IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CON- DUCTING PAPER FROM PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY OR OTHERWISE IN ORDER TO ITS BEING CUT INTO SHEETS, AND ALSO FOR FACILITATING THE COLLECTING OF PAPER AS CUT INTO SHEETS, AND IN DAMPING PAPER FOR PRINTING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATEN. to George Tiacombe,
unge
George Tidcombe and Son, Engineers, of Watford, in the County of
Herts, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CON-
DUCTING PAPER FROM PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY OR OTHERWISE IN ORDER TO
ITS BEING CUT INTO SHEETS, AND ALSO FOR FACILITATING THE COLLECTING
OF PAPER AS CUT INTO SHEETS, AND IN DAMPING PAPER FOR PRINTING."
Sealed the 11th June 1869, and dated the 22nd December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tidcombe at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd December 1868.
I, GEORGE TIDCOMBE, the younger, of the Firm of George Tidcombe
and Son, Engineers, of Watford, in the County of Herts, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR CONDUCTING PAPER FROM PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY OR OTHERWISE IN ORDER
TO ITS BEING CUT INTO SHEETS, AND ALSO FOR FACILITATING THE COLLECTING OF
PAPER AS CUT INTO SHEETS, AND IN DAMPING PAPER FOR PRINTING," to be as
follows:-
The object of the Invention is to facilitate the rapid feeding of the paper
from paper-making machinery, or from other supply to cutting means in

page_text: order to increase the rapidity of the cutting of it into sheets, and also
when the paper is cut from long lengths into sheets to facilitate the
collecting of the sheets as cut.
In carrying out the Invention the paper as it passes from a paper-
making machine or other supply in place of passing to the action of one
set of knives passes between guides which are actuated by levers and
arms or other suitable means to conduct the paper to one and then other
sets of knives and similar guides aided when necessary by belts or
aprons which are used to conduct the separate sheets in succession as
they are cut alternately or otherwise to lay boards placed in opposite
inclined directions or otherwise as may be most convenient, or into other
suitable receivers to be taken by the collectors, by which an additional
number of collectors may be employed. Or in place of the hands now
employed for collecting such sheets I make use of atmospheric pressure
and vacuum for this purpose. As each sheet is cut it passes over a box,
the sides of which are perforated, and these perforations are in connection
with an air pump or other means of producing a vacuum, so that as
each sheet passes over the box it is drawn therein at cach stroke of the
knife and as it becomes laid it forms a new bottom, and as the box fills
the sheets can be withdrawn in packs from beneath the others and the
cutting and filling go on at the same moment.
The improvements also relate to means for use in damping paper in
order especially to facilitate printing thereon. The paper to be damped
is conducted into a chamber formed for this process to prevent as much
as possible the escape of the steam admitted therein by suitable pipes.
The paper to be damped is conducted by felt or other sheet conductors
to between two pairs of rollers, and the surface between these separate
pairs of rollers is enclosed by plates with edges bearing against their
surfaces, the ends are also closed, thus forming a closed box or chamber;
other rollers also aid in conducting the sheets. Perforated pipes con-
duct the steam into the chamber thus formed to act on the paper as it
passes through it. One pair of the rollers may be heated by steam to
dry the felt or other conductor after saturation by the steam. Water of
condensation may be drawn off by tap or self-acting valve.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Tidcombe in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TroсOMBE, the younger, of the Firm of George Tidcombe and. Son,
Engineers, of Watford, in the County of Herts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Tidcombe, Her special
licence that I, the said George Tidcombe, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Tidcombe, 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 Cliannel Islands, and' Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONDUCTING PAPER FROM PAPER-MAKING
MACHINERY OR OTHERWISE IN ORDER TO ITS BEING CUT INTO SHEETS, AND ALSO
FOR FACILITATING THE COLLECTING OF. PAPER AS CUT INTO SHEETS, AND IN DAMPING
PAPER FOR PRINTING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Tidcombe, 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 calen..
dar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters..
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tideombe, 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, that is to say:-
The object of the Invention. is, first, to facilitate the rapid feeding of
the paper from paper-making machinery or from other supply to cutting
means in order to increase the rapidity of the cutting of it into slicets,

page_text: and also when the paper is cut from long lengths into sheets to facilitate
the collecting of the sheets as cut.
In carrying out this part of the Invention the paper as it passes from
a paper-making machine or other supply in place of passing to the
action of one set of knives passes between guides to conduct the paper
to one and then other sets of knives and similar guides aided when
necessary by belts or aprons which are used to conduct the separate
sheets in succession as they are cut alternately or otherwise to lay
boards placed in opposite inclined directions or otherwise as may be
most convenient, or into other suitable receivers to be taken by the
collectors, by which an additional number of collectors may be employed.
Or in place of the hands now employed for collecting such sheets I
make use of atmospheric pressure and vacuum for this purpose. As
cach sheet is cut it passes over a box the sides of which are perforated,
and these perforations are in connection with an air pump or other means
of producing a vacuum, so that as each sheet passes over the box it is
drawn therein at each stroke of the knife. And as it becomes laid it
forms a new bottom, and as the box fills the sheets can be withdrawn in
packs from beneath the others, and the cutting and filling go on at the
same moment.
The improvements relate, secondly, to means for use in damping paper
in order especially to facilitate printing thereon. The paper to be
damped is conducted into a chamber formed for this process so as to
prevent as much as possible the escape of the steam or fine spray of
water admitted therein by suitable pipes. The paper to be damped is
conducted by felt or other suitable shect conductors to between two
pairs of rollers, and the surface between these separate pairs of rollers
is enclosed by plates with edges bearing against their surfaces, the ends
are also closed, thus forming a closed box or chamber; other rollers also
aid in conducting the sheets. Perforated pipes conduct the steam or
fine jets of water into the chamber thus formed to act on the paper as it
passes through it. One pair of the rollers may be heated by steam to
dry the felt or other conductor after saturation. Water of condensation
may be drawn off by tap or self-acting valve.
But that the Invention may be fully understood I will, by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings, proceed to describe means pursued by me
in carrying the same into effect

