CERTAIN ADDI- TIONAL IMPROVEMENTS IN MY METHOD OF PRINTING BY MEANS OF MACHINERY
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
KOENIG, of Castle Street, Finsbury Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
July, in the fifty-third year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Koenig, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Frederick Koenig, my
exors, admiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of
years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of CERTAIN ADDI-
TIONAL IMPROVEMENTS IN MY METHOD OF PRINTING BY MEANS OF MACHINERY;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Frederick Koenig, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then
the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in 'compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick Koenig, do hereby declare that the following written description and
Drawings hereuntoannexed contain a particular description of those additional
improvements upon my Invention for letter-press printing by machinery, for
which I have previously twice obtained His Majesty's Letters Patent, and
that all such letters of reference used in the present Specification which are not
found in the annexed Drawing refer to the Specification of my Patent dated
the 30th day of October 1811, inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery, the 29th day of April, 1812.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 2 is a cross section, of an addition
to the ink box, for a more regular supply of ink. Ra is a tube with several
openings at R b, R b. Rc is a spindle, to which are fixed the pieces Rd,
the shape of which appears in the cross section... The ink, when pressed in
the box, fills the tube from end to end by passing through those segments
which are cut out from Rd. Rc is continually revolving, and opens and
shuts the holes like a cork, according to the position of Rd. The motion for
Rc may be communicated by pulleys from the spindles of the pulley C t.
The ink is thus continually stirred and prevented from clogging the holes, and
the supply has been found so regular, that the contrivance whereby the
cylinder has been made to turn excentric (as described in my second
Specification) has been superseded thereby. The means used in my machine
for laying the ink on the types have been so fully described in my second
Specification, that I have nothing to add but such practical observations as a
long experience, by the actual use of the machine, has enabled me to make, and
recapitulate more generally the principles of this part of my Invention. The
ink is pressed out of a vessel in proportion as it is wanted' by the form.
The first operation for spreading it is to press it between two hard cylinders.
The further distribution of ink is effected by two means the different
diameters of the cylinders, and the longitudinal motion of at least one of
them; the object of both is to have constantly new points of contact. The
cylinders for spreading the ink must be adjusted to a very slight contact ;
they may be seen at a very small distance one from the other. Though
I commonly use cylinders, as the most convenient form for the longi-
tudinal motion, it is not absolutely necessary that the instrument for spreading
the ink lengthways should have that shape, nor even that it should revolve;
any straight body, for instance, a piece of board, brought in slight contact
with or at a very small distance from a revolving cylinder, and having
that longitudinal motion, will produce the effect of spreading the ink
lengthways. It is, then, this longitudinal motion in general as applied for

page_text: equa
the purpose of spreading the ink, which constitutes the principle of this
part of my Invention. The lower cylinders, which lay the ink on the types,
ought to be as true as possible, and the skins (which form the outside
cover) ought to be shaved on the flesh side to make them nearly of an
5 thickness. Other circumstances are, besides, to be attended to. Though the
cylinders be ever so true, the types never are unless they are new, or nearly
so; not only is one type more worn than another, but the thin strokes wear
out faster than the thick ones of the same type, and after some use almost
every type has a defect of its own. It is necessary, then, that the outside
cover of the cylinder should be soft and elastic, to sink into the face of the old
types, and to reach those parts which are worn down below the general
surface of the form; for printing, which made all the defects of the types to
appear, would look very imperfect. I have found that a hard inking cylinder
that is, one covered with skin, and few or no blankets under it) is the
most fit for old types; soft ones, however, by their greater elasticity, are less
subject to miss altogether any part of the form. In most cases I use one
hard and one soft cylinder, but sometimes, according to the quality of the
types, or of the work to be produced, and the time allowed for it, two hard
ones or two soft ones. The general principle is however always the saine,
namely, that a revolving cylinder, or part of a cylinder, the surface of which
is at least in some degree soft and elastic, and on which the ink is spread, is
brought in contact with the face of the types, which are moving with equal
velocity, and that the ink is thus imparted to it.
"
Fig. 3 is a contrivance for holding the sheet by endless straps, and may be
called, on that account, an endless frisket; it has superseded by its greater
simplicity the use of the frisket described in my last Specification. On the
spindles Re, and R f, are several small riggers Rg, guiding the straps Rh,
which are passing round part of the printing cylinder and over the small
cylinder Ri and R. Those straps lay hold of the sheet on the margin, and
on the blanks between the pages. The straps are carried along with the
printing cylinder by friction only. The riggers Rg can be shifted to any
part of the spindle, as the size of the paper requires. On the spindle Reare,
besides, two riggers R 1, somewhat larger than R g, with broader straps
passing below over the cylinder Ri. Their purpose is to squeeze the paper
close to the printing cylinder previous to the impression.
I have made several simplications in the millwork of the machine. The
machinery for producing an interrupted motion for the printing cylinder, as
described in my last Specification, has been superseded meerly by-two wheels,
of such a construction as to produce the same effect. Fig. 4, Fig. 5, Fig. 6,

