US784136A - Envelop-opener. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED MAR. '7, 1905,

N. J. BLMGREN. ENVELOP OPENER.

APPLIGATIGN FILED MAR. 2s. 1904,

FIG. 2.

. 3 if 2km. 4.

FIG. 3.

WI TJY ESSES AlO Patented March 7, 1905.x

NELS J. BLOMGREN, OF NORWAY, iilICHltAN.

ENVIELGFMUPENIEW.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,136, dated March 7, 1905.

Application filed March 23, 19045. Serial No. 199,549.

To (all 14171/0711/ 'llt rmur/y cfm/cern:

Be it known that I, NnLs J. BLoMGi-UGN, a citizen of the United States, residing at .Norway, in the county ot' Dickinson and State of lVlichigan, have invented certain new and use- `liul Improvements in Envelop-Openers; and I do declarethe following to be a'full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures otl reference marked thereon, which iorm a part of this siieciiication.

lVly invention relates to improvements in envelop-openers; and the general obfect ol the invention is to provide an envelop-opener which will overcome the general defects with earlier constructed devices in this line namely, that they either get out of order by a short wear of their parts` or their cutting edges stand at an obtuse angle to each other, or the pivot-joint of the cutters is so located that the envelop is pushed away by the approaching knife, and thus not properly cut, or they are objectionally hard to operate by having the operatinghandle too near the pivot-joint of the cutters, or they have no means for guiding or holding' the envelop in position so that the knife will get a proper hold on it, or there is no proper mechanical adjustment of the cutters or no proper chance to adjust the cutting edges when they wear, or the cutting-blades are so placed that they may spring during the cutting, and thus not cut properly. All ot` the said detects IV overcome by the novel construction and combination of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-w Figure l is a top View of my envelop-opener. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of saine. Fig. is a right-hand sectional view on the line a a in l? ig. 2. Fig. l is a sectional front view oi a portion ot' the machine on the line in Fig. 3.

Vteierring to the drawings by reference-numerals, l designates the lower and main frame oi the machine. It is ot a rectangular elongated somewhat-boX-shaped fornnopen inside, and rests on rubber legs E2, secured in its 'tour corners, and las a horizontally-slidable bottom 3, which may be easily opened in emptying the clippings ot' the envelope out ot the irame. The 'lront of the frame is formed with a shelf Li, having slots 5, through which extend upwardly screws (i, by which held upon the sheltl a heavy steel blade 7. This blade or lower cutter is zuljustable rearwardly by the screws 8, threaded in the t'ront o'll the trarne and pressing with their points against the screws 6, so that the front cutter 7 may be very accurately and easily adjusted and.

then iirmly held toward the rear and upper cutter or blade 9, which is secured by the screws l() in a substantially vertical position upon the Afront side ollv aswingii'ig upper lframe 1l, pivoted at its rear corners to the rear corner posts or lips 12 oi: the lower irame by screws 13, having conical points 14- engaging the upper `trame and jani-nuts l5 to hold the screws i'irmly in such adjusted position as from time to time may be required by the wear of the joint.

The upper frame 11 is normally held in an elevated position by the upper arm 17 ot' a spring 18, held by a screw 19 and having its lower end 20 resisted by the rear wall of the lower frame. 2l isa striking' plate or button secured upon the Front-edgeot the upper frame for the olierator to strike on in cutting the envelop open bythe shearing edges 22 23 of the cutters. The motion ot the upper trame is limited by a i'iatdieiuled stud Qet, sccured in the lower 'frame and encircled by a 'flexible cushion 25, which when the upper frame descends meets its lett side front corner Q6 and when the 'traine ascends said cushion meets the lower arm 27 oi an t..shaped hook 28, secured at 2) to the upper trame.

Upon the lower cutter 7 are secured by screws 3() the ends oi? a guide 3i, between which and the lower cutter the edge oi the envelop to be opened is inserted and Forced against the segmental guiding lront lace 32 of the upper traine.

The cutting edge 22 ol the upper cutter is so considerably slanted as to produce an easy shearing cut and has its lower end 33 always in overlapping contactwith the lower cutter, so that the cutters may always be closely adj usted without any danger that the upper one TOO may catch upon the lower one, and the top surface of the lower cutter is slanted down and rearwardly to a plane not higher than the pivot-points 14. I

From the above description it will be understood that in the operation of the machine the strip or guide 3l not only helps to keep the envelop from slipping upward when forced against the upper frame, but it also helps to Hatten down the often-rounded edg'e of a welllilled envelop, and its third function is to straighten down to a plane envelops that have got pressed into various curved forms in the mails. The bringing of the top of the cutter 7 to a line with the pivots 14, as indicated by the line c c, or even below the pivots causes the upper cutter to swing at right angles with the face of the lower cutter, and thus to cut the envelop from the side and not to drive the envelop away, as in earlier cutters, in which the front knife is level and the frame-joint far below such level. The fact that I have drawn the line c c below the centers 14 is to indicate that l may further slant or incline the envelop-supporting surface of the cutter 7 and thereby cause the upper cutter to pull on the envelop while cutting' it, and thus prevent its escape even when the cutters may be quite dull. It will also be seen that by making the stud 24 Hat and broad its cushion 25 is not liable to get cut to pieces by the contact of the frame, and the head 24X of the stud preventsithe cushion from coming' off, if loosened. The upper cutter 9 by being' placed edgewise toward the envelop has no chance to spring upward in cutting, and rearward springing is prevented by the upper frame. The latter points are mentioned in contradistinction to earlier experiments, in which the upper cutter has been screw-fastened iiat side down upon the top of the upper frame and has then sprung upward between the screws enough to prevent proper cutting of the envelop, and such arrangement has also necessitated the placing of the striking plate 21 so far back on the frame that most of the blow of the hand upon the plate has been removed from the cutters, where it would be useful to the pivots 14C, where it does damage by undue wear, and thus getting' them out of order.

In the operation of the machine the envelop is placed with either end or long edge upon the lower cutter 7 and pushed in under the guide 31 till it touches the surface or face 32 nation, a stationary frame with acutting-blade screw-fastened upon its Jfront portion, a vertically-swinging hand-operated frame pivoted to the rear corners of the stationary frame, and having' its front part extending downward and then forward to form a segmental guiding-surface against the envelop, a vertically-disposed shearing-blade screw-fastened with its flat side against the front side of the vertical portion of the swinging frame above the forward extension and coacting' with the blade on the stationary frame in cutting the edge off of the envelop and means for raising the swinging frame and for controlling its motion, said stationary frame having its blade secured in place by'screws passing through slots in the frame, and adjustment-screws acting against the front sides of the securing-screws for adjusting the blade rearwardly on the frame and holding it in the adjusted position.

2. An envelop-opener comprising in combination, a main frame and a swinging frame pivoted thereto and a cutting-blade upon each frame to coact in cutting the envelop, a spring actuating the swinging frame in one direction and a button or plate to strike on to actuate the frame in the other direction, a broad stud upon the main frame, a flexible lining' or cushion embracing the stud, an L-shaped hook extending from the swinging frame and engaging the lower broad side of the stud, while the other side of the stud meets a portion of the swinging frame whenever it is operated by the hand.

In testimony whereofI aflx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NELS J. BLOMGREN.

Nitn esses:

A. M. CARLsEN, D. E. CARLSEN.

IOO

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