AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING ANIB OR NIBS, SLOTT OR SLOTTS, IN COPPER CYLINDERS, OR CYLINDERS OF OTHER METAL, USED FOB PRINTING COTTONS, LINEN, SILE, STUFFS AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1825

page_text: AT
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ATTWOOD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the sixth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Attwood, His especial licence that I, the said Thomas
Attwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Attwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time.agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING ANIB OR
NIBS, SLOTT OR SLOTTS, IN COPPER CYLINDERS, OR CYLINDERS OF OTHER METAL, USED
FOB PRINTING COTTONS, LINEN, SILE, STUFFS, AND OTHER ARTICLES;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas
Attwood, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to 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 in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and.by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Attwood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):
-
I take a cylinder of copper or other metal suitable for printing, and placing
it in a lathe or boreing machine, I pass a drill or sharp cutting tool all through
it, in the usual way in which such things are bored) of about two inches and
a half or three inches diameter. Supposing the diameter of the cylinder of
copper or other metal to be about four inches or four inches and a half, I then
pass a second and larger drill or sharp cutting tool of about three inches or
three inches and a half diameter, nearly but not quite through the same
cylinder, stopping short when this second and largo drill has come to within
about an inch or two, or a few inches of the other end of the cylinder. I
thus form an internal ridge, ledge, or collar of about a quarter or half an inch
thick, or of such other thickness as inay be preferred round the inside of one end
of the cylinder of copper or other metal. I then cut away such parts of this
internal ridge, ledge, or collar as there may be occasion to cut away in order
to form one or more protuberant pieces, which I call, and which I believe are
generally called, nibs, projecting internally at one end of the cylinder, of about
one, two, or more inches broad, of about the same length or rather longer, and
about a quarter or half an inch thick. If I make only one of thesc nibs I
generally make it larger than if I make more than one, say sometimes five or
six inches long, and perhaps eight or nine inches broad, extending nearly round
the interior of the end of the cylinder. I then cut, in the usual way, at the
smaller end, or at one end if both ends are of the same size, of the iron or
steel maundrel or axle on which the cylinder works in the act of printing, one,
two, or more grooves or recesses, which I call, and which I believe are
generally called, slotts, corresponding exactly in number, size, and situation
to the afore-described nibs in the interior of one end of the cylinder of
copper or other metal, and by and into which such nib or nibs are intended to
be received and fitted when the cylinder is adapted to its maundrell or axle,
and placed upon it. I do not claim any exclusive right to make such slott or
slotts in the iron or steel maundrell or axle as aforesaid, but I do claim the
exclusive right of making a nib or nibs in the way before mentioned in tho
interior of one end of the cylinder of copper or other metal used for printing
cottons, linen, silk, stuffs, and other articles.
Another part of my improved method consists in cutting or forming a
groove or grooves, which I call a slott or slotts, within the interior of the other

page_text: end of the cylinder of copper or other metal, and which I make to fit exactly
into, and to receive a protuberant piece or pieces which I call a nib or nibs,
and which I form on the corresponding ends of its iron or steel maundrel or
axle in the following way:-I put the axle or maundrel in a turning lathe,
and turn away about a quarter or half an inch from its diameter through its
whole length, except for about an inch or two at the proper end, and which is
its thickest end if it is made a little tapering or conical, as is commonly or
always the case. I thus leave a circular ridge, ledge, or collar projecting on
the outside of this end; or I forge, weld on, or otherwise fasten such circular
ridge, ledge, or collar upon it of about the same dimensions, which method I
prefer. I then cut away such parts of this circular ridge, ledge, or collar as
may be necessary for forming one, two, or more nibs or protuberant pieces
of about a quarter or half an inch thick, about an inch or two long, and
about one or two inches broad, more or less, as may be deemed best,
fitting them exactly into the grooves or slotts before mentioned mado in
the inside of the corresponding end of the cylinder of copper or other
metal, which are made of the same size, or as near as possible, so as to
fit them exactly when the cylinder is placed upon its maundrel or axle. I
sometimes forge, weld, or otherwise fasten one or more nibs of a proper
size and form upon this end of the maundrell or axle instead of first forming a
circular ridge, ledge, or collar thereon, and then cutting parts of it away. I do
not always make the same number of nibs and slotts in a cylinder of copper or
other metal, and in its iron or steel maundrel or axle, nor of the same size and
dimensions. This point I regulate a good deal according to the size of the
cylinder, and to the degree of pressure that is intended to be put upon it when
at work, and also to the wishes of the printer for whom it may be made.
Sometimes one nib or slott at one end of the cylinder of copper or other
metal fitting into one slott or nib at the corresponding end of its iron or steel
maundrel or axle may be deemed sufficient, and sometimes one or more may
be preferred at each end of the cylinder and its maundrel or axle, instead of at
one end only.
This improvement may be further illustrated by the annexed Drawing, in
which Fig. 1 is the maundrel or axle of iron or steel, with its ends or journeys
marked a, a. b, b, are the nibs formed upon the iron maundrel or axle to fit
into the slotts of the copper cylinder. c, c, are the slots in the maundrel or axle
to receive the nibs of the cylinder. Fig. 2 shews the copper cylinder fixed
upon the maundrel or axle. Fig. 3 is a section of the copper cylinder taken
through its centre longitudinally. e, e, are its slotts cut or formed in the
inside of one end of the cylinder; and d, d, are its nibs, produced by leaving

page_text: portions of a ridge, ledge, or collar, or formed as beforesaid. Fig. 4 is a view
of that end of the cylinder where the nibs are formed, and Fig. 5 is a view of
the reverse end of the cylinder, shewing the slotts.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-
fourth day of August, in the year One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-five.
BARKER, Extra.
THOMAS ATTWOOD. (L.s.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid Thomas Attwood came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.