IMPROVEMENTS IN SCULPTURE COPYING APPARATUS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gerhard Mathis, of Villingen, in the Grand
Duchy of Baden, but at present of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCULPTURE COPYING APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gerhard Mathis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th April 1873.
I, GERHARD MATHIS, of Villingen, in the Grand Duchy of Baden,
but at present of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCULPTURE COPYING APPARATUS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus whereby a copy is made from a
sculptured model by the action of a drill or revolving cutter guided so
as to penetrate to the proper depths at different parts of the block of
material in which the copy is executed. For this purpose the model

page_text: and the block to be sculptured are fixed, each between centres, upon a
sliding table. Each of the pairs of centres is provided with a dividing
wheel or plate, so that the model and the copy can be turned equally
thereon. And the two tables are connected together by right and left
screws, or by racks, and geared wheels, or by other suitable gearing, so
that when cither is moved the other is moved equally with it in the
opposite direction. Above the two tables a lever is mounted in a
spherical socket, or in fulcra formed like gimbals so that it can
oscillate both vertically and horizontally. At the one end of the lever is
fixed a dumb drill or tracer, the point of which can be moved over the
surface of the sculptured model. At the other end of the lever is mounted
a drill or revolving cutter driven either by a strap from a pulley
mounted at the centre of motion of the lever, or by bevil gearing from
a rotating spindle extending along the arm of the lever, and driven from
bevil gearing at the centre of motion, the pulley or gearing at the
centre of motion being itself driven by a strap from any convenient
· rotating pulley external to the apparatus. The drill or rotating cutter
being pressed against the blocks to be sculptured removes a depth of
the material determined by the extent to which the dumb drill or tracer
at the other end of the lever can be depressed till it reaches the surface
of the model. When by this action of the drill or cutter the tables'
being moved longitudinally one line or groove of the material is re-
moved from the block to be sculptured the model and block are turned
equally round on the centres, so as to bring another line or groove
within range of the cutter, and this being cut the process is repeated
till the whole surface of the block is sculptured to the configuration of
the model.
Sometimes it is desired that the copy should be made to the opposite
hand of the model. To provide for this the two tables instead of being
connected so as to move simultaneously in opposite directions, are
rigidly connected so as to move equally in the same direction. In this
case the cutter being at the end of the lever opposite to the tracer cuts
a profile like that followed by the tracer, but to the opposite hand,
and the model and copy being turned equally but in opposite directions
on their centres a handed copy of the original is produced..
For making handed copies a modified form of apparatus may be
employed, constructed as follows:-Instead of one lever as above
described there are two mounted in spherical sockets or in gimbals, the

page_text: one carrying the tracer and the other the drill or revolving cutter with
the gearing for driving it. The end of each of the two levers, which is
presented to that of the other is formed with a head, which is a
segment of a sphere struck from the centre of motion of the lever as
a centre. The two spherical segments thus presented to and touching
each other are provided with teeth, or projections and hollows, which
gear them together in such a manner that when the one lever is made
to oscillate either vertically or horizontally, the other lever is made
to oscillate to the same extent, and in the same direction. In this
case also the model and the block in which the copy is to be exe-
cuted are, fixed between centres provided with dividing plates, and
mounted on tables geared so as to move simultaneously in opposite
directions.
.
In either of these forms of the apparatus the two tables may be
mounted on longitudinal axes, so that they can be canted to any
required angle, either in the same or in opposite directions, in order
to effect undercutting, or to permit the drill and tracer to reach points
at either side of the model and block respectively. When the tables
are so arranged the axes on which they can be canted are connected
by gearing so as to ensure an equal amount of cant to the original and
the copy
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Gerhard Mathis in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GERHARD
MATHIS, of Villigen, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, but at present of
No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Gerhard Mathis, Her special license that
I, the said Gerhard Mathis, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Gerhard Mathis, my executors, adminis

page_text: trators, 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 Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCULPTURE
COPYING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Gerhard Mathis, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gerhard Mathis, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
This Invention relates to apparatus whereby a copy is made from a
sculptured model by the action of a drill or revolving cutter guided so
as to penetrate to the proper depths at different parts of the block of
material in which the copy is executed. For this purpose the model
and the block to be sculptured are fixed, each between centres upon a
sliding table. Each of the pairs of centres.is provided with a dividing
wheel or plate so that the model and the copy can be turned equally
thereon. And the two tables are connected together by right and left
screws, or by racks and geared wheels, or by other suitable gearing, so
that when either is moved the other is moved equally with it in the
opposite direction. Above the two tables a léver is mounted in a
spherical socket or in fulcra formed like gimbals, so that it can oscillate
both vertically and horizontally. At the one end of the lever is fixed a
dumb drill or tracer, the point of which can be moved over the surface
of the sculptured model. At the other end of the lever is mounted
a drill or revolving cutter driven, either by a strap. from a pulley mounted
at the centre of motion of the lever, or by bevil gearing from a rotating
spindle extending along the arm of the lever, and driven from bevil
gearing at the centre of motion, the pulley or gearing at the centre of

