Improvements in Machines for Applying Stay Strips to Box Corners.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 4th May, 1896-Accepted, 6th June, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Applying Stay Strips to Box
Corners.
I, HORACE INMAN of 11 to 13 Whitecross Street, London, E.C. Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention relates to certain improvements in machines for applying stay
strips to box corners, the essential features of such machine consisting of a mandrel
for carrying the box, means for pasting a plain stay strip (or moistening a gummed
one) and feeding it transversely over the mandrel, means for applying to the strip
when placed upon the box pressure acting without traction along a single transverse
line only, and for gradually advancing this line of pressure from end to end of the
strip, and devices moving just in front of this advancing line of pressure to
gradually cut across the strip and sever from its end the stay piece which is thus
partially affixed before it is wholly cut off.
Referring to the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is an elevation showing a portion of the machine sufficient to illustrate
the invention.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mechanism I employ on an enlarged scale.
Fig. 3 is a cross section on an enlarged scale on the line - of Fig. 2, and
Fig. 4 is a view on an enlarged scale on the line -, Fig. 2, looking in the
direction of the arrows.
The machine is provided with an upwardly projecting arm 1, and is operated
from a main shaft 2 suitably actuated.
The corner of the box which is to receive stay strips is supported by placing it
upon a mandrel 3 whose upper side has equally inclined lateral faces faced with
steel. One end of the mandrel may be pivoted to the frame, and the other end
supported by a projection 4 of a bell crank lever having at its lower end a roller
working against a cam upon the main shaft 2. The cam is so formed that the
mandrel is allowed to fall and remain depressed while the strip from which stays
are to be cut is being fed across and above it and is then raised and rigidly held
until the next feeding interval. The end of the mandrel lies centrally in a recess 5
in the frame between springs 6 which allow automatic lateral adjustment, so that
the mandrel and the box supported thereon may under all conditions receive
practically equal pressure upon the adjacent faces or sides.
On one side of the frame is a bracket 7 provided with an arm 8 which supports a
stay strip reel mounted upon a shaft. The strip A is fed forward and at the same
time pasted or moistened, as the case may be, by rollers 9, 10, mounted upon a
paste or water box 11 supported by the bracket 7. The rollers are preferably
corrugated and the lower one lies so far down in the box that it must transfer to
the strip the water or paste therein. The rollers are connected by gears 12, 13,
and one of them bears the usual ratchet wheel 14 and swinging arm 15 provided
with a pawl 16 to engage the ratchet wheel. The free end of this arm is connected
by a link 17 to an arm 18 of a vertical rock shaft 19, and this is rocked in one
direction by a cam 20 (upon the main shaft) working against a roller 21 borne by a
second arın 22, and in the other direction by a spring 23 connecting a third arm to
a fixed point upon the machine frame and always holding the roller 21 against the
face of the cam. The strip A is directed between the rollers by a plate 24 below,

page_text: and two rods 25 above, and is guided laterally by bars 26, 27, adjustably clamped
upon the rods by thumb screws 28 passing down through each pair into nuts sliding
without rotation in a longitudinal slot in the plate 24. After leaving the rollers
the strip passes through a guide 29 pivoted at 30 near the end next the rollers and
held by a spring 31 above the plane of a knife 32 fixed to the bracket. Above the
path of the strip in this guide is a bar across the guide's pivoted end, and from it a
series of spring rods 33 projecting in a plane parallel to the path of the strip
nearly to the vertical plane of the knife edge to serve a purpose that will appear.
The strip may be a strip previously gummed, in which case water will be used in
the box, or it may be an ungummed strip if paste be substituted.
Fixed to the arm 1 is a bar 34 parallel to the mandrel 3, and below it is a
second bar 35 pivoted at one end to the frame at b, and at the other vertically
adjustable in a slot cut in a lateral projection 1 of the arm 1. The free end of
the bar 35 rests upon an adjusting screw 36 and is pressed down thereon by a
spring 37 fixed at 38 to the bar 34 and acting with a force regulated by a screw 39
through a pin 40 passing down through the bar 34 to the upper surface of the
bar 35. Upon the bar 35 a carriage 41 is mounted with its upper part resting
against both lateral faces of the bar 34 which thus aids in keeping it in position.
