IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Thomas George Vizetelly, of Peter-
borough Court, and Henry Richard Vizetelly, of Gough Square,
both in the City of London, Printers and Engravers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES."-A com-
munication.
Sealed the 17th November 1853, and dated the 17th May 1853.
PROVI-IONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Thomas
George Vizetelly and Henry Richard Vizetelly at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th
May 1853.
We, JAMES THOMAS GEORGE VIZETELLY, of Peterborough Court,
and HENRY RICHARD VIZETELLY, of Gough Square, both in the City
of London, Printers and Engravers, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES," to be
as follows:-
These improvements in printing machines consist in obviating the
setting-off, now so great an objection in perfecting printing machines
of the cylindrical class, by the interposition of a sheet of paper, or of
oiled cloth or other impermeable material, for the purpose of blotting
off or absorbing the wet iuk from the first side of the sheet, after it

page_text: has passed the first printing cylinder, concurrently with and prior to the
arrival of the other or reverse side of the paper at the second printing
cylinder; this improvement being applicable as well to machines made
especially with this view as to those at present in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Thomas George Vizetelly and Henry
Richard Vizetelly in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 17th
November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JAMES THOMAS GEORGE VIZETELLY, of Peterborough Court, and HENRY
RICHARD VIZETELLY, of Gough Square, both in the City of London,
Printers and Engravers, seud greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said James Thomas George Vizetelly
and Henry Richard Vizetelly, Her special license that we, the said
James Thomas George Vizetelly and Henry Richard Vizetelly, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James Thomas George Vizetelly and Henry Richard Vizetelly, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Thomas George Vizetelly and Henry
Richard Vizetelly, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be

page_text: filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Thomas George
Vizetelly and Henry Richard Vizetelly, do hereby declare the nature
of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Draw-
ings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
Our said Invention relates to an improved arrangement of mechanism
for preventing the setting-off or blotting of the freshly printed side
of a sheet of paper against the blanket of the second or perfecting
printing cylinder, and cousists in the employment of an extra or addi-
tional sheet of oiled paper or cloth, which is interposed between the
freshly printed side of the sheet and the second printing cylinder.
This extra sheet is technically known as a "setting-off" sheet, by
reason of it absorbing or blotting off a portion of the wet ink from
the first printed side of the sheet.
By our arrangement the setting-off sheet is caused to meet the sheet
when printed on one side, and both sheets enter upon and are carried
round by the second cylinder simultaneously.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings represents a vertical section
of a portion of the ordinary "Napier" gripping machine, the parts not
required for the purpose of shewing our Invention being omitted, as
they are well known and understood by practical men. A. B, represent
in transverse section the ordinary printing cylinders, carried by the
standards C. The sheets to be printed are laid upon the table D, and
the "setting-off" sheets are placed above the machine on the table E.
A roller F, which runs from end to end of the printing cylinders, is
curried in fixed bearings, near tho edge of the table E, and serves to
conduct the setting-off sheets into the machine as fast as they are re-
quired. This roller is driven by two or more endless tapes or cords G,
which are colored red in the Drawing, and which pass partially round
and underneath the second cylinder B; thence they pass over a set of
tension pulleys H, carried on a transverse shaft or rod connecting the
standard C. A second set of endless tapes or cords I, which are colored

page_text: blue, serve to grip the edge of the setting-off sheet by pressing against
the red tapes before mentioned. These .endless tapes are also kept
sufficiently stretched by suitable tension pulleys at J. Two or more end-
less tapes or cords K, beneath the cylinder B, are for the purpose of
directing the course of the printed sheets, in order that they may be
delivered conveniently to the attendants, who separate them from the
setting-off sheets, and lay them in their respective bundles L, L', on the
receiving table M. Two or more short levers N, which are fitted at one
end with a small pulley O, and are actuated by the vertical rod P, and
lever PI, serve to start the setting-off sheets at the exact time required,
which is, when the sheet has been printed on one side by the cylinder A,
and is about to be delivered on to the perfecting cylinder B, to be
printed on its second side or surface. The feeding of the setting-off
sheets is effected by the cam Q, formed on one side of the spur wheel R,
which runs loosely on a stud S, in a bracket T, cast on one of the
standards. This spur wheel, which is actuated by the pinion U, fast on
the end of the shaft of the cylinder A, makes one revolution for every
two revolutions of such cylinder, and consequently the swell or projec-
tion V, on the Cam Q, will elevate the rod .P, at every alternate
revolution of the cylinder A, and thereby bring the pulleys O, on the
ends of the levers N, in contact for a short time with the upper side of
the roller F. Thus the edge of a "setting-off "sheet is gripped between
the pulleys O, and the roller F, and is drawn into the machine at such
a time as to meet the partially printed sheet just before it is gripped
by the second cylinder B. A fresh setting-off sheet is then pushed
forward by the attendant bringing its inner edge on to the surface of
the roller F, where it remains until the Cam Q, again actuating the
levers N, brings the pulleys O, in contact with the feeding roller F.
Our Invention is applicable to all cylindrical printing machines, either
with single or double cylinders, slight modifications only being required
in some cases without interfering with the principle of the Invention.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that we do
not confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details or arrangements

page_text: which we have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations
may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main
features of our Invention; but what we consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the herein-before described improvements in machinery or
apparatus applicable to cylinder printing machines, whereby the work
produced is of a better description, especially where engravings in
relief have to be printed by the second or perfecting cylinder, either in
connection with type or otherwise.
Second, the application and use in cylinder printing machines of
"setting-off" sheets fed into the machine by tapes or cords actuated
by the machine itself for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Thomas George Vizetelly,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of
November, One thousand eight bundred and fifty-three.
J. T. G. VIZETELLY. (L.S.)