IM- PROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR GIVING FORM TO WOOD
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Radford Mather, of Wellingborough, in
the County of Northampton, Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR GIVING FORM TO
WOOD."
Sealed the 13th May 1870, and dated the 15th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Radford Mather
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th November 1869.
I, GEORGE RADFORD MATHER, of Wellingborough, in the County of
Northampton, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR GIVING
FORM TO WOOD," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in means or apparatus for
cutting or shaping wood of a circular section (such as file handles or
table or chair legs).
One form of this apparatus I construct in the following manner :-I
mount in a framework similar to that used for my apparatus, as
described in the Specification of Letters Patent, No. 822 (dated 18th

page_text: March 1869), granted to me for "Improvements in Means or Apparatus
for Cutting or Giving Form to Wood," and in this I mount a revolving
spindle, and concentric with this spindle I mount a disc or frame to
which cutters are fixed, and round this frame I fit arrangements similar
to those described in the Specification of my Letters Patent, No. 822,
above referred to for supporting the wood to be cut or formed. I also
mount on a spindle concentric with the main spindle a pattern which
acting on a rod and mechanism causes the wood to be pushed from the
cutters as they are lowered or raised with the disc (it being pressed
against the cutters and pattern by a weight or spring), thus shaping
the wood to be cut or formed in a similar form to the pattern mounted.
The disc or frame and cutters are caused to rise and fall by worms and
pinions and balance weight arrangement or other equivalent gearing,
the worms and pinions being connected with the main spindle, and I
also attach an automatic arrangement for reversing the motion and for
putting the cut into the wood to be shaped or formed.
Some classes of articles, such as those requiring sharp hollows or
square angles, when partially shaped or formed in this machine should be
removed to have the sharp hollows cut out to the required shape in my
machine herein referred to and protected by Letters Patent, No. 822,
A.D. 1869. When plain work is shaped it will not be necessary to
remove it to this machine (above referred to). In another form of this
apparatus, instead of using cutters fixed to a sliding frame and a sliding
pattern and causing the wood (to be shaped or formed) to move to and
from the cutters, I use a sliding frame fitted with cutters that move to
and from the wood (to be shaped or formed), the cutters being moved
by or from an adjustable rod which bears against a fixed pattern
negative" to the wood to be shaped or formed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent;
filed by the said George Radford Mather in the Great Seal Patent 3
Office on the 14th May 1870.
. :
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
RADFORD MATHER, of Wellingborough, in the County of Northampton,
Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in. the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Radford Mather, Her special licence:
that I, the said George Radford Mather, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Radford Mather, 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,
cxcrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR GIVING FORM TO WOOD,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Radford,
Mather, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing.
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 George Radford Mather, do- hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings accom..
panying these Presents by the words, figures, and letters marked thereon.
and herein referred to, that is to say :-
Fig. 1, sectional view; Fig. 2, section taken at tine A, B, in Fig. 1;
Figs. 3 and 4, views of tracer, screw rod, tool holder, and tool; Fig. 5,
arrangements of certain parts of my machinery differing from the
arrangements shown in Fig. 1, the same being intended to be used in
conjunction with although they may sometimes be used independent-
of the machinery described in the Specification of my former Patent,>
No. 822, A.D. 1869.
: Before describing in detail the said means or apparatus by referring
to the various parts thereof marked by the letters of reference placed on
the said Drawings I would remark that the principal object intended
to be effectuated by the said means or apparatus is the producing of
quantities of articles in wood of the same shape from one pattern-or
counterpart, which may be duplicate, triplicate, or otherwise. And,
this I carry out as will be perceived by inspection of the Drawings.
:

