IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES AND RASPS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES AND RASPS."-A
communication.
Sealed the 31st October 1854, and dated the 18th August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th August 1854.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR, CUTTING FILES AND RASPB "
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates chiefly to a mode of varying the force of the blows
delivered on the head of the chisel used in cutting files and rasps. The file
rasp blank is held fast on a traversing bed or table by means of clamps, which
are operated by a sliding frame provided with inclined slots, which receive and
act upon pins carried by the clamps. The bed or table is moved under the
chisel by the usual arrangement of screw, ratchet wheel, and click. The chisel,
is mounted in a socket, which is capable of turning in the cross head which

page_text: carries it, for the purpose of adjusting the chisel to any desired angle, with
reference to the line of motion of the blank.
An elastic packing is also interposed between the chisel and its socket.
The chisel cross head, which runs in guides in the main framing, is carried by
a rocking frame, acted upon at its rear end by a rotating cam, by which means
the chisel is raised from its work.
This cam or another on the same shaft vibrates the hammer helve, by which
the chisel is caused to act upon the file blank. Connected to the hammer
helve are springs, for giving a gradually increasing impetus to the descending
hammer as the blank moves under the chisel, for the purpose of varying the
force of the blows delivered on to the head of the chisel. This gradually
increasing impetus is effected by means of a pair of cams (which take their
motion from the traversing table) rotating in contact with friction bowles,
carried by rods, round which the springs which give the impulse are coiled.
The depression of these rods by the cams, as their increasing radius comes in
contact with the bowles, will compress the springs, and thereby gradually
increase the impulsive force imparted to the hammer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES AND RASPS," being a communication

page_text: from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
--
This Invention of "Improved Machinery for Cutting Files and Rasps," con-
sists of an arrangement or combination of mechanical parts for the automatic
graduation of the blow at the tip of the blank or commencement of the
operation.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation of a machine con-
structed according to the present Invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical
section taken in the line 1, 1, of Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken as
denoted by the line 2, 2, of Fig. 2, and looking towards the cutting apparatus;
Fig. 4 is an elevation of the rear end of the machine; and Fig. 5 is a top view
of the file bed or carriage.
In the Drawing, A is a bench, having at the top guide ways a, a, for the file
bed or carriage B to slide to and fro upon; one of these ways is provided
with a bead b, fitting into a groove in the carriage to increase the steadiness of
this part of the machine, and also to more correctly guide the carriage.
Mounted on this bench A are two standard frames c, c, in which are affixed
bearings to receive the journals of the hammer, cutter, cams, and other working
parts. The top of the carriage B is provided with a contrivance for holding
the blank, and hereafter described. Two long thin strips of metal C, having
each a pair of longitudinal grooves or slits e, e, and also a pair of oblique
ones f, as represented in Fig. 5, are united at their front ends by a cross
piece d.
The longitudinal grooves slip over pins e, e, (Fig. 5) in the carriage top.
These pins are screw threaded and provided with thumb nuts. 9, 9, are clips
or slides, having small flanges on their inner ends for clamping the file
blank. From these clips or slides g project upwards pins f, which occupy the
oblique grooves f". It will readily be perceived that on drawing the plates or
strips C forward, the pressure of the rear side of the oblique grooves f* upon
the pins will cause the clips or slides to approach the blank, and clamp it or

