AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ullmer, of Castle Street, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Manufacturer of Presses and Printing Materials,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING MACHINES."
Sealed the 3rd September 1860, and dated the 10th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ullmer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
March 1860.
I, WILLIAM ULLMER, of Castle Street, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturer of Presses and Printing Materials, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING MACHINES," to be:
as follows:-
My Invention consists in obtaining the reciprocating to-and-fro motion of
the "table," carrying the forms and type to be printed, from the continuous
rotary motion in one direction of the cylinder in cylinder printing machines, or
of a shaft or drum provided for the purpose in other printing machines, and
made to revolve in a similar manner to the cylinder.
In cylinder printing machines I fix a toothed wheel at one end of
the cylinder, which gears into a rack on the table to bring the table forward
under the cylinder; the teeth which would continue to gear into the rack are
stripped off from one half the breadth of the wheel, so as to clear the rack,

page_text: while the teeth on the remaining half of the wheel gear into and drive in a
contrary direction a similar half-stripped wheel at the back of the cylinder;
the teeth on this latter wheel gear into the rack on the table, and cause the
table to travel back when they clear it. I do not confine myself to this precise
method, as racks may be formed on both sides of the table, and semi-toothed
wheels may be adapted to both ends of the cylinder, and other modifications
may be made without departing from my Invention, which, as before stated,
consists in obtaining the to-and-fro motion of the table in cylinder printing
machines from the continuous rotary motion in one direction of the cylinder,
and in other printing machines from a shaft or drum made to revolve and
armed with toothed wheels in a similar manner to the cylinder in cylinder
printing machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
, by the said William Ullmer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ULLMER, of Castle Street, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer.
of Presses and Printing Materials, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Ullmer, Her special licence that I, the said William Ullmer, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Ullmer, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN PRINTING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the.
said William Ullmer, my executors or administrators, by an instrument,
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: F
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Ullmer, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in obtaining the reciprocating to-and-fro motion of
the table carrying the forms and type to be printed, from the continuous rotary
motion in one direction of the cylinder or cylinder shaft in cylinder printing
'machines, or of a shaft or drum provided for the purpose in other printing
machines, and made to revolve in a similar manner to the cylinder.
In cylinder printing machines I fix a toothed wheel at one end of the
cylinder, which gears into a rack on the table to bring the table forward under
the cylinder; the teeth which would continue to gear into the rack are
stripped off from one half of the wheel, so as to clear the rack, while the teeth
on the remaining half of the wheel gear into and drive in a contrary direction
a similar half-stripped wheel at the back of the cylinder; the teeth on this
latter wheel gear into the rack on the table, and cause the table to travel back
when they clear it. I do not confine myself to this precise method, as racks
may be formed on both sides of the table, and semi-toothed wheels may be
adapted to both ends of the cylinder, and other modifications may be made
without departing from my Invention, which, as before stated, consists in
obtaining the to-and-fro motion of the table in cylinder printing machines from
the continuous rotary motion in one direction of the cylinder, and in other
printing machines from a shaft or drum made to revolve and armed with
toothed wheels in a similar manner to the cylinder in cylinder printing
machines.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, with the outer
wheels removed, and Figure 2, a plan of so much of a single-cylinder printing
machine as will be necessary to explain the manner in which I prefer to carry
my Invention into effect.
a is the printing cylinder on a shaft, which is supported in bearings formed
in standards connected to the main frame of the machine. Rotary motion
is communicated to the cylinder a through the winch handle c, which is
mounted on a shaft carrying a pulley, round which a strap passes to a pulley
on the shaft on which the cylinder is mounted. This shaft carries at one end
a wheel d, e, having teeth round part of its circumference e, by the side of the
flange d. This wheel is loose on the cylinder shaft, and the toothed portion
gears into a rack f, connected to the side of the printing table. g, h, is another
partially cogged wheel, exactly similar to the wheel d, e, this wheel also being

page_text: loose on its shaft; i is a wheel or segment of a wheel, corresponding in
diameter with the cylinder a.
Figure 3 is a section of the wheel g, h, and of the wheel i; Figure 4 is a
similar section of part of the cylinder a, and of the wheel d, e. The flanges d
and have notches k. k', formed in them, into which two spring catches 1, 1,
(Figures 3 and 4) take at stated intervals, as will be hereafter described. The
notches are tapered at one side, as shown, in order to allow the catches in the
case of backward motion to ride easily over them. The spring catch is
attached to the inner surface of the cylinder a, and the other spring is
attached to the wheel i. The catch is free to work round the internal part
of the flange d, and the catch round that of the flange h. An incline, not
seen in the Drawing, is fitted to the side of the table for raising the spring
catch from the notch in the flange d at the required moment, and a similar
incline is fitted to the back part of the frame for raising the catch from the
notch in the flange h; m is a toothed wheel mounted on the same shaft as tho
cylinder a, gearing into a similar wheel n, on the shaft carrying the wheel
9,
for communicating motion to it; o is the color reservoir; p is the doctor; 9, 9,
are spreading rollers; r, r, are the inking rollers; s is the "laying-on" board,
and t the "taking-off" board.
Supposing the rack and type carrier to bo carried in to its full extent, as
shown in the Drawing, the catch 2 will have just been forced from the notch k,
and the catch will have entered the notch k¹, the rack and table will now be
carried back through the wheel g, gearing into the rack until the catch 7 which
has. been sliding in the flange d enters the notch in it, and the catch ' leaves
the notch in the flange h; this causes the wheel e to come into action, which
carries in the table to the position shown in the Drawing, and thus the to-and-
fro motion of the table is obtained by the continuous rotary motion in one
direction of the cylinder.
'
The cog wheels d, e, and g, h, are shown with the teeth partially stripped, in
order the better to explain my Invention; but in practice, for the sake of
appearance, I tooth the wheels all round, the additional teeth having no effect
on the rack.
My Invention is applicable to double cylinder printing machines as well as
to printing machines with a single cylinder. For other than cylinder printing
machines I employ a shaft or drum, and furnish it with the arrangement of
wheels, flanges, and spring catches herein-before described as applied to
the cylinder in cylinder printing machines, and impart rotary motion to the
shaft or drum, all for the purpose of causing the to-and-fro motion of the
table.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the samo is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
First, obtaining the to-and-fro motion of the table in cylinder printing
machines from the continuous rotary motion in one direction of the cylinder or
cylinder shaft, substantially in manner herein-before described.
Second, the employment of a loose wheel on the cylinder or cylinders of
cylinder printing machines in combination with a spring bolt working in a
flange, for effecting the locking of the wheel, in the manner and for the
purposes herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ullmer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM ULLMER. (L.S.)
WILLIAM ULLMER. (L.S.)