IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR COLOUR-PRINTING
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd February 1881. A communication
from abroad by Ebenezer Baker Welch, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United
States of America.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR
[A communication from abroad by Ebenezer Baker Welch,
of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.]
COLOUR-PRINTING."
This Invention relates to printing presses employing a series of form inking
rollers adapted to rise and fall, and supported by grooved tracks on the bed of the
press, the grooved tracks being arranged to permit each roller to fall upon the
form only when a particular portion of the form comes under it, and at all other
times to hold the rollers up against the rollers that supply them with ink.
The said Invention has for its object to provide certain improvements relating to
the grooved tracks supporting the ink-rollers whereby the rollers can be readily
adapted to different colors and changed to vary the arrangements of colors in any
portion of the form. Also to provide improvements relating to the trucks on the form
rollers which run on the grooved tracks whereby any roller can be readily adapted
to drop upon any desired line or portion of a form of type. Also to provide certain
improvements relating to the type-inking mechanism, the arrangement of the same
and the construction and operation of the press-bed as modified by the arrangement
of the type-inking mechanism and the improvements incidental thereto.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I provide a frame having a cylinder
and reciprocating bed; the general construction of the cylinder and bed may be the
same as in the cylinder presses now in common use, and they may be operated in
the usual manner by suitable operating mechanism which forms no part of my
Invention. The form is suitably confined on the bed, the lines of type extending
crosswise of the latter. The type-inking mechanism is divided into two parts
or sets located at opposite sides of the cylinder, and supported as usual by the frame
of the press. Each set is composed of two pairs of form-inking rollers; two ink-
fountains, each containing different colored inks; intermittently rotated fountain
rollers, whose peripheries are partly submerged in the ink and partly exposed
outside the fountains; laterally reciprocating distributing rollers; intermediate
rollers and longitudinally movable distributing rollers, the latter being moved
ongitudinally when rotated by means of threaded portions on their arbors working
n fixed nuts on the frame of the press, and supplying ink respectively to the form-
ollers.

page_text: The fountain rollers are rotated intermittently by means of a cam guide on the
side of the bed, a vertical bar adapted to slide in guides in the frame, and to be
raised by this guide short arms or levers journalled loosely on the arbors of the
fountain rollers and provided with pawls and ratchets rigidly attached to said
arbors and engaged with the said pawls. Whenever the cam guide passes the 5
vertical bar it meets a friction roller on said bar and lifts the latter, causing the
short arms or levers to give a partial rotation to the fountain rollers through
the pawls and ratchets. The laterally reciprocating distributing rollers are moved
so as to respectively strike one of the fountain rollers and one of the intermediate
rollers alternately, said laterally reciprocating distributing rollers being supported 1
on arms attached to shafts which are connected by intermeshing gears or teeth so
as to move simultaneously in opposite directions. To one of the said shafts is
attached a lever which extends downwardly to the side of the bed where it is
provided with a friction roller which engages with a cam guide on the side of the
bed, said guide depressing the lever and thereby raising the lateral distributing
rollers at every movement of the bed. When these rollers are raised they strike
respectively the fountain rollers and when the lever is released by the guide
the lateral distributing rollers are moved by gravitation to the intermediate
rollers.
These sets of inking apparatus are located as near the cylinder as possible, and
the colors in each set differ from those in the other, so that four colors may be used.
In each set one fountain supplies ink to a pair of form rollers, so that there are two
form rollers for each color. The longitudinally moving rollers are rotated positively
by means of a rack on the bed and idle pinions journalled on the frame of the press
and connecting the rack with pinions on the arbors of the rollers. The inter-
mediate rollers are rotated positively by pinions on their arbors meshing with
The lateral
pinions on the arbors of the longitudinal distributing rollers.
distributing rollers are rotated simply by friction.
