IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING UP THICK PLANKS OF TIMBER
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Chabot, of South Norwood, in the County of Surrey,
Executor of George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey,
deceased, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING
UP THICK PLANKS OF TIMBER." A communication from abroad by Sebastien
Jean Charles Ferrando-Morel, of Barcelona, Spain.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st April 1876.
GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING UP THICK PLANKS OF TIMBER."
Heretofore in some cases machinery for dividing longitudinally thick planks of
timber has been so constructed that two thick planks can be acted upon simul-
taneously by two sets of saws parallel with one another, and carried in one recipro-
cating frame. Each plank of timber has also been supported upon rollers and held
up to a separate fixed guide, and has been caused to travel forwards by a bar
bearing upon it at its end, such bar being mounted upon a carriage situated
centrally between the two planks. The carriage has had a toothed rack fixed upon
it, and has been caused to travel slowly forwards by means of a pinion gearing
into this toothed rack.
According to my Invention I arrange machinery for sawing up timber in such
manner that four thick planks of timber may be simultaneously sawn up by four
sets of saws carried in a reciprocating frame.
For this purpose I arrange the
machine in such manner that in place of the reciprocating frame carrying only one
set of saws on either side of the travelling carriage, I arrange it to carry two sets
of saws, and I provide separate guides for each plank of timber to be held up to
one plank on each side of the carriage being pressed towards the travelling carriage
and the other away from it up to their respective guides. The guides can be set
towards or away from their respective sets of saws without stopping the machine.
The machine, as heretofore, is provided with a main driving shaft, having upon it a
crank for giving motion to the reciprocating saw frame, and with rollers for sup-
[Price 6d.1

page_text: porting the planks, and with a slowly moving carriage actuated by a rack and
pinion for traversing forward the planks of timber up to the saws. Provision is
also made for setting the saws situated at one side of the traversing carriage to cut
up a single plank of considerable width whilst at the same time the saws on the
opposite side are set to cut up two planks. The saws, as heretofore, are set to any
desired distance apart according to the number of pieces into which it is desired to
divide the planks.
By the above construction of machine four different kinds of work can be per-
formed simultaneously instead of two, as heretofore, by which the following
advantages are obtained:
1. To saw up 24 planks, for example, the toothed rack carriage has to be
moved back 6 times only instead of 12, an operation which always entails loss of
time.
2. The planks to be sawn not being always of the same width, it is now often
necessary to stop the machine and alter the position of the guides so as to obtain
a more correct division of the planks, more especially when each plank is to be
divided by one cut only. If this has to be repeated several times a day great loss
of time results; this evil is avoided by making each guide moveable without the
necessity of stopping the machine.
3. One of the greatest difficulties met with in machines with reciprocating saws
is the dividing planks with one or two cuts only. With the improved machine
above described all inconvenience is avoided, as the planks to be divided with one
or two cuts only can be dealt with on one side of the machine, whilst other
planks to be divided into five or six can be dealt with on the opposite side of the
machine.
4. The first cost of the machine for acting upon four plauks will be but little
more than the cost of the old machines for acting upon two, and the saving in
workmen's wages for working the one machine in place of two separate machines
will be much reduced.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent and
of an Order of the Lord Chancellor by the said Edwin Chabot, Executor of
George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey, deceased,
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th October 1876.
EDWIN CHABOT, of South Norwood, in the County of Surrey, Executor of George
Tomlinson Bousfield, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey, who departed this life on
the 30th day of July One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR SAWING UP THICK PLANKS OF TIMBER." A communication
from abroad by Sebastien Jean Charles Ferrando-Morel, of Barcelona, Spain.
Heretofore in some cases machinery for dividing longitudinally thick planks of
timber has been so constructed that two thick planks can be acted upon simul-
taneously by two sets of saws parallel with one another and carried in one recipro-
cating frame. Each plank of timber has also been supported upon rollers and held
up to a separate fixed guide, and has been caused to travel forwards by a bar
bearing upon it at its end, such bar being mounted upon a carriage situated
centrally between the two planks. The carriage has had a toothed rack fixed upon
it, and has been caused to travel slowly forwards by means of a pinion gearing into
this toothed rack.
According to my.Invention I arrange machinery for sawing up timber in such
manner that four thick planks of timber may be simultaneously sawn up by four
sets of saws carried in a reciprocating frame. For this purpose I arrange the
machine in such manner that in place of the reciprocating frame carrying only one
set of saws on either side of the travelling carriage, I arrange it to carry two sets
of saws, and I provide separate guides for each plank of timber to be held up to,

page_text: one plank on each side of this carriage being pressed towards the travelling carriage
and the other away from it up to their respective guides: The guides can be set
towards or away from their respective sets of saws without stopping the machine,
The machine, as heretofore, is provided with a main driving shaft, having upɔn it
a crank for giving motion to the reciprocating saw frame, and with rollers for sup-
porting the planks, and with a slowly moving carriage actuated by a rack and
pinion for traversing forward the planks of timber up to the saws. Provision is
also made for setting the saws situated at one side of the traversing carriage to cut
up a single plank of considerable width, whilst at the same time the saws on the
opposite side are set to cut up two planks. The saws, as heretofore, are set to any
desired distance apart according to the number of pieces into which it is desired to
divide the planks.
By the above construction of machine four different kinds of work can be
performed simultaneously instead of two, as heretofore, by which the following
advantages are obtained:
1. To saw up twenty-four planks, for example, the toothed rack carriage has
to be moved back six times only instead of twelve, an operation which always
entails loss of time.
2. The planks to be sawn not being always of the same width, it is now often
necessary to stop the machine and alter the position of the guides, so as to obtain
a more correct division of the planks, more especially when each plank is to be
divided by one cut only. If this has to be repeated several times a day great loss
of time results; this evil is avoided by making such guides moveable without the
necessity of stopping the machine.
3. One of the greatest difficulties met with in machines with reciprocating saws
is the dividing planks with one or two cuts only. With the improved machine
above described all inconvenience is avoided, as the planks to be divided with one
or two cuts only can be dealt with on one side of the machine, whilst other
planks to be divided into five or six can be dealt with on the opposite side of the
machine.
4. The first cost of the machine for acting upon four planks will be but little more
than the cost of the old machines for acting upon two, and the saving in workmen's
wages for working the one machine in place of two separate machines will be much
reduced.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew a machine constructed according to this
Invention.
The general construction and working of vertical sawing machinery is so well
known that it is unnecessary to give a description of all its parts; I will, therefore,
confine myself to drawing attention to the particular characteristics of the improved
machine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an end view, and Figure 2 a side view partly in section of the
machine. is the saw frame; the saws; m, m, m, m, are the planks which are
being sawn; g, 9, 9, 9, guides against which the planks slide; i, i, i, fixed stays of
the saw frame; i movable stay, which in case of need can be shifted to the left to
allow the passage on this side of the machine of a beam three-tenths by four-tenths
of a metre at the same time that two planks are passing on the other side; e axis
carrying the pinion, which transmits motion to the toothed rack; c carriage with
tooth rack; t, t, portions of the transverse piece which press the planks forwards;
0, 0, 0, 0, keys which allow the guides g, g, g, g, to be shifted towards or away from
their respective saws without stopping the machine.
.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details shewn in the Drawings, as these may be varied, and the improvements
applied to other constructions of vertical sawing machinery; but I claim the

page_text: combination of machinery for sawing up planks of timber, substantially as herein
described, allowing of four sets of saws carried by one saw frame being used
simultaneously for sawing up four planks of timber.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Chabot, as such Executor as aforesaid,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
EDWIN CHABOT. (L.S.)