An Improved Construction of Milling Machine.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Jan., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 1st Oct.. 1896-Accepted, 14th Nov., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Construction of Milling Machine.
1, HENRY GREENWOOD of Albion Works, Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery for copying
irregular forms by means of a milling tool. The pattern to be copied, and the
material to be shaped, are made fast to a table, which runs on V guides, and is
actuated either by hand or other power. Above the table is mounted, on a
suitable guide frame, standing at right angles to the V guides, a carriage furnished
with anti friction rollers, to facilitate its easy movement. This carriage inter-
locks with its guide frame, so as to resist any upward pressure to which it may be
exposed. On the face of this carriage is mounted a vertically adjustable sleeve
casting, which is fitted to receive a rotary spindle, to the lower end of which is
fixed the milling tool. Mounted in bearings at the top of the machine is a
horizontal shaft, which carries a stepped driving pulley, and is fitted with gearing
to drive the moving parts of the machine. A long pinion keyed on this shaft
gears into a spur pinion cast with a bevil pinion on its side, and mounted upon a
stud axle fitted to the sliding carriage.
Gearing into this bevil pinion, is a bevil wheel, keyed to the top of a vertical
shaft, which is fitted with a long pinion for gearing into a spur pinion carried by
the cutter spindle.
The step pulley before mentioned serves to impart variable speed of rotation to
the cutter spindle, and the long pinions provide for the traverse of the carriage
and the rise and fall of the cutter spindle, without interfering with the driving
motion imparted to that spindle.
As the weight of the carriage is transmitted through the anti-friction rollers to
the fixed guide frame, the motion of the carriage will be smooth, and with the
minimum of friction.
The sleeve casting which carries the cutter spindle is fitted with a traversing
screw, which, through bevil gear, is turned by a hand wheel for adjusting the
height of the spindle and milling tool.
Mounted upon the carriage, and adjustable vertically thereon, is the dumb tool
or tracer which bears upon the pattern, and controls the action of the milling
tool.
The carriage has a sliding motion imparted to it through a loose nut, which
turns in bearings at the back of the carriage. Through this nut is passed a
horizontal screw-shaft, which is mounted in the main framing, and is free to move
endwise in its bearings. The boss of the hand wheel and bevil wheel forms the
bearing of one end of this shaft, which carries a feather that interlocks with the
boss of these wheels. The opposite end of this shaft connects through a swivel
joint with a sliding rack, which is in gear with a pinion on a rock shaft. This
ehaft is so weighted that it will, through its pinion, give the screw shaft. a
tendency to move forward or backward to a certain point, and thereby cause the
dumb tool or finger of the sliding carriage to bear upon the pattern, whether set
to the right or left hand thereof, and maintain the contact of the adjusted milling
tool with the work.
The table which supports the work and the pattern to be copied is fitted with a
circular plate, which is flush with the table, and is capable of receiving rotary
motion from suitable gearing provided for the purpose. When this circular plate

page_text: is used, the work is placed above the pattern, and the milling tool carries its own
tracer or dumb tool."
The sliding table is fitted with a traversing screw of the type usual in like
machines, and this screw may be rotated either by hand or automatically through
suitable gearing in connection with the main shaft.
The shaft which transmits automatic motion to the various parts of the machine,
is conveniently driven by an electro-motor, but it may be fitted with ordinary
fast and loose pulleys for receiving a hand from a prime mover.
The advantage of combining with a traversing table a circular plate flat
therewith, and capable of rotation, is, that a great variety of work may be done,
either radial, diagonal, or straight, without the piece under operation having to be
reset.
Dated this 16th day of January 1896
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
An Improved Construction of Milling Machine.
