IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BORING SLATE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Webster, of Arbroath, in the County of
Forfar, North Britain, Blacksmith, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BORING SLATE."
Sealed the 16th December 1862, and dated the 23rd June 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Webster at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd June 1862.
I, ALEXANDER WEBSTER, of Arbroath, in the County of Forfar, North
Britain, Blacksmith, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BORING SLATE," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the arrangement and
construction of machinery for boring slate, more particularly in the form used
for roofing purposes, so that each slate may be perforated at one or more
places at a single operation, the perforations being much improved in form from
those produced by the usual mode and suited to receive countersunk headed
nails, whilst the loss from breakage of slates in boring is greatly reduced or
wholly avoided. The Invention consists, primarily, in applying a combined
punching and drilling movement to the tools operating upon the slate, and
shaping these tools and their matrices so as to produce countersunk or other-
wise shaped holes; and, secondarily, to certain arrangements of parts and

page_text: mechanism for producing the necessary compound movement of the tools
from a simple and intermittent hand action. The mechanism for producing
the required movement may be varied, but under one modification it consists
of a metal sole plate formed with a longitudinal slot near its front side, in
which bushes are fitted; these may be adjusted to the distance apart required,
and are secured by tightening nuts above. In the upper end of each bush
is screwed a steel bolster turned conically upon its upper face and having the
horizontal bearing reduced to a narrow ring surrounding the hole in the
centre. Near the ends of the sole plate are flanges to which upright end
standards are bolted. These standards are formed at their upper ends into
dovetailed vertical slide guides, and have each a slot near their upper ends
to receive a brass bush having a short horizontal motion. The vertical slides
which work in the vertical guides are secured below to a longitudinal table,
which has a slot corresponding to that in the sole plate, and in which two
bushes slide; these bushes are adjustable above the bolsters, and are secured by
nuts. The bushes carry spindles formed with sockets at their lower ends for
carrying the drilling punches, which are of steel, of a taper form and square
in section, and reaching down to within a short distance of the bolsters when
drawn up. The upper ends of the spindles have each a small bevel wheel
keyed on and secured to it by a nut. The upper ends of the vertical slides
have horizontal bearings formed on their inner sides, which carry a shaft
turning freely in them. Upon this shaft are keyed bevel wheels, which gear
with the bevel wheels fixed on the tops of the vertical spindles. Into the
shaft is also fixed a conical socket to receive a hand lever. Upon each end of
the shaft is turned a short pin eccentrically pitched to the axis of the shaft,
and forming a short crank at each end of it. These pins are let into and
work freely in brass bushes set in the slots in the cheek plates, in which they
have room for a certain amount of horizontal play. A screw guiding gauge,
capable of ready adjustment by screwing, is fitted in one of the standards, for
determining the distance of the holes from the sides of the slate, and there is
also a vertical gauge for the end of the slate to bear against. A slate
having been placed in the machine the hand lever is made to describe a
partially rotatory movement, during which the bevel wheels cause the drilling
punches to rotate in proportion; at the same time the cranks at the ends of
the shaft being free to traverse with their bushes horizontally, but not vertically,
cause the shaft, and with it the slides, table and drilling punches, to descend,
forcing the latter, rotating as they descend, through the slate. The effect of
the punching drill impinging upon the slate is to neatly drill out a conical
hole, the size below of the hole in the bolster, and tapering upwards through

page_text: the thickness of the slate to the size of the point of the punching drill at the.
upper side.
As the latter continues to descend, rotating as it does so, its four
cutting edges widen out the hole to the size required, whilst the dislodged:
material escapes through the hollow bolster to the ground; the handle is then.
returned to its original position, and the slate removed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Webster in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd December 1862.
-
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WEBSTER, of Arbroath, in the County of Forfar, North Britain, Blacksmith,,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters;
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day. of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred, and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her.
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the,
said Alexander Webster, Her special license that I, the said Alexander:
Webster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said,
Alexander Webster, my executors, administrators, or 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.
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BORING SLATE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I; the said Alexander Webster, my executors or administrators,.
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and
seal of one or them, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Webster, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to. the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to certain improvements in the arrangement and
construction of machinery for boring slate, more particularly in the form used

