Improvements in Machines for Boxing Matches.
Year: 1889

page_text: Improvements in Machines for Boxing Matches.
We, DENIS CASEY, JOHN MANTION, and GEORGE HENRY MILLEN, Machinists, all of
Hull, in the County of Ottawa, in the Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada,
do hereby declare the nature of our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
BOXING MATCHES, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention has for its object to automatically fill boxes with matches and apply
the covers to the boxes. The empty boxes are severally placed by a feed wheel into
one of a number of parallel grooves in the inner periphery of a rotary wheel or
cylinder, each groove containing a sliding punch. The tubular covers for the boxes
are fed to a notched rim at the end of the grooves, and the boxes are carried by the
wheel or cylinder under a stationary hopper containing the matches, and when filled
pass onward, until the punch in the groove in which the box is carried drives the
filled box end wise into the tubular cover. The filled and covered boxes then fall by
gravitation from the notched rim of the cylinder and are received by an endless belt
conveyor, suitably placed.
Figure 1, is a front elevation of our machine.
Figure 2, is a plan below the section line X X Fig. 1.
Figure 3, is a side clevation of Figure 1.
Figure 4. is a rear elevation, omitting portions of the driving and running gear
shown in Fig. 3, for clearness of illustration of the rotary cylinder, and
Figure 5, represents an empty match box and its tubular cover, both enlarged.
Our invention consists of a rotary wheel or cylinder secured to a shaft, and having
on the internal periphery parallel grooves lengthwise of the cylinder, and a punch
sliding in each groove, and a stationary hopper dropping the matches into the boxes
carried by the cylinder under the hopper. Cams fixed to said frame to move the
punches endwise for placing the boxes under the hopper and subsequently punch the
filled boxes into the covers, said wheel or cylinder having a rim notched to coincide
with the grooves therein, and to which notched rim, the covers are fed by an endless
belt. The filled boxes fall by gravitation from the notches during the rotation of the
cylinder upon an endless conveyor, as hereinafter more particularly set forth.
1, is a wheel or cylinder, having on its internal periphery parallel grooves 2, cach
containing a sliding bar or punch 3, provided with an anti-friction roller 4, by which
the punch is moved endwise in its groove by contact with fixed cams, hereinafter
referred to, and said wheel or cylinder is mounted on the end of a shaft 5, journaled in
bearings at the top of a stand 6, and driven by a cog-band 7, on the outer periphery
of cylinder 1, meshing with a cog wheel B, on the main driving shaft C, which is
journaled in bearings at the side of stand 6; or the cylinder may be rotated by driving
power applied to shaft 5, and the cog-band 7, dispensed with.
8, is a feel trough at right angles to the rotation of cylinder 1. in which trough runs an
endless belt 6. on which the empty match boxes are placed bottom up and end to end,
and said endless belt is driven by a belt pulley 13, on shaft C, belt 14, pulley 15,
journaled between jaws of a bracket 16, secured to the stand 6, and by beveled gear
wheels 17. or in any other convenient manner.
To the underside of the bottom of trough S, at the end thereof and in line there-
with, is secured a projecting axle on which is a feed wheel 21, having radial blades
which intermediately receive the boxes from the trough, and dump them one by one
into the grooves 2. of cylinder 1.
The feed wheel 21, is driven by a cog wheel 22, secured thereto, which cog wheel
meshes with a cog wheel 23, keyed on shaft 24, which is journaled in a bracket-
frame 25, bolted to floor 26, of stand 6, and said shaft carries a cog wheel 27,

