An Improved Machine for Folding Paper Bags and the like having Square Bottoms.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1897-Accepted, 12th Feb, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Folding Paper Bags and the like having
Square Bottoms.
[A communication by FRIEDRICH HESSER, of 61, Ludwigstrasse, Cannstatt, in the
Empire of Germany, Machine Maker.]
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, 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 has for its object a machine for folding square-bottomed paper bags
and the like so that they may be conveniently piled up (packed) and transported.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a front view of the machine,
Figure 2 is a rear view;
Figure 3 is a side view;
Figure 4 another view of the machine;
Figure 5 a partial section on the line x x of Figure 1;
Figure 6 a section on a larger scale on the line x x of Figure 4;
Figure 7 a view of the carriages and knives;
Figure 8 a view of the stamp acting on the bag;
Figure 9 a perspective view of a bag;
Figure 10 a view of a creased bag;
Figure 11 a view of same further folded and
Figure 12 an elevation of the collapsed bag.
In order to carry out the object of the invention, the machine has two vertical
plates A moved horizontally against one another, which plates act in conjunction with
a reciprocating presser B moving in the same direction and also with knives or
blades C moving at right angles to the direction of the first named parts. Finally
a stamp D descends on the upwardly directed bottom of the paper bag so that the
latter attacked in two horizontal directions and a vertical direction is folded and
brought from the shape shown in Figure 9 into that shown in Figure 12, in which
shape the bags can then be conveniently packed in or against one another as flat
bodies. The whole mechanism of the machine only takes movement however at the
desired moment from a shaft D¹ and its cam and eccentric discs 2 to 6 as shown in
Figure 5.
A belt pulley E constantly rotated from any suitable source of power is mounted
freely revolubly on the shaft D¹, which pulley can however be coupled with the said
shaft D by the pressing on of a friction clutch F which is effected at the desired
D037

page_text: moment by depressing a foot lever f mounted on a rock shaft f¹ the movement being
transmitted by a lever fand links to a forked lever f* engaging in a switch collar fo
on the clutch. The friction coupling may be of any suitable form of construction.
In the present instance it has the form of a wheel, the felly F¹ of which is composed
of several parts which are flexibly connected with the nave F and lie within the rim
of the belt pulley E.. If therefore the nave F be moved in the direction of the arrow,
Figure 5, the parts F' of the felly bear against the belt pulley spokes and are thereby
pressed radially apart and against the rim E. A hand wheel e is also keyed on the
shaft D in order to allow of the latter being intermittently operated by hand.
The coupling herein before described of the shaft D' is effected after a paper bag or
the like Z, Figure 9, has been placed over the plates A standing at a suitable distance
apart.
As may be seen in Figure 6 the bag or the like owing to adjustable stops a stands
with its bottom a little higher than the upper edges of the plates A to an extent
approximately equal to the diameter of the bag or the like. The plates A and stops a
are mounted on carriages a¹ horizontally guided in the working table of the machine
frame, with which carriages an elbow lever A2 pivotting on a shaft A¹ (Figures 1, 2
and 3) engages by means of a link A3 at one end and at the other end by means of an
adjustable link a² and an elbow lever at pivotting on a shaft a³. Pressers B rest on
carriages which are moved in a similar manner to the carriages a¹, but by means
of elbow levers B2 and the parts B3, 62, 64 and 65. The elbow levers A2 and B² are
exposed to the action of cam discs 2 and 3 against which their rollers A and B are
pressed by means of springs A and B, Figure 4.
Blades C are mounted on carriages c Figures 1, 4, and 7 moving towards and away
from one another, the track of said carriages standing at an angle of 90° to that of
the carriages a¹ and 6¹. The carriages c are compulsorily interconnected by means
of links and levers c¹ c² 4 C1 C2 among which the lever c² pivots on a shaft c3 and the
lever C¹ on a shaft c5, and are acted on by a cam disc 4, a roller arm, C³ mounted on
the shaft c3 being kept pressed against the cam dise by means of a spring C+ constantly
tending to rotate the shaft c³. The last of the parts acting on the bag Z, viz. the
stamp D, is guided vertically by its shaft D2, Figures 1, 2, 3 & 8 in the separate
standards D³ attached to the work table of the machine. The shaft or rod D² engages
with its upper end in the slot of a two armed lever D' moved from an eccentric 5 by
a rod D. Two flaps d' pivotting on spindles d are arranged on the lower or working
surface of the stamp D, Figure 8, which flaps are either pressed against the stamp by
means of springs d³ attached to arms d² on the same spindles d, Figure 8, or are
held away from said stamp, Figure 3. The latter is always the case when the stamp
approaches its highest position as then the levers d² encounter contact screws d*,
Figure 2, whilst the former takes place always at the moment when the stamp reaches
its lowest position until contact screws d" which stand in proximity to the blades C
(see also Figure 7) encounter the levers d² from the opposite side, as did previously
the screws d¹.
The machine works as follows:-
After the bag or the like which is to be folded has been fitted over the plates A
in the manner shown in Figures 6 and 7, the treadle f is depressed by the foot and
thereby the machine is set in action which commences with a separation of the
plates A so that all the 4 walls of the bag are drawn taut and it receives the shape
shown in Figure 9. When this has taken place the pressers B blades C and the
stamp D are moved simultaneously onto the bag whilst the moment the parts B C and D
encounter the bag, the plates A, again move together with the same speed as at first
and the flaps d¹ of the stamp D after the arms d² have encountered the screws do
engage the bottom of the bag laterally and press it on the still further descending
stamp.
In this manner the blades C produce the ridges or longitudinal folds & Figures 10
and 11 in two opposite sides of the bag and then in combination with the stamp D
acting from above and its flaps d'acting laterally produce the horizontal folds 2, in
the other two sides so that the bag finally receives the form shown in Figure 11 and

page_text: lying with its flat compressed bottom end 22 between the flaps d' and the stamp D
it is forced suddenly upwards by the latter and then released and thrown by an
ejector G into a collecting channel H. from which it falls into a suitable receiving
box. The bag z is removed from the latter and its folded bottom Z' laid down flat
in the manner shown in Figure 12, and the bags are stored in piles or packed. The
ejector G is mounted on an arm G¹ keyed on a spring shaft G2 which receives at the
correct moment such an oscillation by means of its roller arm G³ travelling on a
cam disc 6, that the bar ( encounters the bag Z hanging loosely on the stamp D.
After the treadle ƒ has been released a weight F2 draws the coupling F again
away from the disc E, the machine stops and is ready to repeat the action herein-
before described, after a new bag has been placed on the plates A.
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 :-
1. A machine for folding paper bags and the like comprising two plates (A)
moving horizontally to and from each other with pressers (B) belonging thereto also
moving in a similar way; two blades (C) also moving to and fro horizontally but at
an angle of 90° to the said plates; and finally a stamp (D) descending vertically onto
the plates (A): whereby after the bag (Z) to be folded has been fitted with its bottom
upwards over the plates (A), the latter move apart, draw the bag taut and grip it
between them and the pressers (B) and then together with these pressers and the
blades (C) move towards the central longitudinal axis of the bag, whilst the stamp (D)
simultaneously descends in this longitudinal axis, by which means the bag is folded
in (by the blades C) on two opposite sides, and the bottom of the bag then flattened
(by the stamp D) so that the bottom may be laid sideways flat on the bag and thus
the latter be given a flat level form to allow of its being easily piled and packed
substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
2. A machine such as hereinbefore described in which the stamp (D) is provided
with spring flaps (d¹) which at the moment in which the stamp comes in contact
with the bottom of the bag spring laterally under this bag bottom and thereby fold
in the part of the bag which projects over the plates (A) and the blades (C) and
press it with its bottom against the stamp (D) after which the bag held by these
flaps is carried with the again upwardly rising stamp and is thereby drawn upwards
between the plates (A), blades (C) and pressers (B) in order to be conveyed in front
of an ejector (G) and to be pushed out by the latter from between the flaps (d) and
thrown into a collecting channel (H), substantially as described.
3. A machine such as hereinbefore described in which the flaps (d¹) are keyed
together with arms (d²) on a common shaft (d) and in which contacts or stops
(d and d) are arranged at both ends of the stroke of the stamp (D) lying in the
track of said arms (d2), so that by the arms (d2) encountering the stops (d* and d³)
the flaps d' are closed at the end of the downward movement of the stamp (D) but
are opened at the end of the upward movement of same, substantially as described.
4. A machine such as herein before described in which the ejector consists of a
bar (G) which is jerked horizontally by means of any suitable mechanism in front of
and against the bag Z hanging on the stamp (D) substantially as described.
5. The general construction and combination of parts taken as a whole, forming
the improved machine for folding paper bags and the like having square bottoms.
Dated this 12th day of October 1897.