A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OR REMOVING ALL THE VARIOUS KINDS OF FURS WHICH ARE USED IN HAT MAKING PROM THE SKINS OR PELTS, AND FOR CUTTING THE SAID SKINS OR PELTS INTO STRIPS OR SMALL PIECES
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
C. DYER, of Boston, State of Massachussetts, one of the United States, now
residing in London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of Septem-
ber, in the fiftieth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
C. Dyer, my exors, aditiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, my exors, admors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, an Invention, communicated to me by a certain foreigner residing
abroad, of "A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OR REMOVING ALL THE VARIOUS KINDS OF
FURS WHICH ARE USED IN HAT MAKING PROM THE SKINS OR PELTS, AND FOR
CUTTING THE SAID SKINS OR PELTS INTO STRIPS OR SMALL PIECES;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph
C. Dyer, by an instrument in writing under the hand and seal, to cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months after the date of the said recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph C. Dyer, do hereby declare that the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, are described and ascertained in and by
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following description thereof (that is
to say) :-
Figure 1 represents the machine as seen in perspective from a point a little
in front of and towards the right-hand side of the end of the machine, where
the skins or pelts are introduced to be cut. The letters A, A, A, denote a
frame of cast iron, wood, or any other suitable material, on which the several
parts of the machine are adjusted and supported in their operation. In this
frame a large (drum-shaped) wheel is hung to turn freely on its axis d, d.
This wheel (which I call "the drum wheel ") is composed of two cast-iron (or
other metal) wheels, the arms of which are denoted at c, c, c, and which
are fastened on the said axis d, d. On the peripheries of these metals
wheels a rim of wood, as denoted at B, B, B, of about one inch thick is fitted,
and firmly secured by screws or otherwise, and the whole turned true on the
axis. This rim B, B, B, is divided into equal spaces on each side round its
whole circumference, and grooves cut therein extending from its opposite sides
towards its centre, so as to diverge a little from the line of its axis, and thereby
form angles with each other and with the axis of the said wheel. In these
grooves the cutters, as denoted at e, e, e, e, are bidded and hold firm. The
number of these cutters will depend on the size of the drum wheel to be used,
and the degrees of the angles in which they are required to be set, which last
may be left to the judgment of the workmen after referring to their action in
cutting, hereafter described; and as respects the size of the drum wheel, altho
I generally make it about two feet in diameter, and fifteen inches wide on its
periphery, in which case it will contain twenty-four cutters, (that is, twelve on
each side,) yet the size and proportion may be varied without prejudice
to the performance of the machine. The width of the said periphery must,
however, be always sufficient to admit the introduction of the skins intended to
be cut of their full width. The said cutters e, e, e, e, should be made of cast
(or other fine) steel, about one-eighth of an inch thick, five-eights wide, and of
a length proportioned to the width of the drum wheel, so as to extend from the
edges to the centre of the periphery thereof in the determinate angle, as afore-
said. These cutters should be fixed in the said wood rim, so as to project out
or stand up from the smooth surface of the wood about one-eighth of an inch
in the centre of each cutter, and the ends at the centre of the rim should be

page_text: made to project more than those at the sides, say, about one-sixteenth of an
inch greater projection at the centre ends. Figure 2 is a section, giving a view
of those parts of the machine as seen from the front end thereof, where the act
of cutting is performed. In this view the rollers denoted at D, D, are repre-
sented as broken off, and a part of them left out, in order to shew the knife
E, E. This knife is made of a straight plate of steel ground to a keen edge
at the top through its whole length, which extend across the machine just in
front of the drum wheel, so that the said edge is parallel to the axis of the said
wheel; and in order to secure the said knife in its place, so as that it shall be
kept steady, and be allowed to move freely backwards and forward a little, or
approach to and recede from the drum wheel, as is requisite in the act of
cutting, it is provided with a frame or support, as seen at F, F, which frame
is hung in grooves or hollows made to receive its ends in the opposite sides of
the great frame A, A, A, and so disposed as to turn as on a hinge, or to move
freely backward and forward a little therein, and the knife, being fitted into
this frame, so as to be easily adjusted or taken out to be ground, &c., will be
held steady, and permitted to approach to and recede from the said drum
wheel as the edges of the cutters on the said wheel are successively brought in
contact with the edge of the said knife, whilst the wheel is made to revolve in
the act of cutting. This streight knife is all the time pressed towards the
drum wheel by the springs T, T, T, which are adapted to act against its back
side, or against the said frame in which it is placed, and there are regulators
or stops fitted so as to be easily adjusted on the main frame at each end of the
knife, whereby its progress is arrested in its tendency to approach the drum
wheel as it falls of successively from its action against the edges of the cutters
in the said wheel, and is impelled thereto by the action of the said springs, the
ends of the cutters in the drum wheel, as before described, being made to rise
but little above the surface of the wood at each side of said wheel, and to
encrease in the distance therefrom towards their other ends at the centre of its
periphery. Their edges will thereby be made to fall gently on that of the said
streight knife, and to pass freely over it without any jar or injury to the said
edges, as they are successively brought in contact by the revolution of the
said wheel. The cutters in the drum wheel should be placed therein at such
distances from each other as to leave a small space between the line drawn
across said wheel where the straight knife falls off from the end of one of
the said cutters at the centre and that where it meets the opposite or side end
of the next knife in succession. It will readily be seen, that as the edges of
the said cutters and knife are brought in contact by the revolution of the
drum wheel, they will form acute angles with each other, and being at the

