US1862797A - Counting and marking machine - Google Patents

Description

June 14, 1932. L, L MATTHEWS 1,862,797

' COUNTING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed May 18, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q I A913 155 l 24 June 14, 1932. MATTHEWS 1,862,797

COUNTING AND MARKING MACHINE File d May 18, 19:29 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 14, 1932.

L L. MATTH EWS COUNTING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed May 18, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 June 14, 1932.

L, L. MATTHEWS COUNTING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed May 18, 1929 5 Shets-Sheep 4 Jul 1e 14, 1932. L, L MATTHEWS 1,862,797

COUNTING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed May 18, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented June 14, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOUIS LANDAFF MATTHEWS, OF WESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES B. MAXSON AND JULIAN W. MAXSON, BOTH F WESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND COUNTING AND MARKING MACHINE Application filed May 18, 1929. Serial No. 864,111.

The present invention relates to counting and marking machines, and its chief object is to provide an improved machine for counting the number of sheets of paper or the like that are delivered by asheet-delivery machine into a lay-boy or other magazine, and for marking or separating the sheets so delivered into bundles or reams, each containing a predetermined number of the sheets. Other purposes of the invention will appear hereinafter and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention is in the nature of an improvement upon the invention disclosed in Letters Patent No. 1,611,476 to Charles B. Maxson, dated December 21, 1926.

The invention will be fully explained in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view, partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section, of a paper-sheet-cutting machine of well-known construction, with the present invention attached thereto; Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, along the line 2-2 of Fig. 3, of a portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1, but upon a larger scale; Fig. 3 is a plan, partly in section, of the forward portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 isa section of the intermittently operating tag-feeding'device and associated parts, shown enlarged with respect to Fig. 1, the section being taken substantially upon the line 44 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 5 is a further enlarged section upon the line 5-5 of Fig. 3, of a portion of the operating mechanism of the tag-feeding devices, the parts being shown in the relative positions occupied by them when-the tag-feeding devices are ineffective; Fig. 6 is a similar View, with the parts in relative positions such as to render the tag-feeding devicesefiective to feed the tag; Figs. 7 and 8 are views, similar to Figs. 5 and 6, respectively, showing further steps in the operation; Fig. 9 is a vertical section, taken substantially upon the line 9-9 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows, with parts left out for clearness; Fig. 10 is a section similar to Fig. 9, showing the parts in relatively diflerentpositions; Fig.

11 is a section taken upon the line 11-11 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 12 is an elevation of a cutter-adjusting mechanism; and Fig. 13 is a section taken upon the line 1313 of Fig. 12, looking in the direction of the arrow.

The invention is, for illustrative purposes, shown applied to a paper-sheet-cutting-andfeeding machine of well known type, such as is commonly employed in paper mills to sever the rolls 2 of paper, Fig. 1, that are produced in the paper-making machines, into individual sheets, and to feed and stack the severed sheets into lay-boys 4. For simplicity of illustration, a single lay-boy 4 alone is illustrated herein. Any desired, convenient number of rolls 2 of paper may be operated upon simultaneously in the same machine. Three such rolls are illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 1. Feed rolls 1Q advance the webs 3 of paper from the rolls 2 to a rotary cutter 16 by which the strips are severed into sheets of the desired length. The axis of rotation of the cutter 16 is indicated at 17. Tapes 18 and 20 then feed the sheets into the lay-boy 4, which is automatically lowered from time to time to maintain approximately uniform the level of the sheets that are stacked therein. As they are delivered into the lay-boy 4, the sheets are automatically counted: and thin, paper tags 24, Fig. 1, are automatically inserted between adjacent, predetermined sheets at the completion of each count to separate or mark the bundles or reams of sheets so delivered and counted. The tags 24 are automatically cut oil' from a paper strip 34 that is intermittently unwound from a reel 36.

