IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GRINDING, ABRADING, OR POLISHING METAL OR OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archer Edwards, of Shoreditch, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GRINDING,
ABRADING, OR POLISHING METAL OR OTHER SURFACES."
Scaled the 25th October 1878, and dated the 25th April 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archer Edwards at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th April 1878.
ARCHER EDWARDS, of Shoreditch, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR GRINDING, ABRADING, OR POLISHING METAL OR OTHER SUR-
FACES.
"
My Invention has for its object novel apparatus by which sheets of cloth, paper,
or other flexible material, coated in the usual way with emery, glass, or other
abrasive powder, may be readily applied to and stretched and fixed upon bars,
handles, or other supports, so that the abrasive material can be readily applied to
the surface to be treated, in the same way and for the same purpose as metal files
are ordinarily used.
I take two longitudinal bars or strips of wood, metal, or other suitable material,
each such bar being of any required transverse section, but having one of its
surfaces flat or nearly so. I connect these bars together by hinges at one of their
longitudinal edges, so that when the bars are folded together their two flat surfaces
are in contact. Upon each such flat surface 1 fix one or more projecting pointed
pins or pegs, preferably of metal, the points of which pins fit (when the bars are
folded together) into corresponding holes in the opposite bar.
I prepare the emery cloth or other flexible abrasive material which is to be used
in a piece of suitable size, and having opened the hinged bars to a sufficient extent,
I fit one edge of the piece of emery cloth upon the projecting pins in one of the
bars, and bending the piece round the outer edges and sides of the bars, and round
the hinges which attach them, I bring its opposite edge round the other bar, and I
Price fd1

page_text: fix it upon the projecting pins in the latter. I then force the two bars together
until the projecting pins in each are forced through the emery cloth and into the
corresponding holes in the opposite bar, and in doing so the emery cloth or other
flexible abrasive material becomes stretched smoothly and with great tightness
round the bars. The two bars may then be held together by a hook, or catch, or
other convenient means, or they may be used without further attachment.
A handle of convenient form may be formed upon or attached to one or both ends
of the bars, and the apparatus, constructed and prepared as described, may be used
as an ordinary metal file is used, for the purpose of grinding, abrading, or polishing
surfaces of metal or other material.
When the piece of emery cloth or other flexible abrasive material has become
worn out or requires to be changed, it can be removed, and a fresh piece substituted
. for it almost instantly.
Where it is desired that a flexible cord or band should be used for the purpose of
grinding or polishing curved surfaces, I prepare an endless band or cord of hemp,
leather, or other sufficiently flexible and strong material, but preferably of india-
rubber, surrounded by one or more layers or covers of canvas, and of any desired
section, but preferably circular, and I cover this cord by winding helically round it
one or more strips of cloth, paper, or other flexible material, coated with emery,
glass, or other abrasive powder. The ends of these strips are attached to the cord
by cement or other convenient means, and the endless cord or band thus prepared
is stretched round two or more drums or pulleys, which can be made to revolve at a
sufficient speed by steam or other power. The article to be ground or polished is
pressed against the moving cord or band as required.
:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Archer Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th October
1878.
ARCHER EDWARDS, of Shoreditch, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR GRINDING, ABRADING, OR POLISHING METAL OR OTHER SUR-
FACES."
My Invention has for its object novel apparatus by which sheets of cloth, paper,.
or other flexible material, coated in the usual well-understood way with emery,
glass, or other abrasive powder, may be readily applied to and stretched and fixed
upon bars, handles, or other supports, so that the abrasive material can be readily
applied to the surface to be treated, in the same way and for the same purpose as
metal files are ordinarily used.
In order to put my Invention in operation I take two longitudinal bars or strips
of wood, metal, or other suitable material, each such bar being of any required
shape in transverse section to suit the particular purpose for which it is to be used,
but having one of its surfaces flat or nearly so. These two bars are connected
together by joints or hinges at one of their longitudinal edges, so that when the
bars are folded together their two flat surfaces are in contact. I fix upon each of
these flat surfaces one or more projecting pins, studs, or pegs, preferably of metal,
the projecting points or ends of which fit into corresponding holes in the opposite
bar when the two bars are folded together.
The emery cloth or other flexible abrasive material which is to be used is prepared
in a piece of suitable size, and the bars, hinged together as above described, being
opened to a sufficient extent, I fit one edge of the piece of emery cloth upon the
projecting pins in one of the bars, which pass through holes in the cloth, and I then
bend the piece round the outer edges and sides of the bars, and round the hinges
by which the latter are attached, and I then bring its opposite edge round the
other bar, and fix it upon the projecting pins in the latter. The two bars are then
forced together until the projecting pins in each bar pass through the emery cloth
into the corresponding holes in the opposite bar, and by this means the emery cloth
(or other flexible abrasive material) becomes stretched tightly and smoothly round
the bars. The two bars thus closed may be held together by a hook, or catch, or
other convenient means, or they may be used without further attachment.
A handle of convenient form may be formed upon or attached to one or both ends
of one or both bars, and the entire apparatus, constructed and arranged as described,
may be used as an ordinary inetal file is used, for the purpose of grinding, abrading,
or polishing metal or other surfaces.
When the piece of emery cloth or other flexible material has become worn out,
or it is required that it should be changed, it can be removed and a fresh piece
substituted for it with great ease and quickness.
The accompanying Drawing is in illustration of my Invention.
Figure 1 represents the two bars, one rectangular, and the other semicircular in
transverse section; Figure 2 is an end view of the same opened, and having the
emery cloth placed round them; Figure 3 shews them closed, and the emery cloth
stretched tightly round them.
a, a¹, are the two bars hinged together at b, b'. The pins in the bars are shewn
at c, c, c, c, c, and the emery cloth at d.
Figure 4 shews the bars similarly arranged, but having a different transverse
section; and Figure 5 shews one of the bars with a handle e at one of its ends.
The Invention as above described may be applied to rollers or drums circular in
transverse section, and hinged longitudinally along the periphery at the end of one
diameter.
In circumstances where it is desired that a flexible cord or band should be used
for the purpose of grinding or polishing curved or flat surfaces, I prepare an endless

page_text: band or cord of hemp, leather, or other sufficiently flexible and strong material, but
preferably of india-rubber, surrounded by one or more layers or covers of canvass, and
of any desired section, but preferably circular, and I cover this cord by winding
helically round it one or more strips of cloth, paper, or other flexible material, coated
or covered with emery, glass, or other abrasive powder. The ends of these helically
arranged strips me attached to the cord or band by cement or other convenient
means, and the endless cord or band thus prepared is stretched round two or more
drums or pulleys, which can be made to revolve at a sufficient speed by steam or
other power. The articles to be ground or polished are pressed against the moving
cord or band as required.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which it is to be per-
formed, I claim,-
The method of constructing and arranging bars, rollers, or drums, hinged or
jointed together, for the purpose of stretching and fixing emery cloth or other
abrasive material, substantially as and for the purpose described, and shewn in the
Drawing.
Also, the arrangement of strips of emery cloth or other abrasive material wound
helically and fixed upon flexible cords or bands, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archer Edwards, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
ARCHER EDWARDS. (L.S.)