Improvements in Method of and Mechanism for Making Tags.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Feb., 1899- Accepted, 1st Apr., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Method of and Mechanism for Making Tags.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM SWIFT, Junior, of Bordentown, in the State of New
Jersey, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention is particularly addressed to the manufacture of tags of the type
having a reinforced portion perforated to receive an attaching cord or wire.
Such tags are ordinarily formed of paper, card-board, coated textile fabric or
similar material, by several distinct operations upon separate machines, for
instance; the tags may be cut to the proper size in one machine, perforated in
another machine, and subsequently printed upon in an ordinary printing press.
Such a method of manufacture necessitates the repeated handling of the tags
previous to their completion, and is consequently costly.
My invention comprises a method and means whereby tags are formed from
a continuous web at what may be considered as a single operation in the sense
that said web is automatically fed through a single machine, from which the
tags are automatically discharged in finished form and provided with any de-
sired imprint. Such a method of manufacture of course obviates the necessity
for handling the tags or any part thereof, and is consequently economical of
both time and labor.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown a machine conveniently embody-
ing the essential mechanisms to make and imprint tags as above set forth.
In said drawings, Fig. 1, is a plan view of said machine.
Fig. 2, is an elevation of the front end of the machine, being the end shown
at the lower part of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3, is a sectional view taken on the line 3, 3, of Fig. 1, in the direction
of the arrows upon said line.
Fig. 4, is an elevation of the rear end of the machine, opposite to that shown
in Fig. 2.
Fig. 5, is a plan sectional view taken on the line 5, 5, of Figs. 2, and 4.
Fig. 6, is a fragmentary end elevation similar to Fig. 4, showing a different
adjustment of the knife mechanism.
Figs. 7, and 8, are vertical sectional views taken centrally through the per-
forating dies showing the detailed construction thereof.
Fig. 9, is a vertical sectional view taken centrally through the reservoir for
adhesive liquid, and showing the detailed construction of the outlet valves
thereof.
Fig. 10, is a fragmentary end elevation of the notching dies.
Fig. 11, is a sectional view taken on the line 11, 11, of Fig. 10, in the direc-
tion of the arrows upon said line.
Fig. 12, is a detail view of the ratchet forming part of the shear shifting
mechanism, operative in the formation of tag gangs.
Fig. 13, is a detail view of the ratchet forming part of the feeding mechanism
for the tag body web.

page_text: Figs. 14 to 19 inclusive show different products produced by varying the
adjustments of the machine, said figs. illustrating somewhat diagrammatically
the steps in the manufacture, beginning at the lert hand side of the figs., and
showing the severed complete products at the right hand side thereof.
Fig. 14, shows the most elaborate product of the machine, being a tag having
a portion reinforced and said reinforced portion perforated, the corners of the
tag body adjoining said perforations being removed and the tag provided with
an imprint.
Fig. 15, shows a tag formed of the same outline as that of Fig. 14, but not
reinforced or imprinted.
Fig. 16, shows a tag in which the corners remain rectangular, the tag body
being reinforced and perforated as aforesaid, but not imprinted.
Fig. 17, shows a tag in which the corners remain rectangular, the tag body
being perforated and imprinted but not reinforced.
Fig. 18, shows a tag in which the corners remain rectangular, the tag body
being perforated but not reinforced or imprinted.
Fig. 19, shows what is known to the trade as a gang of tags, six tags being
shown as connected in series solely at their top and bottom. edges, by a narrow
uncut portion of the tag body web.
In said drawings A, is the main frame or table, supported upon suitable
standards A¹, and A2, B, is the main driving shaft, provided with the usual
tight and loose pulleys B', and B, and 1, is a hand wheel mounted upon the
extremity of the shaft B. 13, B3, are duplicate gears loosely mounted upon
said shaft B, and provided with clutch faces 6, 6. 13, B4, are duplicate
clutch sleeves suitably keyed upon the shaft B, and provided with clutch
faces 6, 6, opposed to the respective clutch faces 63, upon the gears B³. Said
.clutches are engaged and disengaged by means of levers B, fulcrummed upon
the frame member a, and connected by the link 6, with the hand lever B6.
