CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Latham, of Bolton, in the County
of Lancaster, Foreman, and Frederick Cartwright Ward Latham, of.
the same Place, Printer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND OTHER
SIMILAR SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 20th May 1862, and dated the 12th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Latham
and Frederick Cartwright Ward Latham at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 12th March 1862.
We, WILLIAM HENRY LATHAM, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster,
Foreman, and FREDERICK CARTWRIGHT WARD LATHAM, of the same Place,
Printer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER, PASTEBOARD,
AND OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to that class of machines used for cutting paper,
wherein a vertical descending knife or blade is employed to effect the cut,
and consists in imparting a motion to such blade, which shall cause the blade
to describe an entire circle from the commencement of its movement in its
descent to the completion thereof in its ascending course, by which means we
are enabled to obtain a better cut, and with cleaner edges of the paper or

page_text: other material than hitherto. The motion is effected by means of cams,
eccentrics, or cranks connected to the blade, and actuated by a pair of worm
wheels driven by worms on the driving shaft, no guiding or parallel bars being
required. We are aware that various motions have by different means been
imparted to these vertical blades from the direct vertical to a partial "sweep,"
but from practical experience we find that the few bottom sheets of paper
or lower portion of the material under operation is more perfectly cut by
causing the blade to describe an entire circle in its cutting action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters 'Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Latham and Frederick Cartwright Ward
Latham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
HENRY LATHAM, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Foreman, and
FREDERICK CARTWRIGHT WARD. LATHAM, of the same Place, Printer, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Henry Latham and Frederick Cartwright Ward Latham,
Her special license that we, the said William Henry Latham and Frederick
Cartwright Ward Latham, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said William Henry Latham and Frederick Cartwright Ward
Latham, our 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 Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND OTHER SIMILAR
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said William
Henry Latham and Frederick Cartwright Ward Latham, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Henry Latham and Frederick
Cartwright Ward Latham, 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 and accompanying Draw-
ings (that is to say):
Our Invention relates to that class of machines used for cutting paper,
wherein a vertical descending knife or blade is employed to effect the cut, and
consists in imparting a motion to such blade which shall cause the, blade to
describe an entire circle from the commencement of its movement in its descent
to the completion thereof in its ascending course, by which means we are enabled
to obtain a better cut, and with cleaner edges of the paper or other material
than hitherto. The motion is effected by means of cams, eccentrics, or cranks
connected to the blade, and actuated by a pair of worm wheels driven by
worms on the driving shafts, no guiding or parallel bars being required. We
are aware that various motions have by different means been imparted to
these vertical blades from the direct vertical to a partial "sweep," but from
practical experience we find that the few bottom sheets of paper or lower
portion of the material under operation is more perfectly cut by causing the
blade to describe an entire circle in its cutting action.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about two inches to a foot, and having similar letters of reference marked
upon corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the machine for cutting paper, pasteboard, and
other materials, and Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, Fig. 3 being a
diagram shewing the peculiar course which the cutter is caused to take
in its descent, and which is the principal novelty of our Invention when
obtained by cranks or eccentrics, without the use of radial arms.
In Fig. 1, a, a, is the framing, and 6 the cutter, supported in the frame or
carrier c, which receives the circular motion from the handle d, cranks e, e,
and gearing f, f, for which purpose eccentrics and other arrangements of
gearing may also be employed if required. The other parts of the machine
are similar to ordinary paper-cutting machines. In the Diagram, 1 represents
the blate or cutter, the semicircular line 2 denoting its course when descend-
ing the dotted line; 3, the return course of the blade; and 4, the blade
having descended one quarter of the circle.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly
understood that we claim, as our improvements in machinery for cutting

page_text: paper and other material imparting to the cutting blade a movement in a
circular direction or course during its descent and ascent by means of direct
acting cranks, without the employment of links or radial bars, as herein-before
described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Henry Latham and Frederick
Cartwright Ward Latham, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM HENRY LATHAM.
(L.S.)
FREDERICK CARTWRIGHT WARD LATHAM. (L.S.)