P L A N I N G 
601 
this, the edges of the board are to be held by the fides 
to the bench above-mentioned ; but, as it would Hill be 
liable to fpring up in the middle part, heavy rollers, or 
rollers loaded with weights, are fitted in apertures made 
in the plane as near as poffible to the cutting edge, and 
thefe will keep the board down clofe upon the bench. For 
planing pieces of greater thicknefs at one end than the 
other, the cheeks of the plane are to be borne upon rulers 
of wood laid on the bench on each fide, the wood being 
as much thicker at one end as the board is intended to 
be thinner at that end; therefore, when the plane has 
reduced the wood, the cheeks come to bear upon thefe 
rulers, and caufe it to move not parallel to the bench, 
but inclined, according as they are thicker at one end 
than the other : in like manner, by ufing them of different 
thicknefles at the different fides, the boards may be made 
feather-edged. 
Mr. Bramah invented a planing machine, which he has 
ufed very advantageoufly for planing all kinds of timber 
flat, at an exceedingly fmall expenfe. In 1802 he took 
out a patent for the invention, which he defcribes in his 
fpecification to confift in the following particulars, “ The 
cutting tools employed to reduce the wood, inftead of 
being worked by hand, are to be fixed on frames, fome 
of which are moved in a rotatory direction round an 
upright fhaft, and others have a draft lying in a horizontal 
pofition like a common lathe. In other inftances, the 
tools are fixed on frames, which Aide on ftatior.ed grooves 
to be driven alfo by machinery. The principal points 
on which the merits of the invention reft, are, 1. The 
materials to be wrought are made to Aide in contatt with 
the tool, inftead of the tool being carried by the hand 
over the work in the ufual way. 2. The tool is made to 
travel acrofs the work in a fquare or oblique direction, 
except in cafes where it may be neceflary to fix the tool 
in an immoveable ftation, and caufe the work to fall in 
contadl with it by a motion. 3. Inftead of common 
tools, bent knives, fpoke fhaves, or deep cutting gouges, 
are ul'ed for cutting off the rougheft parts, and planes of 
various ftiapes and conftru£lions,as the work may require, 
are applied to follow the former in fucceflion, under 
the fame operation, and which latter I call finiftiers. 4. 
Thefe are fixed on frames which move in cafes, like 
thofe on which the laws are fixed in a fawing-mill, and 
in other inftances thefe frames are fixed on a rotatory 
upright draft turning on a ftep, and carrying the frame 
round in a diredlion iimilar to the upper mill-ftone for 
grinding corn, and fometimes the frames turn on a ho¬ 
rizontal fliaft, refembling the mandrel of a common 
turning-lathe. The different planes, tools, &c. are fixed 
in the frames, fo as to fall fucceflively in contadf with the 
wood or other materials to be cut, io that the cutter or 
tool calculated to take the rough and prominent part 
operates firft, and thofe that follow mult be fo regulated 
as to reduce the material down to the line intended for 
the furface. Thefe cutter-frames mull alfo have the pro¬ 
perty of being regulated by a lcrew, orotherwife, fo as to 
approach nearer the work, or recede at pleafure, in order 
that a deeper or fliallower cut may be taken at difcretion, 
or that the machine may repeat its aftion, without 
raifing or deprefiing the material on which they a 61 . 
5. When an upright draft is ufed, the pivot, is to turn in 
oil, and it may be railed or deprefl'ed at pleafure, by means 
of a greater or lefs quantity of the faid fluid being con¬ 
fined between the end of the fhaft and the bottom of the 
ftep. 6. The materials to be cut mull be firmly fixed on 
a frame, fimilar to thofe in fawing-mills, on which the 
timber is carried to the faws. Thefe frames mull be 
moved in a fteady progreflive manner as the cutter-frame 
turns round, either by the fame power which moves the 
latter, or otherwife, as may be found to anfwer bell in 
practice. 7. The motion of the cutter-frames mud be 
under the controul of a regulator, fo that the velocity of 
the tool, in pafling over the work, may be made quicker 
or flower as fuch work may refpeflively require, to caufe 
Vol. XX. No. 1394. 
M ACHINE S. 
the cutter to aft properly to the bell advantage.” For 
this purpofe Mr. Bramah propofes to ufe what he calls a 
univerfal regulator of velocity, and which he defcribes as 
follows : “ I take any number of cog-wheels, of different 
diameter, with teeth that will exaftly fit each other 
through the whole ; fuppofe ten, or any other number, 
but for an example fay ten, the fmalieft of which fhall not 
exceed one inch in diameter, and the largelt fuppofe ten 
inches in diameter, and all the reft to mount by regular 
gradation in their diameters from one to ten. I fix thele 
ten wheels, fall and immoveable, on an axis perfectly 
true, fo as to form a cone of wheels; I then take ten 
other wheels, exactly the fame in all refpefts as the 
former, and fix them on another axis, alfo perfectly true, 
and the wheels in perfeft gradation alfo; but thefe latter 
wheels I do not fix faft on theiraxes, like the former, but 
leave them all loofe, fo as to turn upon the faid axes, 
contrary to the former, which are all fixed. All thefe 
latter wheels I have the power of locking, by a pin or 
otherwife, fo that I can at difcretion lock or unite any 
fingle wheel at pleafure to the axis. I then place the two 
axes parallel to each other, with the wheels which form 
the two cones as above defcribed, in reverfe pofition, fo 
that the large wdieel at one end of the cone may lock its 
teeth into the fmalieft one in the cone oppofite, and like- 
wife vice verja. Then fuppofe the axis, on which the 
wheels are permanently fixed, to be turned about, all the 
wheels on the other axis will be carried round with 
velocities correfpondent to their diameters and thofe of 
the former, but their axes will not move. Then lock the 
largeft wheel on the loofe axis; and, by turning about 
the fattened axis as before, it mull take ten revolutions, 
while the oppofite wheel performs but one ; then by un¬ 
locking the largeft wheel, and locking the fmalieft one 
at the contrary end of the cone in its Head, and turning 
as before, the faftened axis will then turn the oppofite ten 
times, while itfelf only revolves once. Thus the axes 
or fliafts of thefe cones, orconical combinations of wheels, 
may turn each other reciprocally, as one to ten, and ten 
to one, which colleftively produces a change in velocity, 
under an uniform aftion of the primum mobile, as ten to 
a hundred; for, when the fmall wheel on the loofe axis 
is locked, and the faft one makes ten revolutions, the 
former will make one hundred; and by adding to the 
number of thofe wheels and extending the cones, which 
may de done ad infinitum, velocities may be likewife in¬ 
finitely varied by this fimple contrivance.” 
In 1803, Mr. Bevans obtained a patent for a machine 
for planing (or /ticking, as the joiners term it,) all kinds 
of mouldings or rebates, and ploughing grooves, as well 
as forming flat furfaces of fmall breadth, which it does 
with very little labour : in this machine thefe operations 
are performed by the planes commonly ufed for fimilar 
purpofes, with only fuch alterations as are neceflary to 
adapt them to the machinery by which they are put in 
motion with mechanical power inftead of human labour. 
They are to be ufed either fingly or combined together 
in any number, according to the width of the boards 
to be worked at once, and the nature of the work to be 
done, fo as to plane up at one operation fuch moulding 
as joiners work up by ufing feveral planes fucceflively for 
the different parts ; this is eftefted by a kind of frame or 
box, which admits of fixing any number of planes in it, 
fide by fide, and at any diftance afunder, to form the 
compound moulding required. The work is fixed faft on 
a bench, and the box of planes is made to pafs over it, in 
the direction of its length, by a connefti-ng rod com¬ 
municating at one end of the box or frame containing 
the planes, and at the other end with machinery capable 
of affording a reciprocating motion. 
This machinery confifts of a crank, whofe radius mull 
be nearly half the length of the required ftroke, and muff, 
be regulated accordingly. This regulation is effected by 
the arm of the crank pafling through a mortife in a ftror.g 
box, fixed on an axis, and Aiding in the faid box to any 
7 O required 