page_text: Rm is fixe:1
Rm, which has a
and Fig. 7, represent these two wheels in four different positions. Rm
is part of a wheel equal to one third of the wheel R n.
upon the shaft C x, and Rn upon the shaft Cu.
continual motion, meets one of the long teeth Roof R n very near its own
centre, and with the curve on its edge communicates to R n a gradual and
continually increasing motion until the first teeth on the pitch line of R m
and R n meet, and the motion becomes regular. To secure, however, the
engagement of the first teeth on the pitch line, it is necessary that the two
wheels should be likewise engaged during the gradual motion of Rn. This
is effected by a pin or cylindrical tooth R'p, projecting from the side of Rm,
and one of the three crooked teeth R q, on the side of R n, which are so shaped
as to be closely engaged with the pin during the gradual motion. When the
wheels are arrived in the position of Fig. 5, the pin disengages itself through
a groove in Rq, near the pitch line, and they are moving on with a regular
velocity until they come in the position represented by Fig. 6. Here, as
appears from the Drawing, the curved side of Ro comes to act upon the
straight edge of R m, and R n stops itself gradually in proportion as R m
recedes, until it is arrived in the position represented by Fig. 7. To secure
(after the teeth of the pitch line have ceased to be engaged) the continuance
of the motion of Rn, until it is completely at rest again, the crook tooth Rr,
fixed to the side of R m, is engaged with one of the pins Rs, and impels
the wheel Rn with the same decreasing velocity with which it stops itself by
Thus the
the action of the curve of R o, on the straight edge of R m.
wheel Rn, and the heavy cylinder moved by it, is started and stopped with
ease, and without a jar, merely by the shape of the teeth of those two wheels.
In order to secure an absolute correspondence of motion between the form
and the printing cylinder, racks R t, Fig. 3, have been added to each side of
the coffin, which meet corresponding teeth on each side of the printing
cylinder, as shewn in the Drawing. The cylinder and coffin are thus imme-
diately engaged, which make up for any defect in the millwork that might
occasion an irregularity in the motion. Ru is a catching tooth on the side
of the coffin, which meets one of the pins Rv on the side of the cylinder, and
secures the engagement of the first tooth in the similar manner as R
and R q, in wheel before described.
The several improvements here described are all applicable to a double
machine, which is, in fact, nothing but a multiplication of the same parts and
principles. The only alteration adopted for the double machine since my las
Specification is, that I cause the two lowest inking cylinders to turn in the
same direction, and that their motion is reversed for each sheet by means o

page_text: a wheel similar to those used in mangles. The form is thereby twice inked
for every sheet. The arrangement of the inking cylinders is explained by
Fig. 8.
No. 1, 2, 3, and 4, are revolving always in the same direction.
No. 3 and 4 are on a frame which is moveable round a centre between those
two cylinders. No. 3 is in contact with No. 1, and No. 4 with No. 6, when
the form is going one way, and No: 4 touches No. 2, and No. 3 No. 5, when
the form is going the other way.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Koenig, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
FRE
CRICK KOENIG.
(L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED,that on the Twenty-second day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1814, the aforesaid Frederick Koenig came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fourteen.