Improvements in Apparatus for Packing Tea, Sugar, or other Pulverulent or Granular Materials or the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd July, 1896-Accepted, 3rd July, 1897
TRUVIDIONAL
SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Packing Tea, Sugar, or other
Pulverulent or Granular Materials or the like.
We, BERNARD HARRY WATSON of Lincoln Road, E., Peterborough in the County of
Northampton, Gentleman, and WAYGOOD-TUPHOLME Limited, of Falmouth Road,
London, S.E., Engineers, and HENRY CLAUDE WALKER, director of the said Waygood-
Tupholme Limited, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in apparatus for packing tea sugar and
other pulverulent or granular materials and the like and has reference more especially
to apparatus of this class producing folded packets in paper lead tinfoil or other
suitable material. In machines of this class the pocket or empty wrapper is placed or
formed on the stem of a funnel then closed at the bottom and placed in a mould or
former, the funnel and mould corresponding internally with the shape of the finished
packet. The tea or other substance to be packed is then placed in the funnel and
consolidated or forced into the pocket by a rammer. The funnel is now withdrawn
followed immediately afterwards by the rammer, leaving the packed pocket in the
mould. The portion of the wrapper projecting above the mould is then folded over
and the completed packet pressed out.
In the machines of our invention we may effect the withdrawal of the funnel in
any known manner but we prefer to construct this portion of our apparatus as
follows:-We lift the funnel by vertically moving rods or the like and then transfer
it by a carrier of peculiar construction to some place convenient for its removal. For
this purpose we employ a pendant carrier provided at the bottom with spring fingers
or the like and at the top with a roller running on a rail conveniently placed over-
head. One end of this rail is suitably pivotted to a fixed point at the side of the
machine, the other is capable of a vertical movement so that the rail may be tilted
one way or the other to cause the carrier to roll along towards or from the said fixed
point. This vertical movement is set up by a pendant arm on the moving end of
the rail or the rail itself coming into contact at suitable times with the rammer or
parts connected therewith. A pin or projection is provided to retain the rail in its
highest position until liberated by the mechanism. When the funnel and mould are
in position in the machine the rammer in moving downwards liberates the rail allow-
ing it to descend far enough for the carrier to roll towards the mould and the spring
fingers to engage with the funnel. When the rammer ascends it lifts the rail the
amount of elevation finally attained being sufficient to cause the pendant carrier to
roll away on its said roller to the fulcrummed end of the rail. Just before it reaches
this point the funnel comes into contact with a fixed abutment which pushes it off on
to a suitable frame or holder from which it may be removed by hand or otherwise.
The folding over of the wrapper is effected by doors slides or their equivalents
mechanically operated so as to fold it over from different sides in any approved
sequence, the production of a neat finish being facilitated by a device which we call
"a creaser." This creaser comes into action after one or more folds have been made
and presses some of the upstanding doubled portions tightly together. For the sake
of illustration we will describe one method of folding square packets from the four
sides. This is effected by doors slides or their equivalents the details and arrange-
ment of which may vary somewhat in different types of machines. The first fold is

page_text: made with a door or plate of thin flat metal and the remaining ones either by other
doors or slides in the case of machines with fixed moulds or by stationary doors
grooved guides or the like in the case of machines with moving moulds. Where
four doors are employed we preferably construct our apparatus as follows:-The doors
are caused to slide at due times across the top of the mould by leaders and cams or
other suitable mechanism. The first door is so guided that in advancing to make a
fold it rises up a little and then descends on to the wrapper. The creasing of the
upturned double edges is effected by two arms which sweep around a horizontal axis
arranged adjacent to one side of the mould. Each arm is constructed in two pieces
pressed together by springs the upturned doubled edges of the wrapper passing
between these pieces and being pressed tightly together by the springs as the arm
sweeps round. The second door which is mounted similarly to the first now advances
and folds down the opposite side of the paper. The formation of the packet is facili-
tated by one or other or both of these doors, remaining in position until the folding is
completed. The side doors now advance and finish the folding. The packet is
pressed out after all the doors have been withdrawn. The aforementioned
creasing arms are preferably actuated through a coiled spring compressed by some
convenient part of the driving mechanism, the said arms being held by a detent until
required to act. When this detent is released the axle makes a rapid revolution and
is then again caught by the detent and held until the next cycle of operations.
In machines in which the moulds are caused to move to and from the ramming
position the first fold is made and edges creased as aforementioned, the remaining
folds being made either by doors or otherwise.
We may for instance cause the mould to pass under a suitable stationary door or
presser to make the second fold and cause the side flaps or upturned edges to enter
grooves in a fixed piece these grooves being inclined in a suitable manner to bend
over and fold the wrapper as the pocket passes underneath. Or if desired the mould
may remain stationary whilst the said grooved piece is made to slide over it.
