US34601A - Improvement in printing and cutting paper - Google Patents

Description

y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'.I. TAPLEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING AND CUTTING PAPIER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,601, dated March 4, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be tknown thatI, J. F. TAPLEY, of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Device for Printing and Cutting Paper or other Similar Substance at One Operation; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification.

There are many articles of manufacture in some parts of which it is desirable to print a design on paper, card-board, or other substance, and then to cut the paper in a form corresponding to the outline of the design, sometimes cutting outside the design, making a sheet or card with an outline corresponding to that of the design printed thereon, and sometimes cutting inside the printed design, making a sheet with a hole cut in lit and having the design as a border around the hole or opening. Of the latter classthe cases are most numerous, as, for instance, paper mats for photographs, which generally consist of a sheet of thick paper having an oval hole in its center with an ornament or border printed in gold around the opening; also, pages for photographic albums, which are much the Same as the above except that they are much sniallerand the opening is not usually oval, as in the mats. The manner of producing these articles is varied-as, for instance, in the photographiclmats, which are sometimes made by irst cutting the oval hole and then using the edge of the paper as a guide by which to draw or rule a line around the hole near the edge of the sheet. Another way is to print the design on the sheet iirst, and then by means of a pattern cut the hole with a knife also, another way is to print on the design as in the last-mentioned case and then use adie to cut the hole instead of a knife and pattern. This last method is generally adopted for manufacturing the sheets for photographic albums g but it is a great trouble to place the die or pattern onto the sheet so as exactly to correspond with the design, and when it becomes necessary to produce a great number in an economical manner, and consequently to employ cheap help, it becomes impossible to cut the sheets accurately. Now my device @infimes this difficulty by having the @utter attached to the block from which the design is printed in such a manner that both operations are performed at the same time.

In the drawings, making a part of this speciiication,Figure lis a plan, Fig. 2 an end view, and Fig. 3 a section, of my invention of suitable size and form for manufacturing the sheets for-photographic albums, and conveniently arranged for use in a common printing-press, either hand or power.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the figures.

A is a plate of metal to which the other parts are attached and by which they are confined in the printing-press.

B is a cutter or die attached firmly to thel plate A.

C is ablock of wood or other substance having a design raised on its surface, like type or a wood engraving. The whole or nearly the whole of the block inside the engraved designis cutout, leaving it of a suitable size to just it to the outside of the cutter, which is perpendicular to the plate A, all the necessary taper to give strength to the cutter being made on the inside.

I) D D D are spiral springs inserted between the plate A and block C, to support the latter.

E E are stops (composed of aslotted strap attached to the plate A and receiving a screw inserted in the block C) for holding the block from being raised too high by the springs or drawn off by the impression.

F -F is a sheet of rubber inserted between the plate A and block C to allow the block to accommodate itself to any inequality of pressure on its top face.

G is a spring inside the die or cutter to throw out the pieces of paper cut from the sheets, and whichwould otherwise accumulate inside the cutter.

The operation is as follows: Having fastened the plate A to the bed of a printingpress we pass a roller charged with printingink over the face of the engraved block, which is supported by the springs D D D D at such a height above the edge of the cntter as to protect the inking-roll from injury by coming in contact with it. A sheet of paper is now laid onto the block and the platen of the press (which is faced with a plate of copper or other suitable substance for cutting against) is forced down upon the sheet. The springs D D D D immediately yield and the block C comes to a bearing on the sheet of rubber F F. The several parts are so proportioned that when the bottom of the block C comes to a good bearing on the rubber, the cutter comes in cont-act With the sheet, and the cut is made at the same time the impression is taken from the engraved block. The sheet may now be removed. The core or piece cut out is also freed from the cutter by therspring G, so that it can be' conveniently removed by hand, or in some styles of power-presses it will fall out with simply the force of the spring.

In applying the ink to the block the yielding nature of the roll sometimes allows a small quantity of the ink to accumulate on the edges of the block, and if the die was just as large as the inside of the design this ink would get onto the edge of the die and thence onto the sheet. I therefore cut the sheet a little inside the design, allowing the block toy lit the cutter only at the bearings a a a, and these bearings do not extend up to the face of the block, as seen in Fig. 3.

Of course this device may be applied to various purposes and in various Ways such as cutting outside or inside of the printed dethe construction and operation of myinvention, what I claim as new,'and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the cutter or die` B Withthe block C and springs D D, or their mechanical equivalents, when constructedand operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose fully set forth in the above pde`- scription.

J. F. TAPLEY. Witnesses:

MILTON BRADLEY,

JOHN M. WHIPPLE.

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