IMPROVEMENTS IN MEASURING AND PACKING MACHINERY FOR FILLING BOXES, BAGS, AND OTHER RECEPTACLES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, &
Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEASURING AND PACKING MACHINERY FOR FILLING
BOXES, BAGS, AND OTHER RECEPTACLES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED
THEREWITH." A communication from abroad by the Cleveland Paper Box.
Machine Company (Incorporated), of Cleveland, Ohio, United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th August 1879.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEASURING AND PACKING
MACHINERY FOR FILLING BOXES, BAGS, AND OTHER RECEPTACLES, AND IN
APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH." [A communication from abroad by the
Cleveland Paper Box Machine Company (Incorporated), of Cleveland, Ohio, United
States of America.]
"
This Invention relates to machinery for expeditiously measuring and packing or
putting up" into boxes, bags, or other receptacles or coverings in convenient form
for sale seeds, starch, sugar, tea, coffee, cocoa, rice, salt, dried yeast, oatmeal, and
any similar materials or substances, and small articles such as tacks or the like.
It also relates to apparatus or devices to be used in connection with such machinery
for expeditiously conveying the filled boxes or packages away from the machine,
and for facilitating the closing or sealing of the said boxes or packages, the whole
being designed with a view to provide means for completing the operation of filling
and closing the box or other article ready for delivery in a very expeditious and
simple manner.
The said Invention is chiefly designed to further improve the machine described
in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me the 14th day of January,
A.D. 1879, No. 157, and comprises mechanism whereby the machine is caused to
feed uniformly from the hopper, which mechanism may or may not be the same
that agitates or shakes down the material in the packages, but is so constructed
and arranged that it will agitate the hopper and measuring spaces below the same.
631

page_text: It also comprises rounding the lower inside edge of the hopper to prevent the cut
off plates or slides from clogging; also means for adjusting the distance through
which the hopper is agitated.
In the machine, as constructed according to the said former Specification, it has
been found exceedingly difficult to make the hopper feed uniformly into the
different boxes or packages, and this has been true notwithstanding the adjustable
plates employed in that apparatus. In order to obviate this difficulty I connect
the hopper with the driving mechanism in any suitable manner, so as to agitate the
said hopper, in order that the material within the same shall feed uniformly through
the upper cut-off slide or slides into the measures. This may be accomplished in
any desired manner, and the following means have been found suitable for the
purpose, that is to say, I provide projections extending down from the hopper and
bearing upon ratchet cams on the driving shaft, so that with every revolution of
the said shaft the hopper is agitated one or more times, depending upon the number
of ratchets on the said cams. Similar cams located between the sides of the frame
may serve to agitate the tray which contains the boxes or packages in order to
settle the material in the latter. In order that the degree of agitation of the
hopper may be regulated I provide any suitable means for this purpose and have
found the following to be very efficacious, that is to say, I provide a stationary
inclined bearing or surface upon which rests a wedge, which wedge may be adjusted
out or in by a screw. The upper portion of this wedge bears against a portion of
the hopper-frame, so that by adjusting the wedge in or out the hopper may be
brought nearer to or farther from the ratchet cams and thereby cause the agitation
to be correspondingly altered.
I provide a fillet or curved piece at the lower inside edge of the hopper, that is
to say, upon that side toward which the upper cut off slide or plate closes after the
measures have been filled. If such a fillet is not employed the said slide closing
will compress or cake a portion of the material between its edge and the side of
the hopper; but by employing this fillet the upper cut off slide will by pressing
against the material cause it to slide upon the inclined fillet instead of packing in
front of the said slide. It is found that by thus providing means whereby the
hopper may be agitated, and by employing the said fillet the machine is caused to
work very accurately, the measures are always properly filled, and no trouble arises
from packing when closing the slide.
I do not limit myself to the particular method here described for agitating the
hopper nor to the particular means for adjusting the throw of the hopper in
agitating it, as it is obvious that various appliances might be employed which would
accomplish the same object.
Heretofore it has been found that when apparatus for agitating the tray beneath
the hopper has been located at the ends of the tray the material at the centre was
not properly settled. I therefore employ agitating apparatus which will operate
upon the tray at different points between the ends as well as at the ends. This, as
before explained, may be by any suitable means, but a convenient manner is to
employ suitably shaped cans upon the shaft for the purpose, though if desired a
single cam may be made to extend from one end of the tray to the other, so as to
bear upon
it throughout.
For manipulating and closing the boxes or packages after they have been filled
I employ apparatus or devices as follows, that is to say:-I place in the tray with
dropping sides, described in the said former Specification, a central moveable block
or diaphragm, upon both sides of which the boxes may be arranged and introduced
into the filling machine to be filled and shaken down or packed, and in connection
with said tray I provide a channel of the same interior breadth, beneath the edge
of which or into the inside of which one of the sides of the tray may pass when
dropped. I also provide a false tray of like interior box space, into which the filled
boxes may be pushed by the said moveable block or diaphragm and be there glued
and closed.
In connection with the above I provide a drying-frame with a hinged side,

page_text: which frame is held closed by a clamping-frame; the said drying frame is adapted
to receive the separate boxes and hold the ends closed until the adhesive material
bas set and dried, after which the drying-frame may be opened and the boxes
discharged by lifting the drying-frame out from its clamping-frame.
In using a box or package filling machine much time is consumed and incon-
venience met with in handling the boxes after they have been filled and before
they are pasted, closed, dried, and ready for shipment. It is the object of this part
of the said Invention to provide means for economically handling the filled boxes
or packages and without liability of distorting them, while at the same time the
covers will be securely pasted and closed and present square and uniform ends.
The aforesaid channel or passage way is of the nature of a frame-work, preferably
located adjacent to the machine; the interior breadth of this passage way or
channel is of the breadth of the interior of the tray with dropping sides. Beneath
its edges are grooves into which the hinged sides of the tray may pass, so as to
make the channel a continuation of the interior of the tray. The aforesaid false
tray is adapted to slide between suitable guide blocks and form a continuation of
the channel when the boxes have been filled in the tray with dropping sides; this
tray may be brought adjacent to the channel or passage way. One of the sides of
this tray is then dropped down and slid within the groove, the opposite side is then
dropped down and the block or diaphragm is drawn out from between the two
rows of boxes, and used to push both rows of boxes at the same time out of the
tray through the channel or passage way and into the false tray at the end.
When the boxes have been deposited in the said false tray they are then partially
closed and parted by folding in properly the projecting lappels of the box and
pasting them down. In this condition, if immediately released, the lappels will
open out slightly before the adhesive material has had time to set, and it is the
object of the aforesaid drying-frame to hold the pasted parts snugly until they have
become sufficiently dried to hold fast. To this end the boxes as rapidly as they
are pasted and closed are put into the open edge of the drying-frame, and when
sufficiently dried the drying-frame is lifted from the clamping-frame, its hinged
side is opened out, the boxes are released, and the operation may be continually
repeated.
By apparatus of this character the filled boxes may be rapidly handled, securely
closed, and kept in uniform shape, thereby saving much time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
February 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEASURING AND PACKING,
MACHINERY FOR FILLING BOXES, BAGS, AND OTHER RECEPTACLES, AND IN
APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH." A communication from abroad by the
Cleveland Paper Box Machine Company (Incorporated), of Cleveland, Ohio, United
States of America.
This Invention relates to machinery for measuring and packing flour, granulous
material and small articles into paper boxes, bags, or other receptacles, and com-
prises an improvement on the machine described in the Specification of Letters
Patent, dated the 14th day of January, A.D. 1879, No. 157, it also relates to
apparatus for facilitating the handling of the boxes or bags after they are filled,
and holding them when closed and pasted until the adhesive material is properly
dried.
The first part of this Invention consists in mechanism whereby the material is
caused to feed uniformly from the hopper by agitating it, which mechanism may or
may not be the same that agitates or shakes down the material in the packages;
also in rounding the lower inside edge of the hopper to prevent the clogging of the
feeding blades or valves; also in means for adjusting the distance through which
the hopper is agitated.
The second part of my Invention consists in a box or tray with dropping sides
and a central moveable block or diaphragm, upon both sides of which the boxes or
bags may be arranged and introduced into the filling machine to be filled and
shaken down or packed; and in combining said tray a passage way of the same
interior breadth beneath the edge of which, or into the inside of which, one of the
sides of the tray may pass when dropped, so as to bring the sides of the box or
tray in line with the sides of the passage way; and a false tray of like interior box
space arranged and held also in line with the passage way into which the filled
boxes may be pushed by the movable diaphragm and be there glued and closed.
In connection with the above, a drying-frame with a hinged side held closed by a
clamping frame is adapted to receive the separate boxes and hold the ends closed
until the adhesive material has set and dried, after which the drying-frame may be
opened and the boxes discharged by lifting the drying-frame out from its clamping-
frame.
In the accompanying Drawing,

page_text: hopper c has not been agitated, but I connect the hopper with the driving mechanism
in any suitable manner so as to agitate the said hopper in order that the material
within the hopper shall feed uniformly through the upper valves d¹ when opened
into the measures d², d³.
This result may be accomplished in any desired manner, the means shown in the
Drawings being practicable; in this c¹, c', are projections extending down from the
hopper and bearing on the ratchet cams c², c², on the shaft b, so that with every
revolution of the shaft the hopper is raised and lowered one or more times, depending
upon the number of ratchets on the cams c². In order that the degree of agitation
of the hopper may be regulated I provide any suitable means for this purpose, and
have found the following to be very efficacious,f,f, are stationary inclined bearings
or surfaces upon which rest the wedges g, g, which may be adjusted outwards or
inwards by the screws g', g¹; on the upper portions of these wedges bear portions
of the hopper-frame when it is in its lowest position, so that by adjusting the
wedges in or out the downwardly projecting pieces c¹, cl, of the hopper may be
brought nearer to or farther from the cams c², c, and thereby cause the agitation to
be correspondingly altered.
Between the upper and lower portions of the hopper c I provide a sieve c* which
has the effect of causing the material to lie more lightly in the space above the
measures when the slide d¹ is closed, and to fall more evenly into the measures
when the said slide is withdrawn than would be the case if the mass of material
were placed in the hopper without passing through the sieve.
A fillet h occupies the lower inside edge of the hopper c upon that side toward
which the valve d¹ closes after the measures have been filled.
If such a fillet is not employed the valve in closing will compress or cake a
portion of the material between its edge and the side of the hopper, but by employing
this fillet h the valve will by pressing against the material cause it to slide upon
the said inclined fillet instead of packing in front of the valve or blade. I find that
by thus forming the hopper so that it may be agitated, and by employing the fillet
h the bag or package-filler is caused to work very accurately, the measures are
always properly filled and no trouble arises from the packing of the material when
closing the valves or slide d'.
When apparatus for agitating the tray i which holds the boxes or bags 1, 2, to be
filled beneath the spouts j,j, has been located at the ends only of the tray i the
material in the centre boxes l, l, has not been properly settled. I have therefore
found it advisable to employ agitating apparatus which will operate upon the tray i
at different points between the ends as well as at the ends. This result as above
explained may be effected by any suitable means. In the machine shewn in the
Drawings cams c³, c³, are employed for this purpose; these cams as well as the
cams c, c, to agitate the ends of the tray i being similar in construction to the
cams c², c³. The said cams c³, c, act against the bottom of the tray through the
sliding blocks c³, c³. If desired a single cam may be made to extend from one end
of the tray to the other so as to bear upon it throughout.
In some cases I find it desirable to somewhat modify the means bereinbefore
described for opening and closing communication between the hopper c and the
measures d². According to this modification which is shewn in Figure 7 I provide
two cut-off plates or slides d', each one of which is operated independently of the
other by the handles, that is to say, one slide is operated by the handle d and the
other by the handle d*. Instead of employing the fillet or curved piece h at one
side of the hopper, as shown in Figure 2, I provide a central piece s extending from
end to end of the hopper, and having two curved faces &*. The slides d¹ shut
against the base of the curvature of the said pieces when the communication
between the hopper c and measures d³ is closed and are drawn outwardly away
from the said pieces by the handles d and d* when it is desired to allow the
material to pass from the hopper to the measures. In this modification the curved
faces of the piece s perform the same office as the fillet or curved piece h when
there is only one upper cut off plate or slide.

page_text: It will be seen that in the modification shewn in Figure 7 the space or division
between the measures is much narrower than in the machine constructed as first
herein described, and one advantage of this arrangement is that the machine,
including the tray, may be made to occupy so much less space than is required
when the space between the measures d² is wide.
In using a box or package filling machine much time is consumed and incon-
venience met with in handling the boxes after they have been filled and before
they are pasted, closed, dried, and ready for shipment, and it is the object of the
second part of this Invention to provide means for economically handling the filled
boxes or packages and without distorting them, while at the same time the covers
will be securely held when closed and pasted, and present square and uniform
ends.
