IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND POLISHING MARBLE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Dennis Lee and Anthony Welsh, of Leeds, in the
County of York, Sculptors and Marble Masons, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND POLISHING
MARBLE."
Sealed the 18th December 1860, and dated the 21st June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Dennis Lee and Anthony
Welsh at the Officeof the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 21st June 1860.
We, DENNIS LEE and ANTHONY WELSH, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Sculptors and Marble Masons, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND
POLISHING MARBLE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the use or employment of machinery instead of
hand or manual labour for preparing and polishing marble; and the improve-
ments consist in having the "grits" or rubbing stones fixed in a ring or
circular frame of iron or other suitable material, the said stones being faced or
made even on the side or disc surface. A series of such rings or frames are.
constructed and set with stones of different qualities of finenesses of grit in
each respectively.
Each of these rings or rubbers is made to fit loosely to the end of a ver-
tical spindle, or in such manner as not to be suspended, but capable of rising
and lowering as required, and to be driven or caused to rotate thereby;

page_text: underneath the spindle is a table or carriage on which the marble to be
operated upon is fixed.
Rotary motion is given to the vertical spindle, and travelling or recipro-
cating motion to the table or carriage. Water is supplied to the rubber by a
pipe or other suitable means. The coarse grit rubber being employed first,
then the next in quality, and so on, by which improved means we are enabled
to prepare and polish marble with great facility and with more truth or
evenness of surface than heretofore by the employment of manual labour.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Dennis Lee and Anthony Welsh in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DENNIS
LEE, and ANTHONY WELSH, of Leeds, in the County of York, Sculptors, and
Marble Masons, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Dennis Lee and Anthony Welsh, Her special licence that we, the said
Dennis Lee and Anthony Welsh, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Dennis Lee and Anthony Welsh, our 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 ex-
pressed, 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 MEANS OR MACHINERY FOR
PREPARING AND POLISHING MARBLE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Dennis Lee and Anthony Welsh, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us 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 we, the said Dennis Lee and Anthony Welsh,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to the use or employment of machinery instead of
band or manual labour for preparing and polishing marble, and the improve-
ments consist in having the "grits" or rubbing stones fixed in rings or
circular frames of iron or other suitable material, the said stones being faced
or made even on the side or disc surface. A series of such rings or frames
are constructed and set with stones of different gualities or finenesses of grit in
each respectively. Each of these rings or rubbers is made to fit loosely to
the end of a vertical spindle, or in such manner as not to be suspended, but
capable of rising and lowering as reguired, and to be driven or caused to
rotate thereby. Underneath the spindle is a table or carriage, on which the
marble to be operated upon is fixed.
Rotary motion is given to the vertical spindle, and travelling or recipro-
cating motion to the table or carriage. Water is supplied to the rubber by a
pipe or other suitable means, the coarse grit rubber being employed first, then
the next in guality, and so on, by which improved means we are enabled to
prepare and polish marble with great facility, and with more truth or evenness
of surface than heretofore by the employment of manual labour.
This Invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying 3 Sheets
of Drawings, and letters marked thereon, similar letters in cach Figure
referring to the same parts of the apparatus.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine constructed according to this Inven-
tion; Fig. 2, an end elevation; and Fig. 3, a plan or horizontal section of the
same; Figs. 4 and 5 are plan and cross section of one of the circular frames
or rings in which the "grits" or rubbing stones are fixed.
A, are two concentric flanges, betwixt which the grit stones B are fitted
and connected therein; and C are holes by which the said frame or ring
is driven or caused to rotate.
Figs. 6 and 7 are plan and elevation of a face plate, in which are pins D.
fixed in suitable position to fit loosely into the holes C of the rubber when
applied to use. The face plate is keyed on the end of a vertical spindle E
(see Figs. 1 and 2), which is mounted so as to slide in a long bush
or socket capable of rotating in the bearings F on the framework G,
and which is driven by the bevil gearing H, receiving motion through the
shaft I, cone pullies and belt I, I, I, from the driving pullies I. On the
top end of the spindle is attached a rack J, which gears with a pinion J¹ fixed
on a short shaft, on which is a worm wheel Js gearing with a worm J³ fixed
on a shaft J*, which gears by bevil wheels J', shaft J, bevil wheels J', to the

page_text: shaft and hand wheel J, by which the said spindle may be raised and lowered
as required. K is a carriage mounted upon wheels K', which rest upon or
are supported by and capable of running on the tramway L. Motion is given
thereto by rack K.fixed to the carriage, and the pinion K³ fixed on a shaft K*,
on which are spur wheels K and K, gearing by pinions K', K³, and K, with
the driving pullies K, K being an intermediate wheel for producing reverse
motion; M are bearings for the shaft N, also for the cross slides M', which
are attached to an iron table M2, on which is. also a rack M³, gearing with a
pinion M* on the shaft N, by which motion is given to the said table in a
lateral direction; O is a table of slate, upon which the marble P is placed to
be prepared and polished; R is a pipe and tap for supplying water to the
marble during the operation of preparing and polishing; S are a combination
of levers and rods for operating the strap-guide S', to put the rotary spindle
in or out of motion; T are levers and rods, with strap-guide T¹, for setting
the carriage in or out of motion; and U are adjustable catches fixed on the
rod U, which operate the lever T2, and produce reverse motion, and which
can be adjusted so as to produce reciprocating motion of any desirable length
of travel of the said carriage; V.are another combination of levers and rods,
with strap-guide V', for actuating the table; and V3 is a rod with adjustable
stops or catches V³, for producing reverse motion of the said table.
It will be observed that rotary motion is given to the vertical spindle, and
the rubber is at liberty to rest upon the marble, not being suspended by the
-spindle, but driven by the pins in the face plate, or caused to rotate thereby ;
and a series of such rubbers may be made to fit to the same pins, so that they
may be readily changed as required, the spindle being raised or lowered by
the hand wheel to allow the rubber to be changed or adjusted to the thick-
ness of the marble to be operated upon. These rubbers may be of any suit-
able size and breadth of ring; also, if desirable, another ring may be placed
within the circle, and be driven by other pins; also, that a duplex travelling
.or reciprocating motion is given to the table and carriage, by which every part
of the marble is brought under the spindle, and the relative speeds or travel
of the carriage and of the table respectively, may be so regulated as that any
point of the marble will not come in the same precise position again relatively
.to the spindle. Marble can be thus prepared and polished to truth or even-
ness of surface with great facility, and consequently at a reduction in cost as
'compared with hand preparing and polishing.
Having thus fully described the nature of this our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we would have it distinctly
understood that we do not confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details

page_text: of construction and arrangement of the machinery as berein set forth; but what
we claim and believe to be new within the realm is, the use or employment of
machinery for preparing and polishing marble, instead of hand or manual
labour, substantially as berein described and illustrated in the accompanying
3 Sheets of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Anthony Welsh, on behalf of myself and
the said Dennis Lee, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nine-
teenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Anthony Welsh,
in the presence of
ARTHUR ROBINSON.
ANTHONY WELSH. (L.S.)