IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES."-A communication from abroad
by Aaron Chambers, residing at North Providence, in the County of
Providence and State of Rhode Island, in the United States of
America.
Sealed the 23rd November 1866, and dated the 80th May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th May 1866.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOCSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cutting
files. In certain machines which have been heretofore in use for cutting
files the graver or cutting chisel to cut the file is fixed in a carriage that has
a reciprocating movement vertically to produce the repeated cuts upon the
file blank, and the file blanks to be cut are held in a kind of bed bencath

page_text: the graver or chisel, and this bed is made capable of moving in a number of
ways to present the surface of file blanks of different kinds properly to the
graver or chisel for the same to be cut. These movements of the bed may
be mentioned as a rocking or tipping movement on trunnions at each side
of the bed near the middle of the same, by which the plane of the file, blank
on the bed is set at an angle with the line of movement of the said graver
or chisel to obtain the requisite inclination of cut thereon; a swinging
movement from side to side on a central pin by which the angle of the cut
across the face of the file is obtained in either direction ; sliding movement
endwise of the bed that is graduated and intermittent for feeding the file
blauk beneath tho graver or chisel to produce the successive cuts; and a
rolling or oscillating movement to present the rounded surface of a half-
round file (so called) so as to make the successive rows of cuts thereon. Of
the several movements above specified the rocking or tipping movement of the
bed by which the file is placed at an angle with the cutting chisel to obtain
the proper cut or tooth, and the oscillating or rolling movement of the bed
by which the rounded surface of a file is properly presented to the cutting
chisel, are in some respects imperfect and ineffectual for the full and complete
performance of the work intended; the imperfection with reference to the
rocking or tipping. motion being that no provision is made for presenting at
the proper angle. the thinner tapering end of the file blank to the cutter, so
that the cuts may be formed at the same relative inclination with this portion
of the surface of the pile blank as the same are formed on the remaining
portion of the surface towards the shank or tang, the result being that the
cutter meets the file blank at a more obtuse angle at or near the point of the
file, and in consequence makes an insufficient and imperfect tooth or cut;
the imperfection with reference to the rolling or oscillating motion of the
bed is that no provision is made for the variation of the contour or outline of
the file's shape in cutting up to or approaching the edges of a half-round file
or otlior rounded file surface, so that the tooth and cut shall be uniform and
complete along the entire edge and on the surface of the file approaching the
edges of the rounded surface; and the object of the Invention in this case
is to so qualify and control the said rocking or tipping movement and the
rolling or oscillating movements as to place the file blank in the requisite
position with respect to the cutting chisel as the cutting proceeds; as the
nature of the surface which is being cut shall require to form a uniform and
complete cutting toothed edge or surface, that is to say, tho Invention consists
in giving to the rocking or tipping bed above mentioned a gradual tipping
movement from the most acute angle with respect to the cutting chisel which

