IMPROVEMENTS IN FOLDING ENVELOPES AND PAPER, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.”
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Hook, of Walworth, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOLDING ENVELOPES
AND PAPER, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Hook
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st March 1862.
I, WILLIAM HENRY HOOK, of Walworth, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FOLDING ENVELOPES AND PAPER, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
Instead of stamping, indenting, or otherwise making the paper the exact
size and shape of the envelope or other matter to be folded, I make a
skeleton frame of thin metal or other suitable material the required size
and shape, and cover the edges thereof with any absorbent material;
so that by dipping the said frame into water or other liquor, and then
pressing it on the paper, the absorbent material will moisten or damp
the paper in the exact form required, by which process the operation of
folding is greatly facilitated.
If more, pressure is required than can be given by the hand an ordinary

page_text: copying or embossing press may be used, or additional power by lever,
screw, or other mechanical contrivance may be used, and if a constant
supply of water or other liquid is required, it may be supplied through
a tube with a tap to regulate the supply and pressure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Hook in the 'Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY HOOK, of Walworth, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Henry Hook, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Hook, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Henry Hook, my executors, administrators, 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 FOLDING ENVELOPES AND PAPER, AND IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Henry Hook, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Hook, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):
:-
Instead of the ordinary modes of stamping, indenting, or otherwise marking
the paper the exact size and shape of the envelope or other matter to be
folded, I employ a skeleton frame of thin metal or other suitable material of
the required size and shape, and cover the edges thereof, or the sides and

page_text: edges, with linen, silk, leather, or other absorbent material. To the said
skeleton frame I supply water or other liquid, so that its edges shall be
moistened, and then press the frame on the paper or press the paper on the
frame, by which operations the absorbed material covering the edges of
the frame will moisten or damp the paper in lines corresponding with the
edges of the frame, and thereby enable the operation of folding to be greatly
facilitated.
The required pressure is obtained by an ordinary copying or embossing
press, lever, or other mechanical contrivance, and a constant supply of
water or other liquid is supplied in any convenient manner.
This Invention will be clearly understood by referring to the figures and
letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspectivo
view of an ordinary stamping or embossing press, having connected to
it my improved skeleton frame for moistening the paper, when the frame
is pressed upon it; Fig. 2, a perspective view of a similar press having
connected to it a pressure plate or pad for pressing the paper upon a sta-
tionary skeleton frame; Fig. 3 represents a detached view of the stationary
skeleton frame or damping box; and Fig. 4 the pressure plate or pad drawn
to an enlarged scale. .
In Fig. 1, a is the skeleton frame or damping box, the edges of which
are covered with linen or other absorbent material, which edges are kept
damp by saturated fibres, cloths, or sponge placed on the top of the frame, or
by other convenient means; b, the plate, pad, or cushion upon which the paper
is placed; c, c, the guides for keeping the paper in its proper position; d, d,
the gumming boxes; and e, the die for giving the impression of the device.
When the paper is placed on the plate, pad, or cushion, and the screw of the
press turned, the paper receives a moistened impression of the edges of the
frame or damping box. In Figs. 2 and 3, fis the stationary skeleton frame
or damping box, on the edges of which is stretched the linen or other absorbent
material. The said skeleton frame is held firmly in another frame or box g,
and the space between the two frames is supplied with water or other liquid
for the purpose of keeping the covered edges of the skeleton frame constantly
moistened; the two frames are connected to the plate h, fixed to the bed plate
of the press; k, k, are the ordinary points or guides for keeping the paper
in its proper position; and 1, 1, the gumming boxes. In order to support
the paper previous to and during the pressing operation, there is a plate m,
supported by springs n, which plate rises after the paper has been pressed
and enables its ready removal. The pressure plate or pad is shewn at o,
Figs. 2 and 4; it is connected by the rod p, and bar 2, to the piston of the

page_text: press, and when the screw r is turned, presses the paper upon the moistened
edges of the skeleton frame, thereby impressing upon the paper lines of moisture
of the exact form required, which, as in the former example, greatly facilitates
the operation of folding envelopes or other articles which have to be folded.
Thus in the manufacture of envelopes the paper is fed by the assistant
to the stationary pad or stationary skeleton frame, and kept in its place by
the points or guides and when the skeleton frame, Fig. 1, is pressed upon
the plate or pad, or the pad, Fig. 2, pressed upon the skeleton frame, the
covered moistened edges of the frame moisten or damp the paper in the exact
form in which it is required to be folded, the gumming process and impressing
the device being performed at the same time. The paper is then removed
from the points or guides and folded by hand. The gumming process and
impressing the device being old, I make no claim thereto, but what I claim
is, marking or impressing moistened lines on paper for the purpose of
facilitating the process of folding, and the machinery or apparatus employed
therein, as described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
or any modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Hook, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
London.
WILLIAM HENRY HOOK. (L.S.)