Im- PROVED FEEDING AND DELIVERY APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO PRINTING AND FOLDING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Foster, of Preston, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer and Ironfounder, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVED FEEDING AND DELIVERY APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO PRINTING AND
FOLDING MACHINES.”
Sealed the 14th February 1878, and dated the 18th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Foster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1872.
I, JOSEPH FOSTER, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer
and Ironfounder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED FEEDING AND DELIVERY APPARATUS- APPLICABLE TO PRINTING AND
FOLDING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention consists in a feeding apparatus
applicable to a printing or folding machine, but more especially to a
folding machine, which consists of one, two, three, or more feed boards
placed one above the other, any convenient distance apart; these several
feed boards are placed directly over the folding machine. The newspapers

page_text: or other sheets to be folded being placed on the several feed boards and
fed to a given position in the usual way, when a faller roller actuated
by cams and levers or other equivalents falls on a feeding drum or roller
and conveys the sheets by means of tapes or equivalents under the first
knife, when it receives its first fold and goes through the folding machine 5
in the usual way, each feed board having separate faller rollers or blocks,
cams, and levers (or other equivalents) which are so set as to convey the
sheets from the several feed boards successively one after the other; or
if a supplement is folded with the paper the cams are so set as to convey
the two sheets together under the first knife from two seperate feed 1
boards.
I likewise apply two or more feed boards to the end of the machine
for feeding in small supplements, which are conveyed under the second
knife so as to reduce the number of folds.
These improvements enable the folding machine to run at a much 1
higher rate of speed than hithertofore, as in the case of one feed board, -
as at present the machine cannot be run quicker then the feeder can
feed the sheets to the given position, whereas by employing several feed
boards the machine is capable of being run at a proportionately quicker
speed.
The second part of my Invention consists in a new delivery apparatus
applicable to either printing or folding machines, the sheets being
delivered by means of tapes to a swing or oscillating frame, when one
paper is directed through a pair of rollers and conveyed round a drum,
and by the time the swing rollers have arrived opposite a second pair of
rollers the first paper is in such position as to meet the second paper,
which is being delivered into the second pair of rollers. The drum
which the first paper travels round is so adjustable as to vary the
distance necessary to be travelled, so that the leading edges of both
papers may exactly meet together. The two papers are then conveyed
by means of tapes either vertically or horizontally, and delivered by a
flyer in a board prepared to receive the same. By thus delivering two
papers at once to the flyer the motion of the flyer is decreased in speed
one-half.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Foster in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FOSTER, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer and Iron-
founder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Foster, Her special licence
that I, the said Joseph Foster, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Foster, 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 "IMPROVED FEEDING
AND DELIVERY APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO PRINTING AND FOLDING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Foster,
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 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 Joseph Foster, 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 :-
My Invention consists of an arrangement of machinery whereby
several persons may feed sheets of paper or other material from several
feeding boards, so that each sheet may pass successively one after the
other by means of tapes or other equivalent to either a printing machine
or folding machine.

