IMPROVE-- MENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN CUTTING AND GETTING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to. James Grafton Jones, of Blaina Ironworks, near
Newport, in the County of Monmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVE--
MENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN CUTTING AND GETTING COALS AND OTHER
MINERALS."
Sealed the 24th July 1866, and dated the 18th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Grafton Jones.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th April 1866.
I, JAMES GRAFTON JONES, of Blaina Ironworks, near Newport, in the
County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN CUTTING AND GETTING COALS AND OTHER
MINERALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery employed in
cutting and getting coals and other minerals.
In machines working in a manner similar to that described in the Speci-
fication of a former Patent granted to me, dated the 1st day of February 1864,
No. 267, it is necessary at each stroke of the pick to give to the machine a
backward and forward motion; this has heretofore been effected by the work-
man attending the, machine by the aid of a hand wheel. Some attempts have
been previously made to render the machine self-acting, but without success.
Now according to this Invention I render the machine self-acting by applying
a small working cylinder combined with the large working cylinder

page_text: which gives motion to the pick, and the two ends of such small cylinder
are connected by pipes or passages to the two ends of the large working
cylinder, so that the fluid employed (usually compressed air) is supplied
into the small cylinder at the same time that it is supplied into the large
cylinder to work the pick to and fro. The piston within the small cylinder
is by preference made in two parts to adjust the length. On each side of the
piston there is a projection and corresponding recess in each of the end
covers of the small cylinder in which a ring of soft material or packing is
introduced. There are two piston rods to the piston of the small cylinder,
and they respectively pass through two stuffing boxes made in the end covers
of the small cylinder. The outer ends of the two piston rods are connected
to double pawls or grip levers, which are carried by rings fitted to the bosses
or centres of the wheels of the carriage of the machine, and by such means
the piston of the small cylinder in its to-and-fro motion by the aid of the
double pawls or grip levers alternately gives a slight backward motion and
then a forward motion. The backward motion takes place near the end
of the stroke of the small piston and when the pick is in the work. The
piston of the small cylinder and the parts worked thereby are arranged to
admit of adjustment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Grafton Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GRAFTON JONES, of Blaina Ironworks, near Newport, in the County of
Monmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Grafton Jones, Her special licence that I, the said James
Grafton Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Grafton Jones, my executors, administrators, 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 "In-

page_text: PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN CUTTING AND GETTING COALS AND OTHER
MINERALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Grafton Jones, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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
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 James Grafton Jones, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery employed in
cutting and getting coals and other minerals.
In machines working in a manner similar to that described in the
Specification of a former Patent granted to me, dated the 1st day of February,
1864, No. 267, it is necessary at each stroke of the pick to give to the
machine a backward and forward motion; this has heretofore been effected
by the workman attending the machine by the aid of a hand wheel. Some
attempts have been previously made to render the machine self-acting, but
without success.
Now according to this Invention I render the machine self-
acting by applying a small working cylinder combined with the large working
cylinder which gives motion to the pick, and the two ends of such small
cylinder are connected by pipes or passages to the two ends of the large
working cylinder, so that the fluid employed (usually compressed air) is
supplied into the small cylinder at the same time that it is supplied into the
large cylinder to work the pick to and fro. The piston within the small
cylinder is, by preference, made in two parts to adjust the length. On each
side of the piston there is a projection and corresponding recess in each of the
end covers of the small cylinder, in which a ring of soft material or packing
is introduced. There are two piston rods to the piston of the small cylinder,
and they respectively pass through two stuffing boxes made in the end covers
of the small cylinder. The outer ends of the two piston rods are connected
to double pawls or grip levers, which are carried by rings fitted to the bosses
or centres of the wheels of the carriage of the machine, and by such means
the piston of the small cylinder in its to-and-fro motion by the aid of the
double pawls or grip levers alternately give a slight backward motion and then
a forward motion. The backward motion takes place near the end of the
stroke of the small piston, and when the pick is in the work. The piston of

page_text: adjustment.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing shows a side elevation, partly in section, of so much as is
necessary of a machine similar to what is described in the Specification of my;
said former Patent having my present Invention applied thereto.
The object of this Invention is, as above stated, to make a machine self-
acting by the application thereto of a separate cylinder and gearing in such
manner that the machine may be caused to take a slight retrograde motion' at
the time that the pick has made its stroke and is about to return in order to
make another stroke, and also that the machine may be caused to make a
somewhat longer forward motion towards the work than it has been caused to
retrograde before the pick makes its next stroke. The Drawing shows the
arrangement as being used for acting with a lever pick, but the same is equally
applicable when using a sliding pick or otherwise working in a straight line.
The gearing between the small cylinder and the wheels of the machine and
the means of supplying compressed air thereto may be varied, but the
arrangements shown in the Drawing I believe will be found most convenient;
8, s, is the smaller cylinder in which the piston s' works; this piston is in.two
parts which are capable of being made to come nearer together or farther
from each other by male and female screws $2. In the end covers of this
cylinder are recesses s³, in which soft material is introduced, that which I
prefer is lead with a small quantity of tin mixed therewith. Air or other
fluid is supplied to the smaller cylinder s by the two pipes se, s6, and it is
preferred to have the parts of the larger cylinder so arranged that they may
be closed and yet allow the air or other fluid to pass from the passages leading
to the ports from the slide valve of the larger. cylinder to the smaller cylinder
only, as by such means the machine may be moved from place to place by the
working of the piston in the smaller cylinder, without working the piston in
the larger cylinder. The piston rods st, st, have projecting studs thereon, 'one
of which enters a slotted opening & in one of the nipping levers t, t, which turn
on the axes v, v, carried by the upper parts or horns u* of the two rings u
which embrace the bosses of the wheels of the machine; these rings will turn
or move freely on the bosses, when the nipping levers do not act on or nip the
peripheries of the bosses. The adjustment of the two parts of the piston of
the smaller cylinder to and from each other is by the handle on the end s* of

page_text: one of the piston rods &*, supposing the machine to be at work and the fluid
allowed to enter both the larger and smaller cylinders, the pick will be
actuated by the piston in the larger cylinder, and the piston of the smaller
cylinder will by its movement cause the machine to make a short retrograde
motion at the time when the pick is about to be withdrawn from the work by
the piston of the larger cylinder, and the piston of the smaller cylinder will
when the pick has been brought back cause the machine to advance a
distance somewhat greater than it retrograded, and this is accomplished by
means of the nipping levers, which are stopped in one direction by a screw pin
passed into one of the two openings u³ in the horns u* of the rings. The screw
pins are shown in the proper positions for enabling the nipping levers to
come into action and nip the bosses for the purpose of obtaining thereby the
short retrograde and the somewhat longer advancing motion of the machine
above described; but when it is desired to move the machine about then the
positions of the screw pins will be altered according to the direction in which
it is required to move the machine, and they will be placed in one or the
other of the holes u³, u, in the two horns u*, and by bringing the two parts
of the piston of the smaller cylinder nearer together it will by making a
longer stroke cause the bosses on the wheels and consequently the wheels to
which they are fixed a larger extent of motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Grafton Jones, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
J. GRAFTON JONES.
(L.S.)