IMPROVEMENTS IN LEAD. CRAYON, AND OTHER PENCILS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Alfred Nicholson, of Gracechurch Street, in
the City of London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LEAD. CRAYON, AND OTHER PENCILS."
Sealed the 30th December 1862, and dated the 25th October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th October 1862.
I, JOSEPH ALFRED NICHOLSON, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LEAD, CRAYON, AND OTHER PENCILS," to be as follows:-
My improvements in lead and other pencils consist in forming longitudinal
flutes in those articles for the purpose of removing a considerable portion of
the material of which they necessarily consist, in order to render them more
easily pointed than when left solid, as usual. For example, the lead and chalk
of pencils are usually enclosed in wood to give them strength and diameter for
holding; I flute such wood with three, four, five, six, or more angular flutes
or grooves and thereby remove a considerable portion of the wood, at same
time retaining sufficient strength and size for holding; this removal of the
wood renders the pointing of pencils more easy than when solid, and the
point is less liable to break; crayons, slate, and other pencils may be similarly
prepared. I form the flutes with rotary cutters or drills, or by planing, as will
be readily understood.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ALFRED NICHOLSON, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Alfred Nicholson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, 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, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LEAD, CRAYON, AND OTHER PENCILS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Joseph Alfred Nicholson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):-
My improvements in lead and other pencils consist in forming grooves
longitudinally or otherwise from end to end in those articles for the purpose
of removing a considerable portion of the material of which they necessarily
consist, in order to render them more easily pointed than when left solid, as
usual. For example, the lead and chalk of pencils are usually enclosed in
wood to give them strength and diameter for holding. I groove such wood
with three, four, five, six or more angular grooves, thereby removing a
considerable portion of the wood, at same time retaining the wood of the

page_text: pencil of sufficient strength and size for holding; the removal of the wood
enables the pointing of such pencils to be performed with much greater facility
than when solid. Crayons, slate, and other pencils may be similarly prepared.
I form the grooves by means of rotating cutters, or saws, or drills, or by planing,
or ploughing, or otherwise, as may be most desirable, and as will be readily
understood.
For grooving crayons or other pencils, or marking articles which are com-
posed entirely of the marking material, that is to say, are not enveloped in an
outer casing of wood, cutters or drills revolving at a rapid rate may be best
adapted for removing the superfluous material (forming the grooves), but for
ordinary black lead pencils or others consisting principally of wood, I find that
the superfluous material may be readily removed by forcing them through a
die having a series of cutters, which plough, plane, or scoop out the several
grooves simultaneously.
And in order that it may be readily understood I have represented a machine
of this description in detail in the annexed Sheet of Drawings.
Fig. 1 represents a side view, Fig. 2 an end view of a pencil prepared
according to my Invention, in which it will be seen the grooves are longi-
tudinal or parallel with the axis of the pencil, which I adopt as being the
simplest form, but I do not restrict myself thereto, as the grooves may be
helical, zig-zag, or in other directions, and the same facility for pointing
retained, the object being to remove a portion of the material; Fig. 3 repre-
sents a side view, and Fig. 4 a plan of a machine on a scale of about one-
fifth of the actual size, adapted for carrying my Invention into practical effect,
while Figs. 5 and 6 represent different views of a part detached on a large
scale.
a, a, is a bed plate, on which is mounted a crank shaft 6 and fly wheel c,
having a connecting rod d communicating motion from the crank to the
plunger e, and causing it to reciprocate precisely in the manner of a steam
engine piston rod; the end of the connecting rod d unites with the plunger e
on a cross head f, the ends of which move in guides f, f, mounted on the
bed plate a, as seen. The other end of the plunger e, which is of the diameter
of the pencil to be operated on works in a guide 9 and cylindrical channel h,
into which the pencils are fed one at a time, the stroke of the plunger being
about the same length as the pencils. A is the chuck or die carrying the
cutters through which the pencils are forced; this chuck is represented of
the full size in face view at Fig. 5, and in like view with the front plate
removed at Fig. 6, showing the arrangement and disposition of the cutters i, i.
The chuck A consists of a cylindrical piece of metal fixed by screw bolts k to

page_text: the upright bracket B, in the face of which a recess is cut, and into which, it
.fits, the bracket B being firmly bolted to the bed a.
In this arrangement I
have represented the chuck as applicable for cutting five grooves in the pencil,
there are therefore five radial slots or recesses in this chuck, in which are
fitted ten knives i, i, seen separately at Fig. 7, in side and edge view. These
knives are held in position by means of the face plate m of the chuck, fixed
thereto by screw bolts n, each knife or cutter being fixed and held by a sepa-
rate binding screw p after their position has been adjusted to the size of the
pencil and the depth of cut to be taken, which position is readily adjusted by
partially loosening the binding screws p, and tapping the knives towards or
from the centre of the chuck A, as may be required. Between each pair of
knives (two being used to form each groove) is placed a sliding piece q, which
fills the space between the knives; these pieces at the inner ends abut against
the pencil under operation, and are regulated and adjusted in position according
to its diameter. In order to move the adjustable piece q, each has a cranked
head with boss receiving the neck of a screw r screwed into the face plate,
and by turning which screws it toward or from the centre of the chuck and
adjusts the piece q in the position desired; each piece q is in this manner.
separately adjusted to suit the diameter of the pencil to be operated upon. It
will be observed in the separate view, Fig. 7, that the sharp cutting edges of
the knives are bevilled, the acute angle is disposed at the back, so that the
knives in front may readily receive the end of the pencil, the bevil being equal
to or a little more than the depth of the cut. The box in which the plunger e
travels is cylindrical in the interior, and, adapted, somewhat nearly to the size
of the pencil; it is in two parts hinged together, as will be readily seen at
Fig. 8, which is a transverse section thereof of the full size, showing. the
arrangement for the feed. This hinged part forms the cover E to the fixed
part F, and is mounted on hinges s, s, which, during nearly the, whole revo-
lution of the crank, is held down, but rises up and opens when the crank is
at or near its dead point after receding from the chuck A, at, this time a
pencil enters from the feed board h, on which the pencils are laid, and kept
supplied by hand or from a suitable hopper filled therewith.. The action of
the cover E is produced as follows:-t is an arm extending from cover E, from
which arm two. jointed links or pieces u, u, depend, as seen in Fig: 8, and
unite it with the long end of a lever v, mounted on a fixed fulcrum w.
opposite end of lever v has a raised, projection, which bears constantly against
the periphery of a cam x fixed on the shaft b, and kept up. thereto by the force
of a spring; the cam a has a dip or recess. in its periphery, which, in the
position shown in the Drawings, Figs. 3 and 4, is at the under side where
The

page_text: the projection on lever v enters it, the effect of which is to dip the long end of
the lever and with it the arm t, and therefore to lift the cover E, and allow
the nearest pencil to roll within the feed channel, the cover again immediately
closes, and the plunger now advancing forces the pencil so introduced up to
and through the cutter die or chuck A, and so cuts and removes the material
to form the grooves, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the pencil emerging on the
opposite side completely grooved and finished. The plungere does not force
the pencil, on which it immediately bears, quite through, but nearly up to the
face of the chuck, the next pencil acted on in succession forcing the preceding
one through, and so on. The feed board h is furnished with ledges at the
ends to keep the pencils in position, and it is at such an incline that the
pencils will descend to the plunger chamber, the pencil received forming
the abutment for the other pencils to rest against while the cover E descends
and embraces the pencil that has entered, and keeps it in position for the
plunger to act upon. Instead of the pencils being in a finished state or in
the round before being operated on by this machine they may be only roughly
formed, and the cutters adapted to round, groove, and finish them entirely in
one operation. If revolving drills, cutters, or saws are used to make the
grooves it will be simply necessary to adjust the five or other number of drills,
saws, or cutters in a radial position in a face plate, and cause them to rotate
rapidly, and at same time traverse the pencil in a longitudinal direction
through the centre to which the cutters or drills are radii.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, forming pencils with grooves
throughout their length, in order to have less material in the pencil, but with
the same or nearly the same diameter as heretofore, in order that they may
be more easily pointed or sharpened, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
W. CLARK, Patent Agent,
JOSEPH A. NICHOLSON. (L.S.).
53, Chancery Lane, London.