the apparatus is adapted to
rest upon the stone. In or upon the said frame a fulcrum frame is arranged to
slide, and is acted upon by means of a screw which is provided with a ratchet
wheel. The said fulcrum frame is formed or provided with a planed groove or
race, in which a heel or part formed on or fixed to the pick handle is fitted to slide.
The said heel may be similar to a cylindrical rod arranged at right-angles to the
said handle, and sufficiently long to impart the necessary steadiness to the move-
ments of the pick. An adjustable stud or projection on the pick bandle is acted
upon by a revolving cam or wiper which is of a length suitable to the required
traverse of the pick. The said cam is actuated by means of a hand wheel and
spur gearing which imparts a suitably rapid motion to the said cam, or it may be

page_text: actuated by power as, for example, by means of a cord or band. The said cam is
formed to raise the pick and to allow it to fall suddenly once or twice or more in
each revolution. The aforesaid ratchet wheel is actuated by means of a pawl
which is mounted upon a lever which is connected with a scoring frame. A hook
or finger on the pick handle engages with the front bar of the said scoring frame,
and raises the same at any time when the pick is raised by the hand to some
extent above its ordinary working lift. When the scoring frame is so raised the
pawl is caused to act upon the ratchet-wheel, and the pick is thereby advanced.
When using the apparatus it is only necessary to turn the handle and to slide the
pick handle by hand, regulating the speed of traverse by the effect required to be
produced in any part of the stone. At any part. of the traverse the pick may be
advanced to make another "crack" by simply tilting up the pick handle. The
pitch" or distance apart of the cracks may be varied by changing the ratchet
wheel for a wheel having fewer or more teeth as required. The screw which
carries the ratchet wheel is provided at its outer end with a hand-wheel or handle,
by means of which the attendant can set the sliding frame and pick by hand
to any required position. The herein before described apparatus may also be
adapted for use in what is technically known as "facing" and "furrowing" mill
66'
stones.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Edmundson Scholes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd August 1881.
EDMUNDSON SCHOLES, of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster, Corn
Miller. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN THE DRESSING OF MILL
STONES."
My Invention relates to the dressing of mill-stones, that is to say, to the scoring
of the "bands" with fine grooves or cracks, as is well understood. This is ordi-
narily accomplished by a skilled workman with a steel tool termed a mill pick.
The object of my Invention is to facilitate and expedite the process and render it
less dependant upon the skill of the workman. To this end I mount the pick
upon a special handle or lever, and for the said lever I provide a fulcrum which
permits the pick to be traversed in a straight line, and I raise the said handle or
lever by means of a revolving cam, and employ a screw and feed motion to advance
the pick to the extent of the distance between the cracks.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood I have attached hereunto
a Sheet of Drawings made to a scale of about four inches to the foot, and marked
with letters of reference, to which Drawings I will refer in this place. Fig. 1
represents a sectional elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, and Fig. 3 a vertical cross section
taken at right-angles to Fig. 1. In the said Figs. a, a', is a framing which is
formed in two principal parts, the lower part a forming the base or foundation,
and being adapted to rest upon the face of the stone to be dressed. The side
edges of the said base are planed to receive the upper frame a¹, which is fitted to
slide upon the lower part, parallelism of motion being maintained by ribs a², or
by any other suitable means. In suitable bearings b, b, attached to or formed on
the base a screw shaft c is fitted to revolve, and the screwed portion of this shaft
engages with a screw thread formed in a nut d which is secured to the upper
frame a¹. When the said screw is rotated by means of a hand-wheel c¹ the upper
frame is caused to slide upon the base a. In a cross bar e in the upper frame is
formed a planed groove which is adapted to form a fulcrum and guide for the heel f
of the pick-lever g. In the example the said heel is in the form of a cylindrical
rod of sufficient length to impart steadiness to the movements of the pick. This
method of guiding the movements of the pick may be modified. The pick / is
attached to the outer end of the lever g. Upon the end of the said lever is fixed or
formed a head g₁ which is planed with a groove, in which is fitted to slide a
block i, which can be adjusted in position upon the said head and be secured by
means of bolts. To prevent the block from slipping upon the head the meeting
faces are or may be formed with engaging teeth or grooves and projections as
indicated. Upon the said block is formed a turned stud which enters an eye which
is bored or formed in the pick. The said stud is drilled and tapped to receive a
conical screw j, and is split or cut with a saw, so that when the screw j is screwed
home the stud is expanded, and is thereby caused to tighten its hold upon the pick.
The block i can be. fixed in a higher or lower position upon the head g¹ to suit
the length of the pick, and the latter can be turned round upon the stud so as to
change the end in use when the screw j has been slackened. The method of
mounting the pick upon the lever g may be varied. The said lever is provided
with a handle g² and with a forked rest for the fore arm g³. In bearings formed
in the upper or fulcrum frame a¹ a shaft k is fitted to revolve, and is provided with
a fly-wheel ', and upon one of the outer ends of the said shaft is fixed a spur
pinion with which gears a spur wheel m which is mounted to revolve upon a stud
which is secured to the frame. The said wheel is provided with a handle whereby

