Im- PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR FOLDING PRINTED SHEETS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund William Dwyer Gray, of 83, Middle
Abbey Street, in the City of Dublin, for the Invention of “Im-
PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR FOLDING
PRINTED SHEETS."
Sealed the 9th December 1873, and dated the 12th June 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund William Dwyer
Gray at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 12th June 1873.
I, EDMUND WILLIAM DWYER GRAY, of 83, Middle Abbey Street, in
the City of Dublin, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR FOLDING
PRINTED SHEETS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a means of adopting a cutter or perforator
to a printing machine for the purpose of partially cutting or perforating
the pages of a newspaper, or other printed sheet, so that the person
intending to read same may with ease and without injury divide the

page_text: pages evenly by his hand or other means without the necessity of
employing a knife or other cutting instrument. This object I effect
in the case of cylindrical printing machines by placing in a suitable
position, by preference in the longitudinal slot or opening of the
impression cylinder in which the ends of the blanket are fastened, a
suitable bar furnished with a cutter, the operating part of which, by
preference, I construct of very small and fine teeth or pins. This bar
carrying the cutter I line or pad on each side with a strip of india-
rubber or other soft and elastic material, which causes it to fit closely
and firmly to the sides of the slot or opening in the impression cylinder
arm which the blanket is passed without injuring or cutting same, and
I fasten its ends by bars, pins, hooks, screws, or other ordinary means to
the ends of the cylinder in such a way as to be easily removed or
replaced. This cutter, so adjusted when the machine is at work, must
at each revolution come opposite to the blank space to be partially cut or
perforated, and must of necessity correspond to that portion of the type
bed, whether on a cylinder or flat, when there is no type and when a
central blank or division between the pages is left.
the bar which divides the type pages, and which is always lower than the
type surface at either side, I, by preference, make a small slot, into
which the cutter or perforator works without injury to the cutting
points when it passes through the paper.
In this place and on
In place of the row of points being fixed in the bar, which is placed
into the slot of the impression cylinder, this bar might have a dovetail
groove formed along it, into which a corresponding bar carrying the
points may be slid.
The cutter or perforator, as adapted to cylinders which require
carrying tapes, by removing corresponding portions of its operating
surface, and in all cases I so adjust the operating cutter or perforator
so as to leave sufficient strength in the sheet after the operation to
allow of its being safely carried on unsevered to the delivering portion
of the machine.
It is obvious that this system can be applied to whites or blanks
requiring to be cut or perforated, and which correspond to the circum-
ference of the cylinder and not to its axis, by placing a bar furnished
with pins round the cylinder instead of parallel to its axis, as already
described.

page_text: In other cases separate cylinders similarly geared may be used for
producing these perforations; or in the case of wet printing machines
the cutting cylinders may be adanted to produce them
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund William Dwyer Gray in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 12th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
WILLIAM DWYER GRAY, of 83, Middle Abbey Street, in the City of
Dublin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edmund William Dwyer Gray, Her special
license that I, the said Edmund William Dwyer Gray, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edmund
William Dwyer Gray, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR
FOLDING PRINTED SHEETS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edmund William Dwyer Gray, my executors, or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund William Dwyer Gray, do
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page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a means of adapting a cutter or perforator
to a printing machine for the purpose of partially cutting or perforating
the pages of a newspaper, or other printed sheet, so that the persona
intending to use or read same may with ease and without injury divide
the pages or parts evenly by his hand or other means without the
necessity of employing a knife or other cutting instrument. This object
I effect in the case of cylindrical printing machines by placing in a
suitable position, by preference in the longitudinal slot or opening of the
impression cylinder in which the ends of the blanket are fastened if
such slot exists, and if not on the portion of the cylinder corresponding
to the blank portion of the paper intended to be cut or perforated a
suitable bar furnished with a cutter, the operating part of which by
preference I construct of very fine teeth or pins. This bar, which may
be of wood or metal when used with or on a cylinder with a slot in it,
may be lined or padded on each side with india-rubber to protect the
blanket against which it presses; and I fasten its ends by bars, pins,
hooks, screws, or other ordinary means to the ends of the cylinder in such
a way as to be easily removed or replaced. The bar I make of two equal
parts, between which the cutter or perforator is placed and secured by
screws so adjusted as to hold the cutter firmly, and give to the two parts
the solidity and firmness of a solid piece. The cylinder carrying this
cutter is so set that when the machine is at work the cutter comes
opposite the blank space to be partially cut or perforated, and which
corresponds to that portion of the type bed, whether on a cylinder or
flat when there is no type, and when a blank or division between the
paper or other printed matter is left. In this place and on the bar or
blank space which divides the type pages, and which is always lower
than the type surface at either side, may be made a small slot, into
which the cutter or perforator works without injury to the cutting
points or knife when passing through the paper.
Instead of the row of points being fixed in the bar, which is placed
into the slot of the impression cylinder, this bar might have a dovetailed
groove formed along it, into which a corresponding bar carrying the
points might be slid.
In the case of cylindrical web or other printing machines, when the
two impression cylinders are in juxtaposition, as for example, the