The tray is provided with hinged sides 1, 2, which are held closed by the
spring catches i³, 3, and is also provided with a movable block or diaphragm m
between the rows of boxes 7, 1; the width of this block or diaphragm is such that
it separates the two rows of boxes 1, 1, so that they are in the proper position to be
filled from the spouts j, j. A passage way between two standards n, n, provided
with grooves at their lower parts is preferably located adjacent to the machine;
the interior breadth of this passage way is of the breadth of the interior of the
tray . The said grooves permit the hinged side i¹ when let down to pass so as to
make the passage way a continuation of the interior of the tray i. o is a false tray
which is adapted to fit between the guide blocks o¹, o¹, and form a continuation of
the passage way. When the two rows of boxes have been filled in the tray i with
the block m between them, the tray i may be brought near to the standards n, n.
The side is then dropped down and pushed within the grooves of the said
standards n, n. The opposite side i³ is then dropped down, as shewn in Figures 1
and 3, the diaphragm m is drawn out from between the two rows of boxes, then
placed in front of the outer row and used to push both rows of boxes at the same
time out of the tray i and between the standards n, n, and into the false tray o, in
which position they are represented by the dotted lines in Figure 3.
When the boxes have been deposited in the false tray o the tray is removed from
the guide pieces o¹, o¹, and taken to the clamping frame; the boxes 1, l, are then
partially closed by folding in properly the projecting lappels, and paste is applied
to the parts indicated by the dotted line shading, shown in Figure 4. The part l¹
of the cover of the box is then pushed down on the inside of the front of the same,
thus closing it. In this condition, if immediately released, the lappels will open
out slightly before the adhesive material has had time to set, and it is the object of
the drying frame p to hold the pasted parts snugly until they have become
sufficiently dried to hold fast.
This drying-frame p has one of its sides p¹ hinged to open outwards. A clamping
frame, consisting of two uprights r, r, is secured to a bench or other suitable
support, and is of convenient size to hold the side p' closed when the drying
frame P is in the clamping-frame, as shown in Figure 5. To this end the boxes,
as rapidly as they are pasted and closed, are put into the open edge of the drying-
frame p, whose interior capacity is just sufficient to hold the two rows of boxes, and
when the paste is sufficiently dried the drying-frame p is lifted from the clamping-
frame 7, the side p³ is opened out, the box is released, and the operation repeated.
Longitudinally along the inside of the sides of the drying frame p, p¹, are formed
the grooves p², 222, the object of which is to prevent the closed and pasted boxes
from sticking to the drying frame should any of the paste exude from the closed
cover.
Two or more trays i and false trays o are used with one packing machine and as
many drying frames p as are necessary to hold the boxes sufficiently long to allow
the paste to become perfectly dry so that each successive stage of the whole opera-
tion may be properly carried on by the various attendants without intermission or
delay.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my

page_text: foreign correspondents, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I do not limit myself to the particular means or devices herein shown and
described for agitating the hopper, nor to the particular means for adjusting the
throw of the said hopper in its agitation, as various other appliances might be
employed for accomplishing the same results, and I claim,―
First. In a box or bag filler, the combination with the hopper of mechanism for
agitating the same while the material is being fed into the measures, for the
purposes described.
Second. The hopper in combination with a cam or cams c³, whereby the said
hopper is agitated, substantially as and for the purposes described.
Third. The combination with the hopper and a cam or cams for agitating the
same of an adjustable wedge or wedges, whereby the distance through which the
hopper is agitated is regulated, substantially as and for the purposes described.
Fourth. The combination with the hopper and the agitating cam or cams of
mechanism for regulating the throw of the hopper as it is agitated, for the purposes
described.
Fifth. The combination with the hopper and the slide or valves d, and with or
without the sieve, of the fillet, whereby the packing of the material in front of the
said valve is prevented, substantially as and for the purposes described.
Sixth. The combination with the hopper of the stationary bearing, the wedge,
and the adjusting screw, substantially as and for the purposes described.
Seventh. In a box or package filler, the combination with the tray for holding
the boxes or packages to be filled, of agitating apparatus adapted to operate against
the tray along its entire length or at the ends and at intermediate points, substan-
tially as and for the purposes described.
Eighth. The apparatus for facilitating the handling and closing of the filled
packages from a box or package filling machine, consisting of the trays, the passage
way, and the drying-frame, substantially as described.
Ninth. The combination of the tray i provided with the dropping sides and
diaphragm with the passage way n. and tray o, these parts being adapted to
co-operate in the manner substantially as and for the purposes specified.
Tenth. The drying-frame with the hinged side in combination with the clamping-
frame, whereby the pasted ends are held together until set and the boxes are
subsequently released, substantially as described.
Eleventh. The modification of my Invention illustrated in and described with
reference to Figure 7 of the Drawing, substantially as and for the purposes
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.