CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OR IMPROVED METHODS OF CUTTING PLATE AND SHEET IRON
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
VINCENT WENNINGTON, of Goscote Iron Works, in the County of Stafford,
Ironfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of January (1846), in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Vincent Wennington, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, said
William Vincent Wennington, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said William Vincent Wennington, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Aldernay, Sark, and Mam, and also
in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OR IMPROVED METHODS OF CUTTING PLATE AND
SHEET IRON;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
William Vincent Wennington, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed;

page_text: to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the William
Vincent Wennington, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and by
the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Figure the 1st of the Drawings annexed represents a side elevation of the
machine constructed according to my said Invention, and adapted more particu-
larly to the cutting of that description of manufactured iron known by the name
of boiler plate and sheet iron. Figure 2 is an end or front elevation; and
Figure 3 is a plan of the machine. A, A, is the bed or foundation plate of
the machine; B, B, are two standards fixed upon it, carrying a horizontal
shaft C, upon the end of which a circular cutter wheel or pinion D, having a
circular steel cutter e, e, attached to it, is fixed, and which has a rotary motion
given to it by means of a mitre wheel L, fixed upon the other end of the shaft
C; V is the driving shaft or axis, placed at right angles to the shaft C, and
supported by separate standards s, s, and to which motion is given by any
convenient connection with a steam engine, or any other driving machinery;
M, N, are two other mitre wheels, fixed upon a hollow spindle Y, through
which the driving shaft V works, and which, being made to gear alternately
into the mitre wheel L by the operation of a shaft, hereafter described,
reverses the motion of the rotary cutter wheel D; E is an horizontal traversing
frame, moved to and fro on two triangular shaped rails R, R, placed at right
angles to the bed plate A, A, by means of the rack F, fixed on the inner side
of the frame E, which works into the toothed or cogged part G of the
circular cutter D; K is a flat cutter fixed to the transverse frame E, leaving
a proper distance or space a, a, between it and the rack K to allow the cutter
D to revolve freely therein; W is a shaft fixed under the bed plate in the
direction of its length, which has attached to it at one end a forked lever Q,
which actuates a clutch P on the axis V, throwing the mitre wheels M, N,
alternately in and out of gear.
At the other end of the shaft W is a lever X,
which is operated upon by the adjustable tappets y, y, fixed upon the traversing
frame E, so that when it has moved the required distance in one direction it
changes the gear of the mitre wheels M, N, and by reversing the motion
causes it to move back in the opposite direction. T, T, are adjusting screws
for tightening or easing the bearings of the cutter shaft C, as may be required.

page_text: The operation of the machine is as follows:-The plate or sheet of iron is
placed upon the traversing frame E and presented edgeways to the circular
cutter D; motion being then given to the cutter shaft C, the cutter D revolves,
and catching the plate or sheet of iron between it and the flat cutter K, cuts
off the scrap of iron required, which drops into the space a, a, while simulta-
Ineously therewith the cogged part G at the back of the cutter D operates
upon the rack F, and causes the traversing frame to move backwards hori
zontally clear of the cutter. When the frame has been moved sufficiently in
one direction, according to the length of the plate or sheet of iron, one of the
under tappets y, y, strikes against the lever X at one end of the shaft W,
which causes the clutch lever Q at the other end to throw out of gear which-
ever of the mitre wheels M and N was previously in gear with the wheel L
and to bring the other into gear, whereby the action of the machine is reversed,
and the traversing frame made to move in the opposite direction, affording an
opportunity of cutting both ways if found desirable. I do not confine myself
to the method shewn in the Drawings for giving motion to or reversing the
motion of the traversing frame E, as the same may be done by other means,
as circumstances may render desirable, without at all affecting the general
principle or system of action on which the machine is constructed, nor do I
confine myself to any specific length of traversing frame (E), which may be
varied to suit the length of the plates or sheets to be cut.
The advantages of my Invention resulting from the combination of rotary
and horizontal motions are, first, that any length of plate or sheet may be
cut; second, that the motion of the revolving cutter tends to draw the plate
or sheet towards its cut, while at the same time the flat part of the circular
cutter rolls the scrap as it passes out and keeps it nearly straight; and,
thirdly, that by the reversing of the motion of the cutter D it is enabled to
cut both ways.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is the improved machine for cutting plate or sheet iron, having a
revolving circular cutter and a horizontal traversing frame and cutter, as
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Vincent Wennington, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-six.
WILLIAM VINCENT. (L.s.) WENNINGTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that the instrument aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign
of His late Majesty King George the Third.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that the instrument aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign
of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twentieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
forty civ