A MACHINE FOR FOLDING
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BLACK, of Edinburgh; in the County of Edinburgh, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of:
November (One thousand eight hundred and fifty), in the fourteenth year of.
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me;
the said James Black, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Black, my;
exors; adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Black,,
my exors, admors, or assigns; should at at any time agree with, and no others;;
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use; exercise,. and vend, within England,,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark; and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "A MACHINE FOR FOLDING,"
partly invented by myself, and partly communicated from a Foreigner residing.
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said,
James Black; shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument-
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the

page_text: date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Black, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The Invention has reference to the folding by machinery of paper, cloth, and
other like fabrics,. now .commonly folded by hand.. A machine constructed
according to this Invention (for the purpose of bookwork) is represented in
Figures 1, 2, and 3, of the annexed Drawings.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 an end elevation, and Figure 3 a
plan of the same. A, A, is a box or case, which forms the framework. B, a
metal plate, which forms one end of the box, and serves as a basement
to which the moveable parts of the machine are attached. C is a main shaft
which has its bearings on the brackets D, D, D, and when made to rotate
gives motion to certain folding blades and rollers in the manner to be presently
explained. E is the first folder or folding blade, which has its axis in the
brackets F, F. A view of this folder, with its connections, is given separately.
in Figure 4. On the brackets F, F, are fixed two spiral springs G, G, which
are wound upon the axis of the folder, and so. disposed that they have a
tendency to keep the blade up in the position which it is represented as occu-
pying in Figures 1, 2, and 3.. H is an arm affixed to the main shaft, which is
placed immediately opposite to the folder E, so that when the main shaft
revolves it come against the short arm J of that folder, and causes it suddenly
to assume the position indicated by dotted lines in Figure 2. The outer end
of the short arm J is furnished with a friction roller for the purpose of enabling
the two arms H and J to slide freely over each other. The movement of the
folding blade E, which has just been explained, produces the first fold or
doubling of the sheet of paper, with the aid of the following supplementary
arrangements:-In the top of the box or case A, and immediately underneath
the blade E, there is formed a long slot K, K, which is continued down to the
box by means of partitions inside, so that there is formed thereby a chamber
of the same length and depth as the interior of the case A, but of only about
one fourth of an inch in width: The paper to be folded is placed by hand
upon the upper surface of the lid of the case, and underneath the folding
blade E, with the line in which the fold is to be made immediately below the
blade, and consequently over the slot K, K, in which position it is held from
shifting, during the interval of time intervening between the removal of the

page_text: hands of the attendant and the coming down of the folding blade, by means of
two sharp pointed instruments L, L, which project about one sixteenth of an
inch above the top surface of the case, and upon which the paper is slightly
pressed by the finger of the person supplying the sheets to the machine. The
pointed instruments L, L, are connected to two levers M, M, which are centred
upon axes affixed to the sides of the case. The outer or free ends of these
levers are loaded with counterbalance weights N, N, which serve to keep those
ends of the levers down upon the main shaft upon which they rest, and also
cause the points L, L, to maintain their position above the surface of the
case A. Supposing a sheet of paper to be placed in the position directed,
the main shaft being in motion, the instant the folder E comes down upon the
paper so as just to take hold of it, then the two tappets O, O, which are affixed
to the main shaft, and immediately under the ends of the levers M, M, come
against and raise the outer ends of the levers, and thereby cause the projecting
portions of the pointed instruments L, L, to descend below the surface of the
top of the case, and release the paper from being longer held by them. The
further descent of the folding blade forces the sheet in a doubled state into the
thin or narrow chamber inside of the case. The instant that the arm H upon
the main shaft passes beyond reach of the arm J upon the end of the folder E,
the spiral springs G, G; cause the folder to fly up and resume its former
position, leaving the sheet of paper inside of the narrow chamber, the first or
single fold being completed. The tappets O, O, having also passed the
ends of the levers M, M, the counterbalance weight again brings the pointed
instruments-L, L, to protrude beyond the upper surface of the case, so as to
be ready for the reception of another sheet. P is a spring stop, or buffer,
which serves to counteract the jar which would otherwise be produced by the
sudden rising of the folder E by the action of the spiral springs mounted upon
its axis. The folder ought to be made smooth on both sides, so that it may
leave the folded sheet inside of the chamber very freely; but I have found that
when the face or folding edge is serrated, somewhat similar to a fine saw, that
the folding is effected with much greater accuracy than if that edge is quite
smooth. The teeth prevent the sheet from sliding, not only longitudinally
upon the blade, but also in the cross direction; casualties which, if allowed to.
take place during the operation of folding, to the extent of even one quarter-
of an inch in either direction, would destroy the usefulness of the machine as;
applied to bookwork," or the folding of printed papers of any description.
66
Other methods may be adopted for the purpose of securing the proper-
register" of the sheets than the use of the pins L, L, as, for instance, lines.
raised upon the surface of the case on one side of it, parallel with the folding:
blade.