The gears B3, B³, are respectively engaged with duplicate gears C, C, fixed
upon the shaft C, mounted for rotation in the frame member A*, (see Fig. 3).
Said gears C, are provided with eccentric wrist pins c, c, and the latter are con-
nected by pitmen C, C, with toggle levers C2, C3. Said levers C², are mounted
for oscillation upon the stud shaft A2, which is fixed in the frame member a³,
and the levers C³, are pivotally connected at 3, with the chase D, the lower shaft
member d of which is mounted for oscillation within the depending frame mem-
bers a¹. Said chase D, is connected by links e, e, with the oscillatory frame E,
loosely mounted upon the shaft A2, and provided at its outer extremity with a
spring journaled inking roller E; the relation of the parts being such that the
roller E, traverses the face of the type D³, mounted in the chase D, during
the backward stroke of the latter, and during the forward stroke of the chase the
roller E, is presented against the inking roller F*.
As shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4, said roller F, is mounted in bearings a³, upon
the frame A; provided with the usual ink distributing rollers f³, and rotated
by the gear wheel f, which is fixed upon the extremity of the roller shaft F,
and connected by the chain f¹, with the driving gear F, upon the shaft B. The
i laten G, opposed to the chase D, supports the tag web X, as it is progressed
across said platen with a step by step movement and operated upon by the
various tag forming elements of the machine.
The co-operation of the various elements of the machine may be better under-
stood by preliminary examination of Fig. 14, which illustrates somewhat dia-
grammatically the various steps in the manufacture of the most elaborate pro-
duct of the machine illustrated. At the left of said fig., is shown the blank
web X, which is progressed in the direction of the arrow, between the reinforced
strips Y, which are progressed, step by step, in the direction of the arrow marked
upon them. Said strips Y, are coated with adhesive on their respective faces
adjacent to the web X, and disk portions y, are punched from the strips Y;
compressed against said web, and together with the latter perforated as indicated

page_text: at z. The perforations z, serve to receive attaching cord or wire, and said
disks y, serve to reinforce the perforated body of the tag. The corners of the
tag adjoining the perforation z, are shaped as shown at the right hand side of
said fig. and this is conveniently effected by notching the lower edge of the
web X, as indicated at a.
The machine is adapted to receive webs X, of differing widths; the width of
said web representing the length of the tags which are formed therefrom; and,
in order that the width of the various sizes of tags may be made in proportion
to the lengths thereof, I have fixed the perforating mechanism in position upon
the frame A; and provided means to predetermine and adjust the extent of
feeding traverse of said web X, during the intervals of operation of said
mechanism. In order that the notches at the lower edge of said web may be
made in correspondence with the variation in feeding traverse of said web, I
have provided means to adjust the position of the notching mechanism, toward
and from said perforating mechanism, and have also provided means to adjust
the notching die, vertically with respect to the lower edge of said web, to vary
the dimensions of the notches therein. The types or blocks mounted in said
chase D, to imprint upon the tag body web X, are of course adjusted hori-
zontally and vertically to proper relation with the particular width of tag body
imprinted, so that the respective tag imprints wc, shall be centrally located in
line with the respective tag perforations z, as indicated in Fig. 14.
Referring now to Fig., 2, H, H, are guide rods between which the tag body
web X, is fed to the machine, and said rods are conveniently provided with
vertically adjustable guide plates h, which maintain said web in proper relation
to the tag forming elements of the machine of which I shall first describe the
reinforcing and perforating mechanism.
