IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR " THE MANUFACTURE OF ENVELOPES AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Charles Patrick and James Tracy, of
Clerkenwell Green, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers and
Machinists, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
"
THE MANUFACTURE OF ENVELOPES AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES."
Sealed the 10th October 1873, and dated the 12th April 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Charles Patrick
and James Tracy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 12th April 1873.
WC, JAMES CHARLES PATRICK and JAMES TRACY, of Clerkenwell
Green, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers and Machinists, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ENVELOPES AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as

page_text: The pile of blanks is placed upon a suitable table supported by two
vertical rods moving in guides, the said table having an upward
tendency by means of an india-rubber or other spring being attached
thereto, thereby maintaining the pile of blanks up to a fixed stop, as
the said blanks are fed singly into the machine.
In the operation of feeding two blades (set at the required angle, and
adjustable by means of a screw and spiral spring) are attached to arms
operated upon by cams, which impart a circular motion to the said
blades (arranged near the ends of the blanks), and giving the required
pressure to the uppermost blank causes it to ruck or become raised in
the middle. An ordinary flat suction pipe having a horizontal recipro-
cating motion carries the raised blank to a pair of rollers, whence it is
delivered to the folding box.
To enable the suction pipe to take the blank from the fixed stop
before mentioned, a spiral or other spring having a piece of gut or string
attached with one turn round a fixed pulley (the axis of which contains
the pulley of the spring in connection with the table before-mentioned),
and fastened to the sliding carriage of the sucker, the return stroke of
which causes a greater tension on the said spring, thereby overcoming
the aforesaid spring which maintains the pile of blanks at an uniform
height, and causing the table containing the blanks to recede for an
instant, liberating the top blank, and enabling the sucker to remove it
as herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Charles Patrick and James Tracy in the 2
Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
CHARLES PATRICK and JAMES TRACY, of Clerkenwell Green, in the
County of Middlesex, Engincers and Machinists, send greeting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Charles Patrick and James Tracy in the 2
Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
CHARLES PATRICK and JAMES TRACY, of Clerkenwell Green, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineers and Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 30
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of April, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said James Charles Patrick and James Tracy, Her
special licence, that we, the said James Charles Patrick and James
6 Tracy, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said James Charles Patrick and James Tracy, our executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF ENVELOPES AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said James Charles Patrick and
James Tracy, 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 James Charles Patrick and James
Tracy, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
:--
This Invention relates to a feed apparatus or arrangement, by which
envelope blanks are automatically conveyed into an envelope folding
machine, applicable also to other purposes where sheets of paper are
required to be delivered into any machine for printing, ruling, or
folding.
The blanks or sheets of paper to be folded or otherwise operated upon
are placed in a pile in a suitable position upon a table, to which is
attached two vertical rods, the said rods moving in suitable guides
facilitate the uniform upward action of the said table, as the aforesaid
blanks or sheets of paper are delivered into the machine, the upward
movement of the aforesaid table (caused by an india-rubber or other
spring) is impeded by a fixed stop, thereby regulating the top of the
pile of blanks or sheets to an uniform height.

page_text: The operation of separating the blanks or sheets of paper and feeding
or delivering them singly into the machine is as follows:-Above and
near the ends of the said blanks or sheets two blades attached to hori-
zontal arms are placed, the other ends of said arms being operated upon
by suitable cams, cause the said blades to move with a continous
inward circular motion, the aforesaid blades (being set at the required
angle) in their downward stroke come into contact with the topmost
blank or sheet of the aforesaid pile of blanks or sheets, causing it
to become rucked or raised in the centre, the necessary pressure for
which (owing to the different qualities and thicknesses of paper em-
ployed or used is obtained by the aforesaid blades being adjustable to
the most delicate pressure by means of a screw and spiral spring
attached thereto.
Having thus effectually separated the topmost blank or sheet from the
pile of blanks or sheets, it is then taken by an ordinary suction pipe
having a flat elongated mouth piece and moving with a reciprocal hori-
zontal motion to a pair of rollers or other suitable arrangement by which
it is conveyed into the envelope or other machine. To enable the said
suction pipe to remove the topmost blank from the fixed stop herein-
before mentioned, the aforesaid table containing the pile of blanks or
sheets is caused to recede for an instant by means of a spiral or other
spring, one end of which is fastened or fixed to the machine, the other
end having a piece of gut or string attached with one turn round a
fixed pulley, the axis of which contains the pulley in connection
with the india-rubber or other spring which maintains the upward
tendency of the table herein-before mentioned, the said piece of
gut or string being fastened or fixed to the movable carriage of
the suction pipe, the return stroke of which causes greater tension
on the said spring in connection with the fixed pulley, which when
released by the forward motion of the sucker overcomes for an instant
the aforesaid spring which maintains the pile of blanks or sheets to
the aforesaid fixed stop, causing the table containing the pile to
recede, thereby enabling the sucker to remove the top blank as herein-
before described.
Having now
cat
fouth
21
יד

page_text: wish it to be understood that under the above recited Letters Patent
we claim, in respect to the feed arrangement for envelope or other
machine, the means above described for separating or detaching the
blanks or sheets composing a pile singly from that pile.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Charles Patrick, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October, One
thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.
J. C. PATRICK. (L.S.)
For self and J. Tracy.