Page:Miscellaneous Papers on Mechanical Subjects.djvu/139

 cutter, revolving on a fixed axis, with its cutting edges in a line with the face of the knob. The pattern and the copy revolving simultaneously on a common axis, as the surface of the pattern is pressed against the projecting knob, the oscillating frame is made to move, so that the revolving cutters shape from the block a surface exactly corresponding to the surface of the pattern, and the copy occupies relatively to the cutters the same position which the pattern does relatively to the knob of iron.

About 18 men are employed, who make 100 pair of lasts per day, exclusive of boot-trees.

32. Furniture Making.—Labour-saving machines of all kinds, sawing, planing, boring, shaping, and jointing machines, are very advantageously employed in the manufacture of furniture. An apparatus of a very simple character is used for shaping the arms and legs of chairs. Two vertical cutters are made to revolve in opposite directions, at the rate of about 1,700 revolutions per minute, on axes projecting above a bench.

The cutters are about 4 inches in diameter, and between them and the bench are loose washers or rollers, against which the pattern to which the work is fastened is pressed so as to guide the cut.