IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD-TURNING MACHINERY
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD-TURNING MACHINERY,” A communication from
abroad by Freeman Hanson, of Hollis, Maine, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd December 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD-TURNING
MACHINERY." [A communication from abroad by Freeman Hanson, of Hollis,
Maine, United States of America.]
The object of this Invention is to control the approach or movement of the
cutting tool in a wood turning machine towards the object to be cut, at the same
time that the said tool is moved along its side by means of a stationary pattern or
former with a toothed edge in such a manner that the shape given to the posts, table
legs, pillars, and other objects to be cut by the machine corresponds with and is
determined by the shape of the said former or pattern.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I support upon a suitable frame
work the moving parts of the machine, and employ a sliding bed plate which carries
the mechanism for holding and rotating the wood, and a second sliding bed plate
which carries the cutter head and its operating mechanism. Power is applied to
the machine through a shaft which turns in the framework, and which I term the
main shaft. This shaft carries two pulleys, the first of which is connected by a
belt with a pulley on a second shaft, which also turns in the frame work, and to
which it thus communicates motion. On the other end of the said second shaft is
another pulley connected by a belt with a fast and loose pulley which operates the
sliding cutter head.
The second of the two pulleys on the main shaft is a cone pulley, and is connected
by a belt with a cone pulley upon a shaft which turns in the framework and
carries a slotted socket head on one end and a slotted elbow arm on the other end.
This slotted socket head is provided with a crank rod fastened to it by a

page_text: connecting pin, which is made adjustable in the slot of the socket head, and by its
distance from the centre of the head regulates the throw of the said crank rod.
The other end of this crank rod is connected with the bed plate which carries the
mechanism for holding and rotating the wood, and gives to it a reciprocating
backward and forward motion from the rotation of the shaft carrying the slotted
socket head. This bed plate slides upon guides in guide cleats, and carries with it
the mechanism for holding and rotating the wood as above stated.
This mechanism embodies two fixed posts or uprights at one end of the bedplate,
and an adjustable post near the other end of the said bedplate. The wood to be
operated upon is held between one of the said fixed posts and the adjustable posts,
one end resting in and being turned by a collar in one of the fixed posts and
the other end turning on a spindle in the adjustable post. This spindle passes
through the head of the said post, and has at its outer end a wheel, by which it is
turned into contact with the wood. A set screw holds the spindle in position and
prevents its turning with the wood.
A slot extends lengthwise in the bed plate carrying the cutter head, and in
this slot the adjustable post is free to move to correspond with the different lengths
of the objects desired to be shaped.
Rotation is given to the aforesaid collar, and hence to the wood held by it, by a
gear wheel, which is rigidly fastened to the collar, and which I term the large gear
wheel. This gear wheel derives its motion from the shaft carrying the slotted
socket head through a system of gear wheels, which are supported in a slotted
elbow-arm, one end of which, as above stated, is hung upon the last named shaft and
the other end upon the collar. These gear wheels gear with each other, and the
gear wheel on the collar, and are kept in gear by being made, adjustable in the slot
formed in the elbow arm. For this purpose I use suitable connecting pins. The
smallest gear wheel is fastened directly to the shaft carrying the slotted socket
head by a connecting pin, from which it thus derives its rotation.
Every outward motion of the crank rod causes the bed plate carrying the
mechanism for holding and rotating the wood to slide in its cleats away from the
shaft carrying the slotted socket head, and as the bed plate carries the large gear
wheel and the posts with it, this outward motion extends the elbow arm without
interfering with the rotation of the gear wheels. At each backward or inward
motion of the bed-plate and crank rod, the train of gear wheels is lowered by the
contraction of the elbow arm, and thus their rotation is not interrupted; thus
simultaneously with the gliding or transversely reciprocating motion of the bed
plate there is a constant rotation of the wood carried by it.
Instead of a transversely reciprocating motion the bed-plate carrying the
mechanism for holding and rotating the wood may be made to slide up and down,
or to rock to and fro. These two motions are readily obtained, the up and down
motion by making the guide-cleats vertical, and placing the shaft and its socket
head below the said bed-plate instead of at its side, and the rocking motion by
setting the bed-plate upon rockers hung upon uprights fastened to the frame-work
instead of upon guides and guide-cleats.
