IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC SELF-CLAMP GUILLOTINE PAPER CUTTING MACHINES
Year: 1884

page_text: HENRY PATTMAN TRUEMAN and JOHN GEORGE NEW of 78 Parado Birmingham
in, the County of Warwick, Printers Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC SELF-CLAMP GUILLOTINE PAPER
CUTTING MACHINES to be as follows:-
These improvements consist first of an automatic arrangement by which the
further motion of the knife is stopped when it reaches the end of its return stroke;
the same arrangement also engages a friction clutch which prevents the accidental
starting of the machine until the proper starting lever is actuated by the
attendant.
This is accomplished by means of a vertical shaft attached to the outside part of
one of the side frames. The upper end of this shaft, carries a stud which projects
through a slot in the side frame, the said stud is engaged and lifted by the knife-
bar on its ascent. The motion of this vertical shaft is communicated through a
bell-crank to a double cone clutch on the main shaft of the machine.
This said double cone engages the main-shaft and its fly wheel during the motion
of the knife, but when the knife bar is nearly at the top of the stroke, it lifts the
aforesaid vertical shaft, which by means of the said bell-crank releases the combined
fly wheel and strap pulley, and engages a hollow cone on the frame work of the
machine, thus locking the machine till again started by the attendant.
The second point in these improvements is the adoption of means by which the
machine may be stopped at any portion of its stroke. This is effected by reversing
the direction of the force applied to the starting lever, which actuates the vertical
shaft and its connections in the same manner as afore-described. A locking plate
or pin is employed to retain the parts in this position if so desired..
The third point in these improvements is the means adopted for automatically
holding paper, cloth, mill-board or other material in paper cutting machines,
immediately before and during the time the knife is cutting through such material.
This is effected by connecting the pressure or clamping bar to the upper horizontal
plate of the frame work, by a pair of toggle or elbow joints. A horizontal shaft
carrying a spring or springs, or a combination of weights and springs, passes across
the centre joint of the toggles, and exerts a pressure tending to straighten the

page_text: toggles and thus press down the clamp bar upon the material to be held. A roller
carried on one end of the horizontal bar engages with the end of the knife bar in
such a manner that the pressure of the springs is taken off, directly after the knife
has passed the pile of material in its ascent. The horizontal bar and spring_is
connected with the toggles by contact only and in one direction, so that when the
springs are pressed back by the knife-bar the clamp bar is free to be moved in a
vertical direction. We prefer to counterbalance the weight of the clamp bar and
toggles, and actuate the same by a foot lever in front of the machine. The
clamping bar may also be worked by a hand wheel without the assistance of
springs or weights.
7
•
HENRY PATTMAN TRUEMAN.
JOHN GEORGE NEW.

page_text: HENRY PATTMAN TRUEMAN and JOHN GEORGE NEW of 78 Parade, Birmingham
in the county of Warwick, Engineers and Machinists do hereby declare the nature
of our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC SELF-CLAMP GUILLOTINE
PAPER CUTTING MACHINES and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
These improvements consist first, of an automatic. arrangement by which the
further motion of the knife is stopped when it reaches the end of its return stroke.
The same arrangement also engages a friction clutch which prevents the
accidental starting of the machine until the proper starting lever is actuated by
the attendant. This is accomplished by means of a vertical shaft attached to the
outside of one of the side frames. The upper end of the said shaft carries a stud
which projects through a slot in the side frame and is lifted by the knife bar on
its ascent.
The motion of this vertical shaft is communicated through a bell crank to the
double cone clutch on the main shaft of the machine. The said double cone
engages the main shaft and its fly wheel during the motion of the knife bar, but
when the knife bar is nearly at the top of the return stroke it lifts the aforesaid
vertical shaft, which by means of the said bell crank, releases the combined fly.
wheel and strap pulley and engages a hollow cone on the frame-work of the
machine, thus locking the machine till started again by the attendant.
The second point in these improvements is the adoption of means by which the
machine may be stopped at any portion of its stroke. This is effected by reversing
the direction of the force applied to the starting lever, which actuates the vertical
shaft and connections in the same manner as afore-described. A locking plate or
pin is employed to retain the part in this position if so desired. The third point
in these improvements is the means adopted for automatically holding paper, cloth,
mill-board or other material in paper cutting machines immediately before and
during the time the knife is cutting through such material. This is effected by
connecting the pressure or clamping bar to the upper horizontal plate of the frame
work by a pair of toggle or elbow joints. A horizontal shaft carrying a spring or
springs or a combination of weights and springs passes across the centre joint of the
toggles, and exerts a pressure tending to straighten the toggles, and thus press
down the clamp bar upon the material to be held. A roller carried on one end of
the horizontal bar in such a manner that the pressure of the springs is taken off
directly after the knife has passed the pile of material in its ascent. The horizontal
bar is connected with the toggles by contact only and in one direction so that when
the springs are lifted or pressed back by the knife bar, the presser platen is free to
be moved in a vertical direction. We prefer to counterbalance the weight of the
platen and toggles and actuate the same by a foot lever or treadle in front of the
machine. The clamping platen may also be worked by a hand wheel with or
without the assistance of springs or weights.
That our invention may be fully understood and carried into operation we will
describe the accompanying sheet of drawings made to a scale of about 11 inch to a
foot and marked with letters of reference. Fig 1 is a front elevation Fig 2 is a
back elevation of so much of an ordinary cutting machine as is required to shew
our improvements. Fig 3 is a section of the clutch detaching levers. Similar
letters indicate the same parts throughout the drawings. Fig 1 A. A. The front
frame of the machine. Fig 2 B B the back frame, which frames are held apart by
suitable distance pieces. C Fig 1 is the knife bar which is hung between the