The tag-inserting mechanism comprises feed rolls 26 and 27, Figs. 3 and 4. These automatically advance intermittently, through a curved guide 28, and between a movable knife 30 and a stationary knife 32, the paper strip 34 as it is unwound from the reel 36. The end 38 of the paper strip is thus intermittent-1y advanced, at the proper time, and becomes inserted between, adjacent sheets 104 and 106, Figs. 1 and 4, of the stack, and, after it is severed by the knives 30 and 32, constitutes a tag24. The feed roll 26 is idly mounted upon a lever 40, pivoted at one end 41, and pressed upward about the pivot by a spring 42 to cause the feed roll 26 to maintain the paper strip tightly in engagement with the feed roll 27. The feed rolls 26 and 27 are provided with meshing gears, one of which is shown in Fig. 3. To advance the strip 34, therefore, it is necessary to rotate intermittently the feed roll 26 only, the feed roll 27 being positively driven by its gear from the feed roll 26, and the two rolls positively pulling the strip 34 through between them.

The feed rolls 26 and 27 are situated at the rear end of the guide 28, at a point just to the rear of and just below the upper sheets of the stack of sheets in the lay-boy, and the knife 32 is situated at the other end. A shaft 44, situated to the rear of the guide 28, is provided with a gear 126, which drives the feed rolls 26 and 27. A lever 31, pivoted at 33, by its own weight presses the strip 34 against a seat 35 in the lever 40, just to the rear of the feed rolls 26 and 27, the better to guide the strip. The shaft 44 is intermittently rotated by a continuously rotating pawl 46, Figs. 5 to 10, at the end of a cycle of operation of a counter,say, after a ream has been delivered and counted. This happens when the pawl 46 engages a lug 48, as hereinafter described. The end 38 of the strip 34 is thereupon rapidly fed from the rear of the stack, in a direction at a substantial angle to the horizontal direction of feed of the sheets, shown nearly vertical in Fig. 1, into the path of feed of the next following sheets, which constitutes the first sheet 106 of the next ream.

The shaft 44 is intermittently rotated only when the pawl 46 engages the lug 48, provided upon a normally stationary collar member 50 that is fixed to the shaft 44. The pawl 46 is pivotally mounted at 52 u on a collar or disc 54 that is fixed to a sha t 43 that is alined with the shaft 44. Though the shafts 43 and 44 are thus alined, they are loose with respect to each other, except when the pawl 46 engages the lug 48. The shaft 43 is provided with a sprocket wheel 56. The sprocket wheel 56 is driven by a sprocket chain 58 from a sprocket wheel 68 provided upon the shaft of the rotary cutter 16. The rotation of the shaft 44 is, therefore, a measure of the number of sheets that are cut by the knife 16 and delivered into the lay-boy 4. The relation of the knife 16 to the shaft 43 may be adjusted by the mechanism hereinafter described, and illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13.

The collar 54, that carries the pawl 46, is thus continuously rotated loosely in a circular path about the axis of the shafts 43 and 44, from the shaft of the cutter 16, or in any other desired manner, so long as the pawl 46 does not engage the lug 48. When the pawl 46 does engage the lug 48, however, it will obviously cause the shaft 44, to which the lugcarrying collar 50 is secured, to rotate also, causing the feed rolls 26 and 27 to feed the end 38 of the strip 34 between two adjacent sheets 104 and 106 of the stack, as is illustrath ed in Fig. 1. The feeding of the strip 34 is therefore controlled by the continuously rotating pawl 46. Rotation of the shaft 44 in the wrong direction may be prevented in any desired way.

The pawl 46 is normally prevented from engaging the lug 48 by a gate 70 that is provided upon a collar or disc 72 that is loosely mounted upon the shaft 44. In the position normally occupied by the collar 72 upon the shaft 44, the gate 70 overlies or covers the lug 48, as shown in Figs. 5 and 9, in the path of rotation of the pawl 46. So long as the gate 70 overlies the lug 48, the continuously rotating pawl 46 can not engage the lug 48, but rides idly over the gate 70. Upon the ate becoming displaced from the position 0 Fig. 5 to. that of Fig. 6, the pawl 46, during its next journey around the shaft 44, will be pressed into contact with the lug 48 by a spring 76. The pawl 46, continuing its rotation, will now carry the lug-carrying collar 50 with it, and the latter, being secured to the shaft 44, will cause the feed rolls 26 and 27 to advance the end 38 of the strip 34, as above described. Upon reaching the wall 78, Fig. 6, of the gate 70, the pawl 46 will ride up along this wall 78 (assuming the gate 70 to be held against movement at this time) .and out of contact with the lug 48, as shown in Fig. 7, where upon the shaft 44 will cease rotating, and the strip 34 will be no longer advanced. The lug 48 will thus be left behind the gate 70, in the dotted-line position of Fig. 7. The pawl 46 will then again continuously rotate idly, as before. It should be noted that when the pawl 46 rises out of engagement with the lug 48, along the wall 78 of the gate 70, as just described, leaving the lug 48 behind the gate 70, the shaft 44 has not quite completed a revolution, for the lug 48 occupied originally the position shown in full lines in Fig. 6, whereas it now occupies the position shown in Fig. 7. The revolution of the shaft 44 is completed later, as will shortly be described, to effect the actuation of the movable knife 30.

It will now be necessary to explain how the gate 70 is actuated from the position of Fig. 5 to that of Fig. 6 to uncover the lug 48,

and thus permit the pawl 46 to actuate the around with the shaft 44 until the lug 80 is 35 stopptd from rotating further with the shaft 44 by the pin 82. The lever 84 is pivotedat its other end 86, and is provided with an intermediately disposed arm 88 that rides along a cam track 90 of a cam disc 89 that is mounted upon and fixed to a ream-counting disc gear 66 so as to rotate therewith. The disc 66 has a suitable number of counting teeth. The cam track 90 is provided with a recess 94 having a sharp, abrupt shoulder 96, a gradually inclined shoulder 98 and an intermediately disposed wall 100. The counting disc 66 and the cam disc 89 are rotated, step by step, as will hereinafter be described, in the direction of the arrow, 10. When ,the sharp, abrupt shoulder 96 reaches the end of the arm 88 of the lever 84, a spring 102 will move the lever 84 upward to causethe said end of the arm 88 of the lever to engage the wall 100 of the recess 94. The pin 82 will thus be moved upward, from the position of Figs. 5 and 9 to that of Figs. 6-and 10. The lug 80 will thereupon be caused, through the frictional engagement of the disc 72 with the disc 54,.to rotate from the position of Fig. 5

to that of Fig. 6, in which position the pin 82 will engage behind a further lug 81, also carried by the disc 72. In the corresponding position of the gate 70, as is also clearly shown in Fig. 6, the gate 70 will uncover the lug 48. The pawl 46 will then be enabled to. cause actuation of the feed rolls 26 and 27, as above described. The upward movement of the lever 84 is timed to take place at the end of a cycle of operation of the counter; say, after a ream has been delivered and counted.

It has been pointed out above that the pawl v46 will ride off the lug 48 at a time when the latter is in the position of Fig. 7, and before the shaft 44 has made a complete revolution. This nearly complete revolution of .the shaft 44 is effected in about half the time required to make a delivery of one sheet into the layboy. During this nearly complete revolution of the shaft 44, the end 38 of the strip 34 has been rapidly fed from the rear of the stack, inan upwardly inclined direction, as shown in Fig. 1, over the last sheet 104 of the I ream just completed, and into the path of feed of the next-following sheet, which constitutes the first sheet 106 of the next ream. When the end 38 has thus been laid flat by the sheet 106 upon the sheet 104, it is still too early to sever it from the strip 34, as the severing process might pull it out of place. It is preferable to wait until a nuinber of sheets have been fed forward over the sheet 106; their combined weight then serving to hold the end 38 of the strip 34 in place while it issevered. The number of sheets that shall so be fed forward for this purpose depends upon the length of the wall 100 of the recess 94. The cam disc 89 continuing to rotate, as the counting disc 66 continues to count the additional sheets so fed forward, the portion 88 of the lever 84 will ultimately leave the wall 100 and ride up on the inclined shoulder 98 of the recess94. The pin 82 of the lever 84 will then be returned downward to its normal position,'shown in Fig. 8. The lug 81 becoming thus released from the restraining influence of the pin 82, thedisc 72 will, by friction, be .carried around with the shaft 44 until the lug 80 becomes again arrested by the pin 82. This will have the effect of returning the gate 7 0 from the position of Fig. 7 to that of'Figs. 5 and 8, uncovering the lug 48, which at this time occupies the full-line position of Fig. 8. During the next cycle of rotation of the pawl 46 about the shaft 44, therefore, it will engage the lug 48, and thus actuate the ln g-carrying disc from the position of Figs. 7 to 8 to the position of Fig. 5. Upon the lug 48 being thu's returned to the position of Fig. 5, the gate 7 O, occupying now the position shown in Figs. 5 and 8, will again cause the pawl 46 to ride up the wall 78 and leave the lug 48 behind the gate 70, and the pawl 46 will again continue to rotate idly, as