The reinforcing strips Y, Y, are placed in rolls upon reels, I, I, upon oppo-
site sides of the reservoir J, which contains a supply of adhesive liquid, with
which the strips Y, are coated upon their respective surfaces subsequently pre-
sented next to the web X; the coating operation is conveniently effected as
follows:-
Referring to Figs. 2, and 9, j, j, are ports in the bottom of the reservoir J,
the mouths j, of said ports being narrow slots of length somewhat less than the
width of the strips Y. Each of said ports j, is provided with a stop valve J*,
cut away in registry with the respective ports as indicated at *. The valve
bodies are conveniently uniform and are rotated by the handles J¹, to, open or
close the ports 1. Opposed to the respective port mouths j¹, are rollers J2,
mounted for rotation upon studs, projecting from arms J³, swung from
centers, upon the reservoir J. The spring J4, connecting the studs 2, serves
to maintain the rollers J, against the port mouths j¹. The respective strips Y,
extend from the reels I, between the rollers J2, and the respective mouths 11, to
which said rollers are opposed. It is obvious that when the valves J, are open
as shown in Fig. 9, the liquid adhesive in the reservoir J, gravitates through
the ports j, and is spread upon the strips Y, upheld by the rollers J³, the strips
being evenly and continuously coated with the adhesive as they pass over said
rollers Jº.
Referring to Figs. 2, 7, and 8: K. K, are die blocks having ducts k, k,
The tag web X, extends horizontally
through which the strips Y. Y, extend.
between the die blocks K, K, and the strips Y, Y, the normal position of the
parts being that shown in Fig. 7 wherein the die plungers K¹. K2, are with-
drawn from the path of travel of the strips Y. The plungers K', K³, recipro-
cates from the position shown in Fig. 7, to that shown in Fig. 8, and in their
travel, punch disk portions y, from the respective webs Y, Y; compress said
portions upon the web X, and perforate the latter as shown at z, in Fig. 14.
The plunger head K', is connected by the link , with the lever K, ful-
crummed at 6, upon the frame standard A', and connected by the pitman K7,
with the cam K8, fixed upon the shaft B. The link K³, which is also con-

page_text: nected at the top of the lever K6, extends to the lower end of the lever K, which
is fulcrummed at 9, upon the frame A, and is connected at its upper extremity
with the plunger head K³, by the link : so that the cam K³, serves to oppo-
sitely reciprocate both of the plungers K¹, and K2.
It will be noticed that a double punching operation is effected by the single
reciprocation of the plungers K¹, and K². The plunger K2, being loosely
mounted for reciprocation in the plunger head K, is thrust outwardly there-
from by the spring, and normally assumes the position shown in Fig. 7,
with respect to the central plunger stem 3. Said stem registers with the
passage way k¹. in the plunger K₁, forming with the latter a secondary set of
punching dies. The plunger K4, having a longer stroke of reciprocation than
the plunger head K³, the excess of movement of the former is sufficient to carry
the die stem 3, through the tag web X. and the reinforcing pieces y, y, forming
the perforation z, therein (as shown in Fig. 8), the plunger head K, and stem ³,
shifting with respect to the plunger K2, during the latter portion of its stroke.
The strips Y. Y, are drawn from the reels I, I, over the rollers J², and through
the die blocks K. by the feed rollers L. L. The roller L, is provided with a
ratchet 1, engaged by the pawl 7, upon the pawl disk L', which is connected by
the pitman L, with the cam L³, upon the shaft B, (see Figs. 2, and 5), said
cam L³, serves to reciprocate the pitman L2, and partly rotate the roller L, at each
revolution of the shaft B, so that the strips Y, are shifted step by step to be
punched throughout as indicated in Fig. 14. The roller L*, opposed to the
roller L, is mounted eccentrically upon the short shaft, journalled in the
standard A¹, and provided at its inner extremity with a lever 4, connected by
the spring 75, with said standard; the parts being so related that said spring
tends to shift the center of rotation of the roller L, toward the roller L, to firmly
grip the strips Y, Y, fed between said rollers.
