Improvements in Printing Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Sept., 1898-Accepted, 4th Feb., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Printing Machines.
I, JULES MICHAUD, of 96, Rue d'Assas, Paris, France, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention relates to improvements in printing machines and is illustrated
in the accompanying drawings, the following being a description thereof:-
In the machine shown in Fig. 1 the bed 1 carries the formes 2 and 3, such
bed being actuated by any of the means known for the purpose, such as the
connecting rod and crank with driving wheel as shown, or by rack and pinion,
hypo-cycloidal gearing, or in any other suitable manner.
The bed 1 carries racks which gear with tooth wheels mounted on the
cylinders 4 and 5, so that such cylinders mounted on the bed revolve in one direc-
tion or the other according to the direction of travel of the latter.
To the right and left of each of the cylinders are the inking apparatus 6, 7, 8
and 9.
The apparatus 6 and 7 ink the forme 2.
The apparatus 8 and 9 ink the forme 3.
The paper from reel 10 passes over roller 38, then over roller 11, upon which
bears a roller or feeding rings 22 which are generally of india rubber, but which
may be of any other material.
The speed of rotation of roller 11, which is uniform, is calculated so as to feed
during the double travel of the bed a quantity of paper equal to the size of two
impressions of the sheet to be printed.
The paper thus fed forward passes over the rollers 13, 14, 15, cylinder 4,
rollers 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, feeding roller 21--upon which bear the balls 23 and the
speed of rotation of which is the same as that of roller 11, the rollers 24, 25,
26, 27, 28, 29, the cylinder 5, the rollers 30, 31, 32, 33, the roller 34, the
speed of which is the same as that of rollers 21 and 11, upon which bear the
balls 35, and finally over the bars 37 and 371 to leave the printing machine pro-
perly so-called and pass to the cutting, delivery or folding apparatus.
If necessary a cutting disc 36 (Figs. 1 and 2) acting upon the roller 34, divides
the web into two parts, which are turned over upon the bars 37 and 37¹, to after-
wards follow either the same or different paths.
The feed rollers 11, 21, and 34 receive their rotary movement from gearing
carried by the main shaft of the machine so as to ensure a uniform speed.
The rollers 13 and 19 on one hand and the rollers 26 and 32 on the other
hand have a travelling movement regulated by the cams 40 and 41, mounted
upon shafts making one revolution for each double course or travel of the bed.

page_text: This movement is transmitted to them by levers 42, 43, actuating the parts 45, 46,
upon which these rollers are mounted two and two, the rollers 19 and 13 upon
the part 46, and the rollers 26 and 32 upon the part 45.
The desired movement may be imparted to these two pairs of rollers by any
other suitable means.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-
Let A be the length of a copy to be printed, then during the double travel of
the bed the roller 11 will feed forward a length of paper equal to 2".
When the bed travels in the direction of the arrow 47, at the moment when
the forme 2 meets the cylinder 4, the paper which passes over such cylinder 4
will be moving at the speed of the bed and of cylinder 4, but this speed is
greater than that at which the paper is supplied by roller 11. In order to supply
the impression cylinder 4 with the quantity of paper which is necessary for it
without any breakage of the web occurring, the rollers 13 and 19 begin to move
in the direction of the arrow 48. The roller 13 approaching the rollers 39
and 14, the quantity of paper passing from 39 to 14 will be reduced and serves
to complete that supplied by the roller 11, so as to correspond to the quantity
which must be carried forward by cylinder 4, until the forme 2 ceases printing.
The roller 19 having the same travel as roller 13, it will be seen that as the
travel made by the paper passing over 39, 13, 14, diminishes, the travel made by
the paper passing over 18, 19, 20 increases to the same extent, so that the paper
before as well as after the impression remains stretched.
During the time that the forme 2 continuing to travel in the direction of the
arrow 47 is inked, then returns in the direction of the arrow 49 and is again
inked, in order to come into contact with the cylinder 4, the roller 11 has con-
tinued to feed forward paper and the rollers 13 and 19 have continued to travel
in the direction of the arrow 48, so that a length of unprinted paper has passed
in front of cylinder 4.
At the moment when, the bed travelling in the direction of the arrow 49, the
forme 2 again enters into contact with the cylinder, the blank part of the paper
is carried along and led backwards and printed by the fact of the pressure of
the cylinder on the forme. During the whole of this time, the rollers 19 and 13
have travelled in the reverse direction to arrow 48, and the paper led backwards
by roller 19 is kept stretched by the movement of roller 13.
When the bed travels in the direction of the arrow 49, a length of paper
passes backwards and is printed by the return of forme 2.
While the forme 2, having left the cylinder, continues its movement in the
direction of the arrow 49, then returns in the direction of the arrow 47 to again
enter under pressure, the rollers 13 and 19 have resumed their movement in the
direction of the arrow 48 and this movement combined with the movement of
the web itself causes the length A of paper which has just been printed to pass
between the cylinder 4 and the bed, so that when a second period begins, the
forme 2 enters under pressure upon blank paper.
It will be seen that for the double travel of the bed there have been three
lengths of paper carried along in front of cylinder 4, and that only one length
has been carried backwards. The result is that after each evolution of the
machine, two lengths A of paper have finally passed in front of cylinder 4.
