IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PRINTING MACHINES USEFUL FOR PRINTING ENVELOPES AND OTHER SMALL ARTICLES SO AS TO PRINT WITH MORE THAN ONE COLOR
Year: 1885

page_text: I, FRANCIS CONST BARKER of Denmark Street, Dublin, in the County of Dublin,
Envelope Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PRINTING MACHINES USEFUL FOR PRINTING ENVELOPES
AND OTHER SMALL ARTICLES SO AS TO PRINT WITH MORE THAN ONE COLOR" to be
as follows:-
This invention has for its object an improvement on the "Magician" or other small
hand or treadle platten printing machines used for printing envelopes, cards, tags,
labels, and the like, but is applicable to those driven by steam gas or other power,
and consists in arrangements by which two or more colors can be printed on the
one machine. In place of the fixed table and guides upon which the pile of blanks
is placed I use a movable table and guides controlled by stops or fences so as to
stop always at the exact point required for exact registration. Where there are
only two colors required a horizontally reciprocating table with rectilinear or radial
motion can be used with terminal stops but where three or more colors are required
and therefore three or more stations a rotary table and counterweighted drop or
swing stops or their equivalents can be employed. A separate die and inking
rollers are used for each color, or if one long roller be used it is cut at intervals to
separate the colors.
It will be obvious that instead of the table rotating or reciprocating the machine
can slide on the table but I prefer the former arrangement. In the above by the
words "a movable table" is meant a plate moving in a fixed table or a pivot or in
guides. To assist in getting an exact registration I may arrange the pivot on which
the table turns to be itself adjustable by placing it on a disc link plate or slide
itself pivoted to the fixed table but capable of being clamped in any position so
that the centre of rotation of the movable table shall be easily clamped fast after
adjustment.

page_text: I, FRANCIS CONST BARKER, of Denmark Street, Dublin, in the County of Dublin,
Envelope Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object an improvement on the "Magician
or other
small hand or treadle platten printing machines used for printing envelopes, cards,
tags, labels, and the like, but is applicable to those driven by steam gas, or other
power, and consists in arrangements by which two or more colors can be printed
on the one machine.
It is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a suggestive outline side view of the patent "Magician" machine,
with the present improvements attached.
Figure 2 a plan of same, showing the table rotating and printing in two colors.
Figure 3 a plan of rotating table for printing in three colors.
Figure 4 plan of radial reciprocating table for printing in two colors. In all
these views, like letters relate to like parts.
The machine itself is precisely similar to those used for many years by the firmn
of Messieurs Edward Hely and Company, Envelope Manufacturers, Denmark Street,
Dublin, except that, 1st, the rollers A are longer, and divided into two or three by
deep nicks, 2nd the inking troughs are divided, in correspondence with the rollers,
and are supplied with two or three as the case may be different colored inks, 3rd. in
place of one die or stamp, two or three are used as the case may be, so placed as to
register correctly, one with another, on the movement of the table, and so placed
as to be only inked by their respective colors. The dies are marked B in the
drawing, and the cylinder to which the dies are attached is larger, to correspond
with the increased length of the rollers, and is shown at C. The improvements in
the table are as follows:-
•
In place of, or fitted upon the fixed table upon which the pile of blanks is placed,
is a movable table D, having guides E, shown only in Figure 2. This table is
controlled by spring or other stops F, or fences G, so as to stop always at the point
required for exact registration. Where there are only two colors required, a hori-
zontally reciprocating table, with rectilinear or with radial motion, as set forth in
Figure 4, can be used, with terminal stops or fences G, but when three or more

page_text: colors are required, and therefore three or more stations, a rotary table, Figures 2
and 3 and counterweighted drop, or spring stops, such as F, or their equivalents,
can be employed. A separate die B and inking rollers are used for each color, or
if one long roller be used, it is cut at intervals, to separate the colors, as already
described.
If two colors are to be printed, the two dies B, B, are placed side by side, but
a little distance apart, on the stamping cylinder, as shown in Figures 2 and 4.
The rollers are arranged in two complete sets, or one complete set cut away in the
centre, so that one set or side shall supply one color to one of the dies, and the other
set shall supply another color to another die, if there be three colors required, the
rollers are divided in three, one short centre set, and two side sets, as set forth in
Figure 3. The dies are arranged, two dies as before, but much farther apart, and
the third between them, but the same distance from the centre of rotation as they
are. On the disc D two or three piles of blanks L L are arranged in the same
manner, that one set is used in the ordinary "Magician "but at equal distances
from the centre of rotation, and preferably 90 degrees apart. The spring stop F,
and nicks K, are arranged so as to cause the table to stop at two or three points in
its rotation, corresponding to the two, or the three piles of blanks. These piles
to start with are of exactly even height. The three dies are made to exactly
register.
It will be obvious that instead of the table rotating or reciprocating, the machine
can slide on the table, but the former arrangement is preferable. In the above, by
the words "a movable table," is meant a plate moving on a fixed table, or on a
pivot J or in guides. To assist in getting an exact registration, the pivot on which
the table turns may be arranged to be itself adjustable, by placing it on a disc
link H Figure 4, plate or slide itself pivoted to the fixed table at I, but capable of
being clamped in any position, so that the centre of rotation of the movable table
shall be easily clamped fast after adjustment.
Referring first to Figures 2 and 3, the mode of action is as follows:-
The table is moved by hand, or by gearing if desired, so that for every stroke of
the cylinder it shall revolve intermittently, 180 degrees in the case of two colors,
and 90 degrees in case of three colors for each descent of the cylinder. After each
stamp, after the first one or two, and in the case of the three color machine, when-
ever a pile comes opposite the vacant quarter, a blank fully printed with the two
or three colors as the case may be is withdrawn. The spring stop or its equivalent
is arranged to form a considerable resistance to the disc traversing past it, so that
it shall stop the disc exactly at the right point through the stop entering the neck,
and yet the curved or V-shape of the stop allows it, when a little extra pressure
applied in turning the disc, to leave the neck, and allow the disc to pass round, till
the next neck comes opposite the stop, when the latter falls onto it, and stops the
table again.
The mode of operating Figure 4 differs from Figures 2 and 3 solely in that the
table is oscillating instead of rotary, and that a single pile of blanks L is used, and
is passed alternately under each stamp B, the table oscillating each time against
the stops G. This plan is not as good as the former, as there is a strain first on
one side of the cylinder, and then on the other, as each blank is used, and two
strokes and two movements of the table are required for each withdrawal of a
blank, instead of one only as required with the rotary table, and this plan is only
shown, and a table mentioned sliding in guides instead of on a pivot to prevent
others claiming it as theirs.'
Instead of the machine being formed with two or more dies placed on the one
cylinder, it may have two or more heads, each carrying a cylinder with single die,
operated preferably simultaneously and the table made to slide to and fro, or con-
tinuously in a circular path, the envelope blanks being brought successively under
each cylinder, from which they are to be printed.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The improvement in magician and other hand or treadle machines, useful for
printing small articles, so as to print with two or more colors, which consists in
using two or more dies or parts of dies on the same or adjacent cylinders, and a
reciprocating oscillating or rotary table carrying the pile or piles of blanks between
guards, substantially as described, or any mere mechanical equivalent thereof such
as a stationary table and sliding cylinder.