IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cropper, of Cheapside, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
MACHINES." A communication from abroad by C. T. Bainbridge
and Robert P. Yorkston, both of New York, in the United States
of America.
Sealed the 30th May 1871, and dated the 14th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cropper, at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th March 1871.
I, SAMUEL CROPPER, of Cheapside, in the City of London, do hereby
5 declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by C. T. Bainbridge
and Robert P. Yorkston, both of New York, in the United States of
America, to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in printing machines,
and relates to a novel arrangement and combination of parts whereby
great simplicity of construction is obtained combined with sharpness

page_text: of impression and facility of manipulation.
The platen proper is
stationary, but attached to the upper edge thereof by pin joints is an
iron plate, planed true upon each side, which rises as herein-after
described to receive the sheet. To this plate are attached the guides
and grippers to hold the sheets of paper for printing, this plate being
practically the platen, the stationary platen furnishing the resisting
power at the moment of impression. The fixed platen is capable of
adjustment by means of screws passing through the frame and bearing
against the back of the platen. The type bed is formed with projections
or other suitable slides to work in corresponding horizontal guides
formed in or fixed to the main framing, and motion is given to the
type bed by means of connecting rods or links connected at one end
thereto and at the other end to crank pins carried by discs mounted on
a shaft or axis receiving motion from the first shaft by a pinion taking
into teeth formed on the periphery of one of the discs. By these means
the type bed receives a motion parallel to the face of the platen. The
impressing platen receives motion by means of a cam fixed to the type
bed to raise or lower it as required, and it has a dwell or rest given to
it to receive the paper from the feeder, and when only a single rolling
of the type is required the impressing platen rests to receive the
paper in a position slightly inclined below a horizontal plane passing
through the joint thereof, but when more than one rolling of the type
is required the impressing platen is caused by means of a lever and
differently constructed cam to rise above the centre of a true level
where it will remain until as many rollings are given to the type as
the operator may require, when the lever can be used to bring the plate
again into working position.
The inking apparatus is constructed and operated in the following
manner-On the frame of the type bed is mounted as heretofore a
disc, or it may be a roller upon which the ink is placed by hand or
from an ink fountain as is now well understood. Also carried by the
type bed frame are a toothed segment and a sector fixed together
on the same axis and a pair of guide rollers. A band of steel is fastened
to the sector and passes over the guide rollers to the form or inking
rollers to give a to-and-fro motion to such form or inking rollers
over the "form" and also over the inking 'disc in the to-and-fro motion
of the type bed frame, the toothed segment for this purpose working
in a fixed rack.

page_text: Motion may be given to the machine by means of a treadle or a
handle or by means of a strap or band from an engine passing around
a pulley fixed on the main shaft of the machine as is now well
understood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Cropper in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 14th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CROPPER, of Cheapside, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Cropper, Her
special licence that I, the said Samuel Cropper, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Cropper, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad
by C. T. Bainbridge and Robert P. Yorkston, both of New York, in
the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Samuel Cropper, 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in printing machines,
and relates to a novel arrangement and combination of parts whereby
great simplicity of construction is obtained combined with sharpness of
impression and facility of manipulation. The platen proper is stationary,
but attached to the upper edge thereof by pin joints is an iron plate,
planed true upon each side, which rises as herein-after described to receive
the sheet. To this plate are attached the guides and grippers to hold
the sheets of paper for printing, this plate being practically the platen,
the stationary platen furnishing the resisting power at the moment of
impression. The fixed platen is capable of adjustment by means of
screws passing through the frame and bearing against the back of the
platen. The type bed is formed with projections or other suitable slides
to work in corresponding horizontal guides formed in or fixed to the main
framing, and motion is given to the type bed by means of connecting
rods or links connected at one end thereto, and at the other end to crank
pins carried by dises mounted on a shaft or axis receiving motion from
the first shaft by a pinion taking into teeth formed on the periphery
of one of the discs. By these means the type bed receives a motion
parallel to the face of the platen. The impression platen receives motion
by means of a cam or pin fixed to the type bed to raise or lower it as
required, and it has a dwell or rest given to it to receive the paper from
the feeder, and when only a single rolling of the type is required the
impressing platen rests to receive the paper in a position slightly inclined
below a horizontal plane passing through the joint thereof.
The inking apparatus is constructed and operated in the following
manner :—On the frame of the type bed is mounted, as heretofore, a disc,
or it may be a roller upon which the ink is placed by hand or from an
ink fountain as is now well understood. Also carried by the type bed
frame are a toothed segment and a sector fixed together on the same
axis and a pair of guide rollers. A band of steel is fastened to the
sector and passes over the guide rollers to the form or inking rollers, to
give a to-and-fro motion to such form or inking rollers over the "form,"
and also over the inking disc in the to-and-fro motion of the typo
bed frame, the toothed segment for this purpose working in a fixed
rack.

