AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARDBOARD IN CONTINUOUS LENGTHS, AND FOR CUTTING AND COLOURING OR STAINING THE SAME
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Ashcroft at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
August 1871.
I, WILLIAM ASHOROFT, of Ivory Cottage, Wellington Road, Bow, in
5 the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARDBOARD
IN CONTINUOUS LENGTHS, AND FOR CUTTING AND COLOURING OR STAINING THE
SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the construction and arrangement of
) machinery by means of which cardboard can be manufactured of any
desired length, and also coloured or stained, and cut to any desired
lengths or widths and sizes, by a series of connected processes. In this
Specification the cardboard is assumed to be made of three thicknesses
of paper, but any number of thicknesses thereof may be employed,
according to the nature of the material which it is desired to produce.

page_text: •
The whole of the apparatus is supported by suitable framework
possessing proper bearings for the several parts thereof. The paper of
which the cardboard is to be composed is placed upon three supply
rollers at one end of the machine, and which are arranged at suitable
distances from each other in a vertical position, that is to say, one above
each other. The upper and lower rollers hold the paper for the outside
surfaces of the cardboard, whilst the centre roller supplies the paper for
the middle portion, or what is technically termed the " guts" of the
cardboard. The paper passes from the supply rollers to another series of
"carrier" rollers, the centre paper passing over the centre carrier
roller, and then under another roller which is immersed in a trough
containing paste, gum, or other suitable glutinous or adhesive material,
the centre paper thereby becomes completely saturated with the
glutinous or adhesive substance. The three papers are then brought
convergently to and passed between a pair of "pressure
pressure" rollers,
whereby the outer papers are firmly pressed, and caused to adhere to the
centre paper, and the cardboard formed. The cardboard is then passed
between revolving brushes and scrapers to remove from the respective
surfaces any surplus glutinous or adhesive matter which may be adhering
thereto, and finally passed between calendering and drying rollers, which
may be heated by any convenient means.
If it is desired that the cardboard or any portion thereof shall be
coloured or stained it is then passed between a pair of colouring rollers,
the lower roller being divided into sections or divisions according to the
nature or pattern of the colouring or staining required, and being
supplied with the colouring matter or matters by means of additional
rollers which derive the same from a suitable reservoir or receptacle.
The cardboard is then passed through another pair of heating calendering
rollers for the purpose of drying the colouring or staining matter, and
then over a single stretching roller from whence it passes over a roller
constructed with incisions or slots therein, and over which is placed a
series of knives or cutters which revolve or work in the incisions or slots,
and cut the cardboard into longitudinal sections or strips as it passes
over the roller. The cardboard finally passes on to the winding-off
roller which is flanged into different sections to suit the width of card.
In addition to the before described arrangement for cutting or dividing
the cardboard longitudinally, the same may be cut transversely into any

page_text: desired lengths by means of knives or cutters worked by cams or other
contrivances adapted for the purpose, as will be well understood. The
machinery is actuated by means of steam or any other suitable motive
power.