IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND TOOLS FOB CUTTING, SAWING, AND PLANING STONE, MARBLE, AND SLATE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hunter, of Coleford, in the County of
Gloucester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
AND TOOLS FOB CUTTING, SAWING, AND PLANING STONE, MARBLE, AND
SLATE."
Sealed the 25th September 1862, and dated the 3rd April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hunter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
April 1862.
I, GEORGE HUNTER, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND TOOLS FOR CUTTING, SAWING, AND PLANING STONE, MARBLE, AND
SLATE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in certain arrangements of machinery for mounting
saws, surfacing plates, or other cutting tools, whereby they may be worked
either vertically, horizontally, or at an angle; also in the construction of
improved tools to be used therewith or with any other stone cutting machinery.
The spindles of the surfacing plates or saws are mounted in brackets capable
of being turned to any angle with the length or the breadth of the stone to be
operated upon. The stone rests upon a turntable which lies upon a table
having a traversing motion imparted to it, so as to feed the stone forward
when sawing or surfacing, and arranged in such manner as to be readily put

page_text: in gear with a quick reversing motion, so as to travel like an iron planing
machine when necessary. The turntable has slots formed in it, and upon the
under table are long slides acted on by screws, having a number of holes in
them wherein to insert grippers through the slots in the turntable for the
purpose of securing the stone and the turntable. The turntable is worked by
worm wheel and worm, or by wheel rack and screw, or any other convenient
method.
The machine is also provided with planing tools for the purpose of planing
off the circular marks left by the disc, or if for slate slabs for planing them in
the usual way before or after sawing them.
I make my tools of bent steel, the size of which is regulated according to
whether the stone is to be cut through or only surfaced; one end of the bent
steel is worked bell shaped, whereby the necessary angle is obtained as well as
space for the tool holder. The tools may be semicircular or flat or pointed on
the top side according to the work required to be done.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Hunter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, GEORGE
IIUNTER. of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Hunter, Her special licence that I, the said George Hunter,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Hunter, 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
MACHINERY AND TOOLS FOR CUTTING, SAWING, AND PLANING STONE, MARBLE, AND
SLATE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Hunter, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to

page_text: 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 George Hunter, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in certain arrangements of machinery for mounting
saws, surfacing plates, or other cutting tools whereby they may be worked
either vertically, horizontally, or at an angle; also in the construction of
improved tools to be used therewith or with any other stone cutting machinery..
The spindles of the surfacing plates or saws are mounted in brackets capablo
of being turned to any angle with the length or the breadth of the stone to be
operated upon. The stone rests upon a turntable which lies upon a table
having a traversing motion imparted to it, so as to feed the stone forward
when sawing or surfacing, and arranged in such manner as to be readily put
in gear with a quick reversing motion, so as to travel like an iron planing
machine when necessary. The turntable has slots formed in it, and upon the
under table are long slides acted on by screws having a number of holes in
them wherein to insert grippers through the slots in the turntable for the
purpose of securing the stone and the turntable. The turntable is worked by
worm wheel and worm, or by wheel rack and screw, or any other convenient
method.
The machine is also provided with planing tools for the purpose of planing
off the circular marks left by the disc, or if for slate slabs for planing them in
the usual way before or after sawing them.
I make my tools of bent steel, the size of which is regulated according to
whether the stone is to be cut through or only surfaced; one end of the bent
steel is worked bell shaped, whereby the necessary angle is obtained as well as
space for the tool holder. The tools may be semicircular or flat or pointed on
the top side according to the work required to be done.
.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view of the mouth end of a
tool constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a view of the top
side of the same as it appears when inserted in a holder; Figure 3 is a view
of a piece of steel as it appears when doubled over to form a tool, the central
lines a, a, indicate the double of the metal, the line 6 that of the shank of the
tool, and the outer line c the mouth or cutting edge of the same. Although
the tool is shewn circular it may be made pointed, flat, or of any other shape
cr

page_text: desired. When only one circular plate is at work on a machine and the
machine only used for reducing and not for cutting through the stone or other
material, I make use of both sides of the tool, as shewn at Figure 4. At
Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, I have shewn several appliances whereby. the tool
holders are fixed into iron or steel discs. Figure 9. is a side elevation of my
machinery for cutting or sawing stone, marble, and slate; Figure 10. is. a
plan, and Figures 11 and 12 are views of the ends of the same.
A is a bar or frame extending across the machine, along one side of which
cutting discs are free to travel, and on the other. side tools for planing .or
scraping; K is a shaft passing between the arms' supporting the cross bar A;
it has a keyway cut: along its length, in which two bevil pinions travel which
drive the wheels L, L, the latter. revolving upon a strong stud or arm, shewn
by the dotted lines in Figure 9, cast in a piece with the saddle plates on the
cross bar; these plates are fitted on the cross bar and are free to travel along
the said bar, being kept at any desired distance apart by means of set screws,
which have their collar ends supported in the screw wheel M. Each wheel
L, L, has a bevil wheel. screwed to its back in gear with wheels N, N, keyed
to the saw or disc spindles.
:
:
The tools of discs travel at the rate of from-20 to 40 feet per minute,
according to the nature of the material operated on; they can be set at any
desired angle by means of a worm wheel o, into which a worm gears, by
turning which the position of the saws is regulated. The cross bar carrying
the discs can also be moved, whereby the discs may be directed to any point
in the circuit of a sphere. s, 5, 8, are the wheels for communicating motion to
the screws, whereby the cross bár A is raised or lowered.
Motion is communicated to the machine by the pulleys C and E; D is a
loose pulley; F is a pinion fast on the same shaft as the pulley C, and F' is
a similar pinion fast on the pulley E. The pinions F, F¹, both gear into
wheel: G mounted on the shaft H, so that by removing the strap from the
pulley. C to the pulley E the motion will be reversed, and vice versa. P is
the table or platform on which the stone or other materiol to be cut or planed
is laid; this table has a slow horizontal motion imparted to it by means of a
screw. which is driven by the cone, pulleys QQ. When the discs cease
revolving the screw nut. divides; and disengages the feed screw, whereby the
table is caused to travel backwards and forwards by setting the bevil wheel
in with, its pinion.
gear
.
For soft stone a broad thin tool is, used, but for hard stone a tool resembling.
that shewn at Figure 18, and set at any suitable angle, is employed. The
table may be made to revolve or, not as desired, and may be secured by

page_text: grippers or otherwise while the stone is being operated on if considered
necessary.
Figures 14 and 15 are views of a circular machine in combination with a
planing machine, fitted with tools similar to those described with reference to
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 13; or it may be fitted with circular tools
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to James Hunter and
myself, the 24th April 1855, or any other convenient tools may be employed.
Figure 16 is a view of the cross bar, herein-before marked A, fitted with
discs carrying tools as before described, and with planing tools set at an angle,
as seen in Figure 17. The saws or discs are in this case set vertically and
driven by spur gearing instead of by bevil wheels as before. The bar is
canted by means of a worm wheel so as to lift the saws out of the
cut, and at the same time the planing tool is brought to its proper working
angle. By this arrangement both edges of slabs are cut at one and the same
time.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the construction of tools for cutting, sawing, and planing stone,
marble, and slate, together with the methods of fixing the same in holders,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second, the construction, arrangement, and method of action of machinery
for cutting, sawing, and planing stone, marble, and slate, whereby the
cutting discs and facing plates or tools may be set to work at any desired
angle, while the material to be operated on is placed on a platform, which
may be fixed or have a to and fro or rotary motion imparted to it, all as
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hunter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-two.