IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING ENVELOPES AND SIMILAR RECEPTACLES, AND GUMMING AND DELIVERING THE SAME
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Clayton Mewburn at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th February 1883. [Communicated
to him from abroad by Abel Trumbull Howard of Brooklyn United States
of America, Manufacturer.]
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN of 169 Fleet Street in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING
ENVELOPES AND SIMILAR RECEPTACLES, AND GUMMING AND DELIVERING THE
SAME [Communicated to him from abroad by Abel Trumbull Howard of
Brooklyn United States of America, Manufacturer]
"
This invention relates to a machine adapted for taking the blanks from which
the envelopes are to be made, folding down the end flaps, applying gum or paste
for sealing down the bottom-flap on to the end-flaps, folding down and sealing the
bottom flap, applying gum or paste to the sealing-flap, delivering the envelope thus
completed into the carrier, and, after the gum is dried, delivering the envelope into
a box or receptacle.
The blank is taken from the top of the pile by a pneumatic suction-device, or
other suitable means, individualized by suitable mechanism and delivered to a
broad endless carrying-belt, which carries it through the folders for the end-flaps.
These folders consist of two stationary folding-blades over which the flaps are folded
by narrow belts which move with the same speed as the endless-carrying belt, and
which have a twist at the point where the folding takes place. Thus the blank is
folded while in motion, and without friction, between belts moving at the same
speed. The gum or paste for sealing down the bottom flap is applied by a
gumming-roll, fed from a gum-fountain. The printing-face of this roll moves with
the same speed as the envelope or blank, and is so constructed as to be raised above
the carrying-belt except when an envelope is passing, whereby, should there be a
break in the natural succession of the blanks or envelopes, no gum will be applied
to the carrying-belt. This prevents the said belt being soiled. The passing
envelope or blank controls this operation of the gumming-roll.
The bottom-flap is folded by a tumbler mounted on axial pivots. This tumbler
has two parallel folding-blades between which the bottom-flap passes until it strikes
an adjustable stop, when the movement of the blank causes the tumbler to turn on

page_text: its axis and vault over so as not to touch the freshly gummed surface, and to take
position to receive the next succeeding blank. The envelope now passes under a
bearing-roll which seals down the bottom-flap, and the body of the envelope then
passes up under a folding plate until it strikes an adjustable stop, when this folder
swings forward and folds the sealing-flap, at the same time forcing the envelope
down between the last bearing-roll and the end of the carrying belt, where it
passes over the drum at the rear of the machine.
The envelope is now completed except as to the gumming of the sealing-flap,
which is to be left unsealed. The last described mechanism discharges the envelope
downward before a vertical grid mounted on the same platform with the flap-rest,
on which the sealing flap is laid to receive its gum. A mechanism arranged under
the machine holds the body of the envelope against the grid, while another
mechanism lays out the flap on the rest-Another mechanism, acting in conjunction
with the latter, and comprising a gum-fountain and roll and a flap-gummer with
four motions, applies the gum to the flap with a wiping motion. The envelope is
now released, and the same mechanism which spread or laid the flap draws the
envelope down into a chain-carrier constructed similar to that employed in
ordinary envelope-machines.
This carrier is endless, and of the proper length to allow the gum or paste on the
sealing flap to dry before the discharging point is reached. It is or may be
actuated intermittently by a ratchet device.
When the envelopes have made the circuit of the carrier and while on the
underside of the same, they are pushed down or out of the carrier by a suitable
mechanical device into a horizontal pusher which pushes them into a box or other
receptacle.
The mechanism for applying the gum to the sealing-flap, as well as that for
applying the gum to the body of the envelope, is arranged to be controlled by the
passing envelope in such a way that it is impossible to apply gum to the flap
rest.
The gum or paste-fountain is peculiarly constructed so as to produce a circulatory
current of the viscid gum and prevent it from accumulating in such a manner as
to overflow through the joints or over the top of the fountain.
In order that the pile of blanks from which the topmost has been taken may be
properly adjusted after a blank is removed, means are provided for giving it an
intermittent vertical movement. This draws down the pile between its guides and
rectifies the register. This mechanism is arranged to operate no matter how many
or how few blanks be in the pile.