Machines for Printing an Indefinite Number of Colours by Means of a Single Printing Plate.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Machines for Printing an Indefinite Number of Colours by Means of a
Single Printing Plate.
I, CLAUDIUS TIXIDRE, of 51, Avenue d'Ivry, Paris, France, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
**
The machine which forms the subject of this invention consists substantially
of a cylinder for carrying a printing plate or clichè, on which the paper, fed and
pressed by a roller is printed, as also of other cylinders in contact and made of
fead, white metal, &c., or gelatine. The selection" of the colours is effected
by inking all the parts of clichè which are intended for one and the same colour,
and printing these inked parts on a first contact cylinder. The same course is
pursued in regard to the other contact cylinders or colours, which are then en-
graved by known means suited to the material.
For outline drawings and letters or characters a hard metal clichè may be
used and the soft metal contact cylinders impressed therewith.
For the purposes of ensuring perfect register, each cylinder is attached to a
toothed wheel, having a diameter which is a multiple of its own, and all the
wheels are actuated by a toothed wheel.
Engagement is effected through the medium of a cylinder having a movement
of translation and actuated by a lever and a grooved cam.
At certain spots and in order to avoid any mixing of the colours on the prints,
a wiper is employed in combination with a washing tank.
The paper after being printed is cut into pieces by means of a longitudinal
rod fixed on a cylinder and an independent oblique bar pressed at the required
time against the rod and forming shears.
For the purpose of obtaining a more perfect impression, the printing machine,
is combined with a calendering machine, which prepares the paper immediately
before it enters the machine. The cylinder which carries the clichè is pierced
with screw holes throughout its periphery so that screws may be fitted into them
for the purpose of bringing up certain spots in the clichè which print too
faintly.
In order to facilitate the register in regard to the engraving, the engaging
wheel is fixed to the printing cylinder itself by means of holes. These holes are
placed at such intervals that two of them, one on the wheel, another on the
ylinder, coincide at all times. This is an application of the Veriner system
mployed in engraving instruments of precision.
I also employ presses with a single printing clichè for the Ducos du Hanron
rocess of printing in three colours as above described.
A plate is made which is sentative to all the colours, a clichè with which the

page_text: printing clichè is engraved, the colours being then selected in three photographic
clichés red, yellow, and blue, by means already known.
These three cliches will serve for engraving the three touching or inking rollers
which will apply ink to the relief of the printing clichè exactly on the right spots,
and the latter clichè will apply it to the paper.
F. W. GOLBY,
Patent Agent, 36, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
Machines for Printing an Indefinite Number of Colours by Means of a
Single Printing Plate.
I, CLAUDIUS TIXIDRE, of 51, Avenue d'Ivry, Paris, France, Engineer, 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:
The machine which forms the subject of this invention is composed of the
following parts in addition to the frame:-
1. The pressing cylinder A (Fig. 1).
2. The cliché-carrying cylinder B.
3. Contact cylinders C covered with white, or other, metal, or other material
readily taking an impression.
4. Inking rollers D made of gelatine, as is usual.
5. Ink rollers F and impression rollers E.
In order to print a representation in three colours, for example, the cliché
is placed on the cylinder 13 and the machine rotated until the impression of the
representation on the cliché is very clearly reproduced on the cylinders C which,
as stated above, are covered with white metal.
For the purpose of making the selection of the colours, the first colour to be
printed is put on to the cliché with a brush and the machine rotated until this
colour is reproduced on the first cylinder, which is then removed from the
machine for the purpose of being sprinkled with bitumen on the inked portions,
and engraved with acid so as to obtain the coloured parts in relief and to hollow
out all the parts not covered with colour.
In replacing this cylinder which has been once engraved, the points in relief
are brought exactly under those of the cliché. These points being inked by the
gelatine roller, deposit the ink at suitable spots on the cliché.
The same process is carried out for all the colours. Finally the cliché, having
received the ink from all the rollers and the whole of its surface being covered
with well placed tint, will suitably print the representation at a single pull in
passing under the pressing cylinder A which carries the printing paper.
When an outline drawing has been reproduced, it suffices if a hollow impression
be made on the white metal cylinders, as mentioned above, but this impression
must be very deep and the inking be effected as in copper engraving these said
cylinders furnishing the ink to the cliché reliefs after the colours have been
pulled as stated above.
As regards registering, this machine is furnished with gearing of double,