The web X, is intermittently progressed by the feed-rollers MP, M10, an
amount predetermined and adjusted in accordance with the dimensions of the
tags to be produced, as follows:
Referring to Figs. 1, 4, 5, and 13. M. is a gear wheel fixed upon the shaft B,
and engaged with the gear wheel M¹, fixed upon the shaft m¹. journaled in the
standard A. M³, is an eccentric stud radially adjustable in the slide way m²,
fixed upon the gear M. The rack pitman M³, is journaled at one extremity
upon said stud M³, and is yoked at the other extremity for engagement with the
gear wheel M, fixed upon the nawl disk M5. Said yoke and disk are loosely
mounted upon the shaft M. and the pawl m³. upon the pawl disk M5, engages
with the ratchet wheel M7, fixed upon the shaft M6. Said shaft is mounted
for rotation in the standard A3, and in the frame member a is provided with
the hand wheel M*, and connected by the mitre gears me, with the shaft M8,
upon which is fixed the web feeding roller M. Said roller M9, is opposed by
the pressure roller M10, mounted in the usual spring bearings and said rollers
are connected at their upper extremities by respective gears m³, and m¹0. The
slide way m², is conveniently graduated to represent the fractions of an inch of
circumference of the feed roller M. so that the eccentric stud M³, may be
directly adjusted in accordance with the size of the tags to be produced to rotate
the roller M, the extent of one tag width at each stroke.
:
The mechanism for forming the notches, shown in Fig. 14. is conveniently
located in the line of travel of the web X, between the die blocks K, K, and the
feed rollers M. M10, and is constructed as follows:-
Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 5, 10, and 11: N, is a cam fixed upon the shaft B.
engaging with the roller n¹, upon the lower extremity of a lever N, mounted
for oscillation in the frame A. The upper extremity of said lever N¹, com-
prises a shaft n³, upon which is journalled a link N2, serving to actuate the
notching plunger N³, mounted for reciprocation in the die block N*. The
forward extremity of said plunger N³, is shaped in conformity with the
notches shown in Fig. 14, and registers with a similarly shaped die plate n*.

page_text: As the notches r, are centrally located between the perforations in the tag
body web, it follows that the notching plunger must be shifted horizontally
away from the perforating mechanism in accordance with the increase of width
of the tags manufactured. The notches r, also vary in dimensions in proportion
to the size of tags produced; I have therefore found it convenient to mount the.
idle block N, upon an inclined slide bearing a³, upon the frame A, to which it
is secured by the screw clamp No. The angle of inclination of said slide bearing
is such that when the die block N', is shifted horizontally from one graduation
to another, (representing the standard sizes of tags) the die block is also raised
or lowered in accordance therewith, to proportionately vary the dimensions of
the notches produced in the edge of the web X, the long pivotal connection for
the link N2, at the top of the lever N¹, permitting such adjustment.
After passing, in its feeding traverse, the reinforcing, perforating, notching
and printing mechanisms above described, the tag body web Y, may be sheared
to form disconnected tags, as shown in Fig. 14, or, may be slit and sheared to
form tag gangs of differing numbers, connected at top and bottom as shown in
Fig. 19. The particular operation of the shearing mechanism to sever or slit
the web X, and the number of tags in the gangs aforesaid, being predetermined
by adjustments of said mechanism as follows:
As shown in Fig. 6, O, is the oscillatory shear blade fulcrummed at o, upon
the shear frame 01, upon which is fixed the ledger blade 0%. The cam P, fixed
upon the shaft B, engages the roller p¹, upon the pitman P₁, and the latter is
provided at its opposite extremity with a yoke P*, pivoted to the shear blade O,
at p; said blade being thereby oscillated upon its fulcrum o, once during each
revolution of the shaft B, and cam P.
When it is desired to sever the web X, by the stroke of the blade O, it is
necessary that the overlap of said blades O, and 0%, shall be co-extensive with
or exceed the width of the web X, fed between them by the rollers M, Mo.
When however, it is desired to merely slit said web in the formation of tag
gangs the overlap must be adjusted to equal the length of the slit desired. In
order that said blade 0, may be adjustably shifted with respect to the blade Ox,
with a resulting increase or diminution in the length of said overlap; the
extremity of said pitman P¹, comprises a pivoted sector P2, which is clamped in
adjusted position with respect to said pitman by means of the set screw p².
To permit of the adjustment of the shears and frame 01, toward and from the
notching mechanism in accordance with the aforesaid adjustment of the latter,
for differing widths of tags; the yoke P, is mounted in the slide way P³, upon
said sector P2, being secured thereon by the set screw p; the frame O¹, being
adjustably mounted upon the frame A, as follows:-
-
Referring to Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6: The vertical fixed member A3, of the
frame, supports the frame member A4, which is vertically adjustable thereon by
means of the screw A5, which is mounted for idle rotation in A4, but in threaded
engagement with the boss A6, upon A³; the screw A7, serving to secure the
parts A³, and A', in adjusted position. The frame member A8, is horizontally
adjustable upon the member A, toward and from the notching mechanism, being
secured in adjusted position by the set screw A³.
It is obvious that by adjustment of the sector P2, upon the pitman P¹, and of
the yoke p, and the frame A8, the shears may be set to operate in any desired
position with respect to the web X, however, to effect the double operation of
slitting and severing said web necessary in the production of tag gangs; the
shear frame 01, is mounted for vertical reciprocation upon the frame mem-
ber A8, upon which it is automatically raised and lowered by the cam Q. and
the opposed spring 02. The cam Q, is fixed upon the shaft Q. mounted for
rotation in the brackets at, of the frame member A, and opposed to said cam
is a friction roller o¹, journaled in the shear frame 0¹, the latter being slotted
as indicated at o², to permit of the vertical movement of said frame with respect
to the shaft Q. The spring 03, connecting the frame A', with the frame 01,

page_text: serves to uplift the latter to the limit of the slot o², when the roller o¹, is freed
from engagement with the cam Q*.
When it is desired to set the shearing mechanism to form tag gangs, the
shear frame O¹, being maintained in its upper position, the frame A*, is
adjusted vertically until the lower corners of the blade O, is at the desired point
in the tag body web, above the lower edge thereof; the sector P², is then shifted
to effect the desired extent of overlap of the blade O, upon the blade 03. The
successive strokes of the shear-blade O, when thus adjusted will produce a series
of slits in the web X, without severing the latter, until the shear frame 0¹, is
thrust bodily downward by the revolution of the cam Q, whereupon the lower
corner of the blade O, is carried below the edge of the web X, and the changed
relation of the parts increasing the overlap of the shears, the web is thereby
completely severed. The number of tag slits in a gang is therefore dependent
upon the sequence of revolution of the cam Q, and shaft Q, with respect to the
cam P, and shaft B, which is predetermined and adjusted as follows:-
;
Referring to Figs. 1, 4, 5, 6, and 12; The crank arm R, is fixed upon the
shaft B, and provided with an eccentric stud R', adjustably mounted in the slide
way r, upon which is journaled one extremity of the rack pitman R², which is
yoked at the other extremity in engagement with the gear wheel R³, fixed upon
the pawl disk R. Said yoke and disk are loosely mounted upon the shaft Q,
and, as shown in Fig. 12, the pawl 4, engages the ratchet wheel Q¹,
fixed upon said. shaft. The stud R¹, may be radially adjusted in the
slide way Ti so that said Fawl is caused to shift the ratchet
wheel shaft Q, and cam Q*, the extent of any aliquot number of
teeth q for instance, the number of said teeth illustrated being 12, the stud R',
may be set as indicated in Fig. 6, to shift said ratchet and cam the extent of two
teeth at each revolution of the shaft B, and slitting stroke of the shear blade O,
so that upon the sixth stroke of the latter the cam Q, will have made a complete
revolution; the shear frame Q, being thereby depressed, said stroke of the
shear blade 0, will completely sever the web, producing a tag gang such as
shown in Fig. 19. The stud R¹, may be similarly adjusted to increased eccen-
tricity to produce gangs of 4, 3, and 2 tags respectively. When however, it
is desired to completely sever the web X, at each stroke of the shear blade O,
the stud R', is shifted to concentric relation with the shaft B as indicated in
Fig. 4, and, the cam Q, being in the position shown in Fig. 6; the shear
frame 01, remains stationary and the parts just described are out of operation.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 4, S, is a delivery chute, provided with guides s, s,
conveniently adjustable to receive the tags or gangs severed from the web X,
the bracket extension T, upon the blade O, serving to facilitate the delivery of
the tags upon said chute.
To facilitate the counting of the tags or gangs produced, the shaft m¹, is
provided with a crank arm U, connected by the link U, with the pawl lever U2, the
pawl u, upon the latter engages the ratchet wheel U³, fixed upon the shaft U
and the striker u, upon said shaft serves to operate the bell U³, at intervals
determined by the relation of the parts.
It is obvious that various modifications may be made with out departing
from the spirit of my invention, I therefore do not desire to limit myself to the
precise construction which I have shown and described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that which I
claim is:
1. The combination with means to progress a tag
to notch the edge of said web at regular intervals,
mechanism with respect to said web, to vary the
therein, substantially as set forth.
body web,-of mechanism
and means to adjust said
dimensions of the notches

page_text: 2. The combination with means to progress a tag body web,- of mechanism
to notch the edge of said web at regular intervals, and a wedge block- to adjust
said mechanism with respect to said web, to vary the dimensions of of the notches
therein, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination with means to progress a tag body web, of an oscillatory
blade to slit said web, and means to adjust the relative position of the center
of oscillation of said blade and the edge of said web, to vary the dimensions of
the slits in said web, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination with a stationary reservoir for an adhesive compound,―
of a port leading from said reservoir, a strip of fabric,-and means to progress
said strip in such relation to the mouth of said port as to receive a continuous
coating of adhesive directly therefrom, substantially as set forth.
5. The combination with a reservoir for an adhesive compound,-of a port
leading from said reservoir,--a valve for said port, a strip of fabric, and means
to progress said strip in such relation to the mouth of said port as to receive a
coating of adhesive directly therefrom, substantially as set forth.
6. The combination with a reservoir for an adhesive compound,-of a port
leading from said reservoir, a strip of fabric,-means to progress said strip,-
and means to continuously present said strip against the mouth of said port,
to receive the adhesive directly therefrom, substantially as set forth.
7. The combination with a reservoir for an adhesive compound,-of a port
leading from said reservoir,-a strip of fabric, means to progress said strip,-
and a roller opposed to said port to present said strip against the mouth thereof,
to receive the adhesive directly therefrom, substantially as set forth.
8. The combination with means to progress a tag body web,-of an oscillatory
blade to slit said web, and means to adjustably shift the plane of action of said
blade in the direction of traverse of said web, substantially as set forth.
9. The combination with means to progress a tag body web,-of an oscillatory
blade to slit said web,-a frame in which said blade is fulcrummed,--and means
to adjustably shift said frame in the direction of traverse of said web, substan-
tially as set forth.
10. The combination with means to progress a tag body web,-of a blade to
slit said web,-and means to adjustably vary the operative stroke of said
blade, substantially as set forth.
11. The combination with means to progress a tag body web-of a blade to
make a series of slits in said web,-means to automatically vary the operative
stroke of said blade at regular intervals in said series, and means to adjustably
predetermine the intervals of said variations, substantially as set forth.
12. The combination with means to progress a tag body web,-of an oscillatory
blade to make a series of slits in said web,-means to automatically vary the
dimensions of said slits, at regular intervals in said series, and means to adjust-
ably predetermine the intervals of said variations, substantially as set forth.
13. The combination with a printing press, of means to intermittently feed
a tag body web in such relation to said press as to receive successive imprints
therefrom, and an oscillatory blade to slit said web at regular intervals during
its feeding traverse; said blade being adjustable toward and from the place of
imprint, substantially as set forth.
D
AL
101
T
1000