IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR DIVIDING PASTE- BOARD OR OTHER SHEETS TO FORM CARDS AND THE LIKE
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Archibald Fulton Craig at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1869.
I, ARCHIBALD FULTON CRAIG, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR DIVIDING PASTE-
BOARD OR OTHER SHEETS TO FORM CARDS AND THE LIKE," to be as follows, that
is to say:-
This Invention has for its object the cutting or dividing of paste-
board or other sheets to form cards or the like by apparatus in which the
two series of cuts at right or other angles to each other that are
required are effected automatically in succession and so as to dispense
with any handling, excepting the mere placing of the sheets separately in
the machine. The cutting is effected by circular knives fixed on
spindles which are made to revolve by any convenient gearing, the
sheet first passing longitudinally between one pair of these knife
spindles to receive what may be termed the longitudinal cuts, and the
strips so formed are then passed without derangement but in a trans-
verse direction between a second pair of knife spindles, by which the
transverse cuts are produced. The sheet is fed in between and beyond
the first pair of knife spindles by driven feed rollers, and the strips

page_text: produced by the first cut (excepting the rough edge strips, which are
led down out of the way by guides) pass on longitudinally under guide
rollers which prevent them from rising off the table and from becoming
deranged. On the completion of the longitudinal cut a cam movement
puts out of gear the longitudinally feeding rollers, and puts into gear
the parts which feed the strips transversely between the second pair of
knife spindles, on leaving which the completely divided cards fall into
any convenient receptacle. The transverse feeding parts consist mainly
of a longitudinal bar or frame fitted with fingers which catch the edge
of the outermost strip, and holding down straps are attached at one
end to this bar, their other ends passing round pulleys and having
weights applied to them. The feeding bar is drawn towards the second
pair of knife spindles at the proper times by means of a chain that is
wound upon a barrel, and the bar returns to its starting point by the
action of a weight. Both sets of knives are adjustable at different
distances apart, their spindles being screwed and the knives being held
between nuts thereon, whilst rubber washers are inserted between the
nuts and circular knives upon one of each pair of spindles to allow
of the knives adjusting themselves to compensate for any slight want
of truthfulness in them which cannot be easily avoided with the tem-
pering process they have to be subjected to.
When it is desired to produce cards with lines of perforations to
facilitate their division, as in railway return tickets, for example, wheels
with suitable spur points or teeth on them may be fixed on the knife
spindles and will effect the perforation as the sheet or strips pass
through.