IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TIMBER, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR REDUCING LOGS INTO BEAMS, PLANKS, BOARDS, OR THE LIKE
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TIMBER, CHIEFLY DESIGNED
FOR REDUCING LOGS INTO BEAMS, PLANKS, BOARDS, OR THE LIKE."
A communication from abroad by David Ranney Proctor, of Gloucester,
Massachusetts. United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd June 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING
TIMBER, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR REDUCING LOGS INTO BEAMS, PLANKS, BOARDS,
OR THE LIKE." [A communication from abroad by David Ranney Proctor, of
Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States of America.]
This Invention has for its object to provide means for rapidly converting logs or
other bodies of wood into "lumber," that is to say, into beams, planks, boards, joists,
or the like of any desired size, and leave such lumber or pieces with true surface,
which will require but little or no planing.
To this end the said Invention comprises a series of cutters arranged and adapted
to cut through a log lengthwise thereof and parallel with the grain, each cutter
operating on the principle of a carpenter's plough, and cutting a shaving the entire
length of the log, the series of cutters being arranged in a descending scale, so
that each cutter after the first will enter the log more deeply than the cutter
preceding it.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I provide a series of cutters of any
desired number, each cutter being adapted to cut a shaving of any desired width
and thickness from end to end of a log, either by being held stationary while the
log is being moved against it, or by being moved along the log. Each cutter after
the first is lower than the preceding cutter by the thickness of the shaving to be
cut, and therefore the number of cutters employed determines the depth of the cut.
The said cutters may be of any suitable construction; I prefer to make them on
037

page_text: plates, each plate being of steel, and provided in its sides with diagonal grooves or
channels, and on its lower edge with inclined surfaces and projections or heels, the
cutters being formed by the meeting of one surface and the rear sides of the
grooves. The grooves extend diagonally from the cutters towards the opposite
edge of the plate far enough to enable the shavings removed by the cutters to pass
away from the log through said grooves. The cutters are thinner than the body of
the plate, and one side of every alternate cutter is flush with one side of the same,
and the opposite sides of the other cutters are flush with the opposite side of the
plate. This arrangement of cutters is essential when several are made on a single
plate, it being necessary that the body of the plate be thicker than the teeth in
order that the grooves, which must be equal in depth to the thickness of the teeth,
may be cut in the plate. The grooves are therefore formed alternately on opposite
sides of the plate.
The aforesaid heels form bearing surfaces, each bearing upon the bottom of the
groove formed by the preceding cutter, and each heel is on the same level as the
cutter immediately preceding it, and forms a guard or guide to limit the depth of
the cut made by said cutter. I prefer to arrange the plates in two series, one
series arranged to cut into the upper, and the other series into the lower surface of
the log, the two series being on the same plane and converging to meet at their
inner ends and forming a single cut. The plates are secured to a strong frame of
any suitable construction, and as said frame and plates are of considerable weight
I prefer to make them stationary, and move the log on a suitable carriage.
In the operation of the machine the log is moved with considerable rapidity
against the cutters. The first cutter that touches the log planes a shaving along
the surface, the next a second shaving, and so on, each cutter making the longi-
tudinal incision deeper, until, when the log reaches the end of the series, a board
or plank is entirely severed from it, and the sides of the scarf made are left so
nearly true that the piece requires but little or no planing. The shavings slide
freely through the groove or channels out of the log. The width of the grooves is
made greater than their depth, and the front wall or side of each groove is curved
to join the bottom of the groove without an angle. This curve causes the shaving
to turn as it passes up the groove, so that its cross section will extend from the
front to the back of the groove instead of extending across the depth of the groove,
or in other words from the bottom to the side of the scarf through which the
cutters are moving. As herein before stated the groove is wider than it is deep,
so that the shaving has ample room in which to move, and its edges will not bind
against the walls of the groove in passing out.
The above described manner of cutting logs into lumber or pieces virtually slices
the log, and with great rapidity. The cutters may be made vertically adjustable
if desired, so that a log of large size can be cut by two or more operations, the
cutters being set to enter the log more deeply after each cut.
By means of this Invention about two-thirds less power is required than in
sawing, which is necessarily cutting across the grain. This apparatus also effects
a saving of about one-third of the material usually converted into saw dust in
sawing, for the reason that the scarf formed by my cutters is only about two thirds
of the width of the scarf formed by an ordinary saw. Moreover the material
removed in forming the scarf by my apparatus, being in the form of shavings, has
much more commercial value than saw dust. Furthermore, as the planing of the
saw marks necessitated by the old method subjects the lumber or pieces to an
additional waste of nearly or quite one-eighth of its bulk, the great advantages of
my machine, which saves all of this waste as well as the expense of planing, will be
more clearly apparent.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
December 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING
TIMBER, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR REDUCING LOGS INTO BEAMS, PLANKS, BOARDS,
OR THE LIKE." A communication from abroad by David Ranney Proctor, of
Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States of America.
This Invention has for its object to provide means for rapidly converting logs or
other bodies of wood into "lumber," that is to say, into beams, planks, boards,
joists, or the like of any desired size, and leaving such lumber or pieces with true
surfaces, which will require but little or no planing.
To this end the said Invention comprises a series of cutters arranged and adapted
to cut through a log lengthwise thereof and parallel with the grain, each cutter
operating on the principle of a carpenter's plough, and cutting a shaving the entire
length of the log, the series of cutters being arranged in a descending scale, so
that each cutter after the first will enter the log more deeply than the cutter
preceding it.
In the accompanying Drawing,-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying my Invention, and
Figure 2 is an end view of the same.
Figure 3 represents a side view of the cutting plates drawn to an enlarged
scale, and
Figure 4 is an edge view of the same.
Figure 5 represents an end view of the said cutter plates, and
Figure 6 is a section on the line x, x, Figure 3.
Like letters indicate the same parts in all of the Figures.
In carrying this Invention into practice I provide a series of cutters a, a, of any
desired number, each cutter being adapted to cut a shaving of any desired width
and thickness from end to end of a log, either by being held stationary while the
log is being moved against it or by being moved along the log. Each cutter after
the first is lower than the preceding cutter by the thickness of the shaving to
be cut, and therefore the number of cutters employed determines the depth of
the cut.
The said cutters may be of any suitable construction; I prefer however to form
thein on plates b, b, as shewn. Each of these plates is made of steel, and provided
in its sides with diagonal grooves or channels c, and on its lower edge with
inclined surfaces d, d, and projections or heels e, e, (the cutters being formed by
the meeting of the surfaces d and the rear sides of the grooves). The grooves c
extend diagonally from the cutters towards the opposite edge of the plate, far
enough to enable the shavings removed by the cutters to pass away from the log
through the said grooves. The cutters a, a, are thinner than the body of the
plate b, and one side of every alternate cutter is flush with one side of the said
plate b, and the opposite sides of the other cutters are flush with the opposite side
of the saine, as shewn in Figure 4. This arrangement of the cutters is essential
when several are made on a single plate, it being necessary that the body of the
plate be thicker than the teeth in order that the grooves e (which must be equal in
depth to the thickness of the teeth) may be cut in the plate. The grooves are
therefore formed alternately on opposite sides of the plate, as shewn.
The heels e, e, form bearing surfaces, each bearing upon the bottom of the groove
formed by the preceding cutter, and each heel is on the same level as the cutter

