US722999A - Process of making wood plates. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED MAR. 17, 1903.

I. A. MANUEL. PROCESS OF MAKING WOOD PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1902.

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WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES FRANK A.

PATENT FFIJCJE.

MANUEL, OF RIOHFORD, VERMONT.

PROCESS OF MAKING woon PLATES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,999, dated March 17, 1903.

Application filed September 22, 1902.

T0 or whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK A. MANUEL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Richford, in the county of Franklin and State of Vermont, have invented a new and Improved Process of Making Wood Pie-Plates and Similar Articles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a process of making wood pie-plates and analogous articles of circular outline, as will be hereinafter fully described.

In manufacturing pressed wood pie-plates the common method resorted to by persons in the trade is to first cut the green veneer into square sheets a little larger than the diameter of the article desired, and after cutting these sheets in the form described they are placed on racks to dry and shrink. It is necessary that the wood veneer shall shrink about three-fourths (i) of an inch to the foot before the stock is in proper condition for pressing so as to manufacture pie plates. After cutting, drying, and shrinking the stock the square sheets are cut to the desired shape by a round die, which produces a blank of veneer having the proper size and shape to' be placed in a press, which imparts the desired configuration to the veneer-stock and completes the article. 1 7

Practical experience has shown that the veneer from green stock cannot be first cut into round or disk-like shape and thereafter subjected to heat and pressure in a press for the manufacture of pressed circular plates, because the veneer splits and cracks by shrinkingt-o such an extent that the plates are worthless.

The present improvement is designed to overcome these objections and to enable the manufacture of good commercial veneer articles to be carried on economically and with despatch.

In the present invention I prepare the green or undried veneer in such a way as to utilize the natural shrinkage of the wood to produce a circular piece of veneer-stock after the same shall have become thoroughly dry. According to my method the green veneer is cut in elliptical form to produce a thin sheet, the major axis of the ellipse running at right angles to the grain of the wood and in the di- Serial No. 124,405. (No specimens.)

rection oftlie line of shrinkage. After cutting thegreen veneer in the elliptical form described it is allowed to dry, or it may be dried in any suitable apparatus, and during this drying stage the wood naturally shrinks crosswise of the grain, whereby the veneer assumes a circular condition when thoroughly dried and shrunk, so that it is available for manufacture into articles of circular contour, such as pie plates, without splitting and cracking.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partof this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

Figure l is a plan view of the green or undried piece of veneer-stock in the condition in which it is cut from a log and before it is dried and shrunk. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the circular blank of the veneer-stock after it has been thoroughly dried and shrunk, said view illustrating the condition of the blank ready for manufacture into a pie-plate or any other suitable article of circular configuration.

A designates the green or undried piece of veneer. This veneer-stock is cut in the form of an ellipse the minor axis of which (indicated by the dotted line a) is equal to the diameter of the dried and shru'nk blank B. (Shown by Fig.2.) The major axis of the elliptical piece of stockA is indicated by the dotted line b in-Fig. 1, and this major axis of the stock extends crosswise of the grain of the wood, said major axis b exceeding in length the diameter of the dried and shrunk blank B in Fig. 2. To produce the veneer-stock A, the log of wood is out into sheets of veneer by a rotary or any other veneer-machine, and from these sheets of veneer the elliptical shapes are cut in. any preferred way and by any suitable type of machine. After cutting the piece of the veneer-stock in the elliptical form shown by the blank Aof Fig. 1 the stock is dried in any suitable wayas, for example, by placing the elliptical pieces on racks or by subjecting them to heat in any suitable form of apparatus. During the drying operation the wood in the veneer-stock shrinks crosswise of the grain and in the direction of the major axis 1), the lines of shrinkage being indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. When the ICO elliptical pieces of the veneer-stock are thoroughly-dried and shrunk by the elimination of the moisture which is present in the green or saturated piece A, the blank takes the circular shape shown by Fig. 2, thereby producing a circular blank B, which is suitable for manufacture into circular wooden articles, such as pie-plates and the like. The circular dried and shrunk blank B may be treated, subsequent to the shrinkage thereof, in any suitable way or by any preferred type of apparatus in order to convert the blank into an article having the desired configuration. The circular dried blank B in the manufacture of pie-plates is subjected to heat and pressure in suitable dies of a press or other machine; but articles made from blanks which are prepared in accordance with my invention can be rapidly and economically made without splitting or cracking, as other prior articles are liable to do when made from green pieces of stock.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent The process herein described of making circular veneer articles, such as pie-plates,which consists in cutting a green or; undried flat veneer into elliptical form, the major axis of such elliptical veneer running crosswise of the grain of the wood; thereafter drying the veneer and shrinking it to bring the blank into circular outline; and then subjecting the circular shrunk blank to treatment which produces the article of desired contour without splitting or cracking.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FRANK A. MANUEL.

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