CERTAIN MACHINE FOR AN IMPROVED MODE OF CUTTING PAPER
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
NEWMAN FOURDRINIER, of Hanley, in the Parish of Stoke-upon-Trent, in the
County of Stafford, Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of June, in the first year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward
Newman Fourdrinier, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Edward Newman Fourdrinier, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Newman Fourdrinier, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of a
"CERTAIN MACHINE FOR AN IMPROVED MODE OF CUTTING PAPER;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Edward Newman
Fourdrinier, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being had thereunto, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE that in compliance with the said proviso. I. the said

page_text: Edward Newman Fourdrinier, do hereby declare that the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is performed, is particularly
described and ascertained by the following description thereof (reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon), that is to say:-
My Invention consists in a combination or arrangement of apparatus or
machinery, producing a machine by which an improved mode of conveying
lengths of paper from the reel to receive the transverse cut is obtained, and at
the same time the machine is capable by a simple adjustment to cut the
lengths of paper into sheets of the required sizes. Paper-making machines
are generally constructed to make the lengths of paper of a sufficient width
that when severed by longitudinal cuts they will each form one, two, or more
lengths of paper ready to be divided by transverse cuts into sheets. And my
Invention is a machine for conducting such lengths of paper, either single or
more than one (placed one on the other), to receive the transverse cut as here-
after fully described; and although I have not described any of the modes of
cutting paper longitudinally, my machine is capable of having any of the
known methods attached to it.
Sheet 1 of the Drawings represents my machine in various Figures.
Figure 1 is a view taken on one side, and Figure 2 a view on the reverse side,
Figure 3 a longitudinal section of the machine, the same letters referring to
similar parts in all three Figures, as also in the Figures hercin-after referred
to. a, a, a, a, are four reels, each having one length of paper wound round
it, and resting on bearings in the framework b, b, b. These reels have a
friction cord and weight, or the same effect may be produced by dancing
rollers to prevent their turning too freely as the paper is drawn into the
machine, and these lengths of paper being placed one over the other receive
the transverse cut at the same time. c, c, c, is an endless web of cloth, felting,
or other suitable fabric passed over rollers d', d, d, d', and is kept in close
contact with the under side of the drum 1, 1, between the rollers d', and d.
The lengths of paper to be operated upon are passed between the drum 7, and
the endless web c, as shewn in the Drawings, and on motion being given to the
machine by a band or strap, or by geering communicated from any first mover
to a drum fixed on the driving shaft f, the paper will be drawn or fed into the
machine. And it being necessary that the motion of the paper should be
stopped during the time the transverse cut is taking place, such stoppage is
produced as follows:-On the shaft there is fixed a graduated plate having a
dovetailed groove, and into which groove the piece i slides, and is retained
in any position by an adjusting screw which produces an expanding crank,