page_text: The second part of my Invention consists of a new delivery apparatus
for delivering the said sheets so printed or folded.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will now
proceed to describe the same, reference being made to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 a side elevation of my apparatus
applied to a newspaper folding machine.
.
The sheets are placed on the feeding boards a¹ and a³, which are fed
to points or guides in the usual way. When the faller rollers a³, αι,
which are worked by adjustable cams a³, a³, and levers a', a³, falls
alternately on the feeding drums B', B³, which carries the sheets
alternately by means of tapes B' over the rollers C¹ and under the
knife C³.
If two sheets are required to be folded together the cams are so set as
to cause the faller rollers a³ and a* to convey the papers to meet each
other when they may both be folded by the rollers C³, but if required to
be folded seperately the cams a³ and a® are set accordingly. The paper
is then ready to receive its first fold, which is done in the usual way by
means of a knife or blade C³, and also its second, third, and fourth folds
by means of rollers D', E¹, F¹, and knives D³, E³, F², and tapes D³, E³,
and F³, thus carried into a swing or oscillating frame D' ready for delivery,
which delivery relates to my Invention. I apply a combination of
rollers "g³, g¹," g³, g³," g³, and g. The oscilating frame D' is worked
by means of an eccentric h, and delivers a paper alternately between
rollers g³, g¹, and rollers g³, g². The paper delivered into rollers gª, 9ª, is
carried by means of tapes round roller g³, so when the oscillating frame
returns to deliver a paper into rollers g², g², its leading edge just meets
the leading edge of the preceding paper and both papers are delivered
through rollers g' and g³ on to flyer I which lays them on a receiving
table.
The above describes a mode of feeding in newspapers, but it is some-
times necessary to make a machine to fold a supplement with such
papers. I therefore use a double feeding apparatus similar in principle
to the one already described, and fix it to the end of the machine: The
supplements are fed from the feed boards I', I', and conducted into tapes
by the motion of the faller rollers J', J', actuated by cams K', K³, to the
second folding rollers D', when it must be supposed a paper has already

page_text: been delivered from feed boards A¹, or A². The knife then folds both
paper and supplement between rollers D' and passes through the
machine as before described.
The reason for applying the feeding apparatus to the end of the
machine is, so that the supplement is not folded inside the paper. If the
supplement be required to be inserted during the last fold the apparatus
is fixed so as to deliver the said supplement over the last pair of folding
rollers.
Small papers may be folded from the said feed boards I and I", there-
fore receiving a diminished number of folds.
Having now described my method of feeding in sheets, or sheets and
supplements, or small papers by means of two feed boards, I wish it to
be understood that the principle may extend to three, four, or more feed
boards.
Fig. 3 shows how three feed boards are applied, the arrangement
being just the same as those previously described. The above feeding
apparatus may be similarly applied to printing machines.
Figs. 4 and 5 shews a front and end elevation of a delivery apparatus
for delivering sheets from a printing machine. The frame side and
impression cylinder A and B shows part of a printing machine, Letters
Patent of which were granted to Walter Bond and myself, dated 22nd of
March 1871, No. 774. The web of paper from which this machine is
fed is cut by the rollers C¹ and O³, and delivered by means of tapes d'
into oscillating frame E¹, which is worked by eccentrics D, D. The paper
is delivered into rollers E and E³ and carried by means of tapes round an
adjustable drum or large roller F, and by the time the swing frame has
arrived over rollers G' and G³ the aforesaid paper has arrived in such a
position as to meet the paper being delivered into rollers G¹ and G³, both
papers then travel together by means of the tapes H under the flyer I,
which is worked by the adjustable cam J. The flyer I then delivers the
two papers on the receiving board K, K.
Where a large paper is being printed I apply a current of air to keep
the two papers together until they are delivered by flyer I on the
receiving board K, K.
Having now fully described my Invention, and how it is applied, I
wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the
precise details I have had occasion to describe, as many variations may

page_text: be made without deviating from the principle. For instance, referring
to Figs. 4 and 5, it is not necessary that the papers be delivered hori-
zontaly by tapes H, H, but I can and may place such tapes to work
vertically, one or more flyers may be used, each delivering two papers
alternately.
It will be seen on referring to Figs. 1 and 2 that the same principle
in delivering the papers is maintained, but a different arrangement of
rollers.
What I claim as secured to me herein is,―
First. The arrangement of feeding boards a¹ and a³, substantially as
and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
:
Second. The method of feeding in supplements or small papers, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
Third. The method of delivering two sheets of paper at once by means
of a flyer as applied to a folding machine, substantialy as and for the
purposes herein-before set forth..
Fourth. The method of delivering two sheets of paper from a printing
machine, substantialy as and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Foster, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
JOHN LEWIS,
Engineer & Patent Agent,
Preston,
Lancashire.
JOSEPH FOSTER. (L.S.)