Improvements in and relating to the Manufacture of Printed Labels and similar Articles.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Manufacture of Printed Labels
and similar Articles.
I, ALFRED WALTER GRUT, of 44 Kjóbmagergade Copenhagen, Denmark, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
Heretofore labels and similar printed matters which usually are to be done in
large quantities have generally been made in the following manner. The label is
stereotyped a certain number of times on a plate which is put into the printing
press so that each sheet passing through the press receives a like number of in-
pressions of the label. The sheets having left the press the labels have then to be
cut out to the required size and shape which generally is a surface bounded by a
curved or broken line. The cutting out is generally done by first placing the printed
sheets which must be of exactly the same size upon and quite fair with each other
so that the superposed label impressions quite correspond. The sets of superposed
labels are then cut out by a tool with a cutting edge of the exact contour of the
label, whether, for instance, round, oval, or polygonal. This mode has various
defects and especially that the two separate necessary operations of printing and
cutting out take comparatively long time, and involve much labour, as the label
before it is finished has to pass through the hands of several workmen.
Furthermore, from purely practical reasons, it is impossible to print and then to pile
the aforesaid sheets in a so uniform manner that each label impression in the pile
shall correspond quite accurately with the corresponding impressions on all the other
sheets in a pile, and hence in the cutting out some of the labels will be cut too near
the printing in one part and have a too broad margin in another.
The object of this invention, besides obtaining greater exactitude in the make,
is also to simplify in a marked degree the process of manufacture on a large scale
of labels and similar printed objects bordered by curved or broken lines, that is to
say, 1 reduce the printing and the cutting out to a single operation. This is attained
by the following means:-
If it is intended to print labels of an oval or other curvilinear shape, then I insert
loosely into grooves in the stereotyped plate which is to be used for the printing, a
like number of curvilinear knives or cutters as there are stereotyped representations
on the plate. These cutters have exactly the same shape and size as the labels to be
made and are applied so that each surrounds the representation as a frame. The
cutting edge of the said knives projects a trifle above the surface of the plate. In the
printing when the stereotyped plate passes the inking roller which consists of elastic
material the knives will press into the roller and hence not prevent the plate from
receiving the ink or colour. When the plate thereupon passes under the impressing
cylinder, the knives coming in contact with the sheet of paper following the
impressing cylinder will out of the sheet cut pieces having the form and size of
the labels, while at the same time the printing of same will be effected without
hindrance from the knives, because their cutting edges having penetrated the paper
sheet enter slightly into the covering of the impressing cylinder. The labels can
therefore leave the printing press quite finished, printed and cut out, and only need
to be gathered into bundles for transmission.
The cutters or knives instead of being applied to the stereotyped plate may
obviously be applied to the impressing cylinder itself, thus fulfilling the same
object, viz. that the printing and the cutting out of the labels or their equivalents
shall be done simultaneously. The knives have then, of course, to be so applied to
the pressing roller that their cutting edges project but very slightly above its surface,

page_text: and the stereotyped plate and the impressing cylinder have to be adjusted relatively
in such manner that each of the knives corresponds exactly with one of the label
representations on the plate so that it fits exactly round it like a frame while the plate
passes through the cylinder. The result of this arrangement will be exactly the
same as with the first described arrangement. The stereotyped printing plate having
been inked passes under the impressing cylinder, and the sheet of paper between the
plate and the cylinder will receive as many impressions as there are on the plate,
and these impressions will simultaneously be cut out of the sheet by the knives on the
cylinder.
When the labels are produced by lithography the knives are in a similar manner
applied to the natural or artificial stone, their edges projecting slightly above the stone
and enclosing the impressions thereon.
But as there may be practical difficulties in having the labels perfectly at once cut
out of and detached from the sheet that follows the impressing cylinder, it will be
more suitable to let the cut out label, at a couple of places of its circumference, adhere
to the sheet of paper. This is effected by interrupting the curvilinear or other knife
edge in places by making notches therein with a file or other tool. Then, in such
places where these notches are, the paper will not be cut through while the im-
pressing cylinder rolls over the plate and hence all the labels to be cut out will
adhere to the sheet by narrow strips of paper corresponding to the notches. The
sheets can therefore easily be taken out of the press. They are then piled upon a
table having holes corresponding to the contours of the labels. Thereupon by means
of a wooden mallet and a piston of the form and size of the label a blow is given so
as to knock the whole pile of labels out of the sheets, as the narrow paper strips offer
but slight resistance.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. For the manufacture on a large scale of labels and similar printed matters
bordered by curved or broken lines the application and use of knives or cutters the
cutting edges of which form a border corresponding exactly in size and shape with
the contour of the label, the said knives being either applied in the stereotyped plate
or the lithographic stone so as to form a frame around each label representation
thereon and so as to project slightly above the surface of the plate; or inserted in the
impressing cylinder so as to project slightly above its surface, each of the cutters,
during the printing, taking round a corresponding representation on the plate, by
which arrangement a simultaneous printing and cutting out of the labels can be
effected, substantially as set forth.
2. The process of manufacturing on a large scale labels and similar printed matters
bordered by curved or broken lines, consisting in simultaneously printing and
cutting out the labels sheet by sheet while the sheets pass through the printing
press, the latter being constructed or adapted thereto in the manner firstly claimed,
substantially as set forth.
3. In the cutters constructed and applied as firstly claimed the application of
notches for the purpose of causing the labels cut out to adhere by narrow strips of
paper in the places where the notches are and thus facilitate the removal of the labels
from the press, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 97th day of Tune 1000