fitted to the knife, which in large blocks should operate obliquely to the grain of the wood, and be so arranged that the whole length of the knife does not strike the wood at the same moment, as the shock thus occasioned is often considerable and the veneers cut are more liable to split.

CHAPTER XXII.

WHEEL AND CARRIAGE MAKING MACHINERY.

IN the manufacture of wheels and carriages on a large scale several special machines are necessary, in addition to modifications of some of those we have already noticed. Amongst these may be mentioned the spoke turning or dressing machine, spoke-driving machine, felloe-shaping machine, spoke-tanging and felloe-boring machine, wheel-facing machine, &c.; our space, however, will only permit us to give a brief résumé of some of the principal machines.

The principle of most of the machines now in use for turning or dressing irregular shapes, such as spokes, hammer handles, lasts, gun stocks, is contained in Boyd's patent, dated 1822. He claims in this patent the use of a model or dummy in conjunction with a blank of wood or other material, the outline of the model guiding the cutting tool to produce a duplicate from the blank. A shoe last is shown in the patent specification as illustrating the principle claimed. From this machine, or, more correctly speaking, from this principle, numerous machines for analogous purposes have since that date been from time to time brought out.

Some five-and-twenty years ago a machine for

dressing spokes, &c., with the grain of the wood was patented by a Mr. Hughes; the spoke was fixed on a table, which was traversed beneath the cutter by means of a rack and pinion. The cutter-block spindle was made hollow, and arranged so as to allow the cutters to traverse to or from one another as they were acted on by a model spoke, and the frame carrying the cutter block was pivoted on one side, which allowed it to rise or fall as desired.

In the year 1845 a machine for carving and copying irregular forms was introduced by Mr. Jordan, of London. In his machine the wood to be shaped and the model or 'dummy' are fixed on a horizontal table, running on wheels transversely on another table or frame, which was arranged to move in a longitudinal direction, so that by the straight-line movement in two directions the table could be made to have a motion in every part of its own plane. The model and wood to be shaped were made to swivel on centres, and so arranged that by means of a lever they could be turned simultaneously on their axes. The cutters were carried on a vertical slide, and made some 5,000 revolutions per minute; this vertical slide was raised or lowered to the work, which was fixed on the travelling table beneath by means of a treadle. A tracer guide acting on the model produced by the aid of the cutters facsimiles in the piece or pieces of wood.

Some of the greatest improvements in automatic lathes for turning irregular shapes were made and patented by Mr. Blanchard, an American, many years back, whose machine was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable inventions of the day; these have again been modified and re-patented by Gleason and others.

An improved form of Blanchard lathe, manufactured by Messrs. J. A. Fay and Co., of Cincinnati, U.S.A., and especially adapted for turning spokes, is deserving of notice, as it contains several features of interest.

The cutter block is fixed to a travelling bed, which is worked by a worm feed; the feed is adjustable for tapering work, and can be stopped at any desired point by a buffer which is attached to the frame. The cutter block is fitted with eight knives, which are arranged to give gradually 'finishing' cuts, thus leaving the spoke comparatively smooth when it is taken from the machine, consequently requiring little extra finishing on the buffing machine or sand belt, which is used to remove the marks of the cutters from the wood and give it a perfectly smooth surface to receive the varnish or paint. The vibrating frame is fitted with cut toothed gearing for rotating the model and wood to be shaped, and the vibrating rests are faced with steel and kept in position by a steel spring. The movable centre is worked by an eccentric and lever, and kept in any desired position by a ratchet. The cutter-block belt travels over a long iron drum placed below the machine, and, although shaping only one spoke at a time, this lathe is speeded to turn out as many as 900 spokes per day, which, if the finish is satisfactory at that speed, must be pronounced a very large number. The cutters are arranged to work across the grain of the wood.

In the improved Blanchard lathe for turning spokes patented by J. Gleason, of Philadelphia, U.S.A., some thirteen years since, the points of novelty claimed are the use of centres operated by an eccentric lever instead of a mallet, and the introduction of a lever for

releasing the spring which keeps the vibrating frame in contact with the model or 'dummy.'

In the year 1863 Mr. H. Wilson, of London, designed and patented a multiple copying machine. The principle of using a model in conjunction with blanks was still adhered to, but instead of one a number of duplicates were produced at the same time. In this machine a model spoke and four pieces of wood are mounted in separate adjustable centres or poppet heads, which are fixed to a sliding table, arranged to travel by a screw feed beneath the cutters. The cutters are fitted on separate blocks, but are mounted on the same spindle, which revolves in a counterbalanced swinging frame. The principle of working pursued in this machine differs from the ordinary Blanchard' or other lathes, as in this case the cutters revolve in a fixed position, whilst the wood itself is made to revolve and travel beneath them; the reverse of this is usually the case, the cutters themselves being made to travel and the wood to revolve in a fixed position. The cutters used are perfectly flat, and are arranged to cut with the grain of the wood. From our experience we cannot recommend the plan of cutting with the grain of the wood, as, unless the grain is very straight and considerable care is exercised, large splinters are apt to be torn away, especially at the finishing of a spoke. With machines arranged to work across the grain this is not the case, but these spokes, however, take more finishing after they have left the lathe.

A very simple and efficient hand-power machine for centreing and boring wheel stocks or hubs was patented in the year 1868 by Messrs, Silver and Denning, of Ohio, U.S.A. It was arranged to adjust and hold