Improvements in or relating to Metal Strips for Stapling Machines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 29th Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Metal Strips for Stapling
Machines.
A communication from EMIL SALTZKORN, Consul, and LUDWIG NICOLAI,
Manufacturer, both of Lobtauer Strasse 20, Dresden, Saxony, Empire of
Germany.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
a certained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a strip for joints of various materials such as woven
fabric, paper, cardboard, leather and the like. The strip is formed of sheet metal
and is in the form of a rolled band of unlimited length which, for the purpose of
abolishing friction whereby free and reliably uniforin delivery is hindered, it is
roughened near the edges on one or both sides by having a number of sharp points
beaten or stamped out by mechanical means, so that when rolled up, the surfaces
are kept from coming in contact, and on unrolling for the purpose of feed-delivery,
the feed-rollers, or other delivering mechanism, are enabled to take firm hold of
the strip.
In employing sheet-metal strips for seams for joints etc. the strips have hitherto
been of very restricted length, say from one-half to one metre, and automatic feed-
devices, such as have been usually employed in wire stitching machines, have never
been applied to strip-seam stapling machines, because, for good work, it is
indispensable that the strips must be fed forward in exactly equal lengths at a
uniform rate. This however cannot be attained by rolling the strips on a cylinder
or core as, on account of the adhesion of the smooth strips to each other on the
roller, and of the slipping of their smooth surfaces between the smooth feed rollers,
irregularities in the feed-delivery are inevitable.
The present invention renders possible the use of roller-strips in a stapling
machine with automatic feed, because the strip, before being rolled up, passes
through a machine which strikes or punches out sharp points or teeth on one or
both sides of it, or roughens one or both sides and both edges or both edges only.
Thus, on rolling up the strip, the two surfaces no longer touch one another, but the
points or roughnesses (which are uniform in size) preserve a certain uniform distance
between them, whereby friction is done away with or minimized. Furthermore
the said points enable the feed-rollers to take a firmer hold of the strips than if
they were smooth.
On the accompanying sheet of drawings
Figure 1 represents a side view of such a seam-strip wound into a roll:
Figures 2 and 3 represent in front elevation two such different rolls, one with
plain and the other with scalloped edges.
A is the strip, made of metal, preferably steel, in the form of a band from
1 to 1 inches broad by 100 feet or more in length.
Bare the teeth or points punched or struck out on one side of the strip whereby
that side is roughened.
For the manufacture of such strips the best plan is to employ a machine such
as that described in Patent No. 5565 of 1894.

page_text: The points serve also when the strips in the stitching-machine are provided with
teeth or splints, in conjunction therewith to secure the strip to the material. This
roughening may also be a preliminary work to the striking out of the teeth or
splints by the stapling machine. In such case however the striking or punching
out of the points must be effected by a machine working with perfect uniformity
like the machine described in the above named Patent No. 5565 of 1894 because
the points must follow each other at perfectly regular intervals so that in the
stapling machine the cutting off may not coincide with a point, whereby the
severed strips might happen to have too few or even no teeth at all for fastenings.
For attaching the strips for the seams or joints of cardboard, leather or the
like, viz. in stitching the edges of cardboard boxes, the strips herein before
described are fed to a stapling machine between two rollers, which unwind the
strip from the roll and feed it forward. In such a stapling or fastening machine
a gripping device is arranged, which seizes the strip and pushes it under a knife
which cuts off a suitable length. This then passes on to the anvil of the machine
where it is laid (with the points downwards) on the cardboard pieces which are
to be joined together to form the edges of the box, previously prepared and
suitably laid. A descending hammer strikes the smooth side of the piece of the
strip and drives the teeth or points thereof into the cardboard, whereby the strip
is affixed to the cardboard.
The thus-prepared roller strips of unlimited length offer an essential and
economical advantage, as compared with the usual short rectilinear strips, inasmuch
as they first permit or render possible the use of self-acting stitching machines for
fastening strips which work as quickly and reliably as the well-known wire-stitching
machines with automatic formation of clamps or clips, while at the same time the
resulting products are more firmly fastened, much more neatly finished, and more
durable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. Roller strips of unlimited length for joint-seams of which one or both sides
is or are roughened by the punching or striking out of points or teeth in such
manner that in rolling up the convolutions are loose and in unrolling the delivery
of the strip to the feed rollers of the stitching or fastening machine is uniform
and reliable.
2. Roller strips of unlimited length for joint-scams of which one or both sides
and both edges or both edges only are roughened or wrought in such manner that
in the roll the convolutions are loose and in unrolling the delivery of the strip to
the feed rollers of the stitching or fastening machine is uniform and reliable.
Dated this 29th day of March 1894.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.