page_text: which meshes with a cog ring 28, secured to the perforated or closed head or end of
cylinder 1.
29, is the hopper in which the matches are placed and said hopper is fixedly secured
to floor 26, and stands clear of cylinder 1. One end of the hopper is provided with
a spring strip 30, which is agitated to keep the matches shaken together by a click
wheel 31, on a shaft 32, journaled in brackets secured to floor 26, and said shaft is
driven by a pulley 33, on said shaft, and a belt 34, running on a belt pulley 35, on
shaft C.
In each groove of cylinder 1, and in alignment with the hopper, is a mortise which
is occupied by a loose block 37, which passes over a spring 38, the free end below
the hopper and the other end secured to stand 6. When receiving the matches,
each box bears on the top of the block, and the spring lifts the block whereby the
box will rise against a clearing wheel 39, at one side of the outlet of the hopper,
to level off the matches in the box and prevent overfilling, and also to prevent the
matches choking the boxes at the outlet. After passing the spring, the block drops
by gravitation a limited distance of about the thickness of a match, and the filled
box is then punched into its cover in a coincidently notched rim 50, by the punch-
roller 4, moving against the curved end 52, of the cam-bar 48. The clearing
wheel 39, is mounted on a shaft journaled transversely through the hopper, and is
driven by a cog wheel on said shaft meshing with a cog wheel 40. on a shaft
carrying a sprocket wheel 44, and by chain 41, and sprocket wheel 42, on a shaft 43,
journaled in a bracket D, secured to floor 26, sprocket wheel E, chain 45, and sprocket
wheel 46, keyed on the end of shaft 5.
To the underside of floor 26, is secured a cam-bar 48, parallel to the hopper and
said cam-bar las an upwardly and outwardly projecting or turned end portion 47,
offset from the inner periphery of cylinder 1. During the rotation of the cylinder,
the anti-friction roller 4, of each punch is brought into contact with the portion 47,
of the cam-bar, and slides the punch inwardly, to move the empty box in the groove
to the alignment of the outlet of the hopper, until the parallel portion 48, of the
cam-bar is reached, when the movement of the punch endwise will temporarily
cease, and the empty box fills with matches dropping or feeding from the hopper
during the rotation of the cylinder.
÷
50, is a rim secured to the cylinder, at the rear, or integral therewith, and said rim
has notches 51, at the inner end of the grooves in the cylinder, and into each notch a
cover of the boxes is fed. The filled boxes in the grooves in the cylinder 1, after
passing the hopper, are then driven into the tubular covers by the punches being
forced inward by moving against the sharply curved portion 52, of the cam-bar 48.
The notched rim 50, is partly enclosed by a stationary cover 55, secured to stand 6,
for protection to the box covers during the rotation of the cylinder. After each
punch has performed its office of driving the box into the cover, it is receded to
its original position by the friction roller 4, moving against a cam-bar 54, secured
diagonally to the main frame or stand 6, of the machine.
The covers of the boxes are fed to the notches 51, of rim 50, by placing them side-
ways on an endless belt 56, which is driven by pulley 57, belt 58, and pulley 59, at the
rear of the cylinder.
The filled and covered boxes 61 discharge from the notches 51, by gravitation and
fall on an endless conveyor belt 60, and by it are removed away from the cylinder.
The machine may be made for larger or smaller boxes and the grooves and punches
reduced to suit smaller boxes, or by inserting a lining in tlie grooves.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is,
1. The combination with the main frame or stand 6, having a stationary hopper and
fixed cam bars 48, 54, of the rotating cylinder or wheel 1, provided on the interior
periphery with grooves 2, parallel to the axis of rotation, punches 3, sliding in said

page_text: grooves by moving against the cams during the rotation of the cylinder, and having a
rim 50, provided with notches 51, coincident to the grooves, as set forth.
2. The combination, with the main frame or stand 6, having a stationary hopper 29,
and fixed cam bars 48, 54, of the wheel or cylinder 1, mounted on said frame or stand
to rotate eccentrically around said hopper and provided with grooves 2 and a notched
rim 50, punches 3, in said grooves actuated by the cam-bars, a feed wheel 21, within
the cylinder, a trough S, and endless belt 9, leading to the feed wheel, and belts 56, 60,
leading to and from the notched rim, to deliver the cover and receive the filled boxos,
as set forth.
3. The combination with the wheel or cylinder 1, provided with grooves 2, and
punches 3, sliding in said grooves, of the endless conveyor belt 9, trough S, and feed
wheel 21, for delivering empty match boxes to the grooves, as set forth.
4. The combination with the wheel or cylinder 1, provided with grooves 2, punches 3,
and having a rim 50, provided with notches 51, coincident to said grooves, of the
endless belt conveyor 56, delivering the box covers to said notches, and an endless
belt conveyor 60, receiving the filled and covered boxes from the notches, as set
forth.
5. The combination with the main frame or stand 6, having a hopper 29, of a wheel
or cylinder 1 mounted on said frame or stand eccentrically to the hopper, punches 3,
sliding in grooves therein parallel to the axis of its rotation, and having a rim 50,
provided with notches 51. coincident to said grooves, cam-bars 48, 54, fixed to the
stand or frame to reciprocate the punches, feed wheel 21, to deliver the empty boxes
to the grooves, and feed belt 50, to deliver the box covers to the notched rimi 50, as
set forth.
6. The combination with the frame or stand 6, having a hopper 29, and a spring 38,
at the end of the hopper, of the cylinder or wheel 1, provided with grooves containing
a sliding punch 3, and having loose blocks 37, lifted by said spring while the box is
being filled with matches prior to the punch driving the filled box into its cover,
and a wheel 39, at the end of the hopper to prevent overfilling of the boxes, as set
forth.
Dated this Twenty-eighth day of August 1889
DENIS CASEY.
JOHN MANTION.
GEORGE H. MILLEN.