IMPROVEMENTS IN PAPER AND PASTEBOARD BOXES, AND IN MACHINES FOR MAKING THE AND FOR CUTTING AND KERFING PAPER AND PASTEBOARD THEREFOR."
Year: 1874

page_text: "
SAME,
LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of
Harris and Mills, of 23, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
PAPER AND PASTEBOARD BOXES, AND IN MACHINES FOR MAKING THE
AND FOR CUTTING AND KERFING PAPER AND PASTEBOARD THEREFOR."-A
communication from abroad by Henry Renno Heyl, of the City
and County of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, in the
United States of America.
Sealed the 21st July 1874, and dated the 3rd June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph
Barnard Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 3rd June 1874.
I, BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and
Mills, of 23, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IN PAPER AND
"IMPROVEMENTS
AND
PASTEBOARD BOXES,
IN MACHINES FOR
CUTTING AND KERFING PAPER
MAKING
THE SAME,
AND FOR
AND PASTEBOARD

page_text: THEREFOR," a communication to me from abroad by Henry Renno Hey),
of the City and County of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, in
the United States of America, to be as follows:-
The improvements in paper boxes consist, first, in making the same
in tubular form with one or each of the ends constructed with two or
more flaps to fold one on another, the outer flap being provided with
laterally projecting tongues entering corresponding slits or openings in
the flap below, so as to constitute an effective lock, the line in which the
tongues enter and leave the slits being at right angles to the line of strain
produced by internal pressure... ..
The improvements consist, secondly, in making a box of a single piece.
of paper or pasteboard, cut and folded in such shape as to bring all
the edges of the paper to the top of the finished box, so that there shall
be no incision in the paper below the top of the box, thus rendering it
water-tight.
It is preferred to so proportion the folds and lap them at the sides
that a single fastening at each side will serve to secure the folds to each
other and to the body of the box, and also secure a handle of ribbon
or other material.
The machine for cutting and kerfing paper and pasteboard for boxes
is provided with means for severing the sheets into smaller pieces, each
adapted to form the body of a box and, with devices, to make at the
same time, necessary kerfs where the piece is to be bent into box form,
the kerfs referred to being an improvement on the usual method of
scoring pasteboard boxes, the improvement enabling the manufacturer
to cover the blanks with the proper covering paper in the sheet, and
afterwards bend them into form without marring the external cover-
ing. To this end the material is thinned from the inside by a flat saw
cut about one-sixteenth of an inch in width, and just deep enough to
permit the board or paper to be bent at right angles without straining the
cover sufficiently to part it at the corners of the box.
The improvements in machinery for making paper boxes consist chiefly
in multiplications of or additions to the machinery described in Letters
Patent, No. 2291, dated July 31, 1872.
The purpose of the present improvements is to provide a way to
manufacture with the use of the wire staple fastening, as set forth in

page_text: the Specification of the Patent above referred to, boxes of such sizes
and peculiar shapes as are not adapted to the form and limits of the
previous machine.
The plunger and forming mould of the original machine are dispensed
with, so that the hand must perform the labour of folding the blank into
the required form, and of placing the parts which are to receive the
wire staple fastening into position between the staple forming and driving
device and the clinching device. This process of making boxes, although
a somewhat slower one than that performed by a thoroughly automatic
machine, is nevertheless of great advantage in the construction of boxes
of large dimensions, which must generally be made from several pieces
of pasteboard in order to use material economically.
The improvement further enables the manufacturer to construct
boxes of peculiar shapes, which to be made on an automatic machine
would necessitate an impracticable complication of the parts of the
machine.
The working parts of the machine are mounted upon a pedestal to
bring them to a convenient height before the operator. The main
driving shaft carries two cam wheels, one giving movement to a lever
which operates the wire cutter, and the other operating the wire-feeding
mechanism, the hammer lock, and the clinching device through the
medium of suitable levers. The wire to form the staples is placed upon
a spool and suitably mounted; the end being conducted to a bent tube
is drawn by pressure between feed rollers and by them pushed forward
directly under a cutting or hollow punch, the length of wire for it being
'controlled by a ratchet device operating the rollers.
As the cutting tube is forced downward the wire is cut off and bent
over a bending hook, thus forming within the tube a staple with its
points projecting downward. The bending hook is formed with an
angular notch at the point where the wire is to be bent over it, which
serves the purpose of a guide to bring the wire under the centre of the
cutting tube, so that when the staple is formed it can pass with accuracy
into the fine grooves on the inside of the cutting tube, which grooves
serve as guides in directing the staple into the pasteboard.
The cutting tube has an external shoulder, which in its continued
descent presses against the bending hook below its pivot and pushes
i

