IM- PROVEMENTS IN CORK CUTTING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hammer, of Reutlingen, in the Kingdom
of Wurtemberg, at present residing at Griffin Court, Mayfair, in
the County of Middlesex, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CORK CUTTING MACHINES."
Sealed the 27th May 1870, and dated the 1st December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hammer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st December 1869.
I, GEORGE HAMMER, of Reutlingen, in the Kingdom of Wurtemberg,
at present residing at Griffin Court, Mayfair, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CORK CUTTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates partly to certain improvements in the cork
cutting machine for which Letters Patent were granted to John Henry

page_text: Johnson, bearing date the 25th of November 1865, No. 3033, and has
for its object the making a cleaner and smoother cut than is effected in
the said patented machine, also the reducing the noise and jarring when
at work, and the rendering the machine self-feeding when cutting a
taper on previously cut cylindrical corks. It also relates to the cutting
of flat tapered corks.
According to this Invention I substitute for the endless driving chain
and chain pullies which actuate the spindle for rotating the cork an
ordinary driving strap or belt and smooth driving pullies, such belt
being left sufficiently slack before the corks are brought up to the knife
to prevent any rotation of the cork, but on bringing the cork in contact
with the knife tension is put on the belt and the cork immediately
commences to revolve. This tension is applied by means of an
adjustable roller carried in brackets attached to one of the main
standards, the belt being forced against it and tightened by the act of
moving the cork forwards. By the use of a driving belt and smooth
pullies in substitution for the pitch chain the noise and jarring produced
by the chain are obviated, and the rotatory motion of the cork is more
steady and uniform, hence the surface of the cork when cut is much
smoother and more even than that of the corks cut in the said patented
machine. When cutting small sized or "vial" corks I first cut them
cylindrical by the aid of a hollow or crown cutter or otherwise, and then
submit them to the action of the circular knife, which cuts the cork to
the desired taper by removing a thin shaving therefrom, the tapered
cork thus produced being cut smoother than when cut direct from a
cake or rough blank. The cylindrical corks to be operated upon are fed
into a box or hopper, one cork being laid on its side on the top of
another in regular order. The bottom of this hopper is open as well as
the front and sides at the lower part to allow of one cork at a time being
nipped between the ends of the spindles and then carried forward out
of the hopper to the knife. A slight spring in the front opening of the
box serves to keep the corks in position till the spindles seized a fresh
cork, which spring yields and allows the bottom cork to pass out when
being moved forward to the knife. The to-and-fro motion of the plate
carrying the rotatory spindles is produced by means of a grooved cam,
which produces a pause or dwell at the end of the forward motion
sufficiently long to enable the knife to operate. This cam is carried on
a cam shaft driven by friction gearing from the driving shaft of the
machine. The self-acting feed motion may be used in addition to the

page_text: hand feed motion described in the Specification of the said Patent, so
that the machine may be fed by hand when desired. I also employ
friction gearing for driving the spindle which carries the lower strap
pulley for communicating motion to the rotatory spindles. I propose to
cut flat tapered corks by the aid of a crown cutter combined with an
internal pressing piston or plunger having a slightly rounded surface, and
with a cutting table having a corresponding hollow or depression made
therein immediately under the said piston or plunger. The flat corks
are cut direct out of long flat strips of cork wood, and the taper is
produced by depressing the central portion of the cork by the pressure
of the piston or plunger just before the crown cutter commences to
operate. On the pressure being removed the cork springs back to its
original flat condition, and will be found to be more or less tapered
according to the amount of central depression to which it had been
subjected during the time the cutter was in action. The cutter is
attached to a rotatory hollow spindle driven by a belt and pulley and
having a vertical motion imparted to it by a hand or foot lever. The
piston or plunger which projects some distance beyond the edge of the
cutter is acted upon by a powerful helical spring contained inside the
hollow cutter, so that as the cutter is brought down the resistance of the
spring exerts the requisite amount of pressure upon the cork.