Improvements in and relating to Cutting and Delivering Apparatus, Chiefly Designed for Dividing Strips of Paper or other Material into Tickets or the like, and Arranging IHTO LICKUUS Or the like, and Arranging the same in Consecutive Order for Distribution.
Year: 1884

page_text: Improvements in and relating to Cutting and Delivering
Apparatus, Chiefly Designed for Dividing Strips of Paper
or other Material into Tickets or the like, and Arranging
IHTO LICKUUS Or the like, and Arranging
the same in Consecutive Order for Distribution.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO CUTTING AND DELIVER-
ING APPARATUS, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR DIVIDING STRIPS OF PAPER OR OTHER
MATERIAL INTO TICKETS OR THE LIKE AND ARRANGING THE SAME IN CONSECUTIVE
ORDER FOR DISTRIBUTION to be as follows:-
15
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus chiefly designed for cutting or
dividing strips of paper or other material into tickets or the like and arranging
the same in consecutive order in a box or other receptacle for subsequent distribu-
tion. The said apparatus is however also applicable for cutting or dividing strips
of metal into pieces of equal length.
The said cutting and delivering apparatus is sometimes used in combination with
mechanism for printing and consecutively numbering tickets, and the continuous
strip of paper or card can, in this case, be conducted directly from the printing and
numbering mechanism to the cutting apparatus.
An important feature of my present invention is the employment of a cylinder
or roller carrying a series of pairs of shears which are arranged to be operated by
a fixed cam or equivalent means as the said cylinder is rotated, and I prefer to
provide a series of fingers each of which is fitted upon the pivot of a pair of shears,
which fingers are acted upon by springs so that they hold the tickets against the
periphery of the said cylinder after they have been severed from the continuous
strip until they are received by the first pair of delivering rollers hereinafter
described.

page_text: I also provide the said cylinder with means for pushing the tickets away from
its periphery at the proper time for the said delivering rollers to receive them.
In combination with this cylinder, I employ two pairs of rollers for delivering
the tickets in consecutive order. These I term the first pair, and the second pair
of delivering rollers. The first pair of these rollers is arranged to be rotated at a
considerably higher speed than the second pair so that the tickets will be delivered
to the latter pair, one behind another.
For receiving the tickets I prefer to provide a long guide or trough in which is
placed a heavy piece for holding the tickets in a vertical position. The tickets
delivered into this trough are gradually moved along the same by the feeding in of
more tickets by the delivering rollers. But I sometimes make one end of the said
trough loose and provide means for imparting a shaking movement, or a rapid to-
and-fro movement, to the end piece so that it will assist in moving the tickets along
in the said trough.
My invention may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice in
the following manner, that is to say:-I provide a suitable base-plate or frame
having a bearing or bearings for carrying a shaft. On this shaft is fixed the
cutting cylinder. The base plate or frame carries two fixed cams, one for operating
the shears and the other for operating a series of pins or rods for pushing the
tickets away from the periphery of the cylinder. The cylinder is made in segments,
to each of which is firmly secured one of the blades of a pair of shears. The other
blade thereof is made with a tail-piece which carries a conical anti-friction roller
arranged to run on the face of one of the said cams.
This cam is so formed that, as the cylinder rotates, it gradually and successively
closes the shears and causes the same to cut the tickets from the continuous strip
which is passed around the cylinder. The shears are either opened by springs, or
else a double cam is employed which will open them at the proper time.
I prefer to form a groove in the periphery of the cylinder to receive the con-
tinuous strip and prevent lateral movement thereof, which would otherwise be
liable to occur by reason of the action of the shears.
On the pivot of each pair of shears I fit a finger which is acted upon by a spring
attached to the movable blade of the shears, so that when this blade is moved
towards the centre of the cylinder to cut off a ticket, the said finger will be held
with a yielding pressure against the said ticket. The said finger is made adjustable
relatively to the shears and is arranged to project slightly beyond the blade with
which it is connected, so that it will press upon the ticket immediately the shears
begin to cut.