The printed web, following the path indicated, arrives at 29, then passes over
cylinder 5, while presenting its blank side to the impression on the forme 3.
On this side the operation of the compensating rollers 26 and 32 is such that for
each forward and backward travel of the bed there also passes before the
cvlinder 5 a length of paper equal to 2, after which the web will have been
completely printed on both sides: the roller 34 carries it forward with a uniform
movement at the speed which it has at the moment when it enters the machine
and it passes to the cutting mechanism and to the delivery or to folding and
delivering mechanism which are attached to the machine.
It will be seen by the preceding description that the continuous web passes

page_text: twice in front of the cylinders 4 and 5 and for a certain time travels in a direc-
tion opposed to the movement of rotation of the cylinders when they are not
printing.
To avoid the inconveniences which would result from the friction of the web
upon the cylinders travelling under these conditions I have arranged rollers 15
and 16 for the cylinders 4, 30 and 29 for the cylinder 5, which only leave a slight
contact between the web and the cylinders. I may, if this is necessary, com-
pletely suppress this contact during the unwinding of the paper, by imparting
to the rollers 15, 16, 29 and 30 at this moment a lowering movement which
would remove the web from the cylinders.
The machine last described may print variable sizes. The size of the printed
paper results from the speed of unwinding the paper produced by the feed
rollers 11, 21, 34 and the operation of the compensating apparatus. It will be
seen that by varying this speed and regulating this operation for different sizes
below that of the maximum for which the machine is constructed, I can print
these various sizes.
In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown a slightly different arrangement which the
machine may take. The web printed on the forme 2 by passing over cylinder 4,
as has been described, then after having passed over the feed roller 21, it passes
to a reversing or turning apparatus 50. This apparatus is shown in plan in
Fig. 4 and consists of two bars 50, 50¹ of cross form and of a roller 51; owing
to its passage through this apparatus, the web passes over roller 34 reversed
and engages between the cylinder 5 and the bed on the same side as between
the cylinder 4 and the bed'; that is to say passing from the right hand.
result is that the compensating rollers 13, 19, 32, 26 have an identical movement
and may have a common actuating arrangement, and that the printed paper
leaves the machine at 52, after having passed over the roller 52 and proceeds
to the delivery or folding mechanism without having to change its direction as
was the case in the preceding arrangement.
The
I reserve to myself the right to construct a machine with a single impression
cylinder. For this purpose, instead of placing the two formes one in front of
the other, I place them one beside the other (as shown in Fig. 5) on a line
parallel to the generatrices of the cylinder.
The web proceeding from the reel 10 follows the path indicated in Fig. 1 and
is printed on the forme 2, but after passing roller 20 it proceeds over the feed
roller 54 then to the turning or reversing apparatus 55, the rollers 56 and 57,
and passes back to the roller 13 reversed and in a position alongside the former; it
then passes in the same way over the rollers 14 and 15 and is again printed,
but this time on the opposite side by the cylinder 4 by contact with the forme 3,
passes to 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, on to the feed roller 58, and leaves at 59 to pass to
the folding and delivery apparatus.
In the machines described, by a simple modification in the travel of the paper,
instead of printing the opposite sides of the web, I could print one side only of
the web, but in two different colours.
For this purpose, in the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, it suffices to cause the
paper when it leaves the roller 21 to pass directly over roller 34, without pro-
ceeding to the turning or reversing apparatus. Under these conditions the side
printed by the forme 2 is again presented for a fresh impression to the forme 3,
and it is only necessary that the inks supplied to 6 and 7 should be of a different
colour than those supplied to 8 and 9 in order to obtain impressions in two
colours.
In a machine the bed of which follows the course above described, by multi-
plying the number of printing cylinders, the number of formes and inking
apparatuses, I could by means of such arrangement print any number of colours
upon the same web of paper, by arranging in the travel of the web between the
cylinders turning or reversing apparatus which may be used or not, I could print
on each side of this web as many colours as desired.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a machine for printing a continuous web of paper by means of fiat
formes, the combination of a bed having an alternating rectilinear movement
imparted thereto, with cylinders having only an alternating rotary movement.
2. In a machine for printing a continuous web of paper by means of flat
formes, the combination of cylinders having an alternating rotary movement with
feeding rollers and compensating apparatus ensuring the carrying forward of
the web of paper and its tension.
3. In a machine for printing a continuous web of paper by means of flat
formes, the combination of the mechanism above described with the apparatus
for turning or reversing the paper placed in the path of the web between the
printing cylinders for turning over this web if required.
4. In a machine for printing a continuous web of paper by means of flat
formes, the combination of a bed having an alternating rectilinear movement
with (1) a cylinder having an alternating rotary movement; (2) feed rollers and
compensating apparatus ensuring the carrying forward of the web of paper and
its tension; and (3) an apparatus for turning over or reversing and displacing
the web of paper so as to lead it back to the same printing cylinder with the other
side upwards in a position adjacent to the first.
5. In a machine for printing a continuous web of paper by means of flat
formes, the combination with the bed described of several printing cylinders,
and of a turning or reversing apparatus so as to permit the impressions in several
colours to be obtained either on one side of the sheet, or on the other side
thereof, or on both sides.
Dated this 22nd day of Sentember 1898.
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicant.