The Perforated Paper Roll: Bonds That Break One Sheet at a Time

Wheeler's roll is "so constructed that the points of attachment and severance between the sheets will be alternately out of parallel lines running through the whole body of the sheets, so that a pull upon the free end of the web will not be transmitted in a direct line through a series of sheets, but will be diverted by the spaces opposite the connecting points of the sheet pulled upon, thereby producing a transverse strain upon the next line of connecting points sufficient to break them." Earlier roll-makers had put "the connecting points or bonds in parallel lines, or nearly so", so that if the free end were pulled in line with them "a long series of sheets may be drawn from the roll unless the free movement of the roll is prevented by friction or other means." Other inventors had instead built holders to stop the roll unwinding — "more or less complicated, liable to derangement, and expensive". In Fig. 1 the points e and e′ lie near the margins and "alternate through the whole roll"; nearer the centre (f, f′) "they should be narrower to avoid any probability of tearing into the body of the sheets". Other figures show two points alternating with one, and an oblique form of sheet. "My improved roll may be used on the simplest holders."

Cut three long strips of paper towel. On each, every 11 cm, cut across the strip with a craft knife on the cutting mat, leaving bonds uncut: on the first, two 5 mm bonds at the edges on every line; on the second, one 5 mm bond alternating from edge to edge line by line, as Wheeler did; on the third, one 5 mm bond in the middle of every line. Roll each strip onto a card tube, hang it on a dowel and pull the free end at a steady rate, sometimes straight and sometimes towards one side. Count how many sheets come off per pull and whether any sheet tears across. Hook the spring scale to the end to read the parting force.

**Seth Wheeler** of Albany, New York, filed US 459,516 on 10 June 1891; it is dated 15 September 1891. He claims a roll of partially separated sheets whose points of attachment are arranged out of line from sheet to sheet. **Honest limits.** Roll sizes, paper thickness and tear forces in the notebook are examples; tearing depends on the fibre, the moisture and the pull's direction.