Patent GB-440748-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to inking-apparatus for rotary intaglio printing machines
IPC: B41F9/10
Filed: 1934-07-23
Abstract: 440,748. Intaglio printing-machines. WEISS, A., 2823, Avenue 1, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. July 23, 1934, No. 21565. Convention date, July 22, 1933. [Class 100 (ii)] Inking-apparatus ; rotary machines; impression adjustments.-In a rotary intaglio printing-press of the kind having an ink housing within which the printing cylinder extends, and a reciprocable wiping device normally in engagement with the cylinder, sealing means are provided to seal the spaces between the cylinder and the side and end walls of the housing to prevent substantial evaporation of ink from the housing. In one form, Figs. 2 and 4, the intaglio cylinder 8 is mounted in ball bearings in casings 3, 4 in fluidtight engagement with the side frames 1, 2, of the press. The outer end of the casing 3 is screw-threaded and engaged by a nut gear 12 operable by a hand-actuated pinion so as to adjust the cylinder 8 axially. To allow removal of the cylinder 8 together with the casings 3, 4, the frames 1, 2 are provided with removable panels 2<a> as indicated in Fig. 4, the panels being slidable horizontally on the main body portions of the frame and adapted to be locked in normal position. The cylinder 8 is, with the exception of a small arc adjacent the impression cylinder 19, enclosed in a fluidtight housing formed by the side frames 1, 2, a bottom trough 26, and side wall structures carrying an ink-supplying head 28 and a doctor 59. Thin flexible sealing strips 32 stretched round supporting brackets 30 on the frames 1, 2 overlap the ends of the cylinder and lie beneath the head 28 and doctor and thus seal the spaces between the frames 1, 2 and ends of the cylinder. A sealing strip of felt 123, secured to an angle bar 125 pivoted on the head 28 and adjustable by arms 127, contacts with the head, the cylinder, and the end sealing strips 32, and is kept lubricated by the ink issuing from the outlet aperture 122 of the head. The head 28 is detachably secured by means of worm-actuated clips 100, upon a portion 98 of the front wall of the ink-housing, this portion being vertically adjustable, in accordance with the diameter of the printing cylinder in use, by rack and pinion gears 96, 95 upon another portion 89 of the wall. The wall portion 89 is pivoted at 87 on the trough 26 so that it can be turned down to allow removal of the cylinder 8. The rear wall 36 of the ink-housing is also vertically adjustable by racks 37 operable by pinions on a shaft 40 which is rotatable by worm gear 42, 43, and its upper end extends upwardly and inwardly towards the cylinder 8 and carries a shaft 46 to which a wall portion 49 is hinged. The wall portion 49 is normally held rigid with the wall 36 by a cam 83 on a spindle operated by a handle 84. The shaft 46 is connected to a driving gear and carries grooved cams 50 which oscillate arms 52 having toothed sectors 54 meshing with racks 55 fixed to a bar 56 slidably mounted in the wall portion 49 and to which is fixed a bar 57 to which the doctor 59 is clamped. The doctor thus receives a reciprocating movement in the direction of the length of the cylinder 8. The doctor comprises a very thin inkremoving blade 59<a> Fig. 8, and a stiffening blade 59b clamped together on the bar 57. When in operative position, the doctor is flexed downwardly into contact with the cylinder and with a supporting and sealing blade 61 fixed to the wall portion 49, by a pressure-applying blade 60 fixed to an apron 62. This apron is pivoted near each side to one end 63 of a link 64 the opposite end 65 of which is pivoted to a bracket fixed to the bar 56. A locking pin 81 carried by the middle portion of the link 64 normally engages a perforated lug 82 on the bar 56 and in this position rollers 66 on the outer edge of the apron engage a bracket 67 pivoted at 68 on the wall 36 and adjustable by a member 69 operable by a screw 72 to vary the pressure of the blade 60 upon the doctor. The locking pins 81 are adapted to be released from the lugs 82 upon turning handles 74 pivoted to the apron. The doctor mechanism may be turned back away from the cylinder 8 by first turning the cam 83 out of engagement with the wall portion 49, then turning the handles 74 to release the locking pins 81, and finally pulling upon the handles 74 to turn the wall portion 49 about the shaft 46 and also, owing to the link connections 64, to turn the apron 62 bodily away from the portion 49. In a modification of the doctor-supporting structure, Figs. 16 and 17, the wall 149 of the ink housing is secured at each side to a block 140. These blocks are vertically adjustable by screws 142 journalled in blocks 137 and actuated by worm gear from a shaft 136 supported in brackets 135 on the trough portion 26<1> of the ink housing. The blocks 137 are pivoted upon the shaft 136 so that the whole of the doctor structure can be turned down about this shaft as shown in broken lines in Fig. 17 to allow removal of the cylinder 8 from this side of the machine. In this modification, the removable panels of the side frames of the machine are on the opposite side of the cylinder from that in which they are shown in Fig. 4. Latches on the side frames are provided to hold the doctor structure in the normal position. The doctor-blade support 161 is secured to brackets 158 fixed to a slide bar 156 reciprocable by cams 182 on a shaft 180 which is rotated by bevel gearing from a wormoperated sleeve rotatably mounted on the shaft 136. The apron 168 carrying the doctor pressure blade 60<1> is pivoted at 160 to the brackets 158 and carries a plate 169 to which is pivoted a cam 171 engaging a roller 165 extending between the brackets 158, the cam being adjustable by a screw 172 to vary the pressure of the blade 60<1> upon the doctor blade 591. The plate 169 is slidable upon the apron and connected by a link 173 to a crank disc 174 rotatable by a hand-lever 175 to raise the cam 171 clear of the roller 165 to allow removal of the blade 60<1> from the doctor blade. In a further modification, Figs. 18 and 19, the ends of the ink-housing comprise walls 221 separate from the side frames 214 of the machine. To allow removal of the cylinder 8, the walls have upper removable panels 22<a> slidable in guides 222 on the lower portion and secured by side and end clamps 223, 224. The cylinder shaft 215 passes through a stuffing box 225 containing felt and is axially adjustable by a screw actuated block 217 engaging a grooved collar 216 on the shaft. Specifications 440,773, 440,774, and 440,775 are referred to. The Specification, as open to inspection under Sect. 91, comprises also an ink-circulating system in which the ink is withdrawn from the trough 26 in a series of streams, united into a single stream, and again subdivided, within the inking head 28, into a series of small streams before it reaches the aperture 122. In a modification of this system, the surplus ink is pumped from the trough 26 to a reservoir from which it is again pumped to the inking head 28. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted but forms the subject of Specification 440,773.