page_text: triple, etc., diameter of that of the cylinders, which reduces to nothing the
deviations arising from the play of the mechanism or from the wearing away of
the gearing teeth.
For this purpose the wheel B', mounted on the shaft of the cylinder B con-
trolling the cylinders C by the wheel C is internally toothed. The intermediate
wheels B furnish the motion in the right direction to the wheels mounted on
the shaft of the cylinders C.
The distinguishing feature of the invention described above, is the manner of
effecting almost instantaneously the starting of the engraving by means of a
single cliché, by hollow impression, by contact, by counter-proof, followed or not
by etching with acid.
The object of this invention thus is to simplify considerably the processes now
in use and to ensure a perfect register, since all the cylinders are formed mechani-
cally by the same original design.
I have described the application of this invention to a machine with a single
cliché receiving all the colours for the purpose of transferring them to the paper
at one pull. I am now going to describe its application to an ordinary machine,
that is to say one with several cylinders which transfer the ink to the paper.
In order to start the putting on of colour in an ordinary four-colour printing
press for example (Fig. 2) the engraved cliché or simply the original drawing
on paper is placed at a ¹. The portion of the design which it is desired to
print with the cylinder B is then covered with ink. Then the machine being
rotated, this ink, which is still fresh, will be transferred to that cylinder which
can be at once engraved with acid or an engraving tool. It is possible also to
proceed by moulding at once the cylinder being simply rotated against the
engraving, which if this be hollow will give a relief. The selection of the colours
is then effected by a brush on the cylinders to be engraved, since, in this case,
they carry all the engraving of the cliché, engraving, which, as is well known
must be divided over as many cylinders as there are colours.
What has been done with the cylinder B is done with the three others C, D, E,
and the starting of the colours is finished. Then there is nothing to be done
but to replace the cliché or the original design aby blank paper and to print
on this paper by rotating the machine. Each cylinder will transfer its colour
to the desired spot.
In many cases, for uniform tints especially, the cylinders B, C, D, E may be
made of paper pulp a process having been discovered for chemically engraving
this article, the process always being carried out in the way mentioned above as
regards reproduction and the selection of the colours.
Fig. 3 shows, in connection with a ten colour printing press a novel arrange.
ment of the cylinders which enables them to be furnished with a wiper and
a cutting blade and of specialising them. Thus the cylinder A will be used for
printing the grounds or the uniform colours, the cylinder A¹ to print the outline
or the details, the cyunder A" for printing the text. The cylinder B is the
pressing cylinder on which the paper runs and is cut, after the ink has been trans-
mitted by the three cylinders A, A", A For starting the colours, the cliché
or the original design is fixed on the cylinder B. This cliché or original design
should not be more than one half the circumference of the cylinder if a con-
tinuously rotating sheet of paper be employed as in Fig. 2. But this semi-
circumference engraved or drawn-will suffice for engraving the whole circum-
ference of the three printing cylinders A A" AL As stated above, the grounds
will first be reproduced on the cylinder A, care being taken that no colour shall
touch it, in order to avoid blendings an operation which is facilitated by the use
of the cylinder A. The text is reproduced on the cylinder A" and on the
cylinder A', the outline and the tints which are too dense will blend on the
cylinder A. In this manner, no blending will be possible on the cylinder A.
The cylinder A which transfers its ink very often to parts already printed by A,

page_text: and which, consequently, may be soiled when coming into contact with this ink,
will have its engraving continuously wiped by the automatic wiper C after each
operation.
When the starting for this first moiety of the cylinders is completed, a register
point at 180 degrees is taken on the tooth wheels and the other half is engraved
by the same process in order that the cylinders A and A¹ may bear two identical
representations on the two semi-circumferences. The cylinders A and A¹ receive
a provisional deposit for forming then the complete representation on the paper
in the different colours furnished by the inking rollers D) which being likewise
engraved deposit their colour always in the same place on the part or parts of
these cylinders which is or are distributed to them. For this purpose these
rollers and cylinders are registered by tooth gearings.
In engraving the inking rollers, the necessity is avoided at the same time of
an enormous hollow in the engraving of the cliché for the large blanks and it is
less expensive to deeply engrave the paper-pulp roller than the metal.
:
The rollers E are the impression cylinders and F the ink-rollers. The action is
as follows the paper coming from the reel G runs on the cylinder B and presses
at first under the cylinder A then under the cylinder A" and under the cylinder A¹
where it is printed. From this moment placed between a steel blade I mounted
on the cylinder B and the rule H in the form of a double incline (Figs. 4 and 5)
the paper is rubbed sufficiently to cut it. The cut commencing in the middle,
at the point and being completed at the edges at the points h¹ whence the
paper passes between the cords J which convey it to the receiving point K.
The rule or rod H which, as was stated above is of a rounded off form, may be
replaced with advantage by a rectangular cutting blade. This blade is fixed
obliquely to the blade I which is mounted on the cylinder as stated. The said
blade H need not be of angular shape, all that is necessary is that it should be
in one piece and come into contact with the blade I from h to h¹ (Figs. S
and 9).
For starting the colours in the machine an illustration of which is given in
Fig. 6, the cliché or the original design is placed on the cylinder A', a sheet of
paper lightly covered with paper pulp intended for effecting the reproduction
of the ground work design on the cylinder A, is then placed on the cylinder B.
A first ground tint is put on the cliché by a brush, the machine being rotated.
This tint is reproduced on the cylinder B which in turn transfers it to the
cylinder A, whence it is again transferred to the contact cylinder D which is
immediately engraved. This cylinder A is not engraved until after receiving
all the tints by the same process. The process of distributing the tints over the
contact cylinders A¹ and then the cylinders A" is then effected.
The impression is effected by my process by five operations.
1st operation. Casting of the material to be engraved, on the spot. The
rings (Fig. 13) are placed on the printing cylinders B, B, C (Fig. 12) pre-
cisely in the spot corresponding to the colour to be engraved, a piece of per-
forated sheet metal T of the necessary size is then screwed on to these rings. Two
lateral strips of felt and a transverse slip for forming the bottom of the mould
(see Fig. 14) are then arranged on the plate T, only of the width of the rings b;
on these three slips of felt are placed the edges of the arched mould, one of the
sides of which is formed by the cylinder one end being made open to allow of
the running off" of the alloy or zinc in a state of fusion. This mold is kept
against the cylinder during the casting by means of an iron bar hooked at each
end to the cylinder and furnished with a pressure screw, which rests on the
mould. The whole is then heated by means of irons made red hot by fire, by
a gas blow pipe or by electricity, being introduced into the holes in the
cylinder. The holes N are formed for the purpose of preventing any heat
reaching the axis. The metal being cast, the perforated plate T is sunk and
forms the core of the cliché (block). As the cylinder carries registers or marks X

page_text: engraved and numbered hollow or in relief (Fig. 13) these registers being moulded
in the material in a state of fusion will enable the representation to be reproduced
very exactly when after having been removed, it is desired to replace it.
2nd operation. Rolling, deep impressing and polishing.
Without allowing the cylinder to cool, but after having removed the metal
band