IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING SATCHEL BOTTOM PAPER BAGS
Year: 1885

page_text: Paper Bags.
I JOHN HENRY, JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR MAKING SATCHEL BOTTOM PAPER BAGS" which invention has been
communicated, to, me from abroad by the European Paper Bag Machine Company
of Boston Massachusetts in the United States of America and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-.
The machine in which these improvements are embodied comprises a diamond-
fold-forming mechanism in which the guide finger that turns back the upper ply of
the paper tube is combined with a "plate-knife-folder" which rotates or moves
continuously in one direction; and a mechanism for making the second and third
or final folds to complete the satchel bottom, in which a rotating jaw roll and two
spring and cam-controlled clamping jaws carried by the same, are combined with a
blade-carrying roll provided with two blades adapted to co-act the one with one
clamping jaw on the leading flap of the diamond fold, the other with 'the other
clamping jaw on the rear flap on the diamond fold.
The improvements about to be described reside in the combination and
arrangement of the rotary "plate -knife-folder" feed rolls and guide finger; in
the construction of the guide finger; in the construction and arrangement of the
rolls which press down the diamond fold and sever, the central connection between
the blank in rear and the blank in front; 'and in the construction and arrangement
of the wiper roll which presses down the third or final fold-these said improvements
while susceptible of separate application to satchel bottom paper bag machinery,
resulting as a whole in the production of an improved machine for the inanufacture
of such bags.
J
The improvements can best be explained and understood by reference to the
accompanying drawing in which Figure 1'is a longitudinal vertical central section
of so much of the improved 'machine 'as needed for the purpose of explanation.

page_text: Figure 2 is a plan of the same with the paste tauk and pasting rollers removed.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the mechanism whereby the knife for making the
final cut is operated once for every two revolutions of the roll which carries it.
Figure 5 is an axial section of the said roll showing the arrangement of the
knife or cutter.
It has not been deemed necessary to represent the tube forming and pasting
mechanism and the devices for making the main portion of the cross cuts therein
for the purpose of separating one blank from the other. These parts of the
machine are well known to those acquainted with the art to which this invention
relates and requires no explanation: It is sufficient to say that the formed and
pasted paper tube from which the bags are to be made, passes forward around a
former A the front end of which is shewn in the drawings. By the time the tube
reaches the rolls B. B' both of its plies have been cross cut except at the centre,
and in passing between the two rolls in question the knife carrying roll B¹
technically called the "lip cutter" makes a curved central cut 1 in the upper ply,
thus completely severing this ply, leaving the blank b in front connected to the
tube a in rear, by the central part 2 of the under ply only.
In advance of the rolls B. B₁ are the feed rolls C. C. which take hold of and
carry along the nearly severed, blank, b, and in advance of rolls C C, are the
rolls D. D, which carry on their hubs or axles sprocket wheels E. These wheels
are power driven and in conjunction with sprocket wheels F carry sprocket
chains G, on which are mounted at suitable intervals apart, a number of plate knife
folders H-there being three of such folders in the present instance. Intermediate
between these two pairs of sprocket wheels is the centrally located guide finger I
From
carried by suitable brackets or supports fixed to the frame of the machine.
the front end of the former A, extends, between the rolls C. C and D. D, a light
spring strip or finger i, whose free end projects some distance in advance of the
rolls D. D. The free end of this spring strip or finger, for the purpose of
distending or opening the mouth of the blank, stands normally up away from the
table J (between which and the guide finger the blank must pass) and is in such
proximity to the guide finger, that the upper ply of the distended mouth of the
blank will pass from the end of the opener strip i up against or over the guide
finger so as to be held back thereby. The parts are represented in this position in
figures and 2.
At this time, one of the plate knife folders H has been brought to a position in
which it meets the upper ply at the point where the central line of fold of the
diamond is to be formed, and, moving as it does in unison with the feed rolls, it
travels along with the blank, and, as it meets the guide finger, creases the ply
along said central line of fold tucks it under the guide, finger and travels along
with the blank, until, after emerging from beneath the guide finger, it rises and
quits the diamond folded blank, which by this time has its front end in the bite of
the rolls K K¹ in front, by which the diamond fold is pressed down.
In figures 1 and 2 b is the blank on which the diamond fold is about to be made
as above described, c is a blank on which the diamond fold has just been laid, and
which is just being left by its plàte knife folder H; and d is a diamond-folded and
pasted blank in process of being operated on by the second and third fold forming
mechanism.
The improvements on the diamond fold forming mechanism just described
reside more particularly in the arrangement of the plate-knife-folder, and in the
construction of the guide-finger.
