Im- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LABELS FOR LUGGAGE AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Blake, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Manufacturing Stationer, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LABELS FOR LUGGAGE AND OTHER
ARTICLES."
Scaled the 19th May 1863, and dated the 26th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Blake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th March 1868.
I, WILLIAM BLAKE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturing Stationer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LABELS FOR LUGGAGE AND OTHER
ARTICLES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture, and application or employment
and use of what may be termed "compound paper" in the manufacture of
labels, such as are used for luggage and other articles. The raw material
which is preferred for this improved manufacture is what is technically known
as "ammunition or cartridge" paper," which is a thin, strong, clear paper. Two
or more sheets or layers of this paper are laid together, and attached to each
other by means of ordinary adhesive paste or other suitable attaching sub-
This combined or compound paper is then rolled or otherwise treated
with great pressure, for the purpose of combining the series of sheets or layers
into one solid mass. Although ammunition or cartridge paper is preferred for

page_text: this purpose, other papers may be used in a similar manner and for a similar
purpose. Labels made in this manner or according to this Invention present
a very good appearance on the face; they are very strong, and much cheaper
than the labels hitherto made of parchment, or of common paper strengthened
or backed by cloth, or of cloth alone.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Blake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, WILLIAM
BLAKE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing
Stationer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Blake, Her special license that I, the said William
Blake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Blake, my executors, administrators, or 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LABELS FOR LUGGAGE AND OTHER ARTICLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Blake,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 William Blake, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the manufacture and application or employ-
ment and use of what may be termed "compound paper" in the manufacture

page_text: of labels, such as are used for luggage and other articles. The raw material
which is preferred for this improved manufacture is what is technically known
as "ammunition or cartridgo paper," which is a thin, strong, clear paper.
Two or more sheets or layers of this paper are laid together, and attached to
each other by means of ordinary adhesive paste or other suitable attaching
substance. This combined or compound paper is then rolled or otherwisc
treated with great pressure, for the purpose of combining the series of sheets
or layers into one solid mass. Although ammunition or cartridge paper is
preferred for this purpose, other papers may be used in a.similar manner and
for a similar purpose. Labels mado in this manner or according to this
Invention present a very good appearance on the face; they are very strong,
and much cheaper than the labels hitherto made of parchment, or of common'
paper strengthened or backed by cloth, or of cloth alone.
And in order that my said Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture
of Labels for Luggago and other Articles" may be properly understood, I
shall now proceed to describe in detail certain modifications under which
my improvements may be judiciously carried out in practice, that is to
say:
In carrying out the manufacture of labels according to my improvements, I
prefer to use for the purpose the kind of paper ordinarily known as "cartridge"
or ammunition paper, but other kinds of paper may also be used with advan-
tage in some cases. Ammunition paper is particularly well suited for the
purpose, because it is of a thin, tough, and strong character, and is well suited
for writing upon. In preparing paper upon the large scale for the manufac-
ture of labels, I prefer to use for the purpose a machine of simple construction,
by means of which the two or other number of layers of paper may be properly
pasted and rolled together in the web or continuous length, the paper so
prepared being subsequently cut or divided into slips or pieces of a suitable
size for the labels. If the labels are formed of two layers of paper, and in
nearly all cases this would be sufficient, the webs or continuous lengths are run
on to a pair of rollers which are mounted in the label-making machine.
These rollers are placed sufficiently apart to allow of a paste trough and its
distributing roller to be arranged between the webs of paper, so as to lay the
paste on to the upper web. As the paper is drawn through the machine, a
small roller arranged in tho paste trough takes up the liquid paste and spreads
an even coating of it on to a distributing roller rovolving in contact with tho
lower roller. The distributing roller spreads an even film or layer of the
paste over the under side of the upper web of paper. The two webs of paper
then pass between two pressing rollers, which are covered with cloth or other

page_text: suitable flexible material; these rollers press the two webs of paper closely
together, and force back any superfluity of paste. From these rollers the
paper is carried forward between two or other number of steam-heated rollers
for the purpose of drying the paper, which then passes between a pair of
smoothing and finishing rollers. The paper thus prepared is then subjected
to the action of a pair of cutting rollers, by means of which it is divided longi-
tudinally into slips of the required width. As the paper emerges from these
rollers it is cut transversely by a knife or cutter, to which a vertical recipro-
catory movement is imparted. The paper, which is now cut into pieces of a
uniform size, falls into a receptacle below, and the manufacture of the lables is
completed by turning in the ends of theso pieces and putting in a metallic
eyelet hole, to serve as a ready means of attaching the label to luggage or
for other generally similar purposes.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the application or employment and use of compound paper to and
in the manufacture of labels for luggage and other articles, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of manufacturing or producing compound
paper, for the purposes herein-before described, by means of an arrangement
of rollers and distributors of adhesive matter.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Blake, havo hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM BLAK
(U.S.)