Improvements in the Manufacture of Hollow Articles from Wood Pulp.
Year: 1888

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Hollow Articles from
Wood Pulp.
I, FRANK HUGHES, of the firm of Hughes, Eli and Hughes, No. 76 Chancery Lane
London, W.C., Patent Agents and Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, a communication to me from abroad by The Indurated Fibre Co., of 390
Congress Street, Portland, Maine, United States of America, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
This invention relates to the manufacture of hollow articles of pulp made from wood
or other fibre, and particularly to a machine for producing a finished surface on pails,
tubs and other like hollow articles, my invention being especially adapted for finishing
pulp articles made on what is known as the "Bodge machine.
In this machine the pulp is deposited on the outside of a pervious "former" and is
thereafter subjected to pressure between said "former" and an elastic rubber diaphragm
cooperating with the said "former."
After a sufficient amount of pulp has been deposited, the supply is cut off and
hydrostatic pressure is applied to the outside of the diaphragm by forcing in water
between said diaphragm and a tight case or dome which contains the parts above
spoken of.
This pressure is exerted equally on all parts of the pulp, and on account of the
elastic material of which the diaphragm is composed, an uneven surface is produced,
which it is necessary to render smooth and true before the pail or other article can be
properly finished.
The pails by this process are of greater thickness than would otherwise be necessary,
and in finishing, this extra material must be removed.
Prior to my invention pulp articles of the kind described, have been finished by
simply sand-papering their surfaces, but this operation was slow and expensive and
the outer surfaces of the various articles could not be made uniform.
My invention has for its object to provide a machine in which the outer surface of
a hollow article of pulp, such as a pail or tub, may be trimmed or reduced by a suitable
reducing tool or surface, until the body of the article has been brought to the desired

page_text: thickness and shape, the said reducing tool or surface and the holder upon which the
hollow pulp article is mounted, being movable one with relation to the other and so
located with respect to each other as will be described, that the tool acts to trim or
reduce the outside of the pulp article gradually in the direction of its length, the
reduction or trimming of the said pulp article being continued until it is of the desired
thickness, the body of the said article when finished being preferably of substantially
uniform thickness.
My invention therefore consists essentially in a machine for finishing hollow
articles of pulp, of a rotating shaft. and a holder mounted thereon and upon which the
hollow article to be treated is placed, combined with a rotating tool-shaft, and a
reducing tool thereon, the said shafts being movable longitudinally one with relation
to the other, whereby the hollow article may be reduced or trimmed in the direction
of its length, substantially as will be described.
Other features of my invention will be pointed out in the claim at the end of this
specification.
Fig. 1 is a plan or top view of a sufficient portion of a machine embodying my
invention to enable it be understood, a portion of the frame and one of the driving
pulleys being broken out.
Fig. 2 a vertical transverse section of the machine on line e a Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 a partial longitudinal section through the holder or head for holding the pail
or other hollow pulp article.
Fig. 4 a side elevation of the machine represented in Fig. 1, a portion of the frame
being broken out to show the actuating screw, and
Fig. 5 a modified form of reducing tool.
The holder or head A to hold the hollow article of pulp to be reduced and finished,
is secured to one end of a shaft or arbor A³, having its bearings in suitable boxes A
• supported by standards A' fastened to a carriage E, herein shown as movable on rails .E¹
see Fig. 2, shown as supported by the framework.
The shaft A3 has mounted on it a pulley A2, which will be connected by a belt not
shown, to a drum or pulley L on a shaft L³ located below the bed of the machine, see
Fig. 4, rotation of the shaft L³ imparting rotation to the shaft A³ and holder A.
The carriage E is moved longitudinally as herein shown by a feeding device shown
as a screw G extended underneath the carriage in the direction of its length, and
mounted in suitable bearings, the said screw engaging the lower portion or end of a
block F extended downward through a slot or opening in the said carriage the lower
end of the said block being threaded or formed as a half nut to engage the threads on
the screw G.
The block F has pivoted to it as at 2 a lever F fulcrumed in a stud f on the
carriage E see Fig. 2, the said lever in the present machine constituting the starting
mechanism by which the carriage is put in motion, the said lever when it is desired to
move the carriage, being brought into engagement with a latch F shown as a post,
having a slot into which the handle of the said lever is sprung, and which holds or
locks the lever in operative position.
The forward feed or movement of the carriage is arrested as herein shown
by a stopping device shown as a blind slot G¹, in the screw G near its forward
end.
The hollow article of pulp herein shown as a pail A', but which may be a tub or
other hollow article is shown in Fig. 1 as placed upon the holder and as partially
trimmed or reduced.
The pail A¹ or other hollow article may be secured to the holder by a dog or dogs a
herein shown as a serrated or roughened piece of metal forming part of a spring arm a
fastened to the holder, the said dogs engaging the hollow article.
The dogs are brought into engagement with the pail A¹ to secure it to the
holder as herein shown, by means of a lever B pivoted at a to one of the journal
boxes A see Fig. 1, and also pivotally connected to a bar B2 having longitudinal slots b
through which extend bolts 6, the said bolts securing the said bar loosely to the said
journal box.

