IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CUTTING FILES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon
and Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, South-
ampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CUTTING FILES."-A
communication from abroad by Alfred Weed, of Boston, Massa-
chusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd April 1873.
I, WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-
5 Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, do hereby declare the nature of the.

page_text: said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CUTTING FILES," to be
as follows:-
:―
This Invention is for improvements in machines for cutting files, and
is an improvement upon the English Patent dated the 28th of February
1872, No. 628, " An Improved Machine for Cutting Files."
In the said Patent the feed of the file is caused by the cutter pushing
against the
spur raised by the preceding cut, in this Invention I make
use of an independent feed bar acting upon the spur in the same way
that the cutter itself acts in the said above named Patent.
I give to this feed bar a beveled or narrow edge conforming to the
contour surface of the file to be cut, and give it a reciprocating motion,
so that with each forward movement the feed bar acts against the
spur and gives the file the necessary forward motion. The cutter in this
case need not have a backward and forward motion but will simply need
to be raised to allow the feed to take place and to be let downwards
immediately the feed has taken place ready for the blow of the hammer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th September 1873:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue
Gaillon, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Morgan-Brown, Her special
license that I, the said William Morgan-Brown, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Morgan-
Brown, 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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR CUTTING FILES," a communication to me from abroad
by Alfred Weed, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Morgan-
Brown, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their 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 calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Morgan-Brown, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention is for improvements in machines for cutting files, and
is an improvement upon the English Patent, dated the 28th of February
1872, No. 628, an improved machine for cutting files.
In the said Patent the feed of the file is caused by the cutter pushing
against the spur raised by the preceding cut; in this Invention I make
use of an independent feed bar acting upon the spur in the same way
that the cutter itself acts in the said above-named Patent.
I give to this feed bar a bevelled or narrow edge conforming to the
contour surface of the file to be cut, and give it a reciprocating motion,
so that with each forward movement the feed bar acts against the spur
and gives the file the necessary forward motion. The cutter in this
case need not have a backward and forward motion, but will simply
need to be raised to allow the feed to take place and to be let down-
wards immediately the feed has taken place ready for the blow of the
hammer.
In the Patent before referred to the spur raised by and behind the
cutter in forming the tooth is made an element of the feeding opera-
tion, the cutter being raised after the tooth is formed and carried back
over the spur, then down behind the spur, then forward against the
spur, meeting which it moves the file forward on its bed, the cutter
being then in position (so far at least as its edge is concerned) for the
blow of the hammer.

page_text: The present Invention has reference to a similar method of effecting
the feeding and cutting, or to a method in which each raised tooth or
spur is used as a guage to determine the position of the cutter in cutting
the next tooth, and as the point against which the feeding device acts
to feed forward the file, but instead of making the outter the feeder I
use an independent feed bar or a feeding bar attached to the cutter arm
for the feeding device; the cutter is lifted after each blow and then by
pushing forward the bar against the spur it moves the file blank with
it, the bar resting upon the blank at the back of the cutter, and the
cutter being raised by a suitable spring or otherwise after each blow,
or as soon as the hammer rises from the cutter head.
The Invention consists primarily in an independent feed bar alone or
by combining with the cutter a feed foot or bar that is moved forward
against the spur formed by the cutter to effect the feed, the cutter
rising for such movement and the feed foot drawing back after feeding
the blank for the blow of the cutter,
In the Drawings hereto attached forming part of this Specification
Figures 1 and 2 represent a machine embodying the Invention in one
modification of the principle described; Figure 1 shews the machine
in front elevation; Figure 2 is a plan of it.
a denotes the frame of the machine having at its front end a bed b
upon which is mounted a support c for the file bed d, upon which latter
bed the file blank rests, the file being confined to the bed as to end
movement and it and the bed being fed together. The support c is
adjustable laterally upon the bed 6 having guide tenons entering
mortises in the bed and an adjusting screw e entering the bed rotation
of this screw adjusting the position of the file under the cutter. The
file bed is held by the frictional contact of a brake f forced against the
file bed by the stress of a spring 9. Over the support c is the outter
arm / pivotted on a stud pin i extending from an arm k, which arm is
pivotted to the frame a by a pin 1. The cutter arm is forced down by
the stress of a spring m acting against a tail piece n extending back of
the arm (said tail piece and arm being a lever turning on the pivot i)
and the downward pressure of the arm is adjustably regulated by
varying the stress of the spring by a screw o or other suitable device.
In the front end of the arm is pivotted the shank of the feed foot p
(which foot may be directly pivotted by a vertical pin q to a stock r

