Improvements in Means for Preventing Re-sale of Newspapers and other Publications.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1898- Accepted, 11th June, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by ROBERT STOE, Printing Press Manufacturer, of 504,
Grand Street, in the City of New York, State of New York, United States of
America.]
Improvements in Means for Preventing Re-sale of Newspapers and
other Publications.
I, HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 6, Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of London, 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 ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In the sale of daily newspapers, as now practised, it is the custom for the
publisher thereof to place the same upon sale in quantity with the newsdealers, and
to reimburse the newsdealers for such newspapers as remain unsold upon the
return of such unsold newspapers within a limited period after publication."
It is a common practice for the purchasers of daily newspapers to throw them
away after having read them, so that frequently they come into the possession
of persons who have not purchased them, but who seek to recover their value from.
the publisher by taking advantage of the above-mentioned custom of the publishers,
in redeeming unsold copies at their cost price, and the possibility of so defrauding
the publisher has led to his being systematically defrauded by the return of papers
which have been sold and read, these papers being collected by newsboys and others
who sell them to dealers or sale's agents, who return them to the publisher for
redemption as unsold copies.
Various methods and means have been employed for the purpose of preventing
this fraud upon the publishers by sealing the newspaper, so that, when it is
once opened for reading, it shall thereafter contain evidence of the fact that it has
been sold or used and its value obtained. The methods and means heretofore
suggested for this purpose, however, have all been inefficient or too expensive, or
their use has been objectionable to the publishers, dealers, or public, so that none of
these methods or means have been sufficiently practical to be adopted, although
the necessity for efficient protection against this fraud has been long recognised by
newspaper publishers.
The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, cheap, and efficient
means for sealing a newspaper, or similar publication, such as a magazine or other
periodical, which may be rapidly applied during printing or folding, and such
that the paper or similar publication cannot be opened for reading without clearly
showing the fact that it has been opened, and its value thus obtained, while at the
same time the paper can be readily opened by the purchaser, without danger of
tearing, so as to injure the printed portion, and danger of loss to the dealer or news-
boy, through accidental unsealing of the paper, shall be avoided, while papers
returned by the dealer may be readily and rapidly counted, and any used papers
returned as unsold readily detected during counting, and the device shall be
otherwise acceptable commercially to the publisher, dealer, and public.

page_text: This result is secured with other important advantages over devices heretofore
suggested for this purpose, by sealing the free edges of a folded newspaper or similar
publication, by uniting these edges by a wire passed through the edges, and clinched
or headed to secure it therein, this wire sealing device being preferably applied in
the form of a common wire staple having its two legs passed through the plies of
the paper, and clinched to secure the staple. While this staple form is preferred,
however, it will be understood that a wire device may be used having but a single
portion, or more than two portions, passed through the plies of the paper, and
clinched or headed upon opposite sides of the paper in any suitable manner, so as
to be secured therein.
The invention consists not only in the novel structure of the newspaper product
itself, consisting in uniting its folded plies securely together by a wire, preferably a
staple passed through the free edges, and clinched or headed upon the paper to secure
it in place, but in the novel combination of stapling mechanism with the printing
and folding mechanisms, whereby said novel product is obtained, all of which will
be particularly hereinafter described and claimed.
A practical and preferred embodiment of these improvements, whereby a printed
product, properly folded and securely sealed, is obtained with great rapidity, as well
as the product itself, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 is an end elevation of the delivery apparatus of a web-perfecting
printing machine, in combination with which the apparatus features of this inven-
tion are shown;
Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, as seen looking in the direction of the arrow 2
Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the product of this mechanism.
Although the invention is applicable to many forms of delivery mechanism of a
printing machine other than that herein shown, wherein is embodied means for
folding the paper or lapping its plies together, so as to reduce its dimensions to
those of small area, whereby it may be conveniently transported and bundled for
sale, the mechanism illustrated is a practical and advantageous structure for this
purpose, and will first be explained; then the arrangement and combination there-
with of the stapling mechanism will be described, in order that its cooperation
therewith, whereby the improved newspaper is produced, shall be readily understood.
Any printing machine whereby a web of paper is printed may be arranged to
supply this delivery apparatus.
of
This delivery apparatus consists, in part, of a longitudinal folder L, which may be
any of the constructions of such devices now common in the art, by which a web
of paper passed longitudinally through these devices has its sides doubled or
lapped toward each other, and thus produces a longitudinal fold in the web, and
delivers the same folded lengthwise. Such a longitudinal folder as is shown, and
which is preferred, is composed of an interior triangular guide, external
turners 50, 60, and fold-laying rollers 70, 80. This folder is sufficiently herein
described to be readily understood, but is substantially the same as those heretofore
in use, and well known in the art.