The plate-knife-folder is so placed that in its descent it meets the still unlifted
portion of the upper ply, and in fact at the time of meeting is practically parallel
with, and moving in the same direction as, instead of at an angle to, the upper ply.
This is effected in-the present instance by carrying the sprocket chain on which
the plate-knife-folder is mounted back of the rolls D. Under this arrangement the
plate-knife-folder passes through-between the rolls D along with the blank and the

page_text: said rolls are properly recessed peripherally to accommodate the plate knife folder,
or series of such folders. The result of this arrangement of the plate-knife-folder is
that it operates smoothly, efficiently with great, precision and without in any way
damaging the paper.
The improvement in the guide finger consists in forming or constructing its
under face so that it shall exert a spring or yielding pressure upon the blank
passing between it and the table the object being to provide a means by which a
yielding tension may be exerted upon the diamond fold as it is being formed, so
that it shall be kept taut or stretched, and thus shall be brought into better shape.
This result is attained in the present instance by fitting to the finger a bent spring
strip which is fastened to the top of the guide finger, and thence passes around
the end or nose of the same to the underside, as shewn plainly in figure 1. The
strip does not fit closely to the guide finger; and has besides on its bent-under part
a bulging portion ¹ which acts as a pad or cushion to bear upon the diamond fold
of the blank passing beneath. The blank when in this position is being pulled
along by its front end or point, and the spring pad at the same time bears with
yielding force upon the diamond, putting, as the blank travels along, a tension on
the rear flap of the diamond which pulls into shape and smooths the fold, and
draws the lines of fold more evenly.
The blank after the formation of the diamond fold is in the arrangement of
mechanisu shown in the drawing still connected to the blank in front by the
central uncut portion of the under ply. To sever this uncut portion and at the
same time to lay the diamond fold, and to feed along the blank, the pair of
rolls K. K¹ herein before referred to are made use of. These rolls are made as small
as practicable in. order that their bite may be brought nearer to the path of
movement of the ascending plate knife folders than would be practicable were they
of the same size as the other rolls-the object being to cause them to take hold of
the point of the diamond folded blank as soon as possible. Inasmuch as all of the
rolls that run in contact with the paper must have the same or substantially the
same surface speed, and inasmuch as the rolls K. K' are half the size of the other
rolls it follows that they must be driven twice as fast-that is to say-must
revolve twice while the other rolls revolve once.
An arrangement of gearing for this purpose is shewn in Figure 3.-X being the
driving shaft, and Y the transmitting gearing and Z the special gears which drive
the two rolls K K'.
The. pair of rolls B. B' C. C. D. D etc. make one revolution for every blank and
consequently the rolls K K¹ make two revolutions for each blank. Roll K' carries
the knife which severs the central uncut portion of the under ply which connects
successive blanks, and consequently it is requisite that this knife should operate
once for every two revolutions of the roll. An arrangement for effecting this
result is shown in the drawings more particularly in Figures 4 and 5. The knife k
is carried on a stem which plays in a hole in the roll and is jointed or linked to a
lever m, pivoted at n in a recess in the roll and pressed by a spring o, in a direction
to hold the knife normally in the retracted position. The tail of the lever m'
projects from one end of the roll and carries a roller stud m¹ Upon the inner face
of the frame of the machine, in proximity to the tail of the lever m is a sliding
bar p supported by two headed pins which project from the frame of the machine
into and through two guide slots 8 in the bar. A spring t pulls this bar, in one
direction, and a set screw u projecting through an abutment von the frame (to
which the spring also is fastened) limits the extent to which the bar can be moved
by the spring. Upon the inner face of the bar is a cam or incline w which when'
the bar is pulled back by its spring as shewn in Figure 4 is out of the path of the
tail of lever m Upon the front end of the bar is a hook p¹, and upon the hub of
the under roll, L, of the pair of pasting rolls L L is a pin r which projects in the
path of the book pland once in every revolution of roll L engages the hook and
thereby draws forward the bar p (against the stress of its spring) into a position
in which the cam or incline w will be in-the path of the tail of lever mthe

page_text: movement of roll K being so timed that at this time the tail of lever m will strike
the incline and will thereby be depressed so as to project the knife k, and make the
desired cut in the under ply. By this time the roll L has rotated far enough to
disengage the pin 1 from the hook p¹ and the bar p is by its spring at once
returned to its normal position to there remain until the hook again is engaged by
the pin r¹.
.
