CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES APPLICABLE TO THE PRINTING OR PRODUCING PATTERNS IN ONE OR MORE COLOURS OR METALLIC PRE- PARATIONS TO BE TRANSFERRED TO EARTHENWARE, PORCELAIN, CHINA, GLASS, METAL, WOOD, CLOTH, PAPER, PAPIER MACHIE, BONE, SLATE, MARBLE, AND OTHER SUITABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1838

page_text: POTTS SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WAINWRIGHT POTTS, of Burslem, in the County of Stafford, China and
Earthenware Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria did, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-eight, give and grant unto me, the said William Wainwright
Potts, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, that I, the said
William Wainwright. Potts, my exors,. admors, and assigns, should and law-
fully might, during the term of fourteen years therein mentioned, make, use,
exercise, and vend, within. England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES APPLICABLE TO
THE PRINTING OR PRODUCING PATTERNS IN ONE OR MORE COLOURS OR METALLIC PRE-
PARATIONS TO BE TRANSFERRED TO EARTHENWARE, PORCELAIN, CHINA, GLASS, METAL,
WOOD, CLOTH, PAPER, PAPIER MACHIE, BONE, SLATE, MARBLE, AND OTHER SUITABLE
SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that if I,
the said William Wainwright Potts, should 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 enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months then. next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent now in recital, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
--

page_text: advantages thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wainwright Potts, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention of
certain improvements in machines applicable to the printing or producing
patterns in one or more colours in metallic preparations to be transferred to
earthenware, porcelain, china, glass, metal, wood, cloth, paper, papier machie,
bone, slate, marble, and other suitable substances to consist in certain improve-
ments in a machine for printing, which was the subject of a former Patent,
bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-one, which improvements under the general action of such machines
for printing with one or more colours more efficient, and although some of my
improvements herein-after described are applicable to machines used for calico
and other printing, the principal object I have in view is the printing of thin
paper, the pattern of which is subsequently to be transferred to earthenware
or other similar substances. I shall therefore proceed to describe my various
improvements, leaving it to the judgment of the operator what part of such
improvements, he may apply to the machine described in the former Patent,
which will greatly depend on the nature of the work or printing to be per-
formed. To render the application of my improvements more easily under-
stood, I shall describe generally the operations of the printing machine, referring
more particularly to those modifications by which the printing on thin paper
in one or more colours is performed and the impressions rendered more
distinct. And the manner in which the same is to be performed and carried
into effect is set forth and described in the accompanying Drawings, and the
following description thereof. The scale to which the Drawing is made is
marked thereon, and the various letters and figures of reference indicate the
same parts throughout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 exhibits a front elevation, and Figure 2 a side view of a machine
for printing in one colour, to which my improvents are applied. In these
Figures, A, A, represent the framing of the machine; B, the large cylinder or
bowl, which is heated with steam to dry the blanket when at work, and adiusted

