Improvements in or relating to Means for Feeding, Securing, or Strengthening Strips in Box Making and Similar Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 20th June, 1898-Accepted, 13th Aug., 1898
Improvements in or relating to Means for Feeding, Securing, or
Strengthening Strips in Box Making and Similar Machines.
A communication from MAX RICHARD PARTZSCH, of Plauenschestrasse 25, Dresden
Lobstau, Germany, Manufacturer.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
The device for feeding securing or strengthening strips in box making and
similar machines according to this invention is based on the principle-which is
well known in itself-of effecting the advance of the strip towards the hammer by
means of a guide lever the (circular) path of which does not coincide with that
of the hammer. Hitherto, however, the strip in machines of this kind have been
generally gripped at a point at the back, and pushed forward through a guide,
which necessarily presupposes a certain amount of rigidity in the strip. It is
found that toothed metal clamping strips of slight rigidity bend up and buckle
when pushed through thereby jambing in the guide or becoming bent at their
projecting points, whereby the advance becomes uncertain and inexact or im-
possible. Flexible strips of paper or fabric for glueing to the parts to be joined
or strengthened cannot be fed in this way at all. Metal strips require in such
machines a long and carefully machined guide in order to prevent the strip from
bending.
A secure and exact feeding of the strip and a cheaper and simpler construction
of the machine is attained according to this invention by taking hold of the
continuous clamping strip at or near to its front end and by pulling it forward.
This is effected by the strip, passing through a guide-opening at one end of the
hammer being seized beyond said opening (in the sense of the direction of move-
ment of the strip) by grips or clamping devices adjustable on the hammer head
and guided by the guide lever through the path of the hammer being at the
same time drawn forward owing to the relative movement of the hammer and the
arc of oscillation of the guide-lever.
The accompanying drawing illustrates, by way of example, a construction of
the machine according to this invention, in which the strip is caused to advance
during the descent of the hammer.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a machine for applying or nailing on sheet metal
strips, provided with the feeding device according to this invention, the hammer
being shown in its raised position.
Fig. 1 is a detail view.
Fig. 2 shows the head of the hammer, a front portion of the hammer arm in
section, and a front portion of the anvil with work placed on it, on a considerably
larger scale than in Fig. 1 the hammer being here shown in its lowered position.
Fig. 3 is a back view and

page_text: Fig. 4 a vertical cross-section of the hammer head, on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2,
the two Figures 3 and 4 being on the same scale as Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 represents, in front elevation, the clamping device or pawls.
Fig. 6 shows the same in section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5, and
Fig. 7 shows one of the pawls viewed in the direction indicated by the arrow
Fig. 5.
0
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are shown on a larger scale than that of Figs. 2, 3 and 4.
The machine illustrated by way of example consists of a hammer A which by
means of its arm A¹ is pivotted about a pin a and can be lowered on the anvil B
by depressing a treadle A2 and rod a¹ in opposition to the action of a spring a².
As the machine represented is intended for securing or applying corner strips,
the anvil B has inclined sides and the hammer is provided with corresponding
longitudinal grooves of right angular cross-section (Fig. 4). For applying flat
strips both the anvil and hammer must be flat. The work W is placed in the well
known manner on the anvil from the front, the hammer is lowered, whereupon
the clamp strip S is advanced and the length corresponding to the work cut off and
applied. The strip S unrolls from a spool S¹.
Inside the cover 1 (Figs. 2 and 3) there is guided in a groove in the rear end of
the hammer, a part 2 which forms the open guide for the clamping strip and at the
same time the lower blade of a pair of cutters. The opening in the part 2, having
the shape of an inverted Ụ (Fig. 3) and corresponding to the cross-section of
the strip S (Fig. 4) forms the guide proper, while the sharp edge 2 at the front
end of this guide forms the cutter blade as stated. With said blade cooperates as
the upper blade, a plate 3 secured to the hammer A in front of the part 2, and
provided with a recess having the shape of an inverted V. A spring 4 (Fig. 2) in
a fixed cap 5 drives, when the hammer is raised the guide 2 as far down as its pin 6
can move downwards in the slot in the cover 1 (Fig. 3). When the hammer is
lowered, the part 2 strikes the anvil first, while the hammer still continues to
descend. The relative movement of the cutter parts 3 and 2-2 causes them to
become operative. At 7 there is pivotted to a projection of the part 2 a pawl 8
bifurcated in front (Figs. 2 and 3) which engages with its two teeth with the
recesses of the strip S (not shown in Fig. 3) and prevents it from moving back to
the right. 9 is a spring acting on the pawl to keep it depressed.
In the guides formed by the lateral grooves in the hammer A and by the
covering plates 10 (Figs. 2 and 4) there are arranged movable slide-blocks 11 to
which are secured the bosses 12 of the bifurcated guide-lever D). The two feed
pawls 13 are rotatable in the rear-continuations of the blocks 11 in a plane at
right angles to that of the movement of the strip. The heads of these pawls,
shown more fully in Figs. 5 to 7, are such that they form teeth 13 bevelled only
on one side, and the strip S is supported at the top and bottom by the remaining
edges. The teeth 13 are pressed inwards, by springs 14 acting on the pawls, into
engagement with the teeth or intervals between teeth or between the projections
of the clamping strip. They grip the strip when winding in the direction in-
dicated by the arrow (Fig. 6) while in the opposite direction they open outwards
without exercising any action on the strip. When the hammer strikes the anvil,
the pawls being rounded off at their heads, are forced outwards by the cam-faces
of the hammer and thus brought outside the path of the hammer.
Assuming that the guide lever D is pivotted about the centre d and the hammer
head A is in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1, in which position the
hammer completely covers the anvil when depressed, when the hammer is in its
raised position, the two pawls 13, 13 are at the rear end of the path of the hammer
and engage with one of the first teeth of the strip S slightly projecting through
the guide opening 2. When the hammer is depressed, the slide blocks 11 are
caused to advance in the guides in the hammer by the oscillation of the guide-lever
about its pivot d, and as the pawls are operative when moving in this direction,
the strip will be advanced to the extent equal to the length of the hammer (see
arc I II III Fig. 1). The same effect would be produced if the hammer were

page_text: replaced by a vertically guided stamp or plunger, for even in this case the path I
II III cuts the vertical path of the hammer and the required relative movement
takes place if the dimensions be suitably chosen.
The length of the strip to be fed can be easily altered as desired in the con-
struction described, by making the hammer head adjustable on the arm A¹ and
the guide lever D movable in the manner to be described. For this purpose the
arm A¹ is provided in front with a longitudinal passage or slot in which are
adjustable bolts 15 (Figs. 1 and 2). The shorter the length of strip to be cut
and applied, the farther forward must the hammer head A be placed, the bolts 15
being tightened when the head is correctly adjusted. A side of the head A can
be graduated according to any desired system of measurement or, still better,
according to the number of teeth to be applied at each operation. Opposite this
scale, an example of which is clearly indicated in Fig. 2, there is arranged on the
arm A¹ a fixed pointer 16. The guide lever D is not only pivotted about d, but
is also movable in d, which is made in the shape of a block with two lateral pivots or
pins 17 (Fig. 1). The lower end of the lever D, made round or prismatic, is
movable in a hole in the part d, a spring 18 (which can be replaced by a weight)
tending to press the guide lever downwards until the shoulder 19 rests against
the block d. In this position the guide lever can only swing concentrically with
the part d. When the hammer is moved more to the front, for instance as
indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the guide lever takes up, when the hammer
is raised, the position shown in dotted lines the spring 18, between the pivot d
and the end of the lever, being compressed and the shoulder 19 being situated some
distance above the part d. When the hammer is being lowered, there is at first no
movement of the two pawls towards the path of the hammer, on the contrary the
two pawls swing in the arc IV II concentrically with a, as the spring 18 draws the
guide-lever as far down as is allowed by the descending hammer head. In this
way the two pawls remain therefore in their rear position determined by the
edges of the slide-blocks 11 resting against the edges of the part 2 (Fig. 2).
The shoulder 19 having however reached at the point 11 the block d, during the
remainder of the travel II III the movement of the strip takes place in the
manner described. The projection of the path II III on to the anvil corresponds
to the length fed.
In the construction described the feeding of the strip is effected during the
descent of the hammer. It could, however take place equally well during the
ascent if the centre of rotation of the guide lever D were moved upwards beyond
the centre of rotation a of the hammer. The feeding would also take place during
the ascent of the hammer, if the feeding were to take place from the front and the
centre d were below the centre a, otherwise it would take place during the
descent. If the feeding is effected from the front, the spool S₁ for the strip is
arranged above the machine and the strip is guided by a suitably curved guide
to the guide-openings 2 which must then of course, also be arranged in front.
If the apparatus described is to be used for strips to be affixed by cementing
them on to the material the pawls 13 must be replaced by other clamping devices
adapted to seize the strip during its advance, or by pins penetrating into the
strip.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. Apparatus for feeding securing or strengthening strips in box making and
other machines, comprising means for engaging the strip, passing through a
guide opening in the end of the hammer, at a point beyond said opening and
advancing it by the movement of a guide-lever D, provided with devices for
engaging with the strip, relatively to the path of the hammer, substantially as
described.
2. A modification of the apparatus of the character described in which the guide-

page_text: lever is movable in a block d constituting its centre of rotation so that when
the hammer descends, the guide-lever first moves through the block without
exercising any feeding action on the strip, until a shoulder on the guide-lever
engages with the block, when the guide lever moving in an arc of a circle
together with the block draws the strip forward during the removal of the
movement substantially as described.
3. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete strip
feeding mechanism substantially as described or illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.