IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN MAKING WOODEN BOXES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Phillips Thompson Fel. Inst P.A of the Liverpool
and London Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors 6 Lord Street Liverpool in
the county of Lancaster, Civil Engineer for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR USE IN MAKING WOODEN BOXES a communication to him from
abroad by the United States Box Machine Co, H. E. Fanshawe Treasurer, of
the city, county and State of New York
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Phillips Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd October 1883.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON Fel. Inst. P.A., of the Liverpool and London
Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street Liverpool, in the county of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN MAKING
WOODEN BOXES a communication to me from abroad by The United States
Box Machine Company. H. E. Fanshawe Treasurer, of the city, county and state
of New York.
"
This invention relates to improvements in the construction of machines for
making wooden boxes by mitreing the ends of the boards constituting the sides or
the sides, and the ends thereof, and by cutting, simultaneously with the mitre-cut,
said mitred ends to form in and upon the same, in a line across the ends, a
corresponding dovetail tongue and groove by which to secure one to the other and
form a perfectly locked box-corner without other fastening.
In the drawing forming part of this specification, Fig 1, is a plan, and Fig. 9 is
a perspective view of a box-making machine embodying the improvements. Fig 2
is a sectional view on line x, x, Fig 1. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are detail views.
In the drawing A, is the bed-frame of the machine, consisting of two parallel
ways resting upon suitable legs, the upper edges of which are of inverted
V shape.
The machine is provided with two knife-alide frames B, and B¹, which are
located on the said ways transversely, and which occupy positions parallel to each
other.

page_text: The frame B, is bolted firmly to frame A, at one end of the machine, and the
frame B', is movable on the aforesaid ways towards and from frame B and is
adapted to be secured in any desired position by a clamp-block 33, which is
operated by a hand-screw 32 (see Fig 7), to bind against an angular rib on the
inner side of A, and against the frame B². The aforesaid clamp-block and screw
are provided at each end of frame B¹.
The said frames B, B¹, are constructed in two longitudinal sections d, d², the
latter being the lower one and d, the upper one secured upon the former by screws
or bolts as shown.
The inner opposite borders of the lower section d, of said frames are of rabbet
form, and the part of the upper section d, which is bolted on to the lower one
projects over the rabbet-cut sufficiently to form between the faces of the two parts
a three sided right-angled groove in said opposite borders, which grooves serve as
ways in which knife-slides c and c¹ (one in each frame) have reciprocating motions
as hereinafter described.
A long, slightly tapering gib 21, is fitted into the base of one of the aforesaid
grooves in frames B, B¹ one end of which projects beyond the end of the latter and
turning at right angles has a screw 22, passing through its short arm so formed,
into the frame, whereby the gib is so adjusted between the edge of slide c, and the
frame, as to cause the slide to move without lateral motion, and by means of which
all wear of the slide is taken up.
The upper sections of the frames B, B¹, are constructed as follows to provide for
clamping rigidly therein a piece of board to be operated upon, in the position
shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 A fixed clamp-bar abutment e, extends from end
to end of the sections d, of said frames, and its upper side is of rabbet form as
shown in Fig. 6, and upon which lies the cam-bar e¹. The said cam-bar is under-
cut to let the cam o³, on the cam-lever e³, pass under it, and be moved along to
different positions to have its lifting power applied over the board beneath it.
The ends of the cam-bar e¹, are connected with the ends of a clamp-bar 34,
which extends under the abutment e, by two bolts e³, having thumb-nuts thereon,
whereby the position of the clamp-bar is adjusted for boards of varying thickness.
The form of the lower sections of the frames B¹, B, is clearly shown in the
drawings. That of frame B, bas suitable bearings thereunder for shafts i, and J,
and the pinion 14 is supported in it on the stud 19, and the shipper rod 18.
The lower section of frame B¹, is provided with boxes 35, through which shaft J,
passes, and the end of the latter is supported in a box on the standard K, at the
end of the machine.
