An Improvement in Guillotine Paper Cutters.
Year: 1899

page_text: I, ROBERT FRITII SPROULE, of 205, Uxbridge Road, in the County of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to guillotine paper cutters in which a knife moves down
obliquely, cutting a pile of paper which is held firmly down by a clamp, the
object of my invention being so to connect the knife to the clamp that the
clamping is automatically effected by the movement of the knife just before the
cut begins, and the clamping is retained until the cut is completed. For this
purpose, I arrange the frame which carries the knife to travel in the usual way
at an inclination which may be about 30° to the horizon, and by means of a
toggle joint I frictionally clamp to the knife frame a second frame which slides
parallel to it and bears upon the clamping bar.
Owing to the frictional connection of the two frames, the clamping frame
descends with the knife frame until the knife begins to cut and at that moment
the pile of paper being then firmly clamped, an incline upon the knife frame
moves a lever which firmly grips a bar connected to the clamping frame and so
holds the clamp firmly down, while at the same time a stud on the knife frame
acts on the toggle of the frictional clamp releasing this clamp and freeing the
knife frame from the friction until the knife completes its descent.
As the knife frame again ascends it raises the clamping frame with it until
near the end of its stroke the toggle is acted on by a fixed tappet so as again
to frictionally clamp the two frames together ready for a succeeding cut.
Dated this 1241, love of March 1800
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
An Improvement in Guillotine Paper Cutters.
I, ROBERT FRITH SPROULE, of 205, Uxbridge Road, in the County of London,
Engineer, 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 guillotine paper cutters in which a knife moves down
obliquely, cutting a pile of paper which is held firmly down by a similarly
moving clamping slide, the object of my invention being so to connect the knife
to the clamp that the clamping is automatically effected by the movement of

page_text: the knife just before the cut begins, and the clamping is retained until the cut
is completed.
For this purpose I construct and arrange the cutting and clamping slides as
I shall describe referring to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 is an end view, and Fig. 3 is a plan of a guillo-
tine cutter according to my invention. Fig. 1 shews the toggle and clutch in
released condition. The other figures drawn to an enlarged scale, shew details,
that is to say, Fig. 4 is a section of the clamping bar and cheeks, Fig. is an
elevation of the roller and part of the incline for acting on the gripping lever,
and Figs. 6 and 7 are front and side elevations of the gripping fork. a is the
fixed framing of the machine, is the slide which carries the knife and which
is caused to reciprocate in the usual way by any convenient power applied at c,
sliding in an inclined path as determined by pins engaged in the inclined slots d.
Behind the knife slide 6 is fitted the clamping slide e, which is also guided by
inclined slots corresponding with the slots .. To the knife slide is jointed a
clamping bar which may be of H section as shewn in Fig. 4, this bar being
fitted to slide between a cheek which has an adjustable wedge and is fixed
on the clamping slide e, and a cheek which has its one end pivotted at i on
the clamping slide and its other end pivotted to one limb of a toggle joint,
the other limb of which is pivotted at k to the clamping slide.
On the frame a is fixed a fork which receives the middle pin of the toggle
when the slide reaches the upper end of its stroke.
On the clamping slide is pivotted a roller m and at one end of a lever
arm o the other end of which has mounted in a slot a roller p: On the knife
slide is fixed a bar having its end made with an incliner as shown in
Fig. 5.
In order to give support to the lever arm o, a rods has its one end
jointed to it and its other end jointed to the clamp slide. Behind the clamp
slide a rod indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1 has its ends attached to the
framing a, and about its middle, it passes through the slot of the forked stud u
which passes through a hole of the clamp slide e while its rounded part passes
through a hole of the lever arm o and is screwed to receive an adjusting nut
and lock nut v. Between the rod and the clamp slide e is a piece w hollowed
to receive the rod t. On the clamp bar f is a stud in the path of which the
upper limb of the toggle has a projecting part y.
The machine operates as follows:-
The toggle being in the position shown in Fig. 1 the bar f is clamped between
the checks and h and as the knife slide descends the clamp slide e descends
with it until it reaches the pile of paper and firmly presses on it.
When it can descend no further, the knife continues to descend bringing the
stud, against the projecting end y of the toggle which is thus bent as shewn
in Fig.1 withdrawing the cheek h and so releasing the bar f which freely
moves resting on the roller m while the knife continues to descend.
But at the time when meeting y releases the toggle the incliner acting on
the roller moves the lever arm o forwards, so that the stud moving with it
presses the rod t and piece forcibly against the back of the clamp slide e and
this frictional pressure holds the clamp slide e firmly in position clamping
the paper while the knife continues to cut through the pile. The knife slide
after completing its stroke rises alone until projections 1 at its ends meet
studs 2 projecting from the clamp slide e, and then both slides rise together
until the middle pin of the toggle enters the fork whereby the toggle is again
straightened and the bar f is clamped ready for the next operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what' I
claim is :―
1. A guillotine paper cutter constructed and operating substantiallycas
described with reference to the drawings:

page_text: 2. The combination of the knife slide with its clamping bar, the clamping
slide with its cheeks and toggle, the stud for releasing the toggle and the fork
for straightening it, substantially as described.
Dated this 24th day of November 1899
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.