Fig. 23.

[Fig. 24] is to some extent self-centering. A piece of wood hollowed out conically has three nails, or three-square saw-files so placed within the cone as to present three sharp edges inwards. Any piece of wood, if not too hard, will, if placed with one end in the chuck, while the back centre is screwed against the other, centre itself in some part of this cone, and, being at the same time held by the three sharp edges, will necessarily revolve in the chuck. There are many cases in which even in this rough form such a chuck will prove useful; but if it were cast in metal and the three edges formed by slips of steel, and the whole accurately turned, it would be a very efficient and good self-centering chuck. In its more common form it is largely used by the turners of mop and broom handles, who work rapidly and cannot afford to waste time in chucking their work. With the above, the lathe, if worked by steam or water power, is not even stopped,—the screw of the back centre has a quick thread, so that a single turn to or fro fixes or releases the work; and thus, one handle being finished, another piece takes its place in the chuck, is fixed by a half-turn of the back screw, and being set in rapid motion is turned and completed by a practised hand in a couple of minutes or less.

Fig. 24.

[Fig. 25] represents another useful chuck, generally of boxwood, called the barrel stave chuck. It is turned conical, the largest part being towards the mandrel; it is then wholly or partially drilled through, after which saw-cuts are made longitudinally, as in the drawing. These allow a certain degree of expansion when a piece of work is fitted into it, and it is tightened round the latter by driving on a ring of iron or brass. This ring is sometimes cut with a coarse thread inside, and a similar thread being chased on the outside of the chuck, it is screwed upon the cone instead of requiring to be driven by blows of a hammer. One important use of this chuck is to re-mount in the lathe, for ornamentation by the eccentric cutter or other apparatus, any finished work that could not be readily chucked in any other manner, or to hold rings requiring (like curtain rings) to be turned on the inside. Such articles will, from the nature of this chuck, be truly centred at once; and their exterior parts will not be liable to injury, as they would be by being driven into an ordinary chuck hollowed out to receive them.

Fig. 25.

Another useful chuck for turning short pieces of metal such as bolts and binding screws, and which is in a great measure self centering is made of cast iron, and is usually called the dog-nose chuck, represented in [Fig. 26]. This is made with movable jaw hinged, as more plainly seen in B. The screw clamps these jaws firmly together, and any small piece of work is thus securely held. The centering, however, is not accurate, though sufficiently so for many purposes. The die chuck ([Fig. 27]) is accurately self-centering, and although somewhat expensive, is a valuable addition to the lathe. This chuck consists, first of all, of a socket for screw to fit the mandrel, and round flat plate of brass cast in one piece, as in [Fig. 28]. This must be carefully turned and faced in the lathe. Two pieces of iron or brass are then screwed to the face, as B, B, [28A], leaving a space between, the sides of which are to be truly parallel. These pieces may either be chamfered to form V-pieces, or may be rectangular on their inner edges; at C, C, a part of each is cut away, and the outer or back plate is also filed down to receive the small plates D, D. E shows a groove in which a screw lies, half of which has a right and half a left handed thread; this is shown in [Fig. 29]. It will be evident that if this screw is placed in the groove of the bottom plate, and its ends pass through the pieces D, D, which are screwed to the plates, it can revolve in its bearings, but will have no endwise motion; the collar F resting in a recess under the top plate D. This screw passes through a projection in the back of the pair of dies, which projection also goes into the same slot in the back plate in which the screw works when turned by the key ([Fig. 27], B.) The above being nicely fitted, the dies moving evenly but stiffly in their places, the plain top is screwed on, keeping all firmly together. This plate has a long opening or slot ([Fig. 27]), through which the jaws of the dies and part of the screw are visible. The ends of the screw should not project, as any such projection is calculated to bring to grief the knuckles of the turner—a consideration worth attention in every form of chuck—the squared ends of the screw lie in a recess in the small plates, as shown in the section of one of these plates ([Fig. 28X]). Into this recess the key fits over the screw end; and by turning this the dies are simultaneously moved asunder, or closer together so as to grasp centrally as in the jaws of a vice, any small article, such as a screw or short rod of metal placed between them, A similarly contrived chuck is often used under the name of a universal chuck, for holding pieces of large diameter, and is very useful for taking pieces of ivory which have to be hollowed or otherwise worked, as will hereafter be detailed. In this case the jaws may be semicircular in form, as [Fig. 30].

Fig. 26.