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1852 Article-Nicholas G. Norcross, |
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Scientific American, V 8 #2, 25 Sept 1852, pg. 12 |
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11/7/2014 7:43:23 PM |
The annexed engraving is a longitudinal section of a machine for planing boards, for which a patent was granted on the 22nd of last June (1852), to N. G. Norcross, of Lowell, Mass. A is a rotary cylinder, with a series of planes, a a a, placed above a bench or rest, B. The said cylinder revolves in the direction of the arrow, 4, or that of the board, C, which is moved under it, so as to cut from the unplaned surface of the board towards its planed surface. D E are the feed rollers ; after the rotary cylinder, A, then is placed a straight stationary inclined plane iron, F, arranged near to the path of the knife edges of the cutter cylinder. G is an emery or smoothing drum; its surface is covered with teeth like those of a file or some abrasive material, o smooth and finish the board after the plane F, has acted upon it. The drum, G, may be made with a corrugated surface, to give the board a grained appearance. I is another cutter cylinder, the cutters of which rotate and cut below on the board, from its planed to its unplaned surface. The planing machine ot Daniel Hill, of Stoneham, Mass., invented in 1828, for the purpose of planing boards, had a rotary cutter placed underneath the surface of the board, which was supported and moved along on a bench. This machine could not reduce an uneven board to an equal thickness throughout, but the board was prevented from being drawn downwards, and it was cut from its planed to its unplaned surface. A planing machine invented by M. Roquiere, for which a patent was granted in France in 1818, as described in Vol. 23 of "Brevets d'Inventions,"
had its rotary cylinder placed above the bench, and cut the board from its unplaned to its planed surface. Woodworth's machine has a rotary cylinder placed above the board, which cuts from the planed to the unplaned surface, and it has pressure rollers to hold the board down, to keep it from being lifted up. The machine which cuts from the unplaned to the planed surface, labors under the difficulty of dulling the planes or cutters much sooner than the one which cuts from the planed to the unplaned surface, owing to sand and dirt being ingrained in the surface of the board, but, at the same time, the surfaces of boards planed by a rotating cylinder are not planes, but are curved by the dubbing or adze cut of the cutters. This machine of Mr. Norcross is intended to reduce a board to an even thickness, and also to reduce the upper surface to a plane surface, grained, or made corrugated in a longitudinal direction. No rollers are employed to hold the board down or counteract any tendency of the rotary cylinder to lift it, as in the Wood worth patent, because the upper cylinder operates on the board in the contrary direction, and tends to force the board down on the bench instead of lifting it up, and the under cylinder to act in the contrary direction. The rotary cylinder above is employed to take off the rough surface of the board and reduce it, so that the stationary plane, F, can operate on it afterwards, and easily it a plane surface. By placing the knife close up and near to the path of the revolving knives, the rib and shavings made by the former, are cut up and thrown off by the latter; this is an advantage over stationary planing machines which require an attendant to take away the ribbons of shavings from the knife boxes. The claim is for a cylindrical rotary set of cutters to remove the rough from the unplaned to the planed surface, in combination with the stationary cutter for finishing without pressure rollers or pressure bars of any kind, as set forth.
In practice, His machine, we have been assured, works admirably, with a great saving of power. It must make a beautiful surface on a board, and it will no doubt attract much attention. A number of inquiries have been made of us respecting it by those who had read the claim of Mr. Norcross as published in our list in the last volume. Here it is illustrated, and a machine can be seen in operation at Lowell, Mass., every day, where its practical qualities can be examined. One will also be exhibited at the Fair of the American Institute, which is to be held at Castle Garden in this city, next month.
US Patent: 9,058 |
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