IMPROVEMENTS IN ENVELOPES OR WRAPPERS POR COVERING, PACKING, AND PROTECTING BOTTLES, JARS, OR OTHER FRAGILE ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR MANU- FACTURING THE SAME.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Clark, of No. 2, Napier Street, Dover Road,
Borough, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ENVELOPES OR WRAPPERS POR COVERING, PACKING, AND PROTECTING
BOTTLES, JARS, OR OTHER FRAGILE ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR MANU-
FACTURING THE SAME.".
Sealed the 18th October 1865, and dated the 20th June 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
June 1865.
I, GEORGE CLARK, of No. 2, Napier Street, Dover Road, Borough, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ENVELOPES OR WRAPPERS FOR COVERING, PACKING, AND
PROTECTING BOTTLES, JARS, OR OTHER FRAGILE ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS
FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in improved methods of preparing, arranging, and
fastening together lengths of straw, rushes, or other fibrous material, and in
improved apparatus for the manufacture of envelopes or wrappers made of
such materials for covering, packing, and protecting bottles and jars, or other
glass or fragile vessels or articles.

page_text: The chief object of my improvements in bottle envelopes is to arrange,
confine, and hold together lengths, separate, or in bunches, or strands, of
straw, rushes, or other fibrous material in the form of pads of the required
shape and size for making envelopes, in such a manner that each pad in-
tended to be made into a bottle or other envelope or wrapper shall be in a
state of rigidity, and may be held and manipulated readily by the worker in
the operation of fastening the lengths, bunches, or strands of fibrous material
together with string or wire without their separating from each other, or
shifting in their places. This object I effect by the use and with the aid of
the apparatus and appliances, and in the manner herein-after mentioned and
described.
The aforesaid apparatus is composed of 1stly, a wooden or metal frame;
2ndly, a clasp or compressor; 3rdly, metallic pins fixed on a rod or bar, or
used singly to perforate or punch in the pad above referred to a row or rows
of holes, through which the string or wire for fastening the lengths, bunches,
or strands of fibrous material together have to be passed.
In the annexed Drawings, Fig. 1 is the plan of a frame, which may be
made of wood or metal, or other suitable material; Figs. 2 and 3. are longi-
tudinal sections; and Fig. 4. is a cross-section of the same frame; Fig. 5 is
a rod or bar carrying a row of, pins to punch holes in the pad; Figs. 6, 7, 8,
clasps or compressors, serving to hold the pad in a rigid state, and which
may be made of metal, wood, or other suitable substance.
(a) is the bottom of the frame; (b, b,) are the sides of the frame; (c, c,) are
the slots in the sides and across the bottom of the frame to receive the clasps
or compressors; (e, e,) is a rod or bar which carries the punching pins (f, f);
(y, g,) are holes in the bottom of the frame through which the pins (f,,fi).
pass when they are punched through the, pad; (h, h,) represents a line of
holes in a pad, with the fastening string or wire passed through them.
The mode of proceeding with the manufacture of bottle envelopes or
wrappers on the plan of my Invention, is as follows: The fibrous material,
whether in separate pieces in its natural state, as straws or rushes, in fibres, or
in bunches or strands, is first cut to the required length. The quantity or
number of such lengths required to make a pad is determined by measuring
the previously ascertained. bulk in a small trough, and each quantity is kept
apart as a parcel, by twisting a thread or wire round it. "This operation is
performed by one set of workers, and is so easy that these may be children.
The parcels of fibrous, material then pass into the bands of another set of
workers (who also may be children), and the lengths of fibre, whether loose,
or in bunches or strands, are by them spread out evenly and loose lengthways