page_text: machine constructed according to the said Invention; Figure 3 is a side
view, and Figure 4 is a back view of part thereof separately.
a, a, is the main framing which is provided with a longitudinal slot or
guide a¹ in each side thereof for the purpose of guiding the type bed b,
which is provided with a projection 6 to fit the longitudinal slots or
guides a¹ in the side framing a, and is operated to cause it to advance
towards and recede from the platen c in the following manner:
-d is a
crank shaft which is set in motion by a treadle e or by means of a strap
or band from a steam engine acting upon a pulley (not shown) fixed
thereon. On the shaft d is fixed a toothed pinion which takes into
teeth formed on one of the crank discs f, to which crank pins ƒ¹ are fixed,
such crank pins f¹ being by links or connecting rods 9 connected to an
axis be carried by the type bed b. By these means a suitable to-and-fro
motion is given to the type bed b. The type bed b has fixed thereto
slotted guides 6 in which the axes of the inking rollers / work in their
passage to and fro over the "form" and over the inking disc i. The
inking rollers h are mounted in a small frame h¹ which is connected
to and operated by straps or bands j running over guide pulleys
and being connected to segments ¹ mounted on a shaft or axis k on
which is also mounted a toothed segment 1, which takes into and
receives motion from a toothed rack a formed on or fixed to one of the
side framings a, thereby in the to-and-fro motions of the type bed & giving
necessary motions to the inking rollers h.
the
Or instead of communicating motion to the inking rollers as before
described, the following arrangement as shown in red ink on the
Drawings may be employed:-On an axis 6 is keyed a lever which
by a link or connecting rod 63 is connected to the inking roller frame.
On the axis is also keyed a lever. 6º which by a link or connecting rod b¹º

page_text: is connected to a fixed axis c¹, thus in the to-and-fro motion of the type
bed a the levers 67 and 6° are caused to travel in the arcs of circles, and
thereby communicate the required motion to the inking rollers h. The
platen c is provided with a moveable plate c³ mounted on the axis c',
which moveable plate is caused to rise to a suitable position, as shown in
the Drawing, to receive the paper from the feeder by the following
means: On the axis c¹ is keyed a lever c³ which has connected thereto
by pin joint a slotted link c', within the slot of which works a pin bu
carried by the type bed b, by which means when the type bed is in the
position shown in the Drawing, the moveable plate c³ is held as shewn
in a position nearly approaching to the horizontal, but when the type
bed advances towards the platen c the moveable plate c² is allowed,
mainly by its own weight, to fall into the vertical position, and is then
pressed firmly against the platen c by the type bed b. The platen c is
fixed to projections carried by the side framings a by means of bolts,
and is capable of adjustment by means of set screws acting at the
back thereof as shown. The inking disc i receives a step-by-step rotary
motion by means of a catch i¹ fixed on the axis k, acting against a tooth
of the ratchet wheel at every action of the press.
In the Provisional Specification I have described a mode of giving
more than one rolling of the type, but since the filing thereof it has been
discovered that the arrangement described does not possess such an
amount of utility as to render it advisable to make a claim thereto, I
therefore desire to disclaim, and I do hereby disclaim, such arrangement.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the mode 2
in which the same is carried into effect, I would have it understood that
what I do claim is,-
First. The mode of carrying and operating the type bed in manner
substantially as herein shown and described.
Secondly. I claim the mode of carrying and operating the inking
rollers by bands, in manner substantially as herein shown and described.
Thirdly. I claim the mode of constructing and operating the platen,
in manner substantially as herein shown and described.
Fourthly. I claim the general arrangement and combination of printing
machine, whereby the type bed is held in a vertical position and capable a
of being readily seen by the operator, whilst the platen is held in a
nearly horizontal position to receive the paper, and the impression is

page_text: given to the paper by a parallel motion of the type bed up to the platen,
in manner substantially as herein shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cropper, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
B. J. B. MILLS,
Patent Agent,
35, Southampton Buildings,
London.
SAM¹. CROPPER. (L.S.)