AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF CUTTING TOOLS.
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF CUTTING TOOLS. "A communication.
Sealed the 15th September 1853, and dated the 25th July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent.
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th July 1858.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF CUTTING TOOLS" to
be as follows:-
The great variety of mouldings now made use of in architectural
and other decorations has rendered it exceedingly desirable that some
method should be devised by which the plane irons or cutters might be
produced at a cost that would enable carpenters themselves to plane
their own mouldings, instead of being dependent as they now are upon
large manufactories of these articles. To attain this result is the object
of the present Invention, which consists in constructing plane irons or

page_text: cutters of thin sections or types of sheet steel, which may be set to any
pattern required, and afterwards brought to an exact edge by filing or
grinding.
For this purpose thin pieces of steel, which are furnished with a be-
villed, square, or other shaped working edge, are arranged in a suitable
clamp, so that the outline formed by their cutting edges shall correspond
as nearly as may be to the contour of the moulding required.to.be pro-
duced. This may readily be accomplished by means of patterns or by
the eye; the edges of the sections may then, by the use of files or oil
stones, be brought to a perfect edge, and the iron is complete and ready
for use.
Should the particular pattern not be required again, or whenever it
be desired to take the iron to pieces, the sections or types may again
he set up to form new cutters, and the same may be used over and over
again, until they are entirely worn up.
For hand planes the cutters may be set in thin flat clamps, and under
some circumstances, as it may be found desirable to form a tongue upon
one face of the cutter sections and a corresponding groove upon the
other, they will then be held firmly together, and without the possibility
of slipping laterally.
This Invention, it is obvious, may also be applied to the construction
of tools for turning; in such case the cutter, when once set up, should
be secured in an appropriate clamp, which may he made to advance to
its work by screws or otherwise, and thus furniture legs, bedposts,
and like articles of any given pattern may be completed at a single
aporation

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Fler reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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, änd Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF CUTTING TOOLS," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and scal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):
The great variety of mouldings now made use of in architectural
and other decorations has rendered it exceedingly desirable to produce
plane-irons or cutters at a cost that would enable carpenters themselves
to plane their own mouldings, instead of being dependent as they now
are upon large manufacturers for the supply of these articles.
To attain this result is the object of the Invention which has been
communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and consists in con-
structing plane-irons or cutters of sectional pieces or "types" of sheet
-steel, which may be set to any pattern required, and afterwards brought

page_text: to an exact edge by filing or grinding. For this purpose thin pieces of
steel, which are furnished with a bevilled, square, or other shaped
cutting edge, are arranged in a suitable clamp, so that the outline
formed by the cutting edges shall correspond as nearly as may be to
the contour of the moulding required to be produced. This adjustment
of the cutting edges may readily be accomplished by means of patterns
or by the eye; the edges of the sections may then, by the use of files
or oil stones, be brought to a perfect edge, and the plane iron is com-
plete and ready for use.
In the accompanying Drawing forming part of this my Specification,
Fig. 1, is a perspective view of the improved plane-iron secured in a
clamp ready to be attached to the cutter head of a rotating planing
machine; Fig. 2, is an elevation of the same; Fig, 3, is a view of
one of the sections or types of which the cutters are formed; Fig. 4,
is a view of the cutter as arranged for a hand plane; Fig. 5, is a
section of a modified form of type which it is proposed sometimes to
adopt; Fig. 6, illustrates the process of setting up the cutters; Fig. 7,
shews a method of classifying the cutter sections or "types," and will
be hereafter referred to.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the improved
cutting tool I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.
The Inventor takes thin pieces of steel, which are made in the form
represented in Figs. 3, and 7, and arranges them in a suitable clamp
so that the outline formed by their cutting edges shall correspond as
nearly as may be to the contour of the moulding required. This may
readily be accomplished by means of patterns or by the eye. The edges
of the sections may then, by the use of files or oil stones, be brought to
a perfect edge, and the iron is complete. Should the particular pattern
not be required again, or whenever it be desired to take the iron to
pieces, the sections or types may again be set up to form new cutters,
and the same may be used over and over again, until they are entirely
.
worn up.
For hand planes the cutters may be set in thin flat clamps of the
form represented in Fig. 4, and under some circumstances it may be
found desirable to form a tongue upon one face of the cutter sections

page_text: and a corresponding groove upon the other, as shewn at Fig. 5. They
will then be held firmly together, and without the possibility of slipping
one upon the other.
Thus far the Invention has been described as applicable only to
cutters for planing mouldings, but it is obvious that it may also be
applied to the construction of tools for turning. In such case, the
cutter when once set up should be secured in an appropriate clamp,
which may be made to advance to its work by screws or otherwise, and
thus furniture legs, bed posts, and like articles of any given pattern
may be completed at a single oueration.
may be completed at a single operation.
OPERATION.
A pattern is first to be obtained of the moulding to be planed or of
the article to be turned, and the clamp which is to hold the cutter is
then placed over the pattern as in Fig. 6, in which A, is the pattern,
and B, the clamp. The cutter sections C, are then dropped through
the clamp upon the surface of the pattern, and the plane iron is thus
made to conform very nearly to the surface of the pattern. This coni-
pound cutter is then firmly secured in the clamp, and is brought to a
perfect edge by filing or by the use of oil stones, or otherwise, very
little alteration being at any time required after the cutter is set up.
It is proposed to divide the cutter sections generally into several
sections, according to the inclination of the cutting edge, with the side
of the section as seen in Fig. 7, at a, b, c, d, e, f, and g. These different
forms are kept distinct from each other, like the different letters in a
font of printing types; and when a cutter of a particular form is to be
set up, each section will be selected to correspond as nearly as possible
with that portion of the cutting edge to which it is to be adapted.
This is not absolutely necessary, but it will be found greatly to reduce
the amount of filing or grinding necessary to bring the cutting line to
the exact form required.
Amongst the many advantages which the improved plan of making
plane irons offers, may be enumerated the following: mouldings may
be planed to any given pattern without incurring the great expense of
plane irons as they are now constructed. Whenever these mouldings

page_text: become obsolete, the irons may be taken to pieces and again made use
of repeatedly; and thus a greater variety of moulding may be produced
at a comparatively small cost. Carpenters and wood workers, who are
now dependent upon large manufacturers for these articles, or who
are under the necessity of furnishing themselves with expensive sets of
moulding planes, can, by the possession of a single clanıp and a sinall
number of the cutter sections, produce any plain moulding which they
may require.
Having now described the Invention of "An improved manufacture of
cutting tools," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I
wish it to be understood that I do not claim making the cutters of
shapes suited to the different parts of the articles to be turned, cither
straight or curved, and securing them to a cutter wheel. But what I
do claim, and desire to secure under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, is, making the cutting irons of moulding planes or turning tools
of thin sections in the manner described, which after being set to a
pattern, and confined in a clamp, may be brought to an exact edge by
filing or grinding in the manner and for the purpose substantially as set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
January, in the year" of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)