AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BALE FASTENING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BALE FASTENING."
-A communication from abroad by Hazard Knowles, of New York City,
and Henry Anwyl Jones, of Brooklyn, both in the State of New York,
United States of America.
Sealed the 11th January 1867, and dated the 17th August 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th August 1866.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BALE FASTENING,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide an efficient fastening for the ends
of straps or bands of hoop iron employed in binding bales of cotton, hay, or
other substances. The chief requirement in a fastening of this character is
to couple or connect the ends of the straps or bands securely with expedition.
This object it is now proposed to effect by simply inserting the ends of the
strap within the coupling or clasp, and so that without punching holes,
riveting, or otherwise weakening the strap the ends thereof shall be firmly

page_text: gripped and held to resist any force which may be exerted to draw them
asunder after the ends are fastened. The improved fastening consists in a
flat sleeve coupling or collar with a wedge-shaped or taper mortice running
through it, so that one end of the band or strap to be secured may be inserted
readily in the mortice in one direction, and the other end of the strap may be
inserted in the opposite direction. Within the mortice or opening is placed a
small roller, which is either enclosed permanently or introduced when the
ends of the strap or band have been inserted; this roller lies transversely of
the mortice, and its action is such that when force is exerted upon the strap
to draw the ends apart the friction put on the roller will cause it to roll
toward the smaller end of the mortice, and thereby bind and grip the straps
together and against the opposite face of the mortice by a pressure increasing
in proportion to the force exerted to draw the ends apart.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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
"AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BALE FASTENING," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their bands 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 Seal Patent

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 aud by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to fasten the end or ends of straps or bands
of hoop iron employed in binding bales of cotton, hay, or other substances.
The chief requirement in a fastening of this character is to couple or connect
the ends of the straps or bands securely with expedition. This object it is
now proposed to effect by simply inserting the ends of the strap within the
coupling or clasp, and so that without punching holes, rivetting, or otherwise
weakening the strap the ends thereof shall be firmly gripped and held to
resist any force which may be exerted to draw them asunder after the ends
are fastened. The improved fastening consists in a flat sleeve coupling or
collar with a wedge-shaped or taper mortice running through it, so that one
end of the band or strap to be secured may be inserted readily in the mortise
in one direction, and the other end of the stap may be inserted in the opposite
direction. Within the mortise or opening is placed a small roller, which is
either inclosed permanently or introduced when the ends of the strap or band
have been inserted; this roller lies: transversely of the mortice, and its action
is such that when force is exerted upon the strap to draw the ends apart the
friction put on the roller will cause it to roll toward the smaller end of the
mortice, and thereby bind and grip the strap ends together and against
the opposite face of the mortice by a pressure increasing in proportion to the
force exerted to draw the ends apart.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a plan view of the coupling
as connected with a strap or straps for securing the ends; Fig. 2 is a section
in the plane of the line a, a, Fig. 3, showing the interior of the mortise of the
coupling and the binding roller in position within it, and against the ends of the
straps; Fig. 3 is a section in the plane of the line y, y, Fig. 1, showing
the same parts; Fig. 4 represents a bale of cotton bound with straps secured
at the ends by the coupling clasp; Figs. 5 and 6 represent a coupling of
modified construction.. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding.
parts.
A, Fig. 4, represents a bale, and a, a, the iron bands or straps, such as are
usually employed for hooping bales of cotton, the ends of the straps being
secured by the metal sleeve coupling B. The coupling B is formed with a

page_text: mortise 6, Figures 2 and 3, running through it from end to end, wider at one
end than the other, so as to form a regular but slight taper in the mortice flat-
wise, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. The mortice should be a little wider than the
strap to admit of the ready insertion of the ends of the strap a, and, as repre-
sented, it should be wedge-shaped or tapering flatwise in the direction of the
length of the strap, and of such depth as to receive freely the two ends of the
strap lapped on each other, together with a cylindrical metal roller c, at or
toward the butt end of the mortice, but the narrower end of the mortice
should measure less in depth than the diameter of the roller added to the
thickness of the two ends of the strap when lapped on each other. The roller c
is without journals and plays loosely in the mortice at the ends, resting on the
outer surface of the strap lying uppermost, and between it and the upper
inclined surface of the mortice. The coupling may be modified in its con-
struction and formed either with a mortice with flat sides from end to end, as
represented in Figures 2 and 3, for the purpose of employing a separate roller,
which is to be dropped into the coupling in the upper part of the mortice
when the ends of the straps are put together to be secured, and one end of the
strap may be bent or turned over flat on the outside at the lower or narrower
end of the mortice to attach the coupling to the strap before baling, as shown
in Fig. 3; or instead of a coupling with a flat wedge-shaped mortice and an
independent or separate roller for it the roller may be made loose within the
mortice, as shown at d, Figures 5 and 6, and prevented from dropping out by
forming a flanch or lip e projecting inward from the upper surface of the
broader end of the mortice; both methods are equally effective fastenings.
In applying this coupling to a bale of cotton, for example, while under
pressure after bending the strap a around the bale, the end a¹ being inserted
or already secured in the mortice of the coupling B, the other end a" is
juserted in the smaller end of the mortise, and passed through the coupling
as far as may be necessary and until the strap is tight, and then the roller c,
Fig. 3, is dropped into the mortice in the position already described, when as
will be readily perceived the ends will be firmly fastened, and the strap
secured by the friction of the strap on the periphery of the roller, which tends
toward the smaller end of the mortice and wedges in between the outer
surface of the strap and the surface of the mortice on the upper side of the
coupling. The ends of the strap cannot be drawn out of the coupling, as the
greater the force applied to draw them apart the more the roller becomes
wedged into the mortice, and the more firmly it grips the ends of the strap
together and against the lower side of the mortice. In this way it will be
seen that bales and other packages can be strapped or hooped with great

page_text: expedition, and by means which will clamp the ends of the strap as firmly if
not more firmly and securely than by any other known mode, and without
reducing the strength of the straps or the clamping sleeve and roller, so that
the several parts can if desired be used again. When the force exerted to
wedge the roller in the mortice is relaxed the ends of the straps may be easily
released. It is obvious that the coupling will be equally operative, whether
the ends of a strap are both slipped loosely into the mortice so as to lap on
whether one end is fastened as described and the other end is
the bale is hooped.
each other,
inserted wh
Having
Construction
set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Bale Fastening," as communicated to me from abroad, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, securing
metal bands or straps by means of a loose roller acting in combination with
the wedge-shaped mortice of the metal sleeve which receives the strap,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane,
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)