OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING DAGUERREOTYPE PLATES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Monson, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Daguerreotype Artist, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING DAGUERREOTYPE
PLATES"
Sealed the 16th January 1855, and dated the 11th August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Monson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
August 1854.
I, EDWARD MONSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Daguerreo-
type Artist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "NEW OR
IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING DAGUERREO-
TYPE PLATES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of a machine or apparatus to be used for getting
up, cleaning, polishing, and buffing daguerreotype plates. The plate or plates
to be treated are fixed in any convenient holder, and the said holder is fixed
upon a horizontal platform or table, upon which rests a second platform or table.
The first-mentioned platform or table rests on slides, and the second-mentioned
platform or table is capable of a sliding motion on the first-mentioned platform
or table, the two sliding motions being at right angles to one another. The
plate and holder are thus capable of receiving motion in two directions, the

page_text: one at right angles to the other. A rapid alternating motion is given to
the first-mentioned table or, platform, and a slow motion is given to the second-
mentioned table or platform. These motions, as well as the other motions,
herein-after described, are given by a driving shaft actuated by any convenient
power. The said motions may be given in a variety of ways, but I do not
think it necessary hero to describe the details by which the said motions are
obtained. A vertical shaft, capable of a sliding as well as a rotatory motion,
and driven by the before-mentioned driving shaft, is situated over the table
carrying the plate holder. The said shaft carries at its lower end a buff,
which may be made to bear upon the plates with any required degree of
pressure. The said buff is provided with any suitable preparation for getting
up, cleaning, or polishing the plates. The said vertical axis carrying the buff
may be thrown into or out of gear with the driving shaft, and may thus be
stationary, or have a rotatory motion. A second, vertical axis, similar to the
one last described, and carrying a buff, may be employed, and so situated, that
when the plates, by the slow motion herein-before, described, have passed from
under the operation of the first buff, they may be subjected to the action of
the second. The action of the machine is as follows:-By the rotation of the
driving shaft a rapid alternating motion in a horizontal plane is given to the
plates to be operated upon, and at the same time a slow horizontal motion
at right angles to the former. The said plates are thus carried under the buff,
which may either be stationary or rotate, and which may be pressed upon the
plates with any required pressure. On passing from under the first buff,
the said plates are brought under the action of a second buff, which may
either be provided with the same grinding or polishing composition as the first,
or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Monson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD 3
Moxson, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Daguerreotype.Artist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS 1er most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign, did, 3

page_text: for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward
Monson, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Monson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Monson, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANU-
FACTURING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING DAGUERREOTYPE PLATES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Monson, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Edward Monson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
-
My Invention consists of a machine or apparatus, herein-after particularly
described, for manufacturing or getting up, cleaning, polishing and buffing
daguerreotype plates. Figure 1 represents in front elevation, and Figure 2 in
'end elevation, a machine constructed according to my Invention. The sheet
of plated copper to be operated upon (or sheet of unplated copper to be
afterwards electro-plated) is fixed in any convenient manner upon the bed a,
which said bed a is situated upon a table or platform b, and has a motion
transverse to the said platform b. The said bed a has motion in the direction
indicated by the arrow in Figure 1, while the platform 6 has motion in the
direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 2, that is to say, the two motions
have directions at right angles to one another. The platform rests on
slides c, d. An arm e is fixed to the platform b, as seen in Figure 2. A
crank fon the axis g is connected with the arme by means of a connecting
rod h. By the rotation of the axis g, a reciprocating motion is communicated
to the platform b, in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 2. By
fixing the connecting rod h at a greater or less distance on the crank f from
the axis g, a greater or less range of motion may be given to the platform b.
The motion of the axis g is effected by any convenient gearing to the main
shaft; the motion of the bed a, in the direction indicated by the arrow in
Figure 1, is effected in the following manner:-The said bed a rests upon

