IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING- MACHINERY
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Davies, of Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey,
Mechanical Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING-
MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Davies at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th December 1880.
JOSEPH DAVIES, of Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey, Mechanical Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY."
My Invention relates, firstly, to a mode or modes of operating the movements of
the tables of perfecting or single cylinder printing machines, such mode consisting
of means for controlling the motion given off by a rotating vertical crank shaft.
Mounted on the crank pin of this shaft so as to work freely is a T shaped lever,
which is connected at its tail end through a coupling rod to the underside of the
table carrying the "form" or type. Or instead of a connecting rod the tail of the
lever may be fitted with a bowle, to work in a slot in the table of the printing
machine, such slot being at right angles with its movement. The centre of the
head of the T lever rotates on the crank pin, and the extremities of the head carry
bowles, which as the crank rotates work in curved shaped horizontal paths formed
in or upon the framing of the machine. These curved guides, four in number, may
be secured by bolts to the framework of the machine.
The operation may be described as follows:-At the commencement of the stroke
the crank shaft, the crank pin, and the tail end of the T lever have all their
centres in a straight line with the connecting rod and parallel with the sides of the
tables. The extreme distance between the centre of the crank shaft and the
coupling pin at the tail end of the lever being equal to half the whole stroke.
The bowles at the extremities of the head of the T lever in the present position
are at right angles with the line of centres, and the two bowles are just at the
mouth of two curved guides on the starting side of the crank shaft, hence as the
crank pin is moved round toward the other side of the crank shaft one of these
bowles will leave one guide while the other bowle will advance into the other
guide, meanwhile the tail end of the T lever and connecting rod will advance
toward the crank shaft. When the first bowle has reached the extreme depth of
the first guide the other bowle is just over the centre at the crank shaft. This will

page_text: bring the two bowles, the crank pin, and the crank shaft into line, and the rotary
motion proceeding in the same direction the second bowle will pass diagonally in
advance of the crank pin and enter the second guide on the other side of the crank
shaft. At this point of their movement the two bowles and the crank pin are in a
line parallel to the sides of the table, and the tail end of the T lever and connecting
rod have their coupling pin immediately over the crank shaft, thus half of the full
stroke is performed. From the above it will be understood that the path of the
tail end of the lever is so arranged that by the action of the bowles in the curved
guides the table of the printing machine receives equable motion through the
greater portion of its stroke, and corresponding with the surface speed of the
continuous rotating cylinder or cylinders.
This arrangement is applicable to already existing machines, and is a substitute
for the rack and pinion movement.
As a modification of the arrangement just described a four armed lever may be
substituted for the T shaped lever, in this case six curved guides will be used
instead of four.
In some cases the rock lever, which transmits a reciprocating motion to the table,
will receive a semi-rotary motion, the rock lever, which is in this case L shaped,
having for its fulcrum the pin which connects it to the table or through a rod to
a table. On one arm is a bowle working in a serpentine or curved shaped guide,
and the other arm is coupled by a connecting rod to a crank pin carried by a
pinion gearing into an internal ring of spur teeth. This pinion is mounted on
a crank pin, and is caused to revolve within the ring of teeth, and thereby impart
the requisite vibrating motion to the L shaped lever for giving a to and fro motion
to the table of the machine.
Secondly. In adapting my Invention to perfecting or two-cylinder printing
machines I duplicate either of the above mentioned arrangements. Thus I provide
one of these arrangements for each of the tables, and connect them to the undersides
or ends of the same; or I make two of the said arrangements to work on one
common centre by a double arm crank with the crank pins diametrically opposite.
The object of using the double arrangement in one printing machine is to impart
motion to two tables in contrary directions, so that they shall work to and from
each other and counterbalance their weight in motion.
Thirdly. I apply one or other of the said arrangements to single cylinder printing
machines, and cause the cylinder of the same to have a continuous uniform rotating
motion, its surface speed being the same as that of the equable motion of the
arrangement applied thereto. The Sheets to be printed are laid to marks or points
and taken by grippers or drop bars in the usual manner, printed, and delivered by
sheet flyers on the receiving board.
Fourthly. In small cylinder perfecting machines I cause the sheet when printed
on the first side to pass over the top of the first cylinder, which turns it over, to be
guided by tapes or otherwise to the underside of the other cylinder, where the
other side of the sheet receives the second impression, thence to the sheet flyer to
be delivered on the receiving board.
