Year: 1886

page_text: We, HEMAN SWIFT SMITH and EDWARD BRADLEY, both Doctors of medicine,
residing in the city, county and state of New York, United States of America, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of this invention is to substitute the direct pressure of steam for the
various mechanisms used in operating a veneer cutter, and our improvements
consist primarily in the combination with a movable knife carrier, of a piston rod
and piston fitted to a steam cylinder and operated to reciprocate the knife and
carrier by the direct action of the steam; and also in a connection from the knife
carrier to the steam valves, in means for shifting the valves by hand, in an
auxiliary valve for admitting steam behind the piston as the knife finishes its cut,
in means for actuating the feed mechanism, in means for withdrawing the log a
little from the knife after each cut, in the use of detachable nuts upon the feed
screws and the application of a hydraulic or steam piston rod directly to the stay
log, to draw the same back quickly to insert a new log, and in a presser acting to
condense the wood just before the knife.
These constructive features form a machine adapted to move the knife back and
forth with great rapidity, and to operate automatically during the entire operation
of reducing a log to veneers or boards. The method herein shown of cutting the
wood from end to end obliquely, and the use of a pressure adjusted to strongly
compress the wood during the cutting operation, enables us to cut the wood
perfectly sound, to any desired degree of thickness.
In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine, Fig. 2 is a rear view
of the feeding mechanism with part of the log bed and ways drawn twice as large
as in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan of the same with the ways removed and the knife
and carrier shown in section operating upon a log; Fig. 4 is a vertical section on
line x, x, in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a diagram showing three different forms for the
operative edge of the presser bar, and Fig. 6 is a view of the stand m with only
the means for opening and vibrating the nut.
a is the log bed, b the stay log movable on slides, e the presser bar, e¹ its holder,
f slide bars fitted to ways fl and rigidly secured upon the ends of the carrier and

page_text: holder; g is a steam cylinder containing a steam piston attached to a rod gl keyed
into the holder e¹, and serving, through the side bars, to move the knife and presser
back and forth in front of the log h.
g is the steam supply pipe connected to steam chests g³ at opposite ends of the
cylinder; g is the main valve stem moved by a steam piston fitted within a
cylinder c²; and c³ is a valve chest containing a slide valve actuated by a rod r.
This rod is automatically moved at each end of the stroke, by means of arms l
pivoted at opposite ends of the upper way f1, and connected to one another by a
link, and to the rod r by means of a link and a bell crank..
8 are roller dogs adjustably secured upon the upper side bar f to alternately
actuate the ends of the arms.71; and thus to shift the slide valve in the chest c³ in
opposite directions, at the opposite ends of the stroke.
The movements of the slide valve admit steam to the cylinder c³ to shift the
valve stem g', and the valve stem is attached at opposite ends to suitable valves in
the chests o³ to admit the steam alternately to opposite ends of the main cylinder,
and to discharge it from the same upon the return stroke, into the exhaust pipe g³.
i is a handle actuating a crank to operate the steam throttle valve; and k²
is a lever actuating an arm and a lever k for shifting the valve stem g' by hand,
to stop the carrier at any point in the stroke of the knife. The ways f¹ are
inclined at an angle of 23° to the stay log, and the knife is thus drawn obliquely
across the face of the log from one end to the other, to give a shearing cut.
As the crosshead formed of the carrier d¹ and holder e', operates at an inclination,
the elastic pressure of the steam tends to jerk the crosshead downward, when the
knife finishes its cut.
·
To arrest the momentum of the crosshead at the lower end of the stroke, a
valve y' is connected with the lower end of the cylinder g (Fig. 1) and with the
steam supply pipe g³, and is actuated by an arm w, and a dog a adjustably
secured to the lower side bar 'f.
#. .
The arm is connected by a link w with a crank w³ upon the valve y, and the
latter may thus be opened by the contact of the descending dog al with the arm w,
at the point in the stroke, where the knife leaves the wood.
The steam pressure and the weight of the link w tend to automatically close
the valve y, and the crank w and arm w are shown in black lines, as when the
valve is closed, and in dotted lines in the position to which they are, moved by the
dog a. The feeding, devices are operated, by pivoted arms ct connected by a link cⓇ,
one of the arms being actuated by a projection from the dog a¹, and the other by a
dog a secured, upon the same side bar. One of the arms is secured upon a rock-
shaft b, the rear end of which is shown in Fig. 2 provided with a crank arm
which actuates the feeding, devices, at the upper end of each stroke, before the
cut begins.
n' are the feed screws; 60 are boxes at the rear of the stay log, in which they,
turn, andis are ratchet wheels bored, to fit the outside of the screws and provided
with a key, to, fit a longitudinal groove in the screw thread.
et are bearings for, the rear ends of the screws; s¹ are pawl arms or levers fitted
loosely upon the screws, between the bearings and the wheels, 8, the upper ends of
the levers, being provided with pawls to fit the teeth of the wheels 8, and their,
lower ends 8 being jointed by a link . A link transmits motion to one of the
pawlarins from a lever which is pivoted, upon an adjustable, fulcrum v, and is
actuated by a connection to the shaft b¹..
11 st
The fulcrum of, the lever, v' is formed as a sleeve movable up and down upon a
cylindrical column u', the lever v being clamped by a set screw v³ in a socket
pivoted upon the fulcrum vi
>> 1: J
:
A screw serves to elevate the fulcrum when the set screw is unclamped,; and
the fulcrum may thus be adjusted to any point upon; the lever vl, and thus vary.
the movement.transmitted from the shaft bsto the link 8 and the feeding pawls,
to vary the thickness of the cut. The nuts are formed in halves, with no thread in
the bottom part, and the upper part n being detachable from the screw thread by

page_text: a link t (shown in Figs. 2 and 6) which is coupled to the upper half of the nut..
and actuated by a rotary crank t¹.
"
When the threaded parts of the nuts are thus lifted, the stay log and the screws n
can be drawn quickly backward by a rod pl attached to a steam piston in the
cylinder p. This piston is actuated in either direction at the pleasure of the
operator, by a valve located in the chest'p and moved by a hand lever p³.
When a log of wood has been entirely cut, the stay log may thus be quickly
drawn back to apply another, and then moved forward into contact with the
knife carrier.<<
f . :
The nuts 'n may then be closed, and as the rotation of the ratchet wheels
operates to turn the screws around in the nuts, the feed will be automatically
effected by the movement of the feeding pawls upon the ratchet wheels at the
upper end of each stroke. The nuts n³ are automatically retracted from the knifė
a half a centimeter, during the entire upward movement of the knife, to avoid the
friction of the knife upon the wood; the nuts being formed upon flanges o which
are fitted movably to a groove o' in a plate ts. This plate is shown in Fig. 6
secured by bolts o' upon the stand m, which is employed to sustain the nut and
the screw bearing t, and it is formed with a vertical groove to fit a slide which
is provided with an inclined tongue to retract the stay log at the lower end of
each knife stroke. :
.
It
The slides are provided with bars which extend downward through the bed a
and are connected to bell cranks b³ which are coupled together by a rod b' and
connected by a link b² to the rock-shaft b'.
it :
The flange o is slotted to slide upon the bolts o², and the tongue r³ is fitted to an
inclined groove in its rear side, and operates, when the slide is moved, to draw the
flange and nut backward upon the plate t³, to retract the log as desired.
י.
:
The stay log is fitted to the ways c by means of brackets 6' which are coupled
together by toothed racks and pinions q, the pinions being secured to a transverse
shaft so that one end of the stay log cannot move faster than the other; and a
disk q¹ is affixed to the shaft by which the pinions may be rotated by a hand lever,
and the stay log moved independently of the feeding devices or the piston rod p¹..
e◄ is an adjusting plate for the presser, secured to the holder e¹ by bolts e³, and is
adjustable to and from the edge of the knife by screws l².
is a shaft connected with all the screws by bevel gears 7, and the adjuster and
presser are both provided with slots e² where they are bolted to the holder, so that
the presser may be readily set at the required distance from the edge of the knife.
This distance is, in practice, materially less than the amount that the log is fed
forward by the screws n, so that the presser rubs hard upon the wood at the edge
of the knife and prevents the fibres from splintering or cracking during the cutting
operation. The edge of the presser is shown in Fig. 3 curved to one side, but may
be made of any form.
Three other shapes are shown in Fig. 5, two of them more or less acute, and one
with convex face, the character of the wood upon which they are used determining
which is the most suitable.
In Fig. 7 is shown a form of knife edge which operates to compress the wood
without the aid of the presser; or it may be used there with to prevent the knife
from running into the surface when the grain is crooked.
The flat face d² is pressed bard upon the wood, and the cutting edge is sloped as
at d from such flat face toward the beveled face ³ which separates the veneer
from the log. Such a cutting edge obviously tends to ride upon the surface of the
wood when in operation, and must be rigidly held and guided so as to compress
the wood adjacent to its inner side during each cut, the next succeeding cut
removing such compressed wood more perfectly than if uncompressed. The
machine we have described is made very strong so as to cut the wood under com-
pression, and by the direct action of the steam upon the piston rod g¹, may be
successfully operated at forty strokes per minute, in cutting wood of any thickness
below two centimeters.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
claim, is:
we
1st, The improvements in veneer and lumber cutters, substantially as herein
described..
2nd The combination, with a movable knife carrier, of a piston rod and piston
fitted to a steam cylinder, and operated to reciprocate the carrier by the direct
action of the steam.
3rd The combination, with a reciprocating knife carrier, of a knife and a presser
bar adjustable to and from the same, to compress the wood during the cut..
4th The combination, with a movable knife carrier operated directly by a steam
piston, of the steam valves and mechanism operated by the carrier for automatically.
actuating said valves to reverse the movements of the piston, as desired.
5th The combination, with the stay log and the movable knife carrier, of feeding.
mechanism connected with the stay log and actuated by the movable knife carrier
to feed the log toward the knife before each cut.
6th The combination, with the stay log and the movable knife carrier, of means
actuated by the carrier to feed the log forward as desired, and means for drawing
the log back from the knife after each cut to clear the knife on the return stroke.
7th The combination, with a reciprocating carrier, of a knife having a flat face
pressed upon the wood, a beveled face to separate the veneer, and a cutting edge
sloped from the flat face toward the beveled face so as to ride upon the wood when
in operation.
8th. The combination, with the stay log, of a detachable mechanism for feeding
it automatically toward the knife before each cut, and a cylinder having a piston
connected directly to the stay log to shift the same when the feed mechanism is.
detached.
9th The combination, with a movable knife carrier actuated by a steam piston, of
a valve mechanism operated to reverse the movements of the piston automatically,
and an auxiliary valve actuated by an adjustable connection to the carrier, for
admitting steam behind the piston at any required point in the stroke.
Dated this 1st day of June 1886.