It is obvious that if the said bed-plate were stationary the constant rotation
imparted to the wood by the train of gear wheels would cause the surface of the
wood to be shaped like a cylinder, so that a cross-section at any point would be
circular. The sliding or rocking motions of the bed-plate change this circular
cross-section to an oval, a polygon, a rosette, or any other shape desired, of regular
or irregular outline, and with straight, curved, hollowed, or scalloped edges; thus,
if the machine is so adjusted by arranging the speed and position of the gear-
wheels with reference to the motion of the bed-plate that the large gear-wheel
turns once for every two sliding or rocking motions of the bed-plate to and fro, the
cross-section of the wood shaped will be an oval. If the proportion is one to three
instead of one to two the result will be a triangle; if one to four a square, and so
These different proportions are obtained by the substitution of intermediate
gear wheels having a different number of teeth.
on.

page_text: By altering the length of the slide of the bed-plate without changing its relative
speed the sides of these polygonal cross-sections may be made concave, straight, or
convex, as desired, and in this manner by slight changes of adjustment a great
variety of outlines may be given to posts or table-legs shaped by the machine.
The cutter-head, as above stated, is carried on the second bed-plate, having
guides which slide in the guide-cleats. This bed-plate is drawn towards the bed-
plate carrying the mechanism for holding and rotating the wood by a constant
force exerted by weights connected to the second bed-plate by cords passing over
pulleys hung on the framework; this constanstly drawing force may be obtained in
many ways, but I prefer the use of weights and pulleys as most convenient.
The second bed-plate has a worm or screw, which extends nearly its whole
length, and is turned by the fast and loose pulley. It also has a slot, which
extends longitudinally under the screw, and in this slot the cutter head is moved
back and forth by the action of the said screw upon a wheel in the cutter head.
This cutter head carries a rotating arbor, which has a disc on its outer end, in
which the cutting tool is inserted. The object of this disc is to give the cutting
tool a larger sweep than it could have if inserted in the edge of the arbor. The
cutter head is also provided with a vertical shaft, on which are two gear wheels,
the first of which is above the second bed plate, and the second one below. This
shaft is turned and the cutter head fed along in the slot in said bed plate by
the engagement of the teeth of one of the first gear wheels by the worm screw K.
The teeth of the second gear wheel mesh into the teeth of the former, which
extends nearly the whole length of the said slot under the second bed plate and
parallel to it. Against this former the second gear wheel is held by the weights, as
herein before explained.
This former is provided with teeth to correspond to those of the second gear
wheel, and is fastened rigidly to the frame work; thus, by its resistance to the
action of the weights, the former controls the motion of the said second gear wheel,
and allows only one tooth to pass at a time, giving a step by step motion to the
cutter head as the said wheel is turned in unison with the first gear wheel by the
screw. If it is desired to have part of the wood to be operated upon retain its
original shape, this object may be accomplished by making the former hold the
second gear wheel while passing that part so far from the wood that the chisel
cannot act upon it.
An important feature of this former is that it is provided with teeth, into which
the teeth of the said gear wheel mesh. I thus secure a uniform motion of the
cutter head on its path. Without such a device there would be nothing to prevent
the wheel from being drawn suddenly to the bottom of a depression in the former,
which would tear the wood and probably break the cutting tool. If however the
shape of the former is without any sharp depressions it need not be toothed, and an
ordinary friction wheel may be used instead of the second gear wheel.
This gear wheel may be either circular, oval, hexagonal, octagonal, or of any
other shape, made up of curves or straight lines without re-entrant angles. The
effect of this formation will be to allow pillars of a great variety of shapes to be
cut from the same pattern. It is obvious that when the wheel engages with the
teeth of the former by the teeth upon its longer diameters, as in ovals, hexagons,
or octagons, the cutting tool is held farther from the wood,and when engaged with
the teeth upon its shorter diameter the cutting tool will be nearer the wood than
when a circular wheel is used. Therefore the depressions and elevations cut upon
the pillar are more marked if the longer diameters act upon the elevations, and the
shorter upon the depressions; and as the shape of the inner section of the pillar
cut depends wholly upon the progress of the second gear wheel along the former,
any change made in the said wheel or in the former will produce a corresponding
change in the shape given to the wood.

page_text: prevents it from turning with the wood. A slot i extends lengthwise in the bed-
plate B, and in this slot the post. I is made adjustable to correspond with the
different lengths of the objects desired to be shaped.
