IMPROVEMENTS IN SAWING MACHINERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 747, 24 March 1866, Page 5

IMPROVEMENTS IN SAWING MACHINERY.

( From the Ladies 1 Journal )

In the extensive cabinet works of Messrs John Taylor and Snn, at Rosemount, Gardner's Crescent, Edinburgh, a very ingenious machine for the cutting of logs into boards has just been erected. This is j tbe first machine of the kind which has been constructed in this country. The patent is held by one of the largest saw- ! mill proprietors in Germany ; and from j the superior quality of the sawing, and the great saving effected, Aye have no doubt will very soon come into general use, more especially for the more valuable woods used in the manufacture of furniture. This machine, unlike those most in use in this country, works horizontally ; the log is placed on a travelling carriage, j which is massively constructed of timber, made to cut logs thirty fett In length by three fe et square. The carriage is mounted on wheels, which run on the top surface of rails securely fixed to the stone foundation, whilst horizontal wheels are placed to run against the inside flanges of the rails, and thereby keep the carriage steady on the rails. The log is held securely on the carriage by means of iron clamps .fixed in block?, which work betwixt guide bars, and are adjusted by screw spindles. The feed or traverse motion of the carriage is obtained by means of a rack fixed on the under side of the carriage, and acted on by a pinion fixed on a shaft driven by a worm-wheel, and worm and cone pulleys. The worm is carried by a swivelling bracket, and can be put out of gear when a quick motion is required. An inclined shaft with bevel wheels is provided for turning the shaft quickly. A separate traversing motion has been supplied, which is worked direct from the shaft which drives the machine itself, so that, independent of the common feed and traverse motion, the carriage can be worked with greater or less speed each way. The saw-blade is placei horizontally, its cutting edge's teeth being also similarly directed ; and it is worked by means of a revolving crank, pin, and connecting rod. The saw-frame is provided with slides working in the grooves of similarly curved guides, the curvature of the guides being adopted to render the action of the saw uniform and efficient throughout the entire length of the cut, and in both directions of Its motion. Two guides are fixed to a lathe or frame capable of being adjusted vertically upon the face 3of two upright standards, between which the carriage travels, and across which the saw works. The saw-blade is guided as near the sides of the log as possible, by mean 9of adjustable bracket pieces attached to the teeth,

The standards are securely fixed to the stone foundation, and are connected or strengthened overhead by a traverse girder or frame-piece. Tne lathe, which may be more or less counterbalanced by means of a chain passing over pulleys to a weight, ia raised or lowered by means of vertical screw spindles carried by brackets bolted to the standards, and arranged, and work in concert by means of a transverse connecting shaft and bevel wheels. The screw spindles are actuated through bevel wheels, by short horizontal shafts fixed in brackets and provided with handles. To cut planks too thin to be caught by the iron clamps into boards of any thickness, a pressing roller is provided to hold the wood firmly down close to the line at which the sawing action takes place. The roller is mounted in a frame jointed to a link, so aa to be capable of accommodating itself to any transverse inclination of the wood surface, the ends of the frame being confined in guide g ooves in the vertical side-pieces of a larger frame, which last is jointed to brackets attached to the main standards. The link is acted upon by a weighted lever, the fulcrum of which is in the frame, being made adjustable as to height to suit the wood of different sizes By this arrangement, the pressure roller is made to act with uniformity and lreedom, and with the force due to the leverage of the weight. The saw frame guides are supplied with lubricating oil by means of pumps. These pumps are attached to tbe back of the lathe, the oil being conveyed to the grooves by tubes. The motion for working the pumps i 3 derived from the feed-motion shaft, this shaft having on it a pulley, which is thrown out of gear , along with the worm, and from which a I cord passes to a pulley on a transverse spindle, this last driving at each side a vertical spindle. There is on each side spindle a travelling bevel wheel, moving with tbe lathe, and driving a short spindle carried by the lathe, and carrying a worm, which acts on the worm wheel of the pumps. The machine has a very light but substantial appearance.