Improvements in Applying Metal Angle Clamps to the Corners of Cardboard and other Boxes and the like and in Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1887

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Applying Metal Angle Clamps to the Corners
of Cardboard and other Boxes and the like and in Apparatus
therefor.
We HUGH STEVENSON of 71, 73 and 75 Silver Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Box Manufacturer, and JOHN WILD, of Chadderton near Oldham, in the .
said County, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPLYING METAL ANGLE CLAMPS TO THE CORNERS OF CARDBOARD AND
OTHER BOXES AND THE LIKE AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR to be as follows :-
Our invention consists in certain improvements on the Invention for which Letters
Patent were granted to Jensen No. 8590 of 1885 and Scherbel No. 12997 of 1886.
Both these said Patents relate to improvements in the manufacture of cardboard
and other boxes the corners of which are united or strengthened by metal angle
clamps.
The defects of the present method of and means for applying these angle clamps are
that the clamps are cut off by hand in given lengths and each length has then to be
separately inserted into the hammer by which it is stamped on to the corner of the
box and consequently the edges are sometimes left sharp or pointed through being
carelessly cut off and also the clamps are liable to be stamped on to the corners out of
their true positions in such manner that they overhang the edges..
The chief object of our improvements is to overcome these defects.
In carrying out our improvements we employ an anvil and hammer made similar
to those now in use but we prefer to make the anvil rather longer than usual. The
arm of the hammer is keyed on a shaft carried by the frame which also supports
a quadrant with a rack as well as the anvil. A fast friction disc is surrounded by a
pulley loose on the shaft and driven by a strap; the pulley is free to be moved to and
from the friction disc by means of a treadle and lever. A pair of feed rollers are
carried by the hammer on one of which is secured a pinion that gears into the rack on
the quadrant and by means of a ratchet motion turns the feed rollers as the hammer
rises. We employ an adjustable piece forming the hammer face and cutter of the

page_text: requisite length fitted and free to be adjusted in a recess in the hammer; this adjustable
piece and an adjustable cutter on the anvil form the nippers for cutting off the length
of strip and hammer for driving it into the corner of the box; the cutting edge of the
anvil cutter projects over the edge of the box by which there is a space left between
the edge of the box and the metal clamp. The strip from which the clamp has been
cut remains in the recess out of the way of the anvil and a small spring or springs is
employed to depress the end of the long strip near the cutter so that it may pass freely
when fed forward. When the friction discs are moved into contact by the treadlo the
hammer is brought down on to the anvil and the clamp is simultaneously cut off from
the strip and driven into the corner of the box; on releasing the treadle springs
disconnect the friction discs and raise the hammer while the rack and pinion or other
mechanism which operates the feed rollers to feed the strip forward under the hammer
face and cutter ready for the next downstroke when a clamp is again cut off and
driven into the next corner of the box as already described.
The machine may if desired be driven entirely by foot or hand power.
Dated this 98th day of January 1887

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Applying Metal Angle Clamps to the Corners
of Cardboard and other Boxes and the like and in Apparatus
therefor.
We HUGH STEVENSON of 71, 73 and 75 Silver Street Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Box Manufacturer and JOHN WILD of Chadderton near Oldham in the said
County Engineer do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPLYING METAL ANGLE CLAMPS TO THE CORNERS OF CARDBOARD AND OTHER
BOXES AND THE LIKE AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Our invention consists in certain improvements on the Invention for which Letters
Patent were granted to Jensen No. 8590 of 1885 and Scherbel No. 12997 of 1886.
Both these said Patents relate to improvements in the manufacture of cardboard
and other boxes the corners of which are united or strengthened by metal angle
clamps.
The defects of the present method of and means for applying these angle clamps
are that the clamps are cut off by hand in given lengths and each length has then to
be separately inserted into the hammer by which it is stamped on to the corner of the
box and consequently the edges are sometimes left sharp or pointed through being
carelessly cut off and also the clamps are liable to be stamped on to the corners out
of their true positions in such manner that they overhang the edges.
The chief object of our improvements is to overcome these defects.
In carrying out our improvements we employ an anvil and hammer made similar to
those now in use but we prefer to make the anvil rather longer than usual. The arm
of the hammer is keyed on a shaft carried by the frame which also supports a quadrant
with a rack as well as the anvil. A fast friction disc is surrounded by a pulley loose
on the shaft and driven by a strap; the pulley is free to be moved to and from the
friction disc by means of a treadle and lever. A pair of feed rollers are carried by the
hammer on one of which is secured a pinion that gears into the rack on the quadrant
We
and by means of a ratchet motion turns the feed rollers as the hammer rises.
employ an adjustable piece forming the hammer face and cutter of the required length
fitted and free to be adjusted in a recess in the hammer; this adjustable piece and an
adjustable cutter on the anvil form the nippers for cutting off the length of strip and
hammer for driving it into the corner of the box; the cutting edge of the anvil cutter
projects over the edge of the box by which there is a space left between the edge of
the box and the metal clamp. The strip from which the clamp has been cut remains
in the recess out of the way of the anvil and a small spring or springs is employed to
depress the end of the long strip near the cutter so that it may pass freely when fed
forward. When the friction discs are moved into contact by the treadle the hammer
is brought down on to the anvil and the clamp is simultaneously cut off from the strip
and driven into the corner of the box; on releasing the treadle springs disconnect
the friction discs and raise the hammer while the rack and pinion or other mechanism

