IMPROVEMENTS IN PERFORATING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Heap, of London Road, Southwark, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PERFORATING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 8th April 1864, and dated the 12th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Heap at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th October
1863.
I, JOHN HEAP, of London Road, Southwark, in the County of Surrey,
5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PERFORATING MACHINES," to be as follows, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to machines for perforating paper, printed or otherwise,
such as postage and other adhesive stamps and labels, cardboard, parchment,
skins, leather, or other similar substances or fabrics. The principle upon
which these machines are constructed is somewhat analagous to that of the
sewing machine, that is to say, it consists in the employment of a single punch,
perforator, and die plate. The punch being actuated with great rapidity
while the material to be perforated is caused to pass with greater or less
rapidity in any required direction under the same, so that each line of per-
foration is the result of the operation of a single punch. By varying the
speed of the punch, or by varying the motion of the material under the same,
the distance between the perforations can be increased or diminished at

page_text: pleasure, and by regulating the direction of the material by making the feed
and take-off rollers to move from left to right and vice versa, a straight,
curved, or any other required line or lines of perforation or perforations can
also be obtained. In adapting this principle to adhesive stamp and label
perforating, a number of single punches worked by single levers, or fixed to a
transverse lever beam head are caused to rise and fall by a crank cam or
otherwise. The latter machines can be adapted for perforating any number
of lines along paper of any required length continuously or from side to side
of separate sheets of stamps or labels. The single punch machines are also
capable of being so constructed as to perforate ornamental figures, the
ornamental lines being either marked on the material, and guided by the
hand under the punch, or caused to move from right to left, or vice versa,
over the feed rollers as before mentioned by mechanism adapted thereto.
The punch or punches may be circular, angular, or in fact of any required
shape.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Heap in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
HEAP, of London Road, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Heap, Her special licence that I, the said John Heap, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Heap, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PERFORATING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Heap, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain 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

page_text: Dear fatent
mice within six calendar montos next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Heap, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to machines for perforating paper, printed or otherwise;
such as postage and other adhesive stamps and labels, cardboard, parchment,
skins, leather, or other similar substances or fabrics, or sheets of metal. The
principle upon which these machines are constructed is somewhat analagous
to that of the sewing machine, that is to say, it consists in the employment of
a single punch perforator and die plate, the punch being actuated with great
rapidity, while the material to be perforated is caused to pass with greater
or less rapidity in any required direction under the same, so that each line
of perforation is the result of the operation of a single punch. By varying
the speed of the punch, or by varying the motion of the material under the
same, the distance between the perforations can be increased or diminished at
pleasure, and by regulating the direction of the material by suitable mechanism
such as feed and take-off rollers, moved from right to left, and vice versa, a
straight, curved, or any other required line or lines of perforation can also
be obtained. In adapting this principle to adhesive stamps and label perfo-
rations, a number of single punches worked by levers and fixed to a transverse
lever beam head are caused to rise and fall by a crank, cam, or otherwise.
The latter machines can be adapted for perforating any number of lines along
paper of any required length continuously or from side to side of separate
sheets of stamps or labels. The single punch machines are also capable of
being so constructed as to perforate ornamental lines or figures, the line being
either marked on the material and guided by the hand under the punch, or
caused to move by the side motion rollers, or other similar mechanism adapted
thereto. The punch or punches may be circular, angular, or in fact of any
required shape.
Having thus stated the nature and object of my said Invention, I will now
proceed to describe the forms of the machines, which I propose to adapt for
giving practical effect thereto, reference being made to the Drawings hereto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
TUTION ON mun DOAINGE

page_text: same parts of the machine appear in both plan and elevation they are lettered
with similar letters.. a, a, is a suitable tube or flat plate, upon which the
machine is mounted, and upon which the material to be perforated is laid and
moved as herein-after explained; b, is the die plate, and c, the punch; d, the
punch holder, which is depressed by the action of the lever e, and raised by
the spring f, the lever is actuated by the cam wheel g on the shaft h, turned
by the pulley i;j,j, are two feed rollers, the peripheries of which stand a
little above the table top; k, k, are two small counter feed rollers, which.
rise and fall upon the studs 1, 1, and rest upon the edges of the rollers j, j;
m, m, are two adjusting guides or gauges (moveable along the slot o), between
which the material n, n, to be perforated passes through the machine. These
adjusting guides can be removed all together when necessary, as, for instance,
when irregular or ornamental lines are required to be perforated; in the latter
case the line or design being first marked upon the material, it is guided and
turned about as it passes under the punch as required; I have adapted the
arm p which carries the lever and punch formed as here shewn, in order to
obtain thereby a large clear table space. For straight line perforating, the
feed and counter feed rollers, the axes of which are parallel, will also guide
the material on the shaft g, which carries the feed rollers, I fix a ratchet.
wheel r, and upon the pulley shaft h I fit a small eccentric s, to which the
pawl t is attached; this pawl works into the notches of the ratchet wheel, and
thus gives the necessary feed motion. This machine is intended for perforating
sheets of letter-press paper, skins, leather, cardboard, or any other material
requiring this kind of work.
Fig. 3 is a front elevation, and Fig. 4 a side view, of a machine for
perforating 3 (or more) lines at one operation; both Figures are lettered with
similar letters where the same parts of the machine appear. a, a, is the table
upon which the material is laid, and passes through the machine in the
direction shewn by the to b, the side frame; c, c, c, three punches;
d, d, d, punch holders; e, e, e, cans mounted upon the shaft f, turned by the
pulley g; h, h, the punch holder bar; the punch holders and punches are
adjustable along this bar, and can be fixed thereon in any position and at any
required distance apart by clamping screws at the back, the cams are also
moveable along the shaft f, and are fixed as desired by the set screws i, i, i. The
dies k, k, (see also Fig. 6) are also moveable along the die bar 1, 1, and are
fixed as desired by the hollow screws m, m, m, and clamping nuts n, n, n;
o is the feed roller, and p the counter feed, which rises and falls and rests
upon the edge of the feed roller or material between them; the feed roller
carries a ratchet wheel p, which is turned by the eccentric and pawl O (acting