page_text: it out of position, so that at the proper time the hammer may drive down
through the tube and force the staple into the box beneath it on top of
the clinching device.
The return movement of the bending hook is effected by a spring,
which is also stiff enough to hold the bending hook firmly while the
wire is being bent over it. As the staple is driven by percussion,
making its own holes through the pasteboard, the hammer is driven
down by the spring as soon as it is released by the withdrawal of the
hammer lock.
The return upward of the cutting tube carries the hammer also with
it, so that no separate device is employed to withdraw the hammer, as
in the original machine referred to. As soon as the hammer is carried
up to its highest point the lock passes under its head and retains it
until its force is again required to drive another staple, when the lock
swings out and the hammer is allowed to strike downward with the full
force of the spring.
The clincher, which turns the points of the staples on the inside of
the box, is a modification of that described in the original Patent before
referred to, or it may be made to operate in a similar manner with
such change only as to adapt it to work in connection with the vertical
former and hammer instead of the horizontal former and hammer before
described. It may thus consist of two horizontal bars sliding upon
each other and bending the points of the staple with their ends, or it
may consist of nippers pivotted together and operated through con-
necting links by the endwise movement of a sliding rod.
filed by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills in the Great Seal
Patent Office on 'the 3rd December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I. BENJAMIN
JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 23, 30
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send
greeting:

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
Her special license that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, 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 PAPER AND PASTE-
BOARD BOXES, AND IN MACHINES FOR MAKING THE SAME. AND FOR CUTTING AND
KERFING PAPER AND PASTEBOARD THEREFOR," a communication to
me from
abroad by Henry Renno Heyl, of the City and County of Philadelphia,
and State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard
Mills, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patént.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
do. hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon; that is to say:-
The improvements in paper boxes consist, first, in making the same
in tubular form with one or each of the ends constructed with two or
more flaps to fold one on another, the outer flap being provided with
laterally projecting tongues entering corresponding slits or openings in'
the flap below, so as to constitute an effective lock, the line in which
the tongues enter and leave the slits being at right angles to the line of
strain produced by internal pressure:
12

page_text: This part of the invention is illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, of
the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan of a blank cut
and arranged in readiness for folding; Figure 1* is a transverse section
of the same showing the broad and shallow kerfs by which the blank is
prepared for bending; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the same folded
into a tube preparatory to the folding in of the ends; Figure 3 is a per-
spective view with the ends partly closed; Figure 4 is a perspective view
of the closed box or package.
The blank for the box or wrapper is made and prepared substantially
as illustrated in Figure 1, the proportions being of course varied
The
according to the size and shape of the box or wrapper desired.
blank is then bent into a rectangular tube, as illustrated in Figure 2, or
a tube of any other angular shape, the broad and shallow kerfs which
are formed in the blank on the lines at which it is to be bent as shown
at 1, 1, in Figure. 1, adapting it to be bent with great facility without
marring or injuring the exterior surface. When bent into the form
required it is preferably secured by means of wire staples s, which may
be inserted by machinery herein-after described, or by other preferred
means. Each extremity of the tube thus formed will be seen to consist
of flaps a, a, b, c, equal in number to the sides of the box or wrapper.
In this illustration of a rectangular tube or box a, a, represent the
inner flaps; b, the third flap, which is provided with slits or apertures 3;
and c, the outer flap, on which the lateral tongues 4 are formed to enter
the slits 3. In closing the ends of the box or wrapper the flaps a, a, are
The
first folded in, then the third flap b, and lastly the tongue flap c.
tongues 4 are then inserted in the slits 3. It will now be apparent that
the line of projection of the tongues 4 and the line in which they enter
the slits 3 being transverse to the line in which an opening strain will
be exerted against the flaps b,
will
c, by internal pressure, such pressure
only draw the base of each tongue edgewise against the end of the slit,
and will have no tendency to draw the tongue out. The lateral tongues
thus. constitute an effective lock, entirely avoiding the necessity of tying
the package, and thus distinguish this device clearly from any in which
the tongue is inserted and withdrawn in the line of the opening strain,
or in which the tongue projects longitudinally from the flap or is folded
aroud the box in the same direction as the flap that it is intended to
secure.
blank with broad and shallow kerfs in the