page_text: heated by steam. The paper then passes under the bowl B, and receives the
impression from the engraved roller D, and carried forward in its finished state.
The engraved copper roller D receives its colour from the colour box F, through
the medium of the furnishing roller E. The superfluous colour being removed
by the doctor fixed to the sliding piece. N, adjusted in the usual manner, while
the colour box F is raised or lowered by means of the lever and thumb screw
0, 0. The steam pipes, marked II, communicate to the various cylinders that
require to be heated, the supply being regulated by means of the cocks marked
J, at pleasure; and L, L, represent guards for retaining the nozzle valves in
their
proper position. Figure 3 represents a side view of a machine for printing
three colours. A is the framework of the machine; B, the large cylinder or
bowl, which is raised or lowered and its pressure upon the various printing
rollers adjusted by means of the compound levers, as in the former machine.
The endless blanket Q revolves and passes in the direction indicated by the
arrows over the guide rollers R, R. P is a roller, on which the paper to be
printed is placed, the direction of which is shewn in lines coloured red, passing
over the heated roller C, which straightens the paper when drawn by the
blanket in the direction shewn by the arrow. The paper proceeds thence
round a portion of the periphery of the cylinder or bowl B, along with the
endless blanket Q, and receives the first impression from the engraved copper
roller D; it then receives another impression from the roller marked S, and a
third from the roller S, and is finally carried by the endless blanket Qovor the
wooden roller R¹ in a finished state, each succeeding impression being of a
different colour, when required. The copper roller D is supplied with colour
from the colour box F, by means of the furnishing roller marked I. N is the
doctor for removing the superfluous colour from the engraved copper roller D.
The rollers S and S are surface rollers, so called on account of having the
pattern or device raised upon the surface, and is supplied with colour from the
furnishing roller I, haying a doctor for the purpose herein-before mentioned. .
Having described the construction and mode of operation of the single-
coloured machine, as represented at Figures 1 and 2, together with the con-
struction and mode of operation of a three-coloured machine, as represented at
Figure 3, I shall proceed to enumerate my various improvements as applied to
these machines, the same being applicable altogether or in part to similar
machines for other purposes than printing paper for which these machines are
designed.
My first improvement consists in the application of steam to the bowl B, the
carrying roller C, and the mandrils on which the copper printing cylinder are
placed by which the necessary temperature is supported during the printing

page_text: process. And I would remark, that in the construction of the mandrils!
prefer cast iron for the centre part, while the journals on which they revolve are
of wrought iron, which enables me to reduce the journal in size, so as to carry
a spur wheel for regulating the speed of the smallest sized furnishing roller,
which is used while the heating surface remains much larger, and thereby
imparts a greater amount of heat to the copper rollers, and the mandrel is
rendered more efficient and constructed at a much less cost than heretofore;
the furnishing rollers being regulated by the exact surface speed of the
printing rollers.
My second improvement consists in a better arrangement of the furnishing
rollers, and apparatus connected therewith, for supplying the colour uniformly
alike, which in printing of paper for the purposes described is of considerable
importance. This apparatus will be seen in two modifications at Figure 3.
The first, where the colour is supplied from the furnishing roller I to the print-
ing roller S', through intermediate carrying rollers K, K, made of composition
or covered; and the second, where the colour is conveyed from the furnishing
roller I to the printing roller D, by an endless cloth of oiled silk W, moving in
the direction of the arrow, and pressed against the printing roller, by means
of the small carrying rollers T, T, which are supported in an adjusting frame,
and their position regulated as required: But in both these modifications the
furnishing roller I is a metallic roller, engraved with a minute series of lines
from end to end, varying a little from the horizontal, which receives the colour,
and are cleared by means of an ordinary straight edge or doctor, so that the
amount of colour received and carried forward to the printing rollers is regu-
lated and determined by the depth and number of the engraved lines and speed
of delivery; and the delivering furnishing roller E, in the first modification, as
shewn at Figures 1 and 2, I prefer of wood; covered with woollen cloth and
afterwards fine leather, which renders it of a more soft and uniform surface,
and admits the passage of any grit or dirt which may accidentally come in
contact with the engraved roller.
And my
third improvement consists in dispensing with all covering on the
under roller in the sizing machine described in the former Patent, already
referred to, by which I obviate the difficulty heretofore experienced by the
reaction of froth between the two woollen surfaces and the uneaveness of the
roller, which, with my present arrangement, can be turned up at any time when
required.
Therefore, although I do not claim as my Invention any part of the ordinary
priuting machine, as set forth and described in the Drawings and foregoing
description thereof, for the purpose of making the application of my improve-

page_text: ments better understood, nor any part of the Invention named in the former
Patent already referred to; yet I do claim the conveying heat by means of
steam or otherwise to the bowl B and carrier roller C, with the peculiar con-
struction of the mandrel, as already described, and carries rollers C, and also.
the apparatus for furnishing the colours to the engraved roller, together with
the dispensing with the covering to the under roller in the sizing machine
referred to in the former Patent, being to the best of my knowledge and belief
new and never before used in this Kingdom, I declare this to be a true and
faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wainwright Potts, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid William Wainwright Potts came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.