before. This completes the revolution of the 'collar 50 and, therefore, of the shaft 44 to which it is secured. Upon the completion of this revolution, the knife 30 will actuate-to sever the end 38 from the strip 34, the severed end constituting one of the tags 24. The lever 84 is thus adapted to occupy two positions successively, in one of which it controls the feed rolls 26 and 27 to insert the end 38 of the strip 34 between adjacent sheets of the stack, and in the other of which it causes the knife 30 to sever the end 38 of the strip, these two positions being controlled by the cam disc 89. The'mechanism for operating the knife 30 will now be described.

One end of the knife 30 is shown in Fig. 3 as pivoted at 108. The knife is adapted to be moved in a vertical plane about the pivotal point 108 to cooperate with the stationary knife 32, by a bell-crank lever (see particularly Figs. 3 and 4) to one end of which the other end of the knife is pivoted at 112. The lever 110 is intermediately pivoted at 114, and its other end 116 is latch-shaped, as shown in Fig. 4, and is adapted to be engaged by a rotary cam 118. When the lug 48 is moved by the pawl-46 from the position of Fig. 6 to the position of Fig. 7, the end 116 of the lever 110 is pulled by a spring into the lower portion 123 of the rotary cam 118. The lever 110 is thereby pivotally actuated about the pivotal point 114 to movetheknife 3O upward,asseeninFig. 3, causing the end 38 to become severed from the strip 34. The roll cam 118 is mounted upon the shaft 44. The shaft 44 has keyed thereto, as before stated, the gear 126, meshing with the gear that drives the feed rolls 26 and 27. The knife is thus operated in timed relation to the operation of the feed rolls 26 and 27 by the shaft 44, which first operates Ill through nearly a complete revolution to cause the feed rolls 26 and 27 to feed the strip 34, and then remains stationary until the desired number of sheets have been fed over the sheet 106, and which finally operates throu h the remainder of its revolution to cause t e end 116 of the lever to engage the lower part 123 of the roll cam 118, thereby causing the knife to sever the end 38 from the strip 34. The knife is returned to normal position before the shaft 44 comes to rest. The cam'roll 118 is adjustable to adjust the time of operation of the knife 30. Further details, which may be found described in Letters Patent No. 1,613,182, granted January 4, 1927, to the said Maxson, are not described herein.

It has now been explained how the end 38 of the strip is automatically advanced upward into position so that it may be struck by the first sheet 106 of each new ream and laid flat thereby between adjacent sheets 104 and 106 of adjacent reams, and how it is then severed from the strip 34, the tag 24 being thus left in place to mark the boundary between the two reams. It has been explained that the successive operations of the feeding and severing mechanisms for the strip 34 are controlled by the portion 88 of the tagging-device-controlling lever 84, through the recess 94 in the cam disc 89 that is secured to rotate with the ream gear 66. It remains, therefore, to describe the operation of the counter.

