APPARATUS FOR MAKING BOXES AND OTHER HOLLOW AND SOLID ARTICLES FROM PAPER AND OTHER PULP OR OTHER SUBSTANCES OR COMPOSITIONS."
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Beal at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th July 1878.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
JAMES BEAL, senior, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex.
APPARATUS FOR MAKING BOXES AND OTHER HOLLOW AND SOLID ARTICLES FROM
PAPER AND OTHER PULP OR OTHER SUBSTANCES OR COMPOSITIONS."
The object of this Invention is to produce square and other boxes and hollow
and solid articles by compression of paper or other pulp in and by means of
apparatus constructed as herein-after described.
The pulp is admitted to a pulp chamber by any convenient sliding or other
appliance, or valve or valves; the sides of this chamber are made to slide through
or against one another, so that it can be contracted or expanded in size, as desired.
The pulp chamber is on a contractible frame or mould, the sides of which are also
made to slide through or against one another, so that it can be contracted or
expanded in size, as required. In this mould is placed a hollow perforated form or
core, which may be covered with a sock of textile or other material with fine holes
through; this "sock" may be in parts.
The pulp chamber is set to the same or smaller interior size as the size of the
mould at the commencement of the operation.
In the pulp chamber I fit a piston or presser plate, which by hydraulic or other
heavy pressure can be forced down into the mould. The sides of the mould are
also by hydraulic or other heavy pressure made to be pressed towards the interior
of the mould. The presser plate is first forced down, and then the sides are forced
in, the presser plate forms the flat end (top or bottom) of the box by compressing
the pulp against the core in this part. The sides of the mould form the sides of
the box by compressing the pulp against the sides of the core. The water in the
pulp is forced into the interior of the core, and runs off, or is drawn off by an
exhausting appliance.
Air may be admitted to the interior of the new formed article to facilitate the
removal of same from the core.
The presser plate may form the valve for cutting off the pulp supply.

page_text: The presser plate and movable sides may be returned by counterweights or other
suitable means.
The sides are guided in slotted frames, or by other suitable means. For a four-
sided box one or more projections on each side pass through a slot in a stationary
adjustable plate or frame, and into a scroll or volute or spiral formed on a plate,
which on being turned or shifted imparts motion to the sides of the mould, moving
them further apart or together, or other equivalent mechanical devices may be used
for this purpose.
Two opposite sides of the mould may be drawn together or forced apart by
screw or other gear for making rectangular or oblong boxes, or other hollow or solid
objects.
The water may escape through the sides instead of through the core; this plan
is also suitable for solid uncored objects to be formed of pulp.
The presser plate may also be formed with minute perforations for the same
object.
The perforations may be in thin sheet metal on finely grooved backing surfaces.
By means of sliding partitions across the interior of the mould I may form four
boxes in one mould simultaneously; these may, for instance, be square, octagon, or
round.
The pulp may be admitted directly to the mould, thus doing away with a separate
pulp chamber. The core enters into the mould from below or from above a plate,
thereon closing up the mould, and at the same time by suitable lever or other
connections forces the sides together simultaneously. The opposite end or top (or
bottom) of the mould is in that case formed by four sliding beads united by an
india-rubber plate, and having a simultaneous movement towards the centre of the
mould.
According to this part of my Invention the sides and bottom (or top) of the box
are thus formed or compressed simultaneously.
The articles formed may be further finished by being embossed in the same or in
another machine.