IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP PILL BOXES AND SIMILAR BOXES FROM SOLID WOOD, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Swainson, the younger, of Newton Stewart, in
the County of Wigton, North Britain, Wood Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP PILL BOXES AND SIMILAR BOXES
FROM SOLID WOOD, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE SAID
MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 5th June 1868, and dated the 26th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Swainson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
December 1862.
I, JOHN SWAINSON, the younger, of Newton Stewart, in the County of
Wigton, North Britain, Wood Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILL BOXES AND
SIMILAR BOXES FROM SOLID WOOD, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE
SAID MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements in the manufacture of pill boxes
and similar boxes from solid wood lengths, and in the machinery employed in
the said manufacture herein-after described, by which said improvements grent
saving of wood and labour are effected.
In making pill boxes and similar boxes according to my Invention I cut the
wood into short lengths, the said lengths being somewhat greater than the
length of the boxes to be made, and I afterwards turn the exterior of the said

page_text: lengths to the size required by means of a turning machine, commonly called
a thread bobbin machine, the said machine also fashioning one end of the wood
length for the reception of the box lid. I next place the said turned lengths in
the holder of the machine herein-after described, and by means of the said
machine I bore or cut out the inside of the wood lengths to the required depth.
Pill boxes or similar boxes are thus manufactured and are ready for the reception
of the lids, the said lids being made by turning the exterior and boring out the
interior of short wood lengths in the manner described with respect to boxes.
The machine or lathe by which I bore or cut out the interior of the cylin-
drical wood lengths in order to make boxes and lids therefrom is constructed
essentially as follows:-A horizontal spindle working in headstocks on the bed
of the machine carries at one end a boring bit of the ordinary form. The said
spindle may either be fixed or capable of sliding in its bearings. In a line
with the axis of the said bit a holder made in halves is supported. This holder
is carried in an upright fixed on the end of a horizontal slide, working on a
dovetail on the bed of the lathe or machine. The lower half of the holder is
dropped into a recess made in the said upright to receive it, and the upper
half of the said holder is fixed in a vertical slide working on a dovetail in the
said upright. By means of a screw and handle the said slide carrying the
moveable half of the holder can be raised from or brought down upon the fixed
half in the upright. A short cylindrical length from which a box or lid is to
be made is placed in the lower and fixed half of the holder; the moveable half
is then brought down upon the said fixed one, and the wood length securely
held in the said holder. A rapid rotatory motion being communicated to the
boring bit, the slide carrying the upright and in which the holder is fixed is
moved forward on its dovetail by means of a handle, and the wood length in
the holder pressed against the rotating boring bit, and the inside of the said
wood length bored or cut out by the said bit. The required depth of boring
having been effected, the slide is moved from the boring. bit, and the box or
lid removed from the holder by means of a rod which passes through the back
of the said holder. The machine may either-work horizontally or vertically.
Holders of the kind described having different diameters are employed with
corresponding sized boring. bits to manufacture different sized pill and similar
boxes.
Although I prefer to employ the machine herein-before described to bore or
cut out the interior of the wood lengths, yet other machines may be employed
for the same purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Swainson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SWAINSON, the
younger, of Newton Stewart, in the County of Wigton, North
Britain, Wood Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Swainson, Her special licence, that I, the said John Swainson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Swainson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PILL BOXES AND SIMILAR BOXES PROM SOLID WOOD, AND IN MACHINERY
TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Swainson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 John Swainson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists of the improvements in the manufacture of pill boxes
and similar boxes from solid wood lengths, and in the machinery employed in
the said manufacture herein-after described, by which said improvements great
saving of wood and labour are effected.
In making pill boxes and similar boxes according to my Invention, I cut
the wood into short lengths, the said lengths being somewhat greater than the
length of the boxes to be made, and I afterwards turn the exterior of the said
lengths to the size required by means of a turning machine commonly called a
thread bobbin machine, the said machine also fashioning one end of the wood

page_text: length for the reception of the box lid. I next place the said turned lengths
in the holder of the machine herein-after described, and by means of the said
machine I bore or cut out the inside of the wood lengths to the required depth.
Pill boxes or similar boxes are thus manufactured, and are ready for the
reception of the lids, the said lids being made by turning the exterior and
boring out the interior of short wood lengths in the manner described with
respect to boxes.
The machine or lathe by which I bore or cut out the interior of cylindrical
wood lengths, in order to make boxes and lids therefrom, is constructed essen-
tially as follows:-A horizontal spindle working in headstocks on the bed of
the machine, carries at one end a boring bit of the ordinary form. The said
spindle may either be fixed or capable of sliding in its bearings. In a line
with the axis of the said bit a holder made in halves is supported. This holder
is carried in an upright, fixed on the end of a horizontal slide working on a
dovetail on the bed of the lathe or machine. The lower half of the holder is
dropped into a recess made in the said upright to receive it, and the upper
half of the said holder is fixed in a vertical slide, working on a dovetail in the
said upright. By means of a screw and handle the said slide carrying the
moveable half of the holder can be raised from or brought down upon the
fixed half in the upright. A short cylindrical wood length from which a box
or lid is to be made is placed in the lower and fixed half of the holder; the
moveable half is then brought down upon the said fixed one, and the wood
length securely held in the said holder. A rapid rotatory motion being commu-
nicated to the boring bit, the slide carrying the upright, and in which the
holder is fixed, is moved forward on its dovetail by means of a handle, and the
wood length in the holder pressed against the rotating boring bit and the
inside of the said wood length bored or cut out by the said bit. The required
depth of boring having been effected, the slide is moved from the boring bit, and
the box or lid removed from the holder by means of a rod which passes through
the back of the said holder. The machine may either work horizontally or ver-
tically. Holders of the kind described having different diameters are employed
with corresponding sized boring bits to manufacture different sized pill and
similar boxes.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same is
to be performed.
In manufacturing pill boxes according to my Invention, I take short cylin-
drical lengths of wood of the kind represented in edge view and plan in
Figure 1 of the Drawing, and I reduce or turn the exterior of the said lengths