page_text: The bar B has secured to its end a yoke B3 which is extended into an annular slot
in a collar a loosely mounted on the shaft A3, the said collar having an ear a³ which
is connected to an ear a³ on the spring arm a by a link a².
The shaft A3 has fixed on it a shoulder or stop A see Fig. 3, and the length of the
link a, and the distance of the stop A from the collar a are so regulated, that when
the collar comes against the said stop, the link a² will be substantially at right angles
to the shaft A³.
The pail or other hollow article secured to the holder, has its outer surface trimmed
or reduced, so as to leave the finished body of the desired or required thickness, by a
reducing tool or surface, herein shown in Fig. 1 as a gang or set of circular saws C,
placed side by side on one end of a shaft or mandrel rotated by a pulley C, the said
saws as shown being of diminishing diameters with the smaller saw toward the end of
the shaft or mandrell:
In practice the saws Cact on the pail gradually in the direction of its length,
the said pail in the present instance being made to travel past the said saws while it
is being rotated, whereas the said saws are revolved without having a longitudinal
movement, but it is evident that the said saws may he made to travel while they'
revolve, and the pail be made to revolve and not travel longitudinally.
Furthermore the reducing tool or surface will in practice be so located with relation
to the holder, that the body of the pail or other article will preferably be left of uniform
thickness when finished, which in the present instance is accomplished by so aligning
the shaft A³ on the carriage E, that the outer surface of the pail will be substantially
parallel to the shaft upon which the reducing tool or surface is mounted..
An auxiliary smoothing tool is provided to further smooth and finish the surface of
the pulp as left by the saws C which do not produce a surface sufficiently smooth for
many purposes.
This smoothing tool consists of a rotating surface covered with sand-paper or other
abrading material.
It is herein shown as a revolving disk rotating in a plane at right angles to the
plane of rotation of the saws C, the face of the disk being parallel with the line
of travel of the carriage E. The disk P is secured to the end of a mandrel p
which is adapted to rotate in boxes p supported by standards ² secured as herein
shown to the frame of the machine.
The mandrel is rotated by a pulley R secured to it, this pulley being driven by
another pulley not shown.
The disk Pis provided with means for forcing its roughened surface' against the
rotating surface of the pulp article after the same has been acted on by the saws (and
returned to the point of starting.
As herein shown this consists of a bent lever S pivoted at $1 to the back side
of the machine and projecting out in front to form a hanille. Tis back end which
is vertical is pivoted to a collar S which loosely fits the mandrel P it being
prevented from moving longitudinally on the shaft by two shoulders S³ and S5 one on
each side of it.
The mandrel has a limited amount of longitudinal movement within its boxes this
movement being determined by the shoulders S3 and S. This longitudinal movement
of the mandrel allows the disk P to move up to the surface of the pulp after it has
been trimmed down or reduced by the saws. A spring T is attached to the lever S
and to the machine and operates to draw the front end of the lever upward and the
mandrel and disk backward to their extreme backward or normal position.
The edge of the pail or other hollow article is chamfered off or finished by an
auxiliary reducing tool D, herein shown as a set or gang of smaller saws of diminishing
diameters mounted on a shaft or arbor D2 having journal bearings in a frame D³
hinged as at d to the frame of the machine, the said shaft having mounted on it a belt
pulley D by means of which the auxiliary reducing tool is revolved.
The hinged frame D³ inclined as shown in Fig. 2, and resting upon suitable stop D,
has secured to it an arm or lever D provided as shown with a suitable weight W by

