AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING AND SPLITTING WOOD
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Jeffery, of Dorking, in County of Surrey,
Timber Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING
AND SPLITTING WOOD."
Sealed the 20th April 1877, and dated the 24th October 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Jeffery at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th October 1876.
THOMAS JEFFERY, of Dorking, in the County of Surrey, Timber Merchant.
"AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING AND SPLITTING WOOD."
My Invention relates to an improved and simplified arrangement of apparatus by
the use of which pieces of wood may be rapidly and automatically cut and split up
and thus converted ready for use as firewood and for other purposes.
In carrying out my Invention I employ a dise or segment mounted on a spindle
or shaft and which is caused to rotate therewith, the said disc or segment having a
series of blades or vertically cutting knives secured to and projecting from the
periphery of the said disc or segment and arranged at distances apart from each
other radially and also laterally on the said periphery, equal on the one hand to the
thickness of wood under treatment, and on the other hand to the number and thick-
ness of the pieces into which it is to be subdivided or "converted."
The action of the said knives or blades is to give a series of vertical "cuts" to
the wood under treatment; the detaching of the said portion of wood thus sub-
divided is effected by a separate and adze-shaped cutter secured to another portion
of the revolving disc or segment, the last named cutter being so disposed or arranged
relatively to the first named vertically cutting knives or blades as to cut horizontally
and thus detach or split off from the wood under treatment the previously named
vertical "cuts" or subdivided pieces. The several operations as herein described are
continuous and consecutive.
The shaft carrying the cutting and splitting apparatus herein described is
mounted in suitable bearings or standards and may be caused to rotate by
either hand or steam power. The wood under treatment is caused to travel con-
tinuously on a suitable bed towards the cutting and splitting apparatus by any of
the well known "feed" motions in connection with the driving shaft; the said
"feed" motion does not however form an essential part of my Invention, the
[Price 6d.1

page_text: novelty of which I wish it to be understood consists in the arrangement of cutting
and splitting apparatus herein described, and whereby wood may be rapidly aud
simply subdivided into pieces of any desired thickness ready for use for various
nurposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Jeffery in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd April
1877.
THOMAS JEFFERY, of Dorking, in the County of Surrey, Timber Merchant.
"AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING AND SPLITTING WOOD."
My Invention relates to an improved apparatus by the use of which wood (as
also other similar substances) may be rapidly and economically cut and split up into
pieces ready for use as firewood and for other purposes.
In order that the nature of my said Invention and the mode of carrying out the
same may be more particularly understood, I have appended the accompanying
Sheet of six Drawings, the same letters of reference being used in each of the views
to denote like or corresponding parts.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus shewing the rotating disc or segment
wheel A having securely fitted into the periphery or rim thereof the series of verti-
cally cutting or splitting knives a herein-before referred to. The segment wheel A
is keyed on a horizontal spindle or shaft B working in bearings D, D, firmly secured
to the supporting standards or framing C, C; b is the "cutting or splitting off"
knife secured to the segment wheel A at the part where shewn so as to make a
cut at right angles to the plane of the said wheel, and which knife b on motion
being given to the apparatus effects the "cross cutting" and detaching from the
wood of the series of vertical "cuts" into which it has been subdivided by the
knives or splitters a.
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken on the line E, F, in the plan, Figure 1.
Figures 3 and 4 are detached views to an enlarged scale, being respectively a side
and end view of the cutters or splitters a with the wheel A in section, shewing
more particularly one of the modes of securing the cutters or splitters a to the rim
of the wheel A.
Figure 5 is a front view partly in section, shewing the "cutting or splitting off"
knife b secured to the " gap" portion of the rim of the wheel A, also a section of
the rim, and one of the cutters or splitters a secured thereto.
Figure 6 is a detached view to an enlarged scale of the "cutting or splitting off"
knife b looking at it in the position as seen in Figure 2.
The shaft B when the machine is worked by power has keyed upon it a
driving rigger or pulley as shewn (or fast and loose pullies may be substituted
therefor) and on motion being given to the apparatus the wheel A is caused to
rotate in the direction of the arrows e, e, and simultaneously the wood to be cut or
split up, which has already been cut across the grain or fibre into blocks of the
length which it is desired to give to the pieces, is caused to travel con-
tinuously along a suitable "bed" by means of a "feed" motion connected with
the driving shaft towards the wheel A as indicated by the dotted arrows f,f
shewn in Figures 1 and 2. The number of the "cutters or splitters" a and their
arrangement laterally and radially on the periphery of the wheel A is made pro
portionate to the number and thickness of the pieces into which the wood is to be
subdivided and to the depth of the wood to be operated upon; thus, in the Drawings
the wheel A is represented as carrying seventeen of the cutters or splitters
6 inches apart from each other radially (Figure 2) and 1/2 an inch laterally (as in
dicated by the horizontal dotted lines a¹ in Figure 1) and one "cutting or splitting
off" knife b. The wood to be operated upon, and which is intended to be presented
to the "cutters or splitters" a as well as to the " cutting or splitting off" knife

page_text: in such manner that it may be cut or split in the direction of the grain or fibre,-
would first have to be cut across the grain or fibre into blocks 6 inches long and be
placed in the feed trough, so that when side by side they may present a vertical
face 9 inches wide and 6 inches deep, and on motion being given to the wheel A
each revolution would by the action of the knives cut or split from the body of the
wood 18 pieces 6 inches long and 1, an inch in thickness and breadth respectively;
the pieces thus cut or split off pass down at the "gap" in the segment wheel A.
I have not described or shewn the "feed motion" for giving the necessary
"travel to the wood under treatment as the same does not form part of this
Invention, and various adaptations of "feed motions" may be introduced for this
purpose to suit the particular conditions under which the machine according to my
Invention is intended to be used; this remark applies similarly to the combination
of regulating and guiding apparatus for keeping the wood up to the wheel A while
being cut or split up.
"
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn a machine according to my
Invention which is especially adapted for rapidly and economically converting
wood into fire-wood pieces, but it will be readily understood that the cutters or
splitters a may be so disposed on the rim of the wheel A, and their distance
laterally between each other may be so varied as to allow of wood (and similar sub-
stances) being subdivided into pieces of various sizes and thicknesses.
Having now described and illustrated my said Invention as also the mode of
putting the same into practice, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the exact details and the configuration shewn and described, as various
modifications therein may be made within the limits of my Invention as herein
specified, but what I claim is, the cutting or splitting of wood (and similar substances)
by means of the revolutions of a wheel, to the rim of which knives or cutters, or
splitters are affixed, and by the successive action of which the substance presented
to them is divided into pieces of any desired thickness and breadth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Jeffery, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
THOMAS JEFFERY. (L.S.)