page_text: frames A A and B B Fig 2, on the two links D D Fig 1. E Fig 1 is the connecting
rod. F the crank pin. G worm wheel. H worm screw. I is the vertical stop
shaft J slot stud K spring. K¹ stop set pin hole L bell crank. M. N double
cone clutch O pully. Pfly wheel. Qnuts to adjust pressure of clutch. R detaching
lever plate. S detaching lever for stopping and starting. T sleeved shaft carrying
lever. L Fig 3 U Centre shaft carrying cone fork. U. V a notch in boss of sleeve
marked T Wa stop piece on plate R Fig 2. Cis the knife bar a is the clamping
bar moving vertically between guides not shown in the drawing. b. b. b¹ b¹ is a
pair of elbow or toggle joints. c is a rigid plate which serves as a common joint
for both pairs of toggles d is the horizontal shaft e the spiral spring froller shewn
in dotted lines carried on block g. h. is a roller on a block conveying pressure of
spring e to plate c. i is a cord passing round pulleys 1. 2 and connected at 3 to plate a
j is a weight at end of cord i Fig 1. k is a treadle 7 connecting rod. m. n. levers,
lever is connected with one of the toggle links 6 Fig 2 and this serves to press
down the clamp bar a Fig by actuating treadle k Fig 1 Fig. 3. R detaching
plate S detaching lever T sleeve and lever L. U shaft passing through sleeve T
having fork U fixed at one end and plate R at the other. The working of the
machine and the several parts described, is as follows. On placing paper or other
material in the machine for cutting, the position of the various parts will be as shewn
in the drawings Fig 1 and Fig 2. The material to be operated on is placed under
the knife bar C The bandle S is then pulled towards the right hand side of the
machine. This motion first raises the projection v of Lever S out of notch V and
the lever stops against the block W on the plate R The lever S plate R shaft U
and clutch fork are then all practically one piece and the lever S consequently
pushes cone M into contact with the clutch and fly wheel O P Q The worm H on
the same shaft as fly wheel then causes the crank F to revolve and the connecting
rod E pulls down the knife bar with a diagonal motion due to the links D. D. by
which it is hung on the frame. The motion of the parts continue until the knife
bar is nearly to the top of its stroke, when the top of the knife bar C engages with
a bowl on the stud J and lifts vertical shaft I and the lever L thus throwing the
cone N into gear with a recess in the frame and disconnecting the clutch, stops the
machine. If the machine is required to stop at any other part of the stroke the
lever S is pushed to the left hand and this by means of the notch V in sleeve T lifts
the vertical shaft and withdraws the clutch in the same manner as if actuated as
before described by the knife bar C To retain the parts in this position a pin is
inserted in the hole K¹ in shaft I.
Referring to Fig 2 we will now describe the operation of the self-clamping
apparatus. The pile of paper being placed under c as before and machine started by
the lever S the knife bar descends and in doing so moves to the left of the drawing.
The horizontal bar d being pressed by the spring e in the same direction moves in
contact with C and in so doing causes the wheel to press against the joint plate c
of the toggles b, 61, and the toggles coming nearly into a straight line force the
clamp a downward upon the pile of material under the knife bar. The position
of the roller f and the block is such that the clamp bar a. always reaches the
pile of material before the knife, and also remains on the pi'e till the knife has
passed it during its ascent. If it be desired to bring the clamp bar a down on the
pile to be cut before starting the machine, the operator presses on the treadle k
and by means of the levers l. m. n connected to one or more of the toggle links b. b¹
the plate c and the toggles b move from the position shewn in Fig 2 and the clamp
moves down to the pile and indicates where the cut will be made, on releasing the
treadle the weight j and cord i pulls up e into its original position. It will also
be noticed that as the cord i passes from c round the pullies 2 & 1 that the
weight of is added to the spring e and made effective in clamping the paper.
The clamping may also be effected by a hand wheel working the bar d in con-
nection with the toggles and clamp, or a screw is fixed to the clamp bar a in the
usual way.
The counterbalancing of the toggle plate c and clamp a may also be
effected by weights or springs applied to the joint pins or the links may be

page_text: extended beyond their pins in the top of the frame and weights or springs attached.
The cord i and weight ; may also be arranged to pass around more or less rollers
so as to give the best effect. Another way of depressing the clamp bar a is to lift
the weight by a treadle or any other well known mechanical means, when the
clamp bar a falls by gravity on the pile and returns to its original position when
the weight j is released and allowed to fall, but it is essential to our invention that
the weight which counterbalances the clamping plate a when the machine is at
rest, should, by its cord add its weight to the useful effect of the machine when in
motion by passing around a roller fixed on bar d.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed. We declare that what
we claim, is
Firstly. The combination and arrangement of mechanism for automatically
stopping the motion of Cutting Machines at the end of a complete down and up
stroke substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings.
Secondly. The combination of mechanism for stopping the machine at any
intermediate point of the stroke substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated by the drawings.
Thirdly. The use of a spring or weight or combination of springs and weights
in combination with toggles when so arranged that the pressure of the springs or
weights upon the pile is approximately equalized by the toggles, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated by the drawings.
Fourthly. The use of a counterbalance arranged so as to add its own weight to
that of the other clamping mechanism consisting of toggles in combination with
weights and springs substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by the
drawings.
In witness whereof we the said Henry Pattman Trueman and John George
New have hereunto set our hands.