IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND FOLDING PAPER
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
November 1856.-A communication from Cyrus Chambers, of the United
States of America.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND FOLDING PAPER,"
a communication from Cyrus Chambers, of the United States of America,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of machi-
nery or apparatus for cutting and folding paper, more particularly applicable
to the folding of printed sheets ready for stitching and bending. This machine
is so constructed that the two halves of one sheet (both sides of which have
been printed from the same form) may be separated from each other and
subsequently folded in succession in the same machine. The sheet to be
folded is laid upon a table, and is so adjusted thereon that the holes made by
the register pins of the printing press shall coincide with corresponding
adjustable registers, or pins situated between the first of a series of pairs of
folding rollers, so that when subsequently folded the printed matter of the
folds may coincide or register.
A pressing plate or blade, having a slightly concave edge, and fitted with
small projecting points, now descends by the action of a lever and cam, and

page_text: immediately the points have come in contact with the sheet, the adjustable
register pins herein-before referred to are made to descend beneath the rollers,
so as to be entirely out of the way of the sheet during the first folding process.
The concavity of the blade enables the outer edges of the sheets to be laid
hold of first, and thereby prevents any liability to creasing. The further
descent of the pressing blade inserts the sheet in a creased form between the
folding rollers, which are kept constantly revolving by suitable driving gear.
On leaving this first pair of rollers, the doubled sheet is carried along by
horizontal tapes until its folded edge comes in contact with the face of a bar
or rail, which forms part of a vibrating frame, a rising and falling motion
being imparted to this bar by means of a lever and cam. On the lower edgo
of this bar and below the edge of the paper is a shear blade, a corresponding
blado being fitted to an adjustable sliding bar; by this means, when the first
bar rises, the folded edge of the sheet is engaged between the two blades, and
is cut off thereby. In order to prevent a rebound of the sheet, on first
'coming in contact with the face of the rising bar, a sinall friction or retarding
roller is employed to bear upon the surface of the sheet as it travels along.
The sheet is now severed into two halves, the one lying over the other in
readiness for a second fold, the first one having just been cut off as described;
and in order to remove the severed strip of paper from the lower blade before
another sheet arrives, so as to prevent an accumulation of strips or waste, the
.ascent of the blade brings the strip in contact with the periphery of a
rotating roller or disc covered with india-rubber, by the contact of which the
cut strip is effectually removed from the blade after each cut effected thereby.
The sheets are now in such a position that a line drawn through the middlo
coincides with the division between the second pair of folding rollers situated
immediately beneath the sheets; a corresponding pressing plate or blade
now descends by the action of a cam and lever and inserts the sheets between
two hinged presser plates placed above the rollers.
The pressing plate has two blades attached to one side of it, which are free
to slido longitudinally in opposite directions, one plate extending along one-
half of the length of the blade and the other extending along the second
half. These sliding plates carry diagonal points, the points in each plate pro-
jecting outwards in opposite directions, and are just long enough to penetrato
only one thickness of paper. When the pressing blade bas descended so
as to force the under sheet between the folding rollers, the sliding plates are
caused by means of a small arm to recede from each other slightly, and force
their respective points in a diagonal or slanting direction into the top sheet,
thereby holding it fixed during the time that the bottom sheet its continuing

page_text: its progress along horizontal conducting tapes to the third pair of folding
rollers placed at right angles to the preceeding pair.
A descending pressing blade worked by a cam and lever inserts the sheet
between these last-mentioned rollers, which effect a second or cross fold in it;
in this state, that is folded into four, the sheet is carried by suitable tapes to
the last pair of folding rollers, and is brought in contact with an adjustable
stop piece or guage, a retarding or friction roller which bears upon the surface
of the sheet preventing recoil or rebound of the sheet from the stop piece.
This last fold is effected like the previous one, a pressing blade actuated by a
lever and cam descending so as to insert the partially folded sheet between the
rollers which effect the last fold. On dropping out of these rollers the folded
sheet is directed by an incliued flap on to an endless travelling cloth, the
inclined flap ensuring that the folded sheets shall always be deposited with the
same side uppermost on the endless cloth. A slow motion is imparted to this
cloth by means of a ratchet wheel and pall worked by the machine. During
this time the upper or second sheet of the pair has been released by the
withdrawal of the points, and inserted between the folding rollers to undergo
the same operations as those described with regard to the first or bottom sheet.
Before the last sheet has left the machine, however, a fresh one is introduced
from the feeding table by the attendant. Should the attendant be unable some-
times to adjust the sheet before the next descent of the pressing blade, he has
the power of arresting its descent by placing his foot upon a treddle, which has
the effect of raising a stop, and holding the blade elevated so long as the
treddle is kept down. The machine may obviously be greatly simplified by
dispensing with the cutting mechanism and employing it merely for folding
single sheets.