IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING AND ETCHING ROLLERS AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Leake, of the Strangeways Engraving Works,
Mauchester, in the County of Lancaster, William Shields, of the same
Place, Engineer, and Joseph Beckett, of the same Place, Machine
Superintendent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
ENGRAVING AND ETCHING ROLLERS AND OTHER SURFACES."
Sealed the 6th October 1866, and dated the 10th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Leake, William
Shields, and Joseph Beckett at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 10th April 1866.
We, ROBERT LEAKE, of the Strangeways Engraving Works, Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, WILLIAM SHIELDS, of the same Place, Engineer, and
JOSEPH BECKETT, of the same Place, Machine Superintendent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
ENGRAVING AND ETCHING ROLLERS AND OTHER SURFACES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention is applicable to the pentagraph machines usually employed
for etching and engraving rollers and other surfaces, and the object of the
first part of our Invention is to remove the friction between the lifting bars
and the levers in which the etching or engraving tools are fixed.
In order to
accomplish this we combine the lifting bar or bars with the tool
bar or bars,

page_text: so that both or all the bars move together to and fro longitudinally; and the
requisite up-and-down motion is capable of being given by the treadle to the
lifting bar or bars, and tools for bringing the tools into contact with the roller
or other surface to be engraved or held out of contact therewith.
The second part of our Invention consists in giving a vibratory motion to
the diamond or other tools, either in combination or not with a rotary motion
to the roller or other surface to be engraved, by means of which the engraving
is made to retain color better than heretofore, and the stripping of the color
by the printing doctor is avoided. To obtain this motion or motions we
attach to the mandril of the roller a toothed wheel which gears into inter-
mediate wheels, and through an eccentric or toothed pulley communicates the
requisite vibration to the tools; or we obtain the same result in pentagraph
machines having flat tables by applying the eccentric or toothed pulley or a
worm and wheel to the tracer or tracer bar supported by compound slides,
such as are now used in eccentric engraving machines; by this arrangement
the vibration is given to the tracer bar, and through it to the tools or to the
roller, or to both.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Leake, William Shields, and Joseph Beckett in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
LEAKE, of the Strangeways Engraving Works, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, WILLIAM SHIELDS, of the same Place, Engineer, and JOSEPH
BECKETT, of the same Place, Machine Superintendent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Robert Leake, William Shields, and Joseph Beckett, Her special license
that we, the said Robert Leake, William Shields, and Joseph Beckett, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert
Lenke, William Shields, and Joseph Beckett, 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

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING AND ETCHING
ROLLERS AND OTHER SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Robert Leake, William Shields, and Joseph Beckett, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
our or their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Robert Leake, William Shields, and
Joseph Beckett, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
In order to
Our Invention is applicable to the pentagraph machines usually employed
for etching and engraving rollers and other surfaces, and the object of the
first part of our Invention is to remove the friction between the lifting bars
and the levers in which the etching or engraving tools are fixed.
accomplish this we combine the lifting bar or bars with the tool bar or bars,
so that both or all the bars move together to and fro longitudinally, and the
requisite up-and-down motion is capable of being given by the treadle to the
lifting bar or bars and tools, for bringing the tools into contact with the roller
or other surface to be engraved, or held out of contact therewith.
The second part of our Invention consists in giving a vibratory motion to
the diamond or other tools, either in combination or not with a rotary motion
to the roller or other surface to be engraved, by means of which the engraving
is made to retain color better than heretofore, and the stripping of the color
by the printing doctor is avoided. To obtain this motion or motions we
attach to the mandril of the roller a toothed wheel which gears into inter-
mediate wheels, and through an eccentric or toothed pulley communicates the
requisite vibration to the tools; or we obtain the same result in pentagraph
machines having flat tables by applying the eccentric or toothed pulley or a
worm and wheel to the tracer or tracer bar supported by compound slides,
such as are now used in eccentric engraving machines, by this arrangement
the vibration is given to the tracer bar and through it to the tools or to the
roller, or to both.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the two accompanying
Sheets of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.

