Printing Patterns upon Floor-cloth.
Year: 1886

page_text: Printing Patterns upon Floor-cloth.
I, ROBERT CULLEN, of Brookside, Gresham Road, Staines, in the County of
Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My invention relates to block printing machines which are chiefly employed
for printing patterns upon floor cloth, and more especially to machines of the
class described in the Specification of Letters Patent dated January 25 A.D. 1871
N° 199.
In machines of this class as heretofore constructed the material upon which the
pattern is to be printed is caused to move forward precisely the same distance
after each impression of the blocks, no means being provided whereby the extent
of this feed movement can be varied or changed, whatever may be the length of
the pattern. Suppose this distance to be eighteen inches. If now the pattern
is exactly eighteen inches in length there is no difficulty or inconvenience; but,
should the desired pattern only occupy, say, three inches of the length of the
material, the pattern must be produced upon the block six times in the direction of
the width of the latter, otherwise an unprinted portion would be left after each
impression. As the cost of these blocks is increased very considerably according
to the size it will be obvious, especially where the pattern is elaborate, that it is
very advantageous to provide means whereby the width can be reduced.
The chief object of this invention is to render the feed motion adjustable, so that
the latter may be set to correspond with the pattern to be printed, thus rendering
unnecessary the employment of blocks of a greater width than the length of the
pattern.
To this end the said invention comprises improvements as hereinafter described.
It also comprises various other improvements which will be hereinafter set forth.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a front elevation.

page_text: material to be printed, the said bands running around pulleys 62, 63 mounted upon
shafts b* 65 carried in bearings upon the frame a.
c, c are the vertically movable platens to which the printing blocks c* are
attached. These platens are guided in their vertical movements by the rods c¹, c¹,
secured to the frame & and passing through apertures at the corners of the said
platens.
d, d are pins secured to the platens and fitting into holes in the frame a, when
the platens are depressed, for the purpose of preventing any lateral movement of
the latter during printing.
The vertical movements of the platens are produced as follows, that is to say:-
To each platen e are attached two connecting rods e, e, each of which rods is
provided with a yoke f, Figures 1, 3 and 4. The upper and lower ends of the said
rods are guided in the cross bars g and g¹ respectively, and the upper end of each
rod, above the bar g, has a spiral spring h. These springs are supported upon the
bar g, and at their upper ends bear against nuts on the rods e, and normally hold
the latter with the platen in their highest position.
ii are shafts which are mounted in bearings on the frame a and are operated
from the driving shaft j through the gear wheels k, k¹. The shafts ii extend
through the yokes ff, and each shaft has secured to it two double armed levers l,
one of which operates in connection with each of the said yokes to depress it.
Each yoke is provided with an inwardly extending cam portion f1, Figure 4,
which is adapted to be operated upon alternately by the arms of its lever during
the rotation of the shaft i.
The descent of each platen to print takes place each time the long arms of the
levers pass the projections f¹ of the yokes f. The springs h are compressed at
the same time, and, after the passage of the said arms, raise the platen to its
normal position. Before the platen is again depressed by the long arms, the short
arms of the levers act upon the projections f¹ and move the platen down for a
short distance, in order to ink the block as hereinafter described.
The inking of the block is effected in the following manner, that is to say; after
each impression of the printing block an inking pad is moved beneath the said
block, so that, at the next partial downward movement of the platen by the short
arms of the levers 7, the block may come into contact with the said pad and receive
a supply of ink. This pad is placed in a tray m which slides longitudinally of the
machine in guides m¹ m¹, and is moved in proper relation to the platen by means
of a cam n, mounted upon the shaft i, through the medium of the bar n', the
lever n² and the link n³.
By thus arranging the inking pad to move longitudinally of the machine I am
enabled to run the machine at a much higher speed than was possible with the
inking pads moved laterally, as described in the said former Specification.
The ink is applied to the pad by the V-shaped trough o, Figures 1 and 5,
carried upon trunnions mounted in bearings in the brackets o¹, secured to the
frame a.
The ink is placed in the said trough o and flows onto the pad through a
series of small holes or apertures at its lower side.
In order to prevent the deposit of surplus ink upon the pad the trough is
adapted to be oscillated upon its trunnions in order to place it at a suitable angle
for scraping the said pad at each reciprocation. For this purpose it is provided
with an arm o², which is connected, by the link o³ and the levers o', with the
bolt oo, which latter carries a roller 06, Figure 2, running in the groove of a cam p
on the shaft i.
The feeding forward of the material to be printed after every printing motion
of the platens is effected by ratchet and pawl mechanism. q is a ratchet wheel,
which is keyed upon the shaft 65 of the band pulley 63; and r is a pawl, which is
pivoted upon the lever oscillating freely upon the shaft 65. 8 is a connecting
rod, one end of which is attached to one of the wheels k¹ by the pin s¹, while the
other end is connected to the lever r³. By means of this arrangement the bands b
are fed forward a certain distance at each revolution of the shaft i. To adjust the

page_text: feeding motion of the band, the connecting rod 8 is made in two pieces, so that it
can be lengthened or shortened to allow the crank pin 8¹ to be inserted in one or
other of the holes s in the wheel k¹.
After each feeding motion the mechanism is locked, to prevent any movement of
the feed bands during the printing operation. This is accomplished by means of
the lever t, which is pivotted at t¹ to the frame a and adapted to enter between
any two of the series of lugs u formed on the ratchet-wheel q, secured to the
shaft 6 of the band pulleys b³. The oscillation of the lever t is caused by the cam
surface at the back of the wheel k¹. This surface is of such a nature that,
during a certain part of the rotation of the wheel k¹, it presses against the roller
on the upper end of the lever t, and causes the other end to engage with the
lugs u. A spring v¹, shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, serves to withdraw the
lever from engagement with the lugs after it is released by the cam surface.
The mechanism for punching holes in the material to be printed, for the
reception of the pins 61 of the feed bands, may be of any ordinary or suitable
construction. As shown in Figures 1 and 6 it is provided with two sets of punches,
and is operated from a cam w, Figures 2 and 3, on one of the shafts i, through the
medium of the rod x, the shaft x¹ and the levers a³.
Although in the drawing I have only shown two sets of printing blocks and
their connected mechanism, it is to be understood that I may use as many more
sets as necessary, in accordance with the number of colours in the pattern to be
produced.
Instead of employing a separate cam p for oscillating the trough o of each set of
apparatus, I prefer to use one cam only, and to connect the levers o' of the several
sets of inking mechanism by means of a rod y, Figure 2. In this case the link o³
of each set is connected with its arm o² by means of an open-joint z, so that one
or more of the said links can be readily disengaged from the arm or arms o² if all
the sets of inking mechanism are not required for use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
First In a machine or apparatus for printing patterns upon floor cloth or
other materials, the employment of mechanism whereby the length of feed may be
varied to suit designs or patterns of different lengths, substantially as, and for the
purpose, described.
Second-In the apparatus hereinbefore described, the combination of the ratchet
wheel q, the pawl r, the lever a' carrying the said pawl, and the connecting rod s
attached to the wheel k¹, as set forth for the purpose specified.
Third: The combination with the movable platen, of the rods e, e, provided
with the yokes f. f, having the inwardly projecting portions f¹, f¹; the levers
provided with long and short arms; and the springs h, h, all constructed and
arranged to operate substantially as, and for the purpose, specified.
Fourth-The combination with the adjustable feed mechanism, of means for
locking the said mechanism after each forward motion and during the printing of
the design or pattern upon the material, substantially as described.
Fifth The improved apparatus consisting of the parts constructed and com-
bined substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings and
operating as, and for the purpose, set forth.
Dated this 15th day of Cantomhan 1000