CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING PAPER
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
COWPER, of Clapham Road Place, in the Parish of Saint Mary Lambeth, in
the County of Surry, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-eight, in the ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Cowper, His especial licence that I, the said Edward
Cowper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said Edward Cowper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, usc, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING
PAPER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I,
the said Edward Cowper, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
the said
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso,
Edward Cowper, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention

page_text: is to be performed, by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this machine is to cut or divide the long web or sheet of
paper made by the paper machine into sheets of the ordinary sizes; but the
improvements relate principally to the transverse cutting. A general idea of
the machine may be formed by stating that the web of paper is divided in
the direction of its length by circular knives, and in the direction of its width
by having an indented or saw-toothed knife thrust through it. Although
there are some parts of the machine to which I have not an exclusive claim
I have nevertheless described the entire machine and its mode of operation,
in order to comply as fully as possible with the terms of the Patent, and I
have then stated my claims in the different Figures of the Drawings hereunto
annexed; where the letters or number of reference are the same, similar parts
are represented.
Figure 1 represents an elevation of the machine, and Figure 2 is a plan of
the middle part of the machine. (A), a cast-iron frame held together by
stay bolts at (B), and cast-iron braces at (C). (D), a wooden or cast-iron
cylinder, having a number of grooves about one sixteenth of an inch wide,
and about a quarter of an inch deep turned in it at such distances as may be
required by the various sizes of the sheets. (E), a wrought-iron spindle
(shown by the dotted lines), having several circular knives fitted on appro-
priate brass bosses capable of being moved along the spindle opposite to any
particular groovo in the cylinder (D), and being fixed there by set screws.
This spindle turns in carriages, which can be drawn back by slacking the
screws (F). The spindle has a small pulley at its further end, and is driven
by a catgut band (G) from the fly wheel (II). On the spindle if the
grooved cylinder is fixed a pulley of any required diameter. (I), (K), two
wrought-iron links, the two ends of which turn on the spindle of the grooved
cylinder, and at the other ends is a wooden drum (L) turning in holes in the
links, and a wooden roller (M) turning in notches. The ends of the links
are bent into hooks (N), from which a rope may pass over pullies (0) on the
roof of the building, with a weight attached to counterbalance the links and
their appurtenances. A board (P) is supported on the links, and a small
roller (Q), (shown by the dotted lines) runs in two carriages fixed on the
board at a short distance from the cylinder. (R), a wooden drum turning in
notched bearings, and resting with its weight in the cylinder, by the friction of
which it is turned. (S), a similar drum pressing against the under part of
the cylinder by the action of a weight or a spring, as at (T), at cach end

page_text: of the cylinder and the two drums; a fillet of leather about an inch in breadth
is fixed on their surfaces, which keeps the cylinder and drums at a little dis-
tance from each other, and thus allows the web of paper to pass through without
creasing, the friction of the leather fillets causing the drums to revolve. The
.drum (I) and roller (M) are furnished with similar fillets. The spindle of
the drum (L) has a pulley (U) fixed on its end; which is driven by a catgnt
band from a pulley (V), fixed on the spindle of the cylinder. (W, X, Y,)
small brass pullies at the end of rods sliding in brass carriages, which them-
selves slide along a wrought-iron bar to any required position, where they are
fixed by set screws. A convenient number of these guide pullies is six on
the bar at (W), six on the bar at (X); and eight on the bar at (Y).
(Z, Z, Z,) wooden rollers extending across the machine, and running in small
brass carriages. Several series of endless tapes are arranged on these guide
pullies and rollers for the purpose of conveying the web of paper through
the machine. They are arranged in pairs, one sett passing over the web, and
the other under the web; they may be called the over and under vertical
tapes (O, V, (U, V,) the over and under horizontal tapes (O, H, U, H,)
and the over and under deckle-edge tapes (O, D, U, D). The track of
these tapes will be best seen in the Diagrams (Figure 3 & 4), where the
deckle-edge tapes are separated from the others to shew them more distinctly.
The track of the paper is shown by the red lines. A spindle (a) furnished
with two cranks (6), extends across the machine, having the fly wheel (H) at
one end, and an expanding rigger or pulley (C) at the other. This expanding
rigger consists of two sides, which are furnished with projecting triangular bosses
(d), falling into corresponding holes in the opposite side. The inner half-(e)
of the expanding rigger is fixed on the spindle, it has a long projecting, boss
on its centre, with a screw cut on its outside, on which a large brass nut (ƒ)
works. The outer half (9) of the expanding rigger has also a projecting
hollow boss or tube on its centre, which slides over the above; it has a groove
near the end, and a ring of brass cut into segments, is fitted into this groove,
the large brass nut projects over the segments to which it is fixed by screws.
When the nut is turned the outer half of-the rigger advances or recedes from
the other half, thus varying its circumference. A. strong catgut band. (h)
passes over this rigger and over the pulley (I) on the spindle of the grooved..
cylinder, to which it gives motion; the band is kept tight by the hanging..
weight (i). (k) is a cast-iron plate extending across the machine. It has
projections on its ends, fitted to slide in a grove in the brasses (1); it slides
backwards and forward between the brasses and the bar (m), by, the motion
of the cranks to which it is attached by the crank rods (n). Another mode
о
.

page_text: is to suspend or to support the plate by rods moving on joints. On this plate
(called the knife plate) is placed one or more knives (0), the edges of which
are cut into angular teeth, the edges of the teeth being filed to a knife edge.
The size of the teeth may be a quarter of an inch more or less. The knives
are kept firmly fixed by the clamps and screws (p). Opposite to the knife
plate is a pair of pressing plates (9), they are of cast iron, the sides next to
the knife plates are filed true, and the backs' have a strong rib to prevent
them from bending. The edges of the pressing plates are fixed at about one
eighth or quarter of an inch apart from each other, the opening being directly
opposite to the knife; and the knives must be so placed that when thrust forward
by the cranks, they shall enter the opening the full depth of their teeth
without touching the plates. Above and under the knife plate (k), and
opposite to the pressing plates (9), are one or more pressing blocks (r); they
are each fixed to two rods (s), which slide in carriages (t) on the knife plate.
A horizontal bar (u) connects the sliding rods by resting on shoulders at their
ends; and a vertical rod, the end of which is seen at (v), connects the hori-
zontal bars below the knife plate with those above. A cord fastened to the
vertical rod passes over a pulley (w) in the knife plate, and has a weight
attached to it; which by this arrangement acts equally on the upper and lower
pressing blocks. The pressure may be produced by helical springs round the
sliding rods, but, as springs are liable to break, weights preferable. The
pressing blocks project about half an inch beyond the edges of the knives,
sand are prevented from going further by the pins (2) in the sliding rods.
When the knife plate advances, the pressing blocks come in contact with the
pressing plates, against which they are firmly held by the action of the weights,
while the knives enter the opening between the pressing plates and return.
"The links (%) are connected to the crank rods by two lifting rods (y), so that
as the cranks revolve, the links and all that is attached to them rise and fall.
The object of this motion is to prevent the accumulation or bagging of the
web while the sheet is held between the pressing blocks, and plates. () is
the feeding board; (i), a board under the vertical tapes, to prevent the paper
from swagging; (2) is the reel of paper belonging to the paper machine.
The reel of paper may be detached from the paper machine, and put on a
separate carriage, or suspended by rods, and any of the usual modes of keeping
the web smooth, such as a diagonally fluted bar, or rollers acting with their
weight on the web called "dancing rollers" or "dandy rollers," may be used
between the reel and the cutting machine; (3) is the web of paper entering
the cutting machine; and (4) is the divided web ready to receive the trans-
verse cut; (5) is the table on which the sheets are laid; (6), the deckle edge

page_text: coming away: The machine is put in motion; by turning the crank spindlo in
the direction of the arrows, either by hand or by the paper-mill power. The
action of the machine is as follows:-The end of the web. of paper is laid
on the feeding board (=), and is gently stroked up with the hand till it enters
between the over and under vertical tapes (O, V, U, V,) when it will be carried
forward over the lower drum (S), and over the grooved cylinder (D), here it.
will be divided by the circular knives. The divided web will then pass
on between the over and under horizontal tapes (O, H, U, H,) and over the
rising and falling drum (L); it then, descends between the pressing blocks and
plates, between which it is firmly held, when the cranks throw the knife
plate forward; while the web is so held the knives pass through it, and as
the knife plate is drawn back the sheets drop into the workman's hands.
The narrow outside edges cut off by the circular knives are conveyed away
by the deckle-edge tapes, and fall within the machine, where a basket may
be placed to receive them. It is obvious that the web should be wound on
the reel as level as possible, two slips of wood may be fixed on the feeding
board to correct any little irregularity; but, if by any oversight the web has
been wound very irregularly, the deckle edges may be left uncut while passing
through the machine, and be ploughed off afterwards in the usual manner;
or, all the circular knives may be withdrawn and the paper be cut by the
machine transversly only, which will still save a considerable quantity of
shavings; the size of the sheet is, regulated in one of its dimensions by
shifting the circular knives, and in the other dimensions by the large pullies
on the cylinder spindle, and the expanding rigger; thus if the cylinder by
thirty-six inches in circumference, and the large pulley seventy-two inches,
the sheet will be equal to half the circumference of the expanding rigger.
Dry paper will be cut with a smoother edge than wet paper. As saw-toothed
knives have been used by me in a former Patent for ploughing paper, and
subsequently by by Mr. Hansard in a printing press, but in both cases in a
different manner from my present Invention, and as circular knives have
been employed by Mr. Dickenson, and also by myself, and as a knife in a
different manner has been thrust through paper by Mr. Dickenson, and as
tapes and rollers and guide pullies have been been used by me in my patent
printing machine, and by other persons, it is necessary to be observed that I
do not claim the abstract use of any of the parts of this machine, but only
those peculiar combinations and applications which are new (that is to say) :-
I do not claim the application of circular knives to the dividing the web
of paper, nor the application of tapes to conveying the web. But I claim the
peculiar combination of the saw-toothed knife, knife plate, pressing blocks, and

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Edward Cowper came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stainped according
to the tenor of the Statute mado for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord