A MACHINE OR ENGINE FOR DRESSING OF STONES USED IN MASONRY BY THE ASSISTANCE OF A STEAM ENGINE, A WIND, A HORSE, OR A WATER POWER, WHEREBY A GREAT QUANTITY OF MANUAL LABOUR' WILL BE SAVED
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
I;
MILNE, of Edinburgh, Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September last,
in the tenth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Milne, His especial licence that I, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, or such others as I; the said James Milne,
or my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, and law-
fully vend, within that part of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"A MACHINE OR ENGINE FOR DRESSING OF STONES USED IN MASONRY BY THE
ASSISTANCE OF A STEAM ENGINE, A WIND, A HORSE, OR A WATER POWER,
WHEREBY A GREAT QUANTITY OF MANUAL LABOUR' WILL BE SAVED;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said James
Milne, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the. nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next, and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said James Milne, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
is explained as follows (that is to say) :-
The machine consists of a drum or wheel of cast iron or other suitable
materials, in which tools of iron, steel, or other suitable materials are fixed, of
various forms or sizes, according to the nature of the work to be performed on
the stone, whether coloured, rough dressed, broached, droved, or moulded, and
so forth. These tools for certain kinds of work are something of the form of
an adze. A mortice or hole is made in the drum for the insertion of the shaft
or tenon of the tool, and fixed by a screw nut or forelock or other means, as
shewn by the perfixed Drawings. The drum may be made of various lengths
and diameters, and the tools placed at various distances from each other,
according to the nature of the stone and the power of the engine by which it
is put in motion. From eighteen to thirty-six inches diameter appears to be
the best size. The length may be from eighteen inches.to forty-eight inches or
more, and the thickness of the metal from one to two inches. If the steam
engine or the moving power be powerful two or more drums may be placed on
the same shaft, and work at the same time.. The tools may be placed in the
form of a screw round the drum; each being four or five inches in advance,
and about half an inch to the right or left of the former, making one or more
revolutions according to the length of the drum. The form of placing the
tools is, however, arbitrary, for they will work though placed in various
positions. They may be sharped like quarry picts for clouring the rough stone,
or like adzes, chissels, or droves for droved or smooth work. Below the drum
is placed a carriage somewhat resembling those in some saw mills, moving
upon eight or more small wheels or rollers, having groves in them which move
along a railway. The frame of the carriage is made to touch the frame of the
railway, and to slide alongst it in order to prevent any tremulous motion when
the tools are striking the stone. The sliding motion alone I would, however,
prefer, when the moving power is sufficiently great, though the rolling one
alone may be used when the moving power is small: The carriage may have
motion. given to it by means of a rack and pinion, by an endless chain or
friction belt, or any other effectual way, from the steam engine or moving
power used for driving the machine. In the perfixed Drawings the motion of
the carriage is directly communicated from a screw on the upright shaft to a
wheel on the horizontal shaft, which gives motion to the rack of the carriage
by a pinion. It being, however, desirable to give various degrees of velocity
to the carriage, this may be attained by riggers placed upon upright shafts by
changing the bell from a small to a large rigger. On one of these shafts the

page_text: motion will be increased from a less to a greater velocity. The stones to be
dressed are placed and fixed on a carriage in such a position as wanted by
screws or wedges, or both; or the stones may be first fixed in a seperate frame,
and the frame with the stone lifted upon the carriage and there fixed with
screws or wedges. The drum with the tools, and the carriage with the stone
or stones on it, is then put in motion by the steam engine or other moving
power; and while the drum with the tools is moving with a quick velocity the
carriage is advancing slowly with the stones, and so near to the drum that the
tools successively strike the stone and clear away all the rough parts within
their reach. Much will depend on the hardness or softness of the stone for
the motion to be given to the carriage; if the stones is soft it may advance the
quicker, and the tools may be of a slighter form than when the stone is firm in
texture. In order. to give various degrees of velocity to the drum, which is
also desirable for various kinds of work, I propose in some machines to have
two wheels of different diameters on the fly-wheel shaft, with other two on the
drum shaft to work into the former at pleasure, so that by shifting those
on the drum shaft the two wheels that are working (that is, one on the drum
shaft and one on the fly-wheel shaft) can be thrown out of gear, and the
other two at the same time thrown in, by which the motion can be altered
from a less to a greater, or from a greater to a less, according to the ratio of
the diameters of the wheels working into each other. After the stone has
passed through below the drum it may be moved back, and the other side
turned up and dressed by again passing it under the drum; in the same way all
the four sides of a stone may be dressed. I propose to have drums of parti-
cular forms for working the surface of particular stones; for instance, a part
of one end may be smaller. in diameter and bevelled, in which tools might be
placed for cutting champhers, mouldings, &c., according to the form of the
tools placed in these situations. For dressing some sorts of stones I propose
to have two drums in a straight line, the one beyond the other, so that the
carriage with the stone, after passing under the first drum and having its
rougher parts cut away, should continue its movement and pass under the:
second drum, from which it would receive a finer dressing, or it might be cut
into channels or mouldings according as the drum and tools are prepared to
give it these forms. I likewise propose to make the shaft of the drum move
up and down by screws in the plumber blocks, so that it may admit of thick
or thin stones on the carriage at pleasure. The carriage may also have a
double bottom or floor made to be raised or lowered by segments and pinions,
with a hand like a windlass. This double bottom is only necessary where the
stones vary much in thickness. In fitting up the machinery, both the.drum.
and carriage are made to be set in motion and at rest by means o clutches..

page_text: The wheel on the drum shaft, and the pinion that drives the rack of the
carriage, has also each a friction strap, and the carriage is made to move back
by another wheel on the lying shaft, which drives, a pinion on another axle on
which a wheel is placed that works into the. rack of the carriage. I propose,
as before, stated, to have a moveable frame, in which the stones are first
placed and then lifted on the carriage, which frame traverses on the carriage
on sliders at right angles to its length, so that after the stone and carriage has
passed between the drum, and has had a certain part of its surface dressed; it
can be moved with the sliding frame,till another part of the stone is; brought
opposite the drum, when it is again passed under it, and has thereby another
portion of its surface dressed, and so on 'till all is, dressed in succession. This
frame.is. made to move on the sliders by means of a screw with a lever.handle
placed on the side of the carriage. When (are) rough or hard the method of
rough dressing them may be varied by placing the.. tools, in the ends of levers
of iron or other suitable materials suspended by their upper ends on. a strong
bolt a strong iron shaft or other answerable substance passes along the back
near to the under end of these levers, which is furnished with an oval projecting
knob, opposite each lever, which presses forward their under ends with the tools
when the shaft. revolves, and thereby clears away a portion of the stone:. A
knob being placed opposite each lever, each lever and tool will be moved forward
at each revolution of the shaft, a certain space, and by being placed.in a spiral
form they..will have a successive motion and not strike the stone all at the same
time. The stone is moved forward on the carriage toward the tools,, as when
they are, fixed in the drum. The Drawing, Figure 7th, will explain the.opera-
tion of this part of the machine. Thus, a is the strong bolt, b is one of the
levers, d is the strong shaft and, knob, e is the tool. B is the stone, and C is
the frame of the carriage on, which it is placed. If the stones which are
dressed with the tools in the drum require to be smoothed or polished, this
I propose to effect by means of an excentric wheel on each end of the axle of
the drum,, having rods from them connected with a polishing frame, in which
a stone or other suitable substance is placed for smoothing the surface of the
stone.. This frame has a backward and. forward motion given to it by the
rods connecting it with the excentric wheels while the stone is brought forward
under it by. the carriage, and it is. supplied at the same time with water and
sand: For this polishing part of the Invention I however claim no exclusive
right, nor in the machine of which this is the Specification do I claim any
right to the parts taken. separately, but only to the exclusive right of their
combination and use, for the purpose of dressing stones used in. masonry by
the assistance of a steam engine, a water, a wind, or a horse power, for
the better understanding of which machine, the perfixed Drawings are.given.

page_text: 1st
Figure 1 is a plan seen from above the machinery.
Figure 2d is a plan
seen from below the drum and carriage. Figure 3d is an elevation on the
line x, . Figure 4th is an elevation on the line W, W. Figure 5th is an
elevation on the line Y, Y, and Figure 6th is a part of the drum and tools
upon a large scale, shewing three different methods of fixing them. In these
several Figures A is the drum. B, B, is the stone. C is the frame. D, D, is
the carriage. E, E, is the railway. 5, 5, the double bottom raised by the
segments. F is the fly-wheel shaft. G is the wheel on the fly-wheel shaft
driving the wheel H on the shaft of the drum. I is a lever and clutches..
K is the shaft of the drum. L is a horizontal bevel wheel on the upright
shaft N, and is driven by the bevel wheel M on the fly-wheel shaft. O is the
screw driving the wheel P on the lying shaft u. R is a pinion on the shaft u,
which works into the rack of the carriage and gives it motion. S is a lever
for working the clutch Z. T is the plumber blocks of the different shafts,
and V, V, V, V, are frames for the small rollers or wheels of the carriage.
The wheels 4, 2, 3, are for moving back the carriage; the clutch Z being
thrown into the wheel 4 by the lever S puts the wheel in motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Milne, have hereto set my hand
and seal, at Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty.
Signed and sealed by the said James
Milne, in the presence of, and ac-
knowledged before me,
.
JAMES MILNE. (L.S.)
WM. WILLORY
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sèventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1830; the aforesaid James Milne came before our said Lord
the King in His. Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and thirty.