IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND TYING UP FIREWOOD
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
THOMSON, of Camden Road, Cabinet Maker, and JAMES ELMS, of the New
North Road, Gentleman, send-greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth
day of March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said George Thomson and James Elms, our exors, admors,
and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
we, the said George Thomson and James Elms, our exors, adññiors, and
assigns, and such others as we, the said George Thomson and James Elms,
our exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING AND TYING UP FIREWOOD;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said George
Thomson and James Elms, or one of us, should cause a particular description
of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: 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, we, the said
George Thomson and James Elms, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained iu and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings thereunto annexed, and to the figures
and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists,―
First, in certain improvements in machinery for cutting wood to a con-
venient form and size for the purpose of lighting fires.
Secondly, in the so arranging mechanical parts into a machine, that subse-
quently to the firewood being cut to the size and form required, it may be
more readily tied up into small bundles fit for sale than can be effected by tho
means hitherto adopted for that purpose.
In order that the object of our Invention may be more clearly understood,
we consider it necessary here to state that the wood now sold in bundles for
the purpose of lighting fires is usually obtained from the timber merchants in
the form of billets or blocks about eighteen inches long, the sectional area of
the said blocks being either three inches square, or three inches by four inches,
or thereabouts. The following process has generally been adopted for chopping
or cutting the wood to the required size:-The block is first sawn into three
pieces, each six inches long, these reduced blocks are next placed on end on a
chopping block, and cut up into small slips by hand, hence the pieces thus cut
are very irregular in size, the operation being at the same time exceedingly slow
and unsatisfactory, and it has been attempted in various instances to construct
machines for like purposes, but we believe with little practical success. The
wood obtained from the timber merchant may be sawn into three or more
pieces by any of the means now used, but we prefer the use of circular saws,
such as are shewn in Figures 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, of the annexed Drawings,
but such machinery forms no part of our Invention, but we shew it as being
exceedingly well adapted for preparing the wood for our machinery. The
blocks, being thus reduced to the desired length, are placed end up, that is to
say, with the grain of the wood standing perpendicularly, upon an endless
chain or band passing round rollers, such band having a progressive motion
towards the cutters, which consist of plates of iron or steel edged something
after the fashion of a broad chisel, secured in sockets or holders firmly fixed
to the outer face or periphery of a wheel or drum, as will be hereafter more
fully described and explained.

page_text: Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the cutting machinery. Figure 2, a
longitudinal vertical section taken through about the centre of the machinery.
Figure 8, a general plan looking down on the top of the machine. Figure 4
an edge or back view of the wheel, on the rim of which the cutters are secured;
this we call the cutter wheel. Figure 5, a horizontal section through the
cutter wheel and plummer blocks in which the wheel is suspended. Figure 6,.
a horizontal section through the front standard or support of the feeder on the
line A, B. Figure 7, a similar section through the standards or supports at
the opposite end or back of the feeder on the line C, D. Figure 8, a hori-
zontal section of the standard or framing supporting the cutter wheel taken
on the line E, F. Figure 9, a front elevational view of the feeder. Figure 10,
an elevation of the opposite end or back of the feeder. Figure 11 are
enlarged views of one of the cutters and cutter sockets or holders, shewing
the manner of fixing them to the rim of the wheel. A is a wheel or drum,
upon the outer face or periphery of which are placed a number of the
cutters k;k, k; these cutters are secured into the holders i, i, i, in the manner
more clearly shewn in Figure 11, or the cutters may be fixed by any con-
venient means. D is a standard or framing. B is the front standard of the
feeder, which, on account of its receiving the force of the blows from the
cutters, we call the chopping block. C, C, standards for supporting the
opposite end of the feeder. e, e, drums or rollers round which the feeding
band f passes; t, the driving pulley, imparting rotary motion to the rollers or
drums e, e. h is a second endless band passing round the drums g, g, for the
purpose of carrying away the wood after it is cut. p, p, pulleys through
which rotary motion is given to the drums g, g. Rotary motion is first
communicated to the main driving shaft 7, thence by means of the drums (¹
and n, and the band m, to the cutter wheel A, and through the bands o, r, and
pulleys p, t, and q, to the carrying away band and feeder. On reference to
Figure 2 it will be observed that the upper surface of the chopping block is
faced with steel, and inclined upwards towards the cutter wheel, this is to
counteract any tendency the wood might have to fall out towards the wheel.
but this slope being given to the top of the chopping block involves the neces-
sity of raising the cutter wheel to such a position that a line drawn along the
top of the wood upon the slope, if extended outwards from the feeder, would.
pass through the centre of the wheel, in order that the cutters may strike the
wood at right angles to their upper surface. A trough of wood or metal is
placed on each side and underneath that portion of the endless bad f, upon

page_text: which the blocks of wood rest, to support and guide them to the top of the
chopping block. x, x, are similar guide plates on each side of the carrying
away band h. x¹an inclined trough for the purpose of guiding the wood while
falling from the cutters fairly on to the band h. The action of the machine
is as follows:-Motion being communicated to the cutter wheel, carrying away
band, and feeder, in the manner already described, blocks of wood sawn to the
required length are placed upon the feeding band, which carries them up to the
cutters, the speed of the feeder being so arranged by varying the diameters of
the several pullies. In the machine shewn in the Drawings eight cutters are
placed upon the wheel. The speed of the feeder is so arranged that it advances 1
four inches to each revolution of the cutter wheel, so that supposing the blocks
to be three inches broad, they will be cut into slips or slabs six inches by
three inches, and half an inch thick, to be carried away on the band h to a
second machine indentical in construction with that already described. Six of
these slabs must then be taken up by the person in attendance and placed 1
edgeways on the feeding band, in the manner shewn in Figure 9; this
second operation would reduce the wood to pieces cach six inches long by
about half an inch square, ready to be tied up into bundles for sale. It will be
evident to a mechanic that the machine described may be varied in the details
of its construction; and sometimes in combination with the cutters k, k, on a g
wheel, we employ portions of circular saws to make a cut at right angles with
the cuts made by the cutters k, and thus would the use of two machines in
succession be avoided. This will readily be understood by reference to
Figure 17.
.
The second part of our Invention consists of certain improved machinery to s
facilitate the operation of tying up the bundles of wood for the convenience of
sale. Figure 18 represents a side elevation; and Figure 19 a plan or top
view of the machine. Figure 20, an end elevation. Figure 21, a horizontal
section of a portion of the machine taken through the centre of the cells
wherein the wood is placed to be compressed and tied up. Figure 22, a s
transverse section through the machine at A, B, Figure 18. This view repre-
sents the upper compressing frame raised. Figure 23 a transverse section, the
same as Figure 22, excepting that the compressing frame c is forced down
close on the body of the machine. The action of the machine is as follows:-
The end of the cord on the rollers a, a, is passed along the tops of the grooved s
standards b, b, b, and secured at the opposite end of the machine by the small
pins c, c. The machine being in the position shewn at Figure 22, with the upper
frame c slightly raised, the boy or person in attendance on the machine then
passes his hand into the cell No. 1, and draws down the cord temporally,.

page_text: fastening it at the bottom of the cell, if necessary, by the pin p, while the cell
is filled with wood, as seen in the Drawing; he then withdraws the pin and
passes on to the next cell, No. 2, and so on to the end of the machine. The
pins p, p, for the purpose of temporarily retaining the cord at the bottom of the
cells may be dispensed with, if desirable, the cord being held down by the
operator with one hand while he partially fills the cell with the other hand.
When the cells are all filled the frame c is forced down by the screw and
lever s, s, thus compressing the wood into smaller spaces; the cord is then cut
at b, b, b, and tied over each bundle; when the pressure of the screw s being
released the frame c will be raised by the springs placed at each corner of the
machine, when the bundles may be removed. In the Drawings annexed we
have shewn the machine double, so that one or more persons may be working
at the same time on each side of the machine; this may be varied; but the
rollers a, a, may be caused by springs to keep the cord pretty tight during the
operation of filling the machine.
Figures 24, 25, 26, and 27 represent another system of compressing and
tying up the bundles. This improvement consists in forcing the wood through
a conical chamber, and tying them whilst held at their greatest degree of com-
pression. The machinery will be readily understood by reference to the Draw-
ings. The wood is supplied to the chamber B through a hopper of any
convenient height, when it is forced forward by the plunger c through the
conical part of the cylinder f, the stroke of the plunger being so arranged as
to leave a bundle projecting about half its length from the end of the cylinder
at each stroke, in the manner shewn in Figure 25, in which position it is tied
with string, or otherwise secured by a wire or metallic band, the succeeding
stroke of the plunger c forcing the bundle clear of the cylinder. g is an endless
band passing round drums for the purpose of receiving and carrying away the
tied bundles as they successively fall from the machine.
Having thus described the nature of our several improvements, and the
manner in which the same are to be performed, we wish it to be distinctly
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details shewn and
described, so long as the peculiar character of any part of our Invention be
retained; and what we claim is,―
First, the combining cutters with the periphery of a wheel or drum for the
purpose of cutting firewood, together with suitable means for feeding blocks of
wood up thereto.
Secondly, the combination of saws and cutters so placed upon the peri-
phery of a wheel or drum as to make a cut at right angles to each other.