IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND GETTING COAL
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Knowles, of Pendlebury, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND GETTING COAL."
Sealed the 19th April 1870, and dated the 29th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Knowles at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th October 1869.
I, ANDREW KNOWLES, of Pendlebury, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND GETTING COAL," to be as
follows:-
My improvements consist in the use and application of an oscillating
metallic blade or bar containing cutters or teeth which act on the coal
Iso as to cut a groove or channel of any required thickness, depth, or
length near the bottom of the bed of coal either on the end or face of
the mine so as to facilitate the getting of the coal. The said blade

page_text: or bar may be fixed in a frame or supported at each end on a sliding block
or bar, and maintained in a state of tension by a weight or spring if
required; or by a piston acting on compressed air in a cylinder. By
preference the blade or bar contains numerous slots, in which are fixed
the cutters by means of a key or wedge adapted to each cutter so as to
allow of the cutters being exchanged or sharpened as desired.
The sliding blocks or bars before named, to which the cutting blade
or bar is attached, are each supported on a movable carriage situate on
each side of the seam or bed of coal to be operated upon, and the said
carriages lie on tramways or other suitable appliances so that they may
move at the same rate as the coal is being cut. One of the carriages.
has fixed upon it an engine actuated by steam, air, or water to give the
necessary motion to the apparatus and the pressure required by the
cutters against the coal is given and regulated by the action of weights or
springs acting on levers or pulleys or both, through the agency of bands,
rods, or chains, or by toothed wheels, or by one or more combinations of
the worm and wheel.
When the apparatus is set to work the cutting edge of the said blade
or bar is brought up to the coal by the action of apparatus as aforesaid,
and by its oscillating action cuts the required groove or channel in the
coal, thereby enabling the miner to get the coal with greater facility and
less chance of accident to himself, also allowing the coal to be mined
with less waste than usual,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andrew Knowles in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 27th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
KNOWLES, of Pendlebury, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the 3
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said Andrew Knowles, Her special licence
that I, the said Andrew Knowles, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Knowles, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND GETTING COAL," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Knowles, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or thier, or one
of thier hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calender months. next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andrew Knowles, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularily described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My improvements consist in the use and application of an oscillating
metallic blade or bar containing cutters or teeth which act on the coal
so as to cut a groove or channel of any required thickness, depth, or
length near the bottom of the bed of coal either on the end or face of
the mine so as to facilitate the getting of the coal. The said blade or
bar may be fixed in a frame or supported at each end on a sliding block
or bar, and maintained in a state of tension by a weight or spring if
required, or by a piston acting on compressed air in a cylinder. By
preference the blade or bar contains numerous slots, in which are fixed
the cutters by means of a key or wedge adapted to each cutter so as to
allow of the cutters being exchanged or sharpened as desired.
The sliding blocks or bars before named to which the cutting blade
or bar is attached are each supported on a movable carriage situate on
each side of the seam, or bed of coal to be operated upon, and the said
carriages lie on tramways or other suitable appliances, so that they may
move at the same rate as the coal is being cut. One of the .carriages

page_text: has fixed upon it an engine actuated by steam, air, or water to give the
necessary motion to the apparatus, and the pressure required by the
cutters against the coal is given and regulated by the action of weights'
or springs acting on levers or pulleys, or both, through the agency of
bands, rods, or chains, or by toothed wheels, or by one or more com-
binations of the worm and wheel.
When the apparatus is set to work the cutting edge of the said blade
or bar is brought up to the coal by the action of apparatus as aforesaid,
and by its osillating action cuts the required groove or channel in the
coal, thereby enabling the miner to get the coal with greater facillity and
less chance of accident to himself; also allowing the coal to be mined
with less waste than usual. The said cutters will be best made of steel,
but the blade or bar may be of cast or wrought iron or steel.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings shows the end or face of the
bed of coal. a, b, represents the roof or upper portion of the bed, and
c, d, the floor or lower portion of the bed, the thickness being repre-
sented by a, c, and b, d. Drifts or passages for the apparatus to be
placed in are first cut in the coal, three of which are shown in Fig. 1
by the letters a, c, e, f; g, h, i, k; l, m, b, d, leaving two faces of coal
a, f, g, h, and i, k, l, m, for the cutting blade or bar n to act upon near
the bottom of the bed, as shown in Fig. 1.
I prefer to place the engine used to work the cutting bar or blade on
the carriage A, the said engine to have two cylinders acting on cranks
at right angles to each other and situate on the crank shaft o, on which
shaft another crank p is fixed to give an oscillating motion to the cutting
bar or blade, to which it is attached by the rod 1.
The carriages B, A, C, are placed on beds shown by the letters s, t, u,
Figs. 1 and 2, on which they slide at right angles to the line of the
cutting blade's reciprocation, the said sliding being regulated and actuated
by revolving nuts v₁, v2, v3, situate on the said carriages and fitted to the
screws 101, W2, W, which are fixed in the beds 8, t, and u, these beds
being each securely stayed by screw props to the sides, roof, or bottom
of the mine.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the mine showing the apparatus and the beds of
coal to be cut. The cutters fixed in the cutting blade are shown in
Fig. 2 close up to the face of the coal ready for work; and Fig. 3 shows

page_text: the edge of a portion of the blade containing the slots before mentioned
for receiving the cutters x, some of which are shown in thier places and
project above the blade so as to allow the cutting from the coal to get
clear of the blade. On the nuts v₁, v₁, v, are fixed the ratchet wheels
Fig. 4 shows the front and
cutting blades or bar n has
V1 V2 V3, actuated by the levers 21, 22, 2.
side view of one of the cutters. The
the portions which slide in the blocks or bars a₁, a, a, made so as
to fit in such a way that at the same time it reciprocates it may also be
carried forward into the coal as it is cut away by the action of the
ratchets and wheels and the nuts and screws before named. When the
beds 8, t, u, have been firmly fixed, as stated, and the cutters of the
blade or bar brought up to the faces of the coal f, h, and k, m, the shaft
o is caused to revolve by the engine or engines, thereby 'giving the
necessary reciprocating motion to the cutting blade n, and the revolving
nuts vv, being also set in motion by the action of the ratchet
wheels yi, 2, 3, and the levers 21, 22, 23, in such a way as to cause the
carriages B, A, C, to slide and carry the cutting blades n slowley against
the coal. The necessary groove or channel is cut near the bottom of the
bed of coal to the required depth, say from f to f, and the cutting blade
may be removed or left in the groove and the coal brought down by the
miners with less waste and in less time than with the process in common
use. This groove or channel may be cut in the night ready for the miners
to commence work carly in the morning, thereby enabling a greater
quantity of coal to be got in a given time.
The engine and the apparatus for giving motion to the cutting blade
may be placed either between two cutting blades or at the end of one
blade, or it may actuate any convenient number of cutting blades n and
carriages similar to B, A, C, if required.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the said Invention is to be performed, I
wish it to be distinctly understood that what I claim as of my Invention
is,-
Firstly. The use of a reciprocating cutting blade or bar containing
cutters, and as herein set forth and used for the purpose herein

page_text: Secondly. The arrangement of apparatus and combination of parts
as herein set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Knowles, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
THOMAS BALDWIN,
Engineer, &c.,
Bury,
Lancashire.
ANDREW KNOWLES. (L.S.)