IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SOAP INTO SLABS, BARS, OR CAKES
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED'
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of July, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did,'
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said'
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my exors,
adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years thereby granted, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and'
Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SOAP INTO
SLABS, BARS, OR CAKES," being a communication from a Foreigner residing
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and scal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The nature of this Invention consists in the employment of a series of
wires under tension, and placed at the required distance apart to suit the
thickness of slabs or bars of soap to be produced. When this is combined
with a carriage composed of slots, or so slotted along its length that the wires
shall pass through, and permit the carriage to move from end to end of its
reciprocating motion without affecting the relative positions of the several
wires, and thus force the soap to be cut against the said wires, and thus
separate it into slabs or bars of any required size. And the Invention also
consists in keeping the wires in such a machine at the required tension by
means of weights or springs, so that they may yield instead of breaking when
exposed to undue strain.
Figure 1. is a perspective view, and Fig. 2 a cross vertical section, of the
Invention as applied. to cutting soap into slabs; and Figs. 3 and 4 are cross
and longitudinal vertical sections of the Invention as applied to cutting slabs
of soap into bars. The same letters indicate like parts in all the Figures.
In Figures 1 and 2, a represents a suitable frame with two parallel ways
b, b, to which is fitted and on which slides a carriage c, each of the slide
pieces of which are formed of two parts, with a space d between them, in
which are fitted the end. tenons of a series of bars e, so that the said bars can
be shifted at. pleasure, and placed nearer together or farther apart to suit the
thickness of the intended slabs of soap to be produced. These bars are
secured.in place, when properly set, by means of wedge keys f. To the top of
the carriage, and near one end of it, is hinged a support frame g, the upper
rail of which is notched at its front edge as at h, and to its back edge is hinged
a brace i to hold the said frame in place when the machine is in operation.
The bottom of the carriage is provided with a rack j, the cogs of which are
engaged by a pinion k on a horizontal shaft 7, receiving motion by a train of
wheels m, n, o, from a crank handle p, or from any other suitable contrivance.
Just below the carriage there is a cross rod q, to which are attached the
lower ends of a series of wires r, that pass up through the spaces between
the series of bars e, thence through holes in a plate s extending across the
frame a, and over a series of rollers or wheels t arranged side by side on a rod
near the top of the frame. To the end of each of the said wires a weight is
suspended to keep them at the required tension. The plate s is pierced with

page_text: a row of holes to receive the wires, and to admit of their lateral adjustment to
suit the work which the machine is required to perform. A short distance
above the top surface of the carriage there is another wire u stretched across
horizontally, with one end attached to one of the standards of the frame, and
the other passing through a hole in the other standard, thence passing over a
pulley v, and having a tension weight w attached to it.
For operating the machinery a large block of soap is placed on the carriage,
with one end against the support frame g. The carriage is then set in motion,
which forces the soap against the wires, by which it is severed into slabs
equal in thickness to the spaces between the wires. When the forward
motion of the carriage is completed the wires will have passed through the
end of the block of soap into the grooves or spaces in the front face of the top
bar of the supporting frame. The horizontal wire u at the same time removes
the lower part of the block of soap, so as to leave the under surface of the
lower slab smooth. At the end of the operation the slabs are removed, the
carriage run back, and the machine is in readiness to receive another block
of soap. If in the cutting operation the power applied should bring too great
a strain on the wires, or if there should be any hard substance in the block
of soap which the wires or any one of them cannot cut through, such wire or
wires so impeded will give way by reason of the weights suspended to them,
and thus the breaking of the cutting wires will be avoided.
After a block of
soap has thus been cut into slabs, the slabs can be laid flatwise on the carriage,
and cut into bars, or a series of slabs can be laid at once on the carriage, and
at one operation cut into bars; but it is preferred to perform this second ope-
ration on a separate machine, such as will be found represented at Figs. 3 and
4, where it will be seen that the carriage is formed with one double-end piece
y, having parallel bars e inserted into it, and projecting out, each bar having
a shoulder x projecting from its top surface, against which the slabs are
placed. It is not necessary in cutting a slab into bars to resort to the pre-
caution of providing the wires with tension weights, as the liability to their
breaking under operation is very remote.
It is not deemed necessary to describe in this modification the rack and
It will be obvious that bars of soap
pinion for applying the motive power.
can be cut into squares cakes by the same mode of operation.
Having now described the Invention as communicated to me by my
Foreign Correspondent, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to
limit myself to the precise mode of construction herein specified, so long as the
same result is produced by analogous means; but that I claim under the
above in part recited Letters Patent,-

page_text: First, the employment of a series of wires arranged substantially. as herein
specified, in combination with a carriage composed of a series of bars or their
equivalent, for carrying the soap to be cut, between which bars the wires are
stretched, as specified, for the purpose of cutting soap into slabs, bars, or cakes,
as set forth. And,
Secondly, I claim, in combination with the above, keeping the wires under
tension by means of weights or their equivalent, so that they shall yield
instead of breaking when exposed to undue strain, as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 'have hereunto
.
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three."