IMPROVEMENTS IN 'BAND SAW MILLS.
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Varicas, of 24, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN 'BAND
SAW MILLS.'" A communication from abroad by William Howard Doane,
of the City of Cincinnati, in the County of Hamilton, State of Ohio, one of the
United States of America.
Sealed the 19th July 1878, and dated tho 12th April 1878.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Lionel .Varicas at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th April 1878.
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LIONEL VARICAS, of 24, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., in the County of
Middlesex. *IMPROVEMENTS IN BAND SAW MILLS." A communication from
abroad by William Howard Doane, of the City of Cincinnati, in the County of
Hamilton, State of Ohio, one of the United States of America.
This Invention relates, as to some of its features, to band saws generally, and as
to other features more especially to that class of machines known to the trade as
"band re-sawing machines" designed for re-sawing timbers and plank into thin
boards, and wide boards into thin boards adapted for backings for picture frames,
bottoms for drawers, panels, boxes, &c.
The object of these improvements is to govern the path of the saw on the upper
saw pulley (for the purpose of regulating the back thrust of the saw on its guides)
without stretching the saw more on one side than on the other, which unequal
straining of the saw is very objectionable, and must necessarily result when the said
pulley is tipped or canted, the method heretofore in common use for governing the
path of the saw.
Also, to so mount the bearing of the upper pulley arbor on the column or stand
that the adjustment of said bearing to strain the saw will always be accomplished
in a true vertical line with a minimum of frictional resistance.
Also, to equalize the strain of the saw pulley arbors on their inside bearings,
that is to say, to provide means whereby the strain is distributed equally over the
T

page_text: entire bearing surfaces, so that the pulley arbors will run true, and heating of the
arbors and bearings be obviated.
Also, to so arrange the saw guides that they will always remain in true alignment
after proper adjustment, and bear equally the back thrust of the saw.
Also, to facilitate the adjustment of the guides to the back of the saw, and their
ready removal in case the saw is to be taken off.
Also, to provide means for the convenient vertical adjustment of the upper saw
guide from the front side of the machine, where the operator takes his position.
Also, to so construct the mechanism for pressing the movable feed rolls against
the stuff that the pressure may be instantaneously relieved simultaneously with the
retraction of these feed rolls, so that the stuff can be quickly drawn back in case
the saw "runs."
Also, to provide a more convenient and efficient means for changing the speed
of the feed rolls.
Also, to provide a saw guide which, while it will automatically accommodate itself
to any undulating motions of the body of the saw blade, will maintain the teeth of
the saw blade in one unvarying line.
In the machine presently to be more specifically described these various objects
are accomplished by the following means-The stand supporting the bearing of the
upper saw pulley arbor is pivotted upon the bed frame at a point in about the plane
of the front side of the saw, and in the vertical axial plane of the lower saw pulley,
so that by turning the stand on its pivot the upper saw pulley can be arranged to
run in a plane oblique to the plane of the lower saw pulley, thereby shifting the
path of the saw, at the same time maintaining the parallellism of the peripheral
surfaces of the two saw pulleys.
The bearing of the upper saw pulley is combined with antifriction rollers arranged
to run on the exterior and interior sides of the ways of the stand, in such a manner
as to permit of the required adjustment of the bearing to dispose it in a horizontal
plane parallel to that of the lower saw pulley arbor.
The overhung ends of the two saw pulley arbors are coupled together by a
straining rod, carrying a pivotted bearing at each end to connect on to the arbors.
This straining rod is adjustable in length, so that it can be made to act on the
arbors with a spreading force, sufficient to equalize the strain of said arbors on their
inside bearings, compensating for the tendency of the saw to draw the arbors
towards each other and cause them to grind into their inside bearings.
Both saw guides are supported on the same standard. The guides proper are
mounted on slides, intermediate between them and the supporting standard, providing
for their lateral adjustment and ready removal.
