IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING CORKS BUNGS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Davies, of Elizabeth Place, Old Bethnal
Green Road, in the County of Middlesex, Pattern Maker, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING CORKS
BUNGS."
Sealed the 29th July 1862, and dated the 30th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th January 1862.
I, WILLIAM DAVIES, of Elizabeth Place, Old Bethnal Green Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Pattern Maker, do hereby declare the nature of.
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING CORKS AND.
BUNGS," to be as follows:-
I mount a long knife on a suitable bar which is fitted in bearings so as to
move in a longitudinal direction. Parallel with this knife bar I dispose two
spindles which are in a direct line the one with the other, and between the
ends of which the cork is placed to be cut. One of these spindles is fitted in
stationary bearings, and has on it a screw or thread of coarse pitch. A suitable
nut works on this screw, and is held and traversed in suitable guides. This
nut is placed in connection with the knife bar, so that when the knife bar is
moved longitudinally the screw is rotated and vice versa. The other spindle
may be stationary but has a nose piece free to rotate. This spindle is held in

page_text: a long socket or tube, and is constantly forced towards the other spindle by a
spring contained in the socket or tube.. A small hand lever is placed in con-
nection with this spindle, by moving which it is readily forced back for intro-
ducing or releasing a cork. The nose piece of each of the spindles is furnished
with short spikes which enter the cork and hold it firmly. When the small
hand lever of the spindle is released, that spindle advances and grips the cork
tightly, supposing its breadth to be disposed vertically. The knife is disposed
with its cutting edge at or about the level of the centre of the spindles and
adjusted at a distance therefrom according to the size of the cork to be cut. The
machine may be actuated by a handle fixed directly on the knife bar or by a
hand lever connected therewith; the whole is mounted on a suitable frame.
The pieces of cork having been cut in square pieces as usual the. workman
places one in position between the spindles, pressing it close against the side
and edge of the knife, selecting the best side as that point of contact. He
then traverses the knife bar, which causes the knife to move parallel to the.
axis of the cork, which at the time revolves on its axis, and it is thereby
immediately and truly cut of a cylindrical form. The knife. and bar can be
adjusted at a distance from the axes of the spindles and cork according to the
size of cork to be cut, therefore all sizes of corks may be readily cut by one
and the same machine,, and even bungs and corks of very large diameter. If
the screw on the spindle is only right handed the knife must be drawn back
before introducing and cutting another cork; the screw, however, I sometimes
make both right and left handed, and arrange the thread or tooth of the nut.
to traverse the right hand thread while moved in the one direction and the
left hand one when traversed in the opposite direction, the spindle by this
means always rotates in one direction, and a cork may be cut at each traverse
(both back and forth) of the knife. I apply a sharpening stone or stones
to this machine so as to sharpen the cutting edge by the cutting motion, such
stone or stones being slightly pressed up by a spring or springs and their
pressure regulated by a screw or other means as may be required.
I
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAMI
DAVIES, of Elizabeth Place, Old Bethnal Green Road, in the County of 3
Middlesex, Pattern Maker, send greeting....
30th July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM!
DAVIES, of Elizabeth Place, Old Bethnal Green Road, in the County of 3
Middlesex, Pattern Maker, send greeting....

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Davies, Her special licence that I, the said William
Davies, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Davies, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING CORKS AND BUNGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Davies, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Davies, do hereby déclare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My Invention consists in the arrangements of mechanism hereafter described,
forming apparatus for cutting corks and bungs, which I will now describe by
referring to the accompanying Drawings, viz. :--
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view; Figure 2, plan; Figure 3, side view; Figure 4,
section through A, B, at Fig. 3 of a part of the apparatus hereafter described.
A, A, A, A, A, bed or supporting frame which is made open along the middle
for greater convenience in sharpening the knife and fixing and unfixing the
various parts attached to the same, the said bed or frame having guides (B, B,)
thereto affixed, which guides have secured to them the end plates C, C, one at
each end, provided with bearings to enable the pivot ends or axes of the shaft
with right and left handed screw (marked D) to rotate as required. This
right and left handed or double screw shaft being prolonged into or having
secured to one end thereof a rod or shaft E, of smaller diameter, supported at
the end farthest from the double screw by a standard (F) secured (by screwing

page_text: through the foot thereof or otherwise) to the bed or supporting frame (A),
and the rod E has at its end a disc (e) with studs or projections for holding the
cork or bung, there being a similar one: (e) opposite thereto on the end of a
short rod (marked G) which slides in a tube H with a spiral spring abutting.
against its end to keep it pressed up to its work, supported on two standards
F, F, secured to the bed or supporting frame, as described in regard to
standard F. The part marked g represents a small metal plate forming a rest
or support for the cork or bung, the plunger pins g', 93, which support the
same, working in sockets in the bed or frame (A); such rest g.being pressed up
to the cork by the coiled springs around them g', g, respectively, the ends of
which abut against the under side of the plate g and the solid part of the bed or
frame (A) respectively. The rod G has a pendant stud attached thereto,
working through a slit in the tube H, and also in the curved guide h, centred
to the standard I, fixed on the said bed or supporting frame close to the
standard F. This curved guide forms a lever handle whereby the pin may be.
moved and the rod G drawn back so as to allow the cork to be inserted, not-
withstanding the cork or bung may be of greater or less length. At or near this
end of the bed or frame is another standard marked K, having a projecting
piece on the face thereof, on which a bar L rests and slides, there being a
similar projection at the top of this standard for guiding the said bar, and
to this bar a long knife L¹ is secured by suitable -screws and washers with a
handle M attached thereto. This standard K is secured to the bed or
supporting frame by two guide pieces k, k, placed transversely thereon with
slots in the foot of the standard (which is between the two guides k, k, aforesaid)
these slots loosely embracing the shanks of screws or pins secured to the said
bed or supporting frame, these screws or pins having large and strong heads
to press on the foot of the standard, and keep it from rising from the bed or
supporting frame aforesaid, and there being beneath the foot of the standard
and working in a groove in the bed or supporting frame a screw socket which
is acted upon by a set screw working from the side of the bed or supporting
frame. To the knife L' a sliding bar N is attached, the same being supported
by a standard O, which can be moved to and fro by reason that the base Ox
of this standard is made to work in a grooved frame secured transversely by
screwing or otherwise to the bed (A), and by a set screw Pat the side thereof.
This standard may be acted upon as hereafter mentioned, the said standard
being secured by screw or pin passing through a slot in the foot at the back of
the standard, which screw pin is fastened to the grooved frame aforesaid. At
the end of the sliding bar N is a collar Q travelling on the double screw D,
there being a stud or pin protruding from the inner circle of this collar and

page_text: working in the threads of this double screw, the arrangement adopted for this
purpose being shewn at Figs. 3 & 4, consisting of a pin x passing through
the lower part of the collar, and having connected thereto and outside thereof
a camb y, and also connected to the other end of the pin and within the
collar a traveller z, which, upon the camb striking the ends of the guides,
causes the traveller to move from a right handed to a left handed thread, or vice
versa. R is a slide frame placed transversely, and carrying standards S, S,
for assisting in regulating the knife L', as hereafter described. The upper
ends of these standards being provided with friction rollers inserted in the
forked ends and secured free to turn by pins passing through same. These
friction rollers press against the side of the knife opposite to the standard K
herein-before referred to. The slide frame R works between guides r, r, and
has a tongue or slide beneath the said slide frame R working in grooves
formed transversely in the bed or supporting frame of the apparatus and a
screw collar through which a set screw acts.
The sheets of cork for making the corks and bungs being first cut into
rectangular pieces by a converter in the usual manner, a piece is taken and
fixed between the two discs e and e', after which the knife is moved along by
the handle, by which and by the action of the pin and camb arranged before
described upon the collar working on the double screw aforesaid, the cork
placed as before described is caused to rotate at the same time that the knife is
by the same action drawn along it, and hence the same is cut into cylindrical
form, but in order to taper the same more or less it will be necessary to
act upon the standards O, S, S, and K, which will press the knife at the points
nearest these standards, and will act upon the same accordingly, the bar and
knife being allowed to yield to these pressures by reason that the pins (X) on
the collar to which the bar is secured are of sufficient length between their
bearing pieces (Y). The double screw aforesaid operates equally when moving
the same either backwards or forwards. The screw need not however in all cases
be a double screw, as a single screw might answer in some cases; and it will be
evident to the practical man that many modifications in the details of the
mechanism may be made in order to suit the views of the users, and to instead
of the handle shewn by the Drawing, a suitable lever arrangement could be
adopted so that other than manual power might be applied if thought
proper.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I claim in respect
to the Invention herein-before described,-
I. The screw and collar or propelling traveller arrangement which causes

page_text: the knife to act simultaneously with the rotation of the piece of cork to be
cut or shaped.
II. The general arrangements of the mechanism as adapted to apparatus for
cutting corks and bungs.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM DAVIES. (L.S.)
Witness,
B. WALKER,
Clk. to Genl. Patent Co., Limª.,
71, Fleet St., London.