Improvements in Devices for use in the Filling of Matoh-boxes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Jan., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 26th Aug., 1893-Accepted, 4th Nov., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for use in the Filling of Matoh-boxes.
I, GEORGE CHARLES GRIMES, of Tidaholm, in the County of Westergötland,
in the Kingdom of Sweden, Engineer, do horeby declare the nature of my invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a tool or implement, intended to facilitate the process of
filling boxes with matches by simplifying the insertion of the inside box containing
the matches, into the outer box or case.
The improved tool is also adapted to save a large proportion of the waste, which
now occurs in the ordinary way of filling, especially of matches containing
phosphorus and which by this means are easily ignited during the insertion of the
inside box. The tool can also be advantageously used in combination with box
filling machines.
The said tool consists essentially of a bar, which is surrounded by a sleeve one
of these parts being fixed to a suitable support and the other part being moveable
on or in the part first mentioned. The bar in cross section is cross-shaped or of
any other suitable shape having such a width, that the sides of it may easily slide
inside the outer box, while the thickness or height of the bar is a little larger than
the height of the outer box, which will thus be expanded, when it is pushed on the
bar, the fore end of which for this purpose is slightly rounded on its corners.
A guide plate for the outer box may be placed sufficiently low under the bar to
allow the shaving of the box to pass freely between it and the bar.
If the bar is fixed on the support and the sleeve is moveable on tho bar, the tool
is used in the following manner. The outside hox is partly thrust on to the end of
the bar in such a manner that a part of the box projects beyond this end, so that
the box is expanded, this permitting the end of an inside box if filled with
matches or not, to be inserted in the outside one. The inside box is thon pressed
against the fore end of the bar and the sleeve is pushed forwards against the out-
side box, causing it to slide on the bar and to pass over the inside box, during
which movement the heads of the matches are protected from most of the friction,
the upper side of the outside box being expanded by means of the bar in such a
manner, that it cannot, or can only slightly rub the heads of the matches. If the
sleeve is fixed and the bar is moveable in it the operation is the same but in this
case the inside box during the insertion is pressed against the end of the bar,
until this bar is pushed out from the outside box, and the inside box has taken its
place.
During the insertion of the inside box into the outside one it often happens,
that a part of the shaving inside the outer box does not lie even to the inside but
stands out, and in such a case it is almost impossible to insert the inside box
without destroying the outer one. This inconvenience is overcome by using the
tool for expanding the outer box by the insertion of the inside one, because the
bar hereby presses such faulty parts of the shaving back into their proper position.
The tool may be combined with a magazine for the outer boxes, which magazine
is screwed on the sleeve, if fixed, in this case when the bar is withdrawn from
the sleeve, the undermost of the boxes in the magazine, which before rested on
the bar, drops on to the guide plate under the bar and obtains such a position
that the bar can enter it in the next forward motion.
In this case it is necessary to use a stopping arrangement for preventing the
undermost outside box from leaving the magazine during the forward motion of
the bar into the outer box. This stopping arrangement may conveniently consist
of a bent, weighted lever, the one end of which by the weight is raised before the
•

page_text: undermost outer box and keeps it in its placo, until the inside box is to be inserted,
when the lever is turned by the hand and sinks thus allowing the free removal of
the finished box.
"
The tool may be acted upon oither by hand or by a spring or weight, by means
of which the moveable part (the bar or the sleeve) is drawn back, and by a cord
with treadle or any other suitable arrangement, by means of which the said part
may be pushed forward.
in
The tool also may be used in box filling machines, for instance that, described
my former Patent No. 18902, of 1888 in which caso the bar is combined with
the fore end of the reciprocating bar, which pushes the outer box onto the guiding
springs before the insertion of the inside box. The bar may be solid or in sovoral
parts, the reciprocal distance of which may be adjusted by means of screws thus
making it possible to modify the height of the bar, according to the degree of
expansion it is desired to give the outer box.
Dated this 30th day of January 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for use in the Filling of Match-boxes.
I, GEORGE CHARLES GRIMES, of Tidaholm, County of Westergötland, in the
Kingdom of Sweden, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of tliis invention
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 a tool or implement for facilitating, the process of
filling boxes with matches by rendering the insertion of the, inside box, containing
the matches, into the outer box or caso, easier.
