IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Lockhart Reid, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Print Cutter, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Lockhart Reid
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th January 1854.
I, ARCHIBALD LOCKHART REID, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Print Cutter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES" to be as fol-
lows:-
This Invention relates to the mode of printing known as "zincography,", and
is more particularly applicable to printing muslins and other piece goods,
especially the outline devices or figures, to be worked or embroidered by a
subsequent operation. It consists in rendering the printing action continuous,
and to this end the impression is produced by a roller or cylinder of zinc or
composition metal upon which the pattern is produced in the usual manner.
This roller is placed above a counter pressure roller, and the fabric to be
printed passes between the two. The color is first taken up by an iron or
other metal roller provided with a doctor, the roller surface being engraved
in such a manner as to take up a definite quantity of the color, which it
transfers to a wooden roller covered with leather. The color passes from

page_text: this last to a second wooden roller covered with leather, which gives it off to
the printing cylinder, the intermediate rollers being for the purpose of
properly spreading the color. The printing cylinder is likewise in contact
with a moistening roller covered with flannel, and it rotates in such a direction
as to receive a suflicient amount of moisture from the wet roller before coming
in contact with the color-supplying roller. Immediately after receiving the
color the cylinder surface comes in contact with the fabric. upon which the
impression is produced."
This
The machine may be worked by a winch handle on the spindle of the
ounter pressure roller, the various other rollers being geared together; or,
nstead of this, motive power may be applied in any convenient manner.
system of printing is obviously applicable to lithography, the metallic roller
being substituted by a cylindrical lithographic stone, and it may be employed
for printing on paper and on any kind of fabric for which it may be found
suitable.
Instead of using a metallic surface for printing in the manner herein-before
described, a roller coated with isinglass or other similar matter or composition
may be used, the pattern being indented or engraved upon the isinglass surface,
so as to take up the necessary ink or color. According to a slight modification
of these arrangements the counter pressure roller may be dispensed with, the
fabric to be printed being stretched on a table or flat surface. In this case the
printing apparatus is supported on a carriage, and is made to traverse over
the fabric beneath it; or the printing apparatus may be fixed, whilst the
table upon which the fabric is stretched is traversed below it in receiving the
impression.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Archibald Lockhart Reid in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
LOCKHART REID, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Print
Cutter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Archibald Lockhart Reid, Her special license that I, the said Archibald

page_text: Lockhart Reid, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Archibald Lockhart Reid, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IN-
PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Archibald Lockhart Reid, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 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 I, the said Archibald Lockhart Reid, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the mode of printing known as "zincography,"
and it is more particularly applicable to printing muslins and other piece goods,
especially the outline devices or figures, to be worked or embroidered by a
subsequent operation. It consists in rendering the printing action continuous,
and to this end the impression is produced by a roller or cylinder of zinc or
composition metal, upon which the pattern is produced in the usual manner.
This roller is placed in contact with a counter pressure roller, and the fabric to
be printed passes between the two. The color is first taken up by an iron or
other metal roller provided with a doctor, the roller surface being engraved in
such a manner as to take up a definite quantity of the color, which it transfers
to a wooden roller covered with leather or other suitable material. The color
passes from this last to a second wooden roller covered with leather or other
suitable composition, which gives it off to the printing cylinder, the intermediate
rollers, which may be increased in number, if necessary, being for the purpose of
properly spreading the color, or the color may be taken up by a roller similar
to the other color rollers, and the quantity of color may be regulated by a
pressure roller placed above it. The printing cylinder is likewise made
to work in contact with a moistening roller covered with flannel, and it
rotates in such a direction as to receive a sufficient amount of moisture from
the wet roller before coming in contact with the color-supplying roller.
Immediately after receiving the color the cylinder surface comes in contact

page_text: with the fabric upon which the impression is to be produced. The machine
may be worked by a winch-handle on the spindle of the counter pressure
roller, the various other rollers being geared together; or, instead of this,
motive power may be applied in any convenient manner. This system of
printing is obviously applicable to lithography, the metallic roller being
superseded by a cylindrical lithographic stone; and it may be employed for
printing on paper, and on any kind of fabric for which it may be found suitable.
Instead of using a metallic surface for printing in the manner herein-before
described, a roller coated with isinglass or other similar matter or composition
may be used, the pattern being indented or engraved upon the isinglass surface
so as to take up the necessary ink or color. According to a slight modification
of these arrangements the counter pressure roller may be dispensed with, the
fabric to be printed being stretched on a table or flat surface. In this case the
printing apparatus is supported on a carriage, and is made to traverse over
the fabric beneath it; or the printing apparatus may be fixed, whilst the table
upon which the fabric is stretched is traversed below it in receiving the
impression.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I
shall now proceed to describe the explanatory Figures on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto attached. Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a
sectional elevation; and Figure 2 is a front elevation of a zincographic
printing machine constructed according to one modification of my Invention.
The main framing consists of the two cast iron side standards A, bolted down
to the flooring by base flanges, and connected together by the cast iron cross-
head B, and tie rods C. The upper vertical portions of the side standards A
are slotted to receive the bearings D, E, of the printing roller F, and the
counter pressure roller G. The bearings E of the counter pressure roller are
connected to the pressure bar H, which is made to slide in the slots formed in
the side standards A. In the centre of the top of the pressure bar H, is fitted
the screw spindle I, which turns loosely in a socket in the pressure bar, and is
provided with a hand-wheel J, for the purpose of turning it. This screw
spindle I, works in an internally screwed sliding piece K, capable of moving
vertically in a socket in the cross-head B. The sliding piece K is acted upon
by the lever L, formed with an eccentric head, so as on being turned to either
side to depress the sliding piece K, with the details connected to it. On being
released from the action of the lever L, the sliding piece K is raised by the
reaction of a blade spring M, bolted to pendant pillars N, which pillars are
bolted to the cross head B. The screw I is for the purpose of adjusting the
pressure between the rollers F and G, whilst the lever L serves to bring the

page_text: upper roller G into contact, or take it out of contact with the roller F, as may
be required. The printing roller F is made with a smooth surface of zinc or
composition metal, and the design to be printed is produced upon it in the
ordinary manner in use in zincographic printing. The fabric to be printed is
wound upon a roller O, carried in slightly inclined slots in brackets P, bolted
to the side standards A. The roller O rests upon a guide and friction roller Q,
the spindle of which carries a pulley R, driven by a belt S from a pulley T
upon the spindle of the printing roller F; these pulleys being arranged so that
the surface velocity of the roller Q shall be precisely the same as that of the
roller F. The roller Q acts frictionally upon the roller O, which may be
weighted, if necessary, and causes this roller to unwind the fabric passing over
the roller Q down to the pressure roller G. The fabric passes below this
roller G, and between it and the printing roller F, receiving the impression
from the latter during such passage, and it is carried up on the opposite side to
a guide roller U, carried in brackets V, bolted to the standards A, and having
above it the taking up roller W, upon which the fabric is finally wound up in
its printed state. The rollers U and W are arranged in a manner precisely
similar to that of the delivering rollers O, Q, on the opposite side, the roller U
being driven by a belt X, from the pulley T, passing over a pulley Y, on the
overhanging end of its spindle. By these means the fabric is passed through
the machine in a manner free from all tractive strain. The printing cylinder
F receives the damping required before being inked by means of an endless
blanket Z, carried by upper and lower rollers a, b. The lower roller b, is
partially immersed in water contained in a trough C, carried by a shelf-shaped
casting D, bolted to the side standards A. The upper roller a is carried in
bearings in slotted brackets c, bolted to the side standards A, and the contact
pressure of the roller against the printing roller F is regulated by screws f, so
that the degree of moisture communicated to the roller F may be at all times
nicely adjusted. The upper roller a may be driven from the printing roller F
by means of a spur wheel and pinion not shewn in the Drawings. The inking
details are carried in a separate frame, consisting of two side frames g, connected
together by tie rods h, and by a cross piece i at the front. This frame rests
upon flanges j, cast upon the insides of the side standards A, to which flanges
it is held down by bolts k, working in short slots in the flanges to allow of the
frame being shifted in or out. The frames g carry bearings for five ink rollers
1, m, n, o, p, the last, p, of which revolves in the trough a containing the ink.
The roller o is placed immediately above the roller p, the two being held in
the same vertical slots in the frames g. The lower roller p, revolves in the
direction of the arrow, and the pressure of the roller o above, which may be

page_text: adjusted by means of screws or weighted levers, regulates the supply of ink.
The lower roller imparts the ink to the roller n, which is in contact with it on
the descending side. Or the roller n may be made to receive the ink from the
upper roller o. The roller n communicates the ink to the roller m, and this
in its turn communicates it to the roller l, which last imparts it to the printing
roller F. The ink rollers l, m, n, p, are adjusted up against each other by
screws by screws 7, acting upon their bearings, and the entire frame containing
the inking details is adjusted up to the printing roller F, by means of the
screws,, turning in a socket in the end piece i, and actuated by means of
the hand-wheel t. This screw works in an internally screwed sliding piece u,
sliding in a socket in the cross bar v, bolted to the front of the side
standards A. The sliding piece u is pressed backwards by the eccentric head
of a hand-lever w, and is pressed forward on being released from the action
of the hand-lever by a blade spring a, abutting against brackets or flanges
upon the insides of the standards A. With these arrangements the pressure
of the inking roller against the printing roller F is determined by turning
the screw s, which traverses the frame y backwards, whilst a means is afforded
in the eccentric lever w, of putting the inking rollers up against the printing
roller or of withdrawing them instantaneously, as required. One end of the
spindle of the printing cylinder F has keyed upon it a spur wheel y, which is
in gear with a pinion, on the spindle of the ink roller 1, so as to drive this
last at the same surface velocity at which the printing roller revolves. The
remainder of the ink rollers m, n, o, p, revolve by frictional contact with each
other and with the roller 7, as they may be connected together by spur gearing
for the purpose of being uniformly driven. The spur wheel y on the spindle
of the printing roller F is also in gear with a pinion 1 on the spindle of the
counter pressure roller G above, so as to drive this last with a surface velocity
equal to that of the roller F.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do mot confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery or apparatus
to be employed in printing textile fabrics and other surfaces, as herein-before
described.

page_text: Second, the application and use in zincographic printing machines of a
roller or cylinder of zinc or composition metal to act as the printing surface,
as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of passing fabrics through zincographic and
lithographic printing machines, without subjecting them to any tractive strain
by driving the delivery counter pressure and take up rollers by means of
belt or toothed gearing, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the application and use of lithographic or zincographic rollers or
cylinders for printing textile fabrics.
Fifth, the system or mode of printing according to the lithographic or
zincographic processes, wherein the printing rollers or cylinders are made to
traverse or roll over the surface to be printed, as stretched on a flat table
beneath.
Sixth, the application and use of isinglass or compositions thereof for the
production of printing surfaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Lockhart Reid, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
ARCH LOCKHART REID. (L.S.)