IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR OR ROTATING MACHINES FOR CUTTING WOOD BY HAND OR STEAM POWER FOR MAKING LATHS, CARDS, STRIPS, OR SLICES OF WOOD AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ellis, of Colwick Lane, in the Parish
of Sneinton, in the County of Nottingham, Scaleboard Cutter and
Box Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE
TO CIRCULAR OR ROTATING MACHINES FOR CUTTING WOOD BY HAND OR
STEAM POWER FOR MAKING LATHS, CARDS, STRIPS, OR SLICES OF WOOD
AND OTHER ARTICLES."
Sealed the 12th June 1868, and dated the 27th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ellis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th January 1868.
I, WILLIAM ELLIS, of Colwick Lane, in the Parish of Sneinton, in
the County of Nottingham, Scaleboard Cutter and Box Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OB APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR OR ROTATING MACHINES FOR CUTTING WOOD BY HAND
OR STEAM POWER FOR MAKING LATHS, CARDS, STRIPS, OR SLICES OF WOOD AND
OTHER ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
To carry out the Invention take any machine capable of cutting
wood or other materiel into thin sheets. The machine however which

page_text: is chosen by preference for the application of this Invention is one
provided with a pair of headstocks similar to those of a lathe. The
wood or other materiel to be cut is fixed on centres and placed between
these headstocks. It is then made to revolve as in a lathe, whilst a
knife blade fixed in a suitable holder is made to approach it so as to
take off a continuous sheet of any required thickness. The feed motion
regulating the thickness of the sheet to be removed is similar to that
regulating the cut upon a lathe.
The Invention consists in adding to a machine constructed in the
above or in any more convenient manner a revolving roller of cast
iron, or any other suitable materiel having a number of knives fixed
in it longitudinally, and at any required distance apart. This roller is
made to approach to the wood or other matericl to be cut, and to
press against it in such a way that the knives fixed in it shall be forced
in succession into the wood or other materiel as it revolves, so as to
make a cut of the depth required for dividing the sheet of materiel
into slips.
When this Invention is applied to a machine as above described the
materiel thus cut or divided by the knives on the revolving roller, as
above described drops down in strips instead of being in a continuous
sheet or continuous roll as it is removed from the mass or piece of
wood or other material revolving between the centres by coming into
contact with the fixed knife blade above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 24th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ELLIS, of Colwick Lane, in the Parish of Sneinton, in the County of
Nottingham, Scaleboard Cutter and Box Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh 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 William Ellis, Her special licence
that I, the said William Ellis, my executors, administrators, and 3

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said William Ellis, 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, 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
OR APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR OR ROTATING MACHINES FOR CUTTING WOOD BY
HAND OR STEAM POWER FOR MAKING LATHS, CARDS, STRIPS, OR SLICES OF
WOOD AND OTHER ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Ellis, 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 immediately after the date of the said. Letters
Patent,
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Ellis, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by.
the following statement :-
In carrying out this Invention I take any machine capable of cutting
wood or other material into thin sheets. The machine however which
I choose by preference for the application of this Invention is one
provided with a pair of headstocks similar to those of a lathe. The
wood or other material to be cut is fixed on centres and placed between
these headstocks. It is then made to revolve as in a lathe, while a
knife blade fixed in a suitable holder is made to approach it so as to
take off a continuous sheet of any required thickness. The feed motion
regulating the thickness of the sheet to be removed is similar to that
regulating the cut upon a lathe.
This Invention consists in adding to a machine constructed in the
above or in any more convenient manner a revolving roller of solid
cast iron or any other suitable but solid material having a number:
of knives fixed in it longitudinally in grooves, and at any required
distance apart.
This cast-iron roller must be made solid and not
hollow, as a hollow roller would cause the knives fixed as above
mentioned in the roller to vibrate, thereby preventing the cuts being
true and uniformly and properly made, which is absolutely essential.

page_text: in carrying out my Invention, as the cuts if not made perfectly true
and also firm and substantial would make chips instead of laths. This
roller is made to approach to the wood or other material to be cut and
to press against it in such way that the knives fixed in it shall be
forced in succession into the wood or other material as it revolves, so
as to make a cut of the depth required for dividing the sheet of material
into strips.
When this Invention is applied to a machine as above described
the material thus cut or divided by the knives in the revolving roller
as above stated, drops down in strips instead of being left in a continuous
sheet or roll as it is removed from the mass or piece of wood or other
material revolving between the centres by coming into contact with the
fixed knife blade above described.
And that the Invention may be fully understood I will proceed
to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed and forming part of this
Specification.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, represent a machine with a pair of headstocks
similar to those of a lathe.
The wood to be cut represented by the letter A is fixed on centres
and placed between these headstocks represented by the letter B, and
made to revolve as in a lathe, while a long cutting tool represented
by letter C (knife shaped) extended over the whole length of the wood
is fixed in a rest represented by the letter D with slides represented
by the letter E, which slide is worked by means of a train of wheels
represented by the letters F, and worm and wheel represented by the
letter H conveniently arranged so as to cut the wood of any thickness in
one continuous sheet, extending in breadth the whole length of the
wood placed between the headstocks.
The Invention consists in adding to the above-mentioned machine
a revolving roller represented by the letter G, having a number of knives
fixed longitudinally in grooves in its circumference, and measuring
between the cutting edges the breadth the laths are intended to be cut.
This revolving roller marked G is placed above the wood marked A,
and each end of the roller is supported in a block sliding in the
headstocks marked B. By means of the gear shewn in Drawing the

page_text: roller is made to approach the wood to be cut and to press against it
in such a way that the knives fixed in it shall be forced in succession
into the wood as it revolves, so as to make a cut of the depth required
for the laths. The wood marked A with knives pressed in act as toothed
wheels, and keep the revolving roller G in motion. In consequence
of the revolving roller G with knives being pressed into and revolving
with the wood A to be cut the wood is cut off in a succession
of rectangular-shaped pieces instead of a continuous sheet as first
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ellis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named William Ellis in the
presence of
J. A. SHARP,
Sol'.,
WM. ELLIS. (L.S.)
Gray's Inn.