page_text: immediately preceding it, and forms a guard or guide to limit the depth of the cut
made by the said cutter. I prefer to arrange the plates b, b, in two series, as
shewn in Figure 1; one series is arranged to cut into the upper surface of the log,
and the other series into the lower surface of the same, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2,
the two scries being on the same plano and converging to meet at their inner ends,
and forming a single cut. The plates b, b, are secured to a strong frame F of any
suitable construction, and as the said frame and plates are of considerable weight I
prefer to make them stationary, and move the log, which is represented at L on a
suitable carriage C, in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1.
In the operation of the machine the log is moved with considerable rapidity
against the cutters. The first cutter that touches the log planes a shaving along
the surface, the next a second shaving, and so on, each cutter making the longi-
tudinal incision deeper, until when the log reaches the end of the series a board or
plank is entirely severed from it, and the sides of the scarf made are left so nearly
true that the piece requires but little or no planing; the shavings slide freely
through the grooves or channels out of the log. The width of the grooves is made
greater than their depth, and the front wall or side 1 of each groove is curved to
join the bottom 2 of the groove without an angle, as shewn in Figure 6. This
curve causes the shaving to turn as it passes up the groove, as indicated by dotted
lines in Figure 6, so that its cross section will extend from the front 1 to the back 3
of the groove, instead of extending across the depth of the groove, or, in other
words, from the bottom 2 to the side of the scarf through which the cutters are
moving. As herein before stated the groove is wider than it is deep, so that the
shaving situated as shewn has ample room in which to move, and its edges will not
bind against the walls of the groove in passing out.
The above described manner of cutting logs into lumber or pieces may be aptly
termed " slicing," as it virtually slices the log, and with great rapidity. The
cutters may be made vertically adjustable if desired, so that a log of large size can
be cut by two or more operations, the cutters being set to enter the log inore deeply
after each cut.
By ploughing or cutting the log for the production of lumber or pieces, as above
described, about two-thirds less power is required than in sawing, which is
necessarily cutting across the grain. This apparatus also effects a saving of about
one third of the material usually converted into saw dust in sawing, for the reason
that the scarf formed by my cutters is only about two thirds of the width of the
scarf formed by an ordinary saw. Moreover the inaterial removed in forming the
scarf by my apparatus being in the form of shavings has much more commercial
value than sawdust. Furthermore, as the planing off of the saw-marks necessitated
by the ordinary method of cutting timber subjects the lumber or pieces to an
additional and considerable waste, the great advantages of my machine, which
saves all of this waste as well as the expense of planing, will be more clearly
apparent.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I am aware that a machine for tonguing and grooving boards by means
of a series of descending cutters or planes has already been used, but such cutters
or planes have not been employed for the convertion of logs into lumber, and I
claim,
First. As a means for cutting timber or converting loge into lumber a plate
having a series of inclined grooves formed alternately in its opposite sides, and a
series of cutters formed on its edge at the ends of the grooves, each cutter being
substantially equal in thickness to the depth of each groove, and the said cutters
being narrower than the thickness of the plate, and so arranged that one side of
every alternate cutter is flush with one side of the plate, and the opposite sides
of the other cutters is flush with the opposite side of the plate, substantially as
above described.

page_text: Second. A plate having a series of cutters thinner than the body of the plate
(one side of every alternate cutter being flush with one side of the plate, and the
opposite sides of the other cutters with the opposite side of the plate), and a series
of inclined grooves or channels formed alternately in the opposite sides of the plate,
and extending from the points of the cutters to conduct the shavings out of the log,
as above set forth.
Third. A plate having a series of cutters and a series of grooves extending
alternately on opposite sides from the cutters, each groove being wider than it is
deep, and having its forward edge curved to join its inner side, as above set forth
and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
W ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)