page_text: by mounting the pattern or counterpart in the centre, and operating to
produce the articles in circular or annular directions correspondent with
such centre or a central line coincident therewith. Further by my.
apparatus the various parts act sympathetically.
My herein described apparatus is however modified in several ways,
one set of arrangements thereof requires (except for mere plain work)
that the wood after being operated upon by my herein described
apparatus should be submitted to the action of a machine such as that
described in the Specification of my Patent, No. 822, A.D. 1869, this
arrangement being shown at Fig. 5 of the annexed Drawings as regards
those parts wherein such arrangements differ from the arrangements
shown in Fig. 1. The arrangements shown in the said Fig. 1 are capable
of entirely completing the articles required to be produced, or if desired
such articles may by their operation be partly finished and then removed
therefrom, and completed by apparatus such as that described in the
Specification of my said Patent, No. 822, A.D. 1869:
My apparatus may if desired be likewise rendered available for
smoothing and polishing articles, as herein-after described.
In the said Drawings I have shown the arrangements for applying
the motive power to the rotation of the wood to be by friction wheels
and appliances, but the motive power may be applied by pulleys and
bands or toothed gearing, and the application of the motive power to
other parts may also vary from the arrangements shown by the
Drawings.
-
In the said Drawings A denotes fixed framework; B, driving pulley
whereby motion is transmitted to the whole machinery; C, spindle for
driving the machine; D, framing revolving on the spindle C; D* is a
spindle concentric with the spindle C and fixed to the framing D and
revolving with the same on spindle C; D is an adjustable platform
carrying centres D³ upon which the wood (G) to be acted upon revolves;
E, wheel acting on wheel E* which drives the spindle (F) and the pieces
of wood G, the pieces of wood G being supported between the fixed
centres D³ and the revolving spindle F; H, driving band, and H* a
crossed driving band acting on pulleys I and I*, causing them to revolve
in opposite directions running loose on the spindle J. The bands H
and H* pass over pulleys H and H³ as shown on spindle C; K, double
clutch sliding on feather and spindle J. By this means the spindle J is
driven in opposite directions alternately by sliding the clutch K into

page_text: either of the engaging teeth formed on pulleys I and I*; the said clutch
is actuated by the lever L. The spindle J acting on the wheel M drives
the wheel N formed on the toothed wheel N*, which is caused to revolve
loose on the concentric spindle D* by the band O. The toothed wheel N*
transmits motion to the toothed wheels P and screws P*, the screws
P* working through nuts in the travelling frame or disc (Q) carrying
the cutting tool and the tracer R (the particular construction of which
is shown in Figs. 3 and 4), such tracer R acting on the pattern R*, thus
causing a backward and forward motion of the cutting tool U* produced
by the action of the tracer on the pattern R* and forming the pieces of
wood G to a shape corresponding to the pattern R*, the tracer R
being kept up to the pattern R* by means of the spring R'; S is a screw
spindle working in tracer R and passing through a swivel nut T
carried by tool lever or tool holder U, the cutting tool U* being fixed in
the tool holder U. The toothed wheel V is held by the friction spring W
to the spindle S, the wheel being rotated by the mechanism hereafter
described. The adjustable gauge nuts X are for gauging the size of
the pieces of wood G, the action being that when the swivel nut T comes
in contact with the gauging nuts X the spindle S is thereby prevented
from rotating, and thus prevents any further feed cut to the tool U*,
the nuts X thereby gauging the size of the pieces of wood to be cut or
formed. Y is a wheel working in the travelling frame or disc Q, which-
has teeth on its side and a groove for a driving band on its edge, the
teeth working into wheel V, thereby transmits motion thereto; Z is a
grooved pulley transmitting motion to the wheel Y by means of the
driving band Z*; a is a spindle actuating the wheel Z, on which spindle
it slides, and by means of a feather causes the wheel Z to revolve with
the spindle a when the travelling disc Q has reached the extremities of
the pattern R. The spindle a is prevented from or allowed to revolve
by the slide bolt b, which slide bolt is actuated by the travelling frame
or disc Q, the action being that the adjustable collars and c* catch
the travelling platform Q, thereby moving the bolt in either direction, as
the case may be, and when the slot in this bolt is opposite the arm d
the spindle a is allowed to make one revolution, thereby putting on
the cut at either end of the pieces of wood through the mechanism, as
before described. The spindle a is caused to revolve by a band c, which
passes round a pulley f and f*, the pulley f* being held to the spindle
a by the friction spring g, thereby allowing the wheel fx to revolve on
the spindle a until the slot in the bolt 6 is opposite the arm d, when the

page_text: pulley and spindle a revolve together. This spindle a is also used
for working the lever L, which is accomplished by means of a bevil
toothed wheel gearing with *, this latter wheel having twice the
number of teeth as the wheel h, so that the entire revolution of the
wheel causes half a revolution of the wheel *. The wheel h* is
connected with a crank i working in the slotted lever L, this wheel *
being supported by the bracket j, which has a spindle through it and
on to which the wheel h* and the crank i are fixed. The frame D is
caused to revolve by the wheel gearing into teeth k* formed on the
frame D. The wheel k receives its motion from the spindle c through
the wheels and by the band m, the wheel * being held to the
spindle by the spring n*. The frame D may be allowed either to
travel at intervals or continuously, which can be effected if for
intervals by the lever o, the frame D being held by projections formed
on the same; the lever o can be moved at pleasure by the attendant.
If used continuously this lever arrangement may be dispensed with.
The cutting tool marked p is mounted in adjustable tool holders p*.
These tools are for cutting out any sharp angles ar rings in the pieces
of wood as required, the action being that the framing D travelling
round the axis C brings in succession the pieces of wood (which have
been operated upon by the tools U*) passing the cutting tools p, thereby
producing the required shape.
In Fig. 5 another form of my Invention is represented. In this
machine the framework D is stationary; C is the spindle; E, wheel
acting on wheel Ex, and E a wheel connected to wheel E* by concentric
spindle F, the wheel D³ driving the pulley G by the band G*, the pulley
G drives the spindle H and the pieces of wood H*; I, I*, and I are
arms fixed by means of set screws to the spindle J, the wood H* being
supported at one end by the said spindle II and at the other by centre J*.
K is a framework upon which a pattern K* and tool L are fixed capable
of sliding on spindle C. This framework K is caused to slide by the
same mechanism as described in Fig. 1, the difference in the arrange-
ment to that previously described being that the pattern K* moves with
the framework K to which it is fixed, and the tracer R, instead of moving
with the travelling frame, is allowed to slide in the fixed frame D,
thereby actuating the arm I mounted on the spindle J, which spindle
J is supported in centres, consequently the pieces of wood move to and
from the cutter L, instead of as in the previous arrangement where the
cutter moves to and from the wood.

page_text: Referring to Fig. 4, the dotted lines show the method I adopt when'
a positive copy of the pattern is required; in this case the tool being
reversed (as shown), and the wood being rotated in an opposite direction
to that when producing a negative copy of the said pattern.
When I wish to well smooth and polish the surface of the article
treated by my machine I make use of a pad of a shape the counterpart
of the article under treatment mounted similar to the cutters p, this
pad to have a gritty surface, such as pounded glass, emery, sand, or such
like material. Another similar pad may be used mounted in a similar
way, which, however, instead of a gritty surface may be supplied with
any suitable polish, such as French polish, beeswax, or otherwise; or
instead of pads, wheels suitably mounted may be used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and in what manner the same may be
performed or carried out in practice, I hereby declare that I claim, the
improvements in the means or apparatus for cutting or giving form
to wood, as herein-before described, a particular and important feature
whereof is the mounting the pattern or counterpart in the centre and
operating to produce the articles in circular or annular directions corre-
spondent with such centre or a central line coincident therewith; but
I do not claim the mere details of mechanical construction herein
described, which are simply constituent portions of my said apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Radford Mather, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
GEORGE RADFORD MATHER. (L.s.)
Witness,
THOMAS MORGAN,
Secretary to the
0 Inventors' Patent Right Association, Limited,
Patentees' Agents,
21, Cockspur Street,
Charing Cross.