page_text: may be required to form the tooth properly at the point of the filo blank to
the more obtuse angle at which the said bed rests, and is held whilst the chisel;
is cutting over the belly and towards the shank of the file, in order to form
the teeth at the same relative angle with the surface on the point and tapering
portion of the blank as upon the remaining portion of the same. The incans
of obtaining such gradual tipping of the bed may be varied, but it is con-
veniently accomplished by means of cams or excentrics or templates acting on
the bed progressively according to the contour of the file blank placed on
the bed.
And the Invention also consists in so controlling the rolling or oscillating.
movement of the bed by means of self-adjusting mechanism for adjusting and
determining the position of the bed as the cutting progresses as to adapt the
cutting action of the chisel to the nature and general contour of filo blank
which is being operated upon, and so produce tho requisite depth and inclina-.
tion of cut uniformly on all parts of rounded surfaces of files, for which
purposes the file blank on the bed, or a pattern or template thereof, or a
cam action is employed to govern or control the position of the bed so that
each cut of the chisel or cutter is governed by the position of the part of the
file blank which is next to be cut.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of ller reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said George.
Tomlinson
, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES,"
communicated to me from abroad by Aaron Chambers, a person resident at
North Providence, in the County of Providence and State of Rhode Island,
in the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 Offico within six calendar months next.
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 accompanying
Drawings making part of this Specification, in which. Figure 1 is a side
elevation of a file-cutting machine to which the said Invention is applied, a.
portion of the framework being broken away at A³ to give an unobstructed
view of the working parts; Figure 2 is a plan of the same machine; and
Figure 8 is an end view of the "tipping bed " and the "rolling bed "herein--
after mentioned, shewn detached from the machine. Similar letters indicato
like parts in all the Figures.
The said Invention is applicable moro particularly to a certain description
of machine for cutting files possessing wholly or in part the following cha-
racteristic features of construction, that is to say :-The graver or chisel used
to cut the file moves perpendicularly in a sliding carriage, and the file blank
to be cut is held in a kind of bed beneath the graver or chisel, and this bed
is so constructed as to be capable of moving in a number of ways to present.
different kinds of file blanks in a proper manner for the same to be cut.
These movements of the bed and their purpose respectively may be specified
as a rocking or tipping movement on trunnions at each side of the bed, by
means of which the plane of the bed is set at an angle with tho movement of.
the graver or chisel to obtain tho requisite inclination of cut; a swinging
movement on a central pin by means of which the angle of the cut across the
face of the file is obtained in either direction; a sliding movement endwise of
the bed that is graduated and intermittent for feeding the file blank beneath
the graver or chisel to produce the successive cuts; and a rolling or oscillating
movement, by means of which the bed is set in slightly varying positions
from time to time so as to cut the rounded surface or edge of a file.
. Of the several movements above mentioned the rocking or tipping move-

page_text: ment by which the file blank is placed at the proper angle with the cutting
chisel to produce the cut, and the rolling or oscillating movement by which
the rounded surface or edge of a file blank is properly presented to the
cutting chisel, are in some respects imperfect and ineffectual for the full and
complete performance of their respective functions; the defect in the rocking
or tipping movement being that as the bed is adjusted to and held in one
position at the same angle of inclination during the cutting of the file from
end to end no provision is made for the gradual taper and consequent
inclination from the general plane of the file's surface from the belly towards
the end or point so as to present this inclined surface at the same angle
relatively to the cutting chisel as the other part of the blank, in consequence
of which the chisel cuts the inclined tapering portion at a less acute angle,
which fails to raise the cut or tooth in perfect form to cut like the other
teeth, and this is therefore obliged to be done by another operation. The
defect in the rolling or oscillating movement is that the bed is adjusted and.
held permanently at a certain angle to make the rows of cuts upon a round
file surface, and while held in such position moves in a right line by the feeding
movement above mentioned in cutting from the point to the shank of the file,
and as a consequence no provision is made for the taper both in thickness and
in width of a "half-round" file, so that a portion of the surface near the
edge remains uncut and is required to be finished in this respect by another
operation.
Now the object of the said Invention is to remedy these defects and
make the cutting uniform and complete over the entire surface of the file
from the point to the shank.
The said Invention for this purpose consists in tipping the bed gradually
while the cutting operation is being performed from the more acute angle at
which the point of the file should be presented to the chisel to the more obtuse
angle at which the said bed is ordinarily held while cutting over the plane
portion of the surface from the belly to the shank, in order to adapt the
inclination of the cuts or teeth to the variation of a part of the file's surface
from a general plane.
And the Invention also consists in rolling the bed gradually while the cutting
operation is being performed, and in so controlling the rolling movement by
means of suitable self-adjusting mechanism to vary the position of the file
blank from time to time in such a manner with respect to the cutting
chisel as to adapt the cuttings of the chisel to any irregularity of the file's
outline or surface, and thereby dispose the cuts uniformly over the surface and
edges of the rounded tapering part of the file.

page_text: To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the Invention I will
proceed to describe the construction and operation of the same.
In the Drawings A, A, is the frame of the machine; d is the cutting chisel
secured at the lower end of the sliding carriage F, which slides perpendicularly
in guides formed in the frame by means of the revolving cam h on the main
shaft B, which lifts the carriage by the projection 6 thereon and the force of
the spring mi held at a, and bearing with its free end on the top of the carriage
to drive it downward on the filo blank with sufficient force to make the cut
when liberated by the cam h, and the force of this spring is varied during the
cutting operation to make it cut deeper on certain parts of the blank by means
of the excentric cam g' on the shaft e, which revolves at the requisite speed by
means of the gear I and the pinion k, the ratchet f operated by the pawl 2 on
the arm 3 and the connecting rod a connecting with an excentric cam on the
main shaft, whereby an impulse or movement is given to the cam g' with each
cutting stroke of the chisel to increase or diminish the force of the spring m,
against which it bears, as the nature of the cutting may require. The
rocking bed is marked G, it is of cast-iron, formed as shown, and suspended
on trunnions or bearings w between the two upright stands L, L, on the swivel
plate D which swings on a centre pin n, passing through the plate and the
bed plate A¹ of the frame. By means of theso trunnions and the centre pin n
the bed is tipped, or inclined from a horizontal position to the position shewn,
at an angle with the niovement of the chisel, to give the requisite inclination
of cut, and also swung at an angle with the cutting edge of the chisel to
obtain the proper angle of the cut across the face of the file. The rolling or
oscillating part of the bed is marked H, and is semi-cylindrical in form and
rests in a correspondingly shaped trough or cavity in the rocking part of
the bed wherein it slidos, besides rolling to feed the file blank beneath tho
cutting chisel, the sliding movement being effected in a suitable manner by
means of a toothed rack occupying a recess r in the bottom of the cavity in
the bed and a screw or worm on the end of the shaft S, which is revolved
intermittently after each cut is made by means of the ratchet J and pawl 4,
operated by the arm 6 on the shaft V, which is connected to the levers K
and N and their connections, and by the rod T to the crank C on the
main shaft. The levers K and N it will be observed are connected in the
centro by the sliding swivel P passing through tho centre pin n, by means of
which the levers and their connections are made capable of working to
produce the feeding movement in all positions in which the bed is capable of
being placed, or during any progressive movement of the bed. The file blank
to be operated upon is held by suitable appliances in the rolling part of the

page_text: bed II, and is pressed down upon the bed by means of a guide and presser U,
which is formed with a chisel-like face which bears against the file blank, and
is subjected to the pressure exerted by the weighted lever R that is pivoted tǝ
the guide at 7 and by the link 8 to the frame.
The parts thus far described correspond with those of the machine for
cutting files above referred to, and it should be understood before proceeding to
describe the said Invention of improvement of said machine, that the rocking
or tipping of the bed G is simply a movement which the bed as constructed.
and used beretofore is capable of making to attain the desired position for
cutting, and that the bed was firmly fixed in this position while the file was
being cut; also with respect to the rolling or oscillating movement the bed.
II is simply capable of rolling or oscillating as constructed and used hereto-
fore for the purpose of shifting the position of the file blank from time to
time for the cutting of rounded surfaces, and that the bed remained fixed in
one position during the progress of the cutting operation from end to end on
the blank. When the rocking or tipping bed is fixed in one position while.
the cutting operation is being performed on the blank the cuts or teeth will
all have the same inclination with the plane of the bed on which the file rests,
but as the blank tapers more or less from the belly to the point the teeth on
this surface will incline more towards the shank, and as the chisel meets this
surface at a more obtuse angle than it does the body of the blank the cut is
not made as deeply, and a blunt unfinished tooth that is incapable of cutting
is mado over the tapering, part of the blank. To remedy this defect in the
operation of the machine I give the bed G a gradual tipping movement while
cutting from the tapering point to the belly, starting at the point with a more
acute angle or inclination and tipping the bed to the more obtuse angle in
approaching the belly at which the bed is held while the cutter cuts over the
remaining portion from the belly to the shank without tipping as heretofore.
This tipping movement may be produced by means of the mechanism shown
in Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings, consisting of a windlass W turning in
bearings formed near the extremity of the bracket A³ over one end of the bed
by suitable gearing y meshing with the gear I of tho excentric cam g', and
winding or unwinding a band j attached by its opposite end to the end of the
tipping bed G. By means of this mechanism the bed is tipped or inclined
to the more acute angle required for forming a perfect tooth on the extremity
of the tapering end of the blank by winding up the band j, and as the
cutting proceeds from this point the windlass unwinds the strap or band j by
intermittent movements that are coincident with the feeding movement of
the sliding bed H, and by this means gives a gradually decreasing inclination

