CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF FORMING OR MANUFACTURING STAVES, SHINGLES, AND LATHS, AND IN THE MACHINERY USED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1840

page_text: . TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HANNIS TAYLOR, of Norfolk Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of May, in the third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hannis Taylor, my exors, adfiiors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Hannis Taylor,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Hannis
Taylor, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in any of Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF FORMING OR MANUFACTURING STAVES,
SHINGLES, AND LATHS, AND IN THE MACHINERY USED FOR THAT PURPOSE;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Hannis
Taylor, should cause a full and particular description of the nature of my said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in

page_text: Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hannis Taylor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said invented
improements consists in, first, steaming the wood which is to be formed
or manufactured into staves, shingles, and laths until it acquires such a softness
and pliancy that it can be cut or blocked by suitable machinery into the
different forms required, with a degree of rapidity and uniformity not heretofore
attained, and with much less waste of material than attends the usual processes
of sawing, rending, chipping, adzing, and planing, and in passing the wood so
prepared through the improved blocking and shaping machinery herein-after
described.
And I declare that the manner in which the said improvements are to be
performed, is fully set forth and described in the several Drawings hereunto
annexed, numbered I. to IX. inclusive, and in the following explanation
thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Figure 2 a lateral section through the
line a, b, Figure 1, of a machine for cutting blocks of wood after they have
been steamed to the degree of softness and pliancy before mentioned (in a
close steam chamber or in any other convenient way), into straight pieces of a
rectangular form, such as laths or shingles, or as staves before they have the
requisite curves given to them. A, A, is the frame of the machine; B, B, is
a strong iron plate which slides up and down in grooves in the side posts of the
frame; C is a straight knife or cutter affixed to the front of the sliding plate
B, but at such a distance from it as shall correspond with the thickness
desired to be given to the pieces which the blocks are to be cut; D is a shaft
which connects the bottom of the sliding plate B with the crank E; F, F,
gearing in connection with a steam engine or any other moving power, by
which a rotary motion is given to the crank, and (through the crank) an
up-and-down motion to the sliding plate and knife B, C; F. 2 is a fly
wheel; G is a platform on which the block to be cut is placed and pushed
forward by hand against the plate B, and under the knife C at each descent of
the knife; H is an inclined shelf upon which the pieces of wood fall as they
are sliced off.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 are representations of a second machine, through which
pieces of wood intended for staves are passed after they have come from the
machine before described of a straight rectangular shape, in order to give them

page_text: the curved form at the sides requisite for their ultimate formation into casks,
barrels, and other like articles. Figure 3 is a front elevation of the said
machine; Figure 4 is a side elevation, partly in section; and Figure 5, a plan
through the line c, d, of Figure 3; I is a strong wooden table with a rectan-
gular orifice J in the centre; K is an iron plate with an orifice corresponding
to J, which is let into the wooden table and firmly secured there; L, L, are
two curved knives made fast by screws and nuts to the iron plate K, with their
edges or faces uppermost and placed one at each side of the rectangular orifice,
but projecting a little over it, so that the hollow space between them shall
present the exact form proposed to be given to the staves; M is a block of
wood of a pyramidical form, but hollow in the centre, which serves as a cap or
covering to the knives L, L, and is bolted fast to the table I. The rectangular
pieces of wood formed by the machine first before described, being dropped
two, three, four, or more at a time into the hollow space in the centre of M,
rest on the edges of the knives L, L, as shewn in Figure 4. O is a vertical
stamper, which being let fall or forcibly pressed down upon the pieces of wood
causes the knives L, L, to act against them from below and to cut them into
the form required, after which they fall to the ground through the orifice J.
The stamper O moves up and down through the bosses e, e, of two projecting
arms secured to the wooden upright P, which keep it always in a state of
exact parallelism, and it has motion given to it by the shaft Q and eccentric R,
which shaft may be worked by steam or any other suitable power.
The pieces of wood having been so far converted into staves, are finally passed
through the third machine, represented in Figures 6 and 7, in order to bend them
throughout their breadth and length into the bellied or paraboloidal form neces-
sary for casks, barrels, and other like articles. Figure 6 is a front elevation,
and Figure 7 a side elevation of this machine; V is a table, to which is firmly
secured a block of wood b, in the upper surface of which is a concave recess or
matrix m, m, of the shape desired to be given to the staves; Z is a screw press
also secured to the table in the manner represented in the Figures, which
carries at the lower end of its shaft s a convex stamper n, the curvature of the
face of which coincides exactly with that of the convex matrix. The pieces of
wood are placed one or two at a time on the top of the matrix, and the
stamper being brought down upon them by a turn of the press, the desired
form is at once imparted to them. The time necessary for passing staves through
the whole of the three machines before described is so short, that when com-
pleted they are still in a warm state, and it is essential that they should not be
allowed to become cold in any of the intervals between the different operations.
Instead of the first or slicing machine before described, another may be sub-

page_text: stituted for it, of the description represented in Figures 7, 8, and 9, of which
Figure 7 is a side view; Figure 8, plan; and Fig. 9 is a section of the circular
plate, shewing the mode of fixing the knives. S, S, is a frame supporting an
axle T, which carries a revolving circular plate of iron W, of from one to two
inches in thickness, with a projecting rim a little more than equal in depth to
the width desired to be given to the staves, shingles, or laths. At one side of
the frame there are two small rollers w, w, secured to it in such a position
that the periphery of the plate W shall pass between them as it revolves, and
the plate be thus kept always in a state of sufficient parallelism; X, X, are
two straight knives screwed to the face of the plate W, but kept at a distance
from it equal to the depth of the projecting rim; instead of two such knives,
any greater number may be affixed to the face of the plate, which the quantity
of work to be done may render desirable, and practice may be found to admit
of; Y is a platform for the supply of blocks of wood to the knives in the
manner before described.
And having now described the nature of my said invented improvements,
and the manner in which the same are to be performed, I declare,―
Firstly, that as regards my said improvements in the mode of forming or
manufacturing staves, shingles, and laths, I claim as new and of my Inven-
tion, the process of steaming the wood of which they are formed to such a
state of softness and pliancy that it can be cut into the requisite forms by
suitable machinery with a degree of rapidity and uniformity not heretofore
attained, and with much less waste of material than attends the usual processes
of sawing, rending, chipping, adzing, and planing.
And, secondly, in regard to my said improvements in the machinery used for
the purpose of forming or manufacturing staves, shingles, or laths, I claim as
new and of my Invention the four different machines herein-before described
and represented in the accompanying Drawings, Numbers 1 to 9 inclusive,
whereby or by one or other, two or more of them, the said shingles or laths
can be formed or manufactured with much greater expedition, at much less
expence, and with greater uniformity in point of size and shape than has
been hitherto accomplished.
And such my said invented improvements being to the best of my know
ledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within that part of He
said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England
Her Dominion of Wales, Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or in any of Her sai
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be
my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specifi
cation doth comply in all respects fully, and without reserve or disguise, with th

page_text: proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained;
wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and scal, the Eighteenth
day of November, One thousand eight hundred and forty.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid William Hannis Taylor came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.

page_text: In the Matter of a Patent granted to WILLIAM HANNIS TAYLOR, of
Norfolk Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Gentlenian, for
his Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF FORMING
OR MANUFACTURING STAVES, SHINGLES, AND LATHS, AND IN THE
MACHINERY USED FOR THAT PURPOSE," bearing date the Twentieth day
of May, One thousand eight hundred and forty.
DISCLAIMER entered by the said William Hannis Taylor with the Clerk of
the Patents of England, pursuant to an Act passed in the 5th and 6th
William the 4th, intituled "An Act to amend the Law touching Letters
Patent for Inventions."
I, the said William Hannis Taylor, do hereby declare that whereas, since
the granting of the said Letters Patent, and the executing and inrolling of the
Specification of the improvements for which the same was granted, I have
been led to suppose that the words made use of in the said Specification might
be construed to extend to claim as new, and of my Invention, a process of
steaming wood which has been long before used and practised for the purpose
of bending and setting, although not for cutting: And whereas I have
obtained leave of Her Majesty's Attorney General, certified by his fiat and
signature, according to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided,
and herein-before recited:
KNOW YE, THEREFORE, that I, the said William Hannis Taylor, do
hereby disclaim the following parts of my said Specification, that is to say:
I disclaim the word "Firstly," in the claiming part of the said Specification;
and I also disclaim the words following, which occur shortly thereafter in the
said claiming part:—“I claim as new and of my Invention, the process of steaming
the wood of which they are formed to such a state of softness and pliancy that it
can be cut into the requisite forms by suitable machinery with a degree of rapidity
and uniformity not heretofore obtained, and with much less waste of material than
attends the usual process of sawing, rending, chipping, adzing, and planing.
And, secondly, in regard to my said improvements, used for the purpose of
forming or manufacturing staves, shingles, and laths."
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day
of May, One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
W. H. TAYLOR. (L.S.)

page_text: To the Clerk of the Patents of England.
This is to certify, that William Hannis Taylor, of Norfolk Street, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, has applied to me for leave to enter
with you the above-written Disclaimer of parts of the Specification of a certain
Invention for which Letters Patent were duly granted to him under the
Great Seal, dated the Twentieth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
forty, and the Specification of which was duly enrolled; I accordingly grant
leave to the said William Hannis Taylor, to file his said Disclaimer, pursuant
to the Statute passed in the sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty,
entituled "An Act to amend the Law touching Letters Patent for Inven-
tions." Dated this Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid William Hannis Taylor came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Disclaimer aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Disclaimer aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of June, in the year of ou
Our Lord