HENRY GREENWOOD of Albion Works, Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, 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:-
This invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery for copying or
shaping irregular forms by means of a milling tool. The pattern to be copied,
and the material to be shaped, are made fast, as usual, to a table which runs
on V guides, and is actuated either by hand or other power. Set in this table,
and flush with its face, is a circular plate, to which certain kinds of work may
be attached, for the purpose of presenting the same at varying angles to the cutting
tool. This circular plate, which is free to travel with the table, is made capable
of turning on its axis by means of suitable gearing carried by the traversing
table.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved machine.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; and
Fig. 3 is a plan view of the travelling table, detached, to illustrate its peculiar
construction.
A is the foundation box, of cast iron, and A' the bed, made fast thereto, and
planed to receive V guides with which the travelling table B is provided on its
underside.
A2A are two hollow standards cast with the foundation box A, and connected
together at their upper ends by a cross slide C, faced to receive the cutter spindle
carriage D.
This carriage is made to interlock with horizontal guides on the cross slide C,
and it is furnished with anti friction wheels d, which run upon a rib of the cross
slide.
E is the cutter spindle, carrying a cutter E, and mounted in a sleeve F, in
which it is free to rotate. This sleeve is supported on the carriage D by means of
bearings d', d, in which it is free to slide, for the purpose of adjusting the height
of the cutting tool.
Attached rigidly to a flange at the bottom of the sleeve F, is a vertical screw f
which enters a nut f' mounted in an extension of the bearing d, so that it may
turn freely therein, while at the same time it is retained in place by a mitre
wheel at its upper end, and a flange at its lower end. This mitre wheel gears

page_text: into a mitre wheels keyed to a short horizontal shaft, supported in a bracket
extension of the bearing d, and carrying, at its outer end, radial handles fº, to
facilitate the turning of the nut f¹ for the vertical adjustment of the sleeve F and
its cutter spindle E. This sleeve F is enlarged at about the middle of its length,
and has a lateral opening made in the enlargement, for the insertion of a spur
wheel E', which is made fast to the cutter spindle E.
Gearing into this wheel E', is a long pinion E, mounted in bearings on the face
of the carriage D, and fitted to the upper end of its spindle is a mitre-wheel e, in
gear with a mitre wheel e' on a horizontal shalt e2 mounted in bracket standards
cast in one with the carriage D. This shaft e³ receives motion, as will be hereafter
explained, through a ring of spur teeth e³, cast with, or forming part of, the
mitre wheel e¹.
d³ is a socket on the carriage D, for receiving the tracing pin or dumb tool (shown
in dots at G, Fig. 1) used for guiding the movements of the cutter, when irregular
work is required to be copied.
Fitted to the underside of the cross slide C is a traversing screw C₁, which
receives a nut from the back of the carriage D, for the purpose of imparting to the
carriage the requisite reciprocating motion for producing a transverse cut, and also
for adjusting the tool laterally to its work.
The extension of the thread of this screw is limited to the length of traversé
required for the carriage.
At one end, this screw spindle carries a feather which locks into a keyway
formed in the boss of a hand wheel and mitre wheel C2 turning in a bracket
bearing projecting from the front of the standard A².
It is through these wheels, which form a bearing for the spindle, that the
traversing screw C' receives its axial motion.
The other end of the screw spindle has its bearing in a sleeve C³, which is
squared to slide, without turning, in a bracket hearing projecting from the front of
the standard A³.
The screw spindle, although free to turn in the sleeve, is, by means of lock nuts,
held firmly thereto, and receives, therefore, an endway motion from the sleeve as
it slides in its bearing.
On the underside of this squared sleeve C³ is a rack c, into the teeth of which
gears the spur wheel C, mounted on a rock shaft C, having its bearings in the
standard A. This rock shaft carries, at its rear, a double chain pulley C, fitted
with two chains c¹ c2, from which depends a weight common to both. These chains
pass round the pulley in opposite directions, and are made fast thereto at their
upper ends, while the weight is attached to their lower ends.
A tendency is thus given to maintain both chains at tension, and thereby,
through the gearing, just described, to move the carriage D, through the action of
the screw shaft C' and sleeve C³, to a central position. At the same time, these
weighted chains are free to yield to the pressure of the rack teeth c upon the
wheel C on the rock shaft, when the pattern on the table B thrusts to one side or
the other the tracer or dumb tool G, affixed to the carriage D.
By this means, a yielding pressure is imparted, through the sleeve Cs, screw C¹,
and its nut, to the carriage D, and thus the tracer, when in use, is held in contact
with the pattern or copy which controls the movement of the cutting tool.
When, however, the tracer and pattern are not in use, the end way movement of
the sleeve must be prevented, so as to render the screwed shaft C' stationary.
This may be effected by locking the wheel C to the standard A³, or by any other
conveient means.
Referring now to the traversing table B, this receives its longitudinal to and fro
motion from a traversing screw B' in the usual way. The motive power derived
from the main driving shaft H of the machine is transmitted to the traversing
screw through the arrangement of mechanism which I will now describe.
Keyed to one end of the main driving shaft, which has its bearings on the
standards A2 A3, is a stepped pulley H', a band from which passes up to a stepped

page_text: pulley I on a horizontal shaft I, mounted in bearings on the top of the cross
slide C. This stepped pulley I is fitted with internal gearing, and may be either
locked to its shaft, to drive the same directly, or, when unlocked, drive the shaft
through the internal gearing, and thereby reduce the speed of rotation to the
required amount.
ii represent a wheel and pinion keyed onto the shaft I, and gearing respectively
into a wheel and pinion k k mounted loosely on a counter shaft K, which shaft
turns in bearings on the top of the cross slide C.
kis a clutch which lies between the wheel and pinion kk, and slides on a feather
on the countershaft K, for locking the wheel or pinion k, as required, to the
shaft K, for the purpose of modifying its speed of rotation. Keyed to one end
of a countershaft is a stepped pulley K, a band from which passes down to a
pulley L, mounted loosely on a stud axle L fixed to the standard A. This pulley
is stepped, and around it passes a band down to a stepped pulley M' keyed to a
transverse shaft M mcunted in bearings in the bed A' and standard A'. Keyed
to this shaft M is a worm m in gear with a worm wheel n on a longitudinal shaft N
having its bearings in the bed A¹.
n is a spur pinion keyed on the shaft N, and serving to drive, through an inter-
mediate pinion n³, the pinion 6, secured by a clutch to the traversing screw B
This intermediate pinion is mounted on a rock lever N', which carries also a second
intermediate pinion n³, for driving a shaft B4, hereafter referred to. This rock
lever is fulcrummed on the shaft N, and is capable of adjustment to either of
three positions, by clamping it to a sector N2 formed on the front of the bed A.
Thus, when the pinion n' is raised into its acting position, it will transfer motion
from the shaft N to the traversing screw B₁, but, when tipped to bring the
pinion n³ into its acting position, the shaft B will be rotated, and the traversing screw
will be quiescent. When, however, the rock lever is fixed in a horizontal position,
both pinions will remain out of action, and the traversing table will consequently
remain, quiescent. This arrangement provides not only for the reduction of the
speed transmitted from the main driving shaft H to the traversing table, but
facilitates the arrest of the movements of the traversing table, while the operation
of the cutter spindle and the traverse of its carriage (one or both) is proceeding.
The rotary motion transmitted to the shaft I from the driving shaft H, as already
explained, serves to drive the cutter spindle E. For this purpose, there is keyed
to the shaft I an elongated spur pinion 12, which gears into the ring of spur
teeth es on the back of the mitre wheel e', before mentioned as gearing with the
mitre wheel e keyed to the spindle of the elongated pinion E, which drives the
cutter spindle through the spur wheel E.
It is by the use of these two elongated pinions 1 and E2, that the traverse of
the carriage D, and the endway movement of the cutter spindle E, are provided
for, without interfering with the action of the driving mechanism.
I have said that the traverse of the carriage D may be effected by hand. It
is also desirable that it should receive an automatic motion, and it is for this
purpose that the traversing screw C is provided with the mitre wheel C. In
gear with this mitre wheel, is a mitre wheel o keyed to a shaft mounted in
bearings in the standard A.
Mounted loosely on the rear end of the shaft O, is the worm wheel o', which
is capable of being locked to its shaft by a clutch o. This worm wheel o¹
gears
into a worm o³, keyed to a short shaft O', mounted in the standard A2, and
carrying a spur pinion forming part of a train of wheels o, the last of which is
formed on the end of a stepped pulley O2, carried by a stud axle o, projecting
from the side of the standard A. This pulley is driven by a band from the
stepped pulley K', and thus an automatic traverse motion is imparted, through the
screw shaft C', to the carriage D. When, however, it is required to move
the carriage by the hand wheel, the clutch o2 must be thrown out of action, when
the screw shaft will be free to move independently of the gearing.
From the foregoing description it will be understood that the spindle carriage is

page_text: free to move upon the face of the cross slide with the minimum amount of friction,
by reason of the combined rolling and sliding action (when in motion) which takes
place between the long pinion 1 and the spur pinion 3. This is of the greatest
importance in a machine of this class used for copying irregular forms.
It now only remains to describe the means for turning the circular plate fitted to
the traversing table, and intended to present irregular, inclined, or radial work to
the action of the cutter.
B' is a circular plate, set in the travelling table B, and seated flush therewith.
It is held in its place by means of a ring b, which is let into, and screwed to, the
table, and fills a rebate made in the face of the circular plate. The lower portion
of the periphery of this plate B2 is converted into a worm wheel, into which gears
a worm carried by a transverse shaft B³ mounted in bearings on the underside
of the travelling table. This shaft B³ is squared, at its ends, to receive a handle
for turning it, and adjusting the plate B to the desired position for suiting the work
in hand.
For securing the work thereto, this plate is formed, like the traversing table,
with undercut grooves for receiving the T headed bolts commonly used for securing
the work and patterns in place.
To provide for the automatic turning of the plate B³, the shaft B' is fitted with
a spur pinion 63, which gears with an intermediate wheel 63 carried by a stud
projecting inwards from a vertical flange of the travelling table. This wheel 68
gears with a spur pinion 6 carried by a stud axle, and formed with a mitre wheel 6
on its side. This mitre wheel gears into a mitre wheel be carried by a lug projecting
from the underside of the travelling table B, which lug forms a bearing for the
mitre wheel.
B is a shaft which passes through the mitre wheel 6, and is furnished with a
keyway, to provide for the locking of the mitre wheel to the shaft, while it is free
to slide with the table along the shaft. This shaft B runs parallel with the
traversing screw B', and turns in bearings in the bed A. It is this shaft B
which receives its motion from the shaft N through the intermediate wheel n³,
mounted on the rock lever N', as above mentioned. The pinion 67, gearing with
the pinion n³, is made fast to its shaft by a clutch which provides for the instant
arrest of the rotation of the shaft, when a certain point of progress of the work has
been reached. It is for the like reason that the traversing screw shaft B' is
similarly provided with a clutch arrangement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim, is :-
1. The arrangement of mechanism above described, whereby the scope of the
milling tool for operating upon various kinds of work is enlarged, as set forth.
2. The means above described for driving the vertical spindle of a milling tool
mounted in a travelling carriage (whether fitted or not with a tracer or dumb.tool),
such means having for its object the reduction to a minimum of the friction created
during the travelling of the carriage.
3. The travelling table into which is recessed a circular plate for presenting the
work in varying positions to the action of the cutting tool, such plate travelling
with, or being capable of moving independently of, the travelling table, for the
purpose above set forth.
4. The means above described for imparting a self-acting feed motion, either to
the travelling table or to the circular plate, as desired, from one and the same
source of motion.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.