apparatus for
Year: 1885

page_text: I FREDERICK WILLIAM GRAUERT of King County, Washington Territory,
United States of America and at present of 13 Craven Street Strand in the
County of Middlesex, Chair Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for splitting rattan canes,
and consists essentially in a peculiar form of die whereby at one operation the
hard outer surface of the cano is slit and removed in the form of strands or strips
of uniform segmental section, and the porous or pithy inner portion is formed into
any desired number of "reeds" of round section and uniform diameter.
By this invention the whole of the cane is utilized; there being no waste in
splitting.
The die consists of a central cluster of tubular cutters or parallel bores or quills
having sharp cutting edges for dividing and moulding the pithy portion or core,
these tubular cutters being surrounded by a series of straight equidistant radial
blades for slitting the outer portion or skin of the cane.
The radial blades are either formed in one with the die or separately and secured
in grooves in the body of the die by set screws, so that the position of their
cutting edges may be adjusted in a different plane to that of the tubular cutters,
or in the same plane according as it may or may not be desirable that the one set
of cutters should be in advance of the other set.
The die is fixed in a suitable support and the cane is forced up against the
cutting edges of the die by means of feed rollers, the inner portion or core being
forced through the tubular cutters and the outer portion divided into strips by the
radial blades and thrown off by the conical form of the die. The reeds on
emerging from the tubular cutters of the die pass between pairs of drawing rollers
having as many circumferential grooves as there are reeds, which rollers assist the
feed rollers in forcing the cane through the die.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for spitung nattan.
I FREDERICK WILLIAM GRAUERT,, formerly of King County, Washington
Territory, United States of America, and at present of 7 Melbourne Street,
Leicester, Chair Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for splitting rattan canes
and particularly in the die whereby at one or more operations, the hard outer
surface of the cane is split and removed in the form of strands or strips of
Begmental section and of uniform width and thickness; and the porous or pithy
inner portion is formed into any desired number of "reeds" of round or any other
form or shape, and uniform diameter. By this Invention the whole of the cane is
utilized, their being no waste in splitting.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the machine;
Figure 2 a front, and Figure 3 a rear end elevation thereof, Figure 4 is a cross
section on line 1-1 Figure 1, Figure 5 is a plan of part of the machine showing
the die; Figures 6, 78 and 9 show details of the die; Figures 10 and 11 show
front and side elevations of a ring of cutters to be substituted in certain cases for
the die, and Figure 12 is a section thereof on an enlarged scale.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the Figures.
A. A are pairs of feed rollers grooved to correspond to the section of the cane, a
to be thereby fed up to the die. These rollers are mounted in suitable bearings in
a frame, those of the upper rollers being spring-cushioned and adjustable by pressure
screws to apply the requisite pressure and permit the rollers to accomodate them-
selves to canes of various diameters, the roller shafts being suitably geared together
to feed the cane up to the die. B is the die constructed as hereafter described, and
Care scraping knives placed in front of the feed rollers A for removing the joints
of the cane before the same is passed into the machine. They are pivoted at c to
the framing, and their cutting edges which are semi-circular and embrace the cane
are pressed against the cane by springs c¹. D is a pair of drawing rollers, acting on
the reeds or inner portion after passing through the die. The die B consists of a
central cluster of tubular cutters b or parallel bores or quills (figures 6 and 7)
having sharp, circular, octagonal, square, or other shaped cutting edges corre-
sponding in form to the form of reeds required for dividing and moulding the pithy
portion or core, these tubular cutters being surrounded by, a series of equi-distant
cutters d whose cutting edges are radial for slitting the outer portion or skin of the
cane and dividing it into equal segments. The cutters d may either, be formed in
one with the die or be separate wedge-shaped pieces, as shown and be secured in
grooves in the body of the die by set screws d passing through slots in the
cutters so that the position of their cutting edges may be adjusted in a different
plane to that of the tubular cutters 6 or in the same plane according as it may or
may not be desirable that the one set of cutters should be in advance of the other
set. These cutters d when removable may have cutting edges at both ends (see
figure 8) so as to be reversible end for end when required.

page_text: The die is fixed in a suitable socket or support B¹ fitted to slide up and down in
a slot in the frame as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and is adjustable as to height by
means of a regulating lever E (shown separately in Figure 9) pivoted at e to the
frame and connected at e¹ to the journal of one of the feed rollers as shewn, the die
holder B¹ being connected to the lever E. at a point & situated in such position
between e and e¹ that the die will be raised half the distance that the said feed
roller is raised. In this way the position of the die is automatically regulated for
the different sizes of cane so that the cane will strike the centre of the die. The
cane is forced up against the cutting edges of the die by means of the feed rollers A
the inner portion or core being forced through the tubular cutters 6 and the outer
portion divided into strips by the radial cutters d and thrown off by the external
conical form of the die. The reeds on emerging from the tubular cutters 6 of the
die pass between the pair of drawing rollers D which are covered with india rubber
or other suitable soft material. G is a guide by which the strands of the split outer
portion of the cane are deflected to one side.
Figures 10 11 and 12 show a die, or circular assemblage of segment shaped
cutters to be substituted for the die B before referred to for the purpose of taking
off the outside skin or glazed part of the cane in certain shapes and in cases when
the inner or pithy portion is not required. These cutters F are in the form of open
or hollow segments each having three cutting edges f of which two are radial and
the middle one is curved to a segment of a circle. Each cutter is carried by a radial
stem sliding through a hole in a ring shaped holder F¹ the cutters being forced
towards the centre by spiral springs on their stems. The holder F2 is bolted to the
frame and the cutters occupy the position of the die B. Their action is more clearly
shown in the enlarged view figure 12.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. A die for splitting rattan into strips or strands and moulding the pith portion
thereof into reeds of any required section, consisting of one or a cluster of tubular
cutters or quills surrounded by radial cutters substantially as described.
2. A die for splitting and moulding rattan constructed of one or a cluster of
tubular cutters or quills in combination with adjustable radial cutters connected
thereto as described.
3. A machine for splitting and moulding rattan consisting of the pairs of feeding
and drawing rollers, joint scraping knives, and die constructed as described, the
whole being combined for operation substantially as specified.
4. In a machine for splitting and moulding rattan the mode of automatically
maintaining the die concentric with the cane by making it movable by and
proportionately to the extent of motion of the axis of one of the feed rollers
substantially as specified.
5. In a machine for splitting and removing the outer skin of rattan the employ-
ment of a die or circular assemblage of hollow segment shaped cutters as described
carried in a ring holder and pressed inwards by springs in combination with
suitable feed and drawing rollers substantially as specified.