page_text: same time pressed together by the action of the springs against the knife as
aforesaid, they will cut the said skins or pelt when placed between them, on
the same principle that the blades of shears act in cutting. The said feeding
rollers denoted at D, D, are about one inch in diameter, and of a sufficient
length to extend across the end of the machine; they are confined in their
proper situation just in front of the knife E, E, by the upright plates at each
side of the machine, as seen at G, G. In these plates there are grooves, which
are open at the tops, wherein the ends or pivots of the said rollers are fitted, so
that they will turn round freely and not admit any sidewise motion, and so as
to permit the said rollers to be taken out at pleasure. These plates consist of
two parts, which are secured in their respective places by adjusting screws, and
which are so contrived as to permit the said rollers to be placed at a greater
or less distance from the said knife, and to have their relative situation regu-
lated and altered at pleasure; the rollers are connected by cogs or wheel-
work, so as to revolve together, which cogs S, S, are fitted on the left-hand
ends of the rollers, outside of the frame, and the said rollers are put in motion
by means of the wheel-work, as sum on the right-hand side of the machine,
that is to say, the wheel h is fixed on the end of the axis d, d, and acting with
the wheel i, i, turns it round, together with its long axis k, k, and the screw
wheel, as made thereon; the last acting with the wheel m (which is fixed on
the pivot of the lower roll) will cause the said wheel, and consequently the
rollers D, D, to revolve whenever the drum wheel is turned round. This
wheel-work is calculated to produce about one revolution of the feeding rollers
whilst the drum wheel revolves seven times; the feeding rollers are turned
true and then filed (with a coarse file) lengthwise, so as to give a roughness or
light fluting on their surfaces, whereby they will take firmly hold of and carry
the skins forward to the knife when placed between them, and they are pressed
together by the actions of the springs n, n, which are made to press down on
the upper roller, and are so contrived as to be opened or raised up at will to
take out the said upper roller; the skin or pelt intended to have the fur cut
or removed therefrom must have one end of it placed between the said feeding
rollers with the fur side downwards, and the drum wheel being made to
revolve by means of the winch H, or any other first mover, the skin will be
advanced towards the drum wheel, so that its end will be carried just over the
edge of the streight knife, where the said cutters in the wheel will meet it as
aforesaid, and cut off such part of the skin as shall have advanced beyond the
edge of the said knife, and at the same time the fur will be left on the back
side of the knife as the skin is thus cut off and carried away from it by the
action of the said cutters against the streight knife; it will be seen that as the

page_text: notion of the feeding rollers is very slow compared with that of the said
wheel in which the cutters are placed, the skin will have advanced forward
but little on the edge of the knife at each of the successive cutting thereof,
whereby the said skin will be cut into small strips, and these strips will
be allowed to fall and pass off from the machine under the said drum wheel,
and that the fur in the meantime, which is thus retained on the back
side of the knife, will be made to proceed downward as the skin advances
forward and is cut off from it between the said knife and the feeding rollers,
and under these rollers it may be received by any suitable conductor and
carried off from the machine nearly in the same state in which it was disposed
on the skins. In Figure 2, the letters p, p,p, represent a part of a plate which
is fastened to the knife frame and calculated to receive the fur as it descends
after being cut from the skins, which plate is curved or bent out, so as to guide
the fur off and cause it to fall on a cloth or other conductor which is fitted to
move round on and by means of the roller Q, Q, as seen in this Figure, which
roller is connected by a band or otherwise with the feeding rollers, and made
to move round with them. In Figure 1, letters R, R, represent this con-
ducting cloth, as fixed in a frame T 2, T 2, with a roller at its forward end,
round which the said cloth is made to move, but as the fur may be carried
off on an inclined plane or by any other convenient method, I consider the
said conductor which I have described as not very essential to the principal of
the said machine in its operation. In Figure 2, L denotes a piece of skin
with the fur on it, as they are introduced between the rollers to be cut; the
cutters in the drum wheel should have their projecting edges ground with a
short basil, so as to leave on their forward sides the edges blunt, and they
should be rubbed with an oil-stone to make them smooth, which will preserve
them from injuring, and render the necessity of grinding or sharpening them or
the edge of the knife with which they act less frequent. And I do further
declare, that altho' in erecting my said machines I generally adhere pretty
nearly to the size, from, materials, and method of construction as afore described,
yet that I do not confine myself these particulars, as the same may be varied
to a considerable degree in many parts without departing from the principles
of the said Invention, and without injury to the performance of the machine,
and perhaps indeed to advantage in some cases; for instance, it may sometimes
be thought advisable to have the cutters in the drum wheel made long enough
to extend quit across the rim of the said wheel, in which case there will of
course be only half the numbers of the said cutter, which, as in those referred
to in the Drawings, must be set with a proper divergence from the line of the
axis to form angles with the streight knife, of such degrees as may be found

page_text: to cut to the best advantage. And I will here observe, that for cutting the fur
from very small sized skins, which will permit the drum wheel to be made
much smaller than the one described, I even use the long cutters in pre-
ference to the double range of cutter terminating in the centre of the rim,
as described in the Drawings; and instead of the wheel-work, as shewn, to
connect the axis of the drum wheel with that of the feeding roller, to give
motion thereto as described, I sometimes obtain the same by means of bands
or chains made to run over pullers, wheels, or fuzees properly adapted to the
purpose, but these, as well as may other other variations which may be made
in the said machine, may be left to the judgment of the workmen, who will
find no difficulty in providing therefore, so as to adapt it its operations to the
various kinds of work to the best advantage.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eleven.
Inrolled the Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eleven.