Patent GB-191327031-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Automatic Apparatus for Machining Curved Stereotype Plates.
IPC: B41B5/08
Filed: 1913-11-24
Granted: 1914-11-24
Abstract: 27,031. Printing Machinery Co., Pearce, H., Parker, T. R. G., and Bennison, W. E. Nov. 24. Stereotype; printing-surfaces. -Relates to apparatus for trimming and cooling curved stereotype plates of the kind in which the plate travels along a runway through a shaving-arch, where its internal face is shaved, to a cooling- apparatus, and consists in the provision of improved means for (1) conveying the plates along the runway, whereby plates of different lengths may be dealt with, (2) positioning the plate at the head of the runway, (3) preventing rebound of the plate as it comes to rest, (4) springing in the edges of the plate as it is clamped in the arch, (5) positioning the plate in the arch, and (6) cooling the trimmed plate. The apparatus comprises the usual frame 1, central and side tables 3 for receiving the plate, rollers 5 constituting the runway, shaving-arch 7, cooler 20 to which water is admitted by the passage of the plate, and drying-apparatus 34. (1) The plate-conveyer comprises two bars 46, each having at intervals a series of pivoted stops 47 adapted to engage the edges of the stereotype plate 16 and feed it step by step through the machine. The bars 46 are reciprocated by pinions 95 on a shaft 98, connected by gearing 94, 93 with a shaft 97, which is oscillated by a rack or oscillating sector actuated by a cam on a shaft 82 driven by spiral gear 80 from the main cam shaft 8. Each finger 47 is pivoted on a vertical pivot 48 in a recess in the bars 46 and is held in or out of action by a spring plunger 53, engaging one of two flats on the pivot 48. After moving the stereo to either of its positions of rest, the finger 47 is turned out of action into the recess 49 in the bar, by engagement with a pawl at the beginning of the return journey. At the end of the return journey, the extension 55 of the finger 47 engages a block 65 and the finger 47 is thereby projected to feed the next plate. The block 65 is carried by a vertical slide 127, raised by a spring and lever 126 at a period determined by a gapped cam 120. (2) If the plate has been positioned incorrectly on the runway by the attendant, the block 65 is held depressed and the feeding-fingers 47 maintained out of action. If the plate is placed too far or not far enough forward on the runway, it actuates one of two detectors and, through the action of levers 131 or 141, projects a plunger 135 or 145 into the path of the slide 127 and prevents its upward movement. (3) In order to prevent rebound of the plate from the stop at the end of the shaving-arch, and to compensate for any backlash in the driving - gear of the conveyer, the first pair of feed fingers, which carry the plate from the table 3 to the shaving-arch, are cut away on the face 100 and fitted with a spring 99 engaging the plate 16. The movement of the conveyer is slightly greater than the required feed of the plate, the excess motion being taken up by the yielding of the spring 99. (4) The means for clamping the plate in the shaving- arch are as described in Specification 11,139/12 with the exception that the cams operating the clamping-jaws are placed on the main shaft 8 instead of on the knife shaft 19. In order to prevent the displacing of the plate owing to lumps or irregularities on the edges, the spring- ing-in jaws are caused to remove such irregularities as the plate is fed past them by the positively driven conveyer. The front end of the jaw may be sharpened for this purpose. (5) In order to accommodate plates of different lengths, differing by one or more column widths, the arch 7 is provided with a series of plate stops 154-157, one of which is projected into the path of the plate as it moves into position. The stops are connected by detachable links to arms on a rock-shaft 159 actuated by a cam on the shaft 8. The stops not in use are held out of action by set screws. The knife for trimming and grooving the curved end of the plate is adjustable on the knife arm to correspond to the length of the plate. (6) The plate issuing from the arch 7 is conveyed to the cooler 20 consisting of a chamber with a single longitudinal port in the crown through which the water issues against a single baffle-plate and on to the inside of the stereotype plate. Water overflowing is caught in troughs 174 and drained away. The passage of the plate opens the water-supply valve 24 through a lever 22, link 33, and bell-crank 30 in conjunction with a cam on the shaft 19 in the usual manner.