IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING FILES."-A com-
munication from abroad by William Van Anden, of New York, United
States of America.
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 4th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
4th April 1861.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declaro the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING.
FILES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, first, in the employment of double-acting cams for.
tilting the hammers, so that these latter will be made to strike two light blows
of the hammer upon the chisel in order to form a tooth, instead of one heavy
blow, which is very likely to break the chisel.
The Invention relates, secondly, to the formation of the chisel-holder, and
consists in forming the forward part of the chisel-holder self-adjustable, so that.
it will press down on the file blank to hold it firm while the tooth is being

page_text: cut, and also raising it when the bed is fed forward for the chisel to operate
on another tooth. This holder also allows the chisel to be depressed to the
bottom of the tooth by the force of the hammer, and to remain depressed below
the lower face of the holder while it is being lifted up for the file blank to
advance, and upon the chisel-holder being again pressed down on the file
blank the chisel is forced up by its coming first in contact with the file blank,
and thereby making it adjust itself to the face of the file blank.
The self-adjustable chisel-holder consists of a shell or stock, which is
mounted on a spindle, and carries the other parts. The chisel is mounted in
this stock, and is supported from behind by a yielding loose back, against
which a nut or slide is kept by means of a helical or other spring. Tho
chisel or its holder must, of course, be so arranged or mounted in the machine
as to strike the blank in a diagonal direction as in other file cutting machines,
and therefore the chisel will only make one series of cuts. In order to
complete the file another chisel must be mounted in the machine to make
cuts in the opposite direction to the first, or separate machines may be
employed for this purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Iler reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 FOR CUTTING FILES," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward

page_text: Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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, tho said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in machinery for cutting files consists, first,.
in the employment of double-acting cams for tilting the hammer, so that these
latter will be made to strike two light blows of the hammer upon the chisel
in order to form a tooth, instead of one heavy blow, which is very likely to-
break or injure the cutting edge of the chisel.
The Invention relates, secondly, to a peculiar method of constructing the
chisel-holder, and consists in making the forward part of the chisel-holder
self-adjustable, so that it will press down on the file blank to hold it firm while
the tooth is being cut; the holder also raises the cutter when the bed is fed
forward for the chisel to operate on another tooth. This holder also allows-
the chisel to bo depressed to the bottom of the tooth by the force of the-
hammer, and to remain depressed below the lower face of the holder while
it is being lifted up for the file blank to advance, and upon the chisel-holder
being again pressed down on the file blank the chisel is forced up by its
coming first in contact with the file blank, and thereby making it adjust
itself to the face of the file blank.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is an elevation of the right-hand
side of the machine; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is an elevation
of the left-hand side of the machine; Fig. 4 is a view of the front end;
Fig. 5. is a sectional view of the chisel-holder; and Fig. 6 is a side view of
the double cam, whereby the double blow is given to the chisel.
. The construction of the machine is as follows:-A is the frame of the
machine; across the top of it is a table board B, having a groove C in its
upper face. This groove extends the length of the table in a slightly oblique
direction from the front and right-hand side of the machine to the back and
left side of it. The object of this is to cause the lower half of the com-
pound bed D, by reason of a tongue A² on its lower surface, to traverse the
length of the feed table in an oblique direction. On its upper face are two
grooves 6, 6, from the left to the right side obliquely across it, into which fit

