IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING VENEERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Stone, of 46, Lime Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CUTTING VENEERS."-A communication from abroad by John Ahsbolis,
residing at Forty-third Street, New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Stone at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th June 1860.
I, EDWARD STONE, of 46, Lime Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI-
NERY FOR CUTTING VENEERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cutting
veneers. For these purposes the log from which veneers are to be cut is
fixed to a plate or bed by means of holders or dogs, which slide in slots or
grooves, so that the dogs or holders may be moved towards or from each
other, they being actuated by screws. The dogs or holders are arranged in
pairs, but are capable of independent motion, and they are acted on by
screws, the axes or ends of which turn in suitable bearings,, and the screws
for each pair of dogs or holders are arranged one within the other, so
that both may be got at and turned at the same end. The plate or bed
is preferred to be placed in a vertical position, but this is not essential.
The plate or bed, together with the log carried thereby, is arranged to be
moved to and fro in a direction lengthways of the log by means of an
excentric and connecting rod or link, or other suitable mechanism. It has
also a rocking motion communicated to it by means of slots at each end of the

page_text: table or plate. The positions of these slots may be varied by means of their
being made in circular discs, which are capable of being moved round and
fixed in any desired positions at the ends of the bed or plate. Through the
slots two fixed pins or studs pass, by which and by reason of the slits or slots
being fixed at suitable angles to the line of motion caused by the excentric,
an alternate rising and falling of each end of the log is obtained. The moving
frame to which the studs or pins are fixed, and which carries the bed or
plate, has a motion up and down a distance equal to and somewhat above
the width of the log, and this motion is by preference communicated to it by
means of two screw shafts acting in female screws or nuts fixed to the frame
which carries the bed or plate. These screw shafts receive their motion from a
shaft having thereon two bevil toothed wheels, which take into and drive similar
toothed wheels fixed on the ends of the two screw shafts. The knife when
making the cut is stationary, but is capable of being moved towards and from
the plate or bed by suitable adjustments, and it is also actuated by a feed
motion which causes it to retire during the going back of the log, and again
to move forward a distance depending on the thickness of veneer next to
to be cut. The knife consists simply of a straight-cutting edge with one side
bevilled off. The cutting edge may be plain, or it may be notched with fine
notches by having fine parallel grooves made at right angles to the edge, and
on the opposite side of the knife to that on which it is bevilled; just above
the edge of the knife there is a lip or presser capable of being set correctly
by screws, so as to press on the surface of the log just above the point
or line of cut. By these combined arrangements it should be understood
that the log is readily fixed to the bed or plate, and is caused to move past
the edge of the knife so as to have a veneer cut therefrom, and in doing
so it has a to-and-fro motion in the way of its length, and at the same time a
rising and falling motion of the ends of the log, the knife being so adjusted
and actuated, that the thickness of the veneers may be regulated as desired.
The knife is also arranged to retire from the block during the return move-
ment of the latter, by which the edge of the knife will be preserved, and
friction avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Stone, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
'STONE, of 46, Lime Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Stone, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Stone, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Stone, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING VENEERS," a communication to me from
abroad by John Ashbohs, residing at Forty-third Street, New York, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Stone, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 tho:
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Stone, do hereby declare tho
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:-
veneers.
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cutting
For these purposes the log from which veneers are to be cut is fixed.
to a plate or bed by means of holders or dogs which slide in slots or grooves..
so that the dogs or holders may be moved towards or from each other, they
being actuated by screws. The dogs or holders are arranged in pairs, but are:
capable of independent motion, and they are acted on by screws, the axes or
ends of which turn in suitable bearings, and the screws for each pair of dogs
or holders are arranged one within the other, so that both may be got at ande
turned at the same end. The plate or bed is preferred to be placed in a.
vertical position, but this is not essential. The plate or bed, together with the
log carried thereby, is arranged to be moved to and fro in a direction length-
ways of the log by means of an excentric and connecting rod or link, or other
suitable mechanism. It has also a rocking motion communicated to it by
means of slots at each end of the table or plate. The positions of these slots
may be varied by means of their being made in circular discs which are capable

