IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PRINTING SURFACES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Service, of Barrhead, in the County of Ren-
frew, North Britain, Blockcutter, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PRINTING SURFACES."
Sealed the 9th August 1858, and dated the 2nd June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Service at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd June 1858.
I, DAVID SERVICE, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Blockcutter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PRINTING SURFACES," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in the machine or apparatus used
for making wooden moulds for casting printing surfaces, and well known as
Wright's Mould-making Machine," and has for object to obtain two moulds
at one operation, the patterns or devices on such moulds being duplicates of
each other if symmetrical, but reversed if not symmetrical. In Wright's mould-
making machine a tool heated by gas is made to reciprocate vertically by a
treadle, so as to enter down into the wooden block placed below it, and burn
in the parts of the mould corresponding to the devices or raised portions of the
casting, which is afterwards to be taken from it and used in printing. The
pattern or device is formed or shaped by moving the wooden block by hand,

page_text: the pattern or device being previously drawn or marked on its surface.
According to the present Invention, the reciprocating tool above the wooden
block is connected by any convenient mechanical arrangement to a similar
reciprocating tool, which works into the wooden block from below in such a
way that the two tools act simultaneously, one entering the block downwards
as the other enters it upwards, provision is made for heating the lower tool by
means of gas, and for producing an air current to cause the gas flames to be
properly deflected upon the tool. The tools are by preference fitted into
square sockets in their holders, or so as to be incapable of turning, and arrange-
ments are made for adjusting the positions of the tools. Thus the lower tool-
holder is made to turn and fix in any position, and the upper toolholder is
made adjustable in two directions at right angles to each other, by screws or
otherwise, so that the upper tool can be placed directly in line with the
lower tool. With this apparatus the pattern or device only requires to be
drawn or put on the top side of the block, and whilst the operator moves the
block just as if he was producing only one mould by the ordinary machine,
the improved machine makes two moulds simultaneously, one on each side of
the wooden block, and one the reverse of the other. Thus if moulds are
being formed for a "pine" device in one casting, the head of the pine will lie
to the right-hand, and in the other to the left-hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Service, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
SERVICE, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Blockcutter,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first-year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Service, Her special licence that I, the said David Service,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
David Service, 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,

page_text: the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PRINTING SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said David Service, 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 David Service, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto attached,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
66
My said Invention relates to improvements in the machine or apparatus
used for making wooded moulds for casting printing surfaces, and well known as
Wright's Mould-making Machine," and has for object to obtain two moulds
at one operation, the patterns or devices on such moulds being duplicates of
each other if symmetrical, but reversed if not symmetrical. In Wright's mould-
making machine a tool heated by gas is made to reciprocate vertically by a
treadle so as to enter down into the wooden block placed below it, and burn
in the parts of the inould corresponding to the devices or raised portions
of the casting, which is afterwards to be taken from it and used in printing.
The pattern or device is formed or shaped by moving the wooden block by
hand, being previously drawn or marked on its surface. According to the
present Invention the reciprocating tool above the wooden block is connected
by any convenient mechanical arrangement to a similar reciprocating tool which
works into the wooden block from below in such a way that the two tools act
simultaneously, one entering the block downwards as the other enters it
upwards. Provision is made for heating the lower tool by means of gas, and
for producing an air current to cause the gas flames to be properly deflected
for that purpose.
The tools are by preference fitted into square sockets in
their holders, or so as to be incapable of turning, and arrangements are mado
for adjusting the positions of the tools. Thus, the lower toolholder is made
to turn and fix in any position, and the upper toolholder is made adjustable in
two directions at right angles to each other by screws or otherwise, so that
the upper tool can be placed directly in line with the lower tool. With this
apparatus the pattern or device only requires to be drawn or put on the top
side of the block, and whilst the operator moves the block just as if he was
producing only one mould by the ordinary machine, by the improved machine

page_text: he makes two moulds simultaneously, one on each side of the wooden block,
and one the reverse of the other. Thus, if moulds are being formed for a
"pine" device in one casting, the head of the pine will lie to the right-hand,
and in the other to the left-hand.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and carried
into effect, I have delineated upon a Sheet of explanatory Drawings hereunto
appended, and shall now proceed to particularly describe a duplex mould-
making machine embodying my improvements.
Figure 1 on the said Sheet of Drawings is a front elevation, and Figure 2
is a side elevation of the duplex machine, portions in both figures being in
vertical section, whilst in Figure 1 the upper gas burner and the draught
tubes are supposed to be removed; Figure 3 is a plan of the machine as
inverted, showing the details immediately connected with the lower tool; and
Figure 4 is a plan of the upper parts of the apparatus (as seen from above).
The various parts of the apparatus are carried by a table A, supported by legs
or otherwise at a convenient height for the operator, and truly planed on its
top surface, so that the block of wood B to be operated upon may be easily
moved about on it in shaping out the pattern. Blocks of various sizes may
be operated upon, provided the table A is made of suitable dimensions. At
one side of the table A, a hollow pillar C rises to carry, by means of an
overhanging bracket D, the details connected with the upper tool. The front
face of the bracket D is formed to receive a vertical dovetail reciprocating
slide E, made to reciprocate vertically by a lever F centred on the bracket D,
and jointed at its back end to a rod G passing down the interior of the pillar C.
The front face of the slide E is formed to receive, for the purpose of adjustment
only, a second or adjustment slide H, which carries the toolholder I, the gas
burner J, and the draught tubes K, the gas burner and draught tubes being
constructed more or less as in Wright's mould-making machine. The tool-
holder I is fixed to a projection L, upon a dove-tail piece M, capable of
adjustment horizontally and transversely by means of a screw N, in a small
block O, which is capable of adjustment horizontally, and back and forwards by
means of a screw P, in grooves formed in the bottom of the adjustment
slide H. This slide II is adjusted to suit the depth of the block of wood B, to
be operated upon by means of a small pinion Q, worked by a handle R, and
gearing with a rack S, formed or fixed upon the slide H, which slide is
further fixed in any position by means of a screw turned by a hand wheel T,
and tapped into the reciprocating slide E. The rack and pinion movement
is more particularly useful for bringing down the upper tool, to be adjusted
with the lower tool

