The Fay Endless-bed Surface Planer.—A method of feeding the material in wood planers, differing from the hand, carriage or platen, and pressure-roll methods, is by an endless bed, as shown in Fig. 4. It is especially desirable for green, wet, or icy lumber; and the demand for this type is constantly increasing in this country. There is an endless apron or bed of slats driven by heavy gearing, and remaining in a fixed position st all times. The lags or strips composing it are of east-iron, but the bearings on the ways are plated with steel. The cylinder is of large diameter, lipped with steel, and carries three knives, and pulleys for two belts. It runs in self-oiling bearings in a cylinder frame which is raised and lowered by a hand wheel. A weighted pressure bar is placed before the cut, as is also a pressure roller supplied with springs which give an elastic tension, that is controlled by a screw and hand wheel, so as to give any desired pressure. The cylinder frame carrying the cutters is gibbed to the sides. The cylinder and pressure bar adjust simultaneously to the thickness of cut, by a single movement of the hand wheel. The feed is started and stopped by a binding lever. A development of this maehino, of much heavier build, for planing-wills, bridge work, etc., has a stationary cylinder so that the countershaft may be either on the floor or overhead, as desired. There is a chip-breaker for holding the fibre of the wood during the process of cut ting, and a pressure roller in front weighted with folding levers so arranged that either end will work independently of the other, which is desirable on unevenly sawed lumber. This allows the rollers to adjust to the different thicknesses of the lumber without unduly strain ing any of the parts of the machine.
The machine shown in Fig. 5 has the line of the bed in a fixed position, the upper and the lower cylinders, and the pressure bar over the latter, adjusting simultaneously to suit the thickness of the timber. The upper cylinder carries four and the lower one three knives, and either can be raised or lowered when running. The pressure bar over the lower cylinder is hinged, and can be swung back out of the way to give free access to the cutters. There is a set of heavy delivery rollers after the lower cylinder, driven by expansion gearing, and feeding the lumber away from the machine, thus relieving the strain on the travelling bed in feeding heavy lumber. There are two speeds of feed, 4U and 60 ft. per minute. The feed rollers are broken in their length, so that either one wide board or two narrow ones of unequal thickness may be planed at once. The cylinders have chip-breakers. A uniform elastic pressure may be maintained by pressure springs. The pressure bars before the cut are sectional, one for each divided roller. and are raised simultaneously with the upper cylinder.
Other Endless-bed Surfacers.—In a machine made by the Egan Co. the heads instead of the bed raise and lower ; the upper head being belted from each end and raising and lowering from the working end of the machine. Each slat of the bed or travelling apron
has on the under side a circular wedge. extending between the two bearings to give stiffness; and as each end of each slat passes under a rib of the full length of the bed, it is impossible for it to lift it into the cutter head even when planing the thinnest stock. The pressure adjustment, including the two pressure rollers, is raised and lowered with the cylinder to suit the thickness of the material being planed. The lower cylinder has a pair of feeding out rolls.
In one type of the double-cylinder, endless-bed surfacer, the endless bed itself extends through a comparatively short portion of the length of the machine, the stock being fed to it from a plane grated table; the upper cylinder gets the first cut and the lower one next; and after the second cut there are rolls, broken into two lengthwise portions so as to take in two pieces of different thickness. One desirable feature in this type of machine is in those made by Hoyt & Bro., in which the feed rolls and their operative mechanism are carried by a swinging bar that is easily swung away or opened like a gate, giving access to the cylinder for setting or sharpening the knives. In some machines the sprocket wheels are made to move the bed by the links; in others, by the slats themselves.which latter is bv many considered preferable. In the II. 13. Smith machine, instead of the pressure bar there is a i roll which is held down by rubber to reduce friction.
Jointers.—It being next to impossible to joint the edges of wood perfectly by hand tools, for gluing, such work is usually done by machinery, both by reason of the greater perfection of surface and on account of the decreased cost. The stroke jointer is a very simple machine which, while taking up a good deal of room, is not very heavy, and is very simple in opera tion. There is a east-iron table, borne by suitable or pedestals, and through the top of which there project two or more ordinary planing Along this table there vibrates lengthwise a frame which bears the piece the under side of which is to be jointed. The material being properly clamped to the carriage, the latter is given lengthwise motion by a pitman driven from a large wheel upon a separate stand, this being operated by hand or by power, as desired.
The hand-feed planing and jointing machine will plane out of wind ; and as the amount of material cut away is controlled by hand and by sight, there is scarcely any kind of planing which cannot be done by it more truly and with less labor than by hand work, and in one-tenth of the time required thereby. In the H. B. Smith Co.'s hand planer there is within the framing a chute which delivers the shavings in the rear of the machine and at the same time forms a cross wedge in the framing, thus increasing the rigidity of the machine.