Improvements in Chromatic Printing Machines.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Oct., 1889-Accepted, 7th Dec., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in Chromatic Printing Machines.
I, CALVERT BARON COTTRELL, of 29 Elm Street, Westerly, in the County of
Washington, and State of Rhode Island, United States of America, Manufacturer of
printing machines do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :--
This invention relates to presses in which there are employed two or more
impression cylinders and a reciprocating bed common to all the said cylinders and
adapted to carry a number of printing forms corresponding with the number of cylinders
and the number of colors to be printed. Such a machine may be of what is known as
the stop cylinder type or of the two revolution cylinder type or its cylinders may
complete two revolutions and then stop for a time during each reciprocating move-
ment of the bed back and forth. The bed may be driven by a crank or by the
Napier" or "mangle rack" movement.
66
The machine herein described and illustrated in the drawings are of the kind last
above mentioned, that is to say, the kind in which the cylinders have two revolutions
and afterwards stop for a time during each reciprocating movement of the bed back
and forth.
I will now proceed to describe the improvement with reference to the accompany-
ing drawings in which
Figure 1 is a side view of a machine with two cylinders for printing in two
colors.
Figure 2 represents a central longitudinal vertical section of this machine omitting
a portion of the framing at each end and portions of the inking apparatus.
Figure 3 represents a longitudinal view of some of the details which are not so well
shown in Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a plan view corresponding with Figure 2.
Figures 5 and 6 are diagrams of the cylinders representing the bed at opposite ends
of its stroke.
Figure 7 is a diagram representing the arrangement of three cylinders in one
machine with a bed common to all.
Figure 8 is a detail view which will be hereinafter explained.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A Figures 1, 2, 4 designates the fixed framing of the machine upon which runs the
reciprocating bed.B, and upon which are erected the standards A', A2, containing the
bearings for the shafts 81, 82, of the two impression cylinders C1, C2, the said standards
and their bearings being at such distances apart as to leave sufficient space between
them to permit a sheet which is received on the first of said cylinders C, by its
grippers t, from a feed board U, and afterwards transferred to the other cylinder C²,
to be printed first under the said cylinder C', with one color on one of two forms T',T2
on the bed B, and afterwards under the other cylinder C, with another color on the
other of the said forms.
Near the places provided on the bed B for the two forms T", T2, racks B1, B2, are
provided for the purpose of gearing with gears c³, c², on the shafts of the cylinders
during printing. There may be such racks on both sides of the bed and such gears
at both ends of the cylinders. The racks B', B2, and the gears c³, c², ensure the two
cylinders being driven at a surface speed exactly corresponding with that of the bed
during printing. The bed is represented as having imparted to it the necessary
reciprocating motion by means of the common "Napier " or " mangle rack" motion.
The bed has depending from it hangers B³, upon which the rack B' is carried, the
said rack engaging with a mangle pinion B³, on a knuckle shaft B6, which is

page_text: jointed to the main shaft B', of the machine upon which is the pulley for driving
the machine.
The cylinders C'and Camust be so geared together independently of their gearing with
the bed, that they will have corresponding rotary movements when out of gear with
the bed. The gearing by which the cylinders are so geared together may be of any
suitable kind. I have represented it as consisting of two endless racks v, gearing
with spur gears on the cylinders. These endless racks are endless chains made of
toothed links and the said racks or chains serve the additional purpose of carrying
grippers ¹, and w² for the purpose of taking the sheets from each of said cylinders
and transferring it to another or to a receiving board U₁, as will be hereinafter
described. The said endless chains or racks are represented as supported on wheels V¹,
and V*, carried by shafts r, *, which work in bearings in standards V2 and V2*, the
standards V2 being erected on opposite side frames of the main framing A, and
those V*, being erected on the cylinder journal boxes and the said racks gearing
with spur gears of equal size ou the two cylinders. These gears may be and are
represented as the same c', c², hereinbefore described as gearing with the bed rack.
The two cylinders being thus geared together, their rotary movements will. be
synchronous, that is to say, made to correspond so that exactly such movements as
may be given to the cylinder C', will also be given to the cylinder C2, and when the
cylinder C¹ stops, the cylinder C2 will also stop.
The two cylinders besides being geared together to have synchronous rotary move-
ments must have corresponding synchronous raising and falling movements by which
both are brought up to a position in which they will not gear with the bed racks and
The mechanism
returned to a position in which they will gear with the said racks.
applied to each of the cylinders C1, C2, for this purpose may be and is represented to
be the same as that commonly employed in stop cylinder printing presses and known
as the "lift" mechanism, consisting of rods h (see Figure 2) connected at their
upper ends with the journal boxes of the cylinders extending downwards through
guides on the framing and connected at their lower ends by bearing blocks h³,
springs applied around the said rods for the purpose of lifting the boxes and the
cylinders, and toggles ", applied between said bearing blocks and the frame for the
purpose of drawing down the cylinder boxes and the cylinders.
