At the Vienna, Exhibition, E. Bu5thius, of Stockholm, showed an interesting set of cork-cutting machines, capable of being regulated to accommodate the cork, should it be too narrow or too faulty to yield a perfectly cylindrical cork. For cutting cork ficats and other coarse work, hand-saws have been found to answer well, requiring less sharpening than knives. In these machines, however, knives are entirely employed, being kept sharpened by solid emery discs, revolving at high speed, arranged to maintain a razor-like edge on every blade. The work ie divided into stages, a bottle cork passing through four separate machines.
The first operation consists in cutting the " tables'' into strips of adjusted width, according to the desired length of the manufactured cork ; thence the strip is passed to a second machine, which trime down the thickness to correspond with the length. These are attended by a boy, and the cutters employed resemble toothless circular saws, kept as sharp as possible. Each of these machines provides material fur five machines devoted to the third stage of the operation, by which the long strips are pa,ssed between a series of similar revolving cutters, and are delivered as corks in regard to their length, but square instead of round. The action here is self-regulated, and faults can be avoided as easily as by hand cutting. The fourth machine turns the square corks into cylindrical ones. The squares 8,re put into a feeding hopper ; two spindles approach in line, grip each curk between them, and turn it round against tho edge of a stationary knife, by which the cork is per fected. The great point in these machines is the application of the emery wheel ; and in all the stages, women and children can be employed as attendants. About 8-10 per cent. of the corks need a little hand trimming afterwards.
The fulluwing ia an estimate of the cost of a factory with five cylindrical cutting-machines with accessories, to turn out about 20 million corks annually :— Perhaps the best cork-cutting machinery yet introduced is that devised by M. Powis Bale and Co., Saw-mill Engineers, 20, Budge Row, London, who have kindly furnished the following in formation and figures descriptive of their specialities. Figs. 511 and 512 represent a hand-power machine for cutting corks and bungs. The cork is cut into cylinders, by means of a plain steel knife, about 18-24 in. long, moving herizontally, and kept constantly sharpened by two small
revolving emery discs hearing upon the cutting edge. The squares of cork to be rounded are held between spring centres, and, as the knife is pushed forwards, they receive a rotary motion by means of a lever and belt. One cork is rounded at each stroke of the knife, and is released from the spring centre by the elbow of the operator. The knife is fitted on an adjustable slide, to suit the various sizes of corks, so that a minimum of waste is produced. Suitable chucks are provided for cutting corks and buugs of various sizes up to 3 iu. diameter. In working the machine, the follow ing points should be attended to ;—To give greater power to the spring R, which stretches the strap C, the lever is raised from E to F by the chain fixed at the end of the strap ; to diminish the power of R, the operation is reversed. The raelx K is advanced or drawn back, according to the size of the cork squares. The knife must be well adjusted to the squares, and the emery wheels must bear evenly on the cutting edge. The emery wheels axe set in or out by loosening the screws under the bracket. To make tapered oorks, the screw on the bracket R is loosened, and the set-screws 1 and 2 are turned from right to left, in order to cant the bracket carrying the knife to the required angle; the screw of the bracket is again tightened up, after aseertainiog that the bracket rests securely on the set-sorews. To vary the size of cylindrical corks, the set-screws are raised or lowered. The complete machine costs only sixteen guineas ; by it, a lad can turn out 50-70 grose a day. It is said to be already in extensive use.
An equally ingenious machine made by tho same firm is one for cutting cork into sheets, for lining helmets, hats, soles, &c., for which purpose they are sometimes required to be as thin as paper. The apparatus which performs this very delicate operation consists of a circular revolving steel knife, ground sharp at its periphery ; the cork, having first been cut to tho desired shape, is fixed in 21 movable chuck-plate, arranged to re volve by hand, and fitted with an extremely delicate feed motion, for bringing the cork to the knife, or vice versa.