In a simple form of machine of our invention we employ a single fixed mould mounted
on a suitable table and provided with suitable mechanism actuated by a shaft under-
neath. We fit it with the funnel-withdrawing and folding and creasing devices men-
tioned above and in order to facilitate its operation we fit a suitable automatic stop
arrangement whereby the mechanism comes to rest after a complete cycle has been per-
formed. One convenient way of doing this is to drive the shaft which sets in motion
the various mechanisms by a clutch and gear put into action by a handle treadle or the
like. This motion compresses a spring or lifts a weight which is suitably held or
locked until automatically released at the end of the cycle of operations by some part
of the mechanism. The spring or weight then withdraws the clutch. This dis-
engaging mechanism is applicable also to other forms of packing apparatus.
Dated this twenty-second day of July 1896
BERNARD HARRY WATSON.
HENRY C. WALKER.
HENRY C. WALKER, Director
E. P. OKEDEN,
Improvements in Apparatus for Packing Tea, Sugar, or other
Pulverulent or Granular Materials or the like.
We, BERNARD HARRY WATSON of Lincoln Road, E., Peterborough, in the County of
Northampton, Gentleman, and WAYGOOD-TUPHOLME Limited, of Falmouth Road,
London S.E., Engineers, and HENRY CLAUDE WALKER, director of the said Waygood-
Tupholme Limited, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
Our Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for packing tea sugar and other
pulverulent or granular materials and the like and has reference more especially to
apparatus of this class producing folded packets in paper lead tinfoil or other suitable
material. In machines of this class the pocket or empty wrapper is placed or formed
on the stem of a funnel then closed at the bottom and placed in a mould or former,
the funnel and mould corresponding internally with the shape of the finished packet.
The tea or other substance to be packed is then placed in the funnel and consolidated
and forced into the pocket by a rammer. The funnel is now withdrawn followed
immediately afterwards by the raminer leaving the packed pocket in the mould.
The portion of the wrapper projecting above the mould is then folded over and the
completed packet pressed out.
The accompanying drawings show the manner in which we preferably carry out our
invention, the figures showing different views or parts of views of a machine specially
adapted for making square packets of tea or like substances.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine showing the different parts of our inven-
tion assembled together.
Fig. 2 is also a side elevation partly in section showing more particularly the
funnel extracting device, the other parts of the machine being mostly omitted for
the sake of clearuess..
Fig. 3 is a side elevation and Fig. 4 an end elevation of the lower part of the
machine showing the parts of our invention connected with the starting and stopping
devices.
Fig. 5 is a plan, Fig. 6 a side elevation, Fig. 7 a sectional side elevation and Fig. 8 an
end elevation of the lower parts of the machine showing the mechanism connected
with the folding and discharging devices. Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are enlarged views
of portions of these figures.
In these figures the same letters of reference indicate the same parts. We have
omitted several parts which form no portion of the present invention from several of
these figures for the sake of clearness.
The funnel mechanism is preferably arranged as shown in figs. 1 and 2. The
funnel A is carried by a forked holder sliding up and down a fixed rod C.
It is connected by a rod a to a lever a² acted upon by a cam or wiper a³
on the main shaft 1 of the machine. The rammer E is carried by a crosshead e
sliding on the fixed rod C and moved by the connecting rod el. The top of the
fixed top is provided with a projecting arm F carrying a pin to which is pivotted
the rail F1 of the funnel discharger. The other end of this rail moves up and down and
has a pendant arm f. It supports the funnel carrier which is provided at the top with a
roller to run on the rail and at the bottom with spring fingers fo for engaging with
the funnel. The carrier f¹ rolls backwards and forwards along the rail Fi as the end
is raised or depressed. The mising is effected by a rod e on the crosshead when
the rammer is raised to its highest position, the rail being retained by a tooth fon
the pendant arm / dropping on to a pin / carried from the fixed frame. The
depressing is effected by gravity as soon as the rammer-crosshead e descends low
enough to engage with the curved end f of the pendant arm / and push its tooth fa
off the supporting pin. Fig. 1 shows the mechanism at rest in one position with
the rail F depressed just before the lifting commences. Fig. 2 shows it raised and
supported by the pin . The range of motion of the carrier is limited by horns H
on the rail and stops on an arm h carried by the crosshead e. The funnel is
received after discharge by a forked frame G which arrests the funnel as it moves
away and allows the spring fingers fs to clear it as shown in Fig. 2 after which it drops
down into the position shown. For greater convenience in removing the funnel from
the frame G we mount this on a rod y slightly overbalanced by a weighted lever g* so
that the addititional weight of the funnel will overcome the poise of g² and cause
the rod g to descend. We provide the lower end of y with a pin sliding in a helical

page_text: slot in the fixed holder y so that the descent of g causes the forked frame to par-
tially revolve about a vertical axis into the position shown in Fig. 2.
When the funnel is removed the weighted lever y returns the frame G into the
position shown in Fig 1.
The folding over of the wrapper is effected by doors slides or their equivalents
mechanically operated so as to fold it over from different sides in any desired sequence,
the production of a neat finish being facilitated by a device which we call a "creaser."
This creaser comes into action after one or more folds have been made and presses
some of the upstanding doubled portions tightly together. For the sake of illus-
tration we will describe one method of folding square packets from the four sides.
