IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING, STAMPING, OR EMBOSSING CYLINDERS AND OTHER SURFACES USED IN PRINTING AND EMBOSSING FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Leake, junior, of the Firm of Messieurs.
Joseph Lockett, Sons, and Leake, of the City of Manchester, Engravers
to Calico Printers, and William Shields, of the same Place, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING,
STAMPING, OR EMBOSSING CYLINDERS AND OTHER SURFACES USED IN PRINTING
AND EMBOSSING FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 8th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Leake and
William Shields at the. Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 8th March 1861.
We, ROBERT LEAKE, junior, of the Firm of Messieurs Joseph Lockett,
Sons, and Leake, of the City of Manchester, Engravers to Calico Printers,
and WILLIAM SHIELDS, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING,
STAMPING, OR EMBOSSING CYLINDERS AND OTHER SURFACES USED IN PRINTING AND
EMBOSSING FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
The object of the first part of this Invention is to supersede a rising and
falling weight hitherto employed for striking on a block in which a punch is
fitted for giving the requisite impression to a cylinder or other surface; and
we effect this object by pressure in the following manner :-A punch or
mill is fixed in a block or frame connected with a slide fitting in a second

page_text: slide, to which an up-and-down or to-and-fro motion is given by an eccentric
or other equivalent means. We propose to furnish the second slide with
washers of vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable springs, which will modify
its pressure, and consequently the pressure on the punch or mill, by means
whereof an uniform impression is imparted to the cylinder or other surface,
notwithstanding any slight deflection of the same.
The second part of our Invention consists in making the head of the block
which holds the punch partly spherical, fitting in a suitable socket, and
regulating the block by screws for the purpose of being able to set the punch
to any angle, whereby it can easily be adjusted to the surface on which it acts.
This second part of our Invention is also applicable to machines of the present
construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Leake and William Shields in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th September 1861..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
LEAKE, junior, of the Firm of Messieurs Joseph Lockett, Sons, and Leake, of
the City of Manchester, Engravers to Calico Printers, and WILLIAM SHIELDS,
of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Robert Leake, junior, and William Shields, Her special licence that
we, the said Robert Leake, junior, and William Shields, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Leake,
junior, and William Shields, 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING, STAMPING, OR EMBOSSING, CYLINDERS AND
OTHER SURFACES USED IN PRINTING AND EMBOSSING FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Robert Leake, junior,
and William. Shields, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their, or one of our or their hands and seals, should.par-

page_text: ticularly 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 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 Robert Leake; junior, and Williams
Shields, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
:
. The object of the first part of this Invention is to supersede a rising and-
falling weight hitherto employed for striking on a block, in which a punch is.
fitted for giving the requisite impression to a cylinder or other surface, and we
effect this object by pressure in the following manner :-A punch or mill is,
fixed in a block or frame connected with a slide fitting in a second slide, to
which an up-and-down or to-and-fro motion is given by an eccentric or other
equivalent means. We propose to furnish the second slide with washers of
vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable springs,, which will modify its.
pressure, and consequently the pressure on the punch or mill, by means
whereof an uniform impression is imparted to the cylinder or other surface,,
notwithstanding any slight deflection of the same.
The second part of our Invention consists in making the head of the block
which holds the punch partly spherical, fitting in a suitable socket, and
regulating the block by screws for the purpose of being able to set the punch
to any angle, whereby it can easily be adjusted to the surface on which it acts.
This second part of our Invention is also applicable to machines of the present
construction:
The manner in which our said Invention is to be performed or carried into
practice will be readily understood by reference to the two accompanying
Sheets of Drawings, in which similar letters refer to the same parts of the
apparatus shewn in different views.
:
On Sheet 1, Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of a machine for engraving,
stamping, or embossing; to which part of our improvements are applied. On
Sheet 2, Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same machine; Fig. 3 is an end
elevation of a similar machine, to which a modification of our Invention is
applied.
a, a, are the cylinders to be operated upon; these cylinders are supported
in the usual manner upon the antifriction rollers b, b, revolving in bearings c, c,
connected as usual to the resisting beds c¹, c, which are supported by the
standards c³, c³, fixed to the ends of the bed d, on which the headstock e is
moved to and fro by the screw f. The machinery for, imparting a slow rotary

page_text: motion to the cylinders; and a lateral to-and-fro motion to the headstock is
similar to that now in use, and, therefore, does not require to be particularly
described:
7.
The parts constituting our improvements are those to which the punch 9 is
connected, and by which it is pressed on to the cylinder or other surface to be
operated upon; the punch g fits in a block h, the head or upper part of which
is partly spherical; the socket i in which the block h fits is made of the same
piece as the slide j; fitting in a second slide k, the shank of which is connected
to the slide l, to which an up-and-down motion is given by the eccentric m,
forged with or attached to the shaft m', which has a similar eccentric at the
other end for actuating the punch at the other side of the machine. The
eccentric m is connected to the slide 1 by a link n, the stud at the upper end
of which passes through the nut n¹; this nut fits in the slide 1, and its vertical
position can be varied by the regulating screw o, worm o¹, and worm wheel o³, so
as to be able to adjust the punch to the surface to be operated upon. The shank of
the slide k is furnished with springs formed of vulcanized india-rubber marked k¹;
which fit between a shoulder on the shank and the upper part of the recess
in the slide ; or other suitable springs may be substituted for the washers k¹;
the object of these springs is to equalise the pressure on the cylinder or other
surface, notwithstanding any slight deflection of the same; the angle of the
punch can be adjusted to the surface on which it acts by means of the set
screws passing through the socket i, and acting on the block h, the head of
which, as before described, is partly spherical, and forms an universal joint in
the socket i; this improved mode of connecting the punch to the slide j is also
applicable to machines of the present construction. The requisite rotary
motion is imparted to the shaft m' and to the eccentrics m, by which the
punches are raised and lowered, by means of the shaft p, which extends the
whole length of the machine, as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 1; in this shaft
is a groove, in which a key fixed to the mitre pinion p¹ enters, and this pinion
revolves in a bearing attached to the headstock e, consequently when the head-
stock moves along the bed d the pinion p¹ moves with it, and in rotating gives
motion to the mitre pinion p², to which is fixed the spur pinion p³ gearing into
the wheel m² fixed to the shaft m¹. The mode of operation is as follows:
The Drawings represent the eccentrics m down, or in the positions they occupy
when the impression is being given to the cylinder or other surface, as the
shaft m¹ revolves it gradually raises the punches, and after the cylinders or
other surfaces, or the headstock e, or both of them have been moved to bring a
fresh portion of the surfaces under the punches, they are again brought down
by the eccentrics to give the next impression. By thus applying pressure

page_text: instead of the concussive force of a falling weight, as heretofore practiced, the
work is performed more expeditiously and uniformly, the machinery is also less
complicated and more durable. The machinery shewn in Fig. 3 is similar to
that above described, with this exception, that in Fig. 3 the impression is
supposed to be given by the mills 9 instead of by punches.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit our-
selves to the details given, as the same may be considerably varied without
departing from the peculiar character thereof.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Leake, junior, and William
Shields, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.
ROBERT LEAKE, Jr. (L.S.)
WILLIAM SHIELDS. (L.S.)
ROBERT LEAKE, Jr. (L.S.)
WILLIAM SHIELDS. (L.S.)