By the use of the improved tool I avoid a large proportion, of the waste, which
now occurs in the ordinary method of filling, especially by the matches,, which
contain phosphorus, igniting during the insertion of the inside box. The said, tool.
may also be advantageously used in combination with box filling machines.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1. is a plan of my improved tool.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same.
Figure 3.is an end elevation thereof.
Figure 4 shows the common form of an outer box.
Figuro 4ª is a similar, view showing how the box is sometimes distorted after
drying.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show such a box expanded by my improved tool;
Figures 8 and 9 illustrate a modified form of tho tool;
Figure 10 is a side view of a part of a box filling, machine with a device for
guiding the inner box during its insertion.into the outer one ;,
Figure 11 is a side view and
Figure 12 a. plan of the same part of such a machine combined with my
improved tool }
and
Figures 13 and 14 illustrate two modified forms of the tool.
The tool consists essentially of a sleeve or piece B, fitted. to slide on a guide or
bar A, which is rounded or sloping, at its outer end and is of such a breadth,
that the outer box may easily be pushed onto, it, while the height of the said
bar A is a little larger than that. of the outer box, which will thus be expanded;
when it is pushed onto the bar, as shown in Figures 5-7.
For this purpose the bar, may be provided with projecting flanges on one side, aș
shown in Figure 6 or on two sides as shown in Figure 6, or it may be made elliptical
in cross-section as shown in Figure 7. The tool is fixed to a work-table by means
of a support C, to which the bar A is connected. At the back part of the bar A

page_text: is fasteued an adjustable stop D for regulating the distance to which the sleeve or
piece B may be pushed backward and thus the distance to which the outside box
may be pushed on the bar.
E is a plate of about the width of the box and fixed under the bar A sufficiently
low to allow the shaving or material of which the box is composed to pass freely
between it and the bar, and projecting somewhat further than the fore end of this
bar, thus forming a guide for the outer box.
The operation of the improved device is as follows: The outside box is pushed
on the bar A, so that its end projects outside the end of this bar as in Figure 2,
the said box being thereby expanded in such a way that it obtains the form, shown
in Figures 5-7, thus making the insertion of the empty or filled inside box into
the outside one easier than if the latter had the usual form, shown in Figure 4.
In the outside part of match boxes the shaving or material is usually double,
but not pastod at the one side, and for this reason it occasionally happens, tlint a part
of the shaving or material inside the box may project inwards, as shown by the
dotted lines in Figure 4, and in such a case it is almost impossible to insert the
inside box without destroying the outer one and without destroying the matches, if
they are easy of ignition.
If my tool is used in the filling of such boxes, the projecting part of the
shaving or material is pushed out of the way against the side of the box during the
forcing of the outer box onto the bar A, thus allowing of the free insertion of
the inside box.
After drying the outer boxes often take the form shown in Figure 4ª, making
the insertion of the inside box in the ordinary way still more difficult. When the
outer box, in the manner above mentioned, forced on the bar A, the inside box
being filled with matches is inserted against the end of the said bar A. Figure 2.
The sliding piece or sleeve B, resting against the stop D is then pushed forward,
forcing the outer box upon the inside one, the bar A proventing the friction of
the upper expanded side of the outer box against the heads of the matches in the
inside one.
Instead of a fixed bar A and a moveable piece or sleeve B the said bar may be
made to slide and the piece or sleeve B may be fixed to the support C, as shown
in Figures 8 and 9. In these figures the sleeve or piece B is shown combined with
a magazine F in which the outer boxes are arranged. The magazine is open at
the upper part of its side walls and at the lower part of the front side, and in tho
latter opening is placed a thin spring-plate I, the lowest edge of which is in line
with the box lying next to the undermost one in the magazine. The thin
plate E in this case does not project beyond the bar A, whẹn this bar is pushed .
forward as far as possible.
When the bar A is pushed back through the sleove or piece B, the undermost of
the boxes in the magazine, which before rested on the bar or on the outer box.
pushed onto it, now drops upon the plate E under the end of the bar, in such a
manner that the bar in its next forward stroke is pushed into this outer box, which
thus becomes expanded.
