XC patents are Canadian patents issued between 1824 and 1869. Scans of the patent drawings are not available. The patent specification is summarized below. The inventor is described as a “Master Carpenter”. According to an 1850-51 Toronto Directory, he was operating a planing mill there. A genealogy website informs us that Sisson was born in Stonington, CT, in 1794. “1st. The Frame to be made of hard wood, well bolted together at the joints. “2nd. The piece on which the ways are placed for the carriage to run on is to be of sufficient strength, so as not to spring under the pressure of the rollers; the ways to be made of cast iron, one of them to be level on the top, the other to be the shape of a V, with ears on each side to secure them down. “3rd. The carriage to be of pieces nine inches long, six inches wide, and one and a quarter inch thick, those pieces to be of seasoned hard wood, and to be connected by leather belts; the rack in which the pinion works is to be placed in the centre of the pieces, and the irons to correspond with the ways near the end. “4th. The roller on which the carriage revolves. “5th. The rollers for keeping the plank down. “6th. The levers across the top of the pieces in which the rollers are fixed. “7th. The main cylinder in which the knives are fixed for planing the face of the plank; the shaft and arms of what we call the cylinder are to be in one casting, with proper turns for fastening on the knives; on the back of these knives must be a separate plate, of sufficient thickness to tap for the screws to hold them ; on this shaft is a mitre wheel, which drives another wheel of the same size on the upright shaft, on which is a pulley for the purpose of driving the matching irons. “8th. The shaft on which the matching irons are fixed. These shafts and the screws on which they run must be steel pointed. “9th. The blocks in which the screws are fixed. These blocks are allowed to move out and in, so as to suit the different breadth of planks, and are secured by a screw bolt. “10th. The wheels for driving the carriage. These wheels are put in motion by a screw on the right hand, matching iron shaft, by working into a wheel of six inches diameter, which works into one of twelve in diameter; this is on the shaft with the pinion that works into the rack under the carriage, which pinion is to be four inches in diameter. “11th. The bearers of the main cylinder. “12th represents the plank on the carriage. “13th. Matching irons. These must be secured to pieces of iron similar in shape to the main cylinder.”

(To be filled in.)