The upper guide is combined with a lever mechanism for vertical adjustment,
the hand lever being so located as to extend to the side of the machine where it
is in convenient reach of the operator.
The movable feed rollers are pressed against the stuff by a weighted lever through
intermediate rack and pinion (and lever and link connection in this instance), the
weighted lever acting through a pawl on a ratchet wheel on the pinion shaft, so
that by simply disengaging the pawl the pressure upon the feed rolls can be instantly
relieved.
The friction pinion for driving the feed gearing is fixed on its shaft, and the
friction disk on which the pinion operates is carried on the end of a rod, connected
at its other end by a knuckle joint to the shaft of the first wheel of the feed
gearing. The rod carrying the friction disk is swung laterally to change the speed
of the feed rolls by a lever through the medium of a rock shaft and arm.
The self-adjusting saw guide is pivoted to its holder in such a way that the line of
the teeth of the saw blade will be coincident with the axis around which the guide
swings.
The several combinations and arrangements of the instrumentalities claimed as
new are concisely set forth in the claims at the close of this Specification.
The best forms of my Invention, so far devised by me, are represented in the

page_text: accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the machine;
Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the same; Figure 3 is a sectional elevation thereof;
Figure 4 is a sectional end view; Figures 5 and 6 are detail views; Figures 7 to
10 illustrate the improved self-adjusting saw guide.
The same letters of reference are used in all the Figures in the designation of
identical parts.
A refers to the bed frame of the machine adapted to give support to the various
parts of which the machine is composed. The lower pulley arbor B is arranged
across the bed frame, near one end thereof, turning in suitable bearings supported
within encircling fixed rings by centre screws, in the usual manner, admitting of a
delicate adjustment of the plane of the shaft or arbor. The lower saw pulley C is
fixed to the arbor B near one end, the driving pulley being secured to the other
end. E refers to the stand or column which supports the bearing Fat its upper
bifurcated end. It is pivotted to the bed frame A at e, a point located in about the
plane of the front edge of the saw, and vertically over the axis of the lower saw
pulley arbor, as shown in Figure 3. On the opposite side of the column the flange
around its base has a segmental slot e', through which a clamping bolt passes
into the bed frame to permanently secure the column in position after it has been
properly adjusted. A long lever El pivotted on the bed frame, and passing up
through lugs c² on the base flauge of the drum is used to adjust the latter.
Other means, such, for instance, as a screw or gearing, will readily suggest them-
selves as equivalents of the lever for turning the column on its pivot.
The bearing of the upper saw pulley arbor necessarily partakes of the move-
ments of the column. Thus by turning the column the direction of the axial line
of this arbor may be changed with reference to that of the lower arbor B, so that
the plane of rotation of the upper saw pulley may either be coincident with or
intersect the plane of rotation of the lower saw pulley at a greater or less angle.
This adjustment preserves the parallellism of the peripheral surfaces of the two
saw pulleys, and changes the path of the saw without disturbing its equal tension.
The bearing F is snugly fitted between the ways at the front and rear sides of
the column, and is confined to the ways ff, by the antifriction rollers F¹, F¹, F*, F,
and the pins or studs f' and fº. The antifriction rollers F¹ are arranged at the
top of the bearing to run on the interior side of ways f, while the rollers f² are
carried by the head G' of rod G, which is adjustably connected by a screw to the
downward projection of the bearing. The rollers F run on the exterior side of
ways f, and together with the rollers F¹ form a carriage for the bearing bound to
cause it to move vertically with certainty and accuracy, and that with a minimum
of frictional resistance. By running screw g in or out the bearing can be properly
adjusted with reference to the horizontal plane of the lower arbor B. The rod G
is connected to the short arm of weighted lever G, which is fulcrumed on the
column and exerts a constant upward pressure through said rod upon the bearing
F, keeping the saw strained to the desired degree. A projecting rib g' on the top
of the head G¹ of rod G is in contact with the under side of the bearing, so that
there is no upward strain on adjusting screw g. H refers to the saw, and I to the
upper saw pulley, secured to the overhung end of arbor 1. The saw pulley arbor
protrudes some distance beyond the hubs of the pulleys, to receive each a sleeve or
bearing K. These sleeve bearings are connected by a straining rod composed of the
bars and ¹, adjustably connected by a sleeve coupling k², with right and left screw
threads adapted to corresponding threads on adjacent ends of these bars, and a
third bar fitted in a socket in bar upon an elastic cushion *. The bars k
and are pivotted with their extremities to the sleeve bearings K. By turning
the sleeve coupling the length of the straining rod can be adjusted so as to exert
the degree of spreading action on the saw pulley arbors required to compensate for
the opposite strain put upon then by the saw, and thus cause the arbors to run
true in their bearings. The elastic cushion provides for the changes in the length
of the saw caused by expansion or contraction.

page_text: เ
The saw guides L, shewn in Figures 1 to 6, are adjustably connected to hori-
zontal ways on the slides L' by means of screws l. The ways are provided
with a lug containing the nut in which the screw operates, the screw being per-
manently connected to the guide, whose side is suitably chambered out so that it
can move in and out over lug . By means of the screws the guides may be
readily adjusted to the back of the saw, or entirely removed when that becomes
necessary. Both slides L¹ of the guides are carried on the same standard L², rigidly
secured to the bed frame in the proper position with reference to the path of the
saw. The guides being thus supported on the saine rigid standard, they will alway
maintain the alignment to which they have been adjusted, a feature of most vital
importance.
The slide carrying the upper saw guide proper is connected by a link L³ to one
arm of a lever L, extending to the front side of the machine, so that it is in con-
venient reach of the operator, who through means of it can vertically adjust the
upper guide without leaving his post.
The lever is provided with the common spring latch for locking it in any
required position to a fixed toothed segment or arch L, which in this instance is
secured to the frame of the movable feed rolls, on which the lever is also
fulcrumed.
Both guides may be permanently secured on their cominon standard by set screws
1s (seen in Figure 2).
The machine will operate very well with saw guides of the kind so far described,
but a better form of guide is illustrated in Figures 7 to 10. These Figures shew
the holder of the guide adapted to be applied directly to a cylindrical standard as
used on ordinary band sawing machines, but in Figure 7 the dotted lines indicate
a construction of the holder, which adapts it to be applied to a slide L in the
same way as guide L is applied thereto. This self-adjusting saw guide is so con-
structed and applied as to allow no deviation from the determined direction or path
of the saw at the line of the points of its teeth. It consists of a loosely swinging
guide pivotted to its holder in such a way that the line of the teeth of the saw
blade will be coincident with the axis around which the guide swings. The self-
adjusting character of the guides provides for the undulating motions of the saw
blade, occurring in sawing stuff of uneven thickness, and in sawing in curved
lines, without at all affecting the determined line of the cut, which will be main-
tained by the guide in the true direction throughout. The running of the saw
of band saw mills for which this saw guide is more especially intended is also
prevented by the self-adjusting character of the guide, because the friction on the
saw is thereby reduced to a minimum. The uneven wearing away of the guide,
that is, wearing more near the front of the saw blade than near the back is thus
provided against.
The holder by which the swinging portion of the guide is supported on a suitable
arm or standard of the sawing machine or on a slide L' of a standard consists of
a block A, and two plates B* and B**, which are rigidly connected to the
respective ends of the block and extend forward therefrom. These plates are formed
with long tapering slots b*, which extend from their extreme outer ends inward,
and are preferably shaped substantially as shewn. Annular grooves b**, whose
continuity is only interrupted by the slots b*, are formed in the opposing inner
faces of these plates near their extremne outer ends. These annular grooves receive
the journal ends C** of the pivot plates C* of the guide. Said journal ends are
segments of a true hollow cylinder fitting the annular grooves so that they can turn
therein. Where confined between the plates of the holder a suitable space inter-
venes between the segmental journal ends for the play of the saw between their
opposing faces, as shewn clearly in Figure 8. There will be sufficient friction
between the journals and their bearings to hold the guide reasonably steady so as
to prevent trembling vibrations of the saw.