page_text: means of which the hinged frame is kept in position against the stop Dª to thus
maintain the reducing tool 1) in correct working position.
The carriage E as shown has connected to it by rope or cord I a weight H by which
the said carriage may be returned to its normal or starting position after a pail has
been finished, the said cord passing over a suitable pulley J mounted at the end of the
machine.
As shown in Fig. 1, the saws are made to present a beveled surface, so that when
the pail is moved past them, the outer surface of the said pail will be gradually
trimmed or reduced from one toward its opposite end.
Instead of the reducing tool represented in Fig. 1 as a gang of saws, I may employ
a tool made in one piece with beveled teeth or cutting blades substantially as shown in
Fig. 5.
Instead of the particular tools herein shown I may employ any other usual or well
known rotary tool having a cutting or abraiding surface.
In operation with a machine such as shown, the carriage is normally at the right
hand end of the machine as in Fig. 1, and when in this position the hollow pail or
other article of pulp is applied to the holder and when the said pail is in its proper
position on the holder, it may be secured by moving the lever B toward the left in
Fig. 1, to cause the dogs to engage the inner side of the pail.
The block F is now engaged with the screw G and locked by moving the lever F¹
to be caught by the latch F, and the carriage is moved forward or toward the left in
Fig. 1, thus carrying the revolving pail past the revolving reducing tool C which
trims or reduces the pail in the direction of its length.
When the block Freaches the slot G, it drops in and the motion of the carriage is
stopped, the pail having passed beyond the reducing tool C.
When the carriage has reached the end of its forward movement, the inner edge of
the pail which in its unfinished state somewhat overhangs the edge of the holder, is in
position to be acted upon by the auxiliary tool D, which latter is then brought into
engagement with the said inner edge by turning the hinged frame D³ through the
lever D¹.
After the pail has been trimmed off by the saws C the block F may be disengaged
from the screw to permit the weight to restore the carriage to its normal or starting
position, the said weight acting as a retractor. After the pail has been trimmed or
reduced by the saws and has returned to its starting position the face of the disk P
is forced against its surface thereby finishing the surface and rendering it perfectly
smooili.
It is evident that many changes and alterations may be made in my machine by
substituting for the devices shown other well known equivalents without departing
from the essential principles of my invention, as for instance the feeding screw might
be replaced by a rack and pinion, and, the swinging frame D³ by a sliding frame, and
so also the dogs which serve the purpose of securing the pail or article to the holder,
so as to be rotated with the shaft might be changed and other well known devices or
clamps used instead.
I do not claim a reducing tool adapted to cut an annular groove in a pail for the
reception of a wire hoop.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim, is-
1. In a machine for finishing hollow articles of pulp, a rotating shaft, and a holder
mounted thereon and upon which the hollow article to be treated is placed, combined
with a rotating tool shaft and a reducing tool thereon, the said shafts being movable
longitudinally one with relation to the other, whereby the hollow article may be
reduced or trimmed in the direction of its length, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
2. In a machine for finishing hollow articles of pulp, a rotating shaft, and a holder

page_text: mounted thereon and upon which the hollow article to be treated is placed, combined
with a rotating tool shaft and a reducing tool thereon, the said shafts being inclined
toward and movable longitudinally one with relation to the other, whereby the hoilow
tapering article may be reduced in the direction of its length, substantially as
described.
3. In a machine for finishing hollow articles of pulp, a rotating holder upon which
the hollow article of pulp is placed, and a rotating reducing tool, combined with a
reciprocating carriage, the said holder and reducing tool being movable one with
relation to the other as described, whereby the hollow article is acted upon by the
reducing tool and reduced in the direction of its length substantially as described.
4. In a machine for finishing hollow articles of pulp, a reciprocating carriage, and
a rotating holder carried thereby, combined with a rotating reducing tool to act on
and reduce the outside of the hollow pulp article, the said holder and reducing tool
being located with respect to each other that the outside of the pulp article is
trimined or reduced from end to end in the direction of its length, substantially as
described.
5. In a machine for finishing hollow articles of pulp, a rotating holder for retaining
the pulp article a rotating reducing tool having a reducing surface composed of sandi
paper or other abrading substance and means for forcing said reducing tool against
said pulp article, substantially as shown.
HUGHES, ELI & HUGHES,
76, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.