The toggles are connected with a cranked rock-shaft ho, which is supported in
bearings in the blocks . The crank h belonging to the first cylinder C¹ is connected
by a hook bar H', with a cam yoke d, which embraces a cam d, upon the cam
shaft D.. The cam d and the hook bar H1 serve to operate the toggles belonging to
the first cylinder C³, as in an ordinary stop-cylinder machine and the toggles belonging
to the second cylinder C² are operated at the same time in the same manner through
a bar d², which connects the crank portions h of the rock-shaft ho
The means of giving motion to the first cylinder C¹, while out of gear with the bed,
constitutes no part of the present invention. For the purpose of this invention any
suitable means may be employed for giving such notion to the said cylinder as for
instance, those ordinarily employed in the two-revolution cylinder presses or those
employed in the stop-cylinder presses in common use, but I have represented for that
purpose a starting lever and sector on one side of the machine and a train of gearing
on the other side of the machine which constitutes part of the subject-matter of another
application for British Letters Patent dated October 15th 1889 No. 16207 and which
I will now here briefly describe.
The starting lever E is shown partly in full and partly in dotted outline in figure 2,
in which Figure also is shown the mechanism for operating the main lever, but I have
also shown more plainly in figure 8, the upper end of the said lever and the toothed
sector E on the cylinder with which it gears. The other gearing is shown in
Figure 1.
The starting lever is represented as working on a fixed stud e, and as driven through
a horizontally moving bar E2, by means of two cam-shaped gear wheels E³, E4, of
which E³ is fast upon the cam shaft D, and Et is pivoted to a yoke on the said bar,

page_text: the said bar being connected by a gab-hook E with the lower end of the starting
lever.
The train of gearing hereinbefore referred to as on the other side of the machine
and which is represented in Figure 1, consists as follows:-
Mounted upon a fixed stud or pin ƒ secured in the side framing, there is a large
gear wheel F, which engages with a pinion F2, on the main shaft B7, of the machine.
This pinion is of the same pitch diameter as the knuckle gear or mangle pinion B5,
hence its pitch line and the pitch line of the large wheel F, both have the same speed
as the bed or the speed. which the cylinder must have during printing. Fast to the
gear wheel F, is a gear wheel F1, of half the diameter of the said wheel F. This
gear wheel gears with a smaller gear wheel F³, turning loosely on a fixed stud f³,
and the said gear wheel F³, gears with another gear wheel F', turning on a fixed
stud f. Opposite this gear wheel F4, there is fast to the cylinder a concentric
toothed sector F³, which is capable of gearing with the said gear wheel F4. This
concentric sector F5 has a pitch radius one-half that of the cylinder gear c¹. Secured
to the gear wheel F, is an eccentric sector Fe, and secured to the concentric sector F5
or otherwise secured to the cylinder, is an eccentric sector F, which is the counter-
part of that F. These eccentric sectors are so arranged that they may work in gear
with each other.
The position of the parts shown in figures 1 and 2, is that in which the cylinders
are raised out of gear from the bed rack, the first cylinder C being in the position
for taking a sheet from the feed board U, and the bed moving toward the right which
is the direction of the return movement after printing. The starting lever E is in its
central position and in gear with the sector E*, of the cylinder and the cams E³, E4,
are about to move the starting lever to the left and thus turn the cylinder C³, in the
direction of the arrow shown near it in Figure 2, with a speed which is gradually
accelerated by the form of the cams Es E. The eccentric sectors F and F7, of the
train of gearing on the other side of the machine remain out of gear with each other
until just as the starting lever is passing out of gear with the sector E*, and the
movement of the cylinder. is continued through the said sectors, the velocity being
gradually accelerated by reason of the excentric form of the said sectors until the
concentric sector Fs comes into gear with the gear wheel F¼ which constantly.
rotates in the direction of the arrow shown upon it, and the cylinder is thus brought
to the same surface speed as the movement of the bed. The cylinders having now
been depressed by the toggles and the movement of the bed having been reversed, the
rack on the bed runs into gear with it and during the movements of the two cylinders
thus produced, the two printings take place, one on the sheet which has just been
taking to the first cylinder C' by its grippers t¹, from the feed board and the other on
a sheet which has been previously printed on the first cylinder and brought by the
grippers on the endless chains from the first cylinder and taken from the chain grippers
to the second cylinder C2, by its grippers ta. The grippers of the first cylinder take
the sheet while the cylinder is stationary as in an ordinary stop-cylinder press but
the gripners t, of the second cylinder take the sheets while the said cylinder and the
gripper-carrying chains are in motion.
The grippers t1, t2, of the two cylinders may be like those commonly used on the
impression cylinders of cylinder printing machines and as the said grippers may
be opened by similar cams to those employed for the purpose in ordinary cylinder
printing machines, I have not thought it necessary to represent means for opening.
said grippers.
The grippers w³, w², the bars of which are carried by the endless chains or racks V,
are in two sets, those w₁ of the one set which are for taking the sheets from the first
cylinder and carrying them to the second, intervening between those w² of the other
set which take the sheets from the second cylinder and deposit them on the receiving
board.
The grippers w which take the sheets from the first cylinder are opened to take a
sheet by means of a stationary cam (see Figure 4) secured to one of the standards V**,

page_text: which supports the shaft v*, and its wheels V₁*, for carrying the endless chains or
racks, and are closed by springs as in grippers commonly employed to take sheets
from cylinders. The said grippers are opened again to release the sheet when it
arrives in proper relation with the second cylinder C², by passing a stationary cam l²,
(see Figure 4) secured upon the standard A. The grippers w2 which take the sheet
from the second cylinder are opened for the purpose by passing the same cam l² as is
employed to open the grippers w', and they are opened again to release the sheet and
deposit it on the receiving board by means of a stationary cain 1, (see Figure 4)
secured to one of the standards V2, in which is supported the shaft v, of the wheels Vi
for carrying the endless chains or racks.
In order to provide for throwing up the grippers w³, entirely out of the way of the
cylinder C and its grippers as they pass the said cylinder, the main bar of the
grippers is provided with an arm w, furnished with an antifriction roller w*, which in
passing under a stationary cam * causes the said grippers w³ to be thrown upwards as
illustrated in Figure 2, where one pair of grippers w² is shown passing the cylinder
and operated by said cam 4.
i.
The endless chains or racks V, aresupported between the wheels V₁ and V₁*, on
rigid ways W, W, constructed on frames W', one on each side of the machine. One
of these frames with the chain-carrying shafts, and one of the wheels on each shaft
are separately represented in a side view Figure 3. The shaft v at the delivery end
of the machine, that is to say, at the right hand end of Figures 2 and 3, is capable of
being lifted out of its bearings. The two frames W', containing the ways W, are
connected near the shaft v, at the delivery end of the machine, by a cross-bar W². By
applying a tackel or other hoisting device to the said bar with the end of the frames W',
and with them the corresponding shaft v, the wheels V' and the portions of the chains
or racks on said wheel may be raised, the frames turning on the shaft v*, at the
receiving end of the machine which is at the left hand of Figures 2 and 3 as a pivot.
By this raising the ways and the gripper-carrying chains or racks and attached
grippers, access may be had to the cylinders and parts of the machine below.
In proper relation to each cylinder there are arranged inking rollers I, I, and
distributing rollers J, J, and in proper relation to the place provided on the bed for
each form, there are arranged distributing tables K. For a lithographic press water
rollers I may also be provided. As these rollers and tables need not differ from
those in single cylinder printing machines, no particular description of them is
necessary.
In case of a third cylinder Ce being provided for printing from a third form T³,
as shown in Figure 7, additional inking rollers, distributing rollers and tables will
have to be provided.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
First. The combination with a plurality of impression cylinders provided with
receiving grippers and geared together to rotate synchronously, a reciprocating form-
bed common to all of said cylinders and adapted to carry a number of forms
corresponding with the number of said cylinders, a rack on the bed for each cylinder,
gears upon said cylinders gearing with said rack, and endless chains and grippers
thereon arranged to run between said cylinders for the purpose of taking sheets from
one of said cylinders and transferring them to another, substantially as and for the
purpose herein set forth.
Second. The combination with a plurality of impression cylinders provided with
receiving grippers, a reciprocating form-bed common to all of said cylinders aud
adapted to carry a number of forms corresponding with the number of cylinders, a
rack on said bed for each cylinder, and gears on said cylinders for engaging with said
rack for driving said cylinders during printing, endless racks, and gears upon said
cylinders gearing with said endless racks for the purpose of transmitting motion from

page_text: one cylinder to another while out of gear with the bed-rack and grippers on said
endless racks for taking sheets from one cylinder and transferring them to another,
substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
Third. The combination in a printing machine with a plurality of impression
cylinders having gears upon them, endless chaics engaging with said gears above the
said cylinders and carrying grippers for taking sheets from said cylinders, of tracks
upon which said endless chains run, pivotal supports for said-tracks at one end and
upwardly movable supports for the other end of said tracks, substantially as and for
the
herein set forth.
purpose
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.