In this arrangement it is necessary to have a stopping device placed so as to
prevent the outer box from being forced out from the magazine during the forward
notion of the bar and to allow the insertion of this bar in the outer box. This
stopping device may consist of a bent and weighted lever G arranged before the
lower opening of the magazine and pivoted to a support. The end of this lever
is na wide as or wider than the box. The weight on the levor must be such
that the end of the lever will always rise to the front of the magazine, until it
is stopped by a finger X, striking the under side of the plate E, as shown in
Figure 8. The lever G in this position, prevents the forcing out of the undormost
outside box from the magazine during the forward stroke of the bar A, and by
this means this bar may be inserted in the outer box, which thus becomes
expanded.
On inserting the inside box the hand of the operator comes into contact with the

page_text: lever G, which is then turned, allowing free use of the hand for forcing the inside
box into the outer one and at the same time forcing back the bar A, until the inside
box is inserted, when the complete box is taken away, the lever G rises again and
another outer box drops onto the plate E.
In the cases above mentioned the tool is shown as acted upon by hand, but it
may easily be understood that by placing a spring or weight for drawing backwards
the sliding piece B in Figures 1-3 and a pulley and cord with treadle for drawing
it forwards, the tool may be worked by foot power. The tool, shown in Figures 7
and 8 may also of course he arranged in the same manner.
The improved tool may also be combined with box filling machines and in such
cases it is attached to that part of the machine, where the insertion of the inside
box into the outer one takes place. In the drawings Figure 10 illustrates that
part in a filling machine, consisting of 4 springs S, onto which the outside box is
pushed by a rod 15, to which a reciprocating motion is communicated by a rod 14,
(as in my former British Patent No. 18902), working against projections Zi
and Z3, only Z of which is shown on the drawings.
In its forward motion the rod 14 pushes the rod 15 against the outer box, which
is then pushed onto the springs S, the outer ends of which act as guides during the
insertion of the inside box. According to my present invention the rod 15 at its
forward end may be connected with the back end of the bar A. Figures 11 and 12,
in such a manner that the rod 14 or a projection on it acts directly on the bar A.
In this case the sleeve B is formed by one of the guide walls for the outer boxes
and the springs S are shortened, so that they only just allow of the entrance of the
inside box but do not hold the outer one. By the action of the machine the bar A
is pushed through the outside box, which is thereby expanded, thus protecting the
hends of the matches contained in the inside box forced into it. The attachments
to which the springs S are secured may be provided with hooks Figure 12, pre-
venting the outer box from being pushed forward too far under the action of the
bar A.
The bar A. may also be attached to the work table as illustrated in Figures 13
and 14 by means of a hinge R or a universal joint. In this case the end of the
plate E projecting beyond the bar A may be a little less than the length of the
box to be filled. "This form of the tool is very suitable in those matoh factories,
where the boxes are previously fitted together before being filled with matches.
The box is pressed against the end of the bar A, until the inside box is forced
nearly out resting on the plate E; the matches are then filled into the inside box
and the outside box is then pushed back over it.
The size of the tool depends upon the size of the boxes to be filled. The form
of the tool as before mentioned can be varied. The bar A may be solid or, as
illustrated in Figures 13 and 14, it may be composed of several parts a, a¹, a³,
which may be adjusted towards or away from each other by means of screws, thus
varying the height of the bar A and the degree of expansion, which can be given
to the boxes.
The simplest form of the tool is that, illustrated in Figure 14, where the tool
consists only of a bar A with stopping projections. In this case the outer bux must
be forced on the inside one directly by hand instead of by means of the sleeve B
and without any mechanical arrangements, thus making insertion of the boxes more
laborious to the workman.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is -
1. An improved tool for use in the process of filling boxes with matches
consisting of a fixed or moveable bar or rod A. of about the same width as.the
inside width of the inside boxes and with one or more longitudinal flanges or pro-
jections on one or two sides, in such a manner that the height of the bar is a little
greater than the inside height of the outer box, this bar at its fore end being

page_text: rounded or sloped at the edges, all for the purpose of expanding the outside box
forced on the bar and thus facilitating the insertion of the inside box.
2. The arrangement of the bar A consisting therein, that it is composed of
several parts a, a', a³, which may be adjusted towards or away from each other,
thus permitting the adjusting of the height of the bar according to the expansion
intended to be given to the outer boxes.
3. In combination with the bar A, a sleeve or piece B surrounding it, which
sleeve or piece is either movable on the bar, if this bar is fixed to a support, or
fixed, if the bar is movable, for the purpose of facilitating the removal of the
outside boxes from the bar, when they are forced onto it.
Dated this 26th day of August 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co., .
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant..