Year: 1885

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I, FRANK KINGSTON, of No. 9 Bolden Street St. John's in the County of Kent,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In my specifications Nos. 2999 of 1878 and 14,716 of 1884, I described
machinery for cutting blocks of wood into sticks suitable for lighting fires,
aggregating these sticks into cylindrical bundles and binding each bundle by
adhesive cord. My present invention relates to a machine for effecting continuously
these operations in a more simple and expeditious manner, as I will now describe.
The wood blocks, generally about six.inches long, five to eleven inches broad and
three inches thick, are fed successively in the direction of their breadth on to a
table on which they lie on their flat. The ends of the blocks being pressed by
vertical serrated rollers, which move step by step round, the blocks are advanced
step by step about half an inch at a time through a mouth piece. In the interval
between each step of advance' and the next, the block then lying in the mouth
piece with about half an inch of its breadth protruded beyond it, is firmly held by
reciprocating clamps.""While it is so held, a set of thin knife blades from four to
six in number, parallel to one another; are caused to travel horizontally with an
obliquely advancing and retreating movement along the protruded face of the block
cutting into it a number of parallel lines of incision. On their retreat,' a knife
blade descends with an oblique movement in the vertical plane along the face of the
mouth piece, cutting off the protruded portion of the block, but this portion having
been already divided by the knife blades is shorn off, not in one piece or slab, but
as a set of separate sticks of the dimensions desired for firewood, these dimensions
being determined by 'the widths between the parallel knife blades' and the
protrusion of the block beyond the mouthpiece. The sticks, thus cut off from
the block, descend guided into a cavity constituting a hopper below which is the
cylinder in which the sticks are collected'in bundles and from which the bundles
are successively protruded to be bound and ejected, as described in my specification
No:14,716 of 1884 above referred to.
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page_text: I, FRANK KINGSTON, of No. 9 Bolden Street St. John's in the County of Kent,
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:-
In my Specifications Nos. 2999 of 1878 and 14,716 of 1884, I described
machinery for cutting blocks of wood into sticks suitable for lighting fires,
aggregating these sticks into cylindrical bundles and binding each bundle by
adhesive cord. My present invention relates to a machine for effecting continuously
these operations in a more simple and expeditious manner, as I will now describe.
The wood blocks, generally about six inches long, five to eleven inches broad and
three inches thick, are fed successively in the direction of their breadth on to a
table on which they lie on their flat. The ends of the blocks being pressed by
vertical serrated rollers, which move step by step round, the blocks are advanced
step by step about half an inch at a time through a mouth piece. In the interval
between each step of advance and the next, the block then lying in the mouth
piece with about half an inch of its breadth protruded beyond it, is firmly held by
reciprocating clamps. While it is so held a set of thin knife blades from four to
six in number parallel to one another are caused to travel horizontally with an
obliquely advancing and retreating movement along the protruded face of the
block cutting into it a number of parallel lines of incision. On their retreat, a
knife blade descends with an oblique movement in the vertical plane along the face
of the mouth piece, cutting off the protruded portion of the block, but this portion
having been already divided by the knife blades is shorn off, not in one piece or
slab, but as a set of separate sticks of the dimensions desired for firewood, these
dimensions being determined by the widths between the parallel knife blades and
the protrusion of the block beyond the mouth piece. The sticks, thus cut off from
the block, descend guided into a cavity constituting a hopper, below which is the
cylinder in which the sticks are collected in bundles and from which the bundles
are successively protruded to be bound and ejected as described in my Specification
No. 14,716 of 1884 above referred to.
The accompanying drawings represent part of a machine such as was described
in my before mentioned Specification with modifications such as I have described
according to my present invention. Fig. 1 is a transverse section on the line X X
of Fig. 3, Fig. 2 is a part longitudinal section taken at the back of the slabbing
knife, Fig. 3 is a plan and Fig. 3ª is a part sectional plan.
The blocks of wood W laid on the feed table b are fed forward intermittently by
the serrated rollers 61 which are worked by pawls acting on ratchet wheels on the
axes of the rollers, the pawls being all connected together and moved to and fro by
a connection to the slide of the reciprocating knife K so that every time the knife
makes its upstroke backwards the blocks of wood held between the rollers b³ are
advanced about half an inch, the foremost block w being thus caused to protrude
about half an inch beyond the mouth along which the knife K has to descend.

page_text: One of the rollers 61 is pressed by a spring b³, and this may be applied to the
other rollers on one side of the feed table, the better to ensure the grip of the
rollers in feeding the blocks forward. While the foremost block w is in its
protruded position, two serrated cheeks fitted to slide in slots in the sides of the
mouth piece and a serrated presser / are advanced to grip the block w and to hold
it firmly in position. These cheeks ¹ and the presser k³ are worked by a lever k
on which there is a roller that is acted on by a cam slope k on the slide of the
knife K, so that, except during the latter part of the backward up stroke of K and
the first part of its forward down stroke, the block w is firmly held. While it is
thus held, a slide S, linked to the same crank m² that works the knife K, makes
its stroke towards the left. Within the slide S is fitted a transverse slide U having
projecting from its face several knife blades. At the front and back of the slide U
there are sloping edges u which work against fixed slopes in the framing. As the
slide S is moved to and fro, these slopes cause the internal slide U with its knife
blades to be protruded and retracted, and thus, while the wood block w is held as
above described, these knife blades pass along and into its face making a number of
parallel incisions about half an inch deep. These incisions having been made by
the knives of U, the knife K descends obliquely and cuts off from the block wits
front portion as a number of separate sticks w which drop down a curved sloping
guide G7 and pass on to the cylinder G in which they are collected in bundles. To
ensure the descent of the separated sticks w¹ a pusher k worked by the slide of
the knife K at the time when that knife has completed its cut, is made to descend
and push the separated sticks 20¹ down so as to leave in front of the block w
space for its next advance. Also a continuously travelling chain g', if there should
be any gathering of the sticks w¹ at the curve of G7, serves to push them onwards
towards the cylinder C. In the cylinder C the sticks are collected and each
cylindrical bundle thus formed is compressed, bound with string and ejected as
described in my former Specification.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
In a machine for cutting bundling and binding firewood, in combination with
the knife K, the lever le gripping cheeks k¹ and presser k² and the compound slide S
and U with its knife blades and slopes, arranged and operating substantially as
herein described.