IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND PREPARING HORN
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles d'Ambly, of Stuttgart, in the Kingdom of
Wurtemberg, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND
PREPARING HORN."A communication.
Scaled the 27th November 1857, and dated the 12th June 1857.
.PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left. by. the said Charles d'Ambly at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th June 1857.
I, CHARLES D'AMBLY, of Stuttgart, in the 'Kingdom of Wurtemberg, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING
AND PREPARING HORN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cutting and preparing horn,
so that it may be used as a substitute for whalebone, and for other purpose.
The horn is first soaked and pressed flat while hot, in the same way as when
it is prepared for making combs, only the flattening is effected in presses,
either of the hydraulic, screw, or other construction, heated by steam, and the
steam is applied by admitting it into hollows or cavities formed in the castings
of which the presses are composed. When the horn comes from the press,
and while it is yet hot, it is cut into plates of the required thickness by an
instrument similar to a plane, having its cutter or iron placed horizontally,
instead of in an inclined position, as in ordinary planes; and in front of the
principal cutter or iron are additional cutters, which divide the slice into two.
three, or more strips, as may be required. The strips as they are removed are

page_text: piled one on the other in a rack or frame, having divisions placed at a distance
from each other equal to the width of the strips it is to receive, and on the
top of each of the piles of strips a metal weight is placed, which squeezes
them down flat, and in this form they set when they become cold. These
strips of horn are capable of being employed for the same uses as similar strips
of whalebone are now ordinarily employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles d'Ambly in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
D'AMBLY, of Stuttgart, in the Kingdom of Wurtemberg, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles d'Ambly, Her special licence that I, the said Charles d'Ambly, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
d'Ambly, 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 CUTTING AND
PREPARING HORN," (a communication,) upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Charles d'Ambly, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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, the said Charles d'Ambly, do hereby declare 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cutting and preparing
horn, so that it may be used as a substitute for whalebone, and for other
purposes. The horn is first soaked and pressed flat while hot, in the same

page_text: way as when it is prepared for making combs, only the flattening is effected in
presses, either of the hydraulic, screw, or other construction, heated by steam,
and the steam is applied by admitting it into hollows or cavities formed in the
castings, of which the presses are composed. When the horn comes from the
press, and while it is yet hot, it is cut into plates of the required thickness by
an instrument similar to a plane, having its cutter or iron placed horizontally,
instead of in an inclined position, as in ordinary planes; and in front of the
principal cutter or iron are additional cutters, which divide the slice into two,
three, or more strips, as may be required. The strips as they are removed
are piled one on the other in a rack or frame, having divisions placed at a
distance from each other equal to the width of the strips it is to receive, and
on the top of each of the piles of strips a metal weight is placed, which
squeezes them down flat, and in this form they set when they become cold.
These strips of horn are capable of being employed for the same uses as
similar strips of whalebone are now ordinarily employed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the same.
The horn is first soaked for several days in water to soften it, each piece is
then sawn longitudinally into two pieces, and again soaked in water for about
3 weeks, after which it is subjected to the action of steam, in order still further
to soften it, and render it fit for the flattening process.
Figure 1 of the Drawings shews a vertical section, and Figure 2, a.
horizontal section, of a press suitable for flattening the horn. a, a, is the
framing of the press, which is set in brickwork over the boiler b; c, c, are
moveable hollow frames, which slide in the frame a, these frames are heated
by means of steam from the boiler 6 passing through them, between these
frames there are plates d. The pieces of horn, softened as above described,
are placed between the hollow frames c and the plates d, which are then.
pressed together by means of the screws e, e, or they may be pressed together
by means of an bydraulic pump, or by other suitable means, by which process
the horn is flattened out into sheets. On the top of the press there is a small
chamber, into which steam from the boiler is admitted through the pipe f, in
which chamber the horn is placed to soften before being pressed, and in this
chamber also the plates d are heated before being used in the press. One of
the pieces of horn thus flattened out into a sheet is then held flat in a press,
and one of its edges is planed true, afterwards the sheet of horn, while still
hot, is cut into strips of the required width and thickness by means of an
instrument resembling a plane.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section, Figure 4, a transverse section, and

page_text: b
Figure 5, a plan, of this instrument. a is the iron or cutter placed hori-
zontally; b is a plate for regulating the depth to which the cutter shall
cut, the end of the plate 6 being capable of being depressed by means of
'the screw ; c, c', are cutters which divide the slice cut off by the cutter a
into strips. The instrument shewn in the Drawing has two of these cutters,
but more cutters may be used if desired. The cutter c is fixed in' position
by means of the press d', and the screws e, and the cutter c is held in
position by means of the screws f; g is a passage for the strips of horn to
pass away after they have been cut. The strips as they are removed are
piled one. on the other in a rack or frame, such as is shewn at Figure 6,
having divisions a, a, placed at a distance from each other equal to the width
of the strips it is to receive, and on the top of each of the piles of strips a
metal weight is placed, which. squeezes them down flat, and in this form they
set when they become cold. These strips of horn are capable of being
employed for the same uses as similar strips of whalebone are now ordinarily
-employed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of .per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,-
First, the heating presses for pressing horn by means of steam.
And, secondly, the cutting horn into strips, by means of an apparatus such
as is above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles d'Ambly, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. ENGELHORN.
i.
CARL D'AMBLY. (L.S.)
2