page_text: Figure 1 shows a sectional view of parts of apparatus arranged
according to the first head of the Invention. The line A represents a
web of paper passing from a paper-making machine or other supply to
a roller B, by which, by preference, it is guided into a vertical position
between the guides C, C, and thence to between the two blades or
cutters D, D, the lower edge of either of which acting with the upper edge
of the blade E forms a pair of cutting surfaces. The blade E is supported
in the carriage F which is capable of sliding to and fro in suitable guides
so that the blade E may act alternately with one and then the other of
the blades D, so as thereby in effect to obtain two pairs of cutters. The
carriage or frame F may be moved to and fro by levers and arms or
other suitable means in order to effect the necessary succession of cuts
whilst the speed of the succeeding cutting actions in relation to the
speed of the feed of the web of paper will determine the size of the
respective sheets. In the motion given to the carriage F with its blade E
the paper as it is conducted down between the blades D, D, will pass
alternately on one and then on the other side of the blade E, and the
dotted lines G, G, represent angular guides by which the paper as cut
into sheets by the alternate action of the blade E with one or other
of the blades D, D, will be conducted alternately on to the endless
belt H and then the belt I, and by those belts to the receiving troughs
or lay boards J, J, other number of knive edges acting in pairs may be
employed if desired.
Figure 2 represents a sectional plan view of apparatus for use in
collecting, by atmospheric pressure and vacuum, paper cut into sheets;
Figure 3 represents a sectional end view of the same. The sides of this
box are formed double, so as thereby to obtain a channel K which is in
communication with an air pump or other suitable means for producing
vacuum by means of pipes L, and also with the interior of the box
by means of openings M which extend from near the top of the sides
of it to the bottom of it. The bottom N of the box is formed to fit
close round the sides of it, and so as to turn at one edge of it upon
hinges N' whilst it is fastened at the other edge by any suitable
fastening capable of being readily released. The red line O represents a
web of paper being fed over the upper surface of the box, and in the act
of having a sheet or sheets cut from it by suitable cutters at P, and as

page_text: cach sheet passes over the surface of the box it will be drawn to it by
the vacuum created within through the openings M, and the pressure
of the atmospheric air. O' represent sheets of paper in the box. When
the box has become filled with sheets of paper by opening the bottom N
the lower portion thereof may be removed without stopping the opera-
tions of the paper cutting machine as the remaining paper will form a
bottom to it for the time being. These boxes are by preference
sufficiently long to take in the full width of a web of paper passing
from a paper cutting machine and they are formed with partitions Q
when required, adapted to the width of sheets obtained by the cutting
of a web of paper in the direction of its length.
up
I will now describe the second part of the Invention.
Figure 4 represents an end view, Figure 5 a plan view, Figure 6 a
side view, Figure 7 a horizontal section, and Figure 8 a vertical section
of the working parts of an arrangement of apparatus according to this
head of the Invention. In each of these Figures the same letters
indicate corresponding parts wherever they occur. The line a indicates
a sheet of paper as fed from drying cylinders or otherwise, and passing
between the rollers b, b', to between the rollers c, c'. d, d, are plates
extending between the rollers b, b', and c, c', and having knife edges
or doctors at their surfaces in contact with those rollers, so that
these plates together with the end frames of the apparatus constitute a
comparatively close box or chamber. e is an endless web of felt passing
over the pair of rollers b, c, and the tension or guide roller f for the
purpose of aiding to guide the paper from between one pair of rollers to
the other. g and h are pipes which are perforated so that steam or
water condensed by them may be allowed to pass out in fine streams
or jets on to and so as to damp the paper on both sides of it. The
quantity of steam or water thus allowed to flow from the pipes g, h, may
in part be regulated by the size or form and number of the holes or
openings in the pipes g and h as well as by taps or valves regulating the
supply to these pipes. The number of such pipes may also be varied.
I prefer that the rollers b and c be heated to dry the felt as it passes
over them. Other rollers may be used to aid in conducting away the
sheet of paper after it has been damped; f' is another guide roller for
the paper; b, c, are adjusting screws to act on the bearings of the
rollers b, c, to regulate their distance from the rollers b and c.

page_text: Figure 9 shows by a sectional view a modification of the above with
one pair of rollers i, j, conducting an endless belt or apron of felt
through the box or chamber k which is open at its opposite sides k¹, k³,
one for the admission of sheets of paper on to the apron 1, and the
other to admit of their passing away; g and h, are pipes perforated as
before for the passage of steam or water on to the paper, and the flow
of which may be regulated by suitable taps or valves.
Having thus described my Invention and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect I would have it understood that what I
claim is,-
First. The method of cutting webs or lengths of paper into suitable
lengths, and conducting the sheets so cut to suitable receivers, in manner
substantially as described.
Also, I claim the collecting sheets of paper as cut by suitable paper
cutting machinery by means of vacuum and the pressure of the atmos-
phere, substantially as described.
Secondly. I claim the method of damping paper, substantially as
described under this head of Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tidcombe, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.