page_text: over the bottom of the frame, so as to intersect the slots in the latter, which
is of the proper size and form of the pad. Before arranging the lengths of
fibrous material in the frame, the clasps or compressors' are placed in the
frame, with the lower arms or branches of the former in the slots across the
bottom and sides of the frame, and the upper arms or branches of the clasps
or compressors open: When arranged in the frame and covering the lower
arms or branches of the clasps or compressors, the lengths of fibrous material
are clasped and confined and held fast by closing the upper arm or branch of
each clasp or compressor, and fastening it by means of a catch; like that of a
brooch, or a hasp and button, or a metallic or an india-rubber spring or clasp,
or some other contrivance. Holes to receive the string or wire which is to
fasten the lengths of fibrous material together are then punched in a row or
rows through the pad, either as it lies in the frame, or in a small stamping
press; or the holes may be punched singly or together in any other way.
The pad thus arranged and compressed, and held fast by the clasps or com-'
pressors being removed from the frame is now in a rigid state, and ready to
pass into the hands of the worker, whose duty it is to fasten the lengths,
bunches, or strands of material together. This opération, the pad being in a
state of rigidity, is readily performed as follows:-The worker takes a string
of the proper length, which is rove through the; eye of a bodkin, and has a
loop at its long end; or takes a wire, which by preference' should be of soft
and pliable metal, also with a loop at one end, tying the string by means of
the loop to one of the outer bunches or strands at the line of holes in the pad; -
the worker passes the string with the bodkin up and down through the holes,
and finishes at the other side of the pad by tying: a knot over the last bunch
or strand, and withdrawing the bodkin, leaving a short length of the string
hanging out for the purpose of tying one side of the pad to the other side
thereof! If wire be used the same operation may be performed without a
bodkin; one end of the wire itself servings to guide it up' and 'down' through
thetholes, or between the 'bunches or strands of fibrous material. The same
operation is repeated on the same row of holes, commencing and ending on
opposite sides of the pad, the string or wire being passed as before up and
down through the holes; or between the strands, but in the contraryidirection
to the first string) or wife, so that the tops and bottoms of 'ther bunches 'or
2 strands left unsecured or uncovered by the first strings or wire) are covered
with the second string or wire. The number of rows of string or wire may
be one, two, or more, as may be found most suitable. The pad is now
finished and securely fastened, forming a mat, and is ready to be formed into
a bottle, envelope, or wrapper by tying or twisting the depending strings or

page_text: wires on each side together, and fitting and compressing the mat over a mould
or pattern of the article to be covered and protected, in any of the modes
bitherto known or practised, or which may be suitable.
The principal object of my Invention, as before stated, is to give rigidity to
the pad whilst the lengths of fibrous material are unconnected laterally, and
are being fastened together with string or wire, or in other
any
and so
way,
that the worker may hold and work at the pad conveniently and rapidly
without displacement of the parts. The apparatus and appliances above
described are the means by which I effect that object, and they in their
separate parts and in combination are the improvements which constitute my
Invention. I recommend the division of labour in the way above described. .
In carrying my improvements into execution I propose that one set of
workers shall reeve the strings previously cut to the proper lengths through
the eyes of the bodkins, or cut the wires, if used, to the required lengths,
forming the loop at one end in readiness to supply the workers, who pass the
strings or wires through the holes, or between the bunches or strands of the
pads. By these arrangements the envelopes or wrappers will be made better
and more expeditiously, and cost less than by the methods heretofore practised.
Some of the arrangements above described may be varied without interfering
with the principles of my improvements; for instance, stiffness may be im-
parted to the pads by fixing wooden skewers or metal rods or wires through
or outside the pads, or by bands of cardboard or stiff paper, or linen folded
over or fastened across the pads with gum or cement; or the perforating of
holes for the passage of the bodkin and string, or of the wire between the
bunches or strands of fibrous material may be dispensed with. If it be
desired to make the part of the envelope covering the body of a bottle or jar
thicker than the part at the neck of the same the lengths of fibrous material
may be lengthened sufficiently to admit of their being doubled up and turned
over a rod fixed at the foot of the frame, and which rod is drawn out when the
ends of the turned up material have been secured and are held in place by the
clasps or compressors, Figs. 6, 7, 8, of which the following is a description:
The two first, (longitudinal vertical sections or side views) one of wood, the
other of wire, the last a plan of Fig. 7. (k, k,) the lower branch or foundation;
(1, 1,) the upper branch, turning up and down on a hinge (m); (n, o,) hasp
and button; (p) india-rubber clip; (9) space to hold the fibrous material.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
CLARK, of No. 2, Napier Street, Dover Road, Southwark, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Clark, Her special licence that I, the said George Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Clark, 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
ENVELOPES OR WRAPPERS POR COVERING, PACKING, AND PROTECTING BOTTLES, JARS,
OR OTHER FRAGILE ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Clark, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describevand 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 I, the said George Clark, 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, and the Drawings therein referred to:-
My Invention consists in holding and maintaining in position separate
pieces or bunches, or strands of straw, or other fibrous material previously
cut to any required length, and arranged in layers or pads of suitable size
and shape for the manufacture of envelopes or wrappers, so that the lengths
of fibrous material so held and maintained in position may be manipulated
readily in the operation of fastening the lengths, bunches, or strand of fibrous
material together laterally, without the same separating from each other or
shifting in or from their places more than desired previously to or during

