IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOODEN BOXES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joshua Womersley, of Norwich, in the County
of Norfolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF WOODEN BOXES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN. "
OF WOODEN BOXES. AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN. "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joshua Womersley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition on
the 23rd October 1872.
I, JOSHUA WOMERSLEY, of Norwich, in the County of Norfolk, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFTCTURE OF WOODEN BOXES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to
be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
wooden boxes, and in machinery employed therein. For this purpose I
take a wooden board of suitable width and length, and form in it trans-
versely three V grooves, passing nearly but not entirely through the
board, and I also bevel the ends of the board, I then fold the board at

page_text: the places where it is grooved, and so obtain a four sided box, which is
completed by the addition of a bottom and lid.
In folding the board the sides of the V grooves and also the bevelled
ends of the board are brought to abutt the one on the other, and they
may be glued together or fixed with nails, or otherwise.
For a, rectangle box the V grooves will be rectangles, but boxes of
hexagonal and other forms may be similarly produced by varying the
number and angles of the grooves. I prefer to produce the grooves and
bevelled ends by means of rotary cutters set at suitable distances along
an axis.
The position of the boards is controlled by suitable guides as it is
passed in succession past the cutters, or the grooves may conveniently
be produced by circular saws set at an angle the one to the other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said. Joshua Womersley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd April.1873:
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
WOMERSLEY, of Norwich, in the County of Norfolk, send-greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord. One thousand, eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joshua Womersley, Her special license
that I, the said Joshua Womersley, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joshua Womersley, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF WOODEN BOXES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joshua Womersley,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in, writing under my,
"

page_text: or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joshua Womersley, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
wooden boxes, and in machinery employed therein. For this purpose I
take a wooden board of suitable width and length, and form in it trans-
versely three V grooves passing nearly but not entirely through the
board, and I also bevil the ends of the board, I then fold the board at
the places where it is grooved and so obtain a four-sided box, which is
completed by the addition of a bottom and lid.
In folding the board the sides of the V grooves and also the bevelled
ends of the board are brought to abutt the one on the other, and they
may be glued together or fixed with nails or otherwise.
For a rectangle box the V grooves will be rectangles, but boxes of
hexagonal and other forms may be similarly produced by varying the
number and angles of the grooves. I prefer to produce the grooves and
bevelled ends by means of rotary cutters set at suitable distances along
an axis. The position of the boards is controlled by suitable guides as
they are passed in succession past the cutters.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unto annexed
6 Figure 1 is an end view, and Figure 2 a vertical section of the machine
which I employ.
a, a, is the frame supporting the table b, and carrying the bearings of
the axis c, which by a driving belt passing around a pulley at its end is
driven at a high velocity, say, two thousand revolutions per minute. A
key way is cut in the axis c to receive keys, by which the five cutter-

page_text: -
blocks d are keyed fast on the axis in any desired positions. Each
block d has flat sides, which are grooved to receive a cutter e, the cutter
lies in the groove, and is held in its place by a cap plate, which is placed
over the tool and secured to the block by two screws. The edge of the
tool is of a V form, and it is sharpened like a gouge; f, f, are five
pressing rings to hold down the wood on to the table and cause it to
slide forward past the cutters; they are seen in section in Figure 2. The
rings fare roughened or milled on the periphery, and have spur teeth
within them. Each ring is supported on the outside by three guide
rollers g, h, and i, and internally by a roller k. The several rollers g, h,
and i, are mounted on the axes g³, h¹, and respectively. ** is an axis
driven by a belt pulley, it has a pinion ¹ upon it which drives the spur
wheel on the axis . This axis also has five similar pinions & upon it,
which gear with teeth formed within the rings f, and so these rings are
driven at a circumferential speed of about twelve feet per minute. The
bearings of the axis g¹ are mounted in guide grooves in the end frames a
of the machine so that the rings f can move up and down to adjust
themselves to the varying thicknesses of the boards which are passed
beneath them, and the coiled springs m, m, pressing against the upper
surfaces of the bearings of the axis g¹ keep the material beneath the
rings firmly pressed against the surface of the table. a¹ is a support,
having upon it intermediate bearings for the axes c, g¹, h¹, i¹, and k*, it
is suspended from the head or cross girder a² of the frame a.
The boards to form the boxes are first cut to a suitable width, and
approximately to the length of the four sides of the box. The workman
lays the board upon the table, and pushes it sideways up to the pressing
rings f, which then take the board and carry it beneath the cutters. In
this way the two ends of the board are bevelled (the end cutters being
so set as to cut entirely through the wood), and at the same time three
intermediate rectangular grooves are formed almost but not quite
through the board. The board then appears as it is shewn in Figures 3.
The grooves and ends are-then glued, the board is folded up, and the
ends are cross nailed. Afterwards when the glue is dry a bottom is
nailed on, and then the box is ready for use. The machine, as shewn in
the Drawings, is set to make rectangular boxes, but it is obvious that.
hexagonal boxes and boxes of other forms may be similarly made. Other
árrangements of machinery may be employed, but that above explained
is preferred.

page_text: manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim,―
First. The method of manufacturing wooden boxes, substantially as
described.
Second. The arrangement of machinery for the manufacture of wooden
boxes, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Womersley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.