AN IMPROVED PAPER CUTTING MACHINE
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILSON, of Saint Martin's Court, Saint Martin's Lane, in the City of West-
minster, Stationer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-first day of January, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Wilson, Her especial licence that I, the said George Wilson, my exors,
adiňors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Wilson, my exors,
adññors, or assigns, should 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 also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED PAPER CUTTING
MACHINE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said George Wilson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference, being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Wilson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist
in a machine having a long straight cutting blade caused to act upon the paper
by direct vertical pressure acting in one direction only, or in two directions at
the same time, that is to say, through the body of the paper and across the
surface of the paper, which may be effected either by a straight downward
pressure of the cutting blade through the body of the paper, or by such
downward pressure, together with a separate side motion, reciprocating or
otherwise across the surface of the paper, given by cams or otherwise to the
cutting blade, or by causing the cutting blade to traverse the surface of the
paper, while it receives the necessary downward or forward pressure to force
it obliquely through the body of the paper, which latter plan I consider to be
the best, and as it is the simplest, I shall adopt it for the purposes of this
Specification.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said George Wilson,
do hereby declare the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed,
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
annexed and to the figures and letters marked thereon; that is to say:—
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In the Drawing marked No. 1, Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2
a side view, with parts removed for better elucidation, shewing a section
taken on the line a, b, c, d, in Figure 1. And in order more clearly to be
understood, I will premise that those parts of the paper which in the
machine lie uppermost and undermost in the press I call the surface of the
paper, while the substance through from the said upper to the said under
surface I call the body of the paper.
In Drawing No. 1, Figure 1 represents a press for holding the paper firmly
during the operation of cutting, A being the screw; B, the bed or table;
C, the press follower; D, the leges or supporting framework; and E, the
ball or fly lever of the nut working in the socket, colored yellow, by which the
screw A is moved. F, F, F, is a frame cast in one piece with the press (as
better shewn in Figure 3, Drawing No. 2). This frame has a sliding groove
at each side, formed by pieces G, G, screwed on to the sides, as here shewn
(and shewn in section at Figure 4, Drawing No. 2, which is supposed to
be taken in the line e, f, (Figure 3). In these grooves slides an inner
frame H, H, H, which I call the sliding frame. This frame slides easily up
and down the grooves G, G. The upper end of this inner or sliding frame
holds the cutting blade or knife K, which, it will be seen, is a simple straight

page_text: blade of steel, with the cutting edge shaped like a chisel, the flat side being
next to the press. I is a screw keyed at J on to the frame holding the:
cutting blade K, and working through a fixed head' L, and made to move up
and down by the revolutions, one way or the other, of the fly and handled
wheel M. The effect of this arrangement will be, that paper being put into.
the press as at N, and properly screwed down, with that portion which is to be.
cut off projecting under the cutting blade K, if the wheel M, with its nut and
socket coloured yellow is turned round, the cutting blade will be forced down-
wards towards the lower end of the outer frame F, F, F, moving sideways
across the surface of the paper in the press at N, and at the same time forcing
its way diagonally through the body of the paper till the whole of the portion
required to be removed has been cut through, when, by reversing the motion
of the wheel M, the cutting blade will be drawn up again to its former posi-
tion, ready for a second cutting operation..
Figure 5, Drawing No. 2, is a cross section of the frame F, F, F, on the
line g, h, shewing the press follower, with the guides for the same. Figure 6
is an elevation of the press follower. Figure 7 is a front elevation of the inner
or sliding frame H, H, H, containing the knife or cutting blade. Figure 8 is
a section of the same on the line i, j, shewing the blade fixed to the head
of the frame by bolts and nuts; and Figure 9 is a cross section of the
frame H, H, H, on the line k; l; and similar letters being used to denote
similar parts in all the Figures, no further description will be necessary.
Now whereas it is evident that the relative positions of the cutting blade
to the frame, or of the frame to the paper, and the consequent double action
of the cutting blade, may be effected in various ways, and either with the
paper placed, in the press as shewn at N in the Drawing No. 1 annexed, or
at any suitable angle to meet any other arrangement of the cutting blade,
which may thus be made so as to be forced by a screw acting vertically
downwards, or upwards, or sideways, or at an angle, as represented in the
Drawings annexed; and whereas various other means, such as a lever with
creeping pauls, or many other contrivances, may be used to force the cutting
blade through the paper; but whereas I claim as my Invention a machine for
cutting paper, having a long straight chisle-edged knife or blade fixed in a
sliding frame, and forced by machinery through the paper to be cut, a motion
being given to the said blade either in one vertical direction or in two direc
tions at the same time, one vertical and the other sideways, which may be
obtained by applying the pressure in an oblique direction, as herein-before
described; and such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said

page_text: Inrolled the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty..