WOOD-WORKING MACHINES. 



499 



slight inclination to the horizontal should be given, so as to 

 allow the rainwater to drain off. 



SECTION II. OTHER WOOD-WORKING MACHINES. 



1. Veneer-plane*. 



For a number of years veneer planes have been used instead 

 of saws for cutting veneer. There are two kinds of machines 

 used, one cutting straight and the other spirally. In the 

 former, either the horizontal G-foot blade is fixed and the wood 

 pushed under it, or the 

 wood is fixed and the blade 

 works over it, the veneer 

 coming off of the thickness 

 of paper. With spiral 

 machines, the wood is in. 

 cylinders and is fixed in 

 a lathe and turned slowly 

 on its axis. The sharp 

 blade acts tangentially on 

 the wood and keeps cut- 

 ting in deeper, until the 

 veneer is pulled off in one 

 long piece from the cylinder 



that is reduced gradually 



,_ J , Fig. 305. Plessis' machine. 



in size. The thickness of 



the veneer can easily be as low as 0'25 mm., so that there are 

 40 widths in a centimeter of wood. 



[A machine for cutting thin boards was invented in 1875 

 by Leon Plessis,* the action of which may be understood from 

 Fig. 305 ; (a) is the cutting blade, 3 or 4 meters long, 

 fastened to a frame (b) ; (c) regulates the thickness of the cut 

 pieces of wood, which may vary from 2 to 20 mm. The 

 greatest thickness which can be cut is 2 centimeters, supply- 

 ing boards for cigar-boxes, packing-cases, etc. The instrument 

 slides up and down in a vertical frame, a piece of wood being 

 cut at each down stroke, and the butt, which is being cut, 



* Societe Franchise de tranchage de bois, 4, Passage Charles Dallery, Tan's. 



K K 2 