page_text: operates the feed rollers to feed the strip forward under the hammer face and cutter
ready for the next down stroke when a clamp is again cut off and driven into the next
corner of the box as already described.
The machine may if desired be driven entirely by foot or hand power.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will describe the accompanying two sheets of Drawings reference being had
to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2 a front elevation of a machine constructed
according to our Invention for feeding cutting off and applying in one operation metal
angle clamps to the corners of cardboard and other boxes and the like. Fig. 3 is a
sectional side view, on a larger scale, of the hammer and anvil. Fig. 4 is a sectional
plan taken on the line A B Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 is a front end view of Fig. 3.
g
j
In the Drawings.-a designates a suitable stand or frame for the machine, b the
anvil mounted thereon, and c the hammer head, and c¹ the hammer face and cutter,
which is carried in a recess in an arm c² keyed on a shaft & supported in a bracket a
on the stand a. The hammer face c', see Fig. 3, may be adjusted when required by
means of a screw e and is secured in position by a set screw f. The hammer is depressed
to strike on the anvil, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, by means of a friction disc d keyed
on the shaft d which receives motion at the required time from a friction disc forming
the side face of a pulley y which is loose on the shaft d and is moved into contact with
the disc d' by a clutch lever h fulcrumed at h¹ and actuated by a rod i and treadle j.
The pulley may be driven by a belt in any convenient manner either by power or by
a treadle or otherwise. When the operators foot is taken off the treadle the spring k
acts upon the rod and lever to move the pulley g away from the friction disc d'
while à rod connected to a spring, not shown, raises the hammer to its initial position
as shown in Fig. 1. On the stand a is fixed a quadrant m on which is secured
adjustably a rack m' and in a bracket c³, forming part of the hammer head c, are
mounted a pair of feed rollers n n which are preferably toothed and have their shafts
geared together by two spur wheels nn and an intermediate gear 2 so that when
one of the rollers n n¹ is rotated the other turns in the same direction. On the shaft
of the roller n is a half clutch o which has inclined teeth on its face and is arranged
to slide on a key on the roller shaft, and is held in contact by a spring o³ with the other
half clutch o which is loose on the roller shaft but works against a fixed collar o³.
The half clutch o' has teeth on its periphery which work in the rack m¹ and is so
arranged that when the hammer arm c² is moved downward the inclined teeth throw
the half clutch o out of gear and no motion is transmitted to the feed rollers n n¹ but
when the bammer arm c² is raised by the spring acting on the rod. the spring o²
causes the clutch to gear and so the toothed part o, see Fig. 5, drives the roller n and
also the roller by the gears n³ n² n. A pawl n engaging the teeth on the gear
prevents the rollers n n' turning in the reverse direction. The feed rollers n work
against a thin strip of metal p which is pivoted at p¹ to the hammer head c and is by a
spring p² kept constantly bearing against the rollers n n' so as to act as a guide for
the strips from which the angle clamps are cut.
224
The angle strips which is formed of the section and with teeth claws or serrations
as described in the aforesaid Patents is guided into the machine in any convenient
manner passes through an opening in the bracket a¹ and is fed forward by the rotation
of the rollers n n' between the said rollers and the guide p under the hammer face c'.
The anvil has an adjustable cutter fitted in a slot or recess therein and the
position of the cutter is regulated as required by an adjusting screw b².
In operation the strips of toothed angle metal from which the claw clamps are to
be cut is fed into the machine between the rollers n n' and the guide p and under the
combined hammer face and cutter c¹. The corner of the box or other article is placed
in position on the face of the anvil the cutting edge of the cutter being adjusted
so as to project over the edge of the box and to leave a space between the edge and
the place where the angle clamp is to be secured. The operator then places his foot
upon the treadlej to slide the pulley 9 into contact with the friction disc d' thereby
bringing down the hammer on to the anvil so that the cutting edge of the hammer

page_text: face c' in conjunction with the anvil cutter b¹ cuts off the claw angle clamp from the
strips and simultaneously the hammer drives the clamp into the corner of the box.
When the operator takes his foot off the treadle j and the hammer rises the
rollers n n are operated by the rack m' as described and feed forward a fresh length
of the strips under the hammer face c' into position ready to be cut off and inserted
as described at the next downward stroke of the hammer. By adjusting the position
of the rack m on the quadrant m the rollers n n¹ can be turned more or less as
required to feed forward a longer or shorter length of the strip s.
Instead of the means herein shown and described any suitable arrangement of
mechanism may be employed for operating the hammer and for feeding forward the
strip of toothed angle metal either automatically or by hand, if more convenient,
without departing from the nature of our Invention which consists essentially in
constructing and arranging a machine which will in one operation feed forward and
cut off a toothed or claw angle clamp and simultaneously drive the same and fasten
it in position on the corner of a box or other article.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is―
1. The improved method of cutting off toothed or claw angle clamps from a strip
of metal previously formed for the purpose and simultaneously driving in and applying
the same to the corners of boxes and other articles in one operation and by one
machine.
2. The improved method of automatically feeding and cutting off toothed or claw
angle clamps from a strip of metal previously formed for the purpose and simultaneously
driving in and applying the same to the corners of boxes and other articles in one
operation and by one machine.
3. The construction use and application of a machine which will in one operation
automatically feed and cut off a toothed or claw angle clamp and simultaneously apply
the same and secure it in position on the corner of a box or other article substantially
as herein described and as illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
4. The use and application of frictional driving for actuating a hammer sub-
stantially as and for the purposes herein describe with reference to the Drawings.
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester,
Agent for Applicants.