IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING PRESSES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th August 1867.-A communication from abroad by Edwin Allen, of
Norwich, Connecticut, United States of America.
. I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton, Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING PRESSES," a communication, to be as
follows:-
The said improvements relate to a printing press with a rotating or
vibrating impression cylinder or platen, and a similarly operating type.
cylinder or bed with a straight "form." And the said improvements consist
partly in the peculiar construction of the impression surface of the platen,
and in the novel mode of gearing the same in connection with the type
cylinder to cause the said platen and cylinder to operate together to produce
the required impressions upon the sheets of paper or other material introduced
between them.
The impression surface. of the platen is made transversely curved or circular,
with a radius equal to about one-half the length of a line drawn from the
exterior of the said platen to the centre of its shaft or axis; this shaft carries
a toothed wheel which is geared into another toothed wheel on the shaft of
the type cylinder. The latter wheel has portions of its periphery made
straight, while the parts of the periphery of the other wheel are made to

page_text: correspond in radius and position with the impression surfaces of the platen.
By this means the slipping of the sheets between the bed and platen is prevented
and a correct and regular impression may be obtained thereon from ordinary
straight type.
"
The said improvements also consist in the means employed to compensate
for the shrinkage of the inking roller employed in combination with a rotating
or partially rotating type bed. The shaft of the type cylinder or bed carries
discs or plates with bevelled peripheries which work in contact with taper or
conical rollers on the shaft of the inking roll which is kept up. to the form by
springs. The said rollers are made to slide endwise on their shafts, and the
distance between the two shafts may be thereby increased or diminished as
required.
The frame of the said machine may be constructed of cast iron or other
suitable material, and of convenient form and size to support properly the
working parts of the mechanism. The table over which the sheets to be
printed are passed to the type cylinder, and also the board over which they are
delivered, are secured to the top of the said frame.
The feed and delivery of the sheets may be effected by endless belt conveyors
provided with cleats or fingers to bold the sheets, and passed over driving
pulleys to which motion is communicated by any appropriate means. The
toothed wheels on the platen and type cylinder shafts are of such a diameter
as to cause the rotating bed or "form" and the platen to work properly
together. The wheel on the shaft of the rotating bed is made with the
straight portions of its periphery to correspond with the straight surface of the
rotating type bed or carrier. The teeth of these flat portions and of the
corresponding portions on the other wheel may be of a different pitch to the
other teeth of the said wheels. The wheel on the platen shaft which is
formed with portions of its periphery of a radius only half the length of the
radius of the main portion of the said wheel must be so arranged that these
quickly curved portions correspond on position, length, and curvature with
the pressing surfaces of the rotating platen. These surfaces, as well as the
straight surfaces on the type bed, may be varied in length and width according
to the work to be performed by the press, and the number of such surfaces on
the bed and platen may also be varied. A number of beds and platens may
be arranged side by side on the shafts with their "forms" and pressing surfaces
differently pitched, the, driving gear being arranged to correspond with such
difference.
The inking roll may be formed of any suitable material, and supplied with
ink in any ordinary and convenient manner. The said roll is supported upon a

page_text: shaft whose ends are allowed to play freely in longitudinal slots in the sides of
the frame. Tension springs are employed to keep this roll properly in contact
with the "form" when the latter is brought round by the rotation or vibration
of its bed to be inked. The bevelled peripheries of the discs or plates carried
on the shaft of this bed are made straight or flat in portions to correspond
with the "form" surfaces. These discs and the taper rollers on the shaft of
the inking roll operate in connection with the tension springs, and cause the
said roll to act properly upon the "form," and by simply sliding the said taper
or conical rollers endwise upon the printing roll shaft so as to bring their
larger or smaller parts in contact with the discs the adjustment required to
compensate for the shrinkage of the said roll is effected without altering the
bearings of its shaft, while the necessity of keeping a series of changeable
rolls of different diameter for the discs to act upon is also entirely obviated.