page_text: slides k,l; a cord m, attached at one end to the drum n, passes over the several
pullies o, p, q, and is attached to the table or bed a. Another cord m',
attached to the table a, passes under the pulley r and over the pulley s. A
weight t is hung at the end of the cord m, to preserve the tension of the first-
mentioned cord. By the slow rotation of the axis u, the cord m is wound
upon the pulley n, and the bed a moved in the direction of the arrow, Figure 1.
The pulley n engages on the shaft u, by an octagonal portion of the said shaft
passing through the said pulley, and by lifting the said pulley it may be dis-
-engaged from the said shaft. When the said bed a has passed through its
range of motion in the direction of the arrow, Figure 1, it is brought back
again by lifting the pulley n, when the table a may be moved in a direction
contrary to that indicated by the arrow in Figure 1; and by again fixing the
pulley n to the axis u, by moving the said pulley downwards, the bed a will
again move in the direction of the arrow in Figure 1. The motion of the
axis u may be derived from the main shaft i by a train of wheels or any con-
venient gearing. The bed a is made of steel or iron, and the plates to be
operated upon are fixed on the said bed in any convenient manner. By the
means described, a rapid reciprocating motion is communicated to the bed a
in the direction of the arrow, Figure 2, and a slow motion at right angles to
the former in the direction of the arrow, Figure 1. The plato of metal
thus moved is during its motion operated upon in the following manner :-
is a hammer fixed to the bottom of the vertical bolt w; a is a helical
spring by which the hammer v is forced downwards. A roller y on the top
of the bolt w bears on a camb, the form of which will be understood by
san inspection of Figure 2., The said cambis fixed on the shaft 1, and
ta rapid rotatory motion is communicated to the said shaft 1 through the
pulley 2, band 3, and the drum 4, situated on the driving shaft i. By
the rotation of the cam the hammer is first lifted to the height repre-
sented, and then, escaping from the part 5 of the cam, falls by its own
weight, and the elastic force of the spring, upon the plate moving horizon-
tally underneath it. In order to prevent the plates from being spoiled, by dust
being hammered therein, the bed a is screened by a guard 20, and a stream of
air from the circular blowing apparatus 6 is delivered from the pipe 7 on the
1.surface of the plate, and particles of dust removed. The blowing machine 6
is driven by a band 8 passing over a pulley 9 on the shaft 1; after the plates
:.fixed upon the bed a have been hammered they may be burnished, by placing
a burnisher on the lower end of the axis 11, the said axis being disengaged
from the driving shaft, and fixed so as to prevent a rotary motion; the said

page_text: plates may afterwards be ground and polished by means of a buff, provided
with suitable grinding and polishing materials, which grinding is effected in
the following manner:-10 is the buff, situated at the bottom of the axis 11;
a rapid rotatory motion is communicated to the shaft 11 through the pinion 12
on the said shaft, and the bevil-toothed wheel 13 on the shaft 14. Besides a
rotatory motion, the axis 11 has a sliding vertical motion, its upper end being
connected with a lever 15 by means of the link 16. A weight 17, hung on
one end of the lever 15, presses down the axis 11 with any required degree of
force. By pulling a cord attached to the lever 15 at 18, or by hanging a
weight thereon, the axis 11 may be raised or made to press upon the plates
with any required degree of pressure. The pinion 12 is keyed to the axis 11
by means of a sliding key, whereby the vertical motion of the said axis is per-
mitted, without interference with the rotatory motion of the said axis. The
axis 14 is driven by the pulley 19. The final polishing of the plates in the
machine may be effected by a buff' attached to the lower end of the axis 11,
the said axis being fixed, so as to prevent its rotation. I prefer to hammer a
considerable number of plates without at the same time grinding or buffing the
same, and after the said plates have been hammered, to remove the band 3 and
to connect the pulley 19 by means of a band to the drum 4. The metal bed a
being removed, and a wooden one substituted, the hammering and buffing may,
however, be carried on at the same time. The final polishing of the plates in
the machine is effected by means of the fixed buff herein-before described.
By means of my Invention a number of plates may be operated upon at the
same time.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the saine into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise methods herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; for example, instead
of giving a reciprocating motion to the platform 6 by means of a crank, I some-
times communicate the same by means of the mechanical arrangements used
in planing machines and mangles, for the purpose of obtaining a uniform re-
ciprocating motion. The said mechanical arrangements are well known and
commonly employed, and I therefore do not think it necessary to describe
them. But I claim as my Invention the construction of a machine for
manufacturing, cleaning, and polishing daguerreotype plates, by fixing the
plates to be operated upon on a bed, moved as herein described, so as to bring
every part of the same in succession under the operation of the tools intended
to operate upon the said plates, and hammering, burnishing, buffing, or

page_text: grinding and polishing the said plates (whether in manufacturing new or
cleaning old plates) by means of a hammer, burnisher, and buff or buffs, which
bed or table, hammer, burnisher, and buff or buffs receive their motion
from one shaft, as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness thereof, I, the said Edward Monson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
THOMAS KING.
EDWD MONSON. (L.S.)