IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Brown at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th February
1854.
I, WILLIAM BROWN, of 113, Albany Road, Old Kent Road, in the Parish
of St. George, Camberwell, County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY" to be as
follows:-
The framing of the machine consists of two massive frames suitably fixed
and bolted together with other cross framing, and having a centre bed piece,
upon which is fixed a table, which table is allowed to slide in and out, in order
to lay on the forms, make corrections, &c.; and in the said framing there are
keyed or fastened four strong columns, for the purpose of carrying a fixed head
above the said table, on the under side of which is fixed a crank, in suitable
bearings, actuated by teeth wheels on the end of the said crank shaft; the
platten, for the purpose of giving the impression, is placed below the crank, to
which it is connected by a suitable connecting rod and above the aforesaid
table, and is guided by suitable guides between the said columns; the before-
mentioned fixed head also carries, on the upper side, another table, the columns
rising above the said table to carry another fixed head, crank wheels, and
platten, similar to the lower one. At each end of the machine is a drum, which
is raised and lowered in the same times as the two plattens, and over which
passes an endless band of thin steel plates, chains, gutta percha, or other

page_text: suitable material at each end, which bands carry the paper frames, on which
are fixed the grippers for holding the sheets in their progress through the
machine. The endless bands also carry a steel bush, coned on each side to
each paper frame, the object of which is to ensure perfect registration, there
being fixed on the guides of the plattens two conical pins, which enter the cones
in the bands in the downward progress of the platten, previous to its coming in
contact with the type. The paper cylinders are actuated by a connecting rod
from a pin in one of the impression wheels, or suitable crank motion, the
other end working upon an arm or the periphery of the paper cylinder, and
so constructed that it moves the cylinder in one direction only, the backward
movement of the rod, &c., taking place during the impression. Upon the main
columns are suitable guides which carry a friskett under each platten, and
which friskett, from a suitable motion communicated to the guides, rises
sufficiently from the form to allow of the inking rollers for inking the form to
pass to and fro, then remaining stationary during the further upward move-
ment of the platten, and during which time the change of sheets takes place. The
frames which carry the inking rollers work in suitable bearings on each side
of the machine, and carry an inner frame with the rollers, which after having
inked the form, fall upon a cylinder below, in order to gain their next supply
of ink, and to be below the endless bands during the impression. The frames
are actuated by teeth wheels, working in a rack fixed on each side of the said
frames, the backward and forward motion being given through teeth wheels
from a crank placed between the frames of the machine. The inking apparatus
may be any of the ordinary construction. In order to carry the sheet perfectly
flat during its progress, I use tapes or bands of vulcanised india-rubber. The
action of the machine is as follows:-A sheet of paper is laid on the paper frame
and tapes, the tapes being then on the under side only and the grippers open;
it then passes, when the grippers are closed, and another tape is laid on the
top of the sheet by the forward movement of the bands under the first platten,
and receives an impression on one side, during which time the bands are
stationary, and the next sheet is being laid on; it then passes over one of the
cylinders, still being held firmly by the grippers and tapes under the second
platten, when it receives another impression, the other side coming in contact
with the type; the register being adjusted by the cones in the bands and the pins
in the guides of the plattens, the sheet then passes on to the other cylinder, when
the grippers and tapes open, and is finally delivered a perfect sheet, printed on
both sides; thus there is an endless band of sheets passing through the
machine, and the inking takes place during the changes of the sheets. The