CERTAIN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING BOARDS FOR FLOORING AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1827

page_text: MUIR, of the City of Glasgow, in Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS by grant of Letters Patent of His present Majesty under the
Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of
June last past, His Majesty was pleased to give and grant unto me, the said
Malcom Muir, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, to me, the said Malcom Muir, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and
themselves, or for my deputy or deputies, servants and agents, or such others
as I, the said Malcom Muir, my executors, administrators, or assigns, shall
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
hereafter during the term of years therein-after expressed, shall and lawfully
may make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of "CERTAIN MACHINERY
FOR PREPARING BOARDS FOR FLOORING AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," within that
part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
our Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner
as to me, the said Malcom Muir, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
any of them, shall in my or their discretion seem meet, and that I, the said
Malcom Muir, my executors, administrators, and assigns, shall and lawfully
may have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage
from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the
said Invention, for and during the full end and term of fourteen years from
the date of the said grant then next and immediately ensuing, and fully to
be complete and ended, according to the Statute in such case made and

page_text: provided; provided nevertheless, that if I, the said Malcom Muir, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in the High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next immediately after the date hereof,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, and any-
thing therein contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.
NOW THEREFORE KNOW YE, that I, the said Malcom Muir, in pur-
suance of and obedience to the condition in the said Letters Patent contained,
do hereby describe and set out the particulars of my said Invention as
follows, videlicet:-
My aforesaid machinery for the purpose of preparing boards for flooring
and other similar purposes, and which I call the flooring machine, as shewn
in the three Drawings hereunto annexed, and numbered 1, 2 and 3. Num-
ber 1 being a plan; No. 2, a perspective view of some of the parts of the
machine; and No. 3, a more complete view of the machine, as seen from
the opposite end of No. 2; and the same letters and figures of reference arc
used to denote the same parts where they occur, in all the said Drawings.
The machine consists of a perfectly flat and straight bench D, D, D, which
should be at least twice as long as any board intended to be prepared upon
it. This bench is made fast to a block c, c, c, of stone, or other substance or
framing sufficient to keep the whole steady. Along one side of the said bench
is a raised guide or fence E, perpendicular to the face of the said bench, to
serve as a guide for conducting the boards; which fence or guide extends as
far as the saws I, shewn on the plan by dotted lines, but altogether kept out
of view in the Drawings No. 2 and 8, to admit of the parts behind it being
seen. And about the middle of the said bench I introduce and fix a plate
A, A, of metal, Drawings No. 1 & 2, or other material, to form a stock for
plane irons, such plate thus forming a part of the said bench. The plane irons
are nearly of the usual form, and their cutting edges project upwards through
proper holes or mouths in the said plate, as at h, h, h. The breadth of each
plane iron is greater than the breadth of the boards to be planed. One, two,
or more of these irons are used at once behind each other, as in the Drawing,
according to the nature of the boards to be planed, and the nature and state
of their surfaces; for general purposes I prefer employing three irons, which
are adjusted to and are fixed in their places by screws or other well-known
means. It will thus appear that it is the lower side of the board that is
planed, and the shavings are delivered under the machine; an endless pitched

page_text: chain (Drawing No. 3) having hooks or catches attached to it at convenient
distances (according to the length of the boards to be acted upon), take hold of
the ends of the boards (as shewn at 8, Drawing No. 3), and drag them along the
back D, D, D; one edge of the board, being placed in a rebate formed by a pro-
jection of the guide or fence E, as shewn at 9 in the Drawings No. 1 and 2,
prevents the board from bending upwards by the action of the chain. The
board while moving is pressed down to the plane irons or cutters, and to the
plate A, A, by weights, springs, or levers acting on rollers B, B, used to
reduce friction; which rollers are set in detached frames and are inclined a
little upon their axles, so as to drive or incline the board towards the guide or
fence E, E; the boards are thus kept in contact with the cutting edges of the
plane or planes, which smooth them as they are drawn over them; the guide
or fence keeping them in a parallel direction. The first motion is commu-
uicated by a band from the pulley 4 (Drawing 3), to the drum u; a pinion
upon its shaft turns the toothed wheel i (fitted with the usual disengaging
and re-engaging apparatus to throw it out of or into geering at pleasure; and
as the pitched rigger T and toothed wheel i are both on the same shaft, they
revolve together. The said rigger T moves the endless pitched chain Z
(Drawing 3), which is stretched in a parallel direction with the bench by the
pulley X, at the opposite end of the machine, mounted in the tightening
frame Y, which moves on a joint 5 (Drawing 2 and 3), and thus the pitched
chain Z may be strained or tightened in any required degree by driving the
wedges and, or by screws and other well-known means. The above-
described parts constitute a separate machine for planing boards. A part of
the guide E is slightly hollowed from the direct line of the bench, as shewn
by the dotted line 6 (Drawings 1 and 2), to admit projecting inequalities on
the edges of the boards. Whenever it is necessary that their edges as well
as their faces should be levelled, these inequalties are removed by irons or
cutters & and fixed on a horizontal revolving plate or plane F, the periphery
of which enters an aperture in the guide or fence E, E; and it is on the edge
of the board presented to this side of the machine that a tongue or feather
may be formed if required. To produce this end additional machinery must
be used, videlicet, two circular saws G and H, which revolve vertically; one
of these saws G, working under the board, cuts it upwards, the other H,
working above the board, cuts it downward to the depth of the rabbet or
space from the upper and under sides of the board to the tongue or feather,
which thus remains uncut. By the progressive motion of the board it also
passes under the operation of two other circular saws I, revolving horizon-

