IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND MOULDING MARBLE, STONE, ANd Slate
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thompson, of No. 5, Chestnut Walk,
Stratford-upon-Avon, in the County of Warwick, Architect and
Surveyor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND
MOULDING MARBLE, STONE, ANd Slate.”
Sealed the 22nd December 1871, and dated the 20th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thompson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th October 1871.
I, WILLIAM THOMPSON, of No. 5, Chestnut Walk, Stratford-upon-
Avon, in the County of Warwick, Architect and Surveyor, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING
AND MOULDING MARBLE, STONE, AND SLATE," to be as follows:-
:-
My Invention has for its object an improved method of cutting and
moulding marble, stone, and slate; to effect these instead of using sand
and water as now generally used in cutting the harder kinds of marble

page_text: and stone I use corundum, emery, chilled cast-iron borings, or such like
hard mineral substances, and with one or more of these substances, mixed
or combined with a suitable composition or cement that will not materially
shrink in setting or cooling, I form a grinder or moulding cutter, taking
care that the corundum, emery, or other substances shall form the
counterpart of the moulding I wish to produce in the marble, stouc,
or slate. The moulding cutter may be formed in one piece having a holo
through its centre and secured to an axis or spindle, or the moulding
cutter may be found in portions and secured to a cast-iron block having
a hole through its centre attached to an axis or spindle.
For cutting blocks of marble, stone, or slate in slabs and other
forms I form the above materials into strips of suitable lengths having
an arris or cutting edge which I fix to a straight blade of iron or steel,
and to which a reciprocating motion may be given. I also form
segments of the above materials having an arris or cutting edge,
which I fix to discs of iron or steel and mount the same on an axis or
•

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Thompson in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 18th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMPSON, of No. 5, Chestnut Walk, Stratford-upon-Avon, in the
County of Warwick, Architect and Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Thompson, Her special licence
that I, the said William Thompson, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Thompson, 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
CUTTING AND MOULDING MARBLE, STONE, AND SLATE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Thompson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and scals, 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 William Thompson, 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:-
My Invention has for its objects improved methods of cutting and
moulding marble, stone, and slate, and to effect these I use corundum,
emery, chilled cast-iron borings, or other such like hard mineral
substances, and with one or more of these substances, mixed or combined
with any suitable cement or composition that will not materially shrink
in setting or drying, I form a moulding cutter or grinder, taking care

page_text: that the corundum, emery, or other cutting substance used shall form
the counterpart of the moulding or surface wished to be produced in the
marble, stone, or slate.
For cutting marble, stone, or slate into slabs or other shapes I form
the above materials into strips of suitable lengths, having a cutting edge t
which may be secured to a straight blade of iron or steel, and to which
a reciprocating motion may be given. I also form segments of the
above materials having a cutting edge, which may be secured to discs
and mounted on an axis or spindle.
The moulding cutters or grinders may be made thus:-Having turned 1
a piece of wood to the counterpart of the moulding or surface I wish
produced in the marble, stone, or slate, with this I form a mould in
which I cast a metal block, which I bore and mount on an axis or
spindle. I arrange the mould to leave a series of chases across the
block when cast, similar to a cog wheel, and having slightly reduced 1
the block by turning to prevent its coming in contact and rubbing
against the marble or substance to be moulded, I fill up the chases in
the block with corundum, emery, chilled cast-iron boring, or other hard
mineral substance, together or separate, mixed with a composition or
cement as herein-before described, taking care to keep the cutting 2
substances used to form the counterpart of the moulding or surface I
wish to produce; the moulding cutters or grinders may also be formed of
the above materials in portions in a mould and secured to the metal
block in any convenient manner; the moulding cutter or grinder may
be formed in one piece in a mould, having a hole through its centre for
mounting on an axis or spindle. The moulding cutters or grinders may
be made to have a reciprocating motion given to them. The strips
having a cutting edge for attaching to a straight blade, and segments.
having a cutting edge, may be formed in a mould of any suitable
material, care being taken as before described to keep the cutting
substance to be used on the cutting edges.
The moulding cutters and discs may be mounted on the axis of my
machinery for cutting stone and other substances, for which a Patent
was granted me dated 17th March, 1871, No. 713, or the moulding
cutters and discs may be used with any other suitable machinery.
To keep the cutters clean and free from clogging a brush or series of
hrushes may be placed in contact with them.

page_text: In forming the cutters the sizes of cutting substances used will not
be material, and will in some measure depend on the substance to be
moulded or cut and the details of the moulding.
Melted sulphur or Seyssel asphalte and pitch or parian cement may
be used as a cement or composition in combination with the cutting
substances to be used in forming the cutters, but I do not limit or
confine myself to the composition or cement to be used with the cutting
substances herein-before described, in forming the moulding cutters or
grinders, straight blades, and segments.
WILLIAM THOMPSON. (L.S.)