CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING MARBLE AND OTHER STONES, AND CUTTING OR FORMING MOULDINGS OR GROOVINGS THEREON
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WASHINGTON WILDES, of Coleman Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, in the third year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the. said George Washington. Wildes, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said George Washington Wildes, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Washington
Wildes, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all
His said Majesty's..Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING MARBLE AND OTHER STONES,
AND CUTTING OR FORMING MOULDINGS OR GROOVINGS THEREON, communicated
to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said George Washington Wildes, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
0
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Washington Wildes, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures
and letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
The sawing is performed by means of improved revolving circular metallic
plates, smooth or without teeth upon the face or edge, operating by friction
with sand and water upon the material to be cut, and the moulding or grooving
and polishing is effected by means of the improved revolving moulding and
polishing cylinder or wheel operating in cutting mouldings by friction with
sand and water upon the surface to be wrought, and polishing by friction in
like manner with putty, buff, pumice stone, or some other suitable material,
videlicet, one or more circular metallic plates, smooth or not serrated upon
the face or cutting edge (copper or soft iron are deemed preferable), are securely
fixed upon a horizontal shaft or spindle of iron, of any required dimensions,
passing through the centre of the plate or plates, and supported at each end
by a proper frame of wood or of cast iron upon which the shaft works. On
one end of the shaft is a cog wheel to connect it to the moving power,
or a pulley and band; the last has been found to answer best practically.
Where two or more plates are used in the same shaft, they are secured at the
proper distance from and parallel to each other by circular metallic bands
or washers, of a thickness adapted to the intended thickness of the slab
or slabs to be cut, which bands are fitted upon and around the shaft
between the plates. or saws. Under the shaft, at the distance of a little
more than the radius of the plates or saws, is a carriage on friction rollers or
wheels, resting on a permanent railway to support.and carry forward the
stone or marble to the plates or saws; it is moved either by a rack and
pinion, or by weights and pullies. Over the saws is fixed a hopper filled with
sand and water which is carried by a conductor leading from an aperture in
its bottom to the saws at the point of their contact with the stone or marble.
The plates or saws may be made of any required dimensions, and must be
wrought to a uniform thickness throughout with the cutting edge smooth or

page_text: not serrated, and either rounded, bevelled, or flat. They are securely fixed
upon the shaft, and subsequently turned in a lathe to make them run with the
greatest possible accuracy. The proper speed varies according to the diameter
from about three hundred revolutions per minute for a saw of two feet
diameter down to one hundred and fifty revolutions per minute for a saw of
four feet diameter.
The improved moulding and polishing cylinder or wheel is of any metal
(cast iron is preferable for moulding, and some of the softer metals and wood
for polishing), and of any requisite dimensions, having the converse of the
intended moulding
or grooving either cast or turned upon its surface or
periphery, by means of which any series of mouldings or groovings can be
wrought in a surface of marble or stone at one operation, and in like manner
be polished. It is fixed upon a horizontal shaft `passing through its axis,
which is turned by a cog wheel or pulley and band connecting it to the
power, and operates on the material to be wrought by revolving vertically
against its surface in contact with sand and water in cutting mouldings, and
in contact with pumice stone, buff, or some other suitable material in
polishing. The speed of the moulding wheels may be greater than that of
the saws nearly two-fold, and the polishing wheels may run at a higher speed
than the moulding wheels. A cylinder having a regular smooth surface is
used in like manner for flatting and for polishing a plain surface. The
marble or stone is carried forward and under the moulding and polishing
cylinders by a mechanical arrangement, similar to that before described.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1. A, the saws or the moulding cylinder of cast iron; B, the
carriage to support and carry forward the marble or stone; C, C, the rails on
which the carriage travels; D, the hopper for sand and water; and E, the
apparatus for advancing the carriage. The polishing cylinder is similar in
form to the above, and used in like manner, with polishing powder, as putty,
buff, &c. instead of sand, and is made of wood, or some of the softer metals.
The improvements claimed consist in the sawing of marble or other stone,
by means of a revolving circular metallic plate, smooth or not serrated on the
face or edge, and applied with sand and water, as is done with the straight
saw, and also in making or forming upon the surface or periphery of a metallic
or wooden cylinder or wheel the converse of the intended moulding or
grooving, by means of which a series of mouldings or grooves can be wrought
on a surface of marble or stone at one operation with sand and water, and in

page_text: material.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Washington Wildes, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.