AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING FILES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Horace Brandon, of 13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris, France, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR CUTTING FILES."-A communication by Alfred Weed,
rosiding of Boston Mace United States of America
Sealed the 16th July 1872, and dated the 28th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Horace
Brandon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th February 1872.
I, ALEXANDER HORACE BRANDON, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, France,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING FILES," to be as follows:-
In cutting files by machine it is customary in all cases, so far as I know,
to feed the file or file bed by a positive and arbitrary feed mechanism,
the intermittent feed being regular without regard to the nature of the
metal surface against which the cutter acts, or the depth or nature of

page_text: the cut made; the feed being of course adjustable as to length, but the
feed movements being regular and only modified by such adjustment.
In this Invention the object has been to make the feed of the file
contingent upon the character of each tooth cut, by making the tooth
itself or the spur raised behind the cutter by its blow, an agent in the
feed. To effect this the cutter is raised after each blow and moved
back, then it is let down upon the uncut face of the blank behind the
spur raised by the cutter in forming the last tooth, and then pushed
forward so that when it reaches the spur it will press against it and
thereby move the blank forward, the hammer then descending and
imparting to the cutter the blow that forms the groove, and raises the
spur. The movement of the chisel or cutter is arbitrary, but the face
of the file depends upon the point where the cutter finds the spur or
upon the size of the spur.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Horace Brandon in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 13th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
HORACE BRANDON, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, France, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Horace Brandon,
Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Horace Brandon, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Horace Brandon, 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 " AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING FILES,"
being a communicaton to me by Alfred Weed, a person resident at

page_text: The Drawing represents a machine embodying the Invention.
A shews the machine in side elevation; B is a plan of it.
a denotes the bed plate of the machine; b, the movable bed in the
top of which the blank c to be cut is secured, the blank immediately
resting upon a proper support by which the face of the blank may be
kept in position during the action of the cutter, the blank being
fastened to the bed by any suitable clamping devices. The movable
bed b rests and slides freely upon the bed a, and at one side rests
against a guide d, up to which it may be held by a suitable spring e, the
stress of the spring being regulated by a screw for other suitable
device or devices%; g denotes the cutter pivotted in a fork h at the end
of an arm . This arm is mounted in a vertically swivelling sleeve or
bearing at the end of a short rocker shaft 1, extending through a
sleeve m, from which sleeve extends an arm n, jointed by a pivot o to a
bearing p, the sleeve m extending through a slot in the upright q, so
that it can have a forward and back movement. The cutter arm i is
fixed to and moves with the bearing k, but has a capability of rotative
movement in the bearing so that the edge of the cutter may conform to
the plane of the top of the blank. At the outer end of the shaft / is
an arm r, by upward movement of which the shaft is turned and the
forward end of the, cutter arm raised; this upward movement being
effected by a pin a projecting from the side of a cam wheel t, the arm
being thrown down at proper times by the stress of a spring u.
The cutter being thus moved up and thrown down, its forward and.
back movements are produced by a spring and a cam on the periphery
of the cam wheel t, and the movements of the cutter take place; in
manner as follows:-At A the cutter is shown in position ready for the
blow of the hammer, the edge of the cutter being against the last-
formed spur, but preferably slightly straightened up to more effectually
cut. The hammer is shewn as uplifted or partially uplifted, the.
hammer helve being hung upon a shaft w, at the end of which is an
arm x, which arm rests upon the periphery of a cam y on the driving
shaft, the hammer being thrown down by the stress of a suitable
spring when the drop z of the cam passes the arm x, the blow forming
the notch and raising the spur a³, as shewn at C, leaving the edge of the
cutter in the position shewn at C. As soon as the blow is given the
cam y slightly raises the hammer, after which the pin & strikes the

page_text: arm tipping up said arm and raising the cutter above the blank, and
as the cutter rises the cam t acting against a roll or collar 6' on the
shaft throws back the sleeve k, and thereby carries the cutter arm back,
so that when the cutter next descends its edge will be in the position on
the blank seen at D, the cutter arm dropping and letting the cutter
down as the end of the armr passes the pin 8, the cutter arm bearing
or sleeve k being held back by the cam t until the cutter has dropped.
But when the cutter has dropped an incline on the periphery of the
cam wheel reaches the roll 6', and the sleeve k is then free to be fed
forward by the stress of the spring, this forward movement causing the
cutting edge to slide over the smooth surface of the blank until it
reaches the spur as seen at E, and to then push forward the file blank
(and its bed), the extent of this forward movement being of course
determined by the extent of movement permitted by the cam incline
and the position or form of the spur cut. The feed of the file having
been thus effected, the cutter is again in position for the blow of the
hammer, previous to which blow however a swell on the face of the cam
wheel t may press back the roll slightly, thereby moving back the cutter
arm and straightening up the cutter, slightly freeing the face of the
cutter from the face of the spur, and bringing the cutter into better
position to form the next tooth. The hammer then again descends,
forcing the cutter again into the blank as seen at C. By these move-
ments and operations the process of hand cutting is closely imitated, the
workmen in hand cutting first striking the cutter and forming the tooth,
then lifting it and carrying it back of the spur or tooth formed by the
blow, then pushing it forward and against said spur, and then again
giving the blow.
Instead of giving to the cutter the upward, backward, downward, and
forward movements as described, the file bed may be drawn forward
after the cut until the spur passes the cutter (the cutter being first
raised or not as may be desirable), the bed being then pressed back until
the spur strikes the cutter, which will of course bring the parts into
position for the next cut.
The details of organization of the machine may of course be varied,
but the arrangement of mechanism shewn is effective.
Having now set forth the nature of the said Invention, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as communicated

page_text: to me by my foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the described
method of cutting files.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Horace Brandon, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Third day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
D. H. BRANDON,
13, Rue Gaillon, Paris.
A. H. BRANDON. (L.S.)