page_text: as before described, see also Figure 5. R and S are small spur wheels, by
which the motion of the feed roller O is transmitted to a second roller of the
same diameter, similarly placed beyond the punch, and round which two
rollers, and between the punches I fit studed metal belts; the bearings in
which the journals of the shafts of these belts rollers turn are adjustable by
back and fan set screws, so that their axis can be set parallel to the greatest
nicety; the belt are mathematically divided, and the pins or studs which stand
therein are so placed that their distances apart along the belts shall be the
exact distance gauge or register of any given number of perforations, so that
by means of these belts, when it is required to perforate squares or other
figures, the sides of which contain equal or unequal numbers of perforations,
the punches will always will always enter the corner hole whichever way the
material is passed through the machine; this is affected when turning the
material or passing it lengthways and then sideways through the machine by
passing the belt pins (which stand a little above the surface) through the
corner hole of one of the cross lines of the square or other figures, perforations
such as postage stamps, adhesive labels, and the like, for which this machine
can be adapted by increasing the number of adjusting dies and punches; t is
a grooved wheel on the feed roller shaft, and n a fixed pin working therei...
By varying the form of this groove a zag-zag, waived, or any required line of
perforatun can be obtained, and by changing this wheel the different line work
can be performed by the same machine.
Fig. 7 is a side elevation of this machine; Fig. 8 a plan. The same letters.
of reference are repeated in both Figures, and referr to the same parts of the
machine as before. a, a, table frame, to which the various parts of the machine
are fitted; B, B, the table top, which are mounted the standards c, c; in the top
of the table b, b, a die plate perforated is sunk until the top of the said plate is
even therewith. This plate is perforated with single perforatums 1, 1, along the
line d, d, (see Fig. 2); e, e, the beam or bar, to apart as the width of the
lines of perforatun from each other may require, and together with the
corresponding distances between the single punches are regulated by the length
and width of the stamp or label; f,f, side bearing in which the perforator or
punch beam works; g, connecting rod worked by the cam or the eccentric h,
or the shaft I amounted in a frame of the table, and turned by the band and
pullies I, I, which receive motion from the driving pullies R, R, at the end of
the main shaft L; this shaft is cranked and turned by the treadle m, or by the
crank m' and pullies m², m², which gives motion to the machine, the velocity of
which is varied by the changing wheels so as to decrease or diminish the distance
apart of the perforatuns in the same line. The machine is fed by introducing

page_text: the sheets at A; 2, 2, are guage lines cut in the top of the table at the
receiving end, to which lines on the plate the operator adjust the first line
abounding a row of stamps or the paper longitudinally. In placing the sheet on
the table while the machine is at rest by depressing the lever handle in by the
-hand or the small foot lever N¹ by the foot, the griping roller hole, which is
coated with vulcanized india-rubber and rest upon the edge of the sheet as it
enters and passes through the machine is raised sufficiently to enable the
attendant operating the instrument to insert and adjust each succeeding
sheet to the required position by the gauge line before mentioned. Imme-
diately under the rising and falling india-rubber covered roller, and let into
the table top until its periphery is nearly even therewith, is another roller o',
which turns with the machine and carries the sheets of stamps of continuous
length, as the case may be, under the perforators, and through the machine;
p, p, are two similar rollers and fixed as last described, round which a canvass
or other suitable belt q, q, is placed. The rollers O' and p¹ are both driven
by a band on the shaft J'; R, a fly wheel for momentum; S, a hand wheel
for regulating the starting motion; t, a weighted lever for regulating the grip
of the roller o upon the edge of the sheets in an incline, down which the
perforated sheets pass as they leave the table; v, a basket or tray into. which
the incline delivers the perforated sheets.
28
and the
The mode of operating the machine is as follows, viz.:-The stamped sheets
are taken by the two corners and held between the thumb and finger of the
attendant for a moment; the left hand corner is then placed at
right hand corner at the opposite <-, the foot the while resting upon the
small treadle n', raises the gripping lever o, so that the edge of the sheet can
be inserted between the rollers o and o', and adjusted to the proper position.
when the foot to the large treadle, the grip roller now holds the sheet, and
both the hands of the operator are at liberty, the hand wheel s then is turned a
little by the right, and shews how the sheet will enter the perforator while the
left hand is free to adjust, send the sheet through the machine, and the sbcct
is carried along the canvas down the incline and into the tray. As fast as
the ends of one sheet disappears under the gripper, another sheet is placed
in position until all are perforated in one direction, the punch beam is then
changed, and another row of punches perforates the sheet crossways in the
same manner with great rapidity and perfect accuracy.
By the foregoing statement and description of my said Invention, coupled
with the Drawing hereto annexed, the general forms of the improved machines
and the modes of adapting the single punch perforator for the purposes herein

page_text: set forth will be readily understood, the details however may be varied
according to the work required to be done, and the shape, strength, size, and
strength of the part modified accordingly; I therefore include all such
modifications as forming part of my said Invention, in which I more
particularly claim,—
1st, the adaptation of the single punch perforator as herein described.
2ndly, the divisional or registering belt herein described.
3rdly, the zig-zag and other irregular lines of perforation by the pin and
disc.
And, 4thly, the varying guage of the punch and dies in the same machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Heap, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
JOHN HEAP. (L.S.)