AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRINTING, TO BE USED BY TYPE, BLOCK, OR PLATE PRINTERS
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHURCH, late of Nelson Square, in the County of Surrey, but now of Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster the Eighteenth day of February 1823, in the fourth
year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Church, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Church, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, shall and lawfully may make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRINTING, TO BE USED BY TYPE,
BLOCK, OR PLATE PRINTERS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, that if I, the said William Church, shall not particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advan-
tages whatsoever hereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become

page_text: void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more runy and
at large appear.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Church, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
My improved apparatus for printing applies particularly to the printing of
calicoes, linens, silks, paper, and other fabrics for dress, furniture, or decora-
tion, and consists of a new method of forming a cylinder of types, blocks, or
plates, combined in a peculiar manner for the composition of designs, patterns,
or subjects to be printed upon the said fabrics; and also in the mode of apply-
ing the same or other cylinders to printing in more than one colour, the manner
of effecting which object will be more fully understood by reference to the
Drawings annexed.
The individual types, blocks, or plates must be convex on their face or
outer surface, and concave on their back or inner surface, the curve of the
latter being formed to the periphery of the solid cylinder upon which they are
to be bedded; that of the former to a segment of the entire cylinder of types
when combined and formed.
Figure 1 shews a single type or block,as last described, viewed edgeways.
Of these any required number may be combined to form the cylinder of types
or blocks, provided that the curved surfaces are shaped, as above said, to the
proper radii, and the sides of the types formed ofright lines radiating from the
centro of the said cylinder. Figure 2 shews the outer surface or face of a
single type, with the figure upon it, or a portion of the figure, subject, or
design which is to be produced by the combination of several types, as seenon
the surface of the entire cylinder, Figure 3. The solid cylinder upon which the
types or blocks are to be arranged is shewn at Figure 4, and an end view of
the cylinder at Figure 5, with the types a, b, c, d, etc. set radiantly round it.
A nick or curved groove is made in the flat side of each type, for the purpose
of receiving a ring, Figure 6, which ring, by being placed as z,,,Figure 7,
holds the circle of types firmly together. There is a similar nick or curved
groove on both of the flat parallel sides of each type, as seen at Figure 8,
which represents two types placed laterally together. Having formed the
design or pattern upon the printing cylinder, Figure 3,by a series of circlesof
radiant types, blocks, or plates, as above described, I secure the outer ring by
a colleta and screw cap y upon the end of the axle, which locks up the whole.
A cylinder being thus formed, with the pattern or design raised upon its

page_text: purpose
surface, similar to the wooden and metallic blocks usually employed in block
printing, I now proceed to shew a mode by which the said cylinder, or several
of these cylinders, may be used for the purpose of printing with one or more
colours. When I wish to print with only one colour, I employ the above-
described cylinder nearly in the same way that engraved cylinders are used for
printing, but apply the ink with an elastic roller, in a similar way to letter-
press printing; but when two or more colours are required to be printed upon
the same fabric at one operation, then the disposition of the apparatus may be
as follows:-Figure 9 shews my manner of arranging the printing cylinders
round what is commonly called the pressing cylinder, and also exhibits the
mode of distending the fabric while printing, and the disposition of a series of
heating tubes for the purpose of drying the goods between the impressions.
a, a, a, is a large cylinder, answering the object of a pressing cylinder; b, b, b,
are three printing cylinders, constructed as above described. These are to be
placed at certain distances from each other round the large cylinder, with
weighted levers applied to their axles to produce the necessary pressure. The
axles of the printing cylinders are placed in circular grooves of the framework,
and are capable of being shifted to any required distances apart for the
of effecting the register of the different colours of the pattern with perfect
accuracy; c, c, c, are a series of hollow cylindrical tubes, heated within by
steam or hot air, which passes through: the hollow pivots and corresponding
channels in the framework from one to another. These cylinders are placed
near to the fabric for the purpose of drying the ink deposited by one printing
cylinder before it comes under the operation of the next printing cylinder.
These tubes are placed in the framework, and made to revolve by means of
bands and pullies upon their axles communicating with the moving power,
or by any other convenient mode. They have fans or vanes set in the direc-
tion of radii, for the purpose of producing a circulation of the air which
surrounds them; and thin partitions d, d, d, are placed between each in order
more effectually to conduct the damp from the fabric. The cloth or other
material intended to be printed is first wound upon the roller e, and being
attached to a constant piece brought over the pressing cylinder from the
receiving roller is thereby conducted, in the direction of the arrow, through
between the several printing cylinders and the pressing cylinder when the
apparatus is
put in motion, and is ultimately received on to the roller. The
tension of the cloth is effected by a friction lever, applied to a pulley upon
the axle of the roller e, anda baud, extending from a pulley / upon the axle of
the main cylinder to a roller i, upon which the receiving cylinder rests, causes
the roller i to revolve with a velocity somewhat greater than the progress of

page_text: the cloth, and thereby effecting the required tension. k, k, k, represents the
situation of the rollers which supply the ink or colouring matter to the
printing cylinders, but as the mode of applying ink, &c. to the printing
cylinders is not claimed as new, it is thought unnecessary to represent the
whole apparatus in detail. Nor have I thought it necessary to delineate the
framework, or describe the mode of applying the power to give motion to
the machinery, as I confine my claim of Invention simply to the two following
particulars :-
First, the construction of the printing cylinder by means of types, blocks, or
plates combined together, as above described.
And, secondly, to the introduction of an apparatus for drying the print
between the application of the several colours.
In witness whereof, 1, the said William Church, hath hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.
:
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our
thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.
Lord One