IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR SLICING WOOD, TOBACCO, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Brown, of Stockton-upon-Tees, in the
County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR SLICING WOOD, TOBACCO, OR OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 24th July 1868, and dated the 28th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th January 1868.
I, JOHN BROWN, of Stockton-upon-Tees, in the County of Durham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING OR SLICING WOOD, TOBACCO, OR OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in machinery used
for the purpose of cutting or slicing wood, tobacco, or other fibrous
substances, and consists in certain modifications of machinery employed
for this purpose, and described in the Specification of a Patent granted
to me, bearing date the 19th day May 1866, No. 1418, by reference to
which it will be seen that by imparting to the knife frame (supported

page_text: by the rocking cranks) the peculiar lateral motion therein specified
such lateral motion is reversed before the upward, downward, or rocking
motion has received its greatest extension.
In my improved arrangement of this description of machinery I
extend the lateral motion so that the rocking motion is made to pass
its greatest developement. This I effect by placing a rotating shaft
provided with a crank and connecting rod for imparting lateral motion
to the frame in such a position that the knife after penetrating the
substance to be cut, say in its downward course, is lifted again before
its lateral motion is reversed. I also arrange the rocking supports or
cranks so as to support the frame, the crank on the rotating shaft giving
the lateral motion, and the connecting rod joining the rotating crank
to the frame, so that they may be readily varied in their respective
lengths in order to suit the various thicknesses of the substance to be
operated on.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters, Patent,
filed by the said John Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BROWN, of Stockton-upon-Tees, in the County of Durham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Brown, Her special licence.
that I, the said John Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Brown, 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 Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CUTTING OR SLICING WOOD, TOBACCO, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Brown,

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Brown, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in machinery used
for the purpose of cutting or slicing wood, tobacco, or other fibrous
substances, and consists in certain modifications of machinery employed
for this purpose, and described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to me bearing date the 19th May 1866, No. 1418, by
reference to which it will be seen that by imparting to the knife
frame (supported by the rocking cranks) the peculiar lateral motion
therein specified such lateral motion is reversed before the upward,
downward, or rocking motion has received its greatest extension.
In my improved arrangement of this description of machinery I
extend the lateral motion so that the rocking motion is made to
pass its greatest developement. This I effect by placing a rotating
shaft provided with a crank and connecting rod for imparting lateral
motion to the frame in such a position that the knife after pene-
trating the substance to be cut, say in its downward course is
lifted again before its lateral motion is reversed. I also arrange the
rocking supports or cranks so as to support the frame, the crank on
the rotating shaft giving the lateral motion and the connecting rod
joining the rotating crank to the frame so that they may be readily
varied in their respective lengths in order to suit the various thicknesses
of the substance to be operated on.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and
readily carried into practice I will proceed to describe the Drawing
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation, Figure 2 an end elevation, and
Figure 3 a plan of my improved machine. The same letters refer to
the same parts in the different views.

page_text: a is the table upon which the material to be cut or sliced is placed;
b, b, are the rocking links to which the cutting blade frame c is
attached; and d is the steel cutting blade; e, e, are two pins or axes
for supporting the rocking links b, b, to the uprights ff, and upon
which pins or axes e, e, these rocking links vibrate; and c', c¹, are the
pins or axes which attach the rocking links to the cutting blade
frame c, c.
The centres e, e, and c¹, c', of the rocking links are shewn
fixed and unalterable in the Drawing, but in cases where it is requisite
the distance between them can be regulated by a similar apparatus,
as is shewn, to regulate the stroke of the crank pin m. At one end of
the cutting blade c is attached a connecting rod g shown in two
pieces g and g', so that its length may be adjusted by the bolt and
nut ; i is a shaft driven by the pulley ; and is a fly wheel to which
is attached a crank pin m giving motion to the connecting rod g, g¹;
this crank pin m is capable of being adjusted nearer to or further from
the centre of the shaft i by means of the adjusting screw n; o is a
feed roller, which pressing on the top of the wood to be sliced or cut
pushes it forwards under the steel cutting blade d; this roller has fixed
to it a ratchet wheel p, and vibrating loosely upon it between collars a
lever I which carries a pawl r, which engages with the teeth on the
ratchet wheel p and causes the same to revolve in one direction only
with the feed roller o; s is an adjustable bracket fixed to the lever q;
t is a tappet fixed to the cutting blade frame c, which is arranged
so as to strike the adjustable brackets each time the cutting blade
frame c is raised to its highest point, which will be twice in every
revolution of the shaft ; this tappet t, lever q, pawl r, and adjustable
brackets give motion to the feed roller, and the amount of feed given
to the wood can be regulated at will.
It will be readily understood by reference to the Drawing that when
the rocking links b, b, are upright the steel cutting blade is in its
lowest position, and that when the crank is in the position shewn in
the Drawing or in one exactly opposite the cutting blade is at its
highest point and in a position to receive underneath it a fresh portion
of wood, every rotation of the improved machine causing the cutting
blade to be twice lifted and twice depressed in contradistinction to the
blade as arranged in accordance with my former Invention, which was
only once raised and once depressed by one rotation of the shaft.
The speed of the process is thereby doubled and the cut made consider-
ably cleaner, for instead of the cutting blade descending to its lowest

page_text: point through the wood and then ascending by the same path as that
by which it descended, as in my former Invention, its lateral motion
is now much increased and at its greatest extension at the moment
of severing each portion of wood so that the last portion of the cut is
made in a much more perfect way with less strain on the machinery.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
and carried into effect, I may observe that I do not confine myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to refer
to, or describe, as many variations may be made without departure from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I claim is,―
Firstly. In machines used for cutting and slicing wood, tobacco, or
other fibrous substances where such cutting and slicing is effected by
means of rocking links b, b, I claim, causing the rocking links to give
the cutting blade d two upward and two downward motions at each
revolution of the crank pin m, substantially as herein shewn and
described.
Secondly. I claim, making the crank pin m, connecting rod g, g¹, and
rocking links b, b, of such machines adjustable, so as to suit the different
thicknesses of the various substances to be operated on, as herein shown
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Brown, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.