NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BEVILLING GLASS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Beck, of 139, Cannon Strect, in the City
of London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, for an Invention of
"
NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BEVILLING GLASS."
A communication from abroad by Alphonse Krieger, of Paris, in the Republic
of France, Machinist."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Beck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th September 1880.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer and Patent Agent. "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR BEVILLING GLASS." [A communication from abroad by Alphonse Krieger, of
Paris, in the Republic of France, Machinist.]
The object of the Invention is to replace hand labour in bevilling glass for
mirrors and other purposes, and consists in certain arrangements of machinery or
apparatus for effecting that object.
The machinery or apparatus is of the following character :-
A fixed frame carries the mechanical parts suitable for giving a rectilinear
alternating motion to the glass to be bevilled, in order to present it slowly to the
grinding wheel which is to form the bevil. The glass is mounted upon a frame, to
which is imparted the aforesaid rectilinear alternating motion. This frame is
carried by rollers which run upon a guide bar, and by the action of a counter-
weight the said frame inclines the glass sufficiently to present it at the required
angle to the grinder.
The glass is thus mounted at the extremity of a sort of lever resting by the
rollers of the frame upon the guide bar, aud having at its other end a counter-
weight which forces it to offer one of its sides to the bevilling tool. The inclination
of the glass and its contact with the grinder are thus obtained simply by the action
of the counter-weight, which replaces the hand of the workman.
The glass is held upon the frame by moveable clamps which replace the ordinary
method of cementing. By these means it is easy to mount the glass, to change its
position, and to replace it when the bevilling is effected.

page_text: The grinder may be mounted in a headstock adapted to slide on a suitable bed to
and from the work by means of a traversing screw or otherwise.
The grinder is by preference presented somewhat obliquely to the plane of the
glass, so that in the alternate rectilinear movement of the latter the said grinder
only attacks it in front.
To obtain this obliquity of the grinder, the bed carrying the grinder headstock
may be arranged to swivel round a centre, or to be otherwise adjusted to the
required angle.
The grinders may be changed in the same machine from time to time to suit the
progress of the work; or if preferred, a series of machines may be employed, the
glass being removed from one machine to another, the first machine having for
example a cast iron grinder, the second a gritstone, and the third a buff or
polisher.
To bevil glasses of a round or oval form, the counterweight may also be
employed to press the glass constantly against the grinder, but it is preferable in
this case to cause the glass to turn in an invariable vertical plane, and to incline
the grinder sufficiently to form the bevil.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henry Beck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
March 1881.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer and Patent Agent. "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR BEVILLING GLASS."
Heretofore glass has generally been bevilled by hand, or if attempts have been
made to do so by machinery they have all failed; the chief cause of these failures
has been the rigidity always given to the glass. Thus, for example, in one of the
best of these machines, the glasses were cemented side by side upon a heavy
horizontal bench, which receiving a slow to and fro movement, presented them
successively to the grinding action of one or more small grinders. The invariability
of the glasses, and the relative fixity of the grinders, produced bevils proportional
to the thickness of each of the glasses, and which were deficient in uniformity and
sharpness of the lines.
The machinery or apparatus forming the subject of the present Invention is
based upon a different principle, and the results are quite different, the work being
superior to that done by hand, and the production much greater than usual.
The machinery or apparatus is of the following character:-
A fixed frame carries the mechanical parts suitable for giving a movement of
translation to the glass to be bevilled, in order to present it slowly to the grinding
wheel which is to form the bevil. The glass is mounted without cementing upon a
frame which is carried by rollers running on a guide bar, and by the action of a
counter weight the said frame inclines the glass sufficiently to present it to the
grinding wheel at the angle required for the size of the bevil.
The glass is thus mounted at the extremity of a sort of lever resting by the
rollers of the frame upon the guide bar, and having at its other end a counter
weight which forces it to lean over in order to present its sides for bevilling. The
inclination of the glass and its contact with the grinder are thus obtained simply
by the action of the counterweight, which replaces the hand of the workman who
would present the glass to the grinder.
The glass is held upon the frame by moveable clamps which replace the ordinary
method of cementing. By this means it is easy to mount the glass, to change its
position, and to replace it when the bevilling is effected.
The Drawings hereto annexed illustrate two examples of machines constructed
in accordance with this Invention, but other arrangements and combinations may
be devised without departing therefrom.
The machine represented in elevation and side view in Figures 1 and 2
respectively is for the bevilling of glasses of rectilinear contour. The support is
formed of two cast iron frames a and b suitably braced and stayed together,
carrying behind them the driving shaft c, and in front and at their upper part the
guide bar & which carries the frame f. The guide bar dis of a length proportioned
to the length and traverse of the glass; it is of triangular section at the part where
the two friction rollers e of the frame froll to and fro on it. These rollers have a
groove corresponding to the shape of the guide bar, but formed at a much more
open angle to allow them the greatest freedom both in front and behind.
section of the acting part of the guide bar and that of the grooves of the rollers
may be curved round or otherwise, provided that they are both arranged so as to
allow the necessary play to the frame.
The
The frame fis of wood or other suitable material, with any suitable number of
strengthening cross pieces 9, 9, g, which serve also to receive the slots for the
wooden cramps h secured by wing nuts, as shown. To the middle cross piece is
·

