IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING RAGS FOR PAPER MAKERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Cox, of Wenlock Road, City Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Printing Press Manufacturer and Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING
RAGS FOR PAPER MAKERS."
Sealed the 13th December 1859, and dated the 18th June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Cox at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th June 1859.
I, JAMES Cox, of Wenlock Road, City Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Printing Press Manufacturer and Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING
RAGS FOR PAPER MAKERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction and arrangement of machinery
or apparatus for cutting rags for paper makers, and consists in the employment
of two sets of any convenient number of cutters placed upon two shafts driven
in any convenient manner. The cutters are so arranged as to work into one
another with a scissors-like action. The rags may be supplied to the cutters
from the top, so as to fall between the cutting edges, which immediately cut

page_text: the rags into pieces or strips the size of the spaces left between each pair of
cutters. The cutters are protected by means of shields or guards, so that the
persons feeding the cutters are not exposed to the risk of accidents. If
necessary, an arrangement may be adopted for a continuous pressing of the
rags into their proper position. I find it advisable to drive the cutters at
different velocities. The cutters are strengthened by a wheel or plate on each
side of them, also revolving with the cutter shafts, and the shafts are so
arranged as 'to enable the cutters to be adjusted as may be required with
respect to their positions with regard to each other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Cox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
Cox, of Wenlock Road, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Printing
Press Manufacturer and Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Cox, Her special license that I, the said James Cox, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Cox, my executors, administrators, or 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 OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING RAGS FOR PAPER MAKERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Cox, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said James Cox, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to.
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a novel construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for cutting rags or other materials for paper makers,
and consists in the employment of two sets of any convenient number of
cutters placed upon two shafts, driven in any convenient manner, the cutters
are so arranged as to work into one another with a scissors-like action. The
rags or other materials may be supplied to the cutters from the top, so as to
fall between the cutting edges, which immediately cut the rags or other
materials into pieces or strips the size of the spaces left between each pair of
cutters. The cutters are protected by means of shields or guards, so that the
persons feeding the cutters are not exposed to the risk of accidents.
necessary, an arrangement may be adopted for a continuous pressing of the
rags or other materials into their proper position. I find it advisable to drive
the cutters at different velocities. The cutters are strengthened by a collar or
disc on each side of them, also revolving with the cutter shafts; and the shafts
are so arranged as to enable the cutters to be adjusted as may be required
with respect to their positions with regard to each other.
If
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall refer to the
several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same letters
of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a front elevation of my improved
machine for cutting rags or other materials for paper makers. Figure 2 is an
elevation of the driving end of the same. Figure 3 is a plan, corresponding
to Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section taken through the
middle of the machine and cutter shafts, and shewing clearly the relative
positions of the cutters.
A, A, are cast-iron end standards connected together by the longitudinal
cast-iron stretchers B, B, which are secured by bolts to the standards. To
the top edge of each standard are bolted two plummer blocks C, C, in the
bearings of which work the two cutter shafts D, D¹. Each of these shafts
has threaded on to it a number of circular or disc-shaped steel cutters E, E,
the peripheries of which are bevilled off so as to form cutting edges, anil
slightly overlap each other, as shewn clearly in Figures 3 and 4. Between
the several cutters are interposed the collars or discs F, F, which are also
threaded on to the cutter shafts, and serve not only as supports to the cutters
to prevent them from buckling or becoming bent or twisted, but also answer

page_text: the purpose of distance' pieces for keeping the cutters of each series asunder,
the width of these collars regulating the width of the strips of cut rags. .In
order to facilitate the proper tightening up of the cutters, a shoulder G is
formed on each shaft against which the series of cutters are pressed, by
screwing up the nuts H, which work on screw threads cut on the shafts, and
bear against the opposite ends of each of the set of cutters, so as to tighten up
each series and hold them securely. The shaft D is extended beyond the end
standard in order to carry the spur wheel I and pair of fast and loose driving
pullies K, and the shaft D¹ carries a spur wheel L gearing into the wheel I,
but of rather larger diameter than that wheel, by which arrangement one set
of cutters will revolve rather faster than the other, and thereby produce a draw
cut between their overlapping peripheries. The shaft D¹ is capable of longi-
tudinal adjustment in its bearings for the purpose of facilitating the proper
lateral adjustment of the two sets of cutters as regards each other. This may
be accomplished by means of a set screw M. working through a projection on
the plummer block and bearing against the end of the cutter shaft, the set
screw being prevented from shaking loose by the ordinary arrangement of jam
nuts. N, N, are two tables, upon which the rags or other materials to be cut
are placed, and are thence removed by the hands of two attendants and intro-
duced through the longitudinal feeding aperture O in the top of the protector
or guard P, as shewn clearly in Figure 4, so as to fall between the two series
of cutters.
On the inner edges of the under sides of the tables are secured a series of
metal tongues or plates Q, Q, which bear against the under side of the inter-
mediate collars or discs F, and act as clearers for removing any portions of
rag or other material which may be adhering thereto, the cut strips or
fragments falling into a recepticle below, or on to the floor of the workshop.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of machinery
or apparatus for cutting rags or other materials for paper makers, as herein-
before described.
Second, the application and use to and in the cutting of rags or other
materials for paper makers of two sets or series of circular or disc-shaped
cutters, working together as herein-before described or in any other equivalent
manner.

page_text: Third, the peculiar mode of adjusting laterally circular or disc-shaped cutters
for the purpose herein-before described. .
Fourth, the driving of two sets of circular or disc-shaped cutters at different
speeds, so as to obtain a better severance of the rags or other materials, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Cox, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.