In combination with each of the said segments, I provide a pin or rod acted upon
by a spring which tends to keep the outer end of the said rod flush with the peri-
phery of the cylinder. Each of these rods is provided with an anti friction roller
which bears against one of the aforesaid fixed cams. This cam is so formed that,
after a ticket is cut off, and while it is held at, or near, one end by one of the
aforesaid fingers, the corresponding rod will be pushed outward by the said cam so
as to move the other end of the ticket against a guide which partially surrounds
the cylinder. The ticket is thus brought into its proper position relatively to the
first pair of delivering rollers. The said rod is either moved back to its original
position by a spring; or a double cam is employed, in which case the springs can
be dispensed with.
This pair of delivering rollers, is driven by the aforesaid shaft through the
medium of suitable multiplying gear. It delivers the tickets at a slight angle to
the second pair of delivering rollers between which the ticket is guided by a plate
arranged immediately above one of the said rollers. By these means, when the
forward end of a ticket is gripped between the second pair of delivering rollers,
its other end, as soon as it passes out from between the first pair of rollers, tends to
move away therefrom so that the said ticket assumes a position tangential to the

page_text: second pair of rollers, and the succeeding ticket cannot be delivered in front of it.
The delivery of the tickets in consecutive order is thus ensured.
The second pair of delivering rollers is driven by the aforesaid shaft through the
medium of suitable gearing so proportionel that the circumferential velocity of
these rollers is less than that of the first pair of rollers. The tickets are thus
caused to overlap one another as they pass through the second pair of rollers and
are delivered in this manner into a box or other receptacle.
One of the second pair of rollers is carried by the short arm of a lever, the long
arın of which is provided with a weight or spring so that the roller will exert a
pressure upon a single ticket but will, when necessary, yield to permit the passage
of several tickets simultaneously between the two rollers.
I provide for adjusting one of the first pair of delivering rollers relatively to
the other pair, by mounting it upon a pin or stud having one end formed
excentrically. This end is held by a nut in the base plate or frame, and the
said stud can be moved nearer to, or further from, the pin or stud carrying the
other roller, by slackening the nut and turning the first pin or stud in one direction
or the other.
I make the trough for receiving the tickets as follows, that is to say;-It has
a channel at the bottom for guiding the tickets' as they are moved along it.
The end of the trough next the delivering rollers is removable to permit access
to the space beneath the rollers in case of any defect in the delivery of the tickets.
The said trough is also provided with guides for preventing lateral and vertical
displacement of the tickets as they are delivered into and moved along the said
trough. These guides are made with projecting pieces which extend upward on
each side of the delivering rollers.
I sometimes provide means for imparting to-and-fro motion to the end of the
trough in such a manner as to assist the moving of the tickets along the said
trough. For instance I provide one of the gear-wheels for driving the first pair
of rollers with a pin or projection which, at each revolution of the said wheel, will
act upon an arm fixed on a shaft carrying the end of the said trough. I might
provide other means for this purpose; for example, the trough itself might be
made to move to-and-fro, or an independent piece having a to-and-fro movement
might be arranged in combination with the trough.
In some cases I prefer to substitute for the trough, which receives the tickets,
a wheel the periphery of which carries a number of boxes or compartments each
capable of containing fifty or other convenient number of tickets.
This wheel is carried on a shaft which imparts motion to it by means of ratchet
gearing, so that although the shaft drives the wheel, the wheel is capable of
forward motion independently of the shaft.
Assuming the cutting cylinder to contain ten sets of shears, the shaft would be
driven at a velocity rather less than that requisite to move the wheel a distance
equal to the length of one of the compartments for every revolution of the cutting
cylinder, but at each fifth revolution of the said cutting cylinder, a sudden forward
movement would be given to the wheel, so as to divert the stream of overlapping
tickets from one compartment of the wheel to the next compartment thereof.
This sudden movement can be effected in many ways; the simplest arrangement
would be to provide a pin or tappet on the spur wheel driving the shaft, which
tappet would engage with a short arm or lever on a weigh-shaft attached to the
frame or bed of the machine, while a longer arm on the weigh-shaft would engage
with another pin or tappet on the collecting wheel; the weigh-shaft being after
each operation returned to its original position by a weight or spring.
