IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER PRINTING MACHINES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Auguste Hippolyte Marinoni, of Paris,
France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th September 1875.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER PRINTING MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in cylinder printing machines,

page_text: (the arm P remaining in the same position) and the next sheet is conse-
quently conducted to receiver No. 2. The arm M now remains in
its lowest position while the arm P rises until rollers a, a¹, are opposite
rollers d, d', whereby the third sheet is conducted to receiver 3. The
arm P redescends to its lowest point for the fourth sheet, which is
conducted to receiver 1, and the operation is repeated.
In the Drawing the arms M, P, are shown as operated by cams having
circular portions corresponding to the extreme positions of the arms,
but it will be understood that other mechanical equivalents may be
employed to operate the arms M, P.
The cams are shown as mounted on a shaft which performs one
revolution for three of the printing cylinders, in order that the
arms M, P, may alternately remain in the same position during the
passage of two successive sheets, the cams being so shaped that the
arms may remain about two-thirds of a revolution in one position, and
one-third in the other. The arms M, P, thus remain alternately two- .
thirds of a revolution in their lowest position, and one-third in their
highest position, but the cams may be arranged to produce the reverse
effect if desired, and still effect the same distribution of the sheets.
I
By varying the movements of the two parts constituting the dividers
may
distribute the sheets to any suitable number of receivers.
In the machine shown there are three receivers, but the same arrange-
ment of machine may be provided with a less or larger number if desired.
The improvement in the arrangement of the machine consists in.
disposing the printing cylinders, type cylinders, and the ink distributing
cylinders in the same vertical plane, as shown. C, C¹, ductor rollers;
D, D', vibrating rollers; E, E', F, H, H', distributing rollers, having
endwise motion for equalizing the ink in distributing cylinders G, G';
I, I, inking rollers; O, receiving tables; Q, cams for working the
flyers N. Two of these cams are mounted on the same shaft at the
bottom part of the machine for working the flyers of receivers 1 and 2,
while the other, which is keyed on a shaft at the upper part of the
machine, serves to operate the flyer of receiver 3.
"

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letter ratent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE-CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-fivė, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark,
Her special license that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Melville Clark, my 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 CYLINDER PRINTING
MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by Auguste Hippolyte
Marinoni, of Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed,-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.

page_text: 1st. In disposing the blanket cylinders, type cylinders, and the ink
listributing cylinders in the same vertical plane, by which the following
dvantages are secured:-The machine occupies less space, while the
operations of fixing the stereo or electrotypes, changing the blankets,
and feeding the paper to the machine are greatly accelerated.
1st. In disposing the blanket cylinders, type cylinders, and the ink
distributing cylinders in the same vertical plane, by which the following
advantages are secured:-The machine occupies less space, while the
operations of fixing the stereo or electrotypes, changing the blankets,
and feeding the paper to the machine are greatly accelerated.
2nd. In an improved arrangement of dividers or sheet separators,
whereby the printed sheets are distributed in regular succession to any
number of mechanical receivers.
These improvements are applicable to the machine cither separately
or in combination.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood I have
illustrated it by way of example in the accompanying Drawings, in
which Figure 1 shows a vertical section of the machine, and Figure 2
a portion of the same on an enlarged scale. The same letters of reference
indicate the same parts in both Figures.
The paper supplied from a roll J passes between the type cylinder A
and printing cylinder B, by which it is printed on one side, and thence
between cylinders A', B', by which the printing is perfected. The paper
thus printed on both sides is then cut up into sheets of the desired
length by the cutting rolls K', K³, and the sheets pass between the
rollers L, L', and are conducted by tapes between rollers a, a', mounted
on a movable arm P. Here the sheets are distributed regularly to the
several receivers. In the position shown the sheet on quitting the tapes
of rollers a, a¹, passes between the rollers 6, 6', and is conducted by
tapes to receiver No. 1. The succeeding sheet on leaving rollers a, a¹, is
received by the tapes of rollers c, c¹, and conveyed to receiver No. 2,
and the next sheet in succession passes between the rollers d, d¹, and is
conducted by the tapes to the 3rd receiver. The sheets are then again
distributed in the same order, and so on repeatedly.
In order to obtain 'this regular distribution of the sheets to the
receivers the following arrangement of divider is employed:-The
rollers a, a¹, are mounted on a movable arm P, and the rollers b, b¹,
c, c¹, and d, d¹, on the curved extremity of another movable arm M.
The arms M and P are pivoted on a common axis, and the rollers b, b¹,
c, c¹, and d, d¹, are disposed in the arc of a circle struck from the said
axis. The two arms are operated by cams or eccentrics, which vary their

page_text: relative position, and thus effect a regular distribution of the sheets. In
the drawing the arm P has just arrived at its lowest position, the
rollers b, b¹, are opposite rollers a, a¹, and the sheet will consequently
pass between the tapes of rollers 6, 6¹, to receiver No. 1, as before
mentioned. The arm M then descends until rollers c, c', are opposite
rollers a, a, (the arm P remaining-in-the-same position) and the next
sheet is consequently conducted to receiver No. 2. The arm M. remains
in this its lowest position while the arm P rises until rollers a, a¹, are
opposite rollers d, d', whereby the third sheet is conducted to receiver 3.
The arm P redescends to its lowest point for the fourth sheet, which is
conducted to receiver 1, and the operation is repeated.
In the Drawing the arms M, P, are shown as operated by cams having
circular portions corresponding to the extreme positions of the arms, but
it will be understood that other mechanical equivalents may be employed
to operate the arms M, P.
The cams arc shown as mounted on a shaft which performs one
revolution for three of the printing cylinders, in order that the arms
M, P, may alternately remain in the same position during the passage of
two successive sheets, the circular part of the cams being so disposed
that the arms may remain for about two-thirds of a revolution in one
position, and for one-third of a revolution in the other. The arms M, P,
thus remain alternately for two-thirds of a revolution in their lowest
position, and for one-third in their highest position; but the cams may
be arranged to produce the reverse effect if desired, and still offect-the
same distribution of the sheets. C, C', ductor rollers; D, D¹, vibrating
rollers; E, E, F, H, H³, distributing rollers, having endwise motion for
equalizing-the-ink on the distributing cylinders G, G₁;. I, I, inking
rollers; O, receiving tables; Q, cams for working the flyers N. Two of
these cams are mounted_on_the same shaft-at-the-bottom-part of the
machine-for-working-the-flyers of receivers 1 and 2, while the other,
which is keyed on a shaft at the upper part of the machine, serves to
operate the flyer of receiver 3.
.
By varying the movements, of the two arms of the dividers I may
distribute the sheets to any larger number of receivers desired.
In the machine represented in Figure 3 I am enabled by a particular
arrangement of the tapes to dispense with one of the receivers, viz., that
shown at the upper part of Figure 1. The height of the machine may

page_text: thus be reduced, and the speed of delivery increased, the sheets being
more readily removed from the lower receiving tables than from the
upper one. The machine arranged precisely the same as that shown
in Figure 1 as regards the printing and cutting up of the sheets, the
only difference being in the direction given to the sheets after they leave
the rollers a, a¹, and until they are delivered to the flyers.
'
In Figure 3 the same letters of reference are used to indicate such of
the parts as have been already described with reference to Figures 1
and 2. In the position of the divider shown in this Figure the sheet on
leaving the tapes of rollers a, a¹, passes between the rollers 6, 6¹, the
tapes of which conduct it to receiver No. 1. The next sheet on leaving
rollers a, a¹, enters between the tapes of rollers d, d', by which it is
conducted to the flyer of receiver No. 2. Whilst the sheet engaged
between the tapes of rollers d, d¹, is passing in the direction indicated
by the tapes, the following sheet on leaving rollers a, a¹, enters between
the tapes of rollers c, c', which conduct it also to receiver No. 2. It will
be seen that if the courses taken by the two sheets (viz., the one engaged
in the tapes of rollers d, d', and that between the tapes of rollers c, c¹,) be
such that the course of the sheet which first entered the tapes (and which
is consequently its own length in advance) is as much longer than that of
the other sheet as the first sheet is in advance, the two sheets will arrive
together at the flyer of receiver No. 2, and will consequently be deposited
together upon the receiving table.
The regular distribution of the sheets to the tapes of rollers b, b¹, d, d¹,
c, c¹, is effected in the same manner as in Figure 1, and needs no
description, but I would observe that as two sheets are delivered
together to receiver No. 2, in order to diminish the course of the sheets
between the tapes c, c¹, the sheets delivered from rollers a, a', are con-
ducted to the tapes of rollers d, d¹, c, c², b, b¹, in the following order,
viz., the first sheet to the tapes b, b¹, the second sheet to tapes d, d³, and
the third sheet to tapes c, c'. I may however vary the above order, and
retain that first herein described, but in this case if the sheets entered
between the tapes d, d', are not immediately succeeded by those entered
between tapes c, c¹, it would be necessary to increase the distance
traversed by the latter, which would be useless.
Two sheets may be delivered at a time to receiver No. 1 instead of