AN IMPRATEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDER PRINTING PRESSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Dryden, of Kinaston Street, Lambeth, in
the County of Surrey, and Stephen Miles, of South Terrace, Willow
Walk, Bermondsey, in the same County, Engineers, for the Invention of
"" AN IMPRATEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDER PRINTING PRESSES."
Sealed the 15th May 1857, and dated tho 2nd December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Dryden and
Stephen Milos at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 2nd December 1856.
We, ROBERT DRYDEN, of Kinaston Street, Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, and STEPHEN MILES, of South Terrace, Willow Walk, Bermondsey,
in the same County, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDER PRINTING
PRESSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the application to that class of printing presses
known as cylinder perfecting machines (in which the paper is fed into the
machine by tapes) of an additional feeder, for the placing under the sheet to
be printed, as it comes on to the second cylinder, of a second sheet, which shall
take the "sct-off," and thus ensure cleaner impressions than have hitherto
been obtained in such machines. This end we propose to attain by adding
to the feeding end of the machine a set of tapes and rollers, which will carry
the sheets that are intended to receive the "set-off" under the first cylinder
and up to the second at the moment that the sheet which has received the
impression of the first form is being laid upon the second cylinder to receive
the impression of the second form. The set-off sheet thus introduced will
take any ink that the printed side of the sheet may give off at the moment of

page_text: receiving the second impression, and thus prevent succeeding sheets from
being soiled.
We provide a place for the additional feeder by leading back the return
tape over rollers in such manner as to permit of the setting of a feed board,
tapes, and rollers, between it and the ordinary feed board. The set-off sheet 5
is fed in after the sheet to be printed, and by travelling a shorter course
arrives at the proper time at the second cylinder..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Dryden and Stephen Miles in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, ROBERT
DRYDEN, of Kinaston Street, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, and STEPHEN
MILES, of South Terrace, Willow Walk, Bermondsey, in the same County,
Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Пer Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Robert Dryden and Stephen Miles, Her special license that we, the said
Robert Dryden and Stephen Miles, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Robert Dryden and Stephen Miles, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION. OP
CYLINDER PRINTING PRESSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Robert Dryden and Stephen Miles, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was, to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Robert Dryden and Stephen Miles;
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
ɛame is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
This Invention relates to the application to that class of printing pressés
known as cylinder perfecting machines (in which the paper is fed into the
machine by tapes) of an additional feeder, for placing under the sheet to be
printed (as it come on to the second cylinder) a second sheet, which shall take
the "set-off" from the printed sheet, and thus ensure cleaner impressions than
have hitherto been obtained in such machines.
To attain this end we apply to the printing machine a set of tapes so arranged
that they will carry forward from the feeding end of the machine the sheets
intended to receive the "set-off," passing them under the first cylinder and
presenting them to the second at the moment that the sheet which has
received the impression of the first form is being laid upon the second cylinder
to receive the impression of the second form.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shows, in side elevation, so much of
a cylinder printing machine with our Invention applied thereto as will serve
to explain the mode of carrying out our improvement; and Fig. 2 is a Diagramm
shewing merely the arrangement of the tapes for effecting the additional feed.
The blue lines, Fig. 1, shew the course of the ordinary double set of tapes for
passing the paper to be printed over the two forms, and the red lines in
Figures 1 and 2 shew the course of the tapes for conducting the set-off sheets
from the feeding end of the machine to the second impression cylinder, where
they receive the set-off from the printed side of the paper under the process
of printing, and thus prevent the accumulation of ink upon the surface of that
cylinder. a is the first, and 6 the second impression cylinder; and c and d are
the drums for guiding the ordinary tapes from one cylinder to the other. On
reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen, that in order to perinit of the introduction
of the extra feed, we open back the ordinary return tapes and insert between
them set-off sheet tapes. These tapes we pass over rollers in the usual way,
availing ourselves wherever practicable of the rollers which carry the ordinary
tapes, and where these are not applicable or sufficient we introduce other
rollers, as at e, e, e. The set-off sheets are laid on a feed board f, f, and are
pushed forward by hand until they are seized in succession by the dropping
bar g, which is operated (as is common to such mechanism) by crank arms
The
and a connecting rod, actuated by a cam on the axle of the cylinder a.
sheet are then drawn between the double set of travelling tapes, indicated by
the red lines. As the sheet of paper to be printed passes round the impression
cylinder a the set-off sheet follows it, but the paper after passing over the first
form is carried up by the cylinder a and delivered by the tapes to the drum d,

page_text: whence it travels to the drunic to be passed to the second impression cylinder b.
The set-off sheet, however, when leaving the cylinder a is carried by the red
tapes past the drum d and under the druni c, whero it meets with the printed
sheet, which has arrived at this point by a longer route, and it then passes with
it (in contact with the printed surface) on to the impression cylinder b. The
two sheets are now carried round and brought over the second form, the set-off
sheet being between the sheet to be printed and the cylinder; the set-off there-
fore caused by the pressure put upon the under sheet to produce the required
impression instead of being received on to the blanket covering the cylinder
(which set-off would soil the next preceding sheet) will be received by the
set-off sheet carried by the extra feed, and thus the succeeding sheet of printed
paper will be delivered in a clear state from the machine. The printed sheet
leaves the tapes at h (Fig. 1), and is there received on to the board i in tho
ordinary way, but the set-off shcet passes upwards, as indicated by the red
lines, and is delivered on to a board at k.
From the above explanation it will be understood that the speed of printing
in perfecting machines, fitted with our improvenients, will be in no way in-
terfered with, and that the main change in the old mechanism will be the
rearrangement of the tape rollers, for the purpose, firstly, of opening out the
return tape to permit of the insertion of the set-off feed board tapes and rollers
between it and the ordinary feed board; and, secondly, that the return part
of the tape between the two impression cylinders may be thrown down to
make room for the delivery board of the set-off sheets.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "An Improvement in
the Construction of Cylinder Printing Presses," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent we lay no claim to the feeding in of
set-off sheets to that class of printing presses known as gripper cylinder perfect-
ing machines; but what we claim is, arranging the tapes as herein described,
whereby we are enabled to introduce the set-off sheets at the feeding end of
the machine.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Dryden and Stephen Miles,
have hereunto set our bands and seals, the First day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
DADEDT DDVDEN