page_text: •
it can be rotated, thereby causing the shaft to revolve rapidly, and is or may be
enclosed within a guard m¹. Upon the said shaft is secured a cam or wiper n
which extends from one side of the upper frame to the other, or thereabouts.
This cam acts upon the lower end of a screwed stud o which. projects downwards
from the lever g, and which can be adjusted by turning it in the screw thread formed
in the lever, and be secured by means of a lock nut. It will be seen that the said
cam is adapted in form to raise the lever twice during each revolution, and to
permit it to fall. suddenly. The cam may be varied in form and be adapted to
raise the pick less or more than twice by each revolution. The adjustment of the
pick upon the head g' is such as that each time that the pick falls it strikes the
face of the mill stone, and it will be seen that the lift of the pick can be made less
or more by turning the screwed stud o in one direction or the other. Upon one end
of the screw shaft c is fitted to slide a ratchet wheel p, which is provided with a
fast key which enters a slot in the said shaft, or is otherwise so fitted as that the
said wheel cannot turn without also turning the screw shaft. A cross bar q engages
with a grooved boss on one side of the ratchet wheel, and thereby causes it to slide
upon the screw shaft when the upper frame is caused to slide upon the base, so that
the parts move together. Upon a boss on the other side of the ratchet wheel is
mounted a lever which carries a pawl which engages with the teeth of the said
wheel. The lever is connected by means of a chain s or in any suitable manner
with a frame t, which I terin a scoring frame. This frame is hinged at u, u, to the
upper frame a¹ and is formed with a cross bar t¹. A hook projects downwards
from the lever g and extends below the cross bar t¹, so that when the said lever is
raised above the lift imparted by the cam the said hook lifts the cross bar, whereby
the scoring frame is caused to rise by turning upon its fulcrum at u, u, the con-
sequence being that the lever is raised and the ratchet wheel is rotated to some
extent, thereby turning the screw and sliding forwards the upper frame a¹. The
manner in which the apparatus is used is somewhat as follows:-The apparatus
being placed in position upon the stone the handle g is grasped with the left hand
and the driving wheel m is rotated by the right hand, whereby the pick is caused
to rise and fall, its lower edge striking the face of the land at cach stroke. The
lever is moved across the frame by the action of the left hand at a speed adapted
to the effect required and the action of the pick upon harder or softer parts of
the stone. The heel of the said lever by sliding in the straight groove in c
compels the pick to move in a straight line, whereby straight cracks are produced
without the requirement of the same amount of skill on the part of the operator as
is required when the ordinary hand pick is used. The action of the pick is or may
be also regulated by pressing downwards with the left hand upon the handle g, the
pressure being easily accomodated to the degree of hardness of any part of the
stone. To render the action of the pick more elastic, that is to say, to render the
blow less dead, the lever g is provided with an adjustable spring box a, in which is
fitted to slide a rod which is pressed downwards by a spiral spring. At each blow
the lower end of this rod strikes a part of the framing and is pushed inwards
against the spiral spring, which re-acting on the rod tends to raise the pick from
the stone. This arrangement may be varied or be dispensed with if not considered
to be necessary. When a crack has been completed to the length required or as far
as the apparatus will permit, the lever g is raised by pressing downwards upon the
rest and lifting by means of the handle g², the scoring frame is thereby lifted and
the ratchet-wheel and screw are rotated, whereby the pick is advanced to commence
another crack. The amount of each movement may be regulated by limiting the
movement of the lever . In the example this is effected by means of an adjustable
bracket w, but any suitable means for effecting the purpose may be adopted, or the
ratchet-wheel may be changable, or intermediate change gearing may be used.
The pick can be advanced or retired at an time by turning the hand-wheel c¹.
The details of the apparatus may be varied so long as the pick lever rising and
falling on a fulcrum and adapted to move in a straight line in the direction of the
line of crack to be produced, and lifted by means of a revolving cam, are retained.

page_text: Arrangements may be made for driving the cam shaft by power, as, for example, by
means of a cord or band. The apparatus is also adapted for use in the operations
upon mill stones technically termed "facing" and "furrowing."
Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of my Invention and the
manner in which I carry the same into practical effect, I would liave it to be under-
stood that I claim,--
First. The combination of parts forming the apparatus, arranged and acting
substantially as and for the purpose or purposes set forth and indicated herein before
and in and by the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The lever arm carrying the pick provided with a fulcrum and
arranged to be lifted by means of a revolving cam or wiper and to be moved side-
ways to form straight cracks, substantially as set forth and indicated.
Thirdly. The lever arm carrying a pick provided- with a heel sliding in a straight
groove or guiding recess in the framing of the apparatus and with a handle and
arm rest and acted upon by means of a cam or wiper, substantially as set forth and
indicated.
Fourthly. The scoring frame, the ratchet wheel and pawl, and the screw shaft,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
And, Lastly. The long cam formed to lift the pick two or more times in each
revolution, and driven by multiplying gearing in combination with a lever arm
carrying a pick adapted to be shifted along a straight line, substantially as set forth
and indicated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmundson Scholes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered,
in the presence of
ARTHUR LEDGER,
(Clerk to Edward K. Dutton,)
41, John Dalton Street,
Manchester,
(Agent for the Patentee).
EDMUNDSON SCHOLES. (L.S.)