IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOUR PRINTING PRESSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Grant, of Ludgate Hill, in the City of
London, Printer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOUR PRINTING
PRESSES."
Sealed the 22nd March 1859, and dated the 23rd September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Grant at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
September 1858.
I, DANIEL GRANT, of Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, Printer, do
bereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOUR
PRINTING PRESSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a press arranged as hereafter described. I make
use of a circular bed, upon which the blocks from which the printing is to be
taken are placed, and for as many blocks as there are upon the bed I arrange
round the press inking apparatuses, one for each block; each inking appa-
ratus is intended to supply ink of a different colour. Motion is communicated
to each inking apparatus to cause that part which supplies the colour to the
block to travel over the block and back by a cam or eccentric worked by a
pinion set in motion by a toothed wheel or rack extending round the press.
The tympan is circular, with flaps in two compartments, and upon rotary
motion being communicated thereto it carries the paper successively over each
block, the platten descends once for every successive onward motion of the
tympan.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Daniel Grant in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
GRANT, of Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Daniel Grant, Her special licence that I, the said Daniel Grant, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Daniel
Grant, 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 COLOUR PRINTING
PRESSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Daniel Grant,
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 Daniel Grant, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a press arranged as hereafter described. I make
use of a circular bed, upon which the blocks from which the printing is to be
taken are placed, and for as many blocks as there are upon the bed I arrange
round the press inking apparatuses, one for each block; each inking appa-
ratus is intended to supply ink of a different colour. Motion is communicated
to each inking apparatus to cause that part which supplies the colour to the
block to travel over the block, and back by a cam or eccentric, worked by a
pinion set in motion by a toothed wheel or rack extending round the press.
The tympan is circular, with flaps in two compartments, and upon rotary
motion being communicated thereto it carries the paper successively over

page_text: each block, the platten descends once for every successive onward motion of
the tympan.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings, is a front elevation of a printing
apparatus constructed according to my Invention; and Figure 2 is a plan
thereof through the line x, x, of Figure 1. B is a shaft running across the
upper part of the machine, and supported in suitable bearings C, C, placed
near the centre thereof, and secured to the framing D, D, on the centre of the
cross shaft, and between the bearings C, C, is placed an eccentric E, to the
lower part of which is attached a short connecting rod, for the purpose of
giving an up-and-down motion to a vertical shaft supporting the platten F.
A plan view of the tympan, with its several friskets, is shown in Figure 3 on a
larger scale. The bed G of the machine is secured to the framing D, D, by
bolts, or otherwise, and has a number of inking apparatuses H, H¹³, H³, H³,
H*, H, fixed thereto, at or near the periphery, and diverging from the centre
in radial lines, as represented in Figure 2. The roller frames I of the inking
apparatus are provided with racks or notches cut in either side, or both sides,
for the purpose of carrying the spindles of the inking rollers. At the outer-
most end of each table is a reservoir J for ink or colour, in which a roller a
works. On the outside of this roller is a ratchet wheel b, which is caused
partly to rotate at every backward motion of the roller frame I, by means of
a paul c attached thereto. The frames I are caused to slide to and fro by
means of eccentrics K, K, working on the spindles L, L. The spindles L, L,
are each caused to revolve by pinions M gearing into a toothed wheel N,
secured between the bed G and the sole plate O. On the outside of each of
the excentrics K a short curved rod c¹ is jointed, and at the other end of this
rod is a ball working in a socket in the leg d. The lower end of the leg d is
jointed to a foot bolted to the ground, as shewn. The toothed wheel N
receives motion from the pinions M² through their shafts P, which are placed
vertically on the outside of the machine; the upper part of the shafts P each
carry a bevil wheel e, which gears into another bevil wheel ƒ keyed on the
cross shaft B. In the centre of the machine, at the lower part, works a short
vertical shaft, which carries the toothed wheel N, and around which the
tympan Qturns. Underneath the platten F the tympan Q is supported by
bolts passing up through the platten. These bolts have their heads very
broad on one side. On these broad parts the tympan turns. The tympan is
sectioned off into two divisions more than there are impressions to be printed
in one revolution of the machine, and in each of these divisions the friskets
are fitted. The friskets are caused to rise when they arrive at a certain part
of the machine, for the purpose of taking off the impressed sheet and laying

page_text: on a blank, by a vertical pin screwed into the upper part of the bed G taking
into the under part of the frisket during the downward motion of the tympan.
The frisket is lowered by coming in contact with the side of the platten F.
The tympan is caused to revolve by studs on its periphery sliding under curved
plates of metal fixed on the side of the bed during the upward motion of the
platten F, and on other curved plates during the downward stroke of the
platten. I would have it understood, that I do not confine myself to the
number of tables and inking apparatuses, as two, three, four, or more may be
employed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of colour printing presses,
as herein-before described and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Secondly, the combination of a single rising and falling platten with a
rotating tympan, essentially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Thirdly, the combination of a rotating tympan with stationary printing
blocks and radial inking tables, constructed and operated essentially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Fourthly, the method and means of imparting motion to the frames of the
inking rollers, essentially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Grant, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
DANIEL GRANT.
(L.S.)