IMPROVEMENTS IN UTILIZING WASTE STRIPS OF INDIA-RUBBER, AND IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SHEET RUBBER INTO THREAD
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Turner, of Leicester, in the County
of Leicester, Elastic Web Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN UTILIZING WASTE STRIPS OF INDIA-RUBBER, AND IN
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SHEET RUBBER INTO THREAD."
Sealed the 29th October 1869, and dated the 9th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Turner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th August 1869.
I, ARCHIBALD TURNER, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Elastic
Web Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN UTILIZING WASTE STRIPS OF INDIA-RUBBER, AND IN
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING SHEET RUBBER INTO THREAD," to be as follows:-
The object of the first part of my Invention is to utilize the waste
strips of rubber resulting from the ordinary manufacture of rubber

page_text: thread, and which are cut off from the edges of the sheet of rubber
after the latter has been wound on the cylinder and previous to
commencing to cut the sheet into threads.
The ordinary way of producing rubber thread is first to make a sheet
of the required thickness and any convenient width, and when this has
been carefully wound on a cylinder or roller a narrow strip is first cut
off, so as to present a perfectly straight and even edge to commence
cutting the sheet of rubber from the top to the bottom into threads.
The cutting operation is usually effected by means of a single knife
or cutting instrument, which is made to bear against the roll of rubber,
and as the latter rotates the knife or cutting instrument is forced slowly
forward against the roll of rubber, and a single thread is thus cut off
from the edge of the rolled up sheet. The knife is then shogged
laterally the thickness of a thread, and the cutting operation is repeated
until the whole width of the sheet is cut up into single threads, with
the exception of the narrow strip first cut off and a similar narrow
strip at the opposite end of the roll. These strips have hitherto been
considered as waste, and have either been reduced to a plastic state and
converted into any common article made of rubber, or have been sold
at a very low price, and used for various purposes.
In order to utilize the waste strips above mentioned they may be
wound singly on bobbins, or they may be simply placed in a basket
or skip, from which they will be drawn into the cutting machine here-
after described, and which forms the second part of my Invention.
The strips are brought singly under the action of a series of circular
cutters, whereby the strip is divided up into a number of threads. A
wide sheet of rubber (any width) can be cut up into threads in the
same manner in a machine of the same construction, which consists of
any convenient number of circular cutters according to the width of the
strip or sheet to be operated upon. These circular cutters are mounted
on a spindle, and are driven at a high speed. The cutting edges of
these circular cutters are made to bear against a horizontal bar at the
end of a weighted or spring lever. This bar, which I call the pressing
bar, forms an important feature of the Invention. The circular knives
or cutters are kept wet by causing water to drip thereon, and as the
strip or sheet of rubber is fed forward by a pair of rollers it passes
over the horizontal pressing bar, which is forced by the weighted lever

page_text: or spring against the cutting edges of the rotary knives, and as these
latter, during their rapid rotation, have a solid bed to bear against, the
sheet or strip of rubber will be easily divided up by the rotary cutters
into single threads, which will be drawn forward by means of suitable
pressure rollers.