Improvements in or relating to Multiple Copying Apparatus.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb., 1893
Complete Specification. Left, 21st Sept., 1893-Accepted; 20th Feb., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Multiple Copying Apparatus.
I, WILLIAM MOSES, WILLIAMS of King Henry VIII School, Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, Schoolmaster do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to machines for taking copies of written or printed matter
and the like and may be carried into effect in the following manner. In any
suitable frame I provide preferably two rollers which may be connected together
by gearing or otherwise or not as required; they may be carried in slots or
suitable bearings in the framing and may be drawn together by any convenient
form of spring or equivalent say for example a rubber ring passing round a metal
eye or sleeve upon the spindle of one of the rollers. Preferably where a spring
was used there would be one at each end of the roller or the arrangement would be
such that the rollers were evenly.pressed together.
:
Upon one roller which I will call the printing roller I place a sheet of paper or
the like having a gelatine or similar surface adapted to receive the writing or
other impression and to pass it on to the paper or the like applied to it for the
purpose of reproduction of the original writing etc. The gelatine or equivalent
strip may be secured to the roller in any convenient manner say by means of a slot
or recess in which fits a corresponding strip of wood or other suitable material
which may be hinged if desired and arranged to grip the strip in the groove in the
roller; the strip may then be carried round the roller and the free end secured
upon the strip by pressure.
The second roller is intended to be provided with a handle or suitable driving
apparatus and is formed of suitable material or peripherally clothed so as to provide
a suitable surface to press the paper or equivalent material to receive the impression
against the printing roller. Upon another roller or merely located either in the
framing or not is the roll of paper or material upon which the impressions are to
be received and which may be divided or not by perforations ruling or the like into
sheets of the requisite length. The free end of this band of sheets may be secured
to the second roller in any convenient manner say by simply placing the end into a
peripheral slot. The operation would be as follows:-The gelatine strip is first
provided with the matter to be reproduced which may be written in aniline ink
and impressed upou the gelatine surface in any well known and suitable manner
and the strip is then secured upon the printing roller as previously described and
the spring or other pressure if not applied so as to draw the two rollers together
the second roller is then revolved turning the first roller with it by peripheral
contact supplemented if desired as previously explained and the strip or sheets of
paper etc. to receive the impression is brought into contact with the gelatine
surface and the impressions thus obtained. Where the sheets are in a strip as
above described they may be allowed to wrap round the second roller as the process
proceeds thus increasing its diameter which is an advantage as tending to increase
the pressure upon the printing surface as the printing proceeds, a desirable effect
as more pressure is usually required as the impressions obtained are apt to become
fainter towards the end. In this way a large number of impressions may be rapidly
obtained without difficulty or trouble to the operator.
It will be seen that impressions may be received upon sheets already separated
by causing them to pass between the rollers and instead of any spring device for
pressing the rollers together the same result may be obtained if one roller be placed
above the other so that it will fall against the other by its own weight and for this

page_text: purpose it may if desired be weighted or loaded. This result could be obtained
even if the rollers were not directly one above the other but the top one placed to
one side of the vertical centre line of the lower one.
Dated this 20th day of February 1893
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Multiple Copying Apparatus.
I, WILLIAM MOSES WILLIAMS of King Henry VIII School, Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, Schoolmaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to means for taking copies of written or printed matter or
the like and may be carried into effect in the following manner.
In my Provisional Specification I stated that I preferably employed two rollers;
further experiment however has shown me that I can obtain better results with
three although two rollers can be used if desired.
The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying
drawings in which
Figure 1 is a general perspective view of the machine and
Figure 2 is a cross section, like letters representing the same parts in the two
figures.
A are two standards of any suitable shape and material forming the end frames
of the machine, and are carried upon a hollow frame or box B or the ends of B
may be in one piece with the standards A and the space between them either
entirely open or boxed up, preferably the latter. C is a roller of wood or other
suitable material intended to carry the gelatine or other strip which bears the
impression from which the reproductions are to be taken. The roller C is pro-
vided with a longitudinal groove C¹ into which one or both ends of the strip may
be inserted for the purpose of fastening it upon the roller. The roller C has a
spindle C projecting at each end and passing through the vertical or other slots A¹
in the standards A so that the roller may rise and fall and be lifted out as
required. The depressions A' in the top of the standards A are for the purpose
of holding any of the rollers when out of their position in the machine.
D is a roller having a soft exterior and conveniently made of wood covered with
a suitable form of indiarubber; this roller is also provided with a shaft. D¹ pro-
jecting at both ends and carried in the slots A' of the standards A but taking a
bearing upon the bottom of those slots, the roller C resting upon the roller D
either by its own weight or it may be loaded by springs or other suitable device.
Where only two rollers are employed D would be the driving roller the handle H
'presently to be described being then placed upon its spindle D¹. E when a set of
three rollers is employed is the driving roller, preferably of wood and may be
turned by the handle H or by any other suitable means; it has a spindle E' pro-
jecting at both ends and lying in the slots A' in the standards A and pressed
against the roller D by springs indiarubber rings or the like F at each end.
GFigure 2 is the roll of paper which may be carried upon a roller running in
suitable bearings in the framework or preferably may be a simple roll lying in the
.box or space at the bottom of the machine as shown in Figure 2. The working
end or paper of the roll G is carried over the roller D between it and the roller C
and where three rollers are employed also between the rollers D and E. The.
machine operated in the following manner :—
The gelatine or other transfer sheet is prepared and provided with the necessary
impression usually made in aniline ink in a manner well understood and secured

page_text: upon the roller C in any convenient manner say by means of the slot C₁as already
explained, the roller C being removed and preferably placed in the depressions A³
for this purpose; then the paper or other material from the roll G to receive the
impressions is carried round the roller D and between that and the roller E, should
the latter be employed, and the roller C placed in the slots A' when by turning
the handle H the rollers are set in motion and as the paper travels in the direction
of the arrows in Figure 2 the roller C is revolved by its contact with the moving
paper and the impressions from the transfer sheet on the roller C come off upon the
paper G as the latter travels and this process may be continued until the necessary
number of impressions is obtained.
Although as described in my Provisional Specification the paper may be wound
upon the roller D which will thus increase in diameter I find in practice that this
is not necessary and that satisfactory results can be obtained by carrying the paper
in the manner shown in Figure 2 which in some respects is even preferable, as the
strip can be cut into lengths for each copy as the copying process proceeds
without the necessity for rolling it up, although of course the paper can be rolled
up if desired.
If desired the paper may be perforated or partly divided, or instead of being
fed in in long lengths it may be fed in in pieces of the proper length for each
impression; two or more rollers C may be employed so that one may be prepared
while another is being used and the rollers may be of different lengths according
to the width of paper to be used.
It is desirable to take off an impression or two from the roller C before the
proper copying commences; this may be done either upon the paper from the roll G
or upon other pieces used for the purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. Obtaining several copies from a single transfer sheet by placing the said sheet
upon a roller and revolving it in contact with the paper or material to receive the
impressions substantially as described.
2. A machine for obtaining several copies or transfers of the same matter from
a single transfer sheet substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
3. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete multiple
copying apparatus substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 13th day of Sentember 1893.