IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER OR OTHER SIMILAR MATERIAL INTO SHEETS OR LENGTHS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER OR OTHER SIMILAR MATERIAL INTO SHEETS
OR LENGTHS." A communication from abroad by Heinrich Schlatter, of
Reutlingen, in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, in the Empire of Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd March 1881.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER OR OTHER
SIMILAR MATERIAL INTO SHEETS OR LENGTHS." A communication from abroad
by Heinrich Schlatter, of Reutlingen, in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, in the
Empire of Germany.
This Invention relates to
continuous feed cutter operating upon the paper
or similar material while the cutter and material are at rest relatively to each
the
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd March 1881.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER OR OTHER
SIMILAR MATERIAL INTO SHEETS OR LENGTHS." A communication from abroad
by Heinrich Schlatter, of Reutlingen, in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, in the
Empire of Germany.
This Invention relates to a continuous feed cutter operating upon the paper
or similar material while the cutter and material are at rest relatively to each
other
Among the paper cutters heretofore known are distinguished two classes,
viz :-
1. Continuous feed cutters.
2. Stop cutters.
In the cutters of the first class the paper is conducted without any interruption
or shock. It moves therefore also during the cut, whilst in the second class the
paper is always stopped while the cut is being made, therefore it is then at rest.
In consequence of the continuous motion the first system possesses many adyan-
tages, but a difficulty is experienced in cutting the sheets exactly at right angles
and in all sizes. These defects are now removed in the machine hereinafter
described, which forms the subject of the present Invention. It is also a continuous
feed cutter, but it is distinguished from the other machines heretofore known of
2. Stop cutters.
In the cutters of the first class the paper is conducted without any interruption
or shock. It moves therefore also during the cut, whilst in the second class the
paper is always stopped while the cut is being made, therefore it is then at rest.
In consequence of the continuous motion the first system possesses many adyan-
tages, but a difficulty is experienced in cutting the sheets exactly at right angles
and in all sizes. These defects are now removed in the machine hereinafter
described, which forms the subject of the present Invention. It is also a continuous
feed cutter, but it is distinguished from the other machines heretofore known of

page_text: this system essentially by this peculiarity that the whole cutting apparatus, the
bed knife, together with the shear or cutting knife which rises and falls, makes
oscillations ; therefore the cut is made during the simultaneous motion of the
cutting apparatus and of the paper in the very moment when the two have the
same direction of motion as well as the same circumferential velocity then being
at rest rolatively to each other. By this arrangement the sheets are cleanly cut
orthogonally, and in exactly equal lengths.
In carrying out this Invention the improved apparatus is constructed, arranged,
and operated in the following manner :-
The paper coming either directly from the paper machine or from different rolls
(supported on the frame of the cutting machine or on a separate frame) first passes
the well known apparatus for cutting longitudinally (in case of this being desired
for the present machine), it is then seized by feeding apparatus which moves it
continually forward, delivering it first to a third pair of feeding rollers, and
immediately afterwards to the cutting apparatus, from which the sheets cut are
carried by the bands of the feeding apparatus, and laid automatically on a
distribution table. 1
The main feeding apparatus consists of two or more pairs of rollers driven by a
number of endless bands guided by forks, the rollers being supported relatively to
each other at such heights or angles that the apparatus is enabled to take the
paper along by virtue of the pressure existing between the pairs of bands which
may be increased at will, and to move the paper forward continuously and in such
perfect uniformity that absolutely equal lengths of sheets are attained in all cases
even when a number of layers of paper are operated upon simultaneously.
Of the corresponding pairs of rollers one roller is always supported firmly, the
second roller is adjustable about the axis of the first.
This adjustment is effected by means of a hand wheel operating a pinion which
engages with spurwheel segments in which the movable rollers are supported, the
operation being performed simultaneously, parallel, and in the same direction of
rotation for all the pairs of rollers. By causing the moveable rollers to enter to a
greater or less depth the free space between the fixed ones, not only is a greater
tension of the bands obtained, but the degree of pressure of the paper layers
between them may be varied at will..
The whole apparatus is driven from the main shaft by a belt motion being
imparted first to a small spur wheel, and thence to other small spur wheels on the
axes of one of the rollers of each pair, and thus to these rollers themselves the
motion of which is thus caused by the bands.
"
The bands of the lower pair of rollers however also pass over a series of small
rollers arranged around and supported in side discs of the cutting apparatus,
a tension roller and guide roller serving to keep all these rollers in constant
rotation.
After the layers of paper have left the feeding apparatus proper they are
conducted on the bands to a third pair of feed rollers.
At the beginning of the work this introduction must naturally be executed by
by hand. The lower one of these feed rollers is driven, as before mentioned,
the bands of the feeding apparatus, but the upper one is put in rotation by
means of friction discs of caoutchouc or any other suitable material mounted at the
ends of the two rollers. The motion is performed with unequal velocity caused by
unequal diameter of these rollers, so as to prevent any liability of the upper layers of
paper being retarded; but in order to avoid the tearing of the paper in consequence
of the greater velocity, this upper roller is covered on its surface with bristles or
any other suitable material.
The paper after having passed this third pair of feeding rollers arrives now
immediately at the cutting apparatus. This is supported by two side discs fast
upon the same axis, and firmly attached to each other by cross bars at the upper
and lower parts.

page_text: The upper cross bar carries the bed knife screwed on and adjustable by set
Screws. The shear or cutting knife moving exactly in the direction towards the
middle of the axis is attached somewhat level to its knife beam or holder, and
carries at its back side a pressure beam sliding along it and guided in brackets cast
on the side discs. Shortly before the beginning of the cut and during the operation
the pressure beam, which is provided with a spring, presses the paper firmly on the
bed knife, and immediately after the cut leaves free the space for the paper to
follow, the shear or cutting knife being then already raised with its deepest part
upon the paper.
The stroke of the pressure beam is exactly regulated by vertical bolts provided.
with counter nuts.
The cut itself, that is the lowering and raising of the shear or cutting knife,
which requires only a very short time, is now effected by means of two eccentric
discs of similar form turning between rollers, and of a rod, and it takes place
exactly at the moment when the oscillating cutting apparatus has not only the
same direction of motion, but also exactly the same velocity. This latter is
attained by the following mechanism On the same axis which bears the eccentric
discs is fastened another eccentric, which by its lift and by means of a rod the
working point or pin of which is adjustable in one of the sido discs imparts an
oscillating motion to the whole cutting apparatus. During the time that the paper
is passed through the feeding apparatus and continuously moved forward on its
bands the whole cutting apparatus with its side discs and the rollers therein
supported oscillates or moves regularly to and fro; it runs therefore half the time
in the direction of the paper, the other half of this time against the paper, but the
latter cannot be moved back by this motion. As the paper passes through the
feeding apparatus driven from the main shaft with a constantly uniform velocity
the cutting apparatus for cutting longer or shorter sheets is not driven from the
main shaft but from another shaft, as before mentioned. This latter is in its turn
driven quicker or slower at the will of the operator by means of a belt and two
conical drums on the two shafts, so that the rate of oscillation of the cutting
apparatus may be varied as required.
In
At each oscillation a cut is made. The greater therefore the desired length of
sheets, the smaller the number of cuts, and inversely the shorter sheets the more
cuts in the equal intervals. At the moment of the cut the cutting apparatus and
the paper have equal velocities for all the different sizes, but the paper moves
always uniformly, but tho cutting apparatus oscillates quicker and slower.
order to obtain for each size the corresponding velocity a greater or smaller
elongation of its oscillation must be given at equal length of the eccentric stroke.
For this purpose the working point of the rod of the eccentric is made adjustable
at one of the side discs by means of a screw spindle and nut. In order to facilitate
its adjustment and to render the same more exact a scale is provided near the said
working point. Accordingly the elongation of the cutting apparatus can then
exactly be adapted to the position of the belt on the cones, and to the velocity of
the paper, or to the required size.
The different lengths of sheet are, as before mentioned, only obtained by the
smaller or greater number of cuts for equal intervals of time. Therefore the
eccentric shaft must make more or less turns, and this is realised by the application
of the conical drams.
From the different, but in each case quite exact, position of the belt upon the
latter depends therefore also the exact length of sheets. This belt requires
therefore to be accurately guided over the cones.
For this purpose the belt is in each of its positions thus conducted over two
small flanged pulleys which have a to and fro motion imparted to them along their
axes. The pulleys are placed in such close proximity to their respective cones that
the distances of the points of descent from the two pulleys to the points of ascent
on the cones become so extremely small that the belt is directly conducted to the

page_text: point of its ascent, and any deviation is entirely obviated. This arrangement of
the pulleys affords also the further advantage that by it the belt is caused to
surround a larger part of the cones, and that therefore any prejudicial sliding
cannot so easily occur. The pulleys consequently act also as tension devices.
The exact motion to and fro of the guide pulleys is effected by a hand-wheel,
small spur wheels, and two screw spindles. The two pulleys are carried at opposite
extremities of a shaped bar suitably supported.
The Invention may also be carried out by operating the cutting apparatus in a
different manner, as, for example, by imparting a reciprocating to and fro rectilinear
motion to the entire cutting apparatus in lieu of an oscillating motion, as herein-
before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd September 1881.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER OR OTHER
SIMILAR MATERIAL INTO SHEETS OR LENGTHS." A communication from abroad
by Henrich Schlatter, of Reutlingen, in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, in the
Empire of Germany.
The said Invention relates to that class of machines for cutting paper and other
similar materials, in which the cutting device operates in combination with a
continuous feed, and it consists partly in the arrangement in such machines of a
feeding apparatus provided with feed rollers connected by bands in combination
with tension rollers for regulating the tension of the said bands or.carriers, the
said tension rollers being mounted on arms provided with toothed segments, and
capable of being revolved about the said feed rollers, substantially as hereinafter
described.
Also in the arrangement in such machines of a cutting device consisting of a
knife acting against a bed knife or supporting surface on which the material rests,
and mounted on a knife bar reciprocating in guides and mechanism for imparting
motion to the same in combination with mechanism for imparting an oscillating
motion to supporting discs carrying the said cutting device: A pressing apparatus
for holding the paper while being cut is also provided.
One of the chief objections to machines of the class referred to, in which the
paper is continuously fed forwards even during the time when it is being cut, has
been the difficulty of cutting the sheets of paper or other material with a truly
clean and square cut, and in any required size. These defects are obviated in the
improved machine hereinafter described.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation of the improved
machine.
Figure 2 is a front view, drawn to a larger scale, of the cutting device, partly in
section.
Figure 3 is a vertical central section through the cutting apparatus and feeding
apparatus.
In these Drawings W (Figure 1) indicates the main driving shaft which is
revolved by power or other suitable means, and P, P, are the rollers from which
the paper or other material to be cut is unwound: On leaving those rollers the
material which may consist of several layers passes through a cutting apparatus A
of any ordinary construction, where it is severed longitudinally into strips of any
desired width. This device, if the material is already of sufficient width, is dispensed
with or thrown out of operation by slackening a belt connecting it with a pulley
on the driving shaft W. From this cutting apparatus the material passes between
feed rollers c, d, and tension rollers c', d¹. The rollers c, d, are provided with a
band 6 consisting of an endless apron or tapes passing about thein. In addition to
this band 6 there is a second band or carrier 6ª passing between the rollers d, d',
and thence between the rollers c, c¹, over the rollers and a on the discs S, then
about the rollers ¹, k, and back to the roller d' (Figure 3). The paper passes
between the rollers d, d', and c, c', and between the bands or tapes b, b¹, on these

page_text: rollers, where the said paper is stretched and smoothed so as to be free from
wrinkles.
•
The rollers c, d, are mounted on arms h, h¹, provided with toothed segments
into the teeth on which gears a toothed whoel g. The arms h, h¹, turn about the
shafts of the rollers d and c, and by revolving the wheel g in the proper direction
the arms h, h', and rollers c', d, on the said arms are carried up or down, and the
tension of the bands b, b', consequently increased or diminished. The tension of
the band b¹ may be further regulated by the adjustable roller k¹. The bands b, b¹,
in lieu of being in the form of wide aprons are preferably made of tapes or
narrow strips of suitable material.
The roller c (see Figure 1) is provided with a toothed rim i gearing into the
toothed wheel i, and into a corresponding rim on the roller c. The wheel i is
revolved by a belt Q connecting it with a driving pulley on the shaft W. From the
wheel the motion is imparted by the gearing i,, to the rollers c and c', and from
them by the bands b, b¹, to the rollers d, d¹.
From the rollers c, c, d, d', the paper passes between the rollers a, a¹. The
roller a is revolved by the bands or tapes b. On the end of the roller a is a
friction disc whose periphery bears against the periphery of a similar friction disc on
the roller a¹. As the roller a¹ is provided with a friction disc having a smaller
diameter than the disc on the roller a, the periphery or surface of the roller a¹ will
move with greater angular velocity than the surface of the roller a.
The con-
sequence is that all remaining wrinkles on the paper are smoothed out by the
action of the roller a¹, the periphery of which is preferably made in form of a
brush. Set screws a² serve to regulate the position of the roller a¹. The paper
passes from the rollers a, a², directly to the cutting device for cutting it
transversely.
This device consists of a knife m which is supported on a knife bar n moving up
and down in guides. Reciprocating motion is imparted to the knife bar n by
rods 8 connected at their upper ends to the said knife bar, and at their lower ends
connected with cams U mounted on a revolving shaft V. As is seen from the form
of these cams U in Figure 1, the said cams in revolving impart an intermittent
reciprocating motion to the rods & and knife m. The knife m acts against the
edge of the supporting bed 7 on which rests the material to be cut, and thus severs
the said material. To the knife bar n is also connected a presser foot p which
descends with the knife bar n and presses on the material to be cut, holding it
firmly on the bed Z while being severed. This presser foot p is held down by a
spring F, Figure 2, and is supported by bolts a sliding in arms q'. Nuts on these
bolts facilitate the adjustment of the presser foot p (Figure 3). The whole cutting
device consisting of knife m and bar n together with the presser foot P is supported
in standards o carried by the discs S. The discs S of which there are two (one on
each side of the machine) are firmly connected together by arms or braces M, M'
(Figure 3). These discs oscillate back and forth about the shaft K.
also move
The object of enabling the discs S to oscillate is that when the paper or material
is being cut while moving forwards the peripheries of the discs S may
forward at the same angular velocity, as the speed of the material being severed,
so that the position of the bed l, knife m, and presser foot p may remain stationary
with relation to the material while the latter is being severed, so that the knife m
severs the material with a truly square and clean cut.
The discs S are caused to oscillate backwards and forwards about the shaft K
by means of rods Z, to which motion is imparted by an eccentric E on the
shaft V.
The upper ends O of the rods Z are adjustable in slots in the discs S, so as to
increase or diminish the degree of oscillation of these discs S. A screwed spindle t
serves to adjust the upper ends of the rods Z, and the degree of oscillation
resulting is determined by an index or scale t on the discs S. The degree of
oscillation may thus be regulated according to the size of the sheets to be produced
by the action of the knife m.

page_text: It is also to be observed that the speed with which the discs S oscillate, as well
as the speed with which the knife m reciprocates, must be in exact relation with
the speed with which the material to be cut is fed forward, in order to have the
material properly severed. In order to accomplish this result the shaft V is
provided with a cone pulley V₁, which is connected by a belt 3 with a corre-
sponding cone pulley W₁ placed in an inverse position on the driving shaft W
(Figure 1).
By sliding the belt 3 along on the pulleys V, W¹, the angular velocity of the
shaft V is increased or diminished as desired, as are also the consequent motions of
the cams U and eccentric E, which produce the reciprocations of the knife m and
oscillations of the discs S.
After the material has been cut or severed transversely at a given point, the
discs S, which have been oscillating forwards during the said cutting, now oscillate
back and carry the knife m back to its former position until the said knife m
again begins cutting, whereupon the said discs S again oscillate forwards as
before.
The belt 3 is longitudinally adjusted on the cone pulleys V, W₁, by guiding
rollers R, R, which are carried by an adjustable arm not shown in the Drawing
mounted on screw spindles w, w, Figure 1, provided at their ends with gear
wheels, into which gears a toothed wheel, which can be turned by a hand wheel u
or other suitable means.
The rollers R, R, also serve to prevent the belt 3 from slipping on the cone
pulleys V, W, and are provided with rims at their edges, between which the said
belt is guided.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein before
in part recited Letters Patent is, -
First. In apparatus for cutting paper and other similar material the arrangement
of a feeding apparatus provided with feeding rollers c, d, connected by bands b, b',
in combination with tension rollers c¹, d¹, for regulating the tension of the said
bands, the said tension rollers c, d, being mounted on arms h, h', provided with
toothed segments capable of being revolved about the said feeding rollers c, d,
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described, and as illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. In an apparatus for cutting paper and other similar material the com-
bination of a cutting device and mechanism for actuating the same, and of a
supporting bed for carrying the material while being cut, the said cutting device
and supporting bed being together mounted on an oscillating disc or body, all
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described, and as illustrated in
the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty first day of September,
AL