page_text: manner described adapts it it to be folded into any required shape without
marring the exterior surface, as already stated. This results in great
saving of labor from the opportunity afforded of printing or decorating
the external surface of the box or wrapper or applying thereto a surface
paper of any ornamental description while the blank is in a flat state,
so that when the box is once folded it is ready for sale or use.
The improvements consist, secondly, in making a box of a single piece
of paper or pasteboard cut and folded in such shape as to bring all the
edges of the paper to the top of the finished box, so that there shall be
no incision or joint in the paper below the top of the box. The box is
thus rendered tight for containing liquids or semi-liquids.
This part of the Invention is illustrated in Figures 5 to 8, inclusive, of
the Drawings, in which Figure 5 is a plan of a blank properly cut and
kerfed perparatory to folding into a box according to this part of the
Invention; Figure 6 is a sectional perspective view of the finished box;
Figure 7 is a perspective view of the box prepared for filling; Figure 8.
is a perspective view of the finished box illustrating the use of the
handle herein-after described.
The blank shown in Figure 5 is prepared from a single piece of paper
or pasteboard. If they are made of pasteboard they are kerfed along
the lines of folding, as described under the first part of the Invention.
If the paper be employed no kerting is necessary, but simply creasing to
form the desired folds.
.
It is preferred to so proportion the folds and lap them at the sides,
that a single fastening at each side will serve to secure the folds to each
other and to the body of the box, and also to attach a handle of ribbon
or other material. The blanks are cut from square pieces with little
waste, the flaps F, F, F1, F2, to serve as covers or instead of a lid being
formed from the corners of the square sheet. The blanks having been
cut to the proper shape and creased or kerfed, as the case may be, along
the lines of all the angles or folds made necessary in forming the blank
into a box, are painted or decorated or printed on that which is to be the
exterior surface. The blanks thus prepared are bent at 1, 1, so as to
bring the angles 2, 2, together. The laps L, L, thus formed are then
folded around against the sides of the box either inside or outside and
there secured.

page_text: :
It is preferred for reasons herein-after given to fold these laps outside
upon two opposite sides of the box, so that the pair of laps together with
one end of the ribbon H may be secured by a single wire staple s at
each side, as shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8. These staples are readily
made and applied by machinery herein-after described. But it is not
desired in this part of the Invention to limit the claim to the use of wire
staples as the means of fastening, as it is evident that the parts of the
'box
The laps
may be secured by other fastenings or by cement.
may be secured on the inside or outside as preferred, but for ice cream,
fruit, and most commodities for which the box is specially intended a
smooth inside is an advantage, while the external flaps may be made to
add to the attractive appearance of the box. It will be observed that
the manner of folding brings all the edges to the top of the box so that
it will hold liquids.
In closing the box the flaps F, F, are folded in first, affording by their
edges a horizontal support to the joined sides, thus preserving the
rectangularity of the box. The flap F¹ containing the slit 3 is next
folded down and finally the flap F³, the end 4 of which is stuck into the
slit 3 as a fastening, or if preferred a pair of laterally projecting tongues
with corresponding slits may be used as described under the first part of
the Invention. The downwardly tapering form of the boxes adapts them
to be nested together so that a large number may be packed in small
compass for shipment or storage.
1
The Invention relates, thirdly, to a machine for cutting and kerfing
pasteboard for boxes, the said machine being provided with means for
severing the sheet into pieces of the required size adapted to form. the
body of the box, and with devices to make at the same time the necessary
broad and shallow kerfs along the lines where the blank is to be bent
into box form, the kerfs referred to being an improvement on the usual
method of scoring pasteboard for the manufacture of boxes.
The improvement enables the manufacturer to apply covering paper
of any description ornamental or otherwise, or to decorate or print the
external surface of the sheet itself in any desired manner, and after-
wards to bend the sheets into the form of boxes, and if desired to bend
them flat for shipment after the edges are fastened together without
marring the external surface or covering. To this end the material is
thinned from the inside by a flat saw cut about one sixteenth of an inch

page_text: in width, just deep enough to permit the board or paper to be bent at
right angles without straining the cover sufficiently to part it at the
corners of the box.
This part of the Invention is illustrated in Figures 9 to 14, inclusive,
of the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 9 is a rear view of the
cutting and kerfing machine; Figure 10 is a plan of the same partly in
section; Figure 11 is a vertical transverse section thereof on the line 11
Figures 9 and 10; Figure 12 is a side clevation.
Figures 13 and 14 are respectively a side and a rear view of the saw
stock on a larger scale.
Referring to the Drawings which illustrate this part of the Invention
Figures 9 to 14, inclusive, A represents an adjuster employed to bring
the entering edge of the pasteboard parallel with the first pair of feed
rollers B before entering. The board is then pushed forward between
the feed rollers and by them carried into the machine.
Immediately beyond the first feed rollers is a series of circular saws C
and a cylinder D, between which the sheet of pasteboard passes and
receives the requisite number of kerfs in its surface on the lines of the
required folds. It is then taken by a second pair of feed rollers E and
carried forward and received between two series of circular cutters F,
which sever the sheets into strips of any required width. Then by
passing these strips again through the machine at right angles to their
long sides they are again kerfed at the lines required for the folds at
right angles to the first, and finally severed into box blanks of the
required dimensions.
It is obvious that in order to construct a square box the blank must
be trimmed and scored or kerfed in perfectly rectangular shape, and
therefore in cutting the pasteboard the second time it is important that
it should enter the machine accurately at right angles to the first cut
sides. Therefore to have the pasteboard properly adjusted before it is
pushed into the machine, and to avoid delay in feeding, which is
important to reduce the cost of manufacture, the device A is employed
to direct the pasteboard as it enters the machine. A series of arms 1, 1,
placed at short intervals on the rock shaft 2 are so set that the toes 3, 3,
stand in line with each other and parallel with the feed rollers and
cutter shafts of the machine. The toes project above the table high

page_text: passage of inequalities in the board while the saw remains frm, and
cuts always within a fixed depth or distance from the cylinder D. The
stop screw R serves to prevent the guard M from touching and wearing
upon the cylinder. The driving drum G gives motion to all the saws
in use at one time through narrow or round belts g connecting it with
each saw.
By reference to Figure 12 it will be seen that the two pairs of feed
rollers B, E, the cylinder D, and the cutter shafts S are all geared
together so that they run with a uniform speed, and in the direction
of the feed, while the drum G which drives the saws is driven by a
separate belt on a small pulley P in order that the said drum G may
drive the saws at a much greater speed.
The Invention relates, fourthly, to machinery for making paper boxes
and consists chiefly in modifications of or additions to the machine
described in the Specification of Letters Patent, No. 2291, for the
year 1872.
One purpose of the present improvements is to provide a way to
manufacture, with the use of wire staple fastenings as set forth in the
Specification of the Patent above referred to, boxes of such size and
peculiar shapes as are not adapted to the form and limits of the previous
machine.
The plunger and forming mold of the original machine are dispensed
with, so that the hand must perform the labor of folding the box
blank into the required shape, and of placing the parts which are to
receive the wire staple fastening in position between the staple forming
and driving device, and the clinching device: This process of making
boxes, although a somewhat slower one than that performed by a
thoroughly automatic machine, is nevertheless of great advantage in
the construction of boxes of large dimensions which must generally
be made from several pieces of pasteboard in order to use material
economically.
The improvement further enables the manufacturer to construct
boxes of peculiar shapes which to be made on an automatic machine
ainable multinlination and complication of

page_text: This part of the Invention is illustrated in Figures 15 to 26, inclusive,
of the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 15 is a side elevation of
the machine; Figure 16 is a front view of the same.
Figure 17 is a view of the opposite side from that shown in Figure 15;
Figure 18 is a plan view.
Figure 19 is a vertical section of the clincher and its accessories on
the line 19, Figure 18; Figure 20 is a vertical section of the same on a
plane at right angles to that represented in Figure 19; Figure 21 is a
horizontal section of the same parts on the line 21, Figure 17; Figure 22
is a horizontal section on the line 22, Figure 17.
i
Figure 23 is a sectional elevation of a modified form of clincher and
its accessories, Figure 1 showing also a part of the attaching bracket for
this clinching mechanism; Figure 24 is a vertical section on the line 24,
Figure 23.
Figure 25 is a vertical longitudinal section of the clinching mechanism
in another modified form; Figure 26 is a transverse section on the line
26, Figure 25.
The working parts of the machine are mounted upon a pedestal to
bring them to a convenient height before the operator who sits on a high
stool in front of the machine with a pile of paper box blanks conveniently
placed at his side. The whole mechanism derives motion in proper time
through the main shaft A, Figures 15, 16, 17, and 18, which is driven
by power applied to the pulley B. To the main shaft are fixed two cam
wheels, one marked C giving movement to the lever D, which operates
the wire cutter E, and the other marked F operating through the lever
G and wire feeding device H and a hammer lock I and through the
lever K the clinching device L.
The operation of the machine is described as follows:-The wire used
to form the staple fastening is placed upon a spool preferably hung on a
stud at M, the wire leading to a bent tube N is drawn by pressure
between the feed rollers O, O, and by them pushed forward directly
under the cutting tube E, the length of wire fed being controlled by the
uniform motion of the lever G operating a ratchet P which is fixed on
the shaft of one of the feed rollers O.
As the cutter tube E is forced downward the wire is cut off and bent
over the bending hook R in the position shown in Figure 6, forming thus

