Clay cutting lathe and method
AssigneeCustom Concepts, Incorporated
InventorJames F. Kubiatowicz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lathe comprising a rotor assembly which may be manually rotated and which has a peripheral portion around which moist pottery clay may be packed. A first cutting member can be mounted on a tool support for the lathe and used to cut grooves into the clay generally to the depth at which the surface of the object will be formed, whereupon a second cutting member with a continuous edge can be mounted on the tool support and used to cut away the clay ridges and shape the finished surface on the object. The object is then allowed to dry, which releases it from the rotor assembly.
Claims12
A lathe for cutting moist clay into spindle-like objects, said lathe comprising:
- a base;
- a rotor assembly having an axis and adapted to have clay packed around a portion of its periphery;
- means for mounting the rotor assembly on said base for rotation about said axis;
- a tool support member;
- means mounting said tool support member on said base for movement in a direction generally perpendicular to said axis;
- means for providing a first cutting member comprising a plurality of spaced projecting grooving teeth with the distal ends of said teeth defining generally the same shape as one side surface of a said object to be formed;
- said first cutting member being adapted to be mounted on said tool support member with said teeth projecting radially toward the axis of said rotor assembly;
- means for defining a second cutting member having a continuous cutting edge of essentially the same shape as one side surface of the object to be formed, said second cutting member being adapted to be mounted on said tool support member with said continuous cutting edge projecting radially toward the axis of said rotor assembly;
- and
- means for moving said tool support member along said means for mounting to engage one of said cutting members supported on said tool support with clay packed around and being rotated with said rotor assembly.
A method for cutting predetermined spindle-like objects from moist clay comprising the steps of:
- packing the clay around a rotor assembly into a somewhat cylindrical shaped clay mass;
- rotating the rotor assembly to rotate the clay mass;
- cutting grooves in the clay to a depth at which the surface of the object will be formed to form spaced annular clay ridges;
- cutting away the ridges and shaping the surface of the spindle-like object;
- wetting the clay with water during said cutting steps;
- and
- removing the finished spindle-like object from the rotor assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.