IMPROVED MACHINERY APPARATUS FOR SHAPING, GRINDING, SHARPENING, AND POLISHING SWORD BLADES." AND HANDLES, SCABBARDS, GUN BARRELS, AND OTHER ARMS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th January 1868.-A communication from abroad by Edouard.
Stehelin, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY
APPARATUS FOR SHAPING, GRINDING, SHARPENING, AND POLISHING SWORD BLADES."
AND HANDLES, SCABBARDS, GUN BARRELS, AND OTHER ARMS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to various arrangements of machinery or
apparatus for grinding, sharpening, and polishing swords, sword blades,
and gun barrels, and such like articles, having for their object economy
and greater perfection of workmanship, such operations being usually
performed by skilled workmen whose labors are more expensive, and
do not offer the advantages of mechanical operations.
This Invention relates, firstly, to sharpening sword blades. The'
apparatus. that is used for this purpose, and which forms part of this

page_text: Invention, may be described in the following manner :-On one common
bed are mounted three carriages worked longitudinally by screws, and
running in dovetail grooves; above these carriages and at right angles
to the grooves is a shaft carrying two bearing wheels, and a large
grindstone or emery wheel. The periphery of the grindstone or emery
wheel is shaped according to the article to be operated upon. The
bearing wheels are immediately above and made to bear on the top of
the carriages, above mentioned, by means of weighted levers. When
an article is to be operated on it is placed on the centre carriage, the
shaft on which the emery wheel is fixed is then set in motion, and
the carriages (being capable of being moved backwards and forwards)
any part of the article to be operated on may be brought under the
action of the emery wheel.
Another arrangement similar to the last in principle, but slightly
different in actual practice, may be employed, its parts are arranged
as follows: Between standards a large emery wheel is fixed; the
standards are made with slotted sides, so as to allow of a compound
carriage moving up and down. This carriage is worked by screws
made to rotate simultaneously by means of bevil gearing put in motion
by a hand wheel. The compound carriage, above referred to, carries
two other slides and a carrier, and all three receive motion from
screws worked by bevil gearing. On these slides are guides or
This
templates similar in form to the article to be operated on.
latter is fixed to a part moving vertically in the carrier above
mentioned. This moveable part of the carrier is adapted with guide
rollers to a cross piece maintained in bearings forming part of the
compound carrier. The arrangement of weighted levers is exactly
similar to that in the last-mentioned arrangement. If the article to
be operated on is curved, the guides must be made with a curve as
well, so that the emery wheel may exactly follow the shape of the
sword or other article.
It is necessary to mention as an important improvement the
employment of felt or cloth as a means of polishing arms or parts of
arms. This should be fixed on stones in any suitable manner.
For shaping sword, blades a machine similar to the first-mentioned
one is employed, but instead of the grinding wheel a circular cutter is
employed. This cutter may be in one, two, or three pieces according
to the number of surfaces required on the face of the sword blade.

page_text: For the grinding of gun barrels a novel machine is used, the
component parts of which are described as follows:-A large grindstone
is mounted in movable bearings, so that it can be moved forwards
or backwards as required. At one side a rotating shaft is placed
terminating in a bridle piece. Into this bridle piece (and held firmly
therein by screws) is a socket intended to hold the gun barrel to be
ground; parallel to the shaft and mounted on the same supports, and
attached to the shaft by a lever is a rod; the lever communicates a
longitudinal motion both to the shaft and rod. The extremity of this
rod is attached to a pattern of the same shape as the barrel to be
ground. In front of the grindstone is a movable carriage mounted
on a support; a small bearing wheel is attached to the support, and
another bearing wheel to the movable carriage. The movable
carriage is pushed forward by a weighted lever, and is intended to
keep the gun barrel constantly in contact with the grindstone. The
pattern above mentioned is made to pass between the bearing wheels
attached to the carriage and support. The bearing wheel attached to
the support is intended to prevent the carriage from coming actually
in contact with the grindstone.
Another head of this Invention is the grinding of sword sheaths or
scabbards. The machine for performing this operation is very similar
to the last mentioned for grinding gun barrels. The grindstone is
mounted in the same manner, and at the side are two shafts geared
together by spur wheels, these shafts are made to rotate slowly by
means of a pulley and a worm and worm wheel.
A lever is attached
Each of the shafts
to both shafts to give them a longitudinal motion.
is terminated in a bridle piece, in which is screwed a socket to contain
the sheath to be ground and the pattern guide or template. Exactly
opposite the sockets and in a line with the centre of the shafts are
bearings in which the extremities of the sheath and pattern are fixed.
The rest of the apparatus is similar to the last mentioned.
For shaping sword handles the following machine is used:-On a
bed are standards for sustaining the parts of the machine; by the side
of these standards are two headstocks, one fixed, the other movable.
On a shaft centred between these headstocks is a carrier wheel divided
into equal parts, which contain the handles to be operated on. On
the shaft is keyed or fixed a dividing wheel having the same number
of divisions as the carrier wheel. In order to regulate the pieces

page_text: to be shaped a regulator is placed with one end in the corresponding
notch of the dividing wheel, and the other end in a support at the
side of the movable headstock. This regulator shows with the greatest
nicety whether the handle is well centred or not. A shaft in the
centre of the machine carries the cutter that is to shape the handle.
This shaft gears into another carrying another cutter for shaping the
circular part of the handle. Two sliding carriages, one above the other,
and worked by screws, support the bearings of the cutters, and can
therefore give these latter a longitudinal or a horizontal motion.