page_text: a staple in the tube E with its points directed downward. This bending
hook is formed with a V notch at the point where the wire is to be bent
over which serves the purpose of a guide to bring the wire under the
centre of the cutting tube so that when the staple is formed it can pass
with accuracy into the fine grooves on the inside of the cutting tube E,
which serves as guides in directing the staple into the pasteboard. As
the tube E continues its descent the shoulder S in the tube presses
against the bending hook R below its pivot and pushes it out of position
so that at the proper time the hammer T may strike down through the
tube E and on top of the clinchers L.
The return movement of the bending hook is compelled by the
spring B, which is also stiff enough to hold the bending hook firmly
while the wire is being bent over it. As the staple is driven by per-
cussion, making its own hole through the pasteboard, the hammer T is
driven down by the spring W as soon as it is released by the withdrawal
of the lock I.
The return upward of the tube E carries the hammer T also with it so
that no separate device is employed to withdraw the hammer as in the
original machine referred to. As soon as the hammer is carried up to
its highest point the lock passes under its head, and retains it until its
force is again required to drive another staple, when the lock springs out
and the hammer is allowed to strike down with the full force of the
spring
a
"
The clincher L, which turns the points of the staple on the inside of
the box, is connected with the lever K and cam wheel F, and is a modi-
fication of the original form of clincher, being adapted to clinch the
wires at right angles to the bracket Y which supports the clinching
device. The clincher proper consists of two jaws 1, 1, Figures 16
and 22, one attached to a hollow sleeve 2, and the other to a shaft 3
within said sleeve, the sleeve and shaft having arms 4, 5, projecting in
opposite directions, and connected by rods 6, 7, with the lever K.
Figures 25 and 26 show a clinching mechanism similar to that
described in the Patent already referred to, but adapted to work hori-
zontally instead of vertically, the staple being, in this instance, driven
vertically instead of horizontally as in the old machine. The bracket Y².
carrying the clinching mechanism, shown in Figures 11 and 12, is
attached in the place of the bracket Y, and is worked by the contact of
(

page_text: the lever G. with studs 8 on a lever 9 fulcrumed at 10, and connected
by links 11, 12, with the clincher slides 13, 14.
Still another modification of the clincher is in the form of a post with
nippers 15 at the top, as shown at X, Figures 23 and 24. This post
forms part of a bracket Y' which connects it to the pedestal, as shown in
Figure 15. The nippers 15 are connected by links 16 to a vertical rod 17
and
jointed to a lever 18 which is fulcrumed at 19 to the bracket Y',
actuated through a rod 20 from the lever K.
The object of the clinching device last described is to clinch staples at
the bottoms of deep boxes which cannot be reached by either of the
other forms of clinchers shown.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the mode
in which the same is carried into effect I would have it understood that
what I claim is,-.
First. In the construction of boxes from paper or pasteboard the
kerfs K formed on the inside of the blank, as herein shown and des-
cribed, upon the lines of the desired folds, the said kerfs being of greater
width than depth for the purposes specified.
Secondly. A paper box constructed with wide shallow kerfs on the
inside of the bends or angles, as herein shown, for the purposes set
forth.
Thirdly. A paper or pasteboard box or wrapper secured in a tubular
form, and closed at one or both ends by portions of the sides thereof,
bent over and locked into each other by the laterally extending
tongues E and corresponding openings D as described.
Fourthly. A box formed of a single piece of paper folded substantially
as shown, to form laps L reaching to the top or about the top of the box
proper.
Fifthly. The laps L, L, L, L, secured to each other in pairs and to the
sides of the box by a single fastening at each side.
Sixthly. The handle H secured at each end by the same fastening.
Seventhly. The adjuster A operating substantially as set forth.
Eighthly. The combination of the adjuster A and grooved feed
rollers B, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

page_text: Ninthly. The kerfing saws C in combination with the cylinder D,
substantially as set forth.
Tenthly. The combination of the guards M and saws C, substantially
as set forth.
Eleventhly. The improved bending hook R constructed and operating
substantially as described.
Twelfthly. The V notch in the bending hook R in combination with
the internally grooved cutting tube E, operating substantially as and for
the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
B. J. B. MILLS. (L.S.)