improvements in raper Bag Making Machinery.
Year: 1886

page_text: improvements in raper Bag Making Machinery.
I ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES of the firm of Wm. Brookes & Son of 55
& 56 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent do hereby declare
the nature of this invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN PAPER BAG MAKING MACHINERY
(a communication from abroad by Charles O. Stearns of Boston in the County of
Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, one of the United States of America Engineer)
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :—-
In the machine herein to be described, a web of paper taken from a roll is pasted
at one edge and folded longitudinally into a tube which tube taken by feeding
rolls is fed forward continuously all the operations being on the tube or bag body
while in motion.
The upper ply of the pasted tube is cut to form a lip useful when the tube is
fully cut off to aid in opening the mouth of the bag,
The leading end of the tube is fed upon the front end of a finger, one ply of the
said tube passing below and the other ply above the said finger, a plate-folder
thereafter acting upon the upper ply just outside of its front end and carrying the
upper ply of the tube which was above the finger, under the finger, the latter and
the said plate-folder acting upon opposite sides of the said upper ply causing it to
be laid back upon itself forming a diamond fold which is the foundation fold for a
satchel bottom.
The forked front end of a reciprocating follower within the tube is thrown
forward to meet or cover the end of the finger when the leading end of the paper
tube is to be fed upon it, as described.
The forward movement of the plate-folder is continued after the formation of
the diamond fold and until the leading end of the diamond fold is caught between
surfaces or the bight of other rolls, when the tube is cut off for a bag length.
The rolls which take the bag then paste the diamond fold, and two folding
blades co-operating with three rolls serve to form the two cross folds in the bag.
TOL

page_text: The paper to be formed into bags will be mounted in the machine in the form of
a roll, as shewn by dotted lines Fig. 2, the shaft holding the said roll being
marked B³, it having upon it movable cones, see Fig. 2, to enter the centre of the
roll and fix the paper to the shaft, the said shaft being provided with suitable
devices by which to adjust the shaft and roll of paper thereon longitudinally with
relation to the tail-piece B' of the tube-former to be described, in order to effect
the lapping of the paper at the centre of the tube.
The width of paper will vary with the width of the bag to be made.
The tube-former consists of a tail piece B', a body B5 and wings B6, shown best
in Fig. 2.
The body B³ composed of a plate of steel, is fixed at its outer side to a narrow
post or upright B7, the said body being extended forward through the tube-forming
guides B-B, adjustably attached by bolts B' to the bottom pieces B10, see Figs. 2
and 9, one of the said bottom pieces having a down curved lip a³, which latter
supports that edge of the paper which is not pasted, as will be described, as the
web of paper passes to the tail-piece, and which at a point beyond the said guides
is to be brought in contact with and overlap the opposite pasted edge of the paper
to form the tube.
The bottom pieces B10 are secured to a cross-bar D suitably attached to the
frame.
The tail piece B is downwardly curved at its outer end, see Figs. 1 and 3, and
at its inner end it has a notched flange which receives one or more screws or
bolts a by which the tail-piece is secured to a down-turned flange at the outer
end, see Fig. 3, of the body B³.
The wings B at their inner edges have pins or studs a, see Fig. 10 that enter
holes in the edge of the body Bo, the said pins or studs being held in place by
suitable screws a³.
The tail-piece and the wings made detachable as described, will in practice be of
greater or less width according to the width of the bag to be made, the machine
in practice having a series of tail-pieces and wings of different width, so that
change of the parts for one or another width of bag may be readily effected.
The body B, at its forward end, has attached to it a prolongation D¹ made as a
guide to support the follower D' which is a narrow but stiff steel strip placed in a
longitudinal groove of the body B and connected at its outer end by bolt a', see
Fig. 3, to the rod D³, which latter extended forward, as in Fig. 3, is attached to an
arm D of a rock shaft D, the said rock shaft having a second arm D6, see Fig. 8,
to which is joined a link D' in turn jointed to a lever D8 which is moved at the
proper time by a cam D fast to the shaft A, a roll àt the end of the lever D8
being held against the said cam by a spring D¹º.
The inner front end of the follower is provided, see Fig. 3 with diverging
spring fingers as which rest within and at the proper time cause the separation or
opening of the leading end of the paper tube as the latter is being fed forward by
the feed rollers C³, C, to be described, upon the bevelled or inclined front end of
the finger b which aids in the formation of the diamond fold for the bottom of
the bag.
To paste one edge of the web of paper to be made into a tube about the former
previously described, the said web is led from the roll of paper under a roller a³
supported at its ends upon arms C¹ suitably attached to the frame-work, the said
roller serving also to support a box C20 containing paste in which near one end,
see Fig. 5, is located a paste applying roll C which is held upward against the
paper passing under the roller as by a suitable spring a³, see Fig. 2, connected at
one end to a short shaft b¹ loose in bearings 62, the said shaft having attached to
it an arm b which at its free end carries the fulcrum for the paste wheel (³.
The paper tube is fed forward continuously by means of the continuously
rotating feed rollers C3, C4, the said rollers having annular grooves near the centre
of their length to permit the passage between them of the follower D².

page_text: The shaft C¹ carrying the roller Cs has fast to it a gear 05 which is engaged by
an intermediate gear C6 rotating on a stud carried by a bracket C7 made adjustable
by a set-screw C³, the said intermediate in turn being driven by a gear C³ fast to
one end of the shaft A6.
The shaft C of the lower feed roll C³ at its opposite end near the inner side of
the frame has secured to it a toothed gear, not shown, which engages a toothed
gear 6 of like size, see Fig. 2, fast to the shaft C¹³ of the upper feed-roll C4, the
two feed-rolls thus moving at the same speed.
The speed of rotation of the feed-rolls with relation to the speed of rotation of
the tube severing device determines the length of the bag to be formed, and to
enable one and the same machine to make bags of different length (it having been
herein previously described how the width of the bag or the tube may be varied)
I have made the intermediate C6 adjustable so that it will operate with a gear of
any other size or diameter than the one C³, it being understood that the gear C³
will be changed for another gear differing from it only in diameter, the diameter
of the said gear C³ being greater or less according to whether the bag is to be
shorter or longer.
The shaft B has fast on it a cam 65, see Figs. 2 and 6, which in its rotation
reciprocates a rod be jointed at its other end to an arm 67 of a rock shaft 68 having
suitable bearings in brackets erected upon the frame-work.
The shaft 68 has secured to it an arm bª having a pin 6¹º which serves as the
fulcrum of a lip-cutter 61%, which at suitable intervals is caused to descend upon
the upper ply of the continuously moving paper tube at a point just at the end of
a plate 613 attached by a suitable screw to the end of the body B³, see Fig. 11, the
said lip-cutter cutting a semicircular or other shaped lip to subsequently facilitate
the opening of the mouth of the bag when it is to be filled, the said lip being cut
through only the upper ply of the said tube at just the point where the tube is to
be severed to cut it into bag lengths, the said severing cut meeting the ends of the
said semicircular cut.
Pivoting the lip cutter enables it to move forward with the continuously moving
paper until the said lip cutter has been lifted from the paper, and to aid in
restoring the said lip-cutter into vertical position quicker than by depending upon
gravity alone which may be done, the said lip-cutter is acted upon by a spiral
spring 614, a set screw 615 being employed to prevent such an extent of backward
movement of the lip-cutter that the latter in its descent might strike the top of the
plate 613.
The roll on the rod 68 is kept against its actuating cam 6 by a spring 620
attached to a fixed post 621 and to a collar b".
In front of the tube severing devices previously described is placed a table d upon
which passes the leading end of the paper tube.
When the end of the paper tube passes upon the said table, the plate-folder d¹
will be in the dotted line position shown for it in Fig. 3, instead of as in its full
line position, as shown in the said Fig.
As the free end of the tube in its continuous forward movement by the feed-
rolls arrives near the end of the finger b, the forked end as of the follower D³ is by
the cam D projected slightly beyond the end of the tube sufficiently far to over-
lap the point of the said finger b, so that the upper ply of the advancing free end of
the said tube passes above the said finger and this effected the follower is with-
drawn, so that its forked end stops at the rear of the tube-severing devices.
During this backward movement of the follower, the plate folder d' starts down-
ward from its dotted line position Fig. 3. and forward in a path determined by
the slotted ways or guides d2, and the said plate-folder composed of a flat metal
bar having at its ends rolls to enter the said ways or guides, strikes the upper ply
of the tube, which has in the meantime been fed forward upon the finger 6 far
enough for the commencement of the diamond fold for the bottom of the bag, and
meeting the upper ply of the tube, back of its leading end, the said plate-folder
forces the said upper ply under the said finger b, the said upper ply so acted upon

page_text: being laid back upon itself, at the upper side of the tube, thus forming at the
leading end of the tube a diamond fold which constitutes the first or foundation
fold, see Figure 12, for the production of a so called satchel bottom bag.
The plate-folder d¹, in its forward stroke below the finger, aids in feeding the
tube forward, such movement of the said plate-folder continuing until the free end
of the diamond fold is caught between the surfaces or in the bight of the rolls F, F¹,
which perform several functions which will be described.
The end of the diamond fold having been caught as stated, the tube severing
devices come into play and sever the tube, thus severing from the tube a sufficient
length thereof for a bag.
The plate-folder d¹ derives its movement from a pattern piece g fast to the
shaft A, it acting upon a roll at the upper end of a lever g¹ connected at its lower
end, see Fig. 3, adjustably by a link g³ to an arm g³ of a rock shaft g, the said rock
shaft having two like arms 95, the upper ends of which are jointed to crank-like
arms 8, see Figure 1, one such arm being secured at each end of the plate-folder ď
outside the guides d³ and the rolls entering the said guides.
The screw 10 working in a lug of the arm g³, see Figure 3, by its adjustment is
made to vary the point of connection of the link g² with said arm, and consequently
the stroke of the plate-folder d¹ may be made more or less according to the width
of the bag, which latter determines the length of the diamond fold.
The roll F, has cooperating with it, two rolls G, G¹, which have the same
surface speed, and cooperating with these rolls are two folding blades h, h¹.
The blade h descends upon the bag just at the rear of the leading end of the
diamond fold, and forces the bag between the two rolls F, G, making the first cross
fold, as shewn in Figure 13.
The second cross fold shewn in Figure 14 is made by the blade h¹ cooperating
with the rolls F and G¹.
In the formation of the second cross fold, the body of the bag is also folded
transversely making therein what I term a blind fold, the latter fold disappearing
when the bag is opened to be used-The blade h¹ meets the bag in the line y,
Figure 13.
The blades h and h¹ act upon the diamond folded part of the bag after the latter
has been fed across the bight of the said rolls or between the surfaces, as it is
obvious will be necessary to enable the cross folds to be made.
The finger b is a narrow substantially rigid bar, preferably slotted, as shewn in
Figure 2, the said finger being attached by a screw 2 to a cross bar 3.
The diamond fold having been laid as stated, it is pasted, as at 4, Figure 12, by
means of a pasting device consisting, as herein shewn, of a pad 6 and wings 7, 7,
see Figures 3 and 4, attached to the roll F in a space cut from the said roll at its
centre.
In practice, the circumference of the roll F¹ will equal the length of the bag to
be produced, and the length of the wings 7, 7, will be equal to the length of the
diamond fold, and consequently it will be obvious that a different roll F¹ must be
used for each length of bag.
The pasting device is supplied with paste, as herein shown, from a paste-box f
having a roller f¹, which gives paste to another roll f2, which in turn supplies the
pad 6 and wings 7, with a film of paste, the pad leaving a spot of paste at r, and
the wings two lines of paste, as at r¹.
The roller f¹ derives its rotation from a belt f³ extended over a pulley thereon
and over a pulley f" on the shaft B.
The roller is driven by the two gears fo, fe, the latter fast on the shaft of
the roller f
The diamond fold having been made and pasted, the bottom has to be completed
by two cross-folds, one after the other, as shown in Figs. 13 and 14.
The shafts of the rolls F, F, and G, G¹, and the rock-shafts carrying the
blades h and h, have their bearings in a horizontally adjustable housing. Ḥ of

page_text: suitable shape and strength, it being shaped to slide upon the main frame A,
screws h³ securing it in adjusted position.
This housing is made adjustable as stated in order to place the bight or meeting
.surfaces of the rolls F, F¹, at the proper distance from the end of the finger b to
enable the said rolls to properly engage the leading end of the diamond fold 5
whatever may be its length.
If the bearings of the said rolls were fixed, and not adjustable, as stated, a
different machine would be needed for each width of bag.
The shaft 23 of the roll F has at one end a pinion h*, see Fig. 1, which is engaged
and rotated by a toothed gear h³ mounted upon a stud 24 held in a bracket h³ 1
made adjustable on the frame-work by a bolt 13, the said gear h³ driven from the
gear C fast on the shaft A, being adjustable to enable the gear h* to be driven in
any position of the housing H.
The shaft of the roll F inside the housing H has attached to it a second gear 20
of the same diameter as the gear h4, the said gear, partially shown in Fig. 1 by 1
breaking away the housing H and the gear, being directly under the gear h
fast on the shaft 23 of the roller F, the said gear 26, also serving by meshing with
the gears 14 and 15 to rotate the rollers G and G¹, to the shafts of which they are
connected.
The shaft 23 has its bearings in boxes 27 adjustably held upon the housings,
see Fig. 1, by screws and springs to allow the roller F¹ to rise and accomodate the
thickness of the paper. The shaft 29 of the roll G is mounted in like manner.
The first cross-folding blade h is carried by arms m connected to a rock-shaft m¹,
the said rock-shaft having an arm m².
The arm m³, see Fig. 3 is attached by an adjustable link 32, of any usual
construction, to a lever m³, which is acted upon by a cam m³, the roll at the end
of the said lever being kept pressed against the said cam by the spring 33 attached
to the arm m³ and to a stationary part of the frame-work.
The second folding blade h¹ is carried by arms n of a rock-shaft n³, the said arms
being joined by an adjustable link n³ with a lever n vibrated in one direction by
the cam no, see Fig. 8, the roll of the lever n' being held against the said cam by a
spring 38. Fig. 3 shows the link n³ in dotted lines, for in the section on which
Fig. 3 is taken, the said link would not show, for that part of the frame is
omitted.
These two folding blades strike the bag in succession at a point between its ends
and force the bag into the bight between or within grasp of the rolls F and G,
and F, and G¹, the bag dropping upon the belt no, the folded bottom of the bag,
from the blind-fold or the fold made across the body of the bag as the last cross
fold is being made on the lines y, y, Fig. 13, extending somewhat upward in which
condition it is caught by the faster moving belt n7 and laid out flat.
These belts no, n7, made endless, are extended about rollers and will be driven
in any usual or desired manner, and at any desired relative speed, n7 running
the faster.
It is a great desideratum to be able to print upon the paper tube to be made
into bags, and designate the material, or the size or weight of its contents, or to
display on the bag an advertisement.
To so print the tube, the machine has been provided with a printing mechanism,
now to be described.
The bevel-gear A* on the shaft A¹ engages a like bevel gear on a shaft 40 having
its bearings in uprights 41.
The shaft 40 has a bevel gear 42 which engages a bevel gear 43 on and rotates
La short vertical shaft provided with a bevel-gear 45 that engages a bevel-gear 46
fast on a shaft 47 having secured to it a type-carrying arm 55, provided with type
as at 54, the said type being supplied with ink during each rotation of the shaft 47,
by coming in contact with an inking roller 50 in an ink-box 51, the said roller
having secured to its shaft a pinion 49 which is engaged and rotated by a pinion 48
fast on the shaft 47,
"

page_text: The inking roll has co-operating with it a doctor 52 made adjustable by a
screw 53.
The type 54, at each rotation of the shaft 47, strikes the upper ply of the tube
of paper at the upper side of the former where the printing may be readily seen.
The shaft 47 has its bearings in uprights 57.
The necessary tension may be produced upon the roll of paper to prevent it
moving too rapidly, by the employment of a belt or strap 60 extended over ६ roll
on a shaft 61 and provided with a weight 62.
Instead of employing a lip cutter made as a lever, I might provide a roller and
supply it with a short blade to act as a lip cutter.
A bag bottom formed as described and provided with paste as at r, r¹ will when
cross folded adhere firmly and constitute a close secure bottom.
By keeping the paper tube and the bag in continuous movement as described,
and by making the plate folder and other devices co-operating to cross fold the
bag bottom keep pace with said movement, every moment of time is utilised and
the productive capacity of the machine is greatly increased above what would be
the case if the tube or bag were stopped while the cross folder operated.
The bearings 27 before described may be adjusted as to height by the screws
80, 81, thus accomodating the boxes to the diameter of the roll used, the roll
being changed according to the size of the bag being made, the screw 81 entering
the bearing 27 loosely.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. In a paper bag machine, a tube-former, a guide surrounding the same,
continuously rotating feed rolls to move the tube, a finger to receive upon it the
open leading end of the tube, a plate folder to co-operate with the said finger to
form the diamond fold as described, tube severing mechanism, mechanism to apply
paste to the diamond fold, and three rolls F, G, G¹ and two blades h, h¹, to cross-
fold the diamond folded part of the bag, the said rolls and folding blades being
carried in a housing made adjustable upon the framing with relation to the tube
severing mechanism to accomodate the machine to the manufacture of bags of
different width, all operating substantially as described.
2. In a paper bag machine, a tube-former, a guide surrounding the same,
continuously rotating feed rolls to move the tube, means to increase or decrease
the speed of the feed rollers with relation to other parts of the machine, as
described, a finger to receive upon it the open leading end of the tube, a plate
folder to co-operate with the said finger to form the diamond fold as described,
tube severing mechanism, mechanism to apply paste to the diamond fold, and three
rolls F, G, G¹, and two blades h, h, to cross-fold the diamond folded part of the
bag, the said rolls and folding blades being carried in a housing made adjustable
upon the framing with relation to the tube severing mechanism to accomodate the
machine to the manufacture of bags of different width, all operating substantially
as described.
3. In a paper bag machine, a tube-former, a guide surrounding the same, con-
tinuously rotating feed rolls to move the tube, a finger to receive upon it the open
leading end of the tube, a plate folder to co-operate with the said finger to form the
diamond fold as described, tube severing mechanism, mechanism to apply paste to
the diamond fold, and three rolls F, G, G₁, and two blades h, h¹, to cross-fold the
diamond folded part of the bag, the said rolls and folding blades being carried in
a housing made adjustable upon the framing with relation to the tube severing
mechanism to accommodate the machine to the manufacture of bags of different
width, and a printing mechanism to print upon the tube, all operating substantially
as described.
4. In a paper bag machine, a tube-former, a guide surrounding the same, con-
tinuously rotating feed-rolls to move the tube, a finger to receive upon it the open

page_text: leading end of the tube, a plate folder to co-operate with the said finger to form the
diamond fold as described, tube severing mechanism, mechanism to apply paste to³
the diamond fold, and three rolls F, G, G¹, and two blades h, h', to cross-fold the
diamond folded part of the bag, the said rolls and folding blades being carried in'
a bousing made adjustable upon the framing with relation to the tube severing.
mechanism to accommodate the machine to the manufacture of bags of different
width, and a lip cutter to cut a lip into one ply of the tube, all operating substan-
tially as described.