IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL BRISTLES OR: HAIR, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, to be as follows :
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Campbell Evans at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th October 1871.
I, JOHN CAMPBELL EVANS, of Grosvenor Road, Highbury New Park,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL
BRISTLES OR: HAIR, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,
to be as follows :—
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I take horn; and after having subjected it to a softening process by.
steeping it in water and then steaming or heating it or heating it alone.
as is well understood, I submit it to the action of cutting tools which
first reduce the softened horn to thin leaves or shavings, and then further.
reduce the said leaves to slender shreds by cutting them edgewise or
endwise after they have been collected and packed together side by side
so as to form a pile or packet. The said pile or packet is softened
by heat, and the horn whilst in its soft state is placed in a clamp or
holder to be submitted to the action of the second cutting tool. This
second tool, by acting upon the edges or ends of the combined and com-
:

page_text: pressed Icaves in the packet reduces them to the thread-like shreds or
strips before mentioned, which may be employed. as a substitute for
bristles or hair in the manufacture of brushes or applied to other pur-
poses where bristles or hair are now used.
Although various modifications of cutting tools may be adopted in the
treatment of softened horn with a view to its reduction first into leaves
or shavings, and then into shreds or imitation bristles or hair, I prefer to
employ the peculiar arrangements herein-after described which con-
stitute the second portion of my Invention.
The first machine for cutting the leaves from the pieces of softened horn 1
consists of a reciprocating plane provided with one or more plane irons.
placed by preference, when more than one are used, with their cutting
edges in opposite directions so that the plane will cut during both
strokes; these plane irons should be nearly horizontal and let into a
recess for that purpose in the cutting side of the plane, the actual 1
cutting edge being just sufficiently elevated above the surface of the
plane to give the required depth of cut or thickness of horn leaf; the
said plane is guided in uprights on a bed plate, and may be worked by
hand through the intervention of a lever or by power direct from a crank
shaft.
i
2
In order to facilitate the clearing of the leaves from the cutter, the
mouth of the plane extends completely through one side where there is
fitted a small scoring tool or lancet cutter for the purpose of separating
by a clean cut the inner edge of the leaf or shaving from the block.
The piece of horn to be reduced is held firmly by means of a screw 2
clamp to the under side of a presser plate or slide which slidės vertically
between the uprights supporting the plane, and may or may not be
attached to a cord and counterweight to elevate the same when required.
It is essential that after each cut the plane shall be kept to its work, for
which purpose when the plane is below the horn the weight of the slide, 3
assisted or not by a spring or weight, may be caused to press the horn
down on the cutting surface of the plane or the work may be stationery,
and the plane be fed to it as required.
The machine which I employ for reducing the packets of leaves to
shreds or imitation bristles or hair is similar in its general arrangement 8
to the first one, but differs slightly in the mode of holding or securing
the packet of leaves and in the construction of the plane itself. The

page_text: packet of horn leaves, which is so adjusted in the machine as that the
edge of each leaf shall be presented to the cutter or cutters of the plane,
is gripped between two side pieces of wood by means of a screw clamp
carried by a virtical sliding plate, the gravity of which, assisted or not by
a weight or spring, causes it to descend when the plane is below the horn
at each cut, or the material may be fixed and the plane moved to it as
already described.
As it is essential in order to make a clean cut at the extreme edges of
the packet of leaves, that the plane iron should extend well beyond the
edges thereof, the pieces of wood between which the leaves are com-
pressed, as above stated, are caused to project over the opposite edges of
the cutter, and are consequently cut away along with the horn, the two
outer leaves of the packet being thus as firmly supported during the cut
as the inner leaves. Two scorers situate one on each side of the plane
iron serve to score the wood and insure a clean cut.
I prefer to make the plane in this machine of a.1 section with a
clearance opening or mouth extending completely across the narrow
part containing the plane iron, whilst the widened base of the plane
forms the bearing surface, and serves to connect together the opposite
ends of the plane, which would otherwise be cut through by the
clearance mouth or opening.