CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR CUTTING PAPER, PASTE- BOARD RECITED WARDING AND ND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES OR MATERIATO " PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Craib Ross, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MECHANISM OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR CUTTING PAPER, PASTE-
BOARD RECITED WARDING AND
ND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES OR MATERIATO "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Craib Ross
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th February 1868.
I, ROBERT CRAIB Ross, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR CUTTING PAPER,
PASTEBOARD, TEXTILE FABRICS, AND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS," to be
as follows:-
My Invention is designed for the purpose of cutting paper, pasteboard,
textile fabrics, or other similar materials, cither by means of a circular
revolving knife or a laterally traversing knife having an inclined or
angled cutting edge or surface.
The improvements consist, first, in arranging or applying a circular
cutter (or disc having a sharp cutting edge) on a shaft mounted in

page_text: may
bearings, which shaft may be driven by hand or power, and the bearings
be fixed, and the cutter revolve in one position or moveable, so that
the disc cutter may travel or advance whilst revolving, and as the disc
rotates its sharpness is maintained by a pair of hones or sharpeners
arranged in the framing of the machine.
Secondly, the improvements consist in the use of a knife or cutter
having a lateral traverse, or if desired a lateral reciprocating motion and
an inclined or angled cutting edge which may be adjusted to any angle
by slots and set screws, or the knife may be double edged and the angles
right and left so as to cut both in a forward and backward movement;
or two cutters may be used, onc above and the other below, to cut
towards the centre of the thickness of the paper. The material to be
cut is secured by clamp or otherwise on a table or bed, and which may
either be stationary or may move laterally instead of the cutters moving.
I also apply a small stationary knife or knives to the framing of the
machine towards which the cut is made so that the large cutter shall
act against it and ensure the corner or last edge being cut smoothly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,:
filed by the said Robert Craib Ross in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
CRAIB ROSS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Craib Ross, Her special license that
I, the said Robert Craib Ross, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Craib Ross, 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,
excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ircland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR

page_text: CUTTING PAPER, PASTEBOARD, TEXTILE FABRICS, AND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES OR
MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robort
Craib Ross, my executors or administrators, 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 Robert Craib Ross, do horoby
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 and accompanying Drawings (that is
to say):-
=
My Invention is designed for the purpose of cutting paper, pasteboard,
textile fabrics, or other similar materials, either by means of a circular
revolving knife or a laterally traversing knife having an inclined or
angled cutting edge or surface.
The improvements consist, first, in arranging or applying a circular
cutter (or disc having a sharp cutting edge) on a shaft mounted in
bearings, which shaft may be driven by hand or power, and the bearings
may be fixed and the cutter revolve in one position or moveable direction,
so that the disc cutter may travel or advance whilst revolving, and as the
disc rotates its sharpness is maintained by a pair of hones or sharpeners
arranged in the framing of the machine.
Secondly, the improvements consist in the use of a knife or cutter
having a lateral traverse, or if desired a lateral reciprocating motion and
an inclined or angled cutting edge which may be adjusted to any anglo
by slots and set screws, or the knife may be double edged and the angles:
right and left so as to cut both in a forward and backward movement; or
two cutters may be used, one above and the other below, to cut towards
the centre of the thickness of the paper. The material to be cut is
secured by clamp or otherwise on a table or bed, and which may either
be stationary or may move laterally instead of the cutters moving. I also
apply a small stationary knife or knives to the framing of the machine
towards which the cut is made so that the large cutter shall act against
it and ensure the corner or last edge being cut smoothly.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained
in detail I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a

page_text: scale of about two inches to the foot, similar letters of reference being
.marked upon corresponding parts of the apparatus.
Fig. 1 represents the front elevation of a modification or arrangement
of the improved paper cutting apparatus in which a circular traversing
cutter is employed; Fig. 2 represents the front elevation of a similar
arrangement of apparatus in which a laterally traversing knife having
an inclined or angular cutting edge or surface is employed; Fig. 3
represents an end, and Fig. 4 a plan view of the same.
In Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 a, a, is the framing of the machine; a' is the
table
upon which the material to be cut is placed; a² is the backboard;
and as is the screw for adjusting the position of the backboard in the
ordinary manner. The bearings or pedestals b, b, supporting the longi-
tudinal screw c are firmly bolted or otherwise secured to the framing a;
this screw is employed for the purpose of propelling the knife d back-
wards and forwards along the race of the table upon which the paper
to be cut is placed through the medium of the nút e and carriage fto
which the knife d is secured. The revolving action of the screw for
propelling the knife may be obtained by the wheel and handle y or by
strap and pulley; and in order readily to adjust the knife preparatory
to cutting at any particular point of its traverse the nut e may be con-
structed in halves or other equivalent so that when expanded the knife
can be moved without the intervention of the screw, the steadiness and
uniformity of the same upon the paper when cutting being maintained
by reason of the bowl secured to the knife carringe f which is kept
down when traversing by the under surface of the guide rail i; the lower
portion of the knife d is carried by the slide k which travels with the
knife and is guided in its movements by the slot formed in the lid of
the table upon which the paper to be cut is placed; the front or cutting
face of the knife bears right against the rib and the front of the
frame a, the knife carriage f being also steadily kept in its place when
traversing by the guide rail, which conjointly keep the knife in its true
position when traversing along the front of the machine. The keenness
of the cut and angular position of the knife can be obtained by forming
slots in the knife which will allow the same to be adjusted previously to
securing the same by bolts to the knife carriage. An equilibrium of
pressure for retaining the paper or material upon the table a¹ whilst
being cut is obtained by means of the screw and diagonal supporting
bars m, m; by this peculiar construction of diagonal bars the material

page_text: to be cut may be placed under any portion of the pressure without
effecting any undue or unequal pressure or strain upon any other portion
of the machine.
The arrangement of machinery as shewn in Fig. 1 is similar in every
respect to the machine already described, with this exception, that the
angular knife employed for cutting the material is dispensed with, and
a circular revolving knife substituted for the adaptation and action of
the circular knife, that will readily be understood on reference to the
Drawings. The circular knife n is mounted and revolves with the pin o
secured to the knife carriage, its circular motion being obtained by
means of the worm wheel p secured to the stud o and actuated by the
screw 8, when revolving simultaneously with which the knife is caused
to traverse across the table the combined rotation and traversing motion
of the knife effects upon the material under operation a clean, even, and
certain cut.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with
the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
distinctly understood that I claim, the novel construction, adaptation,
employment, and use of traversing circular or angular knives for cutting
paper or textile fabrics, as herein-before described, set forth, and fully
illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Craib Ross, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Eleventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witnessed by
JNO. HUGILES,
Clerk to Jno. Davies & Son,
Office for Patents,
Manchester.
ROBERT CRAIB ROSS. (L.S.)