page_text: So far as the machine and its action has been described one fold only has
been accomplished, and the sheet is supposed to be now left in the narrow
chamber into which it has been introduced through the slot K, K. R, R, are
a pair of bevil wheels, of equal size, one of which is keyed on the main shaft,
and the other upon an upright spindle Q, whereby the revolutions of the main
shaft and the upright spindle are rendered synchronous. R² is a parallel-
sided bar which slides in bearings S, S, and is connected by a link T to the
second folder or folding plate U, as shewn in Figure 3, and also in the sepa
rate view, with the parts in immediate connection with it, given in Figure 5.
V is an arm keyed upon the upright spindle Q, which, as the spindle revolves,
comes in contact with the arm W affixed to the bar R2, and causes the bar to
be impelled forward so as to travel from right to left of the machine, which
actuates the folder and causes it to move. through one quarter of a circle
towards the right. This movement of the second folder takes the sheet from
the narrow chamber previously described into a second and similar chamber
formed in the side of the first narrow chamber, and the instant the arm V
loses its hold of the arm W the bar R2 and the folder are again brought back
to their former positions by the action of the spiral springs X, X. The second
fold (which forms the sheet into four leaves) is thus completed, the folded
paper being left in the second narrow chamber, the sides of which are at right
angles to the sides of the first narrow chamber, and parallel with the upper
surface of the case A.
'
Figure 6 is a detached view of the third folder a, which has its axis or
bearings b, b, and is connected by a link c to a parallel-sided bar d, which
slides up and down within the bearings e, e. f is an arm fixed to the main
shaft C, which, as the shaft revolves, comes against the arm 9 affixed to the
bar d, and raises that bar, which again, through the intervention of the link c,
causes the folder a to travel in a downward direction through a quarter
of a circle, whereby the double folded sheet in the second narrow chamber is
made to enter or pass through a third narrow chamber formed in the side
of the second one, and the throw of the third folder a brings the sheet folded
three times (that is, into eight leaves,) within the grasp of the first of two
*pairs of rollers h, h'. These rollers are kept in continuous motion by a pair of
"bevil wheels i, i, which are of different sizes, so that the rollers may have their
'speed increased, so as to free the machine more readily from the papers passing
through it. Motion is communicated from the first roller h', upon the spindle
of which the bevil wheel is placed, to the other rollers simply by the frictional
'contact of their surfaces. The two outer rollers are covered with cloth, and are
made to bear against each other with a considerable degree of pressure by
means of regulating screws k, k, while the innermost pair of rollers are kept

page_text: from touching each other. By this arrangement the inner pair of rollers grasp
the folded paper, without laying hold of the folder, and convey it to the outer
pair of rollers, where the folded paper is more or less pressed according as the
nature of the work may require. Again, the instant the arm f clears the
arm g, the parallel bar d and the folder a are made, by the action of
the counterbalance weight d', to assume their original positions. During
the interval of time in which these various foldings have been effected another
sheet is supplied to the machine by the attendant, and thus a continuous
operation of folding is carried on, one attendant alone being able to supply the
machine, at a rate varying from one to two thousand sheet's per hour.
The main shaft of the machine may be caused to rotate by manual or by
any other power.
In the machine which has just been described all the parts for effecting the
movements of the first and second folders are fixed, and seldom or ever require
adjustment after being once placed. The third folder, however, and the parts
by which it is immediately put in motion, are connected to a moveable
plate e, which slides within two guides m, m, and is capable of being acted upon
by a screw and handle n, n, so that the folder, the rollers, &c. may be moved
towards the right or left, and the position of the folder thus adjusted to suit
exactly the printing, the margin, or any design upon the paper to be folded. *
It will be obvious that the folding machine-which has just been described
may, with slight modifications, such as any competent workman can readily
effect, be made to fold the sheets a fewer or a greater number of times than
three; and also that two, three, or more sheets, superimposed upon each
other, may be put into the machine to be folded at one and the same time, an
arrangement particularly applicable to the folding of note paper. When the
machine is employed for folding some of the finer kinds of cloths, the folding
blades may be left plain upon their edges, so that the surface of the cloth may
be protected from being injured by the teeth. Instead of the blade or folder E,
by which the first fold or doubling of the paper is produced, being acted upon.
by springs, so as to bring it into the upraised position ready for another sheet
being put beneath it, a counterbalance weight may be attached to the short
arm J, which will effect the same object as is obtained by the springs. The
return of the second folding blade may also be caused by means of a
vulcanized india-rubber or any other spring, instead of the -spiral one
represented in the Drawing.
And having now described my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is as follows:-
.
First, I claim the machine for folding paper, cloth, and other substances

page_text: above described, in the general arrangement and disposition of the parts of
which the same consists; that is to say, in so far as regards the employment of
serrated folding blades moving or oscillating upon a centre, so as to describe
at each movement a portion of a circle, and that within a chamber into which
the material to be folded is pressed; and also the placing of these chambers,
when more than one fold is effected) at, or as nearly as may be at, right angles
each to the chamber immediately preceding it. And, .
Secondly, I claim the serrating or toothing of the edge of the blades of
folding machines, as before exemplified.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Black, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.