page_text: to the successive cuts as the belly of the file is approached, when by means of
a stop fixed on the slotted arm p the tipping movement of the bed is arrested,
and the cutting over the remaining portion of the blank proceeds with the bed
held stationary in the samo plane; by this means perfectly formed cutting.
teeth may be cut from one extremity of the file to the other, and the nature
of the improvement is such that by means of some well known appliance for
reversing the rotation of the windlass a different inclination of tooth may be
produced from the belly to the shank as well as from the point to the belly
if it is found desirable to do so, also to arrest the tipping movement at any
desired point or points in the traverse of the bed by means of one or more
steps arranged in arms like d, as described.
x
The rolling or oscillating movement of the bed as above described serves to
present successive radial sections or strips of a rounded file surface or edge to
tho cutting chisel, and its position is shifted after each row of cuts is made in
order to present a fresh surface to the cutter or chisel; but it happens in cutting
a "half-round filo" surface that owing to the narrowing of the file blank near
the point or tapering end, such is the contour of this part of the blank that
a narrow strip next to the edges remains uncut in cutting the last row of teeth
which impairs the usefulness of the file, and if to remedy this another row of
cuts was made with a view to cut over this vacant space, the cuts from being
so near the edge would penetrate too deeply and injure the file more than the
complete cutting in this way would compensate for.
To remedy this defect is the object of the second part of the improvement,
and this is accomplished by rolling or oscillating the bed during the operation
of cutting, and by so guiding and controlling the rolling movement as to
dispose the cuts uniformly over the irregular rounded surface and completely
up to the file's edge. Tho mechanism for accomplishing this purpose may
consist of a wedge or pattern Q, corresponding in inclination and outline to
the irregular file surface to be cut, and fixed in the proper position on one side
of the bed H, and tapering to the plane surface on which it rests, and a screw
stud E in a projecting stand L3 secured on the side of the bed G. The filo
blank is placed in a suitable holder i on the opposite side of the bed from
the pattern, so that the pressure exerted by the weighted lever on the guido
U has a tendency to depress this side of the rolling bed, and elevate that side
on which the pattern Q is fixed, and this depression, which is due to the rolling
movement, is controlled by the pattern by turning down the screw stud E so
that its point will bear against the face of the pattern, and as the bed G
slides by the feeding movement, the pattern being properly formed to effect
the purpose will so guide and direct the rolling or oscillating movement as

page_text: to present the irregular curve of the file's edge to the cutting chisel in n
position to act as near the edge as may be required to complete this part of
the file in the machine. I contemplate substituting for the screw stud E an
index stud that is provided with a number of holes for the reception of a
set pin, so that the stud may be slipped to a given position in its stand and
held there by the pin during the cutting of one or more of the rows of teeth,
and then slipping the stud to another position to guide the movement of tho
rolling bed in cutting the next row or rows of teeth, and so on over the entire
surface.
I also wish it understood that a curved pattern and other well known
mechanism if skilfully arranged may be made to control the rolling movement
of the bed substantially in the manner described, and that I do not limit
myself to the use of the particular mechanism described, but claim the
use of such other mechanism as will effect the rolling of the bed or the
presentation of the blank in substantially the same or equivalent manner.
Having described the Invention, what I claim and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is, giving to the rocking bed or its equivalent a tipping
movement during the operation of cutting the file, substantially in the manner
and for the purpose specified. .
I also claim giving to the rolling bed or its equivalent a gradual rolling
movement while the cutting operation is being performed by means of a
pattern and other suitable mechanism, substantially in the manner and for the
purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)