By these means the tickets would be counted into packets of any desired
number (in the above instance fifty).
Instead of this arrangement I might employ a wheel placed horizontally instead
of vertically and provided with boxes or compartments for receiving the tickets.
One advantage of this arrangement is that the wheel can be made of any desired

page_text: size and will hold the tickets in any position in which the compartments may be,
whereas with a vertical wheel the tickets would fall out in some positions. This
wheel would be rotated by a ratchet wheel having say six teeth for each box
(the boxes holding say fifty tickets each) These teeth would be equally spaced
but every sixth tooth would be shortened by say one sixteenth of an inch. The
stroke of the pawl would be equal to the length of two teeth, less a sixteenth of
an inch, so that four teeth would be successively engaged by the pawl, one tooth
at a time and then the pawl would engage with the sixth tooth, thereby producing
the desired irregular rotation of the wheel. The pawi would be worked from the
main shaft by any suitable means.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.
Improvements in and relating to Cutting and Delivering
Apparatus, Chiefly Designed for Dividing Strips of Paper
or other Material into Tickets or the like, and Arranging
the same in Consecutive Order for Distribution.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO CUTTING
AND DELIVERING APPARATUS, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR DIVIDING STRIPS OF PAPER
OR OTHER MATERIAL INTO TICKETS OR THE LIKE, AND ARRANGING THE SAME IN
CONSECUTIVE ORDER FOR DISTRIBUTION " and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus chiefly designed for cutting or
dividing strips of paper or pasteboard into tickets and arranging the said tickets
in consecutive order in boxes cr otherwise for subsequent distribution, but also
applicable for cutting or dividing strips of other material, such as metal, into
pieces of equal length.
The said apparatus is sometimes used in combination with mechanism for
printing and consecutively numbering tickets, in which case the continuous strip of
paper or pasteboard is conducted directly from the printing and numbering
mechanism to the cutting apparatus.
An important feature of the present invention is the employment of a cylinder
or wheel which carries a series of pairs of shears, and around which is to be passed

page_text: invention.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the said machine, with some of the parts removed.
Figure 3 is a rear elevation of the said machine.
Figure 4 is a section on the line x, x, Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a rear elevation of the cutting wheel or cylinder detached.
Figures 6 to 8 show various details of construction.
Figure 9 is a plan, partly in horizontal section.
Figure 10 a vertical central section.
Figure 11 a front elevation.
Figure 12 a rear elevation, and
Figure 13 a side elevation, illustrating a modification of the said invention.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
A indicates the frame of the machine. B is a shaft, which is supported in a
bearing A in the said frame, and on which the cutting wheel or cylinder C is
secured by a set-screw C¹. This shaft is to be connected by a belt and pulleys, or
suitable gearing, with a steam engine or other motor, or provided with means for
rotating it by hand.
D, E are two cams formed in one piece which is fitted loosely upon the shaft B
and is bolted, or otherwise secured, to the frame A. The cutting wheel C is made
with slots or spaces at regular intervals around its periphery, in each of which slots
is firmly fixed one blade F of a pair of shears. Eich pair of shears has a movable
blade F¹, which is pivotted at F to the fixed blade F and is made with a tail-
piece F3 provided with a conical antifriction roller F*. The rollers F are arranged
to run upon the surface of the cam D as the cutting wheel C is rotated. G, Gare
springs attached, at one end, to a projection F on the fixed blade F, and, at the
other end, to the tail-piece F³. These springs tend to keep the shears open.
Hindicates the continuous strip of paper from which the tickets are to be cut.
This strip is conducted from the reel on which it is wound, and which is supported
in any convenient manner, or from the printing and numbering mechanism, when
such is combined with my apparatus. The said strip is passed around a pulley H'
and around the cylinder C, and between the delivering rollers hereinafter
described.
The cam D is of such form, and is so arranged relatively to the wheel C and
shears F, F, that, as the said wheel rotates, the cain D gradually and successively
closes the shears, so that they cut the tickets from the continuous strip as it moves
around with the said wheel, and then permits the opening of the said shears by the
springs G.
Instead of the cam D, a double cam is sometimes employed which will open, as
well as close, the shears at the proper times. The springs G are, in this case,
dispensed with.
C2 is a ring or flange fitted upon the wheel C to prevent lateral displacement
of the strip of paper by the blades F when cutting. If desired, however, this
flange may be formed on the said wheel, or I may form a groove or channel in the
periphery of the wheel, or provide other means for preventing lateral displacement
of the strip. The ring or flange C2 is made with slots C³ to permit the proper
movement of the blades F¹.
I, I are metal fingers designed to press the tickets against the wheel C while
they are being severed from the strip by the shears, and until they are received

page_text: between the first pair of delivering rollers hereinafter described. These fingers are
carried by the screw-bolts F which form the pivots of the shears. The said fingers
require to be so arranged that each of them will move with the corresponding blade Fl
of the shears, until it comes into contact with the ticket, and will then remain
stationary during the cutting of the ticket, and afterwards move back with the blade F¹.
For this purpose, each finger is fitted to turn upon a projecting part I¹ of a ring or
collar 12 (see Figure 8) which is placed upon the bolt F, and secured thereon by a
nut 13. A pin or stud I' is provided upon the ring or collar I2 and projects into a
notch or recess I5 in the finger I. A spring K is attached to the ring or collar 12
and bears upon the finger I so as to hold it against one side of the notch 15, as
shown in Figure 4. The bolt F' is fitted to rotate in the fixed blade F of the
shears and is screwed into the movable blade F¹ thereof; the ring or collar I³ is
fitted loosely on the said bolt but is firmly held in position thereon by the nut I³,
which acts as a lock-nut; therefore the movable blade F', the collar I, and the
spring K will move together. When the blade F¹ is turned in the direction
indicated by the arrow in Figure 4, the spring K acts upon the finger I and moves
it in the same direction, until the said finger presses the ticket against the wheel C;
the continued movement of the blade F¹ and collar I then compresses the spring K,
the pin or stud I moving freely in the notch I'; and the finger I remains
stationary until acted upon by the said pin or stud in the return movement of the
blade F and collar I².
The ring or collar I2 and the finger I can be adjusted to any desired position
relatively to the shears, by slackening the nut 13 and turning them in either
direction on the bolt F2; they can then be secured in position by screwing
up the said nut. The fingers I should be adjusted so that they will commence
to press upon the tickets at the moment when, or just before, the shears begin
to cut.
ab
L, L are pins or rods, fitted to slide in radial holes in the boss or hub and in
the periphery of the wheel C: Each rod L is provided with an antifriction
roller L which, when the wheel C is rotated, runs upon the surface of the cam E.
Each of the said pins or rods is, moreover, acted upon by spring M, which
This cam
tends to keep its roller L¹ pressed against the surface of the said cam.
is of such form and is so arranged relatively to the said rods L that, after a ticket
has been severed from the strip and while it is held at, or near, its rear end by one
of the fingers I, the corresponding rod L will be pushed outward by the cam E
and will move the forward end of the ticket against a guide N attached to the
frame A. The ticket is thus guided or directed into its proper position relatively
to the first pair of delivering rollers a a¹, as shown in Figure 1. The said rod L
is subsequently moved back to its original position by its spring M.
Instead of the cam E, a double cam is sometimes employed, which will impart
a positive to-and-fro motion to the rods L; the springs M are, in this case,
dispensed with.
The delivering rollers a a' are fitted to rotate upon studs or shafts a², a³ fixed in
the frame A. The said rollers receive motion from the shaft B through a toothed
wheel b which is geared by means of an intermediate wheel c with a pinion & fixed
on the shaft e. A toothed wheel f is also fixed on the shaft e and gears with a
pinion g formed on, or secured to, the roller a, and gearing with a similar pinion g'
formed on, or secured to, the roller a¹. The said rollers are arranged to deliver the
tickets to a second pair of delivering rollers h, h', to which the ticket is guided or
directed by a plate i attached to the frame A and projecting downward over the
roller h¹.