page_text: ;
tongues C2, C3, in the lower face of the upper half E of the compound.bed.
The object of this is to cause an up or forward motion by an independent.
motion of the positive feed against the edge of the chisel, in consequence of
the percussion of the hammer. upon the file: blank F, and the difference of
resisting surface of the metal against the back edge of the chisel in con-
sequence of its angle of cut wedging it forward at the time of cutting the
teeth. is the tang-holder, having hooks on its upper back edge, so as to
hold the file blank down upon the bed. The tang-holder fits into a mortice
in the bed D, with just sufficient room to allow of its working up and down
as the point of the file is depressed while under the action of the chisel. his.
a-lever jaw attached to the bed for holding against the side of the file blank
while being cut; H is a vertical guide post at the back of the frame A, in
which work a triangular-shaped gate I having on its longest side a tongue i*,
Fig. 3. This tongue works into a groove d in the back end of the lower
half of the bed D, and the gate I is worked by means of a female screw J. at.
the back edge of it, being forced into gear (by a foot lever at the side of the
frame A) with a vertical male screw K, which is rotated by means of a ratchet.
wheel L (Fig. 1) secured upon its upper end, and which screw K is driven by
a worm M on the end of the main driving shaft N: The compound bed is
fed up and under the action of the chisel as required, and drawn back again:
by the female screw. J being thrown out of gear. again, by dropping the foot
lever. Two pawls P, P, (Figs. 1 and 2) on the main driving shaft N operate
a ratchet wheel Q as the shaft N rotates. The wheel Q runs loosely on the
hammer shaft or axis R, and at the side of the wheel Qis a tension or spiral
spring, having one end secured to the axis R, and at; its opposite side a detent
pin s, which by its adjustment acts against a pin s³ in the axis R. This has
the effect of holding the ratchet wheel Q, when it reacts after the file has been
cut, so as to preserve a uniformity of starting point in the force of the hammer
in cutting the file. The increasing force of the hammer is. regulated, by the
pawls P winding up the spiral spring. on the ratchet wheel one tooth or more
at each revolution of, the shaft N, and is kept at its maximum point until the
file has been cut, when the pawls P are thrown out of gear by an inter-
cepting bar T and lever t, which is arranged at the side of the frame, and
holds the hammer shaft in under them, and also of the toe of the hammer T,
so as to allow the shaft N to continue its motion while..the new file blank is
being put on the machine and adjusted. 5 is: the chisel stock, which is shewn
detached at Fig. 5, and is secured on an axis U2, arranged on a part of the
frame of the machine. This chisel stock is composed and constructed as
shewn in Fig. 5 of the shell or, outside part X, the loose back X2, and the

page_text: side piece or nut X, through which the loose back X' works. This loose
back X is kept firmly up to the chisel X, which is placed in the space in
between the loose back X and the inside of the front of the shell ✗' by means.
of the action of the spring X³ upon the back end of the loose back X³, and
thus enabling the chisel X to work in the said space, and allow it to find its
own adjustment and yet be held firmly at the angle at which it is set, in order
to cut the file tooth. Y (Fig. 1) is a lever arranged in the frame A in such
a manner that the front extremity, thereof rests upon and exerts its force on a
pin inserted in the axis of the chisel stock U in such a manner that when
the other extremity of the lever Y is raised by the cam Z on the shaft N it
will depress the front end of the chisel-holder 5 on the file blank in advance.
of the blow of the hammer, so, that it may hold the blank down, and at the
same time be at rest when the hammer Ta strikes the head of the chisel...
The force of the hammer at each blow causes the chisel to project down below
the lower face of the chisel-holder 5 and to the bottom of the tooth cut, and
remain depressed below the face of the chisel-holder until it is raised up, as
heretofore described, for the file blank to advance the necessary space for the
next tooth. Upon the chisel-holder being again pressed down on the file
blank, the chisel, being now extended below the surface of the holder, comes
first in contact with the file blank, and as the pressure continues causes the
chisel to rise up in its seat and adjust itself to the face of the file blank, all
the time being held against the front inside face of the shell X' of the chisel-
holder by the pressure of the springs X on the loose back X working in the
nut or slide X³, and by this means rendering the chisel-holder 5 self-adjustable
as regards the chisel and file blank.
There has always been one source of great trouble in file-cutting machines
owing to the breakage of the edge of chisels by the force of a single blow.
In order to overcome this difficulty, the cam 4 shewn detached at Fig. 6, and
which depresses the toe of the hammer handle T', is made with two pro-
jections, which cause the hammer to give a double stroke on the chisel in
cutting each tooth. By this arrangement only one-half of the power is used
at each blow to cut the tooth, thus enabling the chisel to do the work by
dividing the percussion on it by a repeated blow. I do not mean to confine
myself to two blows; more may be necessary, and I therefore claim the right
to use a succession of blows when required.
It will be seen that the machine makes but one series of cuts, and may
therefore be termed a right-handed machine. To make the opposite trans-
verse cuts another machine will be made as a left-handed machine; two
machines will, therefore be required to complete the operation of cutting files.

page_text: This, however, is not absolutely necessary, but is preferred, as the work may
be divided between two machines, which will always be adjusted for the work
required of it.
Having now described this Invention of improvements in machinery for
cutting files, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into 5
effect, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,
1st, cutting the teeth of files by causing the chisel to make two or more
light blows instead of one hard blow as heretofore..
2nd, I claim the general arrangement of parts herein set forth, or any mere 1
modification thereof whereby the intended object may be effected.
3rd, I claim the improved construction of chisel-holder herein shewn and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the year of our 1
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)