page_text: of being moved round and fixed in any desired position at the ends of the bed
or plate. Through the slots two fixed pins or studs pass, by which, and by
reason of the slits or slots being fixed at suitable angles to the line of motion
caused by the excentric an alternate rising and falling of each end. of the log
is obtained. The moving frame to which the studs or pins are fixed, and
which carries the bed or plate, has a motion up and down a distance equal to
and somewhat above the width of the log, and this motion is, by preference,
communicated to it by means of two screw shafts acting in female screws or
nuts fixed to the frame which carries the bed or plate; these screw shafts
receive their motion from a shaft having thereon two bevel toothed wheels
which take into and drive similar toothed wheels fixed on the ends of the two
screw shafts. The knife when making the cut is stationary, but is capable of
being moved towards and from the plate or bed by suitable adjustments, and it
is also actuated by a feed motion, which causes it to retire during the going
back of the log, and again to move forward a distance depending on the thick-
ness of veneer next to be cut.
The knife consists siniply of a straight cutting edge, with one side bevilled
off; the cutting edge may be plain, or it may be notched with fine notches, by
having fine parallel grooves made at right angles to the edge, and on the
opposite side of the knife to that on which it is bevilled. Just above the edge
of the knife there is a lip or presser capable of being set correctly by screws,
so as to press on the surface of the log just above the point or line of cut.
By these combined arrangements it should be understood that the log is
readily fixed to the bed or plate, and is caused to move past the edge of the
knife, so as to have a veneer cut therefrom, and in doing so it has a to-and-fro
motion in the way of its length, and at the same time a rising and falling
motion of the ends of the log, the knife being so adjusted and actuated that
the thickness of the veneers may be regulated as desired. The knife is also
arranged to retire from the block during the return movement of the latter, by
which the edge of the knife will be preserved and friction avoided.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, I will proceed more fully to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a. front elevation of a machine constructed according to the
Invention Figure 2, a vertical transverse section of the same, taken in the
line a, a, Figure 4; Figure 8, a vertical longitudinal section of the same taken
in the line y. y, Figure 2; Figure 4, a horizontal section of the same, taken in
the line,, Figure 2; Figure 5, a detached view of a portion of the knife-

page_text: feeding apparatus; Figure 6, a detached view of the dog arrangement, by
which the block is secured to its bed. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A represents a horizontal framing, on which two uprights B, B, are placed,
one at each side. These uprights have each a guide a attached, and a plate C
is fitted thereon and allowed to slide freely. To the back side of the plate C.
two screw nuts b, b, are attached, in which vertical screws D, D, are fitted to
work; these screws D have each a bevel pinion c at their lower ends, and gear
into corresponding wheels d, d, on a horizontal shaft E, which is the driving
shaft of the machine. From the above description it will be seen that by
turning the shaft E the plate C may be raised and lowered on its guides a, a..
On the driving shaft E is fixed a bevel wheel c¹, which takes into and drives
the bevel wheel on the shaft F, on which is a cog wheel F¹, which gears.
into a cog wheel G on the lower part of a shaft H; the cog wheel F¹ turns in
a bearing at a* and the lower end of the shaft H is arranged to slide freely.
through the cog wheel, but the cog wheel is turned thereby by a feather, which
slides within a groove formed in the shaft H; the upper part of the shaft H
has its bearing 6* attached to the back of plate C. On the upper end of the
shaft H there is a crank pin I, which is capable of adjustment; the crank I,
by a rod K is connected to a slide fat e; the slide f is fitted to and slides in a
horizontal slot g in the plate C, and is attached to a plate L, which may be
termed the block holder or bed, and which is secured to the plate C by means
of screw bolts h, which pass through slides i, and which slides i are fitted to..
and slide in slots in circular adjustable plates or discs k, fitted in the plate C.
The plates are attached to the back side of the plate C by screws 1, which
pass through concentric curved slots m in the plates k into the back of the
plate C, as shown clearly in Figure 3. From the above description it will be
seen, that as the driving shaft E is turned, the screws D, D, will be rotated, "
and the plate C raised or lowered according to the direction in which the
shaft E is turned. At the same time a reciprocating movement is given to the.
plate or block holder or bed L, through the medium of the shaft H, the crank
pin I and the slide f, in addition to which a rocking motion of greater or less
degree is imparted to the plate L, in consequence of the slides i which are
fitted in the slots of the adjustable plates or discs A. The rocking movement'
is governed by setting the slots ; to a greater or less inclination in opposite:
directions, as shown in Figure 3.
To the bed or plate L the block of wood M is attached or fixed and held:
in the following manner:-The bed or plate L has two vertical screws N, N, :
at suitable intervals or distances apart, which screws are shown in Figure 2,

page_text: but more clearly in Figure 6, which is drawn to a larger scale. The
screws N have on them nuts o, suitably formed to slide in vertical slots n,
formed through one side of the plate L, which is hollow. To each nut o
a dog P is attached by a screw or pivot s, the dogs being allowed to turn
freely on such pivots or screws. The screws N, N, bave each a cylindrical
sbank p at their upper ends. These shanks extend up through the hollow
screws Q, Q, and through the upper part of the plate or bed L, and have
squares formed at their upper ends to receive a suitable key when the
screws are to be turned. The hollow screws Q, Q, are placed on the shanks p,
and they are fitted. to turn thereon freely and separate from the shanks.
The upper ends of the hollow screws Q, Q, pass up through the upper
part of the plate or bed L, and they are formed with polygonal terminals r
to receive keys when the screws are to be turned. The hollow screws Q
have nuts R on them, and the nuts R work in the slots n of the bed or
plate L. To the nuts R dogs S are attached by pivots or screws s, which
pass through the centre of the dogs. The block of wood M is secured to
the bed L by the dogs P, S, the latter being adjusted vertically by turning
their respective screws N, Q, and as each dog is allowed a separate or
independent adjustment, it will be seen that blocks of wood having their
upper and lower sides out of the parallel may be readily secured to the
plate L, and any irregularities of surface are compensated for by the in-
dependent action and the pivoting of the dogs P, S. On the framing A
there is placed a carriage T, which is fitted to move between guides o*, c*,
on the framing. On this carriage T, a knife bed U is fitted, the face of the bed
being parallel with the block of wood M, and having a knife V fitted in
the bed U, and it is retained in its proper position by a plate W and screws t.
The knife is held and secured in the bed U in an inclined position, as shown
in the Drawing. The knife bed U is provided with a top plate u, which
has a steel plate v at its inner end and directly over the cutting edge of
the knife. This steel plate is hardened and serves to prevent the knife
from following the grain of the wood, performing a similar office to that of
the "cap" of a joiner's plane. The knife may simply consist of a straight
bevilled edge, but it is preferred that the edge of the knife should be serrated
by having formed at the back of the blade shallow parallel grooves at right angles
to the edge, and at the back of the blade, so that in grinding and sharpening
the knife on the bevilled edge thereof the cutting edge in place of being
straight will be of uniform height from end to end, and will be slightly
serrated. I would, however, state that it is not new to make knives or
cutters suitable to be used for other purposes with grooves on one face

page_text: so as when ground to à bevilled edge to produce a serrated or undulating
edge in place of a straight one. X is a horizontal screw, which turns in
suitable bearings on the framing A, and it passes through a nut w fixed
on the carriage T. On the outer part of the screw X there is placed loosely
a circular plate Y provided with a radial arm a', having a segment rack b
gearing into a screw c¹ on a horizontal shaft Z, the bearings of which are
attached to the framing A. The plate Y also has another radial arm d',
which is at right angles with a', and has its outer end between two adjustable
steps, e, e¹, fitted in an upright f on the framing. The plate Y with its arms
a', a', rack b', and steps e¹, el, are shewn separately in Figure 5. On the
axis of the plate Y there is placed loosely an arm g¹ to the outer end of which
there is attached a pawl or driver h¹ having a weight connected with it in
such a way as to keep the pawl or driver engaged with the teeth of a ratchet
wheel A', which is placed on the outer end of the screw X and is connected
therewith by a feather and groove, or a spring may be used to the pawl or
driver in place of the weight. To the outer end of the screw X there is
fitted an excentric B', and this excentric bears against a spring j¹, which is in
contact with the ratchet A. By adjusting the excentric B¹ the axis or
centre of plate Y may be pressed against a collar ¹ on the screw X, suffi-
ciently bard to admit of the plate Y turning in screw X at the proper time.
The operation is as follows:-A log of wood M being secured to the bed or
plate L and the knife V being in proper position, the shaft E is rotated in
such a manner as to bring down the plate C, the bed or plate L, and con-
sequently the log of wood M progressively to the knife V, so that it is caused
to cut a veneer, which it will do easily and smoothly by reason of the peculiar
action given to the log as it is moved past the edge of the knife. When
the vencer has been cut from the block of wood, and the wood is conse-
quently at the lowest point of its movement, the motion of shaft E is reversed,
and the block of wood with the bed or plate L are made to ascend. At the
same time the shaft Z is rotated by a belt from shaft E, and the screw X is
rotated through the medium of the screw c³, segment 6', and plate Y, in a
direction to move back the carriage T and throw the knife V out from the
wood so that the latter while moving upward will not be in contact with the
knife. The distance of the outward movement of the carriage T is determined
by the arm d¹ of the plate Y, the pawl h, the arm g¹, a pin h¹, on plate Y
and the ratchet A¹. The screw X is turned to move the carriage T backward
so long as the plate Y turns the screw, and this is permitted until the arm g'
is not allowed to turn with plate Y, but is arrested in its movement by a
step g, and the pawl h¹, by catching into the ratchet wheel A', prevents the

page_text: screw from turning, and causes the plate Y to slip on the screw shaft until
the outer end of the arm & strikes the upper step e¹ of the uprights ft.
When the block of wood has reached the extent of its upward movement, the
motion of the shaft E is reversed and the screw X is turned through the
medium of the screw c¹, segment 6', and plate Y in a reverse direction, and
the carriage T is fed forward and the knife V presented to the block for the
succeeding cut; the screw X turning until the arm d¹ passes from the upper
to the lower steps e¹, the pin h¹, raising the arm g', and pawl h¹ a certain
distance, consequently the forward movement of the carriage exceeds its
backward. movement sufficiently to allow for the thickness of the veneers
next to be cut from the wood, and the thickness of the veneer may be
varied by adjusting the stop g¹¹, which with the pin h" controls the movement
of the arm g¹ and its pawl h¹. The belt which drives the shaft Z may slip
on its pulleys when the rotation of the screw X is arrested.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to
any of the mechanical parts separately, but what I claim is,-
First, the combination herein described whereby the feeding or movement
of the log M to the knife is caused to be accompanied by a rocking or
.reciprocating motion of the bed or plate L, carried by the plate C, as herein
*explained.
Secondly, I claim the combined arrangement of the carriage Tand mechan-
ism for actuating the same as herein described, and,―
Thirdly, I claim the combined arrangement of the bed or plate L, and
mechanism for fixing or dogging the log thereon as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Stone, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Tזמ'רד
STRONT