A MACHINE FOR CUTTING WOOD
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Thomson, of Dalston, in the County
of Middlesex, Cabinet Maker, for the Invention of "A MACHINE
FOR CUTTING WOOD."
Scaled the 14th June 1853, and dated the 18th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Thomson
at the Office of the Cominissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th December 1852.
I GEORGE THOMSON, of Dalston, in the County of Middlesex,
Cabinet Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A MACHINE FOR CUTTING WOOD" to be as follows:-
A machine whereby wood may be cut into strips, from the plank
or block of timber, for the purpose of laths, matches, firewood, and
other useful purposes, where the wood is required in straight or
comparatively straight pieces.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, represents a side elevation;
Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section, through the main framing of
the machine; Fig. 3, a vertical transverse section at A, A; Fig. 4,
a view of the wheel gearing removed from the framework; Fig. 5,

page_text: an end elevation; and Fig. 6, a horizontal section through the centre
of the machine.
The planks or blocks of wood are fed into the machine by hand,
between the ratchet wheels, a, a, a, a, each end of the wood being
guided vertically by the jaws b, b. The wood is gradually passed
down by an intermitting revolving motion of the ratchet wheels
a, a, through an opening in the bottom of the framing B, and, as it
emerges from the opening, slips are cut from its under side by a
cutter passing along the under side of the framing.
In Fig. 2, the cutter c, is shewn in the act of cutting through the
wood, the slip or piece d, being half cut away. The cutter or
cutters are fixed by their extremities to two endless bands e, c, of
gutta percha or other suitable material, driven by four serrated
wheels ffff. The cutters, while travelling along the outer edge
or face of the framing B, are guided in the groove J.
The wood is gradually passed down between the jaws b, b, in the
following manner: Upon the driving shafts h, h, are affixed
wormed cams, i, i, gearing into worm wheels i, j, upon the shafts
k, k; these shafts carry at the opposite ends bevil wheels 7, 7, gearing
into other bevil wheels m, m, upon the cross shafts n, n; upon the
outer ends of these shafts are the spur wheels o, o, and in the centre
of the same shafts the lower ratchet wheels. The upper ratchet
wheels upon the shafts p, p, are worked in the same direction and at
the same speed as the lower ones, by the spur wheels q, q, gearing
by the dead wheels ", ", into the spur wheels o, o. By this gearing
the speed of the ratchet wheels regulates the speed with which the
planks are passed down. The wormed cams i, i, are not cut with
the threads inclined throughout their entire circumference, but are
formed in parts, so that no motion is given to the worm wheel i, j,
below, during a portion of the period of revolution of the cam, as it
is necessary that no motion be given to the planks while the cutter
is in the act of passing through the wood.
When the plank is reduced to such a width as to be below the
grip of the ratchet wheels, it would fall out, was it not for the

page_text: springs s, s, which press out plates of metal t, t, and so hold the
wood until it is entirely cut away.
These Drawings are given in order that the main features of the
Invention may be understood, but other arrangements of details
may be used; for instance, instead of the wood being retained at the
lower portion of the jaws b, b, by the springs s, s, teeth may be
placed at that portion to prevent the wood falling out by gravity,
and the gearing may also be varied in many ways. The main
feature of the Invention is the use of the continuous motion of the
cutters by the endless band, in contradistinction to any recipro-
cating motion; and the serrating or toothing of the bands carry the
cutters, which renders their motion perfectly uniform, and enables
the feeding apparatus to register or keep time with the cutters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said George Thomson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 17th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE THOMSON, of Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, Cabinet
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Thomson,
Her special licence that I, the said George Thomson, my executors,
adininistrators, and assigns, or such persons as I, the said George
Thomson, 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 the Isle of Man,
an Invention for "A MACHINE FOR CUTTING WOOD," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that I, the said George Thomson, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly 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 George Thomson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
A machine, whereby wood may be cut into strips from the plank
or block of timber, for the purpose of laths, matches, firewood, and
other useful purposes, where the wood is required in straight or
comparatively straight picces. In most of the machines hitherto
used for these purposes, the cutters which operate upon the block
of timber travel in straight lines or in planes, and consequently,
where the grain of the wood is irregular or waved, as is particularly
the case in lath wood, the cutters cut across the grain, and impair
the strength of the piece cut away; and in order to compensate for
this loss of strength, the laths cut in such machines are usually
made much thicker than the laths which are rent by hand labour.
This involves a waste of material. In my Invention the machine is
constructed in such a manner that the cutters follow the lines of
cleavage, coinmonly termed the grain of the wood, and thus split
or rend, in lieu of planing the wood; the piece cut or split away
being precisely the same as if split away by hand.

