IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR DISTRIBUTING COLOR UPON CONTINUOUS OR ENDLESS LENGTHS OF PAPER OR OTHER MATERIAL
Year: 1873

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Alexander Prince, of the Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR APPARATUS TO BE
EMPLOYED FOR DISTRIBUTING COLOR UPON CONTINUOUS OR ENDLESS LENGTHS
OF PAPER OR OTHER MATERIAL."-A communication from abroad
by Ferdinand Flinsch, of Offenbach-on-Maine, in the Empire of
Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Prince at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th February 1873.
I, ALEXANDER PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, 4, Trafalgar Square,
5 Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR
APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR DISTRIBUTING COLOR UPON CONTINUOUS OR
ENDLESS LENGTHS OF PAPER OR OTHER MATERIAL," (a communication to me

page_text: from abroad by Ferdinand Flinsch, of Offenbach-on-Maine, in the
Empire of Germany,) to be as follows:-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of distributing color upon
continuous or endless moving paper in a manner that will materially
expedite and facilitate such operation, and which will entirely obviate
the difficulties now experienced when distributing color upon paper
moving over flat surfaces or table plates, as hitherto employed.
The improvements consist in the novel employment and use of a
cylinder, guiding rollers, and distributing brushes, so arranged and
disposed that the color as transferred to the traversing paper will be
evenly and uniformly distributed on its upper surface whilst passing
over a large cylinder in contradistinction to the ordinary method of
distributing such color on the paper whilst passing over level plates
or tables. The novel arrangement and construction of the apparatus
may be thus described.
The continuous length of paper to be colored is placed on a roll
conveniently situated near the machine, and is delivered therefrom
over and between guide rollers and a felt and coloring roller, the latter
of which conveys color from a trough supplying the same to the surface
of the felt, which lays the same continuously upon the paper as it passes
to and over the surface of the large cylinder; such cylinder, guide, and
color rollers being uniformly driven by suitable gearing.
-
The paper when passing over the periphery of the large cylinder
is acted upon by two fixed and two movable brushes in the following
manner: The two large brushes are actuated by an arrangement of
cranks and universal joints driven by bevil gearing from the shaft
driving the machine that they produce upon the colored surface of
the paper a compound reciprocating motion which, in combination
with the fixed brushes, uniformly and evenly distributes the color over
the whole surface of the paper so acted upon.
The paper when colored passes from the cylinder and is conveyed
to suspending drying rollers, but I employ as a traversing medium for
conveying the paper rollers positively driven by an arrangement of
endless chain running in toothed pulleys in lieu of the ordinary straps
employed for the purpose, thereby obtaining an uniform and even
traverse of the colored paper whilst drying, which dispenses with the
necessity of inspection.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Prince in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 8th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, 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 Alexander Prince, Her special license
that I, the said Alexander Prince, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Prince, 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 MECHANISH OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR DISTRIBUTING COLOR UPON
CONTINUOUS OR ENDLESS LENGTHS OF PAPER OR OTHER MATERIAL," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Ferdinand Flinsch, of Offenbach-on-Maine,
in the Empire of Germany, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Alexander Prince, 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 Alexander Prince, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say:
1
The Invention is designed for the purpose of distributing color upon
continuous or endless moving paper in a manner that will materially
expedite and facilitate such operation, and which will entirely obviate

page_text: the difficulties now experienced when distributing color upon paper
moving over flat surfaces or table plates, as hitherto employed.
The improvements consist in the novel employment and use of a
cylinder, guiding rollers, and distributing brushes, so arranged and
disposed that the color as transferred to the traversing paper will be
evenly and uniformly distributed on its upper surface whilst passing
over a large cylinder in contradistinction to the ordinary method of
distributing such color on the paper whilst passing over level plates
or tables. The novel arrangement and construction of the apparatus
may be thus described.
The continuous length of paper to be colored is placed on a roll
conveniently situated near the machine, and is delivered therefrom
over and between guide rollers and a felt and coloring roller, the latter
of which conveys color from a trough, supplying the same to the surface
of the felt, which lays the same continuously upon the paper as it passes
to and over the surface of the large cylinder; such cylinder, guide, and
color rollers being uniformly driven by suitable gearing.
The paper, when passing over the periphery of the large cylinder,
is acted upon by two fixed and two movable brushes in the following
manner: The two large brushes are actuated by an arrangement of
cranks and universal joints driven by bevil gearing from the shaft
driving the machine that may produce upon the colored surface of the
paper a compound reciprocating motion which, in combination with the
fixed brushes, uniformly and evenly distributes the color over the whole
surface of the paper so acted upon.
2
The paper when colored passes from the cylinder and is conveyed
to suspending drying rollers, but I employ as a traversing medium for
conveying the paper rollers positively driven by an arrangement of
endless chain running in toothed pulleys in lieu of the ordinary straps
employed for the purpose, thereby obtaining an uniform and even 3
traverse of the colored paper whilst drying, which dispenses with the
necessity of inspection.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained
in detail, I have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings made upon a
scale of about one and a half inches to the foot, similar letters of 3

