Improvements in Wire-stitching Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 6th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 7th Feb., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wire-stitching Machines.
I, WALTER RATHBONE BACON, of the Devonshire Club, St. James' Street, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
:-
This invention relates to an improved method of attaching together a number of
sheets of paper or cardboard, as tickets, labels, and the like, by means of wire driven
through them and clinched or turned up at each end. To effect this I employ a
hollow shaft revolving vertically at high speed in suitable bearings.
Upon the upper part of this shaft, and turning with it, I mount a reel or coil of
annealed iron or steel wire of suitable size. The wire is led from the reel down-
wards through the centre of the hollow vertical shaft, and at the lower end of the
said shaft it is gripped by jaws so made as to permit the wire to be drawn through
them but to grip it and prevent its being pushed back. The whole arrangement of
shaft, reel, and jaws can be raised and lowered while revolving, like the spindle of
an ordinary drilling machine.
At the lower end of the spindle I provide an arrangement of shears for cutting
off the wire.
The labels or tickets to be stitched are placed in boxes or compartments which
have an intermittent feeding motion given to them so as to bring each box and its
contents successively under the revolving shaft. The action of the machine is as
follows:-The boxes having been filled with tickets or labels, and the vertical shaft
being in motion, with a sufficient length of wire projecting from its lower end and
held by the jaws, the shaft is caused to descend. The wire penetrates the tickets,
and it is found that its rapid revolution prevents it from bending. The wire is
forced on until it projects a sufficient distance through the packet of tickets to allow
for clinching. The shaft then rises and the end of the wire being held either by
the frictional adhesion of the tickets or by jaws provided for the purpose is unable
to rise with it, so that another length of wire is unrolled from the reel.
The wire is then severed between the tickets and the end of the shaft, and the
next compartment is brought under the shaft by the action of the feed motion, and
the cycle begins again.
The whole of these operations are intended to be performed automatically by
means of suitable cams revolving on a shaft or other mechanism.
The clinching of the ends of the wire is effected either by causing the packets of
tickets to pass between rollers, which turn or bend down the projecting ends of the
wire, or by subjecting the packets to pressure between two flat surfaces acting upon
the ends of the wire.
Dated this Fifth day of February One thousand eight hundred and ninety.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wire-stitching Machines.
I, WALTER RATHBONE BACON, of the Devonshire Club, St. James' Street, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion 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 an improved method of attaching together a number of
sheets of paper or cardboard, such as tickets, labels and the like, by means of wire

page_text: 1
driven through them and clinched or turned up at each end. To effect this I
employ a hollow shaft A revolving vertically at high speed in suitable bearings.
Upon the upper part of this shaft and turning with it I mount a reel or coil of
annealed iron or steel wire B of suitable size. The wire is led from the reel down-
wards through the centre of the hollow shaft and at the lower end of the said shaft
it is gripped by jaws Fig. 4 so made as to permit the wire to be drawn through
them but to grip it and prevent its being pushed back. The whole arrangement of
shaft, reel, and jaws can be raised and lowered while revolving, like the spindle
of an ordinary drilling machine. At the lower end of the spindle I provide an
arrangement of shears for cutting off the wire C.
The labels or tickets to be fastened together are placed in boxes or compart-
ments D which have an intermittent feeding motion given to them, so as to bring
each box and its contents successively under the revolving shaft. The action of
the machine is as follows:-The boxes having been filled with tickets or labels and
the vertical shaft being in motion, with a sufficient length of wire projecting from
its lower end and held by the jaws, the shaft is caused to descend. The wire
penetrates the tickets and it is found that its rapid revolution prevents it from
bending. The wire is forced on until it projects a sufficient distance through the
packet of tickets to allow for clinching. The shaft then rises and the end of
the wire being held, either by the frictional adhesion or by jaws provided for the
purpose, is unable to rise with it, so that another length of wire is unrolled from
the reel. The wire is then severed between the tickets and the end of the shaft
and the next compartment is brought under the shaft by the action of the feed
motion, and the cycle begins again.
The whole of these operations are performed automatically by means of. suitable
cams revolving on a shaft, or other mechanism. The clinching of the ends of the
wire is effected either by causing the packets of tickets to pass between rollers E
which turn or bend down the projecting ends of the wire, or by subjecting the
packets to pressure between two flat surfaces acting upon the ends of the wire.
