IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE CUTTING OF PAPER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER APPARATUS REQUIRING CHANGES OF SPEED."
Year: 1872

page_text: . LETTERS PATENT to George. Tidcombe, the younger, of the Firm of
George Tidcombe and Son, Engineers, of Watford, in the County
of Herts, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE
CUTTING OF PAPER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER
APPARATUS REQUIRING CHANGES OF SPEED."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tidcombe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th April 1872.
I, GEORGE TIDCOMBE, the younger, of the Firm of George Tidcombe
and Son, Engineers, of Watford, in the County of Herts, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR THE CUTTING OF PAPER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER
APPARATUS REQUIRING CHANGES OF SPEED," to be as follows:-
Paper produced by machinery in continuous lengths is cut by cutting
apparatus longitudinally so as to divide the width into narrower breadths,
and it is also cut transversely so as thereby to obtain sheets, and in order
to obtain changes of the sizes of the sheets it is customary to vary the.

page_text: speed of the transverse cutters in relation to the speed given to the
paper, and these changes of speed are ordinarily effected by the use of a
different set of what are commonly called "change wheels," aided in
some cases also by other mechanical contrivances for each size of sheet
to be cut by the transverse cutters, operations which are inconvenient,
limited in their range, and involve considerable loss of time in effecting
them.
The object of my Invention is to remedy this evil by the use of
driving pullies or drums the outer peripheries of which or those surfaces
of them to receive the driving strap are formed in segments capable of
movement to and from the axes thereof, such expanding pullies or
drums acting in pairs and capable of being operated, so that by the
expansion of the one the contraction of the operating surface of the
other is simultaneously effected in either direction. The segments of
these pullies or drums are moved outwards from their axes by wedge
pieces thereon acted upon by other wedges on the shafts operated by
screws, and they are moved inwards by spring pressure on the withdrawal
of the wedges. These pullies may be employed singly or combined.
In order to produce opposite effects on each of a pair of these expanding
pullies or drums the screw of the one pulley or drum is formed
with a "right hand " thread and that of the other with a "left hand"
thread, and the two screws are connected together by gear as chains or
bands and pullies.
Expanding and contracting pulleys or drums thus operated are also
applicable for effecting changes of speed in other apparatus requiring:
to be driven at different velocities.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Tidcombe in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, GEORGE 30
TIDCOMBE, the younger, of the Firm of George Tidcombe and Son,
Engineers, of Watford, in the County of Herts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Tidcombe, Her special licence that
I, the said George Tidcombe, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
5.or such others as I, the said George Tidcombe, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 APParatus
FOR THE CUTTING OF PAPER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER
APPARATUS REQUIRING CHANGES OF SPEED," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Tidcombe, 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 Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tidcombe, 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 and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
,
Paper produced by machinery in continuous lengths is cut by cutting
apparatus longitudinally so as to divide the width into narrower
breadths, and it is also cut transversely so as thereby to obtain sheets
and in order to obtain changes of the sizes of the sheets it is customary
to vary the speed of the transverse cutters in relation to the speed given
to the paper, or to vary the speed of the paper in relation to that of
the cutters, and these changes of speed are ordinarily effected by the
use of a different set of what are commonly called "change wheels,"
aided in some cases also by other mechanical contrivances for each size of
sheet to be cut by the transverse cutters, operations which are incon-
venient, limited in their range, and involve considerable loss of time in
effecting them.
The object of my Invention is to remedy this evil by the use of
driving pullies or drums the outer peripheries of which or those surfaces
of them to receive the driving strap are formed in segments capable of

page_text: י
plates es which are applied to fins e¹ which are held with capability of
radial movement in the slots e³ formed radially in the plates e¹, and these
fins e' are formed on their inner surfaces or those surfaces of them next
their axes inclined or wedge shaped, and rest on correspondingly inclined
or wedge-shaped surfaces f affixed to a boss f¹, which is capable of
revolving freely on the axis to which it is applied, a or c, as the case
may be. These bosses f¹ are each formed with necks to receive pins
passed into them from a collar g, and each collar 9 forms part of a
socket g on which is formed a screw thread, and this screw thread on
one socket is what is called a "right-hand" thread, whilst that to the
other is a "left-hand" thread, and each of these screw threads is received
into a corresponding screw thread formed in the interior of a socket h
which is capable of revolving on its axis a or c, but is held in correct
relative position so as not to move endwise on that axis by a neck h¹
formed thereon being taken into by studs projecting therein from a
socket d. The two screw sockets 9 are prevented from turning on their
axes a or c by means of the connecting rod i, which is connected at its
opposite ends by pin joints to those sockets, and this connecting rod i
is formed in two parts, one of which has connected to it the socket 2² which
receives and admits of the sliding therein of the end of the other part
of that connecting rod i. By this means although the screw sockets g
are prevented from turning on their respective axes they are capable
of slight endway movement thereon as acted upon by the screw sockets h,
whilst the connecting rod i is also capable of slight variation in its length
to compensate for such variation in the relative positions of the two
screw sockets g. Thus it will be seen that by the movement of either
of the series of wedge-shaped pieces towards the plates e¹ the wedge-
shaped pieces e affixed to the segments e³ will be moved outwards
expanding the periphery or operating surface of that pulley, on the
contrary by the movement of such series of wedge pieces fin the opposite
direction out from those plates e¹ the wedge formed plates or fins e* of
the segments e³ will be acted upon by their springs e to cause them
to follow the surfaces of the wedges f, and thereby cause a contraction
of the periphery or operating surface of the pulley. The operating
surfaces of the two pulleys e, e, are connected together to communicate
motion from the axis a to the axis c by a belt in the ordinary way.
The movements of the parts of each pulley or drum are effected

page_text: of the two axes a and c in the following manner :-Upon one of sockets /
is applied the hand wheel h², by which that socket h may be caused to
revolve on its axis c when desired and thereby actuate the screw socket
g in one or the other direction 'endways on the axis c, and upon this
socket h is also applied the pulley h³, which by a chain or other suitable
band j acts upon a similar pulley wheel h* applied to the other socket h,
and to prevent rotary movement of these sockets in the direction of
rotation of the axes a, c, except when desired there is formed on or
applied to the hand wheel h² a ratchet wheel h³, the teeth of which are
taken into by a suitable catch or clawker supported by and so as to turn
on a fixed stud from a stationary bearing.
It will thus be readily understood that expanding and contracting
pulleys or drums thus operated are also applicable for effecting changes
of speed to axes in other apparatus than paper cutting machinery in
which axes are required to be driven at different velocities.
Having thus described my Invention, and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise arrangements of parts as shewn and
described, as the same may be varied without departing from the peculiar
character of my Invention; but what I do claim is, the arranging and
combining parts whereby the operating surfaces or peripherics of drums
or pulleys may be varied in diameter to effect changes of speed by the
use of wedge-shaped pieces acting substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tidcombe, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-two.