Rotation is given to the collar K¹ and hence to the wood which it holds by the
gear wheel G which is rigidly fastened to the said collar K', This gear wheel G
derives its motion from the shaft a² through a system of gear wheels G³, G³, G³,
and G, which are supported upon the slotted elbow arm E, one end of which as
before stated is hung upon the shaft a³, and its other end upon the collar K¹.
These toothed wheels gear with each other and with toothed wheel G, and are
kept in gear by being made adjustable in the slot i of the elbow arm. This is
effected by the connecting pins d', d², and d³. The smallest gear wheel G' is fastened
directly to the shaft a² by the connecting pin d.
Every outward motion of the crank rod c causes the bed-plate B to slide in its
cleats g¹, g', away from the shaft a², and as the bed-plate carries the gear-wheel G
and the posts I, I, I, with it, this outward motion extends the elbow arm E,
without interfering with the rotation of the gear wheel. At each backward
or inward motion of the said bed-plate and crank-rod, the train of gear-wheels is
lowered by the contraction of the elbow-arm, and thus their rotation is not
interrupted. Thus simultaneously with the sliding or transversely reciprocating
motion of the bed-plate there is a constant rotation of the wood carried by it.
Instead of a transversely reciprocating motion, the bed-plate B may be made to
slide up and down or to rock back and forth. These two motions may be readily
obtained, the up and down motion by making the guide cleats vertical, and placing
the shaft a² and its socket head H below the said bed plate B instead of at its side,
and the rocking motion by setting the bed-plate upon rockers hung upon uprights
fastened to the framework instead of upon guides and guide-cleats.
It is obvious that if the bed plate B were stationary, the constant rotation
imparted to the wood by the train of gear wheels G, G1, G2, G³, and G4, would cause
the surface of the wood to be shaped like a cylinder, so that a cross section taken
at any point would be circular. The sliding or rocking motions of the bed-plate
change this circular cross-section to that of an oval, a polygon, a rosette, or any
other shape desired of regular or irregular outline, and with straight, curved,
hollowed; or scalloped edges. Thus if the machine is so adjusted by arranging
the speed and position of the gear wheels with reference to the motion of the bed
plate that the gear wheel G turns once for every two sliding or rocking motions of
the bed plate back and forth, the cross-section of the wood shaped will be oval;
if the relative proportion of these matters be as one to three, instead of as one to
two, the result will be a triangle; if as one to four, a square, and so on.
These
different proportions are obtained by the substitution of intermediate gear wheels,
having a different number of teeth to those of the gear wheels G¹, G³, and G³,
which give one proportion.
By altering the length of slide of the bed plate without changing its relative
speed, the sides of these polygonal cross-sections may be made concave, straight, or
convex, as desired, and in this manner, by slight changes of adjustment, a great
variety of outlines may be given to posts or table legs shaped by the machine.
But the mechanism which I use to produce these motions forms no part of my
present Invention, and I refer to them merely to assist in explaining the action of
the machine herein described.
The cutter-head C if carried on the bed-plate B², as above stated, which slides by
guides g², g², in the guide-cleats g¹, g¹. This bed-plate is drawn towards the bed-
plate B by a constant force exerted by the weights w, w, connected to the
bed-plate B¹ at o, o¹, by cords e, e¹, passing over the pulleys f, f¹, hung on the
framework at p, p¹. This constantly drawing force may be obtained in many ways,
but I prefer the use of weights and pulleys as most convenient. The action of
this constantly drawing force is resisted by the former F as hereinafter described.
The bed plate B' has a worm or screw K. which extends nearly its whole length,
and is turned by the pulley D. It also has a slot which extends longitudinally

page_text: below the screw K, and in this slot the cutter-head is moved back and forth by
the action of the said screw K upon a wheel g in the cutter-head.
The cutter head C carries a rotating arbor which has a disc r on its outer end
in which the cutting tool is inserted. The object of this disc is to give the cutting
tool a larger sweep than it could have if it were inserted in the edge of the arbor.
