Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Oct., 1888
Specification Accepted, 23rd Nov.. 1888
A communication from ABBOTT QUINOY Ross, of Cincinnati, in the County of
Hamilton and State of Illinois, United States of America, gentleman.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E. 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
This invention relates to improvements in that class of paper holders and cutters
designed particularly for use in stores and elsewhere for holding rolls of wrapping
paper and severing sheets or pieces therefrom of any desired length, though also
adapted for holding and severing other kinds of paper in roll form. The construction
and operation of these improved machines will, it is thought, be clearly understood
from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 of the drawings represents a perspective view of the improved roll holder
and cutter with a roll therein showing the manner in which a sheet of paper is
detached from the roll.
Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same, showing by dotted lines the ellipticity of
the roll and the position the cutter bar assumes automatically in accomodating itself
to the surface of the roll.
Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line a―x fig. 4.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the roll holder and cutter and contained roll, the
dotted lines illustrating the free and independent vertical movements of which the
ends of the cutter bar are capable.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the detached cutter bar.
Figures 6, 7 and 8 are views of modified forms of cutter bars.
Figure 9 is a view of a modification of the invention in which the end projections
or extensions of the gravitating cutter bar are somewhat elongated so that when the
bar is tipped by an upward pull upon the paper against the cutting edge it will bind
and be locked in the guide slots.

page_text: Figure 10 is a view of still another modification in which the cutting blade
is supported on the gravitating friction bar though projects in a plane above
the same.
Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.
Referring particularly to figures 1 to 8, the letters A A represent two supports or
standards which are preferably mounted upon and securely fastened to a suitable
base B which may be a store counter or other object.
These supports A are provided with open bearings C in which the journals or axis d
of a roll of paper D may be readily introduced and removed when desired and they
are provided with vertical or substantially vertical slots E which constitute guides for
the cutting bar.
It is required of the cutter bar that it shall ride or float upon the-paper roll, rising
and falling bodily to conform to the ellipticity or untrueness of the roll and rising at
one end and falling at the other if the roll be conical shaped; that it shall have a
cutting edge against which the end of the paper may be pulled to sever a sheet and
that it shall be made sufficiently heavy to serve as a friction brake and prevent the
racing of the roll; to enable the paper to be drawn upward against its cutting edge
in the severing operation without disturbing it and to hold the roll in the position in
which it is left after a sheet has been separated.
All these functions or capabilities are secured by the employment of a cutter bar
such as indicated by the letter F in the accompanying drawings. This cutter bar is
either flat or slightly concave on its under surface and has one of its lower corners
slightly extended and beveled off, as shown at f to form the cutting or tearing edge.
It is provided with projections or extensions ff at its end which fit loosely within
the guide slots E of the supports or standards A and it is rounded or beveled off
at so that either end may rise and fall independently of the other.
In action this cutter bar floats easily upon the roll and conforms to both the size
and contour thereof without binding in its guides in the slightest degree, this
smoothness of action resulting from the fact that it bears on the roll in a plane or
planes substantially parallel to the plane of the guides in which it works rising and
falling in said planes.
The importance of this function of the bar in automatically adjusting itself to
irregularities of the roll will be better appreciated when it is stated that the paper rolls
However truly
as sold in the market are more or less irregular in form and contour.
cylindrical they may be when first produced, they become, in handling, in storage and
As the material
in shipment, irregular in various ways and to a varied extent.
contains more or less moisture when produced and is more or less absorbent of the
moisture of the atmosphere, it happens that by being piled in quantities or by rough
handling the circular contour is converted into an ellipse or into an irregular polygon
and often becomes, in addition, somewhat conical, and these irregularities become
"set" in the roll. It is necessary, therefore, that the gravitating cutter bar should
possess the utmost freedom of adjustability in order to bear at all times equally upon
the roll and impose a uniform resistance to the rotation of the roll upon its pivota
axis. The described combination effects this by permitting the bar to rise or fal
freely in its guides either as a whole or at either end independently of the other, a
'before stated.
To remove paper from the roll it is only necessary that the end of the paper b
pulled until the roll has been rotated to the extent required to yield a piece or shee
of paper of the required length and then drawn upward and sidewise across the cuttin
edge. The new end can be grasped by slightly rotating the roll forward until sai
end is exposed to view in front of the bar.
While prefer the form of cutter bar shown in figure 3 a bar, not too wid
concaved along its entire bearing surface and having a tearing edge out of conta
with the roll such as shown in figure 6 may be employed, or a bar with a perfect
straight bearing surface as in figure 7 or a square bar such as shown in figure 8.
In all these modifications the bearing surfaces press upon the roll in planes substa
tially parallel to the plane of the guides.

page_text: It will be observed that in the above described constructions the weight of the cutter
bar is relied upon to afford a sufficient resistance to effect the severance of the paper:
when the latter is pulled up against it. Should the weight alone of the cutter bar,
however, prove insufficient under all circumstances, as, for instance, where very
strong tough paper is dealt with, the end projections or extensions of the cutter
bar may be elongated slightly so that when an upward pull is made on the paper
said cutter will be tipped or turned on its longitudinal axis as shown in figure 9 and
the side faces of said projections or extensions will bind against the walls of the
guide slots and effectually prevent the bar from rising, while at the same time the
rear portion of the bar will be pressed tightly down upon the paper roll to give
increased friction. Of course as soon as the severance of the paper by the cutting
edge takes place, the cutter bar will drop back to normal position again.
In the modification of the invention shown in figure 10 the cutting edge instead
of being formed upon the gravitating friction bar, is formed at h upon a separate
blade H which in turn is mounted upon a gravitating friction bar I so as to project
horizontally in a plane above the same and leave a clear space between the two for the
passage of the web of paper, whereby when the paper is drawn upward against the
edge of the blade to sever it, the remaining end will drop down, by gravity away
from the edge of the blade in position to be grasped when the next sheet is desired to
be removed.
A drag bar K may be pivoted to the friction bar I and caused to bear upon the
outermost convolution of paper and thus prevent the loose end from, by any possibility,
slipping backward out froin between the blade and bar.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :
1st. The combination with the freely suspended roll of paper, of a floating weighted
bar held by gravity alone against the periphery of said roll and having a cutting edge
removed from the point of contact between said bar and roll, whereby said cutter bar
is caused to act as friction brake to the roll to adapt itself automatically to the size
and contour of the roll and to serve as means for severing the free end of paper when
the latter is pulled upward against it; substantially as described.
2nd. The combination with the freely suspended roll of paper, of a weighted bar
pressed by gravity alone against the periphery of said roll and having a cutting edge
against which the free end of the paper may be separated by an upward pull upon it
and guides for the cutting bar arranged in planes substantially parallel to the plane in
which the cutter bar presses against the roll; whereby binding of the cutter bar in
its guides is prevented during its up and down movement therein due to the irregularity
in the contour of the roll; substantially as described.
3rd. A paper roll holder embodying supports in which to suspend a roll of
paper, a
weighted bar for bearing by gravity alone upon the suspended roll of paper and having
a cutting edge removed from its contact or bearing point against which the paper is
adapted to be separated by an upward draw upon it and guides in which the cutter bar
works substantially as described.
4th. In a paper roll holder, a weighted cutter bar operating by gravity alone and
having a cutting edge removed from its bearing point and provided with guiding end
projections, bearings for a paper roll and guides in which the end projections on the
cutter bar are free to play up and down; substantially as described.
5th. The combination with a paper roll, supports in which the same is journaled, a
weighted cutter bar bearing by gravity alone upon the paper roll and having a cutting
edge at one of its lower corners removed from the bearing point and having also
guiding end projections and slotted guides in which the projections on the end of the
cutter bar are free to play up and down; substantially as described.
6th. In a paper roll holder, the combination with the slotted supports having bearings
for receiving the journals of a paper roll, of the weighted cutter bar provided with
the cutting edge at one of its lower corners and shouldered ends cooperating with

page_text: slots in the supports and having rounded or beveled portions which permit of the free
independent vertical movement of its end; substantially as described.
7th. In a paper roll holder, the combination with the slotted supports having bearings
for receiving the journals of a paper roll, of the weighted cutter bar having a slightly
concaved under surface for resting on the periphery of the roll and a lower corner
beveled to constituto a tearing edge and provided with end projections for cooperating
with the guide slots in the supports; substantially as described.
8th. The combination with the slotted supports of the roll of paper journaled therein
and the weighted cutter bar guided by the slots in the supports and bearing by
gravity alone on the roll in a plane or planes substantially parallel to the plane of said
guide slots and having its front side beveled to constitute a tearing edge; substantially
as described.
9th. The combination with the slotted supports of the roll of paper journaled therein
and the gravitating cutter bar having the elongated end projections or extensions
which enter the guide slots of the supports and capable of being turned on its
longitudinal axis by the upward draft of the paper against it so as to cause it to bind
in the guide slots and also produce increased friction on the roll of paper; substan-
tially as described.