The pivot plates constitute the front of the guide D* refers to the back, between

page_text: which and the pivot plates the cheeks E*, which support the saw blade on its sides,
are secured by bolts, as best shown in Figure S.
Each check Ex is preferably made of several plates of wood or other non-frictional
material, so that by removing or adding plates the depth of the guide may be
adapted to the width of the saw blade; the checks are slotted where the bolts pass
through them, so that they may be laterally adjusted to accommodate saw blades of
different thicknesses, and to compensate for wear.
The back Dx of the guide contains a circularly adjustable vertical steel cylinder
Fx to support the back of the saw blade and receive the back thrust. Other well-
known means may be used to support the back of the saw, such as a straight piece
of steel or an antifriction wheel.
In applying this guide it must be so adjusted that the points of the teeth of the
saw will be coincident, or nearly so, with the axis of the pivot plates of the guide,
whose location is indicated by the point X in Figures 8 and 9. As the guide moves
around this axis it follows that lateral motions of the saw blade will not affect the
determined direction of the cut.
It should be understood that the mode shewn and described of pivotting the
swinging portion of the guide may be greatly varied in the details of construction
without departing from the principle of this feature of the Invention, which will
be involved whenever the guide is hung to swing loosely when in operation around
an axis coincident with the line of the saw teeth.
A narrow platen is arranged transversely across the top of the bed frame, in front
of the saw, over which the stuff is fed by the two sets of vertical feed rolls.
M, M, and N, N, journaled respectively in suitable frames adapted to slide in ways
on the bed frame. The frame of the feed rolls M can be adjusted by screw m,
which holds it in a fixed position. The feed rolls N are movable to exert a constant
pressure on the stuff and adapt themselves to inequalities in its thickness to
warped stuff, &c. To this end the frame of these movable rolls N is connected with
a sliding rack N', which meshes with a pinion N2 fixed on a short shaft n at the
front side of the machine. A ratchet wheel N³ is also fixed on this shaft.
A weighted lever N is pivotted on shaft n, and provided with a pawl N³,
adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel N³. The rack N' is connected
by a lever No, and link N7 to the frame of rolls N, so that under the arrangement
of the parts here shown the weighted lever may, when its pawl is engaged with the
ratchet wheel, push the rolls N towards the rolls M, as required.
It will be observed that the movable feed rolls N may be instantaneously
relievod of the action of the weighted lever N*, by simply disengaging pawl Nº from
the ratchet wheel, to facilitate which the pawl is provided with a handle, as shewn.
The ratchet and pawl also make it possible to maintain the horizontality of the
lever, whatever may be the position of the movable feed rolls. The weight of the
lever is adjustably secured, so that the pressure of the movable feed rolls can be
duly regulated.