page_text: which is connected by its rod j to the oscillating segment rack ke (suspended
from its fulcrum above) taking into the toothed wheel 1, which turns loosely
upon the axle of the drum c, upon this toothed wheel there is mounted the
arms m, m, carrying one or more pulls at n, which take into the teeth of the
ratchet wheel o, o, fixed upon the axle of the drum c; as the crank h revolves
in the direction of the arrows, it will cause; the segment. rack k to move back-
wards and forwards, and when the rack moves towards the crank, it will cause
the drum to revolve by the palls n taking into the teeth of the ratchet wheel o,
and consequently draw, by the friction of the drum and the endless web or cloth
from off the reels into the machine, so much paper as is required to be cut off;
and when the segment is receding from the crank, and during which time the
knife is cutting, the palls n will slip over the teeth of the ratchet or toothed
wheel o, and the drum c will be stopped. It may here be stated that as the
sliding piece i of the crank will approach nearer to or further from the shaft f.
the length of motion through which the crank passes will be increased or
diminished, and the drum will be by that means made to perform more or less
of a revolution at one time, and consequently draw into the machine more or
less of the paper to be cut off transeversely. The grove in the plate g may be
formed by fixing two guide pieces p, p, between which the slider i of the
crank moves; upon one of these guide pieces p is engraved or graduated scales
of the different lengths of sheets of paper, by which the machine may be regu-
lated and adjusted to cut the size required. On the machine being required to
cut a particular sized sheet, the index on the pin or stud h of the crank is to bo
brought to the proper division, and the slider i fastened to the plate g by tho
adjusting screw, when the machine may be set to work, and will continue to
cut the paper to that size. The length of paper is delivered from the endless
web c, and drum e, under the small pressing roller g, which is made to
revolve by a toothed wheel on the end of the axle of the roller d', taking into
a pinion on the end of its own axis, seen best in Figure 2; from these rollers
the paper is carried forward over the bed of the fixed blade (seen best in
Figure 3), and when the paper has been brought up by the part revolution of
the drum e to receive the transverse cut, the wiper or lifter s, on the shaft f
will come into contact with the tail pieces or ends of the levers t, t, one on each
side of the machine, turning on the roller or axis, running from side to side
of the machine; and as the lifter s revolves, it will raise the tail end of
the lever, depressing the other end, and also the knife u, u, which is fixed upon it,
and thereby cut off the paper. But before the knife u begins to operate, the fall
board v will be allowed to descend by its own gravity, and press the paper upon
the bed during the time the kuife is cutting. This fall board is suspended by cords

page_text: or straps passed over pullies w, w, from the rod y, fixed upon the cross bar of
the lever. As soon as the lifter has passed away from the tail of the lever t,
the weight suspended from it will cause the knife and fall board to be drawn
up out of the way of the next sheets of paper, which will be brought forward
immediately on the movement of the drum e. The knife or cutter u is not
placed parallel to its axis, but at an angle thereto, and is curved spirally to
bring the edge to cut against the edge of the fixed blade r, there being an
angle at all times formed by the edges of the blades. The knife or cutter u need
not be fixed upon the ends of the levers, but may be placed between two guide
pieces, and have the necessary motion given to it by the levers or otherwise, as
will be hercin-after described. Sheet 2 of the Drawing shews a slight varia-
tion of the fixing of the connecting rod j, which is not connected directly to the
rack k, but to a projecting lever proceeding from the fulcrum; and in this
Drawing I have only shown one reel placed in the machine in order to show
that the machine is capable of receiving one or more reels, and I have also
shewn these Figures to represent how the knife may be guided between two
guide pieces, in place of being placed at an angle to its axis, as before de-
scribed; but in every other particular the machine is the same, and the same
letters of reference indicate similar parts, and I have only attached these
Figures to shew that my machine may be slightly varied without departing
from my Invention. The knife, instead of being fixed on the ends of the levers
t, t, is placed between two guide pieces c, c, and has holes or slots made in it
through which the ends of the levers t, t, project, and consequently raise and
depress the knife as they move up and down; or the knife may be forced down
to cut the paper by depressing pieces, and raising by a counterbalance weight, or
other methods of actuating the knife for cutting crossways may be connected
to my machine; and I would observe that the edge of the cutting knife and
the edge of the fixed blade should at all times produce an angle.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
as my Invention any parts which may have been before used in paper-cutting
machines. But I do claim as my Invention the particular mode of leading,
drawing, or feeding into the machine the length or lengths of paper to be operated
upon by means of the crank and its connecting rod, the oscillating segment
rack and its toothed wheel and palls, with the ratchet or toothed wheel drum
and endless web, as herein described; and also the manner or mode of adjusting
the length of the crank, and consequently tho length of the sheet of paper
intended to be cut off, by the peculiar construction of the crank, plank guides;
adjustable pin or stud, and slider, as also herein-before particularly explained;

page_text: and, lastly, the general arrangement, combination, and construction of the parts
of the machine, as herein described, forming a machine for an improved mode
of cutting paper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Newman Fourdrinier have
hereunto set my hand and seal this Twentieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.