HAILES' SECTION CUTTEE. 



203 



that by turning the micrometer screw E the inner tube C 

 will be carried steadily upwards, and with it the mate- 

 rial to be cut, without compression, and consequently 

 without any jerking. The sections, however, may be 

 cut with a chisel or with a 

 razor in the usual manner. 

 The upper flange B of the 

 machine, which serves as a 

 cutting table, is provided 

 with two strips of hardened 

 and polished steel a. These 

 form convenient surfaces over 

 which the cutting tool may 

 be passed, when cutting wood 

 or softer sections, and they 

 also serve another important 

 purpose. At the back of the 

 cutting table is secured, by 

 means of a spring and screw 

 and steady-pins, a metal block 

 fc. This block carries, fixed 

 in it, two hard steel rods c, 

 which overlie the strips a. 

 By passing the blade of a fine 

 saw between the rods c and the strips a, sections of 

 bone or other material too hard to be cut with a knife, 

 may be sawn off as thin as the nature of the material 

 will permit, in some cases sufficiently thin to permit of 

 their being at once mounted. The rods c and strips 

 a, being of the hardest steel, receive no injury from 

 the teeth of the saw. The machine is made by Baker, 

 144, Holborn. 



Method of making Sections. If the wood be green, it 

 should be cut to the required length, and be immersed 

 for a few days in strong alcohol, to get rid of all 

 resinous matters. When this is accomplished, it may 

 be soaked in water for a week or ten days; it will 

 then be ready for cutting. If the wood be dry, it 

 should be first soaked in water and afterwards immersed 

 in spirit, and before cutting placed in water again, as in 

 the case of the green wood. 



FIG. 143. Hailes' Improved 

 Stction-cutting Machine. 