page_text: "
such process of fastening together laterally, whereby mats of fibrous material
for envelopes or wrappers are made and fastened together laterally more
accurately and securely, are better and more economically manufactured, and
may be formed into better envelopes than by any method hithereto employed.
This result I obtain by clasping and holding temporarily in a state of rigidity
pieces or bunches of straw or other fibrous material previously cut to any
required length, and arranged in layers or pads, as aforesaid, between or by
means of an apparatus consisting of bars, rods, sheets, or plates of any stiff,
rigid, or elastic substance, or of a stiff and rigid substance in combination with
an elastic substance, so arranged and used that the fibrous material, before
being permanently fastened, is clasped and held by such apparatus without
displacement or material change of position whilst being permanently fastened
together laterally by band or machine sewing or other adequate means.
The apparatus of rigid substances alone, or in combination with elastic
substances to effect this object, may be constructed in various ways; that
which I prefer I now proceed to describe. Firstly, it consists of a wooden or
metal board or table, which I call a pad board, for the purpose of arranging
the fibrous material in a layer or pad of the required form, size, and thick-
ness for the manufacture of an envelope or wrapper; secondly, a clasp or com-
pression, which I call a clip, serving to compress and grasp the layer of fibrous
material cross ways, so as to retain and hold the lengths of fibrous material in
the position and form in which they are arranged as a pad; thirdly, metallic
pius fixed in a row on a rod or bar wherewith to perforate the pad above
referred to, with holes in one or more rows, through which holes a string or
wire for fastening the lengths of fibrous material together may be passed.
In the annexed Drawings Fig. 1 is the plan of a pad board, which may
be made of wood or metal or other suitable material; Figs. 2 and 3 are
longitudinal sections, and Fig. 4 is a cross section of the same board, shewing
grooves or channels (i, i) which may however be dispensed with; Fig. 5 is a
rod or bar carrying a row of pins to perforate the pad with holes, if required,
but the plan of perforating holes in the pad, and consequently the use of such
pins, may in most cases be dispensed with. Fig. 6 is a plan of two metallic
clips joined together into a frame and holding a pad of fibrous material in a
rigid state; Figs. 7 and 8 are longitudinal sections of a clip, the former
shewing the upper branch of the clip open, the latter with it closed; Fig. 9
is a transverse section of Fig. 8; of these Drawings the following is a
detailed description, the same letters denoting the same parts of each
Drawing.
(a) is the bottom of the pad board; (b, b,) are the raised sides and end of

page_text: the board serving to regulate the width, length, and form of the pads; these!
sides and end may be made to shift so as to vary and regulate the space
between them as required; (c, c,) are slots in the sides, and (d, d.) slots
across the bottom of the board to receive the clips; (e) Fig. 5, is a rod or
bar which carries the perforating pins (f,f); (9, 9,) are holes in the bottom
of the pad board through which the pins (f. f.) pass when they perforate the
pad; (h, h,) Fig. 6, represent lines of string or wire fastening the bunches
or strands of fibrous material together laterally; (i, i,) Fig. 4, grooves or
channels running longitudinally in the bottom of the table with ridges between
them. The purpose of this arrangement is, when necessary, to divide the
lengths of fibrous material into bunches or strands by causing a certain
number of lengths when a layer is spread over the pad board to fall into each
groove or channel, but the use of these grooves or channels may be dispensed
with. (k, k,) the lower or foundation branches of the clips, and (1, 1,) the.
upper branches thereof turning up and down on hinges (m, m); (n) a.
spring catch to fasten and unfasten the clip frame; (0) space to contain the
fibrous material between the upper and lower branches of the clips; (p) india-
rubber tubing fitted into the inside of the clips, and serving as elastic springs
or pliable fingers to lay hold of and retain the fibrous material; (9) the
straw or other fibrous material of the pad as held in position by the clips.
The clips may be made of metal or wood or other suitable substance or a
combination of substances; each clip may be separate, or two or more may
be fastened together so as to form a frame in the manner represented in the
Drawings, and they may be of any other form found desirable.
The manufacture of envelopes or wrappers, according to my Invention, is
as follows: The fibrous material, whether in separate pieces in its natural
state, as straws or rushes, or in bunches or strands is cut to the required
lengths; the quantity or number of such lengths required to make a pad is.
then taken, and whether in separate pieces or in bunches or strands is spread.
out in a layer as evenly as may be and lengthways over the bottom of the pad
board and intersecting the slots (c, c,) with the clips therein, as hereafter
mentioned. Before arranging the lengths of fibrous material on the pad
board the clip frame is placed therein, with the lower arms or branches of the
clips in the slots (c, c,) the india-rubber tubing being level with or only
slightly above the surface of the pad board and the upper branches of the.
clips left open. When thus arranged in the pad board, and covering the
lower branches of the clips, the lengths of fibrous material are clasped, com-
pressed, and confined and held securely in position on the pad board and
between the clips by closing the upper branches of the clips and fastening.