The ream gear 66 is disposed above and meshes with a gear 60, upon a shaft 62. The cam disc 89 and the gear 66 rotate as a unit in a housing or dial (not shown). The shaft 62 and, therefore, the ream gear 66 and the cam disc 89, is revolved by a rack-and- pawl mechanism 150, 152, as presently to be described, this latter being driven by the sprocket chain 58 from the shaft of the rotary knife 16. The angular movement of the ream-coi-inting disc 66 being, therefore, timed to the rotation of the rotary knife 16, it is a measure of the number of sheets that are cut by the knife 16 and stacked in the lay boy, as has already been mentioned, and may be measured upon the before-mentioned stationary dial or scale (not shown). The parts are so proportioned that each revolution of the shaft of the cutter 16 may effect an angular movement of the ream gear 66 corresponding to any desired integral number of sheets from zero to 14, depending upon an adjustment hereinafter to be described.

A ratchet wheel 160 is fast to the shaft 62 so as to rotate therewith. A rack pinion 150 is loosely mounted about the shaft 62. The ratchet wheel 160 is intermittently actuated through a predetermined angular extent by a pawl 162. The pawl 162 is pivotally connected at 164 to the free end of an arm 166 that is fast to the rack pinion 150 so as to rotate therewith. As the rack pinion 150 oscillates, therefore, the pawl 162 is oscillated in a circular path about the shaft 62 as a center. In some positions of its circumferential movement, the pawl 162 is actuated by a spring 168 into engagement with one of the ratchet teeth of the ratchet wheel 160. The ratchet wheel 160 is then caused to rotate with the aWl 162 until the oscillating movement of t e pawl is reversed. The pawl 162 thereupon rides idly back until the pawl is again moved forward over the ratchet teeth. In this manner, the ratchet wheel is intermittently actuated through a predetermined are at each oscillative movement of the pawl 162, and the ream gear 66 is correspondingly controlled in accordance with the degree of actuation of the ratchet wheel. The length of the arm may be adjusted, as hereinafter explained. As three rolls 2 are employed, three sheets should be counted at each movement of the pawl. The ream gear 66 will be correspondingly moved through an arc corresponding to three sheets, as indicated upon a circular scale shown in Fig. 2 upon a solid casting that is permanently fixed to the side frame of the counter.

The pawl 162 is oscillated by a rack 152 that meshes with the teeth of the rack pinion 150 and that is integrally connected with an eccentric strap 153 mounted about an eccentric 155 that is driven from the shaft 43. An exceedingly simple construction is thus provided. During the reciprocating movement of the rack, it is held in engagement with the rack pinion 150 by a guard strip 157.

The degree of angular movement of the ratchet wheel 160 that is effected upon each revolution of the pawl 162 may be adjusted during the operation of the machine by an adjustable handle. This handle 17 6 is fixed to the gear 180 so as to turn therewith. The gear 180 meshes with a gear 181 that is mounted upon a guard disc 182 that carries a guard track 184 (Fig. 2) over which the pawl 162 rides when not engaging the teeth of the ratchet wheel 160. The guard disc 182 is loosely mounted upon the shaft 62. The

.guard disc 182 may, therefore, be rotatably' adjusted about the shaft 62 by manipulating the handle 176 to diminish to a predetermined degree the number of teeth of the ratchet wheel 160 engaged ateach rocking movement of the pawl. The predetermined number of counting-disc-controlling teeth of the ratchet Wheel 160 that may be engaged by the pawl 162 at each oscillation thereof may, therefore, be controlled by the adjustment of the guard 184, and may be varied, at will, from zero to amaximum number. In practice, the handle 176 will be adjusted to the number corresponding to the variable number of rolls of paper 2, or of the superposed webs 3, that at any one time supply material to the machine. Three such rolls are shown in Fig. 1, and the handle 176 will therefore be set to the numeral 3 Fig. 2, so that three sheets may be registered by the counter upon each rotation of the shaft of the cutter 16. Half reams may obviously be marked by setting the handle 17 6. to cause the counter to count double, and so for other multiples also.