Upon the carriage is mounted a stay affixing roller 42 or it may be a segment of a
roller. Fixed on the bar 35 is a rack 43 which engages a gear 44 borne by a
gudgeon upon the carriage and meshing with gear teeth 45 upon the side of the
roller 42, and hence movement of the carriage along the bar produces positive
rotation of the roller. The parts are so proportioned that this rotation is precisely
equal to that which would occur were the roller to advance the same distance
by rolling on a plane. It follows that there can be no traction whatever, the
action of the curved surface here shown as that of a roller, being the same
as if it were rocked, not by lateral pressure but by gradually moving the line
of pressure toward one side of the line of contact of the curve and the surface
upon which it impinges. The roller lies in the plane of the mandrel and is
circumferentially grooved at 47 to fit saddle-like upon the same. Upon one
side of the groove is a steel plate 48 sharpened at its outer edge 49 to coact
with the knife 32 already mentioned, in cutting from side to side across the
strip A, and upon the same side is a curved flange 50 which as the roller advances
rolls over the rods of the strip guide 29, and thus rocks the guide downward,
allowing the adhesive strip end to fall upon the knife and the corner of a
box awaiting it upon the mandrel. The carriage is moved back and forth by the
main shaft 2 through an eccentric 51 acting at 52 upon a lever 53 having its lower
end pivoted at 54 and its upper end connected to the carriage by a link 55 whose
ends are of course pivoted as seen. When all the parts are properly adjusted and
the shaft 2 is in motion a box is placed in position upon the mandrel. The
mandrel drops, the cam 20 causes the strip to be fed forward to the proper distance
over the box, the mandrel is raised by the other cam, the carriage advances, the
flange 50 depresses the guide 29, dropping the end of the strip upon the box and
knife 32, the knife 49 begins to cut across the strip, and the roller 42 whose line of
contact closely follows the advancing point of cutting, presses the strip with purely
perpendicular force upon the box as fast as it is severed. When the piece is thus
completely affixed, the roller in returning re-presses the strip, the line of gradually
advancing pressure moving in the opposite direction. The shaft 2 may have an
intermittent motion, a clutch being used to connect it to a constantly revolving
loose fly wheel pulley, such clutch being operated by a pedal.
As will be understood the whole force is applied at all times ou a mere line, aud
hence each point is forced down with great power, the line advances from end to
end of the strip and the air is thus necessarily forced out instead of being merely
compressed, also that affixing a part of the stay-piece before severing is completed
prevents displacement and that this latter end is further subserved by the rocker-
like action of the pressing surface whereby all traction is avoided, that in case
unequal thicknesses of box material lie upon opposite sides of the mandrel the

page_text: latter automatically moves laterally and thus equalizes the pressure, and that this
rocking motion of the pressing surface may be otherwise obtained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a machine for applying stay strips to box corners, means for supporting
a box and for pressing a stay strip upon the same, means for feeding the end of a
continuous strip across the corner of the box, means for severing a piece from the
end of said strip by a cut beginning at one edge and advancing across the strip,
and means for pressing the piece upon the box as fast as it is severed, whereby the
uncut portion holds the piece until the partial affixing prevents displacement
substantially as described."
2. In a machine for applying stay strips to box corners, a mandrel and devices
for feeding a continuous stay strip over a box supported thereon, a roller arranged
to roll along the box transversely to the line of direction of said strip, and devices
arranged to cut across the strip just in advance of the roller's line of contact,
substantially as described.
3. In a machine for applying stay strips to box corners, a roller and a mandrel
constructed to co-operate in pressing a stay strip upon an interposed box corner, a
fixed knife located adjacent to the mandrel, and a knife fixed to the roller and
adapted in conjunction with the fixed knife to sever a length of the continuous
strip as the roller advances, substantially as described.
4. In a machine for applying stay strips to box corners, a mandrel and a roller
arranged to co-operate in pressing a strip upon a box corner, and positive
mechanism for carrying the roller back and forth along said corner and for imparting
to the roller during said movement positive rotation, substantially as described.
5. In a machine for applying stay strips to box corners, a mandrel and a guide-
way approximately parallel to the same, a carriage arranged to move along said
guide-way, and a roller borne by the carriage in position to press a stay strip upon
the corner of a box resting upon said mandrel, substantially as described.
6. In a machine for applying stay strips to box corners, a mandrel and a guide-
way approximately parallel thereto, a carriage arranged to move along said
guideway, means for imparting a reciprocating movement to the carriage, a roller
borne in position to press a stay strip upon a box resting upon said mandrel, and
means for at will varying the distance of the guideway from the mandrel,
substantially as described.
7. The improvements in machines for applying stay strips to box corners,
substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated the 1st dow of Mo 1806
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent,
For the Applicant.