IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING PRINTED SHEETS OF PAPER."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Conquest, of Tudor Street, in the City of London,
Mechanical Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR FOLDING PRINTED SHEETS OF PAPER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Conquest at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st October 1881.
WILLIAM CONQUEST, of Tudor Strect, in the City of London, Mechanical
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING PRINTED SHEETS OF
PAPER."
It often happens that the folding rollers as at present used fail to grip the
printed sheet presented to them by the folding blade, the consequence being that
the sheet wraps round the blade and eventually stops the working of the machine
by breaking or straining some of the parts, or the folding rollers may grip only one
side of the sheet, the result being the sheet gets slightly askew and runs out of its
proper path and jams in the gearing, thereby stopping the machine.
Now the object of this Invention is to make the action of the folding rollers, in
carrying off the sheet or sheets of printed paper that are tucked into them by the
folding blade, more positive than heretofore, and thus avoid the inconveniences
above mentioned.
To this end I adapt to each folding roller or the folding roller shaft two or
more elastic rings of such a diameter that they project a little beyond the surface
of the roller, so that when two rollers are placed in position their rings will touch.
There will be a space between the rollers, extending from ring to ring in its length,
into which the folding blade can tuck the sheet without touching the roller, and
the blade is made to penetrate a little beyond the breast of the rollers, for which
purpose it is cut away where it would meet the rings. The sheets are thus
positively forced into the bite of the elastic rings, and by them is carried forward
to receive the next fold, or to be delivered.
The rings may be sprung into peripherical grooves cut into the folding rollers,
or they may be jammed between short lengths of roller, or adapted in any other
convenient and suitable manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Conquest in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th April
1882.
WILLIAM CONQUEST, of Tudor Street, in the City of London, Mechanical
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING PRINTED SHEETS OF
PAPER."
This Invention relates to that part of the machinery for folding printed sheets of
paper which is known as the folding rollers, and into the bite of which the paper
to be creased is tucked by a reciprocating blade.
It often happens in folding machinery as at present constructed that the folding
rollers, which are usually formed of polished metal, fail to grip the printed sheets
presented to them by the folding blade, the consequence being that the sheet
wraps round the blade and eventually stops the working of the machine by
breaking or straining some of the parts. Or the folding rollers grip only part of the
sheet, and thereby cause the sheet to run slightly askew and jam in the gearing.
Now the object-of-this-Invention-is-to-make-the-action of the folding rollers, in
carrying off the sheet or sheets of printed paper that are tucked into them by the
folding blade more positive than heretofore, and thus avoid the inconveniences
above mentioned.
To this end I adapt to each folding roller clastic rings of such a diameter that
they will project slightly beyond the surface of the roller, so that when the rollers
are placed in position their rings only will touch. There will thus be a space
between the rollers, extending from ring to ring in their length, into which the
folding blade can tuck the sheet without pressing against the inetal rollers. The
blade is made to penetrate a little beyond the breast of the rollers, for which
purpose it is cut away where it would meet the rings. The sheets are thus
positively tucked into the bite of the elastic rings, and by them is carried forward
to receive the next fold, or to be delivered.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a folding roller
and its folding blade, shewing one mode of constructing the same according to my
Invention; Fig. 2 is a similar view of a folding roller shewing another mode of
carrying out my Invention; and Fig. 3 is a cross section of two folding rollers
taken on the lines x, x, and y, y, respectively of Fig. 1.
A, A, are shafts on which are mounted the folding rollers B, B. These rollers
may be cast in one piece, as in Fig. 1, or in short lengths, as in Fig. 2. When a
roller is cast in one piece I prefer to make it at different parts in its length of
greater thickness than at others, so that peripherical grooves a may be turned in
the thicker parts, as shewn at Fig. 1. Into these grooves, of which there may be
two, three, or more in the length of the roller, elastic rings b, b, are sprung. These
rings which I prefer shall be of vulcanized india rubber, are of somewhat greater
external diameter than the roller to which they are to be fitted, so that when two
rollers are placed together their rings only shall touch, the space left between the
metal rollers being about equal to or slightly in excess of the thickness of the
folding blade.
C is the folding blade which is notched, as at c (see Fig. 1), to allow of the bla∙le
clearing the rings when descending between the rollers, and thus insuring that the
rings shall take hold of the paper to carry the same forward.
When the folding rollers are constructed of short lengths, I place between
adjacent lengths an elastic disc d, as shewn at the right hand half of Fig. 2.
The folding roller may consist of two lengths of roller (this form I prefer), in
which case I employ a combination of rings b and discs d, as shewn at the left hand

page_text: half of Fig. 2. In this form the castings, being shorter than in the arrangement
illustrated at Fig. 1, are more likely to be true, and therefore the labour of turning
up will be materially diminished.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for
Folding Printed Sheets of Paper," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
Constructing the folding rollers of paper folding machinery with elastic gripping
surfaces, as b, d, substantially as and for the purpose herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Conquest, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
WILLIAM CONQUEST. (L.S.)