AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF FEED APPLICABLE TO ENVELOPE MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Arthur Middleton, of Loman Street, in
the Borough of Southwark, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF FEED APPLICABLE TO ENVELOPE
MACHINES."
"
Sealed the 10th September 1872, and dated the 30th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Arthur Mid-
dleton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th March 1872.
I, THOMAS ARTHUR MIDDLETON, of Loman Street, in the Borough of
Southwark, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT. OF FEED APPLICABLE TO
ENVELOPE MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to operate the suckers now used for.
lifting sheets or pieces of paper from a pile as to ensure the lifting of
those sheets or pieces singly.

page_text: The Invention applies particularly to the feeding of envelope machines
with blanks to be creased and folded to form envelopes, and it may
also be applied for automatically feeding embossing and job printing
machines.
|
The stem of the sucker is jointed to a radius rod, which is secured to
the standard of the machine, and this stem is slotted to receive a crank
pin, the revolution of which gives the requisite motions to the sucker,
and serves also to support it in its raised position. The sucker is con-
nected by means of a flexible pipe with an exhaust pump, which also
serves to deliver a blast of air on to the edge of the pile of paper. The
crank pin is carried by a disc, which receives rotary motion through
bevil gear from the main driving shaft. The operation of the crank pin
is not only to raise and depress the sucker, but also to give it a traverse
motion. Thus so soon as the sucker has been allowed to take hold of
the paper by suction it will be wound backwards over the pile and will
thereby be caused to buckle up the top piece. The effect of this will be
to ensure its disengagement from the pile, and thus the sucker on rising
to carry it to the delivering rollers or other transferring apparatus will
lift but one sheet, the buckling of the paper effectually securing the
disengagement of the top piece from the pile.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Arthur Middleton in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 30th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ARTHUR MIDDLETON, of Loman Street, in the Borough of Southwark, 2
Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Arthur Middleton, Her special
licence that I, the said Thomas Arthur Middleton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Arthur
Middleton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any

page_text: time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF FEED APPLICABLE TO ENVELOPE MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Arthur
Middleton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Arthur Middleton, do hereby
déclare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
The object of this Invention is so to operate the suckers now used for
lifting sheets or pieces of paper from a pile as to ensure the lifting of
those sheets or pieces singly.
The Invention applies particularly to the feeding of envelope machines
with blanks to be creased and folded to form envelopes, and it may
also be applied for automatically feeding embossing and job printing
machines.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 shews in end ele-
vation, and Fig. 2 in side elevation partly in section my improvement
as applied to an envelope folding machine; and in Sheet II., Fig. 3
shews a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale of the sucker and the
parts of the machine adjacent thereto, and Fig. 4 is a sectional plan
taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig 3.
A, Fig. 2, is the driving shaft of the machine. This shaft carries an
excentric B, which works the pump C for exhausting the sucker D; E is
the stem of this sucker, it is forked at its upper end to allow of its
sliding over tie rod at the head of the main framing, which rod serves
as a guide to the stem in its irregular motions. A little above where it
joins the sucker D the stem is slotted to receive a crank pin F, the

page_text: revolution of which gives the requisite motions to the sucker and serves
also to support it in its raised position; G is a flexible pipe, which
connects through rigid pipes G¹ with the exhaust pump C. This pump
may also serve by its connection with the jet pipe I to deliver a blast
of air on to the front edge of the pile of paper H. The crank pin F is
carried by a disc, which receives rotary motion through bevil gear from
the main driving shaft, as shewn in Fig. 2. The revolution of the
crank pin F will not only raise and depress the sucker but also give it a
traverse motion. Thus so soon as the sucker has been allowed to take
hold of the paper by suction it will be forced backwards over the pile
and will thereby be caused to buckle up the top piece. The effect of
this will be to ensure its disengagement from the pile, and thus the
sucker on rising to carry it to the transferring apparatus will lift but one
sheet, the buckling of the paper effectually securing the disengagement
of the top piece from the pile.
By reference to Fig. 3, which shews the sucker in the act of moving
back, it will be seen how the buckling of the top sheet of the paper is
effected. The pile H rests upon a block K, corresponding in form to the
pile of stamped paper, and the two move together over fixed vertical
guides K. This block K is carried by an ascending table L, the motion
of which is steadied by guide rods and guides as usual, and the ten-
dency of the table to rise is obtained from india-rubber springs M or
their equivalent. N, N¹, N2, are retaining pieces which overlap the pile
of paper, and being made fast to the table retain the pile at a uniform
level. The piece N further serves to hold the upper sheet or piece
while the sucker is moving back to buckle it up, as shown at Fig. 3.
When, however, the sucker rises to lift the top sheet free of the pile,
this detaining piece N will offer no obstruction to the withdrawal of the
sheet. As the crank pin in its revolution lifts the sucker to raise the
top sheet from the pile and then advance it towards the transferring
apparatus, a pin O projecting from the stem E will be brought over a
hinged plate P carried by a bracket of the main framing, and as the
crank pin continues to move round it will leave the sucker for a while
suspended from the plate by the pin and in the advanced position
shewn by dots in Fig. 3. The feed or transferring rolls Q, Q, will now
take hold of the lifted piece of paper and deliver it to the action of
the folding instruments. The sucker will remain suspended from the
plate P until the back motion of the crank pin, by pushing back the

page_text: stem of the sucker, disengages the pin O from the support P. The
sucker will then descend on to the pile of paper, and by the combined
action of the exhaust pump and the crank pin repeat the operation just
described.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Arrangement of Feed applicable to Envelope Machines," and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the means
above described for ensuring the lifting of the sheets or pieces of paper
singly from a pile.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Arthur Middleton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of Sep-
tember, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.
THOMAS A. MIDDLETON. (L.S.)