IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING ADZING, AND BORING HOLES IN SLEEPERS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Wilson, Manager for Messieurs Powis,
James,and Company, of Victoria Works, Blackfriars Road, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING
ADZING, AND BORING HOLES IN SLEEPERS FOR RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 12th May 1865, and dated the 17th November 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Wilson, at the Offico
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, ou the 17th
November 1864.
I, HENRY WILSON, Manager for Messieurs Powis, James, and Company, of
Victoria Works, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, do bereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING,
ADZING, AND BORING HOLES IN SLEEPERS FOR RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
My Iuvention consists in machinery constructed, arranged, and combined
in manner hereafter stated, whereby a sleeper is prepared from the rough for
the reception of the chairs. And, secondly, in machinery for boring holos
through the length of sleepers I take endless belts and insert uprights the
width of the rough sleeper to be prepared. I erect six circular saws under
which the endless belts carry the sleepers, the two outer saws cut the sleeper
to the length required, while the other four saws are set in pairs and in the
proper position for making cuts to a certain depth in the sleeper, between
which cuts towards the ends of the sleepers the wood is to be removed for the
chairs to be seated, the belt theu carries the sleeper under two cutters or sets.
Drine 811

page_text: of cutters revolving horizontally, whereby the wood between the saw cuts last
mentioned is removed and the seats for the chairs are formed.
My improved boring machine, to which the sleeper partially prepared as
aforesaid inay be carried by the endless belt, or which may be used indepen-
dently, is constructed so as to bore the four holes required in the sleepers
simultaneously and otherwise as follows:-Upon a frame I fit a horizontal
slab which curries four plates to which the bearings of the spindles of the
bits or boring tools are adjusted, these bearings have curved slots to allow of
the spindles, and consequently the boring tools, being set vertically or at any
angle required. The tops of the spindles of the tools are connected to friction
rollers or wheels which are free to travel on a rail in a carriage fitted at each
end with a rack into which two pinions carried upon a shaft over head are
made to gear; this shaft also carries a hand wheel whereby to work the pinions
and simultaneously lower and raise the boring tools when and as required.
I drive the four boring tools by an endless band carried in the form of a
figure 8 round a groove on the holder of the farthest tool over the front of a
groove on the third, over the back of a groove on the second, and over the
front of a groove on the first tool back to the driving pulley. For the purpose
of boring holes when required through sleepers from end to end, I employ
one or more bits at each end of the sleeper according to the number of holes
required and to the number of sleepers, acted on at the same time. I mount
these tools in saddles and advance the tools at one end towards the centre of
the sleeper; when they arrive at or about the centre the motion to the bits
is reversed, they retire, and the same motion being communicated to the bits
at the other end of the sleeper causes then to advance and complete the holo
through it
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILSON, Manager for Messieurs Powis, James, and Company, of Victoria
Works, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,

page_text: the said Henry Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Wilson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Wilson, 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 SAWING, ADZING, AND BORING HOLES IN SLEEPERS FOR RAILWAYS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Wilson, my execu-
tors or administrators, 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
formed, 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.
per-
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Wilson, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in machinery constructed, arranged, and combined
in manner hereafter stated, whereby a sleeper is prepared from the rough for
the reception of the chairs. I take endless belts and insert uprights the
width of the rough sleeper to be prepared; I erect six circular saws under
which the endless belts carry the sleepers. The two outer saws cut the
sleeper to the length required, while the other four saws are set in pairs and
in the proper position for making cuts to a certain depth in the sleeper,
between which cuts towards the endsof the sleepers the wood is to be removed
for the chairs to be seated, the belt then carries the sleeper under two adzes
or cutters or sets of cutters revolving horizontally, whereby the wood between
the saw cuts last mentioned is removed and the seats for the chairs are
formed.
My improved boring machine, to which the sleepers partially prepared as
aforesaid may be carried by the endless belt, or which as well as the adzing
machine may be used independently, is constructed so as to bore the four
holes required in the sleepers simultaneously as hereafter set forth. I pro-
ceed to describe the adzing machine or machine for cutting horizontally the
beds for the chairs and the boring machine separately. The sleeper having
been cut to the requisite length, and with or without saw cuts for the chair

page_text: beds is taken to an adzing machine, of which Figure 1 is a side, and Figure 2
a front elevation. A, A, is a frame carrying uprights B, B; C is an endless
belt or chain formed of slats a, a, shewn separately in plan at Figure 3, in
elevation at Figure 4, and in end view at Figure 5, also at Figures 14, 15,
and 16. The slats are steeled at the ends where they work in a groove in
the frame, and are connected by hinged links; b, b, c, c, are studs rising from
every other slat for keeping the sleepers apart; D, D', are wheels round
which the belt is made to travel by motion communicated to the wheel 1);
E is a beam extending across the machine formed with dovetail rails d, d, on
which the carriages F, F, carrying plates G; G, to which are fixed the
bearings e, e, of the spindles f, f, of the cutting tools g, g, are carried. These
plates are free to move up and down in the carriages on being acted upon by
the screws h, h, and the carriages are moveable along the rails to suit any
particular sleeper; curved slots in the plates enable the cutters to be set at
an angle if required. H, H, are pulleys by which the spindles and cutters
are caused to rotate, each cutter is composed by preference of two cutting
tools g, g, set in a cross head slotted to allow the position of the tools to be
altered. These tools and cross head are shewn in plan and side elevation
respectively at Figures 6 and 7, and at Figure 17. The cross heads are
fixed to the cutter spindles f, f; I is a shaft running across the machine
carrying pulleys from which belts are passed round those on the cutter
spindles The shaft I is driven by belts K, K, carried round pulleys on the
main shaft driven by a steam engine or other prime mover; M is a mitre
wheel on one end of the main shaft, gearing into another mitre wheel N on
one end of a shaft, the other end of which carries a worm O which gives
notion to the worm wheel P on the shaft of the wheel D which drives the
endless belt C.
I proceed to describe my boring machine of which Figure 8 is a front and
Figure 9 is a side elevation.
Upon a frame A I fit a horizontal slab B which carries four plates C, to
which the bearings a of the spindles 6 of the bits or boring tools c, c', c¹¹, cl,
are adjusted; these bearings have curved slots d to allow of the spindles, and
consequently the boring tool being set vertically or at any angle required.
The tops of the spindles of the tools are connected to friction rollers or
wheels e which are free to travel on a rail D in a carriage E fitted at each end
with a rack Finto which two pinions G, G, carried upon a shaft H over head
are made to gear; this shaft also carries a hand wheel I whereby to work the
pinions and simultaneously lower and raise the boring tools when and as
required. K is a grooved pulley on the shaft H to. which. a cord with a

page_text: weight is attached. I drive the four boring tools by an endless band T. carried
somewhat in the form of the figure 8 as shown in the plan view at Figure 10
round a groove in the pulley of the farthest tool cover the front of the groove
on the third tool c',over the back of the groove on the pulley of the second
tool c",and over the front of the groove on the pulley of the first tool c¹¹¹back
to the driving pulley M. On the sleeper being brought under the boring bits
simultaneous rotary motion is imparted to them, and by means of the hand
wheel they are lowered into their work,and when the bits have traversed the
sleeper or have penetrated to the required depth the hand wheel is abandoned
and the weight on the cord round the pulley k raises the bits free from the
sleeper. At Figure 10 the boring bits are shewn in positions for boring holes
in two different lines, but by removing a packing block from the back of the
bearings of the spindles of the bits cand c", they can be brought in the same
line as the bits c' and as shewn in plan at Figure 11, when the holes in
the sleepers with be in the same line.
Figure 12 is a side elevation, and Figure 13 is an end view of my com-
bined machine for sawing,adzing, and boring holes in sleepers; A, A, is the
main frame of the machine; B is an endless belt carrying the sleepers from
end to end of the frame,and under the various tools to the action of which
they are to be subjected, the endless belt is formed and propelled as described
with reference so Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The blocks or sleepers are first
carried under the shaft C on which are keyed two large circular saws D, D,
for cutting the sleepers the required length, and two pairs of small circular
saws E,E,for cutting into the wood to a depth sufficient for the chair beds ;
the endless belt next carries the sleepers under the revolving adzes F, F,
where the wood between the cuts made by the saws E, E, is removed, the
belt finally carries the sleeper under the boring tools G,and then shoots the
finished sleeper from the machine.
The adzing and boring tools are constructed and act'in manner described
with reference to those machines heroin-beforeseparately describedand shewn
in the accompanying Drawings. The saw shaft is driven by a belt from a
pulley on the shaft X; H is a lever for stopping the motion of the belt while
each sleeper is presented to and undergoes the action of the boring tools by a
clutch arrangement.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the combined machinery herein-before described, whereby a beam,
block of wood, or sleeper is sawn,adzed, and bored ready for the reception of
the chairs.

page_text: Second, the machinery for adzing from the sleepers or beams for sleepors,
the beds for the chairs constructed and acting in manner herein-before
described.
And, third, the machinery for boring holes in sleepers constructedandacting
in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I,the said Henry Wilson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-five.
HENRY WILSON. (L.S.)