Operating in connection with said longitudinal folder, is a rotative transverse
cutting and folding mechanism, which consists of rotative carriers F, C, geared
together to run in unison, and at a speed corresponding with that of the printing
machine, the carrier F being supplied with two rotative folding blades 30, 40,
which are supplied with means causing them to make semi-rotations in co-operating
with its folding rollers 31, 41, for imparting a transverse fold to the paper, as now
well known.
The carrier C is provided with a transverse cutting blade 32, which operates with
the cutting slots 33, 34, provided in blocks supported in carrier F, in performing the
operation of severing the web of printed paper transversely into sheet lengths.
The sheets folded between, and delivered from, the folding rollers 31, 41, are con-
veyed in succession outward for delivery by means of tapes 35, 36, with a suitable
space between them, occasioned by their shortened length, produced by the folding

page_text: operation. These tapes are led over suitable guides rollers 81, 82, near the folding
rollers 31, 41, and guiding nipping rollers 90, 91, the lower tapes returning around
the carrier S, and a stretching roller 93, and the upper tapes passing around the
carrier 1), and returning therefrom over a stretching roller 94. These tapes thus
form a delivery pathway for the folded sheet from the folding mechanism to and
between the carriers S, D, and lead to the final delivery mechanism. This delivery
mechanism consists of a rotary fly made up of a series of curved armis Y, rotated so
as to move in unison with the travel of the folded sheets, which arms Y of the
rotary fly move between fixed vertical strippers 51, and operate to lay sheet after
sheet down upon horizontal tapes 61.
As thus far described, and by a knowledge of the ordinary state of the art, it
will be understood that the mechanisms referred to operate as follows:-
The longitudinal folder operates to impart to a printed web, passed over its
internal guide, and through the external turners 50, 60, and fold-laying
rollers 70, 80, a central lengthwise fold, the sides of the web being lapped together
on a central line, which lapped or longitudinally folded web will, in passing between
the carriers F, C, be carried upon and onward with the surface of the carrier F to
a suitable point beyond the folding rollers 31, 41, and will be folded between said
rollers by one or the other of the rotary folding blades 30, 40, in a manner well
understood, during which folding operation the leading end of the web will have
been severed into a sheet's length by the operation of the cutting blade 32 of the
carrier C, and the cooperating cutting slot 33 or 34 of the carrier F, said sheet's.
length having its front and rear portions laid or lapped together in passing between
the folding rollers 31, 41, and thus becoming shortened lengthwise to a length one-
half that of its outspread condition.
Said transversely-folded sheet enters between the tapes 35, 36, and is carried
onward, and passes over the rotating carrier, S, and between it and the rotating
carrying D, and emerging from between them, it descends before the guards 51, until
its lowermost edge is received by one of the arms Y of the rotating S-fly, and finally
said sheet is stripped from the arm Y of the S-fly by contact with the guard 51, and
falls flatwise upon the moving tapes 61, which gradually carry the received sheets
outward, by reason of their slow travel. Thus is produced a sheet which is doubled
or folded both longitudinally and transversely, and thus brought down to a small
size convenient for transportation, handling, and sale, all of its parts being free to
be unfolded and opened out, for the purpose of inspection and perusal.
In order to prevent said folded sheet from being freely opened out, and its leaves
spread apart for the purpose of use without evidencing the fact that this has
occurred, its lapped parts are permanently united, together near its free edges, by
means of a staple inserted through and through at a point sufficiently distant from
the last folding line, so that said paper may not be opened out without breaking
away one or more of its plies from said staple fastening and a means for so uniting
the plies for the paper is combined with said delivery apparatus in a manner now
to be explained.
This staple fastening is applied in the present instance by means of a stapling
mechanism carried by, and associated with, the carriers S, D. This staple-applying
mechanism is located at some convenient point with relation to the folding mechan-
ism, so that it shall operate thereafter, and this relation of the stapling and
folding mechanisms, in such manner that the stapling mechanism shall operate
after the folding mechanism has doubled or lapped its plies together, is an essential
relation, because, in order to effect the object sought, there must be at least one
folding of the newspaper, and preferably many foldings, in order that a breaking
away of its sealed parts shall ensue upon any attempt to use the newspaper by open-
ing it out or separating its plies for perusal.
In its general structure, this stapling mechanism is like that contained in British
Patent No. 3394, dated Feb. 15, 1893, and shown in Figures 34 to 40 of the
drawings of said patent, and particularly described in that part of the Specification

page_text: referring to said figures, and its construction and operation will be understood from
said patent in connection with the following brief description:
-
The carrier D is preferably made of a size that provides it with a circumferential
extent equal to that of the length of two folded newspapers, plus twice the distance
between the papers as they are advanced to the carrier, and is provided with dupli-
cate stapling tools 10, set at opposite points in the periphery of said carrier.
