IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU FACTURING PLAYING CARDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marie Joseph Firmin Chappellier, of Brussels, in
the Kingdom of Belgium, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU
FACTURING PLAYING CARDS."
Sealed the 12th September 1861, and dated the 20th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marie Joseph Firmin
Chappellier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th March 1861..
I, MARIE JOSEPH FIRMIN CHAPPELLIER, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN MANUFACTURING PLAYING CARDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the combination of a set of suitable presses
worked by motive power, symetrically arranged on a bench forming a chest
of a length proportionate to the number of presses it contains. Each one
of the said presses is provided with a beater or squeezer actuated by mechanical
means, and also with ventilating organs or passages, and the means of cutting;
adjusting, and drying the edges and corners of packs of playing cards. By this
arrangement the corners of cards are smoothed and stiffened better and quicker
than by hand labour.
5 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marie Joseph Firmin Chappellier in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th September 1861.
TA ATT TO WHOM MENS SHALL COME
I MADIN

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of March, in the
year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Marie Joseph Firmin Chappellier, Her special licence that I, the said
Marie Joseph Firmin Chappellier, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Marie Joseph Firmin Chappellier, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
PLAYING CARDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Marie
Joseph Firmin Chappellier, 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 Marie Joseph Firmin Chappellier, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:-
1
The object of this Invention is the construction of a machine or apparatus
which I employ in the manufacture of playing cards, for the purpose of
holding the cards while their corners are being ploughed or cut and metallized;
and also for drying the same; cards have hitherto been held for the
purpose by hand. My machine or apparatus consists of a number or set
of presses arranged in or upon a frame or support, each such press having
beneath it an apparatus which I call an "adjusting apparatus," and also a
tube, hollow shaft, or arrangement for drying the card corners.
The accompanying Drawings particularly exemplify the nature of the
Invention, and in what manner the same may be carried into effect.
Figure 1 is a plan of an apparatus constructed according to my Invention;
the presses are here shewn as ten in number by way of example, though
more or less may be combined in one frame. They are arranged in equal
number and in like manner on each side of a trough shaped frame or shell X,

page_text: which is common to them all; Figure 2 is a section, Figure 3 front view,
and Figure 4 side view, of one of the presses shewn separately with its
adjusting and drying apparatus; Figure 5 is a plan. What I call the
press is that portion of the apparatus in which the cards are held while
the ploughing, metallization, and drying are being performed. Figures 2, 3, 4,
5, and 6, are on larger scales than Figure 1.
. The ten presses are all precisely similar in their arrangement and construc-
tion, so that the following description of one applies to them all alike. a is
the press, which is formed with journals or axes supported in bearings b
in a framing A in such manner that the press may be turned over or
reversed; that is to say, it is capable of being turned partially round on its
horizontal axis, and back again, so that when turned in one direction its
under surface is brought uppermost; the extent to which it can be turned
in either direction is regulated by a projection or stop formed upon it,
dropping in a recess c of the framing A. I call the framing A, of which
there is one to each press, the "moveable framing," because it can be turned
bodily round on the stationary shaft p. The bottom of the press consists
of two plates d, d', the inner edges of which do not quite meet, but have a
narrow interval or space left between them to receive the corner of the
card when adjusted for being operated on, the card being jerked or adjusted'
into position therein by what I call the "adjusting apparatus," which consists
of four rods f, f, free to work up and down, and formed with studs or projec-
tions g, on which act tappets h on shafts i, i, supported in the framing A, and
caused to revolve as afterwards explained, so that when those shafts rotate
the tappets h bear upon the projections g, and force down the rods f, causing
other studs thereon to press down springs k fixed to the framing A. When
the tappet has passed the stud g, and the spring k is left free to act, it forces
up the rod f, and causes it to strike a smart blow against the bottom or d¹
of the press a.
The tappets are so arranged that the four rods strike against
the bottom of the press one after another, and so produce a series of jerks
which force the cards to drop suitably into place between the edges of the
plates d, d. Rotary motion is communicated to the shafts i, i, by the
wheels 7, each of which is set in motion by a crank arm o, which engages on
an arm m on the crank wheel n, as shewn in Figure 3; the edge of the
wheel n is toothed, and is geared into by the toothed driving wheel z actuated
by driving arrangements B. To stop the shafts the framing A is turned
bodily round on the stationary hollow shaft p, and carries the press and its
adjusting" and tightening appurtenances with it, thus removing the arm o
away from the arm m, so that the wheel n will turn without moving the
66

page_text: shaft i, by which means any one or more of the ten presses may be stopped
when, desired without interfering with the motion of the others. After the
cards have been adjusted by the apparatus f, f, and its appurtenances, they
are pressed tightly together by a screw 9 connected to the plate r, and
guided in its travel by arms s, 8, sliding in guide grooves in the body of
the press; the press is then reversed so as to bring uppermost the card corners
held between the plates d, d', and I then proceed to plough the corners by
one of the convex gouges or tools shewn in Figures 6 and 7, and which are
of known construction; I then proceed to metallize, that is, to apply gold,
silver, copper, or other metal on the card corner. When I gild I use a
particular method, which consists in applying the gold on a layer of glue
mixed with size instead of commón paste. After the cards have been thus
ploughed and metallized the press is turned back again to its previous
position, viz., that shewn in Figure 2, which brings the corners held between
the plates d; d', downward, and the corners are then rapidly dried by sending
a current of hot or cold air through the hollow shaft p from a supply pipe t,
which passes under and is common to all the presses, and is fed with air
in any convenient manner. When the cards are dried they are removed
from the press and put up into packets ready for sale. Motion is transmitted
to the whole set of presses by bevel wheels keyed on the shafts v, v¹, actuated
by gearing. B.
.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the, same may be performed, I declare that my Invention relates to a
machine or apparatus in which playing cards are held to have their corners.
ploughed or cut and metallized, and in which they are dried, and that what I
claim as new is, the general arrangement and combination of parts consti-
tuting such machine or apparatus as herein-before described and represented
in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marie Joseph Firmin Chappellier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
EMILE BARRAULT.
F. CHAPPELLIER. (L.S.)