IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SHAPING HAT AND BONNET BLOCKS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Hiram Higgins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
January 1865.
I, WILLIAM HIRAM HIGGINS, of Luton, Bedfordshire, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SHAPING
HAT AND BONNET BLOCKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon machinery for which
Letters Patent bearing date the 29th June 1853, and numbered 1564, were
granted to Thomas Edward Irons, of Market Gate, Arbroath, North Britain,
Last Maker, under the title of Improvements in the Manufacture of Lasts,
and in Machinery connected therewith, Parts of which Machinery are
applicable to other like Purposes or Eccentric Turning." Now whereas in
practice the machinery described in the Specification, and illustrated by the
Drawings of said Patent, was found not adapted for shaping large articles,
such as hat and bonnet blocks, without considerable alteration of the
mechanism, the present Invention consists in altering and improving said
mechanism in the following manner, so as to render the aforesaid patented
machinery adapted for shaping hat and bonnet blocks. The following is an
example of the means by which these improvements may be effected :-
First, as regards the cradle or rocking bed marked H on the Drawings of
the aforesaid Patent of 1853, instead of placing the rocking fulcrum as there
shewn, I propose to place it near to the bottom of the framing of the machine,

page_text: in order that the tangental course in which it moves may be less sharp, the
objection in practice to a sharp curve being that the block to be cut or
shaped becomes wedged against the cutters.
Secondly, as regards the cutters marked P, P¹ on the aforesaid Drawings,
instead of fixing same as there shewn, I propose to place them as follows:-
I construct the cutter holder with grooves or recesses and slots in the face
thereof, in which the several cutters are fixed and adjusted, and by these
means can be readily removed for sharpening same, or substituting other
cutters of any desired form and "temper." I also propose to form the cutters
of bands of steel bent to the desired form and afterwards tempered.
Thirdly, as regards the "chucking" of the blocks to be shaped, the present
Invention and improvement consists in causing the cutters and governor to
work from the centre of the machine, id est, from each other, instead of one
following the other, as was the case in the Patent of 1853 aforesaid. By
these improvements any length of pattern model can be placed in the machine
without altering or adjusting the governor.
Fourthly, I propose to employ an arrangement of toothed wheels instead of
bands and pulleys for communicating motion to the cradle shaft from the
main driving shaft, for imparting motion to a right and left-handed traveller
screw, for moving the governor and cutter carriages backwards and forwards
in opposite directions. I also employ a hand lever in combination with the
aforesaid wheelwork for reversing the. direction of motion of the aforesaid
traveller screw when the governor. and cutters have arrived at the desired
extent of their range of action in accordance with the length of the model.
To effect the above objects I fix a toothed wheel on one end of the traveller
screw, and upon the shaft of the. rocking cradle aforesaid I place loosely
another toothed wheel. I also fix one end of a lever on said shaft, and affix
loosely to said lever two. other toothed wheels of the same. size out of gear
with each other. I also arrange a series of change wheels between the wheel
on the traveller screw and one or other of the wheels affixed to the lever, all
gearing into each other, so that by moving. the lever to and fro I bring one or
other of the two wheels on the lever into gear with the wheel on the cradle
shaft, and by these means effect a reversing movement of the traveller screw,
governor, and carriage containing. the cutters; rotatory motion is transmitted
from the main driving shaft to. the wheel on the cradle shaft by means of
other toothed wheels; one wheel is fixed: on the main driving shaft, and the
other is a carrier wheel mounted on a stud fixed to any suitable part of the
framing, of the machinery, these wheels all gear into each other and transmit
their motion from one to the other; the carrier wheel aforesaid may be

page_text: removed at pleasure, and another wheel or wheels of different sizes bo sub-
stituted in place thereof to suit the speed at which it is required to drive the
traveller screw aforesaid.
A further improvement consists in forming the headstock or saddle of the
governor double, so as to carry two governors placed in a line one behind the
other, each mounted upon a separate axis. The headstock is mounted and
held in the sliding or travelling carriage by forming the sole plate of the
headstock or saddle circular, and there is a corresponding circular recess
formed in the travelling carriage to receive said sole plate, which can be
adjusted and held in any desired position by means of bolts or screws. The
object of employing two governors is to enable me to use knives of different
shapes; for example, I form the periphery of one governor round, and the
other I form of a V-shape; with the round governor I use cutters with round
edges, and with the V-shaped governor V-shaped or pointed cutters; these
latter enable me to cut sharp angles in the work if necessary. Thus it will
be seen that by turning the sole plate half round one or other of the governors
may be brought into use. I also propose to adapt a screw to the carriage of
the sole plate of the governors to operate in a similar manner as the slide
rest of a turning lathe; by these means I am enabled to produce a copy of
smaller dimensions than the model block; for example, if instead of allowing
the periphery of the governor to touch the model at the commencement of the
operation of the cutters on the rough block to be shaped, the governor be
adjusted an inch from the model, then the cutters will continue to act on the
wood to be shaped until the governor comes into contact with the model, and
by these means the rough block will be cut two inches smaller in diameter
than the model.