Improvements in or relating to Blotting Pads.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 19th Dec., 1896
Improvements in or relating to Blotting Pads.
A communication from ANTON UHLMANN, Manufacturer, of Olbernhau (Saxony),
in the Empire of Germany.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111 Hatton Garden in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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 :-
The object of the present invention is a blotting pad having two rollers to which
the ends of a strip of blotting paper are secured in such manner that as the strip
guided over a convex surface is used up or rendered useless it is unwound from one
roller and wound up on the other. The article is made so as to enable it to be
easily taken to pieces in order to replace the blotting paper, which will be sold
ready wound on rollers having central spindles, the apparatus consisting of as few
parts as possible, which is effected by causing one part to serve for several different
purposes; as for instance, the sides in which the spindles of the rollers are
supported act also as a brake for said rollers and with their hooked ends serve as
stops or abutments.
.
In the following description reference is made to the accompanying drawings in
which,
Figure 1 is side-elevation of the article.
Figure 2 is a plan in which the central portion of the upper part is broken away
in order to show the parts arranged under it.
Figure 3 is a view of a roll of blotting paper with roller and spindle.
The blotting pad consists first of an upper part A and a lower part B. The
latter consists of a convex spring or elastic piece of sheet-metal, the former can
also be a piece of sheet-metal but may, be of different material. A is provided with
a knob A which serves as a handle, and it has at its four corners projections or
eyes a which slightly project from the transverse edges (Fig. 2) and surround the
tubular edges 6 of the plate B, which edges extend the whole width of the lower
part B and over which edges the strip of blotting paper is guided when unwound or
wound up on the rollers. Through a and b on each side is passed a pin c whereby
the upper and lower part are connected to each other so that they may be easily
disconnected and-as will be hereinafter shown-these parts are connected with the
sides of the article. The lower surface of B over which passes the strip of blotting
paper is preferably covered with á layer B' of some soft material, such for instance
as felt.
In
DD are two sides or cheeks of springy sheet metal which in consequence of
their elasticity always have a tendency to bend inwards as indicated in Fig. 2.
the ends D D are holes through which the pins c c pass; the sides are arranged on
the pins between a and b and owing to their elasticity, they press against a, and
against the rollers. Over the pins cc the sides or cheeks are formed into hooks d d
against which bear the transverse edges of the upper part A when pressure is
exercised on A'. Thus the strain of the pressure exercised when using the
article is taken off the weak lugs a, and A is protected against deformation and
injury.
In D D are supported the spindles ee on which are secured rollers E E¹
preferably made of wood. A long strip of blotting paper F is glued fast at its
end and wound on one of the rollers say on E. Such a roller provided with

page_text: blotting paper is shown in Fig. 3. On the free end of the strip F may also be
glued a (empty) roller with spindle; if this is not the case, the free end of the
strip F may be secured on the second roller (E) after having been properly stretched
in place.
"
It is clear that in tending to bend inwards the sides or cheeks D D must exercise
a pressure on the ends of the rollers E E' which pressure acts as a brake, that is to
say makes the rotation of the rollers more difficult. Thus the blotting paper
on B' is always maintained stretched while on the other hand the braking action
is not strong enough to prevent rotation of the rollers by hand.
The latter is effected by means of suitable handles which are mounted on the
ends of the spindles e e¹ so as to be easily removable, for instance they can be
thumb nuts g g screwed on the screw-threaded portion g of the spindles (Fig. 3).
According to Fig. 2 the handles are arranged on the opposite sides of the pad, they
may however be arranged on the same side. The spindles may also be provided
with screw-threaded portions on both ends. It is important to provide each spindle
with a handle, although whenever one roller is rotated (in the direction of winding
up) the other is also caused to rotate (in the direction of unwinding). If the
roller E' (Fig. 1) which already is almost fully covered with wound up blotting
paper were to be rotated further in the direction of winding up, then in consequence
of the great ratio between the large circumference of the roller E¹ and the small
circumference of E the paper would be exposed to a great strain and might break.
The nearly empty roller E is therefore rotated first by means of its handle g in the
direction of unwinding and then the winding upon the full roller E' is effected.
Moreover when there are two handles it is possible to wind up ou either roller as
desired.
For the purpose of putting in a new roller or rollers of blotting paper, the article
is taken to pieces; the handles g g' are unscrewed and the pins c c are withdrawn,
the rollers (or one, the full one) are taken out and the new roller or rollers put in.
From the full roller the paper is guided after the pad has been again put together
and the handles screwed on-over b and B¹ (Fig. 1) then over the other edge b to
the empty roller. When the paper arranged on B¹ is saturated with ink, the strip F
can be wound up on E. The strip which has once passed over the blotting
pad can be turned over so as to use its other surface before it is thrown away.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner the
same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A blotting pad consisting of a convex springy lower part B affording support
for the blotting paper and a convex upper part A which are connected to each other
by their tubular edges b and a and by pins ce passing through these edges two
elastic side plates D D which tend to bend inwards being secured to the two first
parts A and B by the pins c c and are provided with hooks d d at their ends, which
serve as abutments for the upper part A, two rollers E E¹ being supported in the
side plates, the pressure produced by the elasticity of these cheeks acting as a
brake on said rollers, to which are attached the ends of a strip F of blotting paper
which is guided over the lower part B and can be unwound from one and wound
upon the other roller by means of spindles e e¹ provided with movable handles g g¹
for rotating the rollers.
2. For use in the blotting pad of the character described, a roll of blotting paper
'wound upon a roller as E or E¹ the latter being provided with a spindle as e
or having a screw-threaded portion g' at one end to receive a handle or thumb
'nut as g or g¹..
Dated this 9th day of November 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.