page_text: fixed the axis or bar i carrying the counterweight p, which is held in place by a
tightening screw.
The frame carries at its lower part a rack , which follows it in its deviations
from the vertical position, and remains always in gear with the teeth of the pinion j
keyed on the end of the driving shaft c. This shaft carries the three pulleys 1, 1, 1²,
two of which, 1, 12, are loose, and the other or middle one is fastened on the shaft.
The driving strap is brought from one or other of the pulleys 11, 12, on to the fixed
pulley by the bar n, which is caused to slide by the rack k. At the end of its
stroke, by means of a stop which acts upon the arm n', this arm is forged with
the rod n², to which is forged or fixed a second arm n³, which causes the bar n to
slide and to shift the straps on to the corresponding pulleys.
In front of the frames a, b, of the machine is placed the grinding wheel or
plate m mounted on a headstock q carried by a small frame fixed to the ground.
The axis of the grinding wheel m receives the fast and loose pulleys & and s¹.
The headstock is moved to or from the glass by the screw t with a crank handle t¹.
One condition, the importance of which will be better appreciated after the action
of the machine has been explained is, that in order to obtain the best effect from
the grinding wheel the latter should be presented somewhat obliquely to the plane
of the glass, so that this grinding wheel, which turns in the direction of the arrow
only, comes in contact with the glass at the point where the grinding is being
effected, so that it shall not again touch the part which has been bevilled. In
order to give this obliquity, and to alter it simply and quickly, the frame ? is adapted
to be turned round more or less on the bolt which fastens the cross bar 2 to the
ground. In front of the grinding wheel is fixed to the frames a, b, a small
funnel v, through which the grinding material is delivered to the grinding wheel
through the hopper x placed at the side of the machine.
ACTION OF THE MACHINE.
The glass G, being fixed by the clamps h, h, (without any previous cementing)
to the frame f, the counter balance weight p is adjusted to the place required for
suitably inclining the glass and pressing it against the grinding wheel or plate m.
This preparative operation is effected in a very short time, and when completed the
driving shaft c and the grinding wheel m are set in motion. The glass moves
slowly to and fro longitudinally while the revolving cast iron grinding plate rough
grinds the bevel with grit approximately to the required dimensions. A grinding
stone is then substituted for the cast iron plate, whereby the bevil is smoothed,
and finally the grinding stone is replaced by a wooden grinding disc covered with
felt which finishes and polishes the bevil.
Instead of replacing the cast iron plate with the grinding stone, and the latter
by the felt covered wooden disc on the same machine, two similar machines may
be employed, differing from each other only in the grinding instrument; thus one
machine may be furnished with the cast iron grinder and the other with the grit-
stone grinder and the felted wood polisher. Besides economy of time this division
of the work possesses the great advantage of completely isolating the polishing
from all contact with the grit coming from the hopper.
It will be understood from the above description that the counterweight pacts
in the general working of the machine, exactly the same as the hand of the work-
man when presenting the glass to the grinder, for there is no alteration in the work
of bevilling by this machine, except that instead of a to and fro movement of the
grinder or polisher a circular motion is given to the grit grinder and to the felted
wood polisher, but otherwise the shaping of the bevil is exactly the same as that
now in use.
The action of the counterweight may be utilized in other ways; for example, it
may be made to act upon the bevilling tool instead of upon the glass, but in any
case so as to obtain a kind of elastic contact between such tool and the glass instead
of the rigid one obtained in machines heretofore tried.

page_text: Figures 3 and 4 represent a machine for bevilling oval or round glasses in which
the counterweight is used for pressing the grinding plate or wheel constantly
against the glass. The latter is mounted on a frame f, and is held thereon without
cementing by the clamps h, h; the frame receives its elliptic movement from
mechanisin of the kind well known and used for such purposes, and driven by the
pulley L. The headstock of the oval lathe is bolted to the support a, b.
The glass thus turns in an invariable vertical plane, and the plane of rotation of
the grinder m is inclined sufficiently to form the bevil to the required size. The
arrangement is the same as that shown in Figures 1 and 2, except that the head-
stock may be moved by the crank handle t¹ in a direction parallel to the glass,
whilst the counterweight continually causes it to advance towards the said
glass.
The arrangements shown in the Drawings may be varied; for example, the glass
with the action of the counterweight utilized to incline it may be caused to turn
in a plane slightly inclined in relation to the horizontal plane, or in a plane inter-
mediate between those two extreme positions.
If on the other hand the grinder is subjected to the action of the counterweight,
it may be either vertical or horizontal, the position and motion of the glass being
modified accordingly.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that the
forms, materials, and dimensions of the parts, and their arrangements with regard
to one another, comprising the machines hereinbefore described and represented in
the Drawings for the mechanical bevilling of glass, inay be varied without departing
from the Invention, but what is claimed as the Invention to be secured by the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
The mechanical combinations hereinbefore described and represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, the special characteristics of which are,
First. The employment of adjustable clamps for holding the glasses in place
instead of cementing the same.
Second. The arrangement of the glass in a nearly vertical plane, and its to and
fro motion, for the purpose of bevilling it when of rectilinear outline, as shown in
Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings.
Third. The employment of a regulating counterweight for holding the glass in
an inclined position, as described and illustrated.
Fourth. The employment of grinders or polishers rotating in a vertical plane
slightly inclined to the surface of the glass.
Fifth. The arrangement of the glass in a vertical plane and its elliptic or circular
movement for the purpose of bevilling it when oval or round, as shown in
Figures 3 and 4 of the Drawings.
Sixth. The arrangement of the grinder in a vertical position and the employment
of a counterweight to effect its inclination to the surface of the glass and its
movement towards the same.
Seventh. The arrangement of the glass or the grinder in a horizontal position, or
in a position intermediate between that and a vertical position, for the purpose of
utilizing the action of the counterweight either on the glass or on the grinder.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Beck, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.