The rollers h, h¹ receive motion from the shaft B through a toothed wheel k
which is fixed on the said shaft and gears with a pinion fixed on the shaft
carrying the roller h. A pinion m is also fixed on the shaft and gears with
a pinion m¹ on the shaft 12 carrying the roller h¹.

page_text: It will be seen that, as a ticket is fed forward by the rollers a, a, it will move
towards the axis of the roller ¹ until it comes in contact with the guide i. It will
then be deflected towards the adjacent surfaces of the rollers h, h¹. By this
arrangement, when the forward end of the ticket is gripped between the rollers h, h',
its rear end, as soon as it passes out from between the rollers a, a¹, will spring
towards the plate i so that the said ticket will assume a position tangential to
the rollers h, h¹, and the next ticket fed forward by the rollers a, a¹ must be
delivered behind it. The delivery of each ticket behind the preceding ticket is
thus ensured. Moreover the gearing is so proportioned that the circumferential
velocity of the rollers h, h', is less than that of the rollers a, a¹. Therefore, before
one ticket has passed between the rollers h, h¹, another ticket or other tickets will
be fed forward by the rollers a, a¹ and gripped by the rollers h, h¹. The tickets
are thus caused to overlap one another as they pass between the delivering
rollers h, h¹, and the delivery of the tickets in consecutive order is ensured.
To permit the passage of two or more tickets simultaneously between the
rollers h, h, and, at the same time, ensure sufficient pressure upon a single ticket
as it is passed between the said rollers, the shaft 13 and roller h' are carried by the
short arm n of a lever n pivotted at n³ to the frame A, the long arm of which
lever is provided with a weight n³. A spring may, if desired, be combined with
the lever n for this purpose, instead of the weight n³.
I sometimes provide for adjusting the roller relatively to the roller a', by
making the stud or shaft a with an excentric shank, which is held by a nut in
the frame A. The roller a can then be moved nearer to, or further from, the
roller a¹, by slackening the said nut and turning the stud or shaft a² in one or the
other direction.
P is a box or trough for receiving the tickets from the delivering rollers h, h'.
This trough is fitted to slide between guides, A³, on a plate or table A² attached to,
or forming part of, the frame A. It is divided longitudinally into compartments,
each of which will contain, say fifty tickets. In combination with this trough
I arrange an endless belt Q which is carried by pulleys Q1, Q2 mounted upon
shafts R, R¹. This belt is provided with projections Q3 which engage with pro-
jections P¹ on the bottom of the trough P for the purpose of moving the said
On the
trough forward intermittently as the tickets are fed into the same.
shaft R¹ is fixed a ratchet-wheel S, the teeth of which are divided into series or
groups of six. The sixth tooth of cach group is shorter (say by one six:eenth of an
inch) than the other teeth thereof. T is a lever which is pivotted upon the
U is an
shaft R' and carries a pawl T' which engages with the ratchet-wheel S.
excentric, which is fixed upon the shaft B, and the rod U₁ of which is coupled to
the lever T.
When the shaft B is rotated, the lever T is moved backwards and forwards by
the excentric U in such a manner that the ratchet-wheel S is intermittently rotated
by the pawl. The stroke of the pawl is less than the length of two of the longer
teeth of the ratchet-wheel by say one sixteenth of an inch; therefore the said
pawl will engage with four teeth successively, one tooth at a time, and will then
This arrangement
pass over the fifth tooth and engage with the sixth tooth.
is necessary in order that, when one of the compartments of the trough has been
filled, the said lever shall push the trough forward a distance equal to the thickness
of say ten tickets plus the thickness of the partition between the compartments,
and thus divert the stream of overlapping tickets from one compartment to
another compartment.
Before one of these troughs is completely filled with tickets, another trough of
similar construction can be placed behind it so that the belt Q will move the two
troughs forward together. The necessity for stopping the machine, to remove the
full trough and substitute an empty trough therefor, is thus obviated.
