IMPROVEMENTS Communicated IN MACHINES FOR SPLITTING WILLOW-WITIES AND RATAN
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Yate Johnson of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in
the County of Middlesex Gentleman for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
Communicated
IN MACHINES FOR SPLITTING WILLOW-WITIES AND RATAN"
to him from abroad by Carl Pieper of Berlin in the Empire of Germany
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said James Yate Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st November 1882.
JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SPLITTING WILLOW-WITHES AND
RATAN. Communicated to me from abroad by Carl Pieper of Berlin in the Empire
"
of Germany
This invention relates to the splitting of willow-withes and ratan into strips to
be used in the manufacture of baskets and other wicker work, and its subject
matter consists in a machine adapted to sever from the surface of the withe or
ratan strips or splints which are ready for usc.
The operation in the said machine is carried out by pressing the withe against a
suitable moving surface, such as the periphery of a rotating disk, and by causing
it to be carried along thereby under or over a cutter opposed to the direction of its
motion, and which in ponetrating to a certain adjustable depth into the withe or
ratan, severs therefrom one or more strips as required.
Fig. 1 of the annexed sheet of drawings represents a machine with two cutting
apparatuses A and B in side elevation, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a section on line 1,
of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 a section on line 2, 2 of Fig. 4, which is a top-view of a part of
the machine. Fig. 5 represents the cutter in different views together with its action
upon the withe. Fig. 6 is a section corresponding to Fig. 2, and showing a differen
arrangement of a part of the machine.
The withe s, which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in dotted lines, is pressed against
the conducting disk fof either of the two cutting apparatuses A and B by the

page_text: rollers, acted upon by the adjustable springs r.
This
The said disks are represented
in Fig. 1 by circles only. On the guide-bars t fixed to the frame g of the machine,
is placed the block b, which is pressed by springs or by a weight towards the
disk f, while nuts m serve to control its minimum distance from the latter.
block carries the cutter-holder c with cutter c¹ and the die d. The cutter-bolder
consists of a pair of spring-jaws clamping the cutter c' by means of a screw w, and
so mounted with its stem on a pin o screwed into the block, as to be susceptible of
a slight oscillatory notion transversely to the withe, &c., for the purpose of its
lateral adjustment. This adjustment may be carried out by the screw a working
in a plate attached to the block, and engaging by means of a knob u with the end
of the holder-stem, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Other equivalent adjusting devices
may, however, be substituted for the one described. is a set-screw serving to
secure the cutter fully after having been adjusted, and i a guiding-plate fitted into
the space q between the jaws of the holder. The die d serves to regulate the depth
by which the cutter is to penetrate into the withe, and upon which depends the
thickness of the strips to be separated. The same is pressed against the withe by
means of the aforesaid springs r, and its base d' is provided with a flat angular
groove corresponding to the form of the cutter and adapted to properly guide the
withe. If preferred a roller n slightly projecting from the base of the die, may be
arranged within the same for the purpose of reducing friction. The die can be
adjusted higher or lower by means of the screw & working in the stem of the same,
which passes up into the block and is movable therein. The cutter c' is shown to
a larger scale in Fig. 5 in plan; Fig. 5, I is a front-view, Fig. 5 II a view from
the rear end, and Fig. 5, III a side-view. The said cutter, as represented in the
drawing, has two edges forming an obtuse angle with each other, two lateral edges,
and a central one, and is thus adapted to cut from the withe two strips at once. It
may, however, be varied in form and arrangement, so that it will cut any other
suitable number of strips, or strips of other sectional form.
The machine having been put in operation, a witho introduced between the first
disk and roller Z, will be carried along under the base of the die d (and the roller n,
if the same is used), so as to be presented to the cutter c', which will consequently
penetrate into the witbe to a depth depending upon the amount by which the
bottom edge of the cutter projects over the surface of the die. When the cutter is
constructed according to the drawing, it will sever from the withe two strips p and
p', Fig. 5, I, which pass between the cutter and the plate i through the space q
formed by the jaws of the holder, and are then taken up by hand or otherwise.
According as the withe is thicker or thinner it will automatically raise the whole
cutting-apparatus moro or less against the stress of the springs 1. The part of the
withe remaining after the first two strips have been detached, passes along below
the cutter, and may thence be conducted to another cutting-apparatus combined
with the first one, as shown in the drawing at B and which splits off two strips
from the opposite side. In a similar manner two or more other like apparatuses
may be arranged for cutting off strips from the sides of the withe. The entire
number of strips which can be obtained from a withe, may thus be detached in one
operation, whereas when two apparatuses only are used, as in Fig. 1, two passages
of the withe will ordinarily be required for the same purpose, the witho being
turned by a right angle at its second introduction.
Having thus described the nature and object of this invention, and the manner
in which it is to be carried out in practice, as communicated to me by my
correspondent, I hereby claim in the said machine for splitting off strips from
willow-withes and ratan :
1. The combination with a rotating disk f, or other suitable moving surface of a
block b carrying a cutter c¹ and an adjustable die d, and which is pressed towards
the said surface with yielding pressure, for instance by the springs 7', substantially
as described.
2., In combination with the dio d of the described machine the roller n.
3., The arrangement in the said machine of the cutter-holder c in such a manner

page_text: that the cutter c¹ may be adjusted transversely to the withe or ratan, substantially
as herein before specified.
4., In combination with the adjustable cutter-holder c the cutter c' having cutting
edges corresponding to the number and form of the strips to be produced.
5., The combination in one machine of two or more cutting-apparatuses, substan-
tially as described.
In witness whereof I the said James Yate Johnson have to this my
Complete Specification set my hand and seal this first day of November
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
TAHANAN