page_text: hold it fast, and with a reverse motion of the strips C, the clips g are made to
recede again and allow another blank to be inserted. The clips or slides being
arranged upon the file bed on either side of the file blank to be cut are
brought to their desired places when the blank is to be clamped, and held
fast by means of the thumb nuts on the pins e, e. The tang of the file
blank is inserted within a staple h of the bed, and admits of vertical but
not of lateral motion. Vertical motion has to be provided on account of the
swelling form usually given to files, which occasions the ends to rise from the
bed in proportion to the distance of the part operated on.
The cutter D (Figs. 2 and 3) does not differ materially in form from the
ordinary file chisel; that is, it has a flat taper towards the cutting edge or blade,
and also a pyramidical taper towards the heel; it is placed within a socket i,
the said socket nearly fitting it at top, but enlarging towards the lower portion,
so as to admit an encircling cushion u, of caoutchouc or india-rubber, to the
cutter shank, for the purpose of rendering the face or edge of the cutter self-
adaptable to the face of the file blank, and thus effectually preventing any
recoil of the cutter, and the consequent formation of false or imperfect grooves.
The cutter is preserved from falling out of the socket i by a pin passing
through the head of the said socket and shank of the cutter. The socket itself
is cylindrical, and can be set in its gate or cross head j, so as to present the
edge of the chisel at any angle desired with reference to the line of motion;
this done, the socket is secured to the gate by the set screw. The ends of
the gate or cross hend j work in grooves k, k, on the frame c, and admit of a
slight upward motion parallel with the axis of the cutter. This upward motion
is given by means of levers E, E, the ends of which are inserted in eyes / on
the gate; the levers E have their fulcra upon a cross rail m attached to the
frames c. This rail also affords support to the fulcrum n of the helve G of the
hammer F, in the manner shewn. The heels of both the hammer helve G
and the levers E are depressed at regular intervals by the rotating cams
H, H', mounted on a horizontal propelling shaft I, the cams H, II', being so
formed as to lift both the hammer F and cutter D nearly simultaneously, and
to drop the latter first, which thus has an opportunity to adapt itself to the face
of the blank, and also to hold the latter down firmly upon the carriage, and
thus hold the blank to its work. On these accounts it is decidedly preferable
to have the cutter, as in this machine, detached from the handle. The hammer
head must be so adjusted in its helve G as to strike the chisel or cutter in a
precisely central manner, and the hammer must be held fast in its proper place,
by means of the set screws o, o, passing through the hammer head into a recess
p in the helve. The force of the hammer derivable from its weight is still

page_text: further augmented by means of spiral springs q, q, the power of which is at its
minimum at the commencement of the cutting on the narrow tip of the file,
and is made to increase, so as to augment the force of the cut as the surface of
the blank becomes wider. This is effected by the following arrangement. of
mechanism:-Affixed to the sides of the carriage are racks r, r, into which gear
pinions 8, 8, mounted on a horizontal transverse shaft J, turning in bearings in
the frame. On this shaft J, and on the outsides of the pinions 8, 81, are placed
cams or excentrics K, K, and interposed between these cams K and pinions
8, s, are rods L; these rods L are slotted where they pass the cams, so as to
allow the pinion shaft J to pass through them, and they carry at their lower
extremities rollers M, which bear up against the faces of the cams K by the
stress of the springs q, before mentioned; these springs surround the upper
portions of the rods L, their lower ends bearing against a cross piece N, attached
to the hammer helve G, and their upper ends bear against nuts t, on the upper
ends of the rods.
On inspection of this mechanism, it will be seen that as the carriage
advances, the slow rotation of the pinions 8, s', will gradually bring a large part
of the cams K in contact with the rollers M, and by this means draw them
and their attached rods downwards, and thus contract the springs 9, and
increase the pressure upon the hammer. The intermittent advance of the
carriage between every two successive strokes of the hammer is accomplished
by means of a horizontal screw ○ (Fig. 3), having its bearings within the
bench A. When it is desired to actuate the carriage B, this object is effected
by bringing down a semicircular nut P upon the screw shaft O, by means of
the hand lever Q, which has its fulcrum at Q' in the file bed or carriage, and
attached to the nut P by an arm R (see Fig. 4). This screw shaft () is
rotated by a pawle S and ratchet wheel T, worked by a cam U on the shaft I,
that carries the cams H, H', which operate the hammer and cutter, and by
coming into play at the same time as the cams H, H', and also ceasing to act
before the chisel descends, the bed or carriage is moved before the hammer
and cutter are liberated from the said cams H, H¹. V (Figs. 1 and 3) is a
rack, attached to the side of the bed, and having one or more pawles W, pre-
vents the recession of the carriage B beneath the strokes of the hammer.
When the operation of cutting the file on one side is finished, the carriage
is detached from the screw shaft O, and is run back, and the file blank
turned over and clamped, in the manner already explained, and the other side
can then be cut.
Having described the Improved Machinery for Cutting Files and Rasps,
which forms the subject of the present Invention, I would observe that what I

page_text: claim as new in the above described, machine, and desire to have secured to
me by Letters Patent, is the mode herein shewn and described, or any mere
modification thereof, of constructing, combining, and operating the hammer and
cutter, and the racks r, pinions s, s¹, cams or excentrics K, rods L, and springs
q, in connection with the vibrating hammer F, as described, for the graduation
of the blow at the commencement of the operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight, hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
4
W. E. NEWTON. (L.B.)