Fifthly. When required for "fine cut" work one of the cylinders is made of
large diameter for the cuts and a smaller one for the type or inner form, or the
sheets receives one impression only and pass (cuts upward) over the small cylinder
to the delivery board.
In this case means is provided for causing a blast to keep up the sheet from
touching the sheets already on the delivery board until completely over those sheets,
and then allowing it gently to fall on them, thereby preventing smearing. In this
case the sheet flyer is not used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th June
1881.
JOSEPH DAVIES, of Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey, Mechanical Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY,"
My Invention relates, firstly, to a mode or modes of operating the tables of
either perfecting or single cylinder printing machines, the object being to drive
them at an uniform speed during the time the impression is being taken.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 shews in side elevation so
much of a double cylinder or perfecting printing machine as. will serve to illustrate
the adaptation of my Invention thereto, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of such a machine,
the cylinder and tables being removed to shew the mechanism, whereby I am
enabled to impart the requisite traverse motion to the tables. In these Figures A is
the main driving shaft, from which is transmitted rotary motion to the printing
cylinder B, B, and also to a longitudinal shaft C through suitable gearing. This
shaft C is fitted at its opposite ends with bevil pinions c, which gear respectively
into bevil wheels D keyed to vertical shafts D¹. Fitted to each bevil wheel D is a
crank pin d, on which is mounted a horizontal T shaped lever E. These levers E
underlie their respective tables F, F, which carry the forms of type and the inking
slabs as usual, and are so situate with respect to each other that in moving inwards
the one table will be enabled to overlap the other. This enables me to bring the
cylinders close together, and thereby to contract the length of the machine. At the
extremities of the levers E antifriction bowles e, e¹, e², are fitted. The bowles e, e¹,
stand in the frame of a horizontal guide frame G secured to the side frames. The
form of these guide frames is clearly shewn in the plan view, Fig. 2, which repre-
sents them as provided with four circular recesses 1, 2, 3, 4, around which the
antifriction bowles e, e¹, roll as the bevil wheel carrying the crank pin d is rotated.
These bowles each form a rolling fulcrum for the lever E, which rocks upon them
alternately, and is thus caused to traverse the bowle e² in a nearly straight line in
the direction of the shaft C. On the under side of each table F is a transverse slot
for receiving the antifriction bowles e². As therefore rotary motion is imparted to
the shaft C the tables F will, by means of the apparatus just described, be caused to
advance towards and retire from each other at an equable surface speed during the
whole time that the type is passing under the pressure of the printing rollers. Thus
the movements of the two tables will be balanced, and the surface speeds of the
tables and of the cylinders may be made to correspond perfectly with each other,
thereby ensuring impressions of the best quality.
The action of the mechanism for operating the tables will be clearly understood
from the following description :-At the commencement of the stroke the shaft D',
the crank pin d, and the bowle e² of the T lever E have all their centres in a
straight line parallel with the sides of the tables, the extreme distance between
the centre of the shaft D1 and the coupling pin e² being equal to half the whole
stroke. The bowles e and e¹ are at right angles with the line of centres, and the
two bowles are just at the mouth of two curved guides 1, 2, on the starting side of
the shaft D'. Hence as the crank pin d is moved round (in the direction of the
arrow), the bowle e will leave its guide 1, while the bowle e' will advance into its
guide 2. Meanwhile the bowle e² will advance towards the shaft D', driving its
table inwards. When the bowle e' has reached the extreme depth of the guide 2,
the bowle e is just over the centre of the shaft D¹, as shewn by the dotted lines in
Fig. 2. This will bring the two bowles e, e', the crank pin d, and shaft D¹ into line,
and the rotary motion proceeding in the same direction, the bowle e will pass
diagonally in advance of the crank pin d, and enter the guide 3. At this point of

page_text: their movement the two bowles e, e¹, and the crank pin d are in a line parallel to
the sides of the tables, and the bowle e² is immediately over the shaft D'. At this
time one half of the full stroke is performed. The continued rotation of the
shaft D¹ will cause the bowle e to complete its traverse over the guide 3, and the
bowle e¹ will then enter the guide 4, and form a rolling fulcrum for this lever E,
which, under the continuous traverse of its fulcrum pin d, will bring the bowle e
again into its guide 1. This will complete the stroke of the table. From this
explanation it will be understood that the path of the bowle e³ of the T lever, by
the action of the bowles e, e', in the curved guides, will impart to the table of the
printing machine an equable motion through the greater portion of its stroke
corresponding with the surface speed of the continuous rotating cylinder or
cylinders.
This arrangement is applicable to existing machines, and is an efficient substitute
for the rack and pinion movement.
As a modification of the arrangement just described, a four armed lever may be
used in place of the T shaped lever E. In this case six curved guides will be used
instead of four.
Fig. 3, Sheet II., shews in plan view this modification, where three arms of the
lever E act as fulcra upon which the travelling lever rocks in turn to give it an
axial motion on its fulcrum pin d. Pivotted at ea to the fourth arm of the lever is the
connecting rod for coupling the lever E to its table. The action of this arrange-
ment will be best understood if the lever is considered as a gear wheel having
three teeth and working in a fixed internal toothed wheel, the rotation of the crank
giving to the rotating wheels its travelling motion. The rectilinear motion imparted
by this lever will be substantially the same as that obtained from the T shaped
lever first described.
Fig. 4, Sheet III., shews a third arrangement of mechanism for obtaining the motion
for the traversing tables of printing machines. In this example H is an internal
tooth gear wheel fixed in a horizontal position, and in the centre of which is a crank
shaft I upon the crank pin i of which is mounted a spur pinion K. This pinion
is in gear with the fixed wheel H, and it carries upon its face a bracket k, from
which projects a stud that connects with a link rod L. The link rod L at its
other end connects with a bell crank lever M, which has for its fulcrum a stud m
projecting from the underside of the table intended to be traversed. The free end
of this bell crank lever M carries a bowl m' which enters a cam shaped groove in
a horizontal plate N. On imparting rotary motion to the crank shaft I, the
stud m, which forms the fulcrum of the bell crank lever M, will be caused to
traverse in a right line and at a uniform speed, or nearly so, throughout its course.
By fixing this stud to the table of the printing machine it will impart to the table
the requisite motion needed to ensure its moving at the same surface speed as the
impression cylinder.
It should be remarked that the two arrangements of mechanism, Figures 3 and 4,
above described, for traversing the tables of printing machines, instead of performing
a complete rotation may be so far modified as to reciprocate the shaft which
operates the crank pin, having in such case a reciprocating axial motion instead of
a rotary motion. This involves the use of one half of the guides in the frame G
in the arrangement described with reference to Fig. 3, and of one half of the gear
wheel H in the arrangement described with reference to Fig. 4.
An advantage of thus modifying the action of this mechanism is that the width
of the mechanism may be reduced by nearly one half a change, which may in some
cases be of considerable advantage to the manufacturer.
The arrangements above described are equally applicable to single as to double
cylinder printing machines. In applying this part of my Invention to single
cylinder printing machines I give the cylinder a continuous rotary motion, its
Burface speed being the same as that of the table. The sheets to be printed are
laid to marks or points and taken by grippers or drop bars in the usual manner,
and when printed are delivered by short flyers on to the receiving board..

page_text: Fig. 5, Sheet III., shews in diagram an arrangement of a small cylinder perfecting
machine arranged according to my Invention, the divided table being operated as
described with reference to Sheet I. of the Drawings, and the impression as in that
arrangement being made simultaneously on two sheets of paper.
In this machine I cause the sheet when printed on the first side to pass over the
top of the first cylinder B, which turns it over to be guided by tapes or otherwise
to the underside of the other cylinder B₁ where the other side of the sheet
receives the second impression. Thence the sheet now printed on both sides
passes to the flyer which delivers it on to the receiving board at the end of the
machine.
In this Figure O is the feed board and P the receiving board; F, F, are the tables
set by preference at different levels for the purpose of contracting the length of
the machine. These tables may be traversed by any one of the before described
arrangements of mechanism and by moving simultaneously will balance their weight
in motion and permit of the machine being driven at a greatly increased speed.
The cylinder B will be provided with grippers as usual for carrying the sheets to
the printing form, and the cylinder B' with an arrangement of tapes (moving in
tho direction of the arrows) for carrying the sheets to the second form and delivering
them out of the machine.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in Printing
Machinery," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The arrangement of mechanism described with reference to Figures 2, 3,
and 4, for imparting a traverse motion to the tables of printing machines.
Secondly. In perfecting machines the employment of two tables so arranged that
the movements of the one will counterbalance the movements of the other, and thus
enable me to obtain an increased speed in working.
Thirdly. The arrangement of perfecting machine, described with reference to
Fig. 5, whereby the impression on two sheets is effected simultaneously and the
printed sheets are delivered at one end of the machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Davies, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
JOSEPH DAVIES. (L.S.)