A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING OF THE FRACTURE OF THE WEB IN PAPER MAKING AND OTHER MACHINES, AND FOR CUTTING OFF THE WET OR BROKEN ENDS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Robertson, of Springfield Mills, Lasswade, in the
County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING OF THE FRACTURE OF THE
WEB IN PAPER MAKING AND OTHER MACHINES, AND FOR CUTTING OFF THE
WET OR BROKEN ENDS."
Sealed the 12th March 1878, and dated the 19th December 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Robertson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th December 1877.
JAMES ROBERTSON, of Springfield Mills, Lasswade, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING OF
THE FRACTURE OF THE WEB IN PAPER MAKING AND OTHER MACHINES, AND FOR
CUTTING OFF THE WET OR BROKEN ENDS."
This Invention has for its object to obviate the loss of time and injury both to
the machinery and article of manufacture consequent on the passing of the wet
ends of the broken web of paper or other article of manufacture into the calender
rolls, and also to warn the attendant of the said breakage of web.
On the spindle of the leading roller, or that which guides the web to a series of
drying cylinders, is attached a friction brake, impinging against the side of a pulley,
to which is suspended by a cord or chain a weight. The said cord or chain after
being passed around the pulley as far as desired is attached to another cord or chain
communicating with a pin supporting a knife placed at any desired position, but
preferably between the last drying cylinder and the calender rolls, and extending
transversely across the web. The said pin is also passed through the eye of a loop,
to which is attached a chain, cord, or wire, secured at the opposite end to a bell or
gong, and so arranged that the latter is held in the position to strike when the pin
[Price & 1

page_text: aforesaid is released. The passage of the web around the leading or guide roll
maintains the weight beneath in suspension, and no strain is exerted on the cord or
chain attached to the pin supporting the knife as aforesaid, but on the breaking of
the web the friction brake releases the pulley and the weight descends, and a strain
being exerted on the cord or chain attached to the pin supporting the knife the
said pin is drawn out from its socket and the knife falls on to the web b, and thus
cuts off the wet or broken end. At the same time the loop to which the bell pull
is attached is released and the bell or gong strikes, whereby the attendant is warned
of the breakage of the web.
Instead of descending on to the web the knife may be intercepted in its passage
and the web removed in the usual manner.
The friction brake and pulley may be actuated by means analogous to that herein-
before described for the purpose of giving the alarm or cutting the web.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Robertson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th June
1878.
JAMES ROBERTSON, of Springfield Mills, Lasswade, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING OF
THE FRACTURE OF THE WEB IN PAPER MAKING AND OTHER MACHINES, AND FOR
CUTTING OFF THE WET OR BROKEN ENDS."
My said Invention relates to apparatus to be used in conjunction with the drying
cylinders or other cylinders or rollers of paper-making machines, or with the drying
cylinders or other cylinders or rollers of other machines, to which my Invention is
or may be applicable; and my said Invention has for its objects to give warning of
the fracture of the web passing over the said cylinders or rollers, and also to provide
means for cutting off the wet or broken end of the web in order to prevent the
injury of the machinery and of the paper or other material under operation or
process of manufacture, which injury is liable to occur from the passing of the wet
or broken end into the other parts of the machinery.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now proceed
more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had to the
annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
I will describe my Invention in connection with the drying cylinders of a paper-
making machine.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a side elevation of a portion