The arbors of the form rollers are held in vertically elongated boxes or guides
which permit said arbors to move toward and from the bed, and these boxes are
attached to the frame and are adjustable both vertically and longitudinally with
respect thereto. The trucks of the form rollers run upon grooved tracks upon the
surface of the bed. These grooved tracks and trucks constitute the most important
features of my said Invention, especial importance being attached to the construc-
tion of the tracks. I construct the tracks in sections of any desired length; I also
provide the bed with grooves or other suitable and equivalent means for holding
the sections when they are laid end to end to form continuous tracks, or they may
be locked up in the chase with the form.. Each section is preferably made in one
piece and is provided with a longitudinal groove or depression which is capable of
receiving the trucks of any pair of form rollers. The trucks are so arranged that the
trucks of each pair occupy a different position laterally upon the tracks, or in other
words, rest upon different longitudinal divisions of the tracks from the trucks of all
the other form rollers, each pair of rollers being supported by longitudinal divisions
of the tracks, which divisions support only that pair and no others.
When the trucks of any roller enter grooves in the tracks, such roller is thereby
allowed to drop and come in contact with the form so long as the trucks remain in
the grooves. The grooves are therefore arranged with reference to the colors to be
given to the form, and each longitudinal division of the surface of each track is
provided with as many grooves as there are to be repetitions on the form of the
color supplied by the rollers supported by that division. The groove in each section
is so located that by reversing the section its groove will occupy a different lateral
position in the track, and will receive the trucks of a different pair of form rollers,
so that the groove of each section is capable of occupying two positions.
It will be seen therefore that by providing a substitute for each, section, the
substitute having its groove in a different lateral position from the other, and
capable of being laterally changed, when the substitute section is reversed, the
groove in the space occupied by one section or sections of the track may be arranged

page_text: to receive the trucks of any pair of form rollers, so that the arrangement of colors
on the form may be varied at will. The groove is at one edge, and when the
section is reversed the groove will be practically at the opposite edge.
In a modification the groove is separated from the inner edge of the section by
a space equal to about a quarter of the entire width of the section, and from the
other edge by twice said space. When the substitute section is reversed it is
obvious that its groove will be nearer the outer edge. These arrangements are
employed when four colors are to be printed, but it is obvious that the same
principle may be extended and each section may be provided with two or more
substitutes in presses capable of accommodating more than four fountains.
I do not limit myself however to the construction of each section of the track in
one piece, as it may be made in longitudinal strips of a number corresponding to
the number of colors to be printed by the press, one strip being lower than the
others to form the groove. In this case no substitute sections will be required, the
position of the low strip determining the location of the groove.
It will be seen that by constructing the tracks in sections capable of being
arranged according to the desire of the operator the operation of printing in colors
is greatly facilitated, and the colors can be arranged and rearranged with the.
utmost facility, so that the tastes of patrons can be consulted by the printer and
their desires as to arrangement of colors gratified without annoyance or material
loss of time.
The sections are made of various lengths so as to suit all lengths of type, and
they will usually be arranged so as to permit each line of type to receive but one
color, though if desired they may be arranged to permit two differently colored
fresh rollers to act successively on the same line of type so as to give two or more
colors thereto.
The trucks of the form rollers are removable from their arbors and reversible
thereon, and are provided with hubs so formed that when any truck is reversed
its lateral position will be changed. To this end the hubs are made in two sets,
each composed of two pairs. The hubs of one set are formed wholly on one side
of the trucks, so that when in one position the trucks will rest upon the inner
divisions, and when reversed upon the outer divisions. The hubs of the other set
are formed to project from one side of the trucks half as far as from the other, and
these trucks will rest upon the second divisions from the inside of the tracks when
the trucks are in one position, and upon the second divisions from the outside when
the trucks are reversed. The arbors of the form rollers are provided with uniform
abutments or shoulders for the hubs to bear against. This construction of the
trucks enables the operator to change the arrangement of colors by changing the
positions of the trucks, each truck being capable of assuming two positions on the
same arbor.
The bed is provided with arms which serve as extensions of the tracks to support
the trucks of the form rollers at one side of the cylinder, while the press bed is at
the other side.
I do not confine myself to this method of supporting the form rollers, as some
suitable mechanism may be arranged for the same purpose without the use of the
arms; for instance, weights or springs may be arranged to elevate the form rollers
when the bed passes from under them, the weights or springs being made
inoperative so as to allow the rollers to bear upon the bed when the latter
returns.
By arranging the inking mechanism on both sides of the cylinder I am enabled
to bring one set of the inking rollers nearer the cylinder than if all were on one
side, and I also save space.