IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE APPLICATION OF FLEXIBLE BANDS OR HOOPS TO BALES OR PACKAGES AND TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUCKLES THEREFOR
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lako, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE APPLICATION OF
FLEXIBLE BANDS OR HOOPS TO BALES OR PACKAGES AND TO THE CONSTRUCTION
OF BUCKLES THEREFOR."-A communication from abroad by James
Maddison Seymour, of Newark, New Jersey, United States of
America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 22nd September 1875, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
RELATING TO THE APPLICATION OF FLEXIBLE BANDS OR HOOPS TO BALES OR

page_text: Packages, and TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUCKLES THEREFOR," and have peti-
tioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn Declaration that it has been communicated to me from abroad
by James Maddison Seymour, of Newark, New Jersey, United States of
America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the samo is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing forming a
part of this Specification :—
This Invention relates to the application of flexible bands or hoops to
bales or packages of cotton, hay, or other materials, whether such
materals are clastic or non-elastic, whether baled under pressure or other-
wise, and includes both the process by means of which the application
of such bands and hoops is made, and a particular device which is
adapted to carry such process into practice. This process consists in
lapping the ends of the band after the same has been passed around tho
bale over upon each other, and then by means of any suitable instru-
ment or device tightening the band around the bale and doubling the
slack thus taken up in a fold over upon the body of the band, and
afterwards securing the fold thus made in any efficient manner.
The device (herein-after called the buckle) consists of a buckle pro-
vided with two straining bars, adapted to be embraced by the ends
of the band, an arm extended at right angles to the straining bars
which acts as a lever to turn the buckle over endwise, and a bar pro-
jecting laterally from the lever arm in the direction of the straining
bars, and which by being slipped under the tightened band, securely
fastens the ends of the band and retains the buckle in its place.
In baling cotton, hay, and other elastic materials it is of great
importance for economy in storage and transportation to confine them
in the narrowest compass with the least expenditure of power. The
difficulty heretofore experienced when these materials have been baled
under pressure and fastened with metallic bands has been that the bands å
by reason of rigidity of the metal of which they are made could not
readily and without the aid of some mechanical appliance other than

page_text: the fastening buckle be drawn tightly around the bale; the slack of the
bands has been allowed to remain till the bale was released from pres-
sure, and has then been taken up by the expansion of the pressed
material of which the bale was composed. It followed that the bale
assumed a much larger bulk than would have been the case had the
slack been completely taken up, that is to say, the bands drawn tightly
around the bale, and securely fastened before the bale was released from
the press; also that a portion of the power expended in reducing the
bale to its smallest compass in the press has been absolutely lost by the
expansion permitted by the looseness of the bands.
The increased bulk of a bale of cotton of the ordinary size, weighing five
hundred pounds, due in a large degree to the allowed expansion by reason
of the looseness of the confining bands is not far from four cubic feet.
If only one half of this allowed expansion could be prevented the
saving in' storage and transportation would be very great, inasmuch as
120 bales would then only occupy the same as 100 when the ordinary
expansion was allowed.

page_text: Figure 5 is a sectional view of the buckle and the band, showing the
position of the two while the band is being strained, that is to say,
while the slack is being taken up.
Figure 6 is a sectional view of the same when the band has been
drawn tightly around the bale and the fastening completed.
Figure 7 shews a form of supplemental lever, which may be applied to
the frame of the buckle to afford greator purchase in turning the said
buckle over endwise.
Similar letters designate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
A and B represent the straining bars; C, C, the sides or frame of the
buckle; D, the lever arm; E, the fastening bar; F, the lap of the ends
of the band; f, g, h, projections on the ends of the bars to keep the
band in position; a and b, the ends of the band. This buckle may be
made of such size and strength as in practice shall be found necessary,
and may be cast or struck from metal by means of dics, or made in
any other suitable manner. The straining bars A and B may be placed
at such distance apart as shall be found desirable.
When the band is of rigid metal there will naturally be a large
amount of slack to be taken up, and this can be perfectly accomplished
by placing the straining bars at a sufficient distance apart, inasmuch
as the buckle is capable of taking up an amount of slack equal to twice
the distance by which the straining bars are separated from each other.
The buckle thus described is a convenient device for use in carrying
into practice that part of the said Invention which has been herein-
before designated as the process of applying flexible bands.
To apply this buckle with the open straining bars, shown in Figure 1,
the band is passed around the bale and the ends lapped over upon each
other; the buckle is then interlocked with the lapped ends of the band,
so that the straining bar A will rest on the outside of the lap, the bar B
will lie underneath the same, and the fastening bar E will rest on the
same side of the band as the bar A. This position of the band and
buckle is shown in Figure 4. The buckle when thus interlocked with
the lap of the band is siezed by the lever arm D either with the hand
or some suitable instrument, and turned or tilted over endwise in the
direction of the bar A, the buckle resting upon the bar A as a centro
during the first part of the turn.

page_text: Figure 5 shows the position of the band and buckle when the said
buckle has been turned half way over from a position parallel with the
surface of the bale into a position perpendicular to such surface. The
ends of the band will be folded over the edges of the straining bars, and
being pressed down by the overlying band will be kept from slipping
or rendering. As the buckle is still further turned over from its per-
perdicular position by bringing the lever arm down towards the surface
of the bale the straining bár A will naturally recede along the surface
of the bale and take nearly the position which the bar B occupied when
the operation commenced. The effect of this exchange of the positions
of the two straining bars is that at the same moment the band is
strained equally from both sides of the buckle. When the lever arm
has been forced down upon the surface of the bale, that is to say, when
the buckle has been completely turned over the slack of the band will
have been taken up and disposed of in a double fold extending from
the outside edges of the two straining bars. The buckle is secured.
in its final position by swinging the lever arm laterally away from the
band as the lever arm is being brought down from the perpendicular
position towards the surface of the bale till the fastening bar is outside
of the line of the band, when the said fastening bar is forced underneath
the band and thus retained in place.
When the buckle with the straining bars connected at both ends is
used, as shewn in Figure 2, the ends of the band must be thrust
through the opening between the bars, and the bars interlocked with
the lap of the ends of the band, as shown in Figure 4, when the operation
will be the same as already described.
The advantage of the buckle with the closed straining bars is that
greater strength can be given to the device by the use of the same
quantity of metal in its construction; in practice however it may be
found more difficult of manipulation than the open buckle, inasmuch
as the ends of the band must be inserted endwise, while the open buckle
can readily be slipped sidewise over the lap of the band and be in the
proper position to make the turn.
The downward bend in the lever arm, as shown in Figure 3, while it
facilitates the introduction of the fastening bar underneath the band by
bringing it in close contact with the surface of the bale may be omitted,
and the lever arm extended in a straight line with the frame which