page_text: The lower toolholder U, is held in a socket formed in a small bracket V.:
fixed to a vertically reciprocating slide W, working in grooves in a bracket X
fixed to the under side of the table A. The sockets in the toolholders I and.
U, and the shanks of the tools d, d', are made square, or so that the tools.
cannot turn in them. The lower toolholder U is provided with a handle i, by
which it can be turned round in the bracket V, whilst it can be fixed in any
position by a screw nut j, with a handle attached to it. Whilst the adjust-
ments described, as applied to the upper tool d, provide for the tools being
placed accurately in line with each other, that applied to the lower tool d','
provides for their acting faces or edges being placed accurately coincident or
parallel. When adjusting the tools to each other, the upper tool d is brought.
down into contact with the lower tool d' by means of the pinion Q, when the
adjustment is effected with great facility. These adjustments prevent the
twisting action on the block which might arise if the lines of action of the
tools were not coincident The adjustment of the tools is tested during the pro-
cess by impressing the tools into a corner or other part of the block, and then.
after turning the block half round, causing the upper tool to re-enter the hole
just made by it. If the lower tool at the same time re-enters the corresponding
hole the adjustment is accurate, but if it does not do this, the adjustment in
inaccurate and must be rectified. The slide W is worked by a lever Y,
jointed on a stud Z, Figure 3, near the front of the table A, being connected
to this lever by a screw a, admitting of accurate adjustment. The back end
of the lever Y is jointed to the rod G, the connection of which with the upper
toolholder I, has already been described. The lever Y projects a little beyond
the rod G, so as to be acted upon by a pin on a lever b, worked by treadle or
stirrup c, shown in Figure 1. The depression of the stirrup c, by means of
the mechanism which has been described, causes the tools d, d', to approach
each other, one d entering the block of wood B from above, and the other d';
from below through an opening w, in the table A, the tools easily eating into
the wood in consequence of being heated by the burning gas which plays
against the toolholders. On the treadle or stirrup being released, a springs,
causes the upper tool to rise, and the lower one to fall. This springs is
attached at one end to an adjustable stud t, carried by the bracket D, and at
the other to a stud u, fixed on the reciprocating slide E. There is also a
spring, applied between the bracket V and the lever Y, to prevent any shake
between these parts. The opening w, through which the lower tool works is
formed in an annular piece a fitted into a recess in the table A, and
having its top flush with the surface of the table. This annular piece r, can
be lifted out to give access to the parts immediately below, and when the

page_text: apparatus is used for making only one mould at a time, a solid piece is sub-
stituted for it. The lower gas burner J' is, like the upper one J, annular
and formed with a number of internal jet orifices. It is fixed to the bracket V,
and the flames and burnt gases are drawn downwards by means of a draught
caused by the communication of its central hollow with a tube f, g, h, in three
pieces of which, one f, is attached to the gas burner, another tube or chimney
h, rising up behind the pillar C, whilst the middle piece g, is loosely fitted to
the other two to admit of the free motion of the gas burner J', and tool d'.
The upper gas burner J, is supplied with gas by a metal tube passing down
the draught tubes K, this tube k, being connected by a flexible tube 7, with
a metal tube m, attached to the side of the pillar C. Similarly the gas for
the lower gas burner J¹ is supplied by a metal tube n, communicating by a
flexible tube o, with the metal tube m. This tube m is fitted with a couple
of stop-cocks p, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1, and between these
there is a branch q, into which the gas from any suitable source is first
introduced.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I must observe,
that I do not restrict myself to the precise details which I have herein-before
delineated or described, and that I do not claim to have invented every
separate detail herein-before delineated or described; but that what I believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement or combination of apparatus for forming
moulds to be used in the production of printing surfaces, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of producing two moulds at one operation, by
means of reverse tools contrived to act in concert on opposite sides of the
wood block, as herein-beforo described.
Third, the system or modo of producing printing surfaces with reversed
devices by means of mould-making apparatus, contrived to act simultaneously
on opposite sides of a block of wood, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the application and use in duplex mould-making apparatus of
contrivances for adjusting the toolholders, so that the tools may be accurately
in line with each other, and parallel or coincident with each other; and of a
chimney or tube communicating with the lower gas burner, and arranged so
as to occasion an air current, which deflects the gas flame upon the tool
holder, as herein-before described.
Fifth, the application and use of a rack and pinion movement for adjusting

page_text: the height of the upper tool in duplex mould-making apparatus, and more
particularly for lowering the upper tool in order to adjust it to the lower tool,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Service, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
DAVID SERVICE. (L.S.)