page_text: Victory Web Printing Machine," the one impression cylinder may be
furnished with the perforator, as already described, and it may work into
the corresponding opening of the other impression cylinder, both of which
in that casc are set so as to correspond to the blank space between the
pages of the sheet to be perforated or partially cut. In the opening of
this second cylinder, into which the perforator works, is placed a
bar of wood, or iron, or other material fastened in any ordinary
suitable manner, which bar has a narrow slot or longitudinal cut similar
to that which in the other case is made on the type cylinder, into
which the teeth of the perforator or the knife works, at each revolution
perforating or cutting the paper; or this latter bar, so slotted, may be
placed upon the type cylinder in the blank space corresponding to the
perforator, and to the portion of the page to be operated upon. The
tops of this bar may or may not be covered with thin strips of india-
rubber or other soft material, against which will be pressed that portion
of the sheet at either side of the portion to be perforated or cut, or the
slot or opening in the bar may be omitted, and the entire surface
covered with such soft material, against which the perforator or knife
will then directly work at each revolution, cutting or perforating the
paper which lies between it and this soft material, but itself protected
from injury by that material. In practice however I prefer the open
slot made of hard wood without any covering.
The operating knife or perforator may also have fastened to each side
of it at a small distance from its cutting edge strips of india-rubber, or
similar material, which sometimes assist the operation. These strips
may be placed in exactly a similar manner to that in which they are
now placed on what are known as the "cutting knives" of the victory
and similar web printing machines. In practice however I find them
unnecessary.
The exact degree of cutting or perforating is secured by a proper
adjustment of the depth to which the cutter or perforator is allowed
to penetrate the sheet, and which is regulated in any of the usual
ways.
The cutter or perforator is adapted to cylinders which require carrying
tapes by removing corresponding portions of its operating surface, and
in all cases I so adjust the operating cutter or perforator as to leave

page_text: being safely carried on unsevered to the delivery portion of the
machine.
It is obvious that this system may be applied to whites or blanks to
be perforated or cut, and which correspond to the circumference of the
cylinder, and are not parallel to its axis. This may be done by placing a
thin elastic bar or band round the cylinder instead of along its axis, and
secured by screws let into the metal of the cylinder, or in a groove or
otherwise, which bar or band is furnished with the perforator or cutter,
as already described, as there always must be both on the impression
and type cylinders a space corresponding to the blank space on the
paper to be perforated a space on which the apparatus may be fitted
without interfering with the type matter.
In either case, whether the perforation or cut is to be made longi-
tudinally or laterally, the relative positions of the perforator and the
slot into which it works may be reversed.
When the perforation or cut is to be mado along the length of the
cylinder I prefer to place the perforator or cutter on an impression
cylinder, and have it mark upon the other.
When the cut is to be made in a direction at right angles with the
axis of the cylinder the perforation may be made as described, or more
conveniently by a pair of separate cylinders, between which the paper
must run, round one of which is placed the knife or perforator, and the
other of which is furnished with a corresponding slot or opening into
which the knife works. These cylinders need not then of necessity be of
the same diameter as the printing or impression cylinder, but may be
merely bars similar to those which carry a "cutting knife" in machines
which slit the paper while passing through the printing machine, or as
large as desired.
If it be wished that the entire of the sheet be not perforated, the
circumference of the cylinder may be made to correspond with the a
length of the sheet in the direction in which it is to be perforated, and
portions of the operating surface of the knife or perforator removed to
correspond with those portions of the sheet not to be operated upon;
or the same result may be attained by a smaller cylinder by means
of an eccentric which throws it out of gear at the points not to be a
perforated.

page_text: Separate cylinders may of course always be used when the cut or
perforation is to be made in a direction longitudinal to the type and
impression cylinders, but in practice it is more convenient to attach
the perforator, as described, to an existing cylinder when the cut is
longitudinal; but I find it more convenient when the cut or perforation
is to be made in the other direction to use separate revolving cylinders
or rollers.
I also affix this perforating bar to the falling bar of the ordinary
folding machine, which forces down the paper to be folded between the
folding cylinders, and perforates it at one and the same operation.
I have now described the modes in which I carry out my Invention,
both when the line of intended perforation corresponds and when it is
at right angles to the axis of the cylinder.
What I claim is, the adaptation of a perforator to the cylinder of a
printing machine and the falling bar of the ordinary folding machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund William Dwyer Gray, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Signed & sealed in presence
of me,
JOHN GRAY,
Chalville House,
Co. Dublin.
E. DWYER GRAY. (L.S.)
6 Dec. 1873.