page_text: to the size represented in edge view and plan in Figure 2, and afterwards to
that represented in edge view and section in Figure 3, the last named turning
reducing the size and fashioning the end at a of the wood lengths for the
reception of the lids in the finished boxes. I effect the turning of the exterior
of the wood lengths, Figures 2 and 3, by means of a turning machine com-
monly called a thread bobbin machine, but other turning machines may be
used for that purpose. I next place the turned length Figure 3 in the holder
of the machine represented in the Drawing, and by means of the boring bit of
the said machine, I bore or cut out the inside of the said length to the required
A pill box ready for the reception of the lid is thereby manufactured
as represented in section and plan in Figure 4.
extent.
In manufacturing lids for the said boxes, I take short lengths of the form
represented in Figure 5, and I reduce or turn them to the size represented
in Figure 6, and afterwards bore or cut out the inside of the said lengths
Figure 6, by means of the machine represented in the Drawing, and
thereby form lids. A lid for the box Figure 4 made from the wood length
Figure 6, is represented in section in Figure 7. Pill and other similar boxes
of various sizes are manufactured from solid wood lengths in the way just
described and represented.
The machine which I prefer to employ for boring or cutting out the inside
of wood lengths which have been previously turned or fashioned externally, in
order to manufacture boxes and lids therefrom is represented in Figures 8
and 9 of the Drawing, Figure 8 representing a side elevation of the said
machine, and Figure 9 an end elevation of a portion of the same.
The same
letters indicate the same parts in Figures 8 and 9; 6 is the horizontal spindle of
the machine working in headstocks c, c, fixed to the bed d. The said spindle 6
carries at one end the boring bit e. Rapid rotatory motion is communicated to
the said spindle b and boring bite by a band h from the pulley i passing over the
fast pulley g of the fast and loose pulleys g, g². Motion is given to the pulley i
from a steam engine or other source of power. An upright & connected with
the slide carries in it a holder m, m2, made in halves, as represented; the
said holder m, m², consisting of a rectangular frame, having in its middle a
circular depression or recess of the size of the box to be manufactured. The
slide is capable of motion in a borizontal plane upon the dovetail /* fixed on
the bed d of the machine. This horizontal motion of the slide is effected
by the frame or handle n. The said frame or handle n turns on a pin or
centre at n on either side the fixed dovetail 22, and is connected to the slide l
through the pius and slots at 13 on either side the said slide 1. One half m²
of the holder m, m², is dropped into a rectangular recess at in the upright k,

page_text: and the other half m is fixed in a vertical slide o working on dovetails in the
upper part of the said upright k. The vertical slide o is raised or lowered in
the upright by turning the screw p by the handle g in one or other direction.
That half of the holder carried by the said slide o is thereby raised from or
brought down upon the other fixed half in the upright k. In Figure 9 the
two parts of the holder are shewn slightly separated, in order to introduce a
wood length between them, and in Figure 8 the said parts of the holder are
shewn in contact, so as to hold the wood length firmly between them. The
short cylindrical length, Figure 3, or Figure 6, being placed in the lower and
fixed half m of the holder m, m³, the handle 7 is turned, and the moveable
half m brought down upon the fixed one m³, and the wood length thereby
securely fixed in the holder. A rapid rotatory motion being given to the
boring bit e, the slide is moved forward by moving the handle n, and the
wood length in the holder m, m², pressed gradually against the rotating bit e,
and the inside of the said wood length bored or cut out by the said bit to the
required extent, and a box, Figure 4, or a lid, Figure 7, thereby made. The
boring out having been effected, the slide is withdrawn from the bit e by
the handle n, and the finished box or lid removed from the holder by means
of the rod r, which is passed through the axis of the holder at the back
thereof, the said rod being pushed forward by hand. A screw stop s is placed
in front of the slide 1, in order accurately to adjust the distance to which the
said slide shall be moved against the boring bit e, and thus determine the
depth of boring of the wood length under operation. Instead of making
the headstocks c, c, carrying the spindle 6 fixed, and giving a sliding motion
to the upright k supporting the holder, the said upright ke may be fixed on the
bed of the machine, and the required sliding motion be given to the head-
stocks c, c, by an arrangement of parts similar to that described and represented
for giving motion to the upright k; but I prefer to carry my Invention into
effect in the manner already described and represented in the Drawing.
Figure 10 represents a series of holders differing in size from that described
and represented in the machine, Figures 8 and 9. When the said holders,
Figure 10, are respectively used in the said machine, boring bits of the proper
size are used with the said holders.
Although I prefer to employ the machine herein-before described and
illustrated in the Drawing to bore or cut out the interior of the wood lengths,
yet other machines may be employed for the same purpose.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied

page_text: without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention,
Firstly, the improvement or improvements in the manufacture of pill boxes
and similar boxes from solid wood, herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing the said boxes
from short solid wood lengths, by first turning or fashioning the exterior of the
said wood lengths, and afterwards boring or cutting out the interior of the said
lengths, as described and illustrated.
Secondly, the improvements in machinery for boring or cutting out the
interior of short wood lengths for the manufacture of pill boxes and similar
boxes, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, constructing, arranging, and actuating the parts of the holders
in which the said wood lengths are held during the boring or cutting out of
the interior of the said lengths, essentially in the manner herein described and
illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Swainson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOHN SWAINSON, JUNE. (L.S.)
Witness,
ADAM HOGG,
Cree Woods, Newton Stewart.