IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR VENEERING MOULDINGS OR OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Thompson, of Woodland Road, New
Charlton, in the County of Kent, Engineer, for the Iuvention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR VENEERING MOULDINGS OR OTHER
SURFACES."
Sealed the 16th October 1866, and dated the 24th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th April 1866.
I, ROBERT THOMPSON, of Woodland Road, New Charlton, in the County
of Kent, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR VENEERING MOULDINGS
SURFACES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in machinery for veneering
mouldings or other surfaces whereby the operation of pressing the veneer
into shape upon the moulding or other surface is greatly facilitated. For.
this purpose, upon a suitable table or frame a toothed rack is mounted and
arranged so as to be capable of being moved to and fro by means of a.
toothed pinion on an axis below, on which a driving pulley is fixed between.
two loose pulleys in order to reverse the motion by suitable gear, as is well

page_text: understood.
To the upper side of the rack blocks or projections are fixed,
which press against the ends of the veneer holder or carrier to force it
through the machine and under or between the apparatus which presses the
veneer to the moulding or surface to be veneered. The top pressing apparatus
consists of a system of adjustable weights which press a series of swing
brackets (formed with curved pressing surfaces) down upon the upper surface
of the veneer holder or carrier, the part of the veneer (to be returned on the
edge of the mouldings) being pressed to the moulding by cams or eccentrics
mounting and radiating on studs fixed on the bed or table of the machine.
The moulding and veneer, previously coated with glue, is placed upon a bar
or batten laid upon the bed of the machine. Over the moulding a holder or
carrier is placed, the surface of which corresponds in form with the face of the
moulding, the ends of the holder projecting beyond and embracing or enclosing
the ends of the moulding so that the block or projection fixed on the toothed
rack acts against the end of the holder or carrier, and when the toothed rack
is set in motion it forces the carrier with the moulding and veneer between fixed
guides, and under and between the pressing apparatus previously described,
by which means any excess of glue will be forced out and the veneer will be
firmly secured to the moulding. When the holder or carrier has travelled
through the machine in one direction it is taken out and replaced by another,
which is then caused to move in the opposite direction. In place of employ-
ing a toothed rack, as previously described, an endless chain, rope, or band
may be substituted therefor, with projections thereon to carry the holder with
the moulding and veneer through the machine, and the apparatus may be
arranged to work in a vertical or other position in place of horizontally if
desired. The machine may be arranged to veneer one, two, or more lengths. of
mouldings at one operation at the same time if required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS, SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
THOMPSON, of Woodland Road, New, Charlton, in the County, of Kent,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters:
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in, the year of our 8
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the, twenty-ninth,
43
'

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Robert Thompson, Her special licence that
I, the said Robert Thompson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Robert Thompson, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR VENEERING
MOULDINGS OR OTHER SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Robert Thompson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in'
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.
4
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Thompson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following'
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in machinery for veneering mould-
ings or other surfaces whereby the operation of pressing the veneer into shape
upon the moulding or other surface is greatly facilitated.
For this purpose,
upon a suitable table or frame a toothed rack is mounted and arranged so as
to be capable of being moved to and fro by means of a toothed pinion on an
axis below, on which a driving pulley is fixed between two loose pulleys in
order to reverse the motion by suitable gear, as is well understood. To the
upper side of the rack blocks or projections are fixed, which press against
the ends of the veneer holder or carrier to force it through the machine and
under or between the apparatus, which presses the veneer on to the moulding
or surface to be veneered. The top pressing apparatus consists of a system
of adjustable weights which press a series of swing brackets (formed with
curved pressing surfaces) down upon the upper surface of the veneer holder
or carrier, the part of the veneer to be returned on the edge of the mouldings
being pressed to the mouldings by cams or eccentrics mounted and radiating
on studs fixed on the bed or table of the machine. The moulding and veneer,
previously coated with glue, is placed upon a bar or batten laid upon the bed
of the machine. Over the moulding a holder or carrier is placed, the surface
of which corresponds in form with the face of the moulding, the ends of the

page_text: holder projecting beyond and embracing or enclosing the ends of the moulding
so that the block, "dog," or projection fixed on the toothed rack acts against
the end of the holder or carrier, and when the toothed rack is set in motion
it forces the carrier with the moulding and veneer between fixed guides and
under and between the pressing apparatus previously described, by which
means any excess of glue will be forced out and the veneer will be firmly
secured to the moulding. When the holder or carrier has travelled through
the machine in one direction it is taken out and replaced by another, which
is then caused to move in the opposite direction. In place of employing a
toothed rack, as previously described, an endless chain, rope, or band may be
substituted therefor, with projections thereon to carry the. holder with the
moulding and veneer through the machine, and the apparatus may be arranged
to work in a vertical or other position in place of horizontally if desired. The
machine may be arranged to veneer one, two, or more lengths of mouldings
at one operation at the same time if required.
And in order that my Invention may be thoroughly understood and readily
carried into practice, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed, which show the arrangement of machinery I prefer to employ in

page_text: made so as to be capable of adjustment in order to increase or diminish the
amount of pressure they are intended to exert. d is an endless cord, band,'
or chain connected to each end of the travelling bar or drag e to which the
carrier arms, blocks, or "dogs" e', e', are jointed as shewn. When the arms,
blocks, or "dogs" el, e, have forced the holders or carriers f, f, with the
moulding therein underneath the weights in their backward or return'
movement they are folded or moved out of position for action within the
fixed guides by coming against the upper ends of the tripping levers or
switches e, e, which, however, allow the arms e¹ to pass over them by moving
on their axes when in the act of forcing the mouldings forward. The
arms e¹ may be moved outwards ready to act again by springs or otherwise
after they have travelled backwards beyond the fixed guides b', b', upon the
table 6 which previously retained them out of action. The endless cord d
takes two turns round the pulley d' (fixed on the driving axis 9) and over
the guide pulleys d³, d, at each end of the machine. The bar or drag e is
moved to and fro in the following manner :-On the axis g the driving
pulley his fixed between two loose pulleys i, i, over one of which a crossed
band ¹ passes, and over the other an open or uncrossed band ³, as shewn in
Figure 5, the two bands being driven by a steam engine or other motive
power, and as one or other of the driving bands or is moved (by forked
arms carried by a sliding bar, as is well understood) on to the driving
pulley h, so will the to-and-fro motion of the endless band d and bar or
drage be reversed in one or other direction, the reversing motion being
accomplished by means of an arm or projection (fixed near each end of the
bar or drag e) which acts upon the reversing lever as each length of
veneered moulding is forced underneath the weights c³. I would remark..
that in place of moving the bar or drag e to and fro by the endless cord d,
as previously described, it may be formed with a toothed rack on its under.
side, and be actuated by means of a toothed pinion, the motion of which may
be reversed in like manner to that of the pulley d in the arrangement as:
previously described.
The moulding cut or formed ready for being veneered is first coated with.
hot glue, and a thin veneer placed over the surface to be veneered; thus.
prepared the moulding is placed in a groove or cavity formed in the
carrier f, the surface of which corresponds in form to that of the moulding.
placed in it, as will be clearly understood on examining Figure 4: of the
Drawing, which shews a transverse section and plan of part of a carrier f:
with a moulding f¹ therein, together with the metal bar f, by preference
placed upon the back of the moulding for the curved under surfaces of the:

page_text: weights to act upon as the carrier with the moulding is forced through
between the under surfaces of the weights and the table or platform b.
The carriers fare rather longer than the mouldings laid in them for the arms
of the "dogs" e¹ to act against, so that the ends of the grooves embrace or
come against each end of the mouldings, and thus retain them in position
together whilst passing through the machine, the carriers being guided on
one side by the fixed guides b', 6', near the centre of the table b, and on the
outer sides by fixed but adjustable cam surfaces or eccentrics 6*, 6*, as
shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings, these cam surfaces or
excentrics being employed to press the veneer, which is returned upon
or over the edge of the moulding.
In place of employing a carrier f, as previously described, two mouldings
of corresponding form may be placed with their veneered surfaces together
(as shewn in Figure 3), and forced through the machine to press the veneer
on to the surfaces of the two lengths of mouldings simultaneously, and the
pairs of mouldings may be of different sizes, by which means double the
quantity of work may be performed at one operation. After the lengths of
mouldings and carriers have been forced underneath the pressing surfaces c³
they may be forced outwards and delivered at the point where they were fed
in by the return movement of the bar or drag d, which at the same time
forces other prepared lengths in their carriers under the pressing surfaces in
the opposite direction, or the mouldings may be fed in at one end and
delivered at the other alternately in continuous succession, if preferred, one
pair of the arms e, e, in that case being removed; thus either one, two, or
other number of lengths of mouldings may be forced underneath the pressing
surfaces to be veneered simultaneously, if desired, and in place of mouldings
other forms or surfaces may be veneered in like manner in machinery
suitably arranged in accordance with my improvements.
In place of causing the lengths of mouldings to be veneered to travel
underneath the pressing surfaces c, such pressing surfaces may be caused
to move or travel over the lengths of mouldings to be veneered whilst they
are held in stationary holders upon the bed or table 6 of the machine, and
Figures 5, 6, and 7 of the Drawings shew a machine suitably arranged for
carrying out my Invention in this manner. The parts of the machine which
correspond with those in the arrangement of machinery previously described
being marked with similar letters of reference it will not be necessary for me
to enter into a detailed description thereof, as any intelligent mechanic will
readily understand the mode of imparting a to-and-fro movement to the
pressing surfaces or weights in this arrangement by examining the

page_text: Drawing, in place of causing the lengths of mouldings to travel under them
to receive pressure, as previously described. In this arrangement the
mouldings to be veneered are placed between guides b₁, 61, and fixed in a
stationary position upon the bed or table 6 in suitable holders (unless two
lengths are placed face to face, as previously described). c³, c³, are weights
formed with curved under surfaces, and are capable of adjustment in their
frames or brackets c, c, so as to regulate the amount of pressure to be
applied to the mouldings or surfaces to be veneered. The weights are
arranged so as to be supported and swing on the bolts c³ to prevent them
fiom descending on to the surface of the table b when they are not resting
and pressing upon the surface of the mouldings over which they are moved
to and fro by means of an endless band (connected to the frame c which
carries the weights ) actuated by driving and reversing gear, as previously
described in reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3. The weights should act
with sufficient pressure to force out all the superfluous glue, thus causing the
veneer to adhere firmly to the surface of the moulding.
Having thus described the nature of my improvements, and the manner in
which the same is carried into practice, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the exact details herein described, nor do I claim any of
the parts separately, but what I claim is the arrangement and combination of
parts constituting the machinery herein-before described in reference to
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Drawings, or any evident modification
of the same for the purpose of veneering mouldings or other surfaces by
pressure applied in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Thompson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
ROBERT THOMPSON. (L.S.)
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, W.C.