The said cutter head C is also provided with a vertical shaft n on which are the
two gear wheels q and q', the first of which is above the bed plate B¹ and the second
one below it. This shaft is turned and the cutter head fed along in the slot i by
the engagement of the teeth of the wheel with the worm or screw K. The teeth
of the wheel q¹ gear with the teeth of the former F which extends nearly the whole
length of the said slot and is located beneath the bed-plate B¹ and parallel to it;
against this former the wheel q' is held by the weights w¹, w¹, as hereinbefore
mentioned.
The former F is provided with teeth to correspond with those of the wheel g¹
and is fastened rigidly to the frame-work A. By its resistance to the action
of the weights w, w¹, the former F controls the motion of the gear wheel 7¹ and
allows only one tooth to pass at a time, thus giving a step by step motion to
the cutter head as the said wheel q' is turned in unison with the shaft n and
wheel by the screw K. The shape of this former is shewn in Figure 5, but I do
not limit myself to this shape, as one object of my Invention is to use a great
variety of these formers, so that long pieces of very different shapes may be turned
from such patterns or formers by the automatic action of the machine. The rule for
governing the construction of these formers is to make them as nearly as possible
the shape of one half the linear section of the object to be shaped. If it is desired
that part of the wood to be operated upon should retain its original shape, this may
be accomplished by making the former hold the gear wheel q¹ so far from the wood
that the chisel or tool cannot act upon it while passing the said part. The only
limit to the variations in the shape of this former arises from the requirement
that any depression made in it must be large enough to allow the gear wheel q¹ to
enter and leave it without ceasing to turn upon its axis.
An important feature of this former is the providing it with teeth as above
specified, into which the teeth of the wheel q' gear. This secures a uniform motion
of the cutter head in its path, and without such a device there would be nothing to
prevent the wheel from being drawn suddenly to the bottom of a depression in the
former which would result in the tearing of the wood being operated upon and
probable breaking of the cutting tool. If however the shape of the former is
without any sharp depressions it need not be provided with teeth, and an ordinary
friction-wheel may be used instead of the gear wheel g².
The gear wheel q', though shewn circular in the Drawing, may be made oval,
hexagonal, octagonal, or of any other shape made up of curves or straight lines
without re-entering angles. The effect of this formation will be to allow pillars of
a great variety of shapes to be cut from the same pattern, for it will be easily
understood that when the wheel q¹ engages with the teeth of the former F by the
teeth upon its longer diameters, as when oval, hexagonal, or octagonal wheels are
employed, the cutting tool is held farther from the wood, and when engaged by the
teeth upon its shorter diameter the cutting tool will be nearer to the said wood than
when a circular wheel is used. Therefore the depressions and elevations cut upon
the pillar are more marked if the longer diameters act upon the elevations, and the
shorter diameter upon the depressions, and are less marked if vice versa. As the
shape of the linear section of the pillar cut depends wholly upon the progress of the
gear wheel g along the former F, any change made in the wheel q' or in
the former F will produce a corresponding change in the shape given to the
wood.
The automatic operation of the said machine is as follows, that is to say :-The
log from which the post or other object is to be turned is held by the spindle and
collar K¹, and rotated by the gear-wheels G, G1, G2, G3, G. The cutter-head is
started at the end of the former F nearest the post 12 and is made to follow the

page_text: path of the former
by the rotation of the worm or screw K. The cutting tool
upon the arbor j constantly describes a circle round the disc r. The paths of this
cutting tool and the rotating wood are brought into and out of contact at the
proper intervals, either by the motions of the bed-plate B or of the gear wheel g',
as the case may be. When the cutter-head has travelled the whole length of the
former F the post now shaped is removed and a new log inserted between the
uprights I and I% The cutter-head is slipped back to its starting point by
drawing the bed-plate B' away from the former and the cutting of the second post
begins.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. In a wood turning machine a stationary toothed pattern or former F
for controlling the approach of the cutter head to the wood to be cut, while
the cutter-head is moved along the said former by the action of gear wheels
and a worm or screw K, or by other suitable mechanism, substantially as above set
forth.
Second. A wood turning machine provided with a stationary toothed former F
and an oval or polygonal wheel q¹ which engages with the teeth of the said
former F and thus controls the motion of the sliding bed B' which carries the
cutter-head, substantially as above set forth.
Third. The combination of a stationary former F and a cutter-head C moving
by the action of the wheels q and q upon the said former, with a worm or
screw K to impart motion to the said wheels, substantially as above set
forth.
-
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
WM. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)