IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, GRINDING, AND POLISHING THE BOTTOMS OF TUMBLERS, WINE- GLASSES, DECANTERS, AND OTHER ARTICLES IN GLASS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles de Grelle, of Basinghall Street, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR CUTTING, GRINDING, AND POLISHING THE BOTTOMS OF TUMBLERS, WINE-
GLASSES, DECANTERS, AND OTHER ARTICLES IN GLASS."-A communication
from abroad by Antoine Cuttier, Manager of the Société des Manufactures
de Glaces, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
Sealed the 13th November 1866, and dated the 22nd June 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles de Grelle at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1866.
J, CHARLES DE GRELLE, of Basinghall Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, GRINDING, AND POLISHING. THE BOTTOMS OF TUMBLERS,
WINE-GLASSES, DECANTERS, AND OTHER ARTICLES IN GLASS," to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to cut and polish by mechanical means the
bottoms of tumblers, wine-glasses, decanters, and generally all articles made
of glass, which operations are now performed by skilled labour, which it is the
object of the present Invention to dispense with. The tumbler or other glass,
article is applied vertically to a grindstone such as is usually employed when

page_text: working by hand. The tumbler is kept in position by a frame in which it
can freely revolve; or the tumbler may be kept in place by a vertical rod,
which presses it against the vertical grindstone, either by means of a weight
or spring; this rod has a rotary movement given to it which it transmits to the
tumbler or glass article. It will now be understood that the glass is held and
pressed against the grindstone by means of a vertical rod and a weight or
spring, and that it has rotary motion around its vertical axis transmitted by
the rod or in any other manner. The bottom of the glass will therefore be
ground and polished in a more perfect manner than it can be by hand, and all
manual skill is dispensed with, except what is necessary for placing the article
to the grindstone, and for withdrawing it when the operation is finished. It is
known that cutting glass consists of several successive operations, the rough
forming the cutting, strictly speaking, and the polishing. These operations
are effected by means of various wheels of iron, stone, and wood, and various
materials, as water, stone, and pounce. The succession of operations, the
descriptions of wheels, and the materials used in the machine remain the same
as in the old mode by hand. The vertical rods are mounted in bearings in
the frame, and their upper ends pass freely through toothed wheels above, to
which rotary motion is imparted from the driving shaft, and which movement
they communicate to the tumblers at their lower ends. When the grinding or
polishing operation is finished, and it is necessary to withdraw them from the
machine and replace them by other tumblers, the rods are lifted by sliding
them up in the sockets and wheels, the latter remaining stationary. The
rods can be raised by hand or they may be lifted by a ring and raised by a
lever. The foregoing arrangement is applicable to grinding concave surfaces.
For grinding horizontal surfaces the articlo is placed on the flat side of a
wheel made to revolve horizontally in place of being, as explained above, on
the edge of a wheel which revolves vertically. The article thus placed will be
kept and pressed against the grindstone as has been already explained, and
will take in like degree from the machine a rotary movement.
As regards
the vertical wheels placed on the horizontal axle their number may be optional.
The necessary materials for shaping, cutting, and polishing, such as sand,
water, stone, and pounce may be supplied as at the present time by a funnel
or reservoir placed above the grindstone; or, what would be better, these
materials may be placed under the wheel in boxes in which the wheel will
rotate, and thus take up the grinding or polishing materials as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles de Grelle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd. December 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
5 DE GRELLE, of Basinghall Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles de Grelle, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
de Grelle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles de Grelle, my executors, administrators, 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, GRINDING, AND POLISHING THE BOTTOMS OF
TUMBLERS, WINE-GLASSES, DECANTERS, AND OTHER ARTICLES IN GLASS," being a
communication from abroad by Antoine Cuttier, Manager of the Société des
Manufactures de Glaces, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles de Grelle, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles de Grelle, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereof (that is to say): --
The object of this Invention is to cut, grind, and polish by mechanical means
the bottoms of tumblers, wine-glasses, decanters, and generally all articles
made of glass and which require such operations. These operations are now
performed by hand and by skilled labor, rendering the work both slow and
expensive. It is the object, therefore, of the present Invention to dispense with
skilled labor and thereby materially reduce the cost of grinding and polishing.

page_text: The tumbler or other glass article to be operated upon is applied vertically to a
grindstone, such as is usually employed when working by hand, and it is kept
in position by a frame in which it can freely revolve on its vertical axis, or the
tumbler may be kept in place by a vertical rod placed inside, and which presses
it against the vertical grindstone, either by means of a weight or spring. This
rod has a rotary movement given to it, which it transmits to the tumbler or
glass article while the grindstone is also rotating on its axis; the bottom of
the glass will therefore be ground and polished in a more perfect manner than
it can be done by hand, and all manual skill is dispensed with, except what is
necessary for adapting the article to the grindstone and for withdrawing it
when the operation is finished. By increasing the number of vertical rods
and grindstones any convenient number of tumblers or other articles may be
operated upon in the same machine, so that one man can superintend the
grinding and polishing of a number of articles.
It is known that cutting glass consists of several successive operations, viz.,
the roughing, the smoothing, and the polishing; these operations are effected
by means of various wheels of iron, stone, and wood, and various materials as
water, sand, and pounce. The succession of operations, the descriptions of
wheels, and the materials used in the machine which form the subject of the
present Invention remain the same as in the old mode by hand.
Fig. 1, Sheet I., in the accompanying Drawing represents a front elevation
of the machine in which there are sixteen vertical spindles and grindstones
for operating upon as many tumblers at the same time; Fig. 2 is a partial
sectional view of the same.
a, a, is the main driving shaft of the machine, on which is mounted the
drum b, which by means of a band c communicates motion to a pulley d on
the shafte below; this shaft e turns in bearings in the centre standards f
and is supported on adjustable centres 9, 9, on it are mounted the grinding
wheels h, h, h, under which are placed the troughs k, k, which may contain
either water or water and sand. The tumblers 22 or other articles, the bottoms
of which have to be cut or ground, rest on the top edge of the grinding
wheels h, and are kept pressed down thereon by the weights p, p, on the lower
ends of the vertical shafts 9, 9, which are mounted in bearings r, r; in the
frame of the machine and their upper ends pass freely through toothed wheels
s, s, above, to which rotary motion is imparted from the driving shaft a by
means of a bevil pinion thereon, which gears into a large bevil wheel v on
the upper end of the shaft t, which is provided with a pulley w, whereby motion
is imparted by means of a belt to a pulley x on one of the vertical shafts y.
The rotary motion of the first shaft 9 is communicated by means of the

page_text: oothed wheels s, s; above to all the other vertical shafts q, and this movement
hey communicate to the tumblers n at their lower ends. When the grinding
or polishing operation is finished, and it is necessary to withdraw the tumblers n
or other articles from the machine, and replace them by other tumblers, the
rods q are lifted by sliding them up in the sockets and wheels s.. The rods q
can be raised by hand or by means of a ring and lever.
Fig. 3, Sheet II., is a front elevation of a modification of the machine just
described; Fig. 4 is a detached sectional elevation of one of the tumblers and
grinding arrangements drawn on an enlarged scale. In this instance the
tumblers n are placed within the toothed rings 's, which instead of being fixed on
the top of the vertical rods 9 are mounted on sleeve shafts which are supported
in the horizontal rail y, Fig. 3. These toothed rings s are driven by the pulley
w, which by means of a band communicates motion to the pulley x on the
vertical spindle or shaft q, and by means of the spur wheel s¹ drives the whole
series of wheels s, s. These wheels carry vertical arms which pass through
cross arms, through which pass the central vertical spindles q¹, to which the
weights p are attached, and by their rotation carry round the tumblers n while
the latter are operated on by the grinding wheels 'h below.
The foregoing arrangements are applicable to grinding concave surfaces.
For grinding horizonal surfaces the article is placed on the flat side of a
wheel made to revolve horizontally, in place of being, as explained above, placed
on the edge of a wheel which revolves vertically. The article thus placed will
be kept and pressed against the grindstone in the manner already explained,
that is to say, by means of weights or springs, and will also in like manner
receive from the machine a rotary movement. As regards the vertical grinding
wheels on the horizontal axle e their number may be optional, and the
necessary materials for cutting, grinding, and polishing, such as sand, water,
stone, and pounce, may be supplied, as at the present time, by a funnel or
reservoir placed above the grindstone; or, what would be better, these materials
may be placed under the wheels in boxes in which the wheel will rotate, as
shewn in the Drawing, and will thus take up the grinding or polishing
materials as required.
Having now described my Invention of "Improved Apparatus for Cutting,
Grinding, and Polishing the Bottoms of Tumblers, Wine-glasses, Decanters,
and other Articles in Glass," and having explained the manner of carrying the
saine into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, adapting the articles to be operated upon to the grinding surface or
tool by means of a weighted rod, spindle, or holder, which will press the article
against the grinding surface and at the same time impart to it rotary motion

page_text: while the grinding or polishing tool is also rotating and grinding or polishing
the article as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Grelle, have hereunto set
hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
my
CHARLES DE GRELLE. (L.s.)