This is effected by doors slides or their equivalents the details and arrangement of
which thay vary somewhat in different types of machines. The first fold is made
with a door or plate of thin flat metal and the remaining ones either by other doors
or slides in the case of machines with fixed moulds or by stationary doors grooved
guides or the like in the case of machines with moving moulds. The four-slide
folding mechanism is more particularly shown in Figs. 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, and 8 of
the accompanying drawing. The mould B containing the filled pocket is arranged
so that four plates I, J, K, K can slide over the top from the four sides. They are
operated by springs and by cams on the main shaft. D in any desired sequence. The
plates I and J are connected to the tops of levers i,j pivotted at to the frame
and pressed towards each other by springs i, j when liberated by the cams
They are returned to their normal position by these cams when the folding is com-
pleted. The plate J is fixed to a sliding piece connected at to the operating lever j
and having a pin or projection 7 which slides up an inclined plane as it moves
towards the packet and drops over the end of this plane when it reaches the extreme
limit of motion in this direction. By this means the plate J is tilted up as it
advances, so as not to injure the wrapper of the packet, until it is fairly over the
mould when it drops and presses the wrapper down firinly, the degree of pressure
being determined by the spring j stretched across from the lever; to the sliding piece
at or near the projection j. On the return journey this projection passes under
7
the plane which is pivotted at j and provided with a spring and lever to return it
promptly to its normal position after the projection passes it. The plate I is
similarly mounted and operated. The side doors or plates K are connected to levers k
baving inclined planes k' engaging with rollers on arms connected with the cam
arm k*. They are closed by springs liberated and re-set by cams. These plates K,
are hinged to the tops of the levers k and provided with springs by which the
pressure is determined.
After the plates I and J have folded over their portion of the wrapper and before
the plates K come into operation we prefer to crease the upturned edges of the
wrapper as follows:-We provide two spring fingers L or creasers mounted on a
spindle and arranged to sweep around a horizontal axis. Each creaser L is con-
structed in two pieces pressed together by springs 1, the upturned edges of the
wrapper passing between these pieces and being pressed tightly together by the
springs as the arm sweeps round. They are driven by a coiled spring in a case l³
wound up continuously by mitre wheels and a shaft receiving motion from the
main shaft D. A spring detent retains the spindle until tripped by a projection p³
on the lever i. The spindle now makes a revolution and is arrested by an arm p
fixed on it coming into contact with a spring buffer 2 carried by the lever i. On
the return motion of this lever the arm is released but the detent 12 drops into its
place and holds the spindle until the next advance of i.
In machines in which the moulds are caused to move to and from the ramming
position the first fold is made and edges creased as aforementioned, the remaining
folds being made either by doors or otherwise. We may for instance cause the mould
to pass under a suitable stationary door or presser to make the second fold and cause
the side flaps or upturned edges to enter grooves in a fixed piece, these grooves being
inclined in a suitable manner to bend over and fold the wrapper as the pocket passes

page_text: underneath. Or if desired a machine might be constructed with a stationary mould
and the grooved piece be arranged to slide over it.
We find it often preferable to fit machines of this class with a starting and stopping
mechanism so that after a cycle of operations has been performed it comes auto-
matically to rest. Figs. 3 and 4 show one method of accomplishing this. The
gearing is driven through a clutch M operated by a lever m one end of which is
connected to the starting and the other to the stopping mechanism. The starting
mechanism consists of a treadle N connected through the lever n, rod n', rocking
shaft n2 and bell-crank 3 to the clutch lever m.
The stopping mechanism consists of a spring o acting on the lever o' when released
by the cam 02, and by means of the bell-crank os and bar o pushing sharply against
the end of the clutch lever m. To prevent the stopping interfering with the starting
arrangements we cause a pin in the end of the bar 0 when in action to travel
over a flap o³ so as to retain it in contact with the lever m but when it has accom-
plished its travel it drops down clear of this lever and returns under the flap o³ which
is hinged at o' and provided with a spring o' to allow it to regain its normal position.
If desired the treadle N may be replaced by some form of hand-actuated mechanism.
For brevity we have in the foregoing specification described the funnel-transferring,
folding and stopping mechanism as applied to one and the same machine but we wish
it to be particularly understood that we may use any one or more of these portions
separately or in conjunction with other and known appliances in connection with
similar machinery.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim
is :-
1. The construction and arrangement of funnel carrier with receiving frame and
rocking rail as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings and substantially
as described.
2. In machines for packing tea and other material the use of a rocking rail or its
equivalent giving motion to a funnel carrier substantially as described.
3. In machines for folding packets by means of slides or doors, arranging these with
a compound motion substantially as and for the purposes described.
4. In machines for folding packets the construction and arrangement of "creasers"
arranged to sweep round and press the upturned folds of the packet in the manner
and substantially as described.
5. In machines for packing tea or other materials the construction and com-
bination of parts forming the stopping mechanism automatically operated as
described.
6. In machines for packing tea and other materials the combination of parts
described in claims 2, 3, 4 and 5 or any one or more of these together with any con-
venient form of ramming or other mechanism suitable for use in connection therewith.
Dated this 16th day of June, 1897.
BERNARD HARRY WATSON.
HENRY C. WALKER.
CHARLES DAY,
HENRY C. WALKER, } Directors.
E. K. BARLOW,
Secretary.