Instead of using the means above described for receiving the tickets from
the delivering rollers, I sometimes employ, for this purpose, the device shown in

page_text: Figures to 13, in which p is a wheel arranged to rotate in a horizontal plane upon
a pin or stud p¹ fixed in the plate or table A². q is an annular trough, which is
divided into compartments and is provided with one or more pins or projections q¹
fitting into a hole or holes in the wheel p. This annular trough can be readily
removed, and a similar trough substituted therefor. ris a ratchet-wheel, which is
secured to the underside of the wheel p. The teeth of this ratchet-wheel are
arranged in groups of five, with spaces equal to the length of one tooth between
adjacent groups, as shown.
8, t are two retaining pawls, which are pivotted at s, t, to the plate A². These
pawls are acted upon by springs 8, 12, which tend to push them into engagement
with the ratchet-wheel r. The said pawls are, moreover, arranged in combination
with a bar u fitted to slide in guides u on the frame A, and actuated by means of
a lever vand an excentric v¹ fixed on the shaft B. The said bar u is provided
with two inclined surfaces u¹, u² arranged to act upon pins or studs 83, t³ in
the pawls, in such a manner that, as the said bar moves to and fro, it will
alternately disengage the pawls 8, t from, and permit their engagement with, the
ratchet-wheel; one of the said pawls engaging with the said ratchet-wheel when
the other pawl is disengaged therefrom.
The wheel Ղ is made with a peripheral groove p², and a cord w is wound around,
and attached at one end to, the said wheel. This cord is passed over the
pulleys w, w, and a weight w³ is attached to its other end. This weight tends
to impart rotary motion to the wheel p and ratchet-wheel in the direction
indicated by the arrow in Figure 9. Therefore, when the pawls s, t, are alternately
disengaged from, and permitted to engage with, the ratchet-wheel, as above
described, the latter will be intermittently rotated by the weight w³. The relative
arrangement of the parts is such that, for every ten tickets, up to forty, delivered
into a compartment of the trough q, the ratchet-wheel will be rotated through a
distance equal to the length of one tooth, but, when fifty tickets have been
delivered into the said compartment, the said ratchet-wheel will be rotated through
a distance equal to the length of two teeth (or to the length of one tooth plus that
of the space between two groups of teeth) to bring another compartment of the
trough beneath the rollers h, h².
By these means, the tickets will be arranged in bundles or packets, each
containing a certain number of tickets (in the above instance fifty).
It is obvious that other convenient means may, if desired, be employed for
receiving the tickets from the delivering rollers.
It is, moreover, obvious that any suitable number of pairs of shears may be
arranged around the wheel C, and that other means than the stationary cams
above described may be employed whereby the shears and the pins or rods L will
be operated when the wheel C is rotated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is
First. An apparatus wherein two or more pairs of shears are carried by a wheel
or cylinder and are arranged to be operated by a stationary cam or other suitable
means when the said wheel or cylinder is rotated, as, and for the purposes, above
specified.
Second. The combination, with the said wheel and the shears, of the spring
fingers actuated by the movable blades of the shears, and the sliding pins or rods
arranged within radial holes in the said wheel and actuated by a stationary cam or
other suitable means, all substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
Third. The peculiar arrangement of the two pairs of delivering rollers and of the
gearing for imparting motion thereto, whereby I provide for the delivery of the
tickets in consecutive order, as above specified.

page_text: Fourth. The trough divided into compartments and arranged in combination
with mechanism, substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 of the
drawings, for imparting irregular intermittent motion to the said trough, as, and for
the purpose, specified.
Fifth. The annular trough divided into compartments and arranged in combination
with mechanism, substantially as described with reference to Figures 9 to 13 of the
drawings, for imparting irregular intermittent motion to the said trough, as, and
for the purpose, specified.
Sixth. The improved apparatus consisting of the parts constructed and combined
substantially as described with reference to either of the forms or modifications
illustrated in the accompanying drawings and operating as, and for the purposes,
specified.