IMPROVEMENTS IN, MACHINERY FOR CUTTING- RAGS, ROPE, FIBROUS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Curtis, of Sarratt, Mills, in the County
of Herts, Paper Manufacturer, and Bryan Donkin the younger,
of Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Inven-
1.tion
1. tion. of IMPROVEMENTS IN, MACHINERY FOR CUTTING- RAGS, ROPE,
FIBROUS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES." ?
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said Alfred Curtis and
Bryan Donkin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 25th October 1853.
We, ALFRED CURTIS, of Sarratt Mills, in the County of Herts, Paper
Manufacturer, and BRYAN DONKIN the younger, of Bermondsey, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING RAGS, ROPE,
FIBROUS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
.f
The said improvements consist in the employment of a knife or
knives having an alternating motion and cutting on to a plate or sur-
face of iron or other metal set in an elastic-bed or not, as-found
desirable. In some cases we form the blade of the knife with one

page_text: transverse cutting edge, and with one or more cutting edges set at an
angle to the transverse edge. The knife or knives is or are moved
by a crank or other equivalent contrivance, and the rags, ropes, or
materials to be cut are fed into the machiné by rollers or other appa-
ratus, by which the same are advanced a certain distance at each stroke
or revolution.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Curtis and Bryan Donkin in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 25th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
ALFRED CURTIS, of Sarratt Mills, in the County of Herts, Paper Manu-
facturer, and BRYAN DONKIN the younger, of Bermondsey, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto us, the said Alfred Curtis and Bryan Donkin,
Her special licence that we, the said Alfred Curtis and Bryan Donkin,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Alfred Curtis and Bryan Donkin, our 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 MACHINERY FOR
CUTTING RAGS, ROPE, FIBROUS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Alfred Curtis and Bryan Donkin,
or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Alfred Curtis and Bryan Don-
kin, do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):
Our Invention consists in the employment of a knife or knives
having an alternating motion and cutting on to a plate or surface of
iron or other metal set in an elastic bed or not, as found desirable. In
some cases we form the blade of the knife with one transverse cutting
edge, and with one or more cutting edges set at an angle to the trans-
verse edge. The knife or knives is or are moved by a crank or other
equivalent contrivance, and the rags, ropes, or materials to be cut are
fed into the machine by rollers or other apparatus, by which the same
are advanced a certain distance at cach stroke or revolution of the
crank.
Figure 1, is a sectional elevation of a machine constructed according
to our Invention; Figure 2, an end view; and Figure 3, a plan of the
same; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, are enlarged views of the knife or cutting
apparatus, shewing different methods of making the same to cut length-
ways and crossways at once; Figures 8, and 9, represent a different
apparatus for feeding the substances into the machine to that shewn in
the Figures 1, 2, and 3. The same letters refer to similar parts in all
the Figures. A, is a knife fixed to a cast iron block B, which slides in
two grooves made in the two standards C, C, which are fixed to the bed
plate D of the machine. This bed plate is supported by two side
frames E, E, which are carried up to form two guides for the crosshead
F to slide in; to the latter the knife block B is attached by two rods
G, G, secured to the crosshead F by nuts H, H, H. To the cross-
head F are attached two side rods I, I, worked up and down by a
crank shaft J, which is turned by means of the spur wheels and shaft
K, L. Immediately under the knife A is a plate of metal (iron
preferred) M, fixed on a piece of wood or metal N, which is let into a
recess made in the bed plate D.. On to this. plate M. the substances.

page_text: in.
to be cut are fed by means of an endless-band Q; which passes over the
two rollers P, Q, and is advanced a certain distance at each, stroke of
the machine by a pin R, on the tappet S, (fastened on the end of the
crank shaft), coming against the arms T, T, of a star wheel, which is
keyed on the end of the spindle of the roll P. The amount which the
roll P is turned, and consequently, the distance which the endless band
O is moved forward, depends upon the number of arms
1.the star
wheel, and the distance the pin R is fixed from the centre of the crank
shaft, and it is for this purpose made adjustable on the tappet S... The
distance the endless: band is moved at each, revolution of the machine
is the length into which the substances would be cut. U, is-a table to
support the endless band O, made. with two sides, so as to form a
trough, into which the-substances are, laid; Y, is a weight sliding on.
the rods G, G, which serves to hold-the substances while being cut.
To adjust the knife the crank is put within an inchi or so in the
crank's path of turning the bottom centre, the knife is then made.
to touch the iron plate, and the nuts H, H, tightened up. When the
crank is absolutely on the bottom centre the knife will have descended
a very small distance, and would cut the plate. (were it not for the
elasticity of the different parts), but it will easily be seen that any
substance placed between the knife and plate would be cut. The
descending on to iron or other metal, might appear to have a tendency
to blunt the knife, but in practice this offers no difficulty.
The action of the machine can easily be traced in the above descrip
tion, and is as follows:-The substances to be cut are. placed on the
endless band O, which moves forward, and pushes the foremost portions
between the knife A, and plate M, the knife then descends and cuts off
the portion which is on-the side of the knife opposite to the feeding
band O,,and when the knife ascends another portion is pushed forward
and cut off similar to the above in length, as the distance the endless
band moves forward is equal "for each revolution of the crank shaft.
If it is required to cut the substances into small, pieces, as, for instance,
rags' for the manufacture of paper, we fix at a right angle, or any other
angle to the knife A, a small knife or knives.X, X, shewn in Figures
4 and 5, which knives, àre, adjusted by the nuts Y, Y, so as to cut on

page_text: to the metal plate M, similarly to the knife A. Now it will be seen
that when the portion of rags to be cut off is under these small knives
they will be cut lengthways as well as crossways, that is to say, the
substances would be cut into square or other shaped pieces. W, is a
wedge picce to prevent the substances being cut from sticking to the
knife. Should it be required to cut into very small pieces small
knives could be fixed on both sides of the knife A, as shewn in Figures
6 and 7.
To feed into the machine any sort of substance which would have a
tendency to get into the space between the bed plate D, and the endless
band O, we employ an endless band, made to press by rollers Z, Z, or
by 'other suitable means on to the top of the substance, and thus cause
it to slip on the tahle U, as shewn in Figures 8 and 9.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,―
First, the cutting of rags, rope, fibrous and other substances into
short lengths by means of a knife cutting on to a metal or other hard
bed in the manner herein-before described and represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Second, we claim the combination of knives or cutting edges for
cutting rags, rope, and other substances into square or other shaped
pieces, arranged and working in the manner herein-before described.
And, third, we claim the feeding apparatus as herein-before described
and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Curtis, on behalf of myself
and the said Bryan Donkin, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, One thor sand eight hundred
ALFRED CURTIS. (L.S.)