Improved Process of and Apparatus for Seaming previously Waxed or otherwise Waterproofed Paper or Fabric and Bags or other Articles manufactured therefrom.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Oct., 1897-Accepted, 20th May, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Process of and Apparatus for Seaming previously Waxed
or otherwise Waterproofed Paper or Fabric and Bags or other
Articles manufactured therefrom.
I, FERDINAND BOSSHARDT, of the Firm of F. Bosshardt & Co., of 4, Corporation
Street, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention, which has been communicated to me by William
Wesley Simonson, of N.W. Corner 9th and Race Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.,
Chemist, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In the manufacture of certain articles, such as bags, etc., in which the fabric
is provided with a waxed, oiled or water-proof coating, such, preferably, as
paraffine, it has been found necessary to make the article out of the fabric in its
normal or natural state and then apply the coating of wax material owing to the
inability to make a strong joint or seam between the waxed surfaces where the
fabric is first coated.
This difficulty has arisen from the repellant power of the wax or other water-
proof coating to the adhesive material required to make the joint. But I have
discovered that by applying heat and pressure to the seam after the adhesive
material has been placed between the two edges, the adhesive material is caused to
penetrate the otherwise impervious coating and to come into contact with and
adhere to the fibres to such an extent as to produce a good, strong joint which will
hold the edges together for any desired purpose.
My invention therefore relates to the method of and apparatus for joining
together waxed, oiled or other water-proof edges to form a seam or joint, and also
to the article thus produced, and it consists in the novel features of the same as
will be hereinafter particularly set forth.
As showing one means of practising my invention, although I do not confine
myself thereto, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which-
Figure 1 shows one means of applying the heat by means of hand or manual
effort, and
Figure 2 shows a means of carrying it out by the aid of machinery.
To carry out the process, I take glutinous matter, paste, cement or other suitable
material, of stiff consistency with little moisture in it, and apply it in a strip or
band of desired width along the margin of one of the sheets of paper or other
fabric to be seamed together. I then lap upon this the margin of the other sheet
to be so united and, under some pressure, pass over or press upon the joint so
formed, a beated iron or other suitable implement; by which operation the
protecting wax, hitherto impervious to the sticking material, is so softened or
melted that the stiff sticking material penetrates to the fibre or substance of the
fabric, fixing and setting itself firmly thereto, while the beat quickly evaporates
the moisture of the sticking-material stimulating its chemical action, if any, and
leaves the two margins of fabric firmly seamed together and without materially
impairing its coating or filling of protecting material. The preferred composition
D
017

page_text: of the sticking-material is wheat, or rye flour suitably moistened and sufficient
glue added to make the mass somewhat stiff but pliable.
Referring more particularly to the drawings, indicates an ordinary flat or
smoothing iron which may be heated in the ordinary manner. The paper 2 to be
joined of seamed is folded or creased with its edges overlapping the desired dis-
tance, as shown at 3. A layer or film of glutinous or other adhesive material 4,
is placed between the edges 3, and the iron 1 is passed back and forth along the
seam until the heat has melted the coating of the paper and the pressure of the
iron has caused the two surfaces of the paper to approach each other to such an
extent that its fibres come in contact with the adhesive material and are thereby
joined together so that as soon as the iron or heat is removed the adhesive material
hardens and the seam or joint is complete. A hand roller might be substituted
for the smoothing iron.".
; .1 *!
י,
Instead of using the heated iron to carry out the hand process seen in Figure 1,
any other metal, tile, stone or other substance capable of applying the heat for
the consummation of the operation may be used; and it is obvious that the form
or shape of such heat-imparting implement or substance may vary; and the paper
duly lapped, with the sticking-material intervening, can be passed between one or
more pairs of revolving rolls, under the requisite pressure, (as shown in Figure 2)
one or both of each pair of rolls being heated.
In this form of machine, the series of rollers 5 and 6 are arranged in the usual
manner, some or all of which may be heated in any well known manner. The
paper is placed at one end of the series as in a roll 7, and is fed in between the
rollers after the adhesive material has been applied or placed between the over-
lapping edges of the paper. As the paper passes between the consecutive pairs of
rollers sufficient heat and pressure is applied to cause the edges to become secured
to each other as effectively as in the ordinary process of joining edges of paper
Owing to the small surface of the rollers which engage with the paper at any given
time, it is desirable that there be a series of rollers, as shown, although only a
portion of them may be heated. If desired, an ordinary paper-bag machine may
be introduced between the roll of paper 7 and the first pair of the series of rollers 5
& 6, as indicated at 8, in which case it would be preferable to pass a belt or suit-
able conveyor 9, as seen in dotted lines, between the different pairs of the series
of rollers to convey the bags or other articles successively through the series of
rollers, and thereby cause the adhesive material applied by the machine, to stick
or join the edges of the paper together.
Heretofore, the impervious nature of the coating or filling of such fabrics has
been an insurmountable and an impassable barrier or obstacle to securely uniting
or seaming them together by the usual methods of gluing, pasting or cementing.
My discovery renders it practicable.
This process is applicable both to coated and saturated paper or other fabric,
whether waxed, oiled or otherwise similarly treated. For an oiled surface, the
paper or fabric is seamed by the heat volatilizing the oil, and simultaneously
inelting the paste sufficient to take up the vapor, and then the pressure sets the
seam while the oil and paste are hot.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim, is:
First: The herein described method of seaming or joining together the edges
of previously waxed fabric, consisting in applying an adhesive material thereto,
then over-lapping said edges, and then applying heat and pressure to the edges,
substantially as set forth.
Second: The herein described method of seaming or joining together the edges
of previously waxed fabric, consisting in applying. a,glutinous adhesive material
thereto, then overlapping said edges, and then applying heat and pr
heat and pressure to the
edges, substantially as set forth."

page_text: Third: In an apparatus for joining or seaming the edges of previously waxed
or waterproofed paper or other similarly treated fabric together, the combination
of a heated surface and means for moving the heated surface and the fabric rela-
tively to each other under pressure, substantially as set forth.
Fourth As a new article of manufacture, a receptacle comprising a piece of
previously waxed fabric, the edges of which are over-lapped and seamed or joined
together by means of an adhesive material different from the material with which
the fabric is coated, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 4th day of October 1897
F. BOSSHARDT & Co.,
4, Corporation Street, Manchester, Agents to Applicant.