page_text: for roofing purposes, so that each slate may be perforated at one or more
places at a single operation, the perforations being much improved in form
from those produced by the usual mode, and suited to receive countersunk
headed nails, whilst the loss from breakage of slates in boring is greatly reduced
or wholly avoided.
i
My Invention consists, primarily, in applying a combined punching and
drilling movement to the tools operating upon the slate, and shaping these tools
and their matrices so as to produce countersunk or otherwise shaped holes;
and, secondarily, to certain arrangements of parts and mechanism for producing
the necessary compound movement of the tools from a simple and intermittent
hand action. The mechanism for producing the required movement may be
varied, but under one modification it consists of a metal sole plate formed with
a longitudinal slot near its front side, in which bushes are fitted; these may be
adjusted to the distance apart required and are secured by tightening nuts
above. In the upper end of each bush is screwed a steel bolster, turned
conically upon its upper face, and having the horizontal bearing reduced to a
narrow ring surrounding the hole in the centre. Near the ends of the sole
plate are flanges, to which upright end standards are bolted. These standards
are formed at their upper ends into dovetailed vertical slide guides, and have
each a slot near their upper ends to receive a brass bush having a short hori-
zontal motion. The vertical slides which work in the vertical guides are
secured below to a longitudinal table, which has a slot corresponding to that in
the sole plate, and in which two bushes slide; these bushes are adjustable above
the bolsters and are secured by nuts. The bushes carry spindles formed with
sockets at their lower ends for carrying the drilling punches, which are of
steel, of a taper form and square in section, and reaching down to within a
short distance of the bolsters when drawn up. The upper ends of the
spindles have each a small bevel wheel keyed on and secured to it by a
nut. The upper ends of the vertical slides have horizontal bearings formed
on their inner sides, which carry a shaft turning freely in them. Upon
this shaft are keyed bevil wheels, which gear with the bevil wheels fixed
on the tops of the vertical spindles. Into the shaft is also fixed a conical
socket to receive a hand lever. Upon each end of the shaft is turned a
short pin, eccentrically pitched to the axis of the shaft, and forming a short
crank at each end of it. These pins are let into and work freely in brass
bushes set in the slots in the cheek plates, in which they have room for a
certain amount of horizontal play. A screw guiding guage, capable of ready
adjustment by screwing, is fitted in one of the standards, for determining the
distance of the holes from the sides of the slate, and there is also a vertical

page_text: guage for the end of the slate to bear against. A slate having been placed in
the machine, the hand lever is made to describe a partially rotatory movement,
during which the bevil wheels cause the drilling punches to rotate in propor-
tion, at the same time the cranks at the ends of the shaft being free to traverse
with their bushes horizontally, but not vertically, cause the shaft, and with it
the slides, table, and drilling punches, to descend, forcing the latter, rotating
as they descend, through the slate. The effect of the punching drill impinging
upon the slate is to neatly drill out a conical hole the size below of the hole in
the bolster, and tapering upwards through the thickness of the slate to the
size of the point of the punching drill at the upper side. As the latter con-
tinues to descend, rotating as it does so, its four cutting edges widen out the
hole to the size required, whilst the dislodged material escapes through the
hollow bolster to the ground. The handle is then returned to its normal
position, and the slate removed.
And in order that my said Invention of improvements in machinery or
apparatus for boring slate may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to
describe the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings which I
have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing certain modifications
under which my said Invention may be judiciously carried out in practice;
that is to say,-
..
Figure 1 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is an end elevation of one
modification of my improved apparatus for boring roofing slates and other
generally similar articles; Figure 2 is a front elevation of the machine ;
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section; and Figure 4 is a plan, corresponding
to Figures 1 to 3.
As arranged in the Drawings, the machine is fixed to a suitable bench or
framing of wood A, to which the bed plate B is secured by bolts and nuts, or
in any other convenient manner. This bed plate or base of the machine
is, by preference, of a rectangular figure, as shown in the Drawings; it is
formed with two end flanges or vertical feathers C, to each of which is.
bolted an end standard or cheek plate D. These standards are curved
inwards at the lower part of the front edges, and at the back sweep
upwards and form an overhanging head to each, as shown in Figures 1
and 3 of the accompanying Drawings. A vertical groove, of a dove-
tailed figure, is formed in the inner face of each of the standards D, and
in these grooves are fitted the two sliding blocks E. Each of these sliding
pieces E has formed on its inner face a laterally projecting boss to receive the
end portions of the transverse horizontal shaft F. The bosses merely form
sockets for the shaft F, the bearings of which are each arranged in a slot G