The cutting mechanism of the machine derives its movements from the shaft J,
and hence it is essential that its support in the machine should be firm and strong,
and that the driving power should be so applied to it that its rotation shall not be
impeded under any proper resistance which the boards may offer to the cutters,
and it will be seen that at times that resistance is quite considerable, since the
cutters are forced by a quick movement across the grain of the board from one
edge to the other, therefore said shaft is driven by the train of gears and shafting
shown in detail in Figs 3, and 4, and one end thereof is supported beyond the
movable frame B¹.
The driving power of the machine is applied through pulley 9, which is secured
to the end of the shaft h, which is hung in boxes 8, 8, on the side of the frame A,
and has on it a gear g.
The shaft J, which is required to rotate in opposite directions, has a spline-
groove in it as shown in Fig. 1 and has secured on it under frame B, the gears 13,
and 15.
A short shaft i, is hung in frame B, and has fixed on it the gear 10, engaging
with the gear 9 and carries on it also, the freely rotating clutch-pinions 11, and 12,
and the clutch 16, which is connected with shaft i, by a key and spline in the
usual way, and is movable between pinions 11 and 12, to be engaged with either
one of them. The pinion 11 engages directly with gear 13, but the pinion 12,,
h

page_text: engages with an intermediate pinion 14, and the latter engages with gear 15°
Thus while shaft i, rotates in one direction, shaft J, is made to rotate in opposite
directions by shipping the clutch 16, to engage it with pinion 12 or 11.
When shaft J runs backward "to back off" the cutter slides after a board has
been cut, it is desirable that it shall move faster than when turning in the other
direction, and therefore gear 15, is of less diameter than gear 13.
The shipper-rod 18, having a pin in it, is engaged with a shipper-shaft 28, by a
slotted arm 29. Shaft 28, is hung in frame B and is adapted to rotate
reciprocatingly by the action of the knife-slide in said frame and a spring, as
hereinafter described, whereby the rod 18, having the clutch-fork 17 thereon which
engages with the clutch 16, and the latter are given the motions above referred to.
The shipper-shaft 28, projects up above a part of frame B, as shown and has
secured to it a shipper catch 24, having an arm thereon on which is pivotted a
handle 25, provided with a finger z, which reaches over one side of said arm and a
little below it. A shipper-plate 23, is hung loosely on shaft 28, having thereon
shoulders 36 and 37, adapted to strike against corresponding shoulders on the
catch 24. A little space is left between the faces of the shoulders on said two
parts so that plate 23 may have a certain amount of free movement without
actuating the catch 24.
A spring 27, having one end attached to frame B, has its other end engaging.
with plate 23, at such a point thereon that when said plate is turned on shaft 28,
the engaging point of said spring is carried each side of the centre-line of said
shaft.
The end of plate 23, projects over the face of a part of the knife-slide c as shown
in Fig. 5.
A flat spring 26, is secured by one end on frame B, under the said arm on
catch 24, and has an off set on it providing a shoulder against which the said arm
can strike.
-
A double-crank automatic trip-lever 30, is hung on the end of frame B, its upper.
end passing through a long staple, and having a spring o², pressing it against said
frame. One of the crank-arms of lever 30, lies on the end of spring 26, and the
other reaches over the top of frame B and when the clamp-bar e¹, is dropped;
down lever 30, is driven back and afterwards is, by spring o² moved towards the
end of bar e¹, and its arm is carried over the end of said bar. The knife-slides c
and c¹, are fitted to slide in the frames B, B', by the rotation of shaft J. Said
slides are provided with racks n, with which the gears 15 and 31, on said shaft.
engage.
The gear 31 has a long hub in which is fixed a key shown in dotted lines in
Fig. 1 and the latter engages in the groove 20 in said shaft.
Gear 31, is located between the boxes 35, on frame B', and when the latter is
moved on frame A, said gear slides on shaft J.
'
The knife-slides are provided with a series of knives 2, 3, 4, 5, adapted to cut
each end of a board to a true mitre, and to cut in one end thereof a groove as in v
Fig. 8 and on the other end a tongue as in v¹; same Figure.
The knives 3, 3, 3, are. secured on a block. 6, on the slide, and to prevent them
from being thrown out of position by encountering knots in a board and by other
similar obstacles, they are bedded on said block between the ribs 7, thereon, by the
aid of which and the screws by which they are fastened to said block, they are
firmly held in position while cutting.
The slide c, is provided with a shipper-pin o¹, adjustable to different positions
thereon and with a shipper pin o, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and in full in
Fig. 2. located near the rear end of the slide. These pins o and o¹ are adapted to
encounter the end of plate 23, and swing it and shaft 28, to shift the clutch 16.
The operation is as follows:-
Shaft h, and pulley g, run continually in one direction. The position of the
knife-slides in Fig. 9, is that to which they are brought after the knives have
passed by a board, cutting it as above described. Before the slides started for

page_text: that position from the opposite ends of frames B, B¹, and the board had been
placed in the latter ready to be clamped as shown in Fig. 2. the plate 23, and
catch 24 were swung around (together with shaft 28) to carry clutch 16, to centre
as in said figure. So swinging said plate brought the arm on catch 24 against the
shoulder on spring 26, and the spring 27, to such a position that it held said arm
there At the same time (the ends of levers e³, not having been lifted to clamp the
board) the cam bar el occupied the position shown in Fig. 2. The operator then
lifts up the ends of levers es, elevating the cam bar e¹, to the position shown in
Fig. 5, and in so doing the lever 30, is turned, depressing the end of spring 26, and
letting spring 27, throw around plate 23, and shaft 28, carrying clutch 16 into
engagement with pinion 11, and turning shaft J, to carry the cutters through the
boards, when pin o, strikes plate 23, swinging it until the end of spring 27, passes
by the centre of shaft 28, when said spring completes the movement of the latter
to carry clutch' from pinion 11, into engagement with pinion 12, when the motion
of shaft J, is reversed and the knife-slides run back, and in so doing the pin o¹,
strikes plate 23, swinging it until the end of spring 27, passes shaft 28 again, when
the latter swings the arm on catch 24, again, against the shoulder on spring 26, as
before, and the operations are repeated. The handle 25, may be employed to
detach spring 26, from the arm on catch 24 by swinging it over until its finger >,
comes in contact with said spring, and then spring 27, will throw clutch 16, and
start the machine as before. The levers e³ are thrown down to release the board.
Having now described the invention as communicated to me, I wish it to be
understood that what I desire to protect under Letters Patent is :-
1 The combination with the frames B B¹ and the cutter-slides o c¹, carrying,
grooving and tongueing cutters, and mitre cutters, of clamps on said frames
to hold a board while being cut, of the shaft J, carrying the cutter-slide gears 31,
and 15, shaft h, and shaft i, geared together, and of the shifting mechanism for
changing the direction of the cutters and for stopping their movement.
2-The movable cutter-slide frame B¹, having the blocks 33, and the crank-
bolts 32, on the inner ends thereof, and the ways A, having angular ribs
thereon.
8-The frames B, B¹, consisting of the separate sections d, d¹ the gibs 21. the
screws 22 and the knife slides c, c¹, combined as set forth.
4-In combination with the slide c and the clutch 16, the rod 18, having pin i³,
in it, the shaft 28, having an arm to engage with said pin, plate 23, catch 24,
spring 26, spring 27, and pins o, o¹, in said slide.
5-In combination with the spring 26, and the clamp-bar e¹, the double-crank
lever 30
6-The knife-block 6, having the ribs 7, thereon between which to bed and secure
the knives 3, 3, 3.
In Witness whereof I, the said William Phillips Thompson have hereunto set
my hand and seal this twenty sixth day of September in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and eighty three,