page_text: reference being marked on corresponding parts on all the Figures
alike.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional elevation of the machine, together with
the arrangement of driving the same, and the endless traversing chains
carrying the paper when colored.
Fig. 2 represents a plan section of the large cylinder and gear for
driving.
Fig. 3 represents the arrangement of countershaft and pullies employed
for driving.
Fig. 4 represents a plan view of the distributing brushes and framing
supporting the same.
Fig. 6 represents the terminal apparatus receiving and delivering the
colored paper when dry in a roll.
Fig. 7 represents a general skeleton view of the whole apparatus,
shewing the traverse of the paper from the point of its delivery in an
uncolored state up to the beam on which it is received in a colored, dry,
and finished condition.
And Figs. 8 and 5 represent another arrangement of mechanism for
coloring paper on a flat surface or table by means of fixed and
revolving brushes.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, a is the continuous length of plain paper
placed on the roller a¹, from whence it is delivered over guide rollers
b, c, and d to the cylinder A. Before coming into contact with the
cylinder A, and whilst passing over the roller d, the paper receives a
layer of color which is transferred to its surface by the felt roller e,
which receives liquid color from the trough f through the medium of
the immersed roller f¹.
During the time the continuous length of paper with the layer of
color upon its outer surface is passing over the cylinder A, such color
becomes distributed by means of the fixed brushes k, k, and movable
brushes i, i, in the following manner:-The two large brushes i, i, are
actuated by crank discs 7, 1, pins 8, 8, and driving gear m and n through
the universal connecting joints o, o, in such a manner as to give to the
bristles of the said brushes bearing upon the colored surfaces of the
traversing paper a continuous reciprocating motion which, in com-

page_text: bination with the fixed brushes i, i, uniformly and evenly distributes
such color over the whole surface so acted upon.
The paper when so colored passes from the cylinder A over the guide
rollers s from whence it drops on to and is taken up in succession by
the rollers, u, as they are carried forward by the projecting fingers w
fixed to the endless travelling chain x. From this chain the rollers
bearing the colored paper are transferred to a horizontal endless
traversing chain o, the speed or traverse of which is reduced in
comparison to that of the chain x, and so effects a contraction of the
distance between the bearing rolls u, u, when being carried forward
by the same, and thus causes the paper in its onward course whilst
drying to travel in festooned lengths up to the point of its delivery
from the chains (see Figure 6) on to the terminal segmental track p,
at the extremity of which the rolls u, u, pass down a channel into the
trough d, and the paper is carried forward by the cylinder B and
delivered in a dry and finished state on to the roller C.
In Figures 5 and 8 a modification of the foregoing is shewn, in which
a is the roll of uncolored paper which is continuously delivered there-
from under and over the guide rollers and g to the roller d. Before
arriving at the roller d a layer of color is transferred to its surface by
the endless belt i from the color trough k. The paper after receiving
color passes in a horizontal direction from the roller d to the roller e.
In the distance or space between these rollers d and e, two revolving
or reciprocating brushes 7, 1, are supported in a position that will admit
of their bearing slightly upon the colored surface of the paper passing
under them, the effect of which, in combination with the fixed brush m
and revolving brush n, is such that the color upon the paper will be
uniformly distributed over its surface. From the roller e the paper is
taken up by the bearing roll and the projecting fingers on the endless
chain in manner as herein-before described.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, together with
the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark
in conclusion that although I have described and shown the Invention
applicable for one purpose, vizt., distributing color upon paper, I wish it to
be distinctly understood that the arrangement of mechanism constituting a
the Invention is equally applicable to the distribution of liquid gluc,
size, mucilage, or other similar fluids upon paper, textile fabrics, or

page_text: leather, therefore what I claim is, the even distribution and uniform
spreading of color, size, mucilage, or other liquid substance or compound
over continuous lengths of paper, textile fabric, or other material, in the
manner and for the purpose herein-before described, set forth, and fully
illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Prince, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
ALEX³. PRINCE. (L.S.)