page_text: an intermitting revolving motion of the four ratchet wheels, and as
it emerges from the under side of the jaws, slips are cut from its
under side by the cutter c, which (in the Drawing) is shewn in the
act of cutting through the wood, the slip or lath d, being half cut
away. The cutter or cutters are fixed by their extremities to two
endless bands e, e, of gutta percha, or other suitable material, driven
by four wheels f, ff, f. The face of the bands towards the driving
wheels is serrated, taking into corresponding serrations or grooves
upon the wheels, in order that the parallelism of the bands shall be
maintained. The wood is gradually passed down between the
jaws b, b, in the following manner: Upon the driving shafts h, h,
are affixed worms or threads; these threads do not pass entirely
round the shaft, but are cut away at places, to produce the
intermitting motion required, that the wood may remain stationary
during the time the cutters are passing through it; the worms
i, i, gear into worm wheels j, j, upon the shafts K. These shafts
carry at their opposite ends bevil wheels m, m, gearing into other
bevil wheels , at right angles upon the cross shafts n. Upon the
outer ends of these shafts are the spur wheels o, and upon the
centre of the same shafts are the lower pair of ratchet wheels a.
The upper pair of ratchet wheels a', upon the shafts p, p, are worked
in the same direction, and at the same speed as the lower ratchets,
by the cog wheels q, q, geared by the dead cogs r, r, into the cogs
o. By this method of gearing, the speed of the ratchets regulate
the speed with which the planks are passed down, the worms i, i,
giving (by the parts cut away) the intermitting motion to the
revolution of the ratchet wheels. To prevent back action, when the
worms i, are out of gear with the wheels j, they are furnished with
palls not seen in the Drawing. When the plank is nearly all cut
away, and thereby below the influence of the lower ratchets, the
wood would fall out; but this is obviated by placing small projecting
teeth at the lower part of the jaws b, so that the wood is held until
only the thickness of a single lath is left. By reference to the upper
cutter c, it will be observed that a roller s, is fixed at the back and
a little in advance of the cutting edge. The slip of wood, when cut,

page_text: has to pass between this roller and the cutter blade, and the roller
consequently acts as a check upon the feed gearing in regulating the
thickness of the piece split away. The cutting edge of the blade is
a wedge in every direction, the edge being bevilled upon both sides,
but more acutely upon the face away from the plank froin which
it is cutting. The face is also of a circular or crescent form, so as
to present the wedge form in that direction, and thereby assist the
jaws or guides which hold the planks to retain them in the vertical
line at the centre of the cutters. With such a blade it is evident
that the wood is split or rent rather than planed away, and by the
cutters being affixed to the loose band they can (even while passing
through the wood) rise and full with the grain or lines of cleavage
of the wood.
I do not confine my claims of Invention to the precise details
as herein described; but I claim as new and of my Invention the
fixing of the cutters to endless bands as described, to allow the cut-
ters to rise and fall with the grain of the wood, and the serrating
or grooving of the bands and driving wheels, so that the feeding
apparatus shall register true time with the action of the cutters;
and, secondly, the arrangement of the feeding gear and the com-
bination of the various mechanical movements as described in a
machine for cutting or splitting wood.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Thomson, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
EDWARD JAMES POWELL.
GEORGE THOMSON. (L.S.)