page_text: motion being itself driven by a strap from any convenient rotating
pulley external to the apparatus. The drill or rotating cutter being
pressed against the blocks to be sculptured removes a depth of the
material determined by the extent to which the dumb drill or tracer at
the other end of the lever can be depressed till it reaches the surface of
the model. When by this action of the drill or cutter, the tables being
moved longitudinally, one line or groove of the material is removed from
the block to be sculptured, the model and blocks are turned equally
round on the centres so as to bring another line or groove within range
of the cutter, and this being cut the process is repeated till the whole
surface of the block is sculptured to the configuration of the model.
Sometimes it is desired that the copy should be made to the opposite
hand of the model. To provide for this the two tables instead of being
connected so as to move simultaneously in opposite directions are
rigidly connected so as to move equally in the same direction. In this
case the cutter being at the end of the lever opposite to the tracer cuts
a profile like that followed by the tracer, but to the opposite hand, and
the model and copy being turned equally but in opposite directions on
their centres a handed copy of the original is produced.
For making handed copies a modified form of apparatus may be em-
ployed constructed as follows:-Instead of one lever, as above described,
there are two mounted in spherical sockets or in gimbals, the one
carrying the tracer, and the other the drill or revolving cutter with the
gearing for driving it. The end of each of the two levers which is
presented to that of the other is formed with a head which is a segment
of a sphere struck from the centre of motion of the lever as a centre.
The two spherical segments thus presented to and touching each other
are provided with teeth or projections and hollows which gear them
together in such a manner that when the one lever is made to oscillate
either vertically or horizontally, the other lever is made to oscillate to
the same extent, and in the same direction. In this case also the model
and the block in which the copy is to be executed, are fixed between
centres provided with dividing plates, and mounted on tables geared so
as to move simultaneously in opposite directions.
In either of these forms of the apparatus the two tables may be
mounted on longitudinal axes so that they can be canted to any required
angle, either in the same or in opposite directions in order to effect under-
cutting, or to permit the drill and tracer. to reach points at either side

page_text: of the model and block respectively. When the tables are so arranged
the axes on which they can be canted are connected by gearing so as to
ensure an equal amount of cant to the original, and the copy.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a side view, and Fig. 2 a plan partly in section of a
sculpture copying apparatus constructed according to my Invention.
A is the table on which are fitted to slide two heads B and C, which can
be worked to or from each other by means of screws b and c, taking into
nuts projecting down from the heads B and C. One of the screws, as
6 may be prolonged so that it extends beyond the end of the table, as
shewn in the Figures; and the end so prolonged, as well as the end of
the other screw c may be provided with change pinions 6' and c¹. When
these pinions are of such size that they gear into one another, on turning
either screw in one direction the other will be turned in the opposite
direction, and thus the heads B and C will be caused to move equal
distances but in opposite directions, that is to say, both towards or both
away from the centre of the machine. By using smaller pinions at
6' and c and gearing both with an intermediate wheel, the screws will
be made to move in the same direction, and the heads B and C will also
be made to move in the same direction. It is obvious that a similar
result might be attained by the use of right and left screws or racks with
connecting gear for moving the heads B and C. On the one head B
is mounted the block to be shaped, and on the other head C is mounted
the pattern or model, both the block and the model being secured to
dividing plates 62 and c², so that either being turned through a certain
part of a revolution the other can be turned equally round. In the
middle of the table is mounted on the spherical joint D the lever D¹,
having two equal arms. On the one arm is mounted the revolving drill
or cutter E, and on the other is fixed the dumb drill or tracer F adjust-
able to the same length as the drill. Motion may be imparted to the
drill E by gearing, as shewn in the Figures, such gearing being arranged
to permit the free movement of the lever in the spherical joint D. .In
this arrangement of gearing G is the driving shaft caused to rotate from
any convenient prime mover. On this shaft is fixed within the globe of
the joint D a bevil pinion g gearing with a bevil wheel h, also mounted
within the globe of the joint, which wheel gears with another bevil
pinion i fixed on a spindle extending along the one arm of the lever, and
connected by beyil or mitre gear e to the drill E. According to this

page_text: arrangement the lever with the wheel h can be turned horizontally
round the axis of G, and the lever can also be turned vertically round
the axis of h to the extent allowed by openings d, d, in the sides of the
globular casing D.
Instead of mounting the lever on a spherical joint, as shewn in Figs.
1 and 2, it may be mounted in gimbal fulcra, as shewn in Fig. 3, which
represents a front view; Fig. 4 which represents a transverse section of
a lever mounted in this manner, the one end carrying the drill E and
the other the tracer F. In this case the lever is pivotted horizontally
within a fork K, which is mounted on a vertical pivot L. A hollow
pulley I in the centre of motion may be driven by a strap from a prime
mover situated above it, and the shaft of this pulley by means of the
bevil or mitre gear e drives the drill E.
1
Fig. 6 represents a side view partly in section, and Fig. 7 represents a
transverse section on line x, x, Fig. 6, of the modified apparatus employed,
more particularly when a handed copy is required. In this modification
two levers are employed, the one D carrying the drill E, and the other
D' carrying the tracer F. Each of these levers is mounted on horizontal
pivots within a frame M, which is mounted on vertical pivots within a
fixed framing N, so that thus each lever has a free gimbal movement.
The short ends of the levers terminate in spherical bosses O concentric
respectively with the axes on which the levers turn and presenting on
their spherical surfaces projections and hollows, which have the effect of
gearing the levers together, so that when the one oscillates up or down,
or backwards or forwards, the other oscillates to a like extent in the
same direction. The drill E may in this case be driven by a strap from
a hollow pulley P mounted in the centre of motion of the lever on the
spindle of a pulley Q driven from any convenient prime mover.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. In a sculpture copying apparatus the combination of a lever
mounted at its middle on a spherical joint, or on gimbals, and carrying
at one end a drill, and at the other a tracer, with two heads in which
are fixed respectively the block to be sculptured and the pattern, such
heads being geared together so as to traverse equally, substantially in
the manner and for the purpose herein-described.

page_text: Second. In a sculpture copying apparatus more particularly for
producing a handed copy; the use of two levers mounted on gimbals,
and having spherical ends gearing together substantially in the manner
herein-described in reference to Figs. 6 and 7 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gerhard Mathis, have hereunto set t
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
GERHARD MATHIS. (L.S.)