In the accompanying drawings illustrating my improvement
Fig. 1 is a plan.
Fig. 2 is a front elevation.
Fig. 3 is a central section (partly in elevation).
Fig. 4 is a section on line xa of Fig. 2, shewing the wire gripper.
Fig. 1 is a plan of the machine wherein A represents the revolving hollow
spindle carrying the reel of wire B. The spindle A is carried in suitable bearings
by a cast iron frame standing upon a table F. The table has turned in it an
annular groove, and the ring G has a projection engaging with this groove so as to
permit G to be revolved. The periphery of the ring G is furnished with notches D
of such size as to admit the packets of tickets or labels to be stitched.
The ring G has an intermittent motion given to it by means of the ratchet and
pawl H, the vertical rocking shaft I, and the cam J, carried upon the vertical
shaft K, which receives its motion by bevel gearing from the driving shaft of the
machine.
Upon the vertical shaft K is a cam M which by means of the levers NO,
communicates an intermittent motion to the pusher P.
The spindle A receives its rotary motion by means of a driving cord passing
around two guide pulleys at the back of the machine, round the pulley Q,
and which is driven by a high speed countershaft, as shewn in the drawings.
The upper part of the spindle A is made with an opening or slot to contain the
reel B. The wire from the reel B is led down through the centre of the spindle A
after passing around two round rods of hard steel R R, which have the effect of
straightening it. The arrangement for feeding on the wire consists of the sliding
block S, which is capable of an up and down movement in the hollow spindle A.
The sliding block S is furnished with two jaws T.T, serrated so as to grip the
wire. These jaws engage with the points of two screws U U, which are attached
to the sleeve V. The sleeve V has an intermittent up and down motion by means

page_text: of the lever W, the rod Y, lever Z, and the cam a. To avoid friction the sleeve V
is connected to the lever W by means of ball bearings.
The shears C consist of one fixed blade and one movable blade sliding upon
the fixed one.
The movable blade receives a forward and backward motion from
the cam 6 upon the vertical shaft c, which receives its motion by means of spur
gearing from the vertical shaft K.
Of the rollers E the lower one-whose periphery just projects through the
table F-works in fixed bearings.
The upper roller is carried by bearings sliding in guides d and is pressed down
by springs.
The working of the machine is as follows, viz.:-Assuming the sleeve V, together
with the sliding block S, to be in their topmost position, the gripping jaws T T
are open, the wire from the reel B is fed through by hand until it projects from
the lower end of the spindle.
The spindle A is then put into revolution, and the driving shaft, which revolves
at a much slower speed, is also put to work.
The lever W and sleeve V commence to descend, but before moving the sliding
piece S the screws U cause the jaws T to grip the wire so that the wire is fed
down between the shears C (which are open for the purpose) and through the
packet of tickets or labels which has been placed upon one of the compartments D.
The motion of S continues downwards until a sufficient length of wire has passed
through the packet, when the wire is severed by the action of the shears C.
The lever W, sleeve V, and sliding block S then return to the upward position.
The ring G is then fed on one tooth by the ratchet H and cam J, so as to
bring a fresh packet of tickets under the spindle, and the process is repeated until
the first bundle of tickets-with the wire projecting through it-is carried by the
ring G through the rollers E E, and the elastic pressure of the top roller has the
effect of clinching or turning down the projecting ends of the wire. Continuing
its movement the bundle of tickets comes opposite to the pusher P, which pushes
it out of the space D, leaving same free to receive another packet of tickets.
The packets are fed in by hand at any point between the pusher P and the com-
mencement of the guard ring e. It is evident that the pusher P has the effect of
accurately determining the position of the bundle of tickets in relation to the
wire.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is,
First. In a machine for attaching together a number of sheets of paper or card-
board, as tickets labels and the like, by means of wire driven through them,
the provision of mechanism to cause the wire to revolve rapidly so as to prevent
its bending.
Second. In a machine for attaching together a number of sheets of paper or
cardboard, as tickets labels and the like, by means of wire driven through them, the
combination of the general arrangement of parts as herein described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings, with the providing of mechanism to cause the wire
to revolve at a high rate of speed whilst being driven through the tickets or the
like, so as to prevent the said wire from bending during the operation.
Dated this 6th day of December 1890.
WALTER RATHBONE BACON.