page_text: In Sheet 1 Figure 1 is an elevation in section of a pentagraph machine of
the present construction to which our improvements are applied; Figure 2 is
a side view of part of the same; Figures 3, 4, and 5 are detached views on an
enlarged scale of part of our improved machinery. On Sheet 2 Figure 6 is a
plan of Figure 1.
a is the roller to be engraved; b, b, are the ordinary diamond or tracing
points connected to the usual slotted levers c, c, binged to the brackets d, d,
which are supported by the sliding or diamond bars e, e, resting upon anti-
friction rollers e¹; f, is the usual treadle which is connected to the slotted
elbow levers c, c, by the link g, the levers h, i, and i, the two latter being
united by the horizontal bar j. All these parts and the others requisite to
complete the machine are made in the manner heretofore in use. To the
bar j are connected by set screws the adjustable brackets j', and in these
brackets are bearings for the antifriction rollers and studs for the bowls j³.
The cross rails or lifting bars k, k, are supported by the rollers, and guided
by the bowls, and the motion from the treadle f is communicated to the
tracing points by the cross rails k acting on the screws l, which pass through
the horizontal arms of the slotted elbow levers c, c, as usual. The bars k have
hinges k¹ fixed to them, as shewn in Figure 3, and these hinges are jointed to
the sliding or diamond bars e, e; by this arrangement the friction between the
lifting bars and the levers in which the etching or engraving tools are fixed is
avoided, and the bars are moved simultaneously, longitudinally, and up and
down by the actions of the bars e and treadle f. We wish to observe that
instead of the rollers and bowls the bars k, k, may be guided in slides.
The second part of our Invention consisting of an improved apparatus for
giving a vibratory motion to the etching tools and to the roller or other
surface to be engraved, or to either or both of them, is illustrated in Figures
1 and 6. In these views m is a bed extending from one frame side to the
other; on this bed is the carriage n, which is traversed to and fro' along the bed
by the screw o. To the under side of the carriage n is cast or fixed the
bracket and bearing n', which support the cross shaft p and the upright
-shaft g; the pinion p¹ is connected to the shaft p by a key and groove, and the
boss of the pinion works in the bearing n', consequently as the carriage n
traverses to and fro' on its bed m the pinion p¹ remains in gear with the
whcel q' fixed to the lower end of the shaft q, to the upper end of which is
fixed the plate q, on this plate is the slider in which is a stud for the disc ¹,
the centre of this stud is moved more or less to one side of the centre of the
shaft q by a screw acting on a nut in the slide r, consequently as the shaft g
revolves the disc acts as an eccentric on the bridle 8, and gives a lateral to-

page_text: and-fro motion to the cross slide s'. To the carriage n is. also fixed the
bracket n, to which is jointed the elbow lever u; the lower part of the
bracket n forms a bearing for the cross shaft w, which revolves in bearings in
the frame sides; on the shaft w is the eccentric. w, which is connected to the
shaft to by a key and groove, and the boss of the eccentric w³ revolves in the
bearing of the bracket n³. Instead of the eccentric wa cam with elevations
and depressions may be used. As the eccentric or cam revolves it imparts a
vibrating motion to the elbow lever u, the horizontal arm of which bears upon
it, and the vertical arm thereof acting on the bracket v' gives a to-and-fro
motion to the slide v at right angles to the slide s¹, which, as before described,
is worked by the disc r¹. The motions of the slide v are communicated by
the tracer point t¹ to the tracer bar t, which is connected to the cross slide x,
as described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to the within-
named William Shields, on the Thirtieth of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, Number 2758. The motions of the shafts p
and w are communicated to the roller a or other surface to be engraved
in the following manner:-To each shaft p and w is fixed a spur wheel
marked respectively ps and w³, and these wheels are driven by the inter-
mediate wheel y, which is put in motion by hand or power. The wheel w
drives the pinion w³, which by the train of wheels and pinions shewn in the
Drawing, gives motion to the diagonal shaft z, to the upper end of this shaft
is fixed the worm gearing into a worm wheel a¹ fixed to the mandril of the
roller a, as shewn in Figure 1, or into teeth projecting from the face of the
usual dial plate a³, as shewn in Figure 6. The relative speed of the shaft w
to that of the roller a must be varied by change wheels or otherwise according
to the work to be produced, and to the diameter of the roller; or the roller
may be driven by a band and pulleys. When the tracer point t' is discon-
nected from the slide v, and the tracer point is brought into the centre of
the stud of the disc r', the tracer bar t is moved in both directions to the
extent of the eccentricity of the said stud. It is evident that the shafts p and
w may be disconnected so as to impart the motion of either of them to the
tracer bar t.
By means of these improved combinations of machinery a vibratory motion
is given to the diamond or other tools, and to the roller or other surface to be
engraved, or to either of them.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we declare that we claim,-
First, the improved modes shewn and described of supporting the cross
rails to avoid or reduce friction.

page_text: And, secondly, the improved combinations of machinery shewn and described
for giving a vibratory motion to the diamond or other tools, and to the surface
to be engraved, or either of them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Leake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
ROBERT LEAKE. (L.S.).