GB628508A - Improvements in or relating to machines for cutting crystalline material - Google Patents

Abstract

628,508. Cutting crystalline material. STANDARD TELEPHONES & CABLES, Ltd., DEACON, H. J., and FOSTER, A. D. May 6,1947, No. 12194. [Class 124] A continuously operating machine for cutting a block of crystalline material into a plurality of thin plates comprises a power driven cutting wheel, a work-table for the block, hand operated means for orienting the block with regard to its crystalline axis and the plane of the cutting wheel, power operated means for moving the work-table along a line in the plane of rotation of the cutting wheel and for automatically reversing the direction of movement of the table, automatic means traversing the work-table to the desired position for the commencement of a subsequent cut and for initiating the cutting movement. As shown a cutting wheel 5 comprising a thin metal disc with notches filled with cutting particles is mounted in a post 3 on a base-plate 4 and driven by an electric motor which also drives a pulley 8 connected by dog clutches 10 and 17 to a countershaft 11 and a main shaft 9. A worm gear 19 on the shaft 9 drives a gear wheel 20 rotatably mounted on a shaft 21 which, by means of a clutch 26, 27 drives a hand wheel 24 keyed to the shaft 21. A lead screw 22 on the shaft 21 co-operates with a nut 30 and a tube 31 to which a table 40 is connected to move the table from front to rear of the bedplate under the cutting wheel. A reversing gear enables the table to be returned to the front of the bedplate. The table 40 is traversed at right angles to the shaft 21 by a screw 45 operated by a rachet 55, rack53 pinion 54 and clutch 49. A lever 59 pivoted at 60 and operated by a cam 63 on the housing for the rachet gear traverses the table by an amount adjustable by a calibrated nut 56 altering the amount of movement of the rack 55. The block of crystalline material, e.g. quartz, has a flat perpendicular to one of its crystallographic axes cemented to a glass plate which is held by an undercut sliding edge 81 movable by a screw 83 on to a working table 71. A cylindrical convex surface on the bottom of table 71 is adjustable by sliding over a cylindrical concave top surface on a block 72 which also has one side slidable on a side surface of a block 77. The positions of these sliding blocks may be fixed by vernier scales. Blocks 77, 72 and 71 may be rotated as a complete unit by a block 67 rotatably mounted on a plate 64 screwed to the table 40. Rough adjustment of the crystal may be made by rotating the block 67, the final fine adjustment being made by the movement of the blocks 72 and 71 by thumbscrews 78 and 78.