page_text: them to the lower branches thereof by means of a spring catch or any other
suitable contrivance. The layer of fibrous material is now a pad of the required
form and dimensions ready to admit of the same being fastened together
laterally. It will be readily understood that this operation of fastening together
laterally either by hand or with a sewing machine might be carried out whilst
the pad is lying on the pad board, slits being made in the latter for that
purpose; but I consider the use of a moveable clip frame fitting into a pad
board, on the plan shewn in the Drawings, as preferable. If holes are
required to receive the fastening string or wire they may be punched in a row
or rows through the pad either by a small stamping press or by the rod aud
pins, shewn in Fig. 5, or the holes may be punched singly or together in any
other way. The perforation of such holes is not in general a necessary part
of the process, as the string or wires may be passed between the pieces,
bunches, or lengths of fibrous material. The pad thus arranged and com-
pressed and fastened in the clip frame, as above described, being removed
from the pad board is now securely held by the clips in a rigid state and ready
to be made into a mat by fastening the lengths of fibrous material together
laterally; this may be effected by means of one or more lines of thread being
sewn by hand or with a sewing machine across and through the pad as it is
held by and in the clip frame, or by one or more lines of thread, string, or
wire being fastened across and between the lengths of fibrous material in any
way which may be found most suitable, including the plan of fastening with
lines of string worked under and over and between the lengths of fibrous
matérial with a bodkin, or of soft and flexible wire, as described in the Pro-
visional Specification of my said Invention, No. 1650, filed the 20th June,
1865.
From trials I have made and brought into practical operation experi-
mentally, I consider that the most simple, economical, and effectual mode of
forming the before-mentioned and described pads into mats will be to cause
the said pad so held in and by the clips to pass under the needle of a sewing
machine adapted for the purpose and worked in any of the well known modes
practised for sewing textile fabrics, leather, and other substances with a
sewing machine. The pad being securely fastened laterally becomes a mat,
and is ready to be formed into a cylinder or tube by fastening the two out-
side bunches or strands together. The tube so fastened is an envelope or
wrapper, which may be left open or closed at the top as may be most suitable
according to the use for which the envelope or wrapper is intended. If it be
desired to turn up the ends of the straw or other fibrous material on them-
selves so as to increase the thickness of the envelope, the pad board may be

page_text: made with a flap to turn up and down on hinges at or near the middle, so
that the portion of the fibrous material lying on the fixed part of the pad
board being held down by a rod or plate at the hinge joint, the portion of
material lying on the flap when turned up will be doubled and folded down
on the former portion, when the rod or plate may be removed and the material
confined in the clip frame, as before mentioned.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim as new, or of my Invention, the manufacture of envelopes or wrappers
for bottles except out of pads or mats made in the manner herein-before
described or referred to, nor do I claim as new, or of my Invention, any mode
of fastening together lengths, bunches, or strands of fibrous material so as to
form them into mats after they are formed into pads, as herein-before described
or referred to, or of forming such mats into tubes or envelopes. And I hereby
declare that I claim as my Invention,―
First, envelopes or wrappers made from mats of fibrous material formed by
cutting such fibrous material into any required lengths and holding the same
in a rigid state in the form of layers or pads preparatory to and whilst being
permanently fastened together laterally.
Secondly, the apparatus, above described, to carry out my said Invention.
GEO. CLARK. (L.B.)

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