IMPROVEMENTS IN TYPOGRAPHIC PRESSES, ALSO APPLICABLE to LITHOGRAPHY. AUTOGRAPHY, AND METALLOGRAPHY
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexandre Francois Lagrange, of No. 8, Rue de
la Fidélité, Paris, in the Republic of France, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TYPOGRAPHIC PRESSES, ALSO APPLICABLE
to LITHOGRAPHY. AUTOGRAPHY, AND METALLOGRAPHY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexandre Francois
Lagrange at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th July 1872.
I, ALEXANDRE FRANCOIS LAGRANGE, of No. 8, Rue-de la Fidélité,
Paris, in the Republic of France, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for “ImprovemeNTS IN TYPOGRAPHIC PRESSES,
ALSO APPLICABLE TO LITHOGRAPHY, AUTOGRAPHY, AND METALLOGRAPHY," to be
as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in an improved construction of press for
typographic, autographic, metallographic, and lithographic printing.
To carry out my Invention the press is constructed of a moveable or
fixed shelf placed on a carriage carrying the plate or other surface to

page_text: be inked. Two vertical parallel frames serve to support the bearings
of two cylinders; one of these cylinders is placed underneath in fixed
bearings, and is turned by a crank handle; the other cylinder is placed
above and may be raised and lowered. Pressure is applied at each side
by means of two jointed levers, which receive at the points of junction
the ends of a horizontal rod, the said ends being screw-threaded, one
having a right-handed and the other a left-handed screw. These levers
press at one side on the bearings of the pressure cylinder, and on the
other side on the top of the vertical frames. By turning the horizontal
rod the knee joints of the levers are moved from or towards each other,
thereby increasing or diminishing the pressure. This pressure is itself
equilibrated by the free play of the two knee joints, and the cylinder
can deflect either to the right or left according to the irregularity of
position of the surfaces to bo pressed. Instead of the knee joints I
can employ a horizontal rod acting by means of a set screw on two
levers or cams, which would act on the bearings of the pressure
cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexandre Francois Lagrange in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDRE
FRANCOIS LAGRANGE, of No. 8, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexandre Francois Lagrange, Her
special licence that I, the said Alexandre Francois Lagrange, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexandre Francois Lagrange, 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

page_text: of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TYPOGRAPHIC PRESSES, ALSO
APPLICABLE TO LITHOGRAPHY, AUTOGRAPHY, AND METALLOGRAPHY," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexandre Francois Lagrange,.
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 immic-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexandre Francois Lagrange, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :—
My Invention consists in an improved construction of press for
typographic, autographic, metallographic, and lithographic printing.
To carry out my Invention the press is constructed of a moveable or
fixed shelf placed on a carriage carrying the plate or other surface to be
inked. Two vertical parallel frames serve to support the bearings of
two cylinders; one of these cylinders is placed underneath in fixed
bearings, and is turned by a crank handle; the other cylinder is placed
above, and may be raised and lowered. Pressure is applied at each side
by means of two jointed levers, which receive at the points of junction
the ends of a horizontal rod, the said ends being screw-threaded, one
having a right-handed and the other a left-handed screw. These levers
press at one side on the bearings of the pressure cylinder, and on the
other side on the top of the vertical frames. By turning the horizontal
rod the knee joints of the levers are moved from or towards each other,
thereby increasing or diminishing the pressure. This pressure is itself
equilibrated by the free play of the two knee joints, and the cylinder
can deflect either to the right or left according to the irregularity of
position of the surfaces to be pressed. Instead of the knee joints I can
employ a horizontal rod acting by means of a set screw on two levers
or cams which would act on the bearings of the pressure cylinder.
To make my Invention better understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1

page_text: represents the press in elevation furnished with cams; Figure 2, plan of
same; Figures 3 and 4, elevation and plan of the press with knee
joints; Figure 5, side elevation of Figure 1; Figure 6, side elevation of
Figure 3; Figure 7, details of the hinge of the box; Figure 8, plan of
this hinge; Figure 9, box enclosing the apparatus; Figure 10, three
views of the ink roller,
The press is applicable to autographic, lithographic, zincographic,
and copper-plate printing, and is composed of a table sliding between the
cylinders G and G³, Figures 1 and 3. It may or may not be supported
by a carriage, and carries a lithographic stone, a wood block, a metallic
plate, or moveable type. Two vertical frames a, k, a¹, k¹, Figure 3,
support two cylinders. The lower cylinder G is moved by a handle M;
the upper cylinder G, enveloped in caoutchouc or other elastic
material, has its axle bearings jointed to two knee pieces j, n, j', n', (or
hinges or other joints) resting on g, g', on the upper part of the frame.
These joints carry two screw nut pieces L, L', having right and left
handed screw threads, and united by a horizontal bar X, also formed
with right and left handed screw threads. By this improved arrange-
ment in turning this bar the angle formed by each of the joints is
increased or diminished, and consequently the pressure exerted by the
cylinder G is increased or diminished. This pressure equilibrates itself,
and if it happen that the plate to be pressed is lower down on one side
than on the other the upper cylinder takes an oblique position in giving
way to the inclination of the plate without the pressure being stronger
on one side than the other.
For metallography instead of zine, as ordinarily employed, I make use
of an alloy of eighty-seven parts of lead, five parts of silver, and eight
parts of copper. Instead of the said alloy I sometimes employ the
following, videlicet, about eighty parts of lead, eighteen parts of anti-
mony, and two parts of bismuth. The bismuth may if required be
dispensed with.
The stretcher shewn in Figure 6 may be added to the press. This
stretcher is constructed of a horizontal axis ✗, on which is rolled a strip
of textile fabric, felt, or any other suitable material, which is also rolled
round the cylinder G, instead of its being enveloped in caoutchouc, as
herein-before described. The tension is obtained by means of the
screws R carrying the pivots of the stretcher, and screwed or unscrewed
by means of screw nuts S resting on the pieces Y mounted on the

page_text: bearings of the cylinder G in such a manner that the stretching appa-
ratus follows the vertical movement of the cylinder. The press is fixed
if required on a table by means of screw clips X, V', as seen in Figure 6.
Figure 10 shews two elevations and a plan of an ink roller provided
with an arm; Figure 9 represents the hinged box in which the whole
apparatus is enclosed. I can replace if required the above-described
joints by that represented in Figures 1, 2, and 5. A bar H, H³, which
is made to slide longitudinally in the frame by means of a screw ³, is
provided with two cams turning round an axis placed in the frame, and
resting on the other side on suitable projections of the bearings of the
cylinder G. By this means by turning the screw the bar H, H', causes
the cams to oscillate, and according to the direction of the movement of
the bearings in rising or descending they draw the cylinder G, which
exerts the desired pressure.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down; but what I
claim is,―
Firstly. The arrangement of mechanism by which a regular pressure
is obtained and equilibrated on the upper cylinder, as herein-before
described and represented in Figure 3 of the annexed Drawing.
Secondly. The arrangement in which set screws acting on two cams
are employed to act on the bearings of the pressure cylinder, as herein-
before described and represented in Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexandre Francois Lagrange, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
T TOD ING