The counter may be adjusted during the operation of the machine to count in anydesired multiples. If it is desired to count by fives instead of by threes, for example, a that the operator has to do s to move the handle 17 6 from the position numbered- 3 on the scale in Fig. 2, to the position numbered 5, and to permit a spring-pressed plunger 194, to become seated in a corresponding openlng 196, thereby locking the handle 176 and, therefore, the gear 180, in adjusted P08113101}.

As before stated, it is possible to ad ust the relation between the shaft 17 of the knife 16 and the shaft 43 to time properly the movement of the feed rolls 26 and 27 from the knife. To this end, the sprocket 68 is loosely mounted upon the lmife shaft 17, as shown in Figs. 12 and 13, and is keyed to a hand wheel 197 to which is pivoted at 199 a pawl 201. The pawl 201 is pressed by a spring 203 into any one of a number of locking openings 2% circumferentially disposed upon a disc 207. The disc 207 is keyed to the shaft 17. By releasing the pawl 201 from the opening 205 in which it is seated, the hand wheel 197 and the .sprocket 68 keyed thereto may be rotated idly about the shaft 17 until the proper relation is obtained between the shafts 17 and 43. The pawl 201 is then permitted to enter the corresponding opening 205.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact embodiment that is herein illustrated and described, and is subject to modification and change by persons skilled in the art. All such modifications and changes are considered to be within the spirit of the invention, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is: Y

1. A counter having, in combination a counting member having counting teeth, a pawl for engaging the teeth, whereby actuation of the pawl effects the actuation of the counting member, a rack member for actuating the pawl, a second rack member engaging the first-named rack member, and means mounted on the arm to rock along the pewheel, a rac gear mounted with the arm to rock about the axis of the wheel, a reciprocating'rack engaging the rack gear, a shaft, an eccentric mounted on the shaft, and an eccentric strap mounted on the eccentric and connected with the rack to effect the reciprollcation'of the rack.

4. -A counter having, in combination, a counting member having counting teeth, a pawl for engaging the teeth, whereby actuation of the pawl effects the actuation of the counting member, a track located along a portion of the member, means for actuating the pawl along the member, the pawl being adapted to run idly along the track during its actuation along. the said portion of the member, whereby the pawl is adapted to actuate the member to a degree that is diminished by the track vupon each actuation of the pawl, a gear for adjusting the track, and a gear meshing with the track-adjusting gear for actuating the track-adjusting gear.

5. A counter having, in combination, a rotatable counting wheel having counting teeth, a pawl for engaging the teeth mounted to rock alon the periphery of the wheel, whereby rocking movement" of the pawl eifects the actuation of the wheel, a track located along a portion .of the periphery of the wheel, means for actuating the pawl along the periphery of the wheel, the pawl being adapted to run idly along the track during its actuation along'the said portion of the periphery of the wheel, whereby the pawl is adapted to actuate the wheel through an angle that is diminished by the track upon each actuation of the pawl, a gear for adjusting the track along the peripher ,of the wheel, and a gear meshing with tlie trackadjusting gear for actuating the trackadjusting gear.

6. A counter having, in combination, a rotatable counting wheel having counting teeth, an arm mounted to rock about the axis of the wheel, a pawl for engaging the teeth mounted on the arm to rock along the periphery of the wheel, whereby rocking movement of the pawl effects the actuation of the wheel, a rack gear mounted with the arm to rock about the axis of the wheel, a reciproeating rack engaging the rack gear, a shaft, an eccentric mounted on the shaft, an eccentric strap mounted on the eccentric and con- 'nected with the rack to effect the reciprocation of the rack, a track located along a portion of the periphery of the wheel, the pawl being adapted to run idly along the track during its actuation along the said portion of the periphery of the wheel, whereby the pawl is adapted to actuate the wheel through an angle-that is diminished by the track upon each actuation of the pawl, a gear mounted to move with the track about the axis of the wheel to adjust the track along the periphery of the wheel, and a gear meshing with the track-adjusting gear or actuating the trackadjusting gear.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a lay-boy, means for feeding sheets into the la -boy, a counting member for counting the s eets, the counting member having counting teeth, a pawl .for engaging the. ;teeth,- whereby actuation of the pawl effects the actuation of the counting member, a rack member for actuating the pawl, asecond rack member for actuating the firstnamed rack member, means for marking the counted sheets at the end of a predetermined count, the marking means comprising a marker feed roll, a lug connected with the feed roll, a pawl for engaging the lug to effect the actuation of the feed roll, a shaft 1 alined with the feed. roll for actuating the lug-engaging pawl about the feed roll, means for normally preventing the lug-engaging pawl from engaging the lug during the actuation of the lug-engaging pawl about the feed roll, means for rendering the preventing means ineffective at the end of the predetermined count, and-means operated'from the alined shaft for actuating the second-named rack member.

