IMPROVEMENTS IN PAPER BOXES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Shaw, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PAPER BOXES." A communication from abroad by Louis A. Kettle,
DL111 1'
TT
Sealed the 21st September 1875, and dated the 31st March 1875.

page_text: lids of the boxes with and disconnect them from the boxes by a sliding
motion.
The parts of the box and lid are constructed and arranged as follows:
-Two of the opposite sides of the box (by preference the longer sides)
are made of somewhat greater depth than the other two opposed sides.
The tops of the longer sides are turned or folded inwards at right angles
in a plane a little above the plane in which the tops of the other two
sides terminate. There is thus formed an open box, the four sides of
which are of nearly equal depth, the two longer sides being surmounted
by flat projections or ribs extending the whole length of the said sides,
the said ribs being situated in the same plane.
The lid consists of a piece of strong paper, card, or millboard of a size
and shape proper to fit the box to which it is to be applied. The longer
sides of the lid are provided respectively with grooves of a size and
shape proper to receive and engage with the ribs on the top of the box.
The grooves in the two opposite edges of the lid may either be made by
removing by a planing process the middle portion of the substance of
the card or millboard along the edges of the lid, or the said grooves may
be made by building up the lid from three pieces of thin card or board,
the three pieces being of the same length, but the middle one of less
breadth than the outer ones. These three pieces of card or board being
symmetrically secured together by paste or other adhesive substance
constitute a lid with grooves in the edges of its longer sides.
In closing the box by the lid the grooves in the fore end of the lid are
presented to the ends of the ribs on the top of the box and made to
engage therewith. The lid may then be made to cover the box and be
effectually secured thereto by a sliding motion.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Shaw, Her special license
that I, the said George Shaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Shaw, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 PAPER
BOXES," a communication to me from abroad by Louis A. Kettle, of
Philadelphia, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Shaw, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 George Shaw, 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 :—
The said Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described
in boxes made of paper, or cardboard, or millboard (commonly called
paper boxes), the object of the said improvements being to connect the
lids of the boxes with and disconnect them from the boxes by a sliding
motion.
The said Invention consists essentially in providing the top of the
longer sides (by preference) of the paper box with inwardly projecting
ribs made from the said sides, and making the paper lid with grooves or
channels in its longer edges which engage with and slide upon the
inwardly projecting ribs at the top of the body of the box.
The parts of the box and lid are constructed and arranged as follows:
-Two of the opposite sides of the box (by preference the longer sides)

page_text: are made of somewhat greater depth than the other two opposed sides.
The tops of the longer sides are turned or folded inwards at right angles
in a plane a little above the plane in which the tops of the other two
sides terminate. There is thus formed an open box, the four sides of
which are of nearly equal depth, the two longer sides being surmounted
by flat projections or ribs extending the whole length of the said sides,
the said ribs being situated in the same plane.
The lid consists of a piece of strong paper, card, or millboard of a size
and shape proper to fit the box to which it is to be applied. The longer
sides of the lid are provided respectively with grooves of a size and shape
proper to receive and engage with the ribs on the top of the box. The
grooves in the two opposite edges of the lid may either be made by
removing by a planing or other process the middle portion of the
substance of the card or millboard along the edges of the lid; or the said
grooves may be made by building up the lid from three pieces of thin
card or board, the three pieces being of the same length but the middle
one of less breadth than the outer ones. These three pieces of card or
board being symmetrically secured together by paste or other adhesive
substance constitute a lid with grooves in the edges of its longer sides.
Or the lid with its grooves may be formed from paper pulp by a
moulding or pressing process.
In closing the box by the lid the grooves in the fore end of the lid
are presented to the ends of the ribs on the top of the box and made to
engage therewith.
The lid may then be made to cover the box and be
effectually secured thereto by a sliding motion.
I will now describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing a
paper box and its lid made according to this Invention.
Figure 1 represents a plan of a box and its lid, the said lid being
represented partly pushed home; Figure 2 is a cross section of the same
taken on the line A, A, of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a cross section of
the same taken on the line B, B, of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a cross section of the lid, and exhibits the manuer in
which the lid is built up.
The same letters indicate the same parts.
c is the body of the open box constructed of paper or card in any well a
known manner and of a rectangular figure. The two longer sides of the

page_text: box are provided with flat ribs d, d, projecting inwards and extending
along the whole length of the said sides, and situated a little above the
top of the ends of the box; the two flat inwardly projecting ribs d, d,
are situated in the same plane (see Figure 2). It is preferred to make
the inwardly projecting ribs d, d, in one piece with the longer sides of
the box which the said ribs respectively surmount, but the said ribs may
be made of separate pieces of card or board and secured to the longer
sides of the box in the position represented in the Drawing. When the
inwardly projecting ribs d, d, are made from the pieces of paper or card
of which the longer sides are made, the said longer sides are made of a
greater depth than the other two opposite sides or ends of the box, as
indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, and the projecting sides are turned
or folded inwards at right angles in a plane a little above the plane in
which the tops of the two other sides or ends terminate so as to con-
stitute the inwardly projecting ribs d, d, as seen in Figure 2.
In the opposite edges of the lid e of the box, which lid is made of a
shape and size proper to cover the top of the box c, grooves or channels
ff, are made (see Figure 4), the said grooves or channels extending
along the whole length of the lid, and are of a size proper to engage
with and slide upon the inwardly projecting ribs d, d, on the body of
the box.
To close the box the grooves f, f, in the fore end of the lid e are pre-
sented to the ends of the ribs d, d, and engage therewith. By then
giving a sliding motion to the lid it is made to slide upon the ribs d, d,
and cover the box, the said lid being securely connected to the box.
The manner in which the longitudial grooves or channels in the lid
engage with the inwardly projecting ribs d, d, on the body of the box is
represented in Figure 3.
The lid is built up in the manner illustrated in Figure 4, that is to
say, the lid consists of three pieces of thin card or board, marked
respectively g, h, i, the three pieces being of the same length, but the
middle piece is of less breadth than the other pieces marked g, h. The
pieces g, h, i, being arranged in the manner represented in Figure 4 they
are secured together by paste or other adhesive material. A lid is
thereby formed having in its longer edges grooves f, f, of a size and
shape proper to engage with the ribs d, d, in the body of the box. Or
instead of the compound lid described a lid may be made of a solid piece

page_text: of cardboard of the thickness of the lid to be produced, the grooves being
made in the edges of the solid lid by a planing process or other process
whereby a portion of the material may be removed; or the lid may be
made from paper pulp by a pressing or moulding process, and the
required grooves formed in its edges in the process of manufacture; the
manufacture of the lid in this way is conducted in the manner ordinarily
practised in the manufacture of articles from paper pulp. The lid shown
in Figure 3 is represented as being made of a solid piece of cardboard,
having grooves planed or otherwise made in its edges, or of moulded
paper pulp.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as the said Invention, the improvements in paper boxes herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to
say, making two opposed sides of the box with inwardly projecting ribs
situated in the same plane, the said ribs being made in one piece with
or made separately and secured to the said opposed sides, and making in
two opposed sides of the lid grooves or channels, the grooved lid being
either made by planing or otherwise forming grooves in its edges, or by
pasting together three pieces of thin card or board, as described, the
grooved lid being made to cover the body of the box by the engagement
of its grooved edges with the inwardly projecting ribs on the body of the
box and giving a sliding motion to the said lid, substantially as described
and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Shaw, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
37, Temple Street,
Birmingham.
GEORGE SHAW. (L.S.)