AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR MAKING MATCH SPLINTS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by François de Bowens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th August 1875.
I, FRANÇOIS DE BOWENS, of Elkton, Maryland, United States of
America, now of Lombard Court, in the City of London, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR MAKING MATCH SPLINTS," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to a machine for making match splints
from waste or refuse pieces of wood, and consists chiefly in the peculiar
formation of the knives or cutters and their arrangement in combination
with the other parts of the machine. The said Invention permits the
utilization of rough pieces of wood which have heretofore been con-
sidered only fit for firewood, and as such wood can be obtained very
cheaply I am enabled to produce and supply the match splints at a
lower cost than has heretofore been practicable.
My improved machine has a strong frame of cast iron or other
suitable material, which supports in a convenient manner the various
parts herein-after described,

page_text: АНО «Тотевата
Chutes Corved plates of pros
any required length and curvature. These plates arc corrugated,
ribbed, or grooved transversely, that is to say, the corrugations, ribs, or
grooves extend from side to side of the said plates in the direction of
their curvature; and one side or edge of the said plates is sharpened,
so that each plate presents a series of square, circular, or other shaped
cutting surfaces.
These peculiar shaped cutters are mounted on revolving shafts and
have a very rapid motion imparted to them. I prefer to place two of
the said curved plates or pieces on each shaft, and to secure them
between two discs or plates fixed on the said shaft and secured together
at the proper distance apart by stay bolts or other suitable means.
One set or pair of cutters is placed below a guide plate or table upon
which the wood is fed forward, and another set or pair of the said
cutters is placed above the said plate or table. In front of the first pair
of cutters I arrange a pair of feed rollers, which are preferably formed
with longitudinal teeth or ribs. From this pair of feed rollers a guide
plate or table with a plain or smooth surface extends to and over tho
first set of cutters and meets another plate or table which has a surface
corrugated or ribbed to correspond with the corrugations or ribs and
grooves of the cutters. This plate extends under the second pair or set
of cutters to a pair of drawing out or delivery rollers, which also have
corresponding ribs and grooves formed around them. Near these
rollers I place a spring plate or other suitable contrivance to guide the
splints properly between the said rollers.
The shafts which carry the said cutters and rollers are geared
together by toothed wheels or by other suitable gearing or connections,
so that they operate in the proper relation to each other.
The waste or rough pieces of wood are cut into pieces or slabs, say,
about two inches wide and one eighth of an inch thick. The machine
being set in motion, the said slabs are presented to the aforesaid feed
rollers, which seize them and carry them over the first set or pair of
rotating cutters. These cutters corrugate, groove, or channel the under-
side of the slab, thereby forming one half of the match splints. The
slab thus partially divided into splints passes onward to and under the
second pair of cutters, which act in the same manner upon the upper

page_text: surface of the slab, thereby completing its division into splints, which
are delivered from the machine by the aforesaid delivery rollers.
It is obvious that I may construct the aforesaid cutters to produce
splints either square, circular, or of any other desired form, and of any
required size or thickness.