8. A machine of the class described havlng, in combination, a lay-boy, means for feeding sheets into the lay-boy, a rotatable count ng wheel for counting the sheets, the counting wheel having counting teeth, a rocking pawl for engaging the teeth, whereby rocking movement of the pawl effects the actuation of the wheel, a rack gear for rocking the pawl, a reciprocating rack engaging the rack gear, means for marking the counted sheets at the means comprising a marker feed roll having a lug, a pawl for engaging the lug to effect the actuation of the feed roll, a shaft alined with the feed roll for actuating the lug-em gaging pawl about the feed roll, a disc loosely mounted about the axis of the alined shafts having a gate in the path of the lug-engaging pawl normally covering the lug to prevent the lug-engaging pawl from engaging the lug during the actuation of the lug-engaging pawl about the feed roll, means cooperating with the disc for actuating the gate to uncover the lug at the end of the predetermined count, the lug-engaging pawl thereupon engaging the lug to effect the actuation of the feed roll, and means operated from the alined shaft for reciprocating the rack.

. 9. A machine of the class described having, in combination, means for feeding sheet material, a rotating shaft, a cutter mounted upon the shaft for cutting the material into sheets, a counter for counting the sheets, means connecting the counter with the shaft to cause the counter to be actuated from the shaft to a predetermined degree corresponding to each rotation of the shaft, and means for adjusting the connection between the counter and the shaft to time the movement of the actuation of the counter from the shaft through the predetermined degree.

10. A machine of the class described having, in combination, means for feeding sheet material, a rotating shaft, a cutter mounted upon the shaft for cutting the material into sheets, a driving element adjustably mounted upon the shaft, means for securing the driving element in adjusted position upon the shaft, a counter for counting the sheets, a driven element for actuating the counter, and means connecting the driving and the driven elements.

11. A machine of the class described having, in combination, means for feeding sheet material, a rotating shaft, means movable with the shaft having a'plurality of circumferentially disposed openings, a cutter mounted upon. the shaft for cutting the material into sheets, a sprocket wheel adjustably mounted upon theshaft, a locking pin adapted to enter the openings to adjustably lock the sprocket wheel upon the shaft, a counter for counting the sheets, a sprocket wheel for actuating the counter, and a sprocket chain mounted over the sprocket wheels.

12. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife shaft, means movable with'the shaft having locking recesses, a sprocket loosel-y mounted on the shaft, means mounted on the sprocket for adjustably engaging the recesses to lock the shaft to the sprocket, and means whereby the position of the sprocket upon the shaft may be adjusted.

13. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a rotating shaft, a cutter mounted upon the shaft for cutting sheet material into sheets, a lay boy, means for feeding the sheets .into the lay boy, a feed roll for inserting a marker between predetermined sheets in the lay boy, means connecting the feed roll with the shaft to cause the feed roll to be actuated from the shaft, and means for adjusting the connection between the feed roll alrlidfthe shaft to time the feed roll from the s a t.

14. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife shaft having looking recesses, a driving element loosely mounted on the shaft, means mounted on the driving element for adjustably engaging the recesses to lock the shaft to the driving element, and means whereby the position of the driving elementupon the shaft may be adjusted. p

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

LOUIS LANDAFF MATTHEWS.

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