Patent GB-189917716-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Matchbox Filling Machines.
Inventor: HADDAN REGINALD
Filed: 1899-09-01
Granted: 1900-01-20
Abstract: 17,716. Haddan, R., [Soc. Anon. de Machines Industrielles]. Sept. 1. Measured quantities, delivering.-In a match-box filling machine the frames carrying matches from the drying-stove are placed on a hopper 1 divided by partitions into compartments, each of which corresponds to a number of rows of matches on the frame. These compartments end in inclined chambers, the perforated bottoms of which may be opened or masked by a movable grating. A nose 10 on a rod, the other end of which gears with a toothed wheel 11, abuts against a screw 8 on a cross-piece 7 of the bars 3 of the hopper, and the shocks so given, together with the action of springs 5 on the bars 3, release the matches from the frame, so that they fall into the inclined chambers and then into receivers 14. These receivers are hinged on a frame 15 sliding on a table 16, and their upper edges are connected by a rod 17. When under the hopper the receivers are tilted by the abutment of the last receiver against an inclined plane 18. The loaded receivers are released from the tilted position and advanced to the collector 51 by movement of the table 16 actuated by a shoe 22 reciprocated from the wheel 11. The shoe, by its nose 23, oscillates a bell-crank lever 25 and rocks a lever, a hook on which draws the frame 15. The movement of the frame is stopped by a spring, the first receiver goes to be discharged, and the other receivers are advanced successively by motion of the carriage 16, effected hy a pawl 28 which engages one of the notches 40 in the carriage slide 19 when the lever 25 rocks backwards, and moves the carriage at the next advance of the nose 23. At the same time a bolt engages one of the notches 41 and prevents backward motion of the carriage, which is under the action of a counterweight. At the last advance a bolt 44 retains the carriage, and an abutment on the slide 19 pushes a piece 32 and causes a lever 29 to hold the pawl 28 out of engagement with the notches 40 during the backward movement of the carriage, the nose 23 striking against an abutment 45 and releasing the bolt 44. A pin 46 on the slide pushes back the piece 32 and releases the lever 29, and when the movements recommence, the lever 25 rocks the lever 29 and releases the pawl 28. The receivers are unloaded into the collector 51 by a pronged rake 100 on a rod 99 pivoted on a pillar attached to a slide-bar 21. This rake is guided by a roller 102 moving in a guide-rail. The matches move up to a stop, and a knife 55 cuts off the desired quantity between itself and the stop. This quantity is carried upwards in the fork of three thin plates 53, which reciprocate in slots in the endless band 52 of the collector. A gripper with branches 56, 105 seizes the matches and transfers them to a box drawer fed by a horizontal rotary plate 60. A settler 61 operated by a rod 63 from a cam on the main shaft opens the gripper, levels the matches in the box, and holds them while the gripper is being withdrawn. The gripper is attached to an oscillating plate 57, and a double cam 111<a> at the end of a rod 112 bears against a pawl 115, which turns a loose nut 110 on the shaft 107 of the gripper, and a notch in this nut engages a pin 109 on the branch 56 and opens the gripper to let the matches drop. When picking up the matches, a projection on the cam 111<a> bears on a finger 116 on the nut 110 and opens the gripper, but as soon as this projection leaves the finger 116 the gripper is closed by the action of a spring 118. The plate 57, and the fork 53 are both actuated by a rack 58 from a cam on the main shaft. The box drawers are supplied to the plate 60 by a feeder, and the plate is intermittently actuated by a toothed wheel and rotary finger from bevel-gear on the main shaft. When a filled drawer arrives diametrically opposite the gripper, a lever 69 actuated by an inclined plane 71 and slide-piece 72, removes the drawer from the plate and slides it into a chamber 73, and a striker 77 attached to the slide piece 72 inserts the drawer in an outer cover lying in a notch in a wheel 74. The slide-piece 72, which is actuated by a cam 85 on the main shaft, also actuates a lever 78 and bar 80, giving the wheel 74 intermittent rotation. The filled boxes with their covers fall out at the lower side of the wheel 74 into a shoot. In modifications, the matches in the hopper travel on endless straps which partly form the sides of inclined compartments, the lower parts of which end in a rectangular box, openings in the bottom of which can be opened or shut by a grating. The inclined compartments are subdivided by partitions, and the matches may be bevelled by rotary brushes or rollers. The matches on the collector pass under loose rollers, the bodies of which are roughened, rubbed, or coated with material, leaving a smooth portion of smaller diameter above a groove in the collector, to protect the match heads. A second rake, actuated by a roller moving in guideways, replaces the knife 55. The fork 53 is replaced by a measuring box having two removable walls which open and close, and the drawers are fed under this box.