IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER BAGS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Augustus Woodley, of the Lithographic and
General Printing Offices, Taunton, in the County of Somerset, for the
Scaled the 20th May 1856, and dated the 1st December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Augustus Woodley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st December 1855.
I, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS WOODLEY, of the Lithographic and General Printing
Offices, Taunton, in the County of Somerset, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER BAGS"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing paper bags in the following
manner: The sheet of paper to form the bag is placed on a suitable table
to be pasted, and for this purpose a narrow trough, having its bottom formed
of a piece of thick woven fabric, is used. This trough contains the paste, and
it is caused by suitable mechanism to descend on the edge of the paper to be
pasted. A stirrer is used inside the paste trough to cause the paste to pass
freely through the bottom. The pasted paper is then removed to another
machine, where it is placed on suitable supports. When so placed, a plate of

page_text: metal of the form of the bag descends on to the paper, and the sides are
folded by flaps over the form, which then continues its descent and carries
away the bag, which may afterwards be removed by hand or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Augustus Woodley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
AUGUSTUS WOODLEY, of the Lithographic and General Printing Offices,
Taunton, in the County of Somerset, send greeting.
as
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Augustus Woodley, Her special licence that I, the said William
Augustus Woodley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
I, the said William Augustus Woodley, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER BAGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Augustus Woodley, 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 William Augustus Woodley, 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 :-
This Invention consists in manufacturing paper bags in the following
manner: The sheet of paper to form the bag is placed on a suitable table
to be pasted, and for this purpose a narrow trough, having its bottom formed

page_text: of a piece of thick woven fabric, is used. This trough contains the paste, and
it is caused by suitable mechanism to descend on the edge of the paper to be
pasted. A stirrer is used inside the paste trough to cause the paste to pass
freely through the bottom. The pasted paper is then removed to another
machine, where it is placed on suitable supports. When so placed, a plate of
metal of the form of the bag descends on to the paper, and the sides are
folded by flaps over the form, which then continues its descent and carries
away the bag, which may afterwards be removed by hand or otherwise.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
My improved machinery for making paper bags consists of a table A,
Drawing No. 1, on the top of which, at or near three of the corners, are three
upright pieces of wood or metal a, each having a slot or groove for the
admission of a pin 6, which supports a trough c, containing paste or other
adhesive composition. The sides of the trough are of tin or other material,
and the bottom consists of a piece of woven fabric of such texture as to allow
the paste to ooze through. Inside each trough is a stirrer d, having teeth at
its lower edge (see Drawing No. 8). To the end of one of the stirrers an
elastic band is attached (e), which is also fastened to one of the uprights.
The two stirrers are connected near the centre upright by a cord which runs
round a pulley f. Cords being carried from the end of the other stirrer g to
cranks which extend from the axle of the machine the stirrers are caused
to move to and fro as the driving wheel i revolves; thus the paste is rubbed
through the woven fabric, and laid evenly on the edges of the paper. In
some cases, however, the stirrers may be dispensed with, namely, when the
paste is of thin consistency. The sheets of paper are placed upon the table
in a heap (), so that the edges to be pasted come immediately under the
troughs, and each sheet is withdrawn as it is required by the person who
works the machine.
That part of the machine which forms the bags consists of a frame (B),
made of wood or iron, and having an axle which crosses it at the top k. From
this axle one, two, three, or more arms extend, each carrying a fan or plate l,
(of iron, steel, or other material,) and the dimensions of which correspond with
the size of the bags to be made. These fans have two holes in them m, to
allow of the bags being easily removed. On one end of the axle is a
driving wheel, and from its other end extends the arm for cranks, already
mentioned.

page_text: At right angles from the axle on which they rest and turn are two arms,
which I term "guide bars "n, and about midway on each of these is a pinion o,
which runs up and down a rack affixed to the frame. The pinion may be
placed either about midway (as in the Drawing), or at the outer end of the
guide bar
P, the rack being fixed in a corresponding position. A cross bar
connects the outer ends of the guide bars. To each guide bar a flap q, made
of iron or other suitable material, is attached by a collar at one end r, its other
end being connected with one of the pinions, already mentioned. These flaps
will generally be made of nearly equal widths, so as to let the pasted edges of
the paper be in the centre of the bag; but they may be also made of such
widths as to allow the pasted parts (or join) to fall at one side of the bag.
Along the outer edge of one of the flaps is a strip of soft materials, such as
flannel or india-rubber, calculated to press the pasted edge of the sheet
securely to the other edge, which falls beneath it, as hereafter described.
Under each flap there hangs by collars to the guide bar a leaf of tin or
other suitable material t, the inner edges of which meet at about midway
between the guide bars, and with the flaps form a sort of table about the size
of the sheet of paper. Each leaf extends outside the bar, and to this part of
the leaf a weight is attached u, the uses of which are to offer resistance when
the fan falls upon the leaf, and to cause the leaf after having been inverted to
return to its former flat position, after the fan has passed away from it, as
hereafter described.
The sheet being pasted, is placed upon the flaps and leaves, and the driving
wheel being set in motion, the fan falls upon the paper, and the whole of this
part of the machine is carried downwards (sco a, in Drawing No. 2), the flaps
turning over in the descent and falling flat upon the fan.
One of the pinions (v, in Drawing No. 2,) is of smaller diameter than the
other, and consequently the flap connected therewith is turned over more
quickly than the other. The object of this is to ensure that the edge of the
sheet which has not received the paste shall fall under the pasted edge. At a
certain point in this downward progress the smaller pinion leaves its rack, and
the flap continues to lie upon the fan until the other flap arrives at a similar
position. The edges of the bag being stuck together, the fan passes between
the leaves, which turn downwards and open, so as to allow it to get free (see
b, in No. 2). The guide bars with the leaves, flaps, &c. then arise and resume
their former position, being drawn thereto either by weights suitably placed,
or by elastic bands, or by both combined w.
At a short distance below the apparatus last described is apparatus of similar
construction for forming the bottom part of the bag, but placed crosswise x,

page_text: namely, racks, pinions, one flap, and one weighted leaf with guides, weights,
&c. The machine may be worked by treadle or other power.
Machines may be constructed according to the above description either for
the manufacture of bags of one size only, in which case all the parts are per-
manently fixed, or for the manufacture of bags of various sizes, in which
latter. case the racks are shifted by screws in the sides of the frame. The
fans, flaps, leaves, troughs, and such other parts as need it, are changed to
correspond with the alteration.
The Drawing No. 2 represents the bag-making part of the machine in
operation. The fan having fallen upon the leaves, the flaps have turned over,
and the fan is forcing its way between the leaves, as already described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Augustus Woodley, have hereunto
set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS WOODLEY. (L.B.)
ERNEST ROSSITER, Solicitor,
Taunton.