AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING PAPER HANGINGS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Pirie and Alexander Croom, of Dundee,
in the County of Forfar, North Britain, for the Invention of "AN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Pirie and
Alexander Croom at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents;
with their Petition, on the 26th September 1870.
We, DAVID PIRIE and ALEXANDER CROOM, of Dundee, in the County
of Forfar, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING PAPER HANGINGS," to be
as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the cutting of the edges of paper
hangings in a neat and expeditious manner, and the improved machine
is also advantageously applicable for dividing the paper hangings into
narrow widths or borders.
The Invention consists in combining adjustable continuously acting
revolving cutters with suitable parts for feeding the long lengths of

page_text: paper into and passing them through the machine; and also comprises
mechanism for winding or rolling up the cut paper. The cutters are
in the form of discs or annular discs, and act in pairs somewhat like
scissors; they are fixed on two parallel shafts which are suitably driven,
and they are fixed in connection with rollers or cylinders covered with
felt or similar yielding material, which nip the paper between them, and
draw it through without injuring its printed surface. When two pairs
of cutters are provided for cutting both edges of the paper the felted
rollers are in separate lengths fixed to each cutter, and of such sizes as
when meeting in the middle to bring the cutters ncar enough together
for the narrowest width of paper, whilst the cutters and rollers are moved
outwards from each other for wider widths being fixed by screws in any
required position. For very narrow widths the cutters with their rollers
or some of them may be taken off the spindles, and put on in reversed
positions so as to be closer together. The uncut roll of paper is put
into a trough suspended by links which keep the roll of paper parallel
to the cutter spindles whilst allowing of its lateral movement by hand
in guiding it, so as to make the edges of the pattern pass correctly
between the cutters. After passing the cutters the paper passes round
one roller, or between a pair, and thence upon a split rod or spindle
arranged to withdraw easily when a length of paper is entirely rolled
up; or the paper may be delivered without being rolled up.
More than two pairs of cutters may be arranged to act simultaneously
on one piece of paper for cutting borders, for example; or the machine
may be arranged for acting on two or more pieces at once.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Pirie and Alexander Croom in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 25th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DAVID
PIRIE and ALEXANDER CROOM, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, 3
North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-

page_text: fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said David Pirie and Alexander Croom, Her
special licence, that we, the said David Pirie and Alexander Croom,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said David Pirio and Alexander Croom, our 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 MACHINE FOR CUTTING
PAPER HANGINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
David Pirie and Alexander Croom, our executors. or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 we, the said David Pirie and Alexander Croom,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement in writing, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Our said Invention has for its object the cutting of the edges of paper
hangings in a neat and expeditious manner, and our improved machine
is also advantageously applicable for dividing the paper hangings into
narrow widths or "borders."
Our Invention consists in combining adjustable continuously acting
revolving cutters with suitable parts for feeding or guiding the long
lengths of paper into and passing them through the machine, and also
comprises mechanism for winding or rolling up the cut paper.
And in order that our said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, we hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing.
a practically successful modification of our improved machine.
Figure 1, on the Sheet of Drawings, is a plan of the machine; and
Figure 2 is an elevation of the entering end; whilst Figure 3 is a
longitudinal vertical section, corresponding to a vertical line on the plan

page_text: Figure 1. The framing of the machine consists of two parallel cast-iron
side frames 1, 2, connected by tie rods 3, and designed to be set or fixed
upon a table or framing to place it at a convenient height. The cutters
are of steel and in the form of discs or annular discs 4, 5, and act in
pairs somewhat like scissors. They are fixed on two parallel shafts 6, 7,
mounted in bearings in the side frames 1, 2, and are driven by means
of a handle on a wheel 8 fixed on the lower shaft 7. The shafts 6, 7,
are formed with grooves, and the cutting discs 4, 5, which can be
adjusted along them to suit different widths of paper, are, when so
adjusted, fixed by screws passing through their bosses into these grooves.
The bosses of the lower cutting discs 5 are each made in two pieces,
between which a rubber washer a or other spring is interposed, so as to
cause the discs 5 to bear against the upper discs 4 with an elastic
pressure, the parts of the bosses fixed to the shaft being the inner
parts. We proposed to employ rollers or cylinders covered with felt,
and extending between the cutters 4, 5, to support the paper passing
through, but we find it quite sufficient and simpler to fix a pair of plain
narrow metal nipping rollers 9, 10, on the middles of the shafts 6, 7.
Rollers (9, 10,) covered with felt or other yielding material may however
be used if preferred. The upper shaft 6, with its cutters 4, and nipping
roller 9 is held down upon the lower one 7 by covers upon its end
journals and which are adjustable if required for different thicknesses.
of paper by screws 11. Boards 12, 13, are fitted in between the side
frames 1, 2, for the paper, indicated by dotted blue lines in Figures 1
and 2, and by full blue lines in Figure 3, to pass over when proceeding
towards and from the cutting shafts 6, 7. The roll of paper, the edges
of which are to be cut, is placed upon a spindle 14, carried in the upper.
ends of a pair of vertical rods 15, jointed to the ends of the side
frames 1, 2, and connected by a rod 16. One end of the roll is pushed
up against an adjustable gauge or stop 17, upon the spindle 14, and the
end of the paper being entered between the shafts 6, 7, or rather between
the cutters 4, 5, and rollers 9, 10, on them the wheel 8 is turned by the
right hand, and as the paper passes through the left hand is applied to
the spindle 14, to impart thereto whatever transverse movement may
be required for guiding the paper properly through. The cut paper
may be allowed to fall into any convenient receptacle when it passes over
the further board 13, we however prefer to have it wound up in a roll
by the same machine, and for that purpose a split spindle 18 is arranged
to turn in bearings at the delivery ends of the side frames 1, 2, one end

page_text: being entered into a socket in a journal 19, which has on it a pulley 20
secured by a screw and washer 21. The pulley 20 is driven by a cord
from a pulley 22 fast on one end of the lower shaft 7. The pulleys 20, 22,
are of such sizes as to wind the paper tightly enough when the spindle
is all but empty, and the pulley 20 slips a little as the diameter of the
roll increases. More than two pairs of cutters may be arranged to act
simultaneously on one piece of paper, for cutting "borders" for example,
or the machine may be arranged for acting on two or more pieces at
The machine may be worked by [the foot by means of a treadle
in connection with the wheel 8, made sufficiently heavy in that case
to act as a fly wheel.
once.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we have to state that we do not
restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated,
and that we do not claim every way of applying revolving cutters for
cutting paper, but that what we believe to be novel and original and
claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the combining of revolving cutters with other parts,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said David Pirie and Alexander Croom,
have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Twenty-third day
of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-one.