The lower journals of the feed rolls are provided with spur wheels, the wheels
of each set meshing with an intermediate driving pinion on a shaft driven by bevel
gearing from a horizontal shaft O underneath the bevel wheels on said horizontal
shaft, being connected with the respective frames of the two sets of feed rolls, to
slide back and forth therewith. This being the common arrangement for driving
feed rolls, such as here used, it requires no more specific description The horizontal
shaft O extends through the end of the bed frame, and carries a spur wheel 0¹,
which is driven by a small pinion 02, on shaft 0, adapted to slide to a limited
extent in its bearings. The inner end of shaft O³ is connected by a knuckle joint
to the bar or rod 0, the other end of which carries a friction disk O³, which is
driven to turn the rod and impart rotary motion to the feed rolls by a friction
pinion 0° on the lower saw pulley arbor B. Near the friction disk O³, rod O' is
supported by a bearing 07, adapted to slide laterally on its support in conformity
with the lateral adjustments of the rod carrying the friction disk, whereby the speed

page_text: of the feed rolls is regulated. The rod Otis swung toward or away from the friction
pinion O, thereby changing the position of the friction disk with reference thereto,
and diminishing or increasing the speed of the feed rolls by an arm P¹ on the rock
shaft P. This rock shaft is operated and controlled by a lever P2 pivotted to its
protruding end at the outside of the bed frame. The lever P is provided with a
spring latch to lock it in any required position to the toothed arch, a segment .P³
fixed on the bed frame. At the point opposite the shaft O the lever P is provided
with a plate p, seated upon or against a rubber or other elastic cushion ¹. This
plate acts with a constant pressure against the end of shaft 03, and causes the disk
O to be pressed forcibly against the pinion O6.
What I desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
1. A band saw, in which the support of the bearing of the upper saw pulley
arbor is adapted for adjustment, substantially as described, whereby the upper saw
pulley can be set to rotate in a plane, either coincident with or obliquely intersecting
the plane of rotation of the lower saw pulley.
2. The combination, substantially as specified, of the column provided with
vertical ways, the bearing of the upper saw pulley arbor, and the two sets of anti-
friction rollers, one set being arranged near the top of the bearing to run on the
interior side of the ways, and the other set near the bottom of the bearing to run
on the exterior side of the ways.
3. The combination, substantially as specified, of the column provided with ver-
tical ways the bearing of the upper saw pulley arbor, provided with fixed pins or
studs and f, the two sets of antifriction rollers arranged as herein-before set
forth, and the adjusting screw.
4. The combination, substantially as specified, of the two saw pulley arbors, the
outside sleeve bearings on the overhung ends thereof, and the straining rod,
adjustable in length.
5. The combination, substantially as specified, of the two saw pulley arbors, the
outside sleeve bearings on the overhung cends thereof, and the straining rod,
adjustable in length, and adapted to automatically change in length to a limited
extent to compensate for the contraction and expansion of the saw.
6. In a band saw, the combination substantially as specified of the upper and lower
saw guides, and an independent and permanently fixed supporting standard common
to both guides.
7 The combination, substantially as specified, of an independent and permanently
fixed supporting standard, the vertical adjustable slide, the guide proper, riding
on a horizontal way or ways on the slide, and means for adjusting the guide
proper horizontally.
8. The combination, substantially as specified, of the upper saw guide and the
lever for adjusting it vertically from the front side of the machine.
9. The combination, substantially as specified, of the movable feed rolls, the sliding
rack connected with the frame thereof, the pinion, the weighted lever, the hinged
pawl thereof, and the ratchet wheel on the arbor of the pinion.
10. The combination, substantially as specified, of the fixed friction pinion, the
friction disk, the rod connected by knuckle joint at one end to shaft 03, and adapted
to be swung laterally for shifting the friction disk it carries at the other end, and
the laterally adjustable bearing of the rod.
11. The combination, substantially as specified, of shaft 0%, the rod connected
thereto by a knuckle joint, and carrying the friction disk, the laterally adjustable
bearing of said rod, the rock shaft, the arm thereon, and the lever for operating the
rock shaft.
12. A saw guide, self-adjusting when in operation, and pivotted or hung at the
front with its axis in the plane of the saw slit, so that the axis around which the
slide moves in adjusting itself when in use on a machine will be coincident with or
near the line of the front of the saw blade, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.

page_text: 13. The combination, substantially as specified, of the holder, having slotted and
annularly grooved plates, and tho guide provided at the front with segmental
journals adapted to and turning in the annular grooves of the said plates.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Varicas, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.
TTAYY TADTANARA dral
LIONEL VARICAS.
ANETADIGAN