IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO BRANDING MACHINES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Walter Blood at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th October 1883.
FREDERICK WALTER BLOOD of Liverpool in the County of Lancaster
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO BRANDING MACHINES
"
Branding has hitherto been done by hand or by hand machines. Now my
invention consists in a machine to brand by motive power. The present branding
machines consist of a metal table with the brand in relief on its surface or let into
it, a gas flame or series of flames below to heat the brand and a screw press above
to screw the board to be branded firmly down onto the brand.
Now taking the present machine as a basis, I make the following improvements.
Instead of a fixed bearing for the screw of the press I form the bearing in a
cross-head having a guided vertical movement and a balance weight and lever or
its equivalent as hereafter described. Through the centre of the cross-head passes
a screw which is adjustable or self adjusting with a wheel or lever for actuating
it and a lock nut. Attached to the bottom of the screw is the plate which presses
against the article to be branded. The vertical movement is given by conducting
rods preferably of adjustable length from cranks or disc pins on the main shaft
which is caused to slowly revolve by friction or other gearing. I prefer friction
gearing for reasons hereafter stated. The table and brand remain substantially as
before except that in some cases I use counting apparatus as hereafter described.
In order to avoid the blurring effect at present frequently caused by moving the
board over the surface of the hot brand preparatory to getting it into exact
position, I place counter-balanced supports to carry the board and prevent its
touching the brand till pressed down. These counterbalanced supports are made
in my experimental design in the following manner-Attached to the table is a
back plate or plates adjustable or self-adjusting. Two parallel bars traverse the
table at a higher level than the brand or brands and having a series of holes or
notches in them. At right angles a bar or bars or frame is or are supported by
the above fitting into the hole or holes or notches. These bars (or frame) are
adjustable or self-adjusting and are retained in their places by balanced weights or
springs so that when depressed by the descent of the crosshead they sink below
the level of the brand but when released they assume their original position.
Round the brand I place registering devices or fences so as to guide the board into
its place and cause it to register exactly when the timber has sunk deep enough

page_text: into the brand. A counter-weighted lever also lifts the cross-head and holds it
up when not drawn down by the machinery, or in place of this, its mechanical
equivalent a spring or weight and pulley can be used. Below the brand I place
a box lined with fire-brick as a furnace for burning coke or other suitable fuel, or
in some cases a gas fire to heat the brand instead of said box. The main shaft I
drive from the driving counter-shaft by friction gearing and bring the said gearing
in and out of gear by a friction clutch. The advantage of this friction
arrangement is that when too great pressure is brought to bear it slips instead of
breaking anything. It is sometimes desirable to employ counting machinery to
brand consecutive numbers on the boards. In this case I either employ hollow
stamping wheels and place the gas flames inside or an ordinary counting apparatus
showing a row of figures or in a lever arm, and connect this lever arm by link
motion or levers to the side connecting rods and so arrange it that when the
pressure on the board is removed the counting apparatus with its lover arm
swings round on its axis and hangs over a gas or other fire at the same time while
moving a catch causes an advance of figure. When the connecting rods again
bring down the cross-head, the lever with its counting apparatus rises to a position
vertically above its pivot or axis with the branding figures appearing through the
branding plate in position for branding.
The mode of action is as follows:
A board is placed on its counter-weighted supports against the fences the scrow
having been regulated by hand once for all to suit that particular thickness of
board. The foot is now applied to the treadle. The friction comes into play and
slowly brings the screw press down onto the board or boards and the board or
boards down onto the branding plate, pushing back its supports. In the meantime
the right number if counting be used has automatically been set. When sufficient
pressure is applied the friction gear slips, but before this the operator can see that
the action has gone on long enough by the distance the counter weights of the
board-supports have travelled. He therefore releases the treadle, the counter
weights fly up and bring back the screw press and the board with them, and the
latter is taken away and replaced by a fresh one, in the meantime the figures have
automatically been changed and exposed to the heating flame.