page_text: tally, and mounted upon one spindle, but separated by a ring or washer (the
thickness of which determines the thickness of the tongue or feather). These
saws cut off the superfluous wood, leaving the tongue projecting from the
board and completely formed. A bracket 10, Drawings 1 and 2, attached to
the block c, c, c, supports the spindle of these horizontal saws, and admits of
them being adjusted to and fixed in their places by screws operating upon
such bracket. The opposite edge of the board is cut parallel to the other,
so as to render the board of equal breadth throughout, by a circular saw K,
working vertically, called the breadthening saw; a guard fixed to the head O;
which supports the spindle of this saw, but which cannot be shewn in any of
the Figures, is so placed as to conduct the superfluous wood separated from
the board by the saw K, underneath or below the circular saw or cutter L, so
as to move these slips of superfluous wood out of its way and preserve them.
This saw L revolves horizontally, and is called the grooving saw; it is con-
siderably thicker than ordinary circular saws, and has long or deep teeth to
admit of their receiving a sufficiency of sett to cut out the whole of the neces-
sary groove at one operation. The spindle head M, Drawings 1 and 2, which
carries the grooving saw, is adjusted and fixed by screws to a bracket attached
to the head O, the latter being placed on slides which keep it steady, and con-
duct it in a parallel direction, when moved, towards or from the bench; all
the parts which operate on this edge of the board being thus connected,
advance or recede together. This movement is effected by means of a screw
fitted with collars to the fast puppet k, and working in a nut in the back
part of the head O. This screw is turned by the handle N, and an index on
the head O points out the relative position of the circular saw K, with respect
to the other side of the machine, and consequently indicates the various
breadths of the finished boards, by pointing to a divided scale of inches and
parts fixed upon the block c. All the saws are fixed on their spindles in the
ordinary way, by screws, nuts, and washers; but the washers w and w, which
fasten the saws II and K. on their spindles, are considerably thicker than
usual to admit of their being fitted with cutters or irons, which, by cutting
horizontally, rabbet, the superfluous thickness of the board to a sufficient extent
from that part which is destined to form the under side of the floor in all
flooring boards. The heads which carry the vertical saws G and H are
placed on slides fixed to the block c, c, c, their horizontal position being
adjusted by regulating screws worked by the handles P and R, and their
spindles elevated or depressed by proper adjusting screws. Motion is com-
municated by endless bands from the drum wheel 7 (Drawing No. 3), such

page_text: bands embracing all the vertical saw pulleys, and also the rigger or pulley W
of the intermediate shaft at V, W; and this intermediate shaft, by means of
half crossed or twisted bands 11, 11, Drawing 3, gives motion to the hori-
zontal saws I and L. The circular plate or plane F is also impelled by
another half-twisted band 12, Drawing 3, from a pulley on the spindle of the
saw G. The power which impels the whole machine is derived from a steam
engine or other prime mover applied to the shaft of the large drum wheel 7.
The Drawing No. 3 exhibits the flooring machine, having a board 13, 13,
under operation.
From the above description it will appear, that this machine is adapted for
simple planeing of every description, or for plain-jointed or square-jointed
flooring. By laying aside all the saws described above, with the exception
of the breadthening saw K, and placing a circular saw similar to it upon either
of the vertical saw spindles G or H, and adjusting its head by its respective
handle P or R, both edges of the board are thus cut parallel.
And I hereby disclaim all right or exclusive privilege under my aforesaid
Patent to the separate use of circular saws, wheels, bands, and riggers, declar-
ing at the same time that I confirm my Invention to the new and combined
application of the said parts for the production of a new purpose, as above
described, whereby I produce that which to the best of my knowledge and
belief has not been before effected, namely, the planeing of the surface of
boards, by passing them over several plane irons or cutters, placed one
behind the other, either parallel to each other or not, and inclined or sloped
or set at right angles to the line of motion of the board; and likewise to the
cutting of the two sides of the broad parallel to each other, and producing a
feather or tongue on one side of the board, and a groove or recess on the
other side, or feathers and tongues or grooves on both sides of a board, by
adding other cutters or saws to both sides of the same, in a manner that will
be evident to any competent workman, and producing the whole effect intended
by one passage of the board through the machine, thus bringing it out in a
perfect state for use, unless both its sides are to be planed, when two passages
will be necessary, and this I consider as the principal or leading feature of
my aforesaid Invention.
Witness my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-seven.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirty-first day of July,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Malcom Muir came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery aforesaid, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Thirty-first day of Jule in the year above written.
Inrolled the same Thirty-first day of July in the year above written