The stapling tools 10 are alive in construction and operation, and each comprises
a pair of spring-seated staple-forming and presenting arms 2, and a spring-seated
inserting tool or driver 3 between these arms, said staple-forming and presenting
arms and driver being mounted in a suitable holder or stock 20, carried by the
cylinder, and positioned so that the outer ends of the arms and driver will be
normally projected by their respective springs beyond the periphery of the cylinder,
and the outer faces of the arms 2 and driver 3 are formed with wire engaging
shoulders, as shown at a in Figure 1, all as more fully described and shown in the
said British Patent No. 3394, dated Feb. 15th, 1893.
The wire for forming the staples is fed from a spool 14 by wire feeding
mechanism 15, supported from the frame of the machine, and overhanging the
carried D), by which feeding mechanism successive wire lengths are advanced into
the path of travel of the stapling tools, as they rotate with the carrier, and beneath a
forming anvil 11, and the successive staple lengths are severed from the wire by
the edge of one of the staple-forming arms coacting with the edge of the wire
guide.
The forming anvil 11, which is hung from the frame over carrier D), is of a
width equal to the inside length of the crown of the staple, and has its lower face
curved to extend a suitable distance about the carrier, the forward portion, or that
portion nearest the staple-setting point, being concentric with, and close to, the
carrier, and the rearward portion being slightly excentric to the carrier, to form
the wedge-like staple-forming portion of the anvil, and the entrance for the
stapling tools.
As each stapling tool advances for forming a staple, it engages the staple length
of wire protruded beneath the anvil, severs said staple length, and then advances it
beneath and in contact with the anvil. As the wire is advanced by the stapling
tool beneath the excentric or wedge-like portion of the under surface of the anvil,
the driver 3, and the central portion of the wire length, are forced inward toward
the carrier, and the ends of the wire length are bent outward at right angles to the
central portion by the staple-forming arms 2, to form the staple legs. The staple
thus formed is then further advanced beneath the concentric portion of the anvil,
and as it approaches the setting point, the ends of the staple legs will be inserted
through the several plies of the folded paper, as the latter is advanced between the
carries S and D, the staple-forming and presenting arms 2 being then forced back
by contact with the carrier, S, as the setting point is approached, and the staple
legs being finally clinched by engagement with a clinching die 13 carried by the
carrier S, when the point at which the carriers, S and D run closest together is
reached,
The clinched staple then advances from the carriers with the paper, and as the
carriers continue to rotate, the staple-forming and inserting arms and driver of the
stapling tool are again protruded for repeating the operation, after a staple has
been formed and inserted in the following paper, by the other stapling tool mounted
in the carrier D.
It will now be understood that one end of the free tail portions or plies of the
folded newspaper will, if properly timed in its passage between the carriers S, D,
receive a staple forced through its plies and clinched down thereon, thus securing
the same together, and sealing or uniting the plies of the newspaper together, so
that the completed product, as illustrated in Figure 3, will be so securely bound
together, as to require a forcible separation, in order that the various pages of the
paper may be outspread so as to be conveniently read.
It will be seen that the newspaper is thus sealed so that there is no practical way

page_text: of opening the paper for reading, without leaving obvious and permanent evidence
of this fact, as, even if the device be carefully detached, the hole or holes which
were made by its insertion will be left, and show at a glance that the paper has been
used. It is practically impossible for the paper to be restapled, so as to deceive the
publisher, as the staple cannot be set so as not to show, even though the paper be
not torn, and, moreover, such careful removal of the staple and restapling is too
expensive an operation to be profitable.
The opening of the paper in the regular way, which will be used by the purchaser,
that is, by tearing the plies from the wire, will show on the most casual inspection
that the paper has been opened, while at the same time there is slight resistance to
the tearing open of the paper, and the small surface of the paper engaged avoids all
danger of substantial tearing of the paper, so as to injure the reading matter or be
otherwise objectionable to the purchaser.
There is thus secured an efficient and commercially acceptable, and yet simple
and cheap, means of preventing fraud upon the publisher, by the return of sold
copies of newspapers and similar publications. The staples may be affixed to the
papers or other publications during their production at the highest rate of speed,
by the means forming a part of this invention, or the papers may be stapled after
production by machine or hand devices.
It will be understood that more than one sealing device may be inserted in the
paper, if desired, so as to seal it at two or more points, and the present invention
is not limited to a construction in which a single sealing device is employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
from abroad, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. The combination with folding mechanism for imparting a fold to a printed
sheet, of mechanism operating to pass a metallic device through the free edges or
plies of said folded sheet, and clinch said metallic device in place, to unite said edges
or plies, and seal the same from being spread open, substantially as described.
2. A new article of manufacture consisting of a newspaper or similar publication
formed of a sheet, or sheets folded or doubled together, and having their free edges
united, and sealed from being spread open by a wire passed through the free edges,
and clinched or headed upon the paper, to secure the wire therein, substantially as
and for the purposes described.
Dated this 25th day of April 1898