IMPROVEMENTS IN ENVELOPE FOLDING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rest Fenner, of Red Lion Court, in the City of
London, Envelope Manufacturer, and William Henry Ilight, of the same
Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENVELOPE FOLDING
MACHINES."
Scaled the 13th November 1863, and dated the 18th May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rest Fenner and William
Henry light at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 18th May 1863.
We, REST FENNER, of Red Lion Court, in the City of London, Envelope
Manufacturer, and WILLIAM HENRY HIGHT, of the same Place, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENVELOPE
FOLDING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in arranging the parts of envelope folding machines
as follows: We attach a plunger to an arm, working from a centre, which
plunger works in and out of a creasing box; in the creasing box is a series of
slides which at the proper time run in and give the correct inclination to the
flaps of the envelope. At the bottom of the creasing-box is another plunger
working upon a similar arm. The two arms with their respective plungers
are actuated by cams on the main shaft, and the stamping is performed by a
lever also worked by a cam on the main shaft.
The operation is as follows:-Au envelope blank is fed upon the creasing-

page_text: box, the machine is then put in motion; the stamping lever descends and
impresses the device upon the scal flap of the envelope, and at the same time
the gum is applied to its proper flap in any ordinary manner; the upper
plunger then descends and carries the blank into the creasing-box, the slides
run in and incline the flaps in their proper order, the bottom plunger rises and
completes the folding by pressing the envelope against the slides; the bottom
plunger then descends and allows the complete envelope to escape.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Rest Fenner and William Henry Hight in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, REST
FENNER, of Red Lion Court, in the City of London, Envelope Manufacturer,
and WILLIAM HENRY HIGHT, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
ller reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Rest Fenner and William Henry Light, Her special licence that
we, tho said Rest Fenner and William Henry light, our exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Rest Fenner and
William Henry light, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "I-
PROVEMENTS IN ENVELOPE FOLDING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Rest Fenner and William Henry Ilight, or one of
us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
one of our, or their, or one of their bauds and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Rest Fenner and William Henry
Hight, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the samo is to be performed, to be particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in arranging the parts of envelope folding machines
as follows:-We attach a plunger to an arm, working from a centre, which
plunger works in and out of a creasing box; in the creasing box is a series of
slides which at the proper time run in and give the correct inclination to the
flaps of the envelope. At the bottom of the creasing box is another plunger
working upon a similar arm. The two arms with their respective plungers
are actuated by cams on the main shaft, and the stamping is performed by a
lever also worked by a cam on the main shaft.
The arm F
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2
a plan of an envelope folding machine, constructed according to our Invention.
A is a plunger attached to an arm B, working from a centre or shaft C;
this plunger works in and out of a creasing box D, in which is a series of
slides which at the proper time run in and give the correct inclination to the
flaps of the envelope; E is another plunger at the bottom of the creasing box
and working upon an arm F. The arm B and its plunger A are actuated by
a cam G (shown detached in Figure 3) on the main shaft H.
and its plunger E are actuated by a cam I, shown detached in Figure 4, and
also on the main shaft; this cam acts upon the arm F, through the inter-
mediation of an arm J, working from the same shaft C', and fixed to the arm
F by a screwed bolt K; by screwing up this bolt K to a greater or less extent,
the pressure exerted by the plunger E may be regulated. L is a lever which
performs the stamping, and is actuated by a cam M shown detached in Figure 5,
on the main shaft H.
The operation is as follows:-An envelope blank is fed upon the creasing
box D; the machine is then put in motion by means of a treadle N, which
through jointed rods O, O, imparts motion to a disc P on the fly wheel shaft
Qwhich, through the intermediation of a pinion and a toothed wheel R, trans-
mits the motion to the main shaft H; the stamping lever L, actuated by its
cam M, then descends and impresses the device upon the seal flap of the
envelope, and at the same time gum is applied to its proper flap in any ordinary
manner, tho plunger A actuated by its cam G, next descends and carries the
blank into the creasing box D; the slides run in and incline the flaps in the
proper order; the plunger E actuated by the cam I, through the intermediation
of the arm J, then rises and completes the folding by pressing the envelope
against the slides; the plunger E then descends and allows the complete
envelope to fall on to an endless travelling belt S. A bent lever T forms two
sides of the creasing box, and at each revolution of the shaft H a projection U,

page_text: on a grooved cam V, strikes against this lever, thereby moving it outwards, and
facilitating the escape of the envelope from the creasing box; an indin-rubber
spring W returns the lever to its proper position. To prevent the envelope
remaining on the plunger E after being folded, we fix to the under side and
on each side of the top plate Y of the framo a bent bar Z, one of which is
shown detached in Figure 8; as the plunger E descends, the ends of the bars
pass through slots in the top of tho plunger and remove the envelope, which
falls on to the endless belt S. The slides are actuated by the grooved cam V
through the intermediation of a lever X. The slides are arranged in tho
ordinary manner, and therefore require no further description. In some cases,
instead of employing the plunger E to complete the folding, wo cause the upper
plunger A to descend twice, tho first time to carry the envelope blank into the
creasing box, and the second to complete the folding after the slides have run
in and inclined the flaps. This double movement of the plunger A is obtained
by a cam of the form represented in Figure 6. In this case the plunger E
rises to the bottom of the creasing box, where it remains. until the plunger A
descends the second time to complete the folding, when it descends and dis-
charges the envelope. In this arrangement the plunger E would be actuated
by a cam of the form shown in Figure 7.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim, arranging the
parts of envelope folding machines substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rest Fenner, for myself and on behalf
of the said William Ilenry Hight, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Seventeenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-three.
REST FENNER. (L.S.)