page_text: of a paper-making machine having applied thereto the apparatus constructed or
arranged according to my Invention. Those of the drying cylinders which are
shewn are marked A, and the calendering or glazing rolls are marked B; the dotted
lines a indicate the web of paper passing over the drying cylinders to the glazing
rolls.
On the spindle of the "leading" or "guide roll" C is attached a friction brake,
the details of which are shewn on an enlarged scale in Figure 2, which is an eleva-
tion of a part of the said roll shewing the said brake in section. A friction disc or
pulley D is fitted to the spindle of the roll C so as to be free to turn thereon. The
brake consists of two plates c, c, one on either side of the pulley D, the said plates
c, c, being preferably faced with leather c¹, and rotating with the roll by means of a
feather or other device, which fixes them to the spindle of the said roll. The degree
of pressure of these brake plates upon the pulley D is adjusted by means of the
wheel nut d, kept in position by the lock nut e.
A knife f, having its cutting edge undermost, turns upon a pin f¹ on one side of
the machine, and extends across and above the web of paper a, as seen in Figure 3,
which represents in plan a portion of the machine shewing the attachment of the
said knife f. The other end of the said knife is held in the upper part of a guide g
(fixed to the machine), and clear of and above the paper by a pin passing through
the said guide; this guide is shewn drawn to a larger scale in Figure 4. A cord or
chain is attached to the pin h, and passes around the pulley D, and carries at its
other end a weight j, kept in position or prevented from being drawn too far up by
a cord t, one end of which is attached to the said weight, the other end being
fastened to a convenient part of the framing. A loop at one end of a cord or chain k
is passed over a pin h, the other end of the said cord or chain being attached to one
arin of a bell-crank lever k¹, to the other arm of which is attached a cord k³, holding
a bell (or it may be the clapper of a gong) in a constrained position.
When the paper-making machine, to which the apparatus constructed or arranged
according to my Invention is applied, is in operation, and whilst the web of paper
remains unbroken, the said web passes from the drying cylinders A to the glazing
rolls B; as usual, the contact of the brake plates c, c, with the sides of the pulley D
being adjusted, so that the forward drag of the said brake plates upon the pulley D,
caused by the rotation of the roll C, is exactly counteracted by the backward pull
of the weight j upon the pulley D, through the cord i, so that the pin h remains in
position, sustaining the knife f and holding the bell in its constrained position.
If however the web of paper should break, as soon as the broken end reaches the
roll C, the said roll ceases to move, consequently the potential force of the balance
weight being therefore free to act, and pulling upon the cord i, turns the pulley D;
the pin his thereby pulled from out of the guide 9, the knife f being thereby
released descends upon and cuts the web of paper. The cord k is at the same time
released from the said pin h, and the bell being also released, it, by its ringing,
warns the attendant of the fracture of the web.
It will be evident that the arrangement for sounding an alarm, or that for cutting
the web, may be used separately, the one without the other if desired.
In Figure 5 I have represented a side elevation of a portion of a paper-making
machine, shewing that inodification of my Invention by means of which the alarm
may be sounded as soon as the web breaks, but wherein the knife is not allowed to
cut or sever the web until the broken end is near to the termination of its journey.
According to this modification a bar or plate r is supported under the weight j, and
extending over the axis of one of the under drying cylinders. The said bar or plate
carries at one end a weight which elevates the other end, and keeps the
projections, 2, on the under side of the said bar or plater clear of a projection 8
on one of the axles of the lower cylinders A when the web is unbroken. On the
breaking of the web of paper the weight ; (being suspended over the pulley D,
which is constructed and attached to the leading roll, as described with regard to
Figures 1 and 2) first descends a short distance, that is to say, on to the bar or

page_text: .
plater, whereby the downward pull of the weight is overcome, and the said bar
or plate is brought into the position shewn in dotted lines, whereby the projections
are brought into the path of the projection 8. Each revolution of the axle A then
causes the projection 8 to give the bar ra kick backwards, and ultimately the end
of the said bar r, being moved from underneath the weight j, the said weight makes
a second descent, as herein-after described. The first descent of the weight ; is
caused to sound the alarm, and the second descent causes the knife to fall and cut
the web, at a time after the alarm has been sounded which is regulated by the
distance to which the bar r extends in front of the weight j, and consequently the
number of revolutions which the axle A makes before the said bar is moved from
underneath the said weight.
Figures 6 and 7 shew an arrangement of holding catch suitable for use with this
last-described modification, and which is to be employed in place of the pin h, herein-
before described with reference to Figure 1. The cord i from the pulley D is
attached to one end of a lever, jointed to the guide g, and formed in two parts m', m³,
the upper part being so formed at its lower end that it is capable of turning to a
slight extent only upon the lower part. On the upper part m³ is a hook or pin n
for holding the cord k for retaining the bell in position, and on the lower part m² is
a projection p for supporting the knife f. The spring a sustains the lever in
position for holding the knife and the bell cord, as shewn in full lines in Figure 6.
On the breaking of the web, the descent of the weight j on to the bar r (Figure 5)
pulls the upper part m¹ back (as shewn in dotted lines, Figure 6), and releases the
bell cord k, thereby sounding the alarm. The upper part m' is now incapable of
further movement independent of the lower part, and consequently when the weight j
is released from the bar r for its second descent, the further pull exerted by the said
weight pulls outward the lower part m³, by which action the projection p is removed
from beneath the knife f, as shown in Figure 7, the said knife descending and
cutting the web.
In place of employing this last-described catch in combination with the arrange-
ment, Figure 5, the pin h may be employed, the loop of the bell cord being passed
over the end of the pin projecting outside the guide g (Figure 1). In this case the
descent of the weight j upon the bar would draw back the pin sufficiently to
release the bell cord. The second descent of the weight would withdraw the said
pin and release the knife. The knife f should be arranged, so that when held in
place by the pin h it is at a greater distance from the web at the front end than at
the back or jointed end, so that the knife will have sufficient fall to cut the
web.
Although I have described my Invention as applied to the drying cylinders of
paper-making machines, yet it will be readily understood that it may be applied to
give warning of the breaking of the web of paper when travelling over other rollers
or cylinders, and to travelling webs generally.
In some cases the weight of the broken web at any part of its journey may act
upon a sensitive lever or spring, and by so releasing a catch may thereby ring a
bell to give warning of the fracture of the web.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may be
used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein-before described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the essential nature of my Invention, but 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, the arrangement of apparatus or their
equivalent for sounding an alarm on the breaking of the web of paper or other
material passing over the drying or other cylinders or rollers of paper-making
machines, or analogous machines, and for cutting off the broken end, essentially as
herein-before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, whether the
said arrangements be used separately or in combination; and, when used in combi-

page_text: nation, whether the alarm is sounded and the cutting of the web is effected
simultaneously or at different times, by the use of the arrangement illustrated in
Figure 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Robertson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
JAMES ROBERTSON. (L.S.)