page_text: means.
formed in the end standards D; this slot is made sufficiently wide to admit of
the bearing traversing to a certain extent in a lateral direction. The ends of
the shaft F are each turned down to form a short pin H, which is eccentric to
the axis of the shaft, and forms a short crank at each end. These crank pins
are carried in the bearings which are arranged in the slots G, and wlien a
partially rotary motion is imparted to the shaft F it causes the bearings to.
traverse from one end of the slots to the other. Motion is imparted to the
shaft F by means of the hand lever I, the small end of which passes through
a hole in the shaft, and is secured thereto by a nut J or by other equivalent
The shaft F has keyed upon it two or other convenient number of
bevil wheels K, which are in gear with the bevil pinions L below them. To
the sliding blocks E is secured, by means of bolts which screw into bosses
formed on the blocks, the transverse rail M, which is formed with a longi-
tudinal slot in it extending nearly the whole length of the rail, as shown by
the dotted line N in Figure 4. In the slot N are fitted the moveable
bushes O, which are fixed at any required part in the length of the rail by
means of the nuts P. The bushes O receive the spindles Q, which turn freely
therein; on the upper part of each spindle is fitted the bevil pinion L, which
is secured by a nut screwed on to the spindle. The lower part of each spindle.
has an aperture in it to receive the drilling punch R, which is formed of steel,
and is of a square figure, tapering towards the point. With this arrangement,
when the hand lever I is turned in the direction of the arrow shown in
Figure 1, the rotatory movement of the shaft F causes the wheels K to put
the pinions L into rapid motion, which is communicated to the drilling
punches R. With this movement is combined a secondary motion of the
shaft F, namely, that which is due to the eccentricity of its points of support.
Thus, when the shaft F is turned partly round the crank pins H cause the
bearings to traverse along the slots G, so as to bring the upper surface of the
shaft to the position shown in Figure 3, which causes a corresponding descent
of the drilling punches R, equal to the depth of the cranks. This compound
movement, thus provides a very efficient mode of perforating slate or other
generally similar materials, the tools having a rapid rotatory as well as descend
ing motion imparted to them by the mechanical arrangement of the shaft F
and the sliding blocks E. The sole plate B of the machine is made with a
longitudinal slot in it similar to that in the rail M; in this slot are fitted the
adjustable tubular bushes S, which slide to and fro in the slot, and are secured
in any desired position by the nuts T. In each bush is fitted a steel bolster
piece U, which is made tubular, and may be adjusted in height by screwing it
more or less in the receiving bush S. The slate to be perforated rests upon

page_text: these bolster pieces U, and upon a third point of support formed by the rest V,
which is screwed at the lower part to admit of being adjusted as regards
height. At the back part of the machine is an adjustable gauge W, which
works to and fro in a slot, and is secured by a tightening nut. The two end
pieces of this gauge extend upwards facing the front part of the machine, and
against these the edge of the slate, which is indicated by the lines X, is
pushed, and regulates the distance from the front at which the holes are to be
made. There is also a second gauge Y, which extends through the left hand
end standard D, and by screwing this inwards more or less, the distance of the
holes from the ends of the slate is regulated. With this arrangement the
rapid rotatory motion of the punches drill neat round holes in the slates,
which holes widen out towards the lower side of the slate as placed in the
machine, thus forming a neat countersink for the reception of the nail head
by which the slates are secured to the roofing. This machine also effects a
considerable saving of time, labour, and economy, as the perforations are
made with rapidity and accuracy, and without the amount of breakage that
attends the ordinary mode of preparation.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,
First, the general arrangement, construction, and combination of parts
forming the machine for boring slate, as herein-before described, and shown in
the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification of the said arrange-
ment.
Second, the peculiar mechanical arrangement or combination of parts, for
obtaining and imparting a compound motion to the punching drills or per-
forating tools, as herein-before described, and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Webster, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
ALEX WEBSTER. (L.S.)