page_text: fastened to the arm by a pin g) and the forward edge of this foot rests
directly upon the file or file blank. In the front of the arm is fitted
a slide t having an arm u under which is a block spring v, and from
the front of this slide projects a pin w to which is pivotted the cutter x.
The cutter is normally held above the file by the spring o, but com-
pression of the spring permits the cutter to be driven down against the
file to make the cut.
The blow upon the cutter is effected by a hammer y whose arm z is
fixed upon the end of a shaft a³, carrying an arm 6* which is raised by
a came on the driving shaft, the hammer being driven down by a
suitable spring & when the cam shoulder e passes the arm b³. The
force of the blow of the hammer may be adjustably regulated by a
screw acting against the spring d².
The feed movement of the feed foot p is effected as follows:-Upon
a pin f* projecting from the arm k is hung a loose roll g* which by the
stress of the spring m is held against a cam or eccentric h'on the end of
the driving shaft z³, except when otherwise held. As the hammer begins
to rise after giving the blow the eccentric presses forward the foot which
rests upon the file, said foot first slipping upon the file surface until it
reaches the spur thrown up by the cutter, and then moving forward the
file by contact with the spur. Having thus fed forward the file the
eccentric or cam lets back the arm and the feed foot slips back (as
the cutter arm moves back) such rear movement ceasing when the cutter
arm reaches a position to bring the cutting edge into position to be
struck by the hammer to cut a tooth. The cutter being then driven
down the tooth is cut and the hammer drawn up after the cut without
movement of the file, the cutter being raised by the spring when the
hammer rises. The hammer having risen the feed foot is moved forward
as before to again feed the file, and having fed the file is again drawn
back for the blow of the hammer upon the cutter.
To hold the file firmly and in stationary position when the feed foot
moves back, and until the blow is given, and permit perfect freedom of
forward movement under the action of the feed foot, a holding and
releasing mechanism is used as follows:-Through the frame a extends
a horizontal shaft at the front end of which is an arm k³, having
extending from its end a pin which projects over the file. At the
opposite end of the shaft is an arm m³ upon which rests a spring n² (the
spring being attached to an arm o² extending in the opposite direction

page_text: from the shaft), and the free end of this spring extends under the driving
shaft. When the feed foot is moving the file the spring is loose and
leaves the pin free to rise and fall and the file to move freely beneath
it. But as soon as the feed of the file is completed and before the
outter arm and feed foot are drawn back a pin p³ extending from the
driving wheel q³ strikes the spring and bears it down, the stress of
the spring then turning the shaft & sufficiently to cause the pin * to
press hard upon the file, the pressure continuing until the feed foot has
moved back and the blow of the hammer has been effected, the pin p³
passing beyond the spring as soon as the hammer has fallen.
It is obvious that the feed bar might be attached by a knuckle joint
to the bar carrying the cutter, or the feed bar might be operated by a
distinct shaft and receive its motion independently of any connection
with the bar carrying the cutter, but in practice I prefer the arrangement
as described.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the said
Invention and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have
it understood that what I claim is,―
1st. I claim in machines for cutting files the use of a feeding bar
acting on the spur raised by the cutter as a means of feeding the file
blank and of securing a proper succession of cuts, substantially as
described.
2nd. I claim the griper pin extending out from the arm k³ of the
shaft, said shaft being turned by the action of the spring n³ produced
by the pin p³ or its equivalent, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
VILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.S.)