From the rolls K K the blank passes along between the paste rolls L L which
lay the lines of paste upon the diamond fold in the usual way paste being
supplied to the paste rolls on the upper roll L from a paste trough L through the
intermediary of the customary paste delivery rolls L³ L And from the paste rolls
the pasted blank passes to and between the rolls M. M and their accessories by.
which the second and final folds are made.
The upper one M of these rolls carries two blades f f¹ and the under one M
carries two nippers g. g-both knives and nippers being controlled by the conjoint
action of cams and springs:
1
The parts are so positioned and timed that the blade f¹ tucks the leading point
or flap of the diamond into the bite of the Dipper g¹ on the proper line for the
second fold and the nipper g¹ takes hold of the part thus tucked into its bite,
and carries the same around under the first wiper roll N and then releases it, the
roll and wiper serving to wipe down the second fold thus made, and this folded
part passing out into the space between the first and second wiper rolls N. O. In
the position of parts shewn in Figure 1, the leading nipper has just released its
hold on the front fold which is being wiped down between the first wiper and the
roll M and the second blade f is in the act of tucking the rear flap together with
the underlying portion of the body of the blank into the bite of its coacting
nipper 9 By the continued movement of the rolls that part of the blank in front
of the point where the rear nipper takes hold is shunted or deflected off into the
space between the two wiper rolls N, O and the nipper g still holding the blank
travels under and past the lower or second wiper roll O which has the effect of
folding back and down upon the body of the bag in rear of the point where it is
held by the nipper, that part of the blank in front of that point thus in effect
doubling the bag upon itself and making a "blind fold" therein but at the same
time folding down the third or final fold and completing the satchel bottom..
Instead of making the wipers N. O mere idlers it is preferred to gear them to
run with positive motion as indicated in Figure 3 at Z Z the gearing being such
that they move at the same peripheral speed with their coacting roll M. The
rollers N. O have also spring bearings as shown in Figure 3 so that they may yield
when the blank is passing between them.
It has been found in practice that if the pressure of the final or second wiper O
be continuous upon the bag the wiper is apt in passing over a certain portion of the
folded parts to pucker and crease them the portion referred to is the second fold of
the satchel bottom the one made first by the conjoint action of the nipper gl
blade fand wiper N which by the doubling over of the bag upon itself in the
operation of making the final fold is brought to the rear so as to be the last part of
the satchel bottom that passes between the second wiper O and the roll M. To
prevent the injurious action of the second wiper upon this portion of the bag the
ends of the said wiper are provided with cam ledges or flanges h so positioned that
when the portion of the bag referred to is passing between said wiper and the
roll M the cam ledges or flanges h will come against the face of roll M¹ and
thus lift or press back the wiper away from the roll in this way relieving the bag
of undue pressure..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I'declare that what
I claim is
1 TL m
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page_text: knife folder rotating or moving continuously in one direction and arranged to meet
the upper ply at a point where its plane of motion is substantially parallel with the
face of the ply substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.
Second. The combination with the guide finger the opener for the mouth of the
blank, and the rolls in advance of which the mouth of the blank is opened of a
plate knife folder continuously moving or rotating in one direction and arranged
substantially as described to travel back of said rolls and thence to pass forward
between them along with the blank substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before set forth.
Third. The combination of the guide finger, the spring-opener the rolls D. F the
plate-knife-folders and the chains or bands carrying the same-these members
being arranged together for joint operation substantially as herein before set forth.
Fourth. The guide-finger formed or provided on. its underface with a spring or
yielding pressure pad substantially as and for the purposes herein before set forth.
Fifth. The combination with the diamond fold forming mechanism of the knife
roll K' and its fellow roll the reciprocating knife carried by the said knife roll, the
cam for operating the said knife and means substantially as described for moving
the said cam into and out of operative position relatively to said knife, at the times
and in the manner substantially as set forth.
Sixth. The combination of the diamond fold mechanism, the paste rolls, the knife
roll and its fellow roll located between the paste rolls and the diamond fold
mechanism and made half the size of the paste rolls, mechanism substantially as
described for rotating both pairs of rolls at the same peripheral speed, the cam for
operating said knife and means substantially as described for moving the cam
into and out of operative position relatively to the knife at the times and in the
manner substantially as herein before set forth.
Seventh. The combination with the blade and nipper carrying rolls for making
the second and third folds of the power driven wiper roll O for laying the final fold
supported in spring or yielding bearings and rotated at the same peripheral speed
with the blade and nipper carrying rolls and provided with cam ledges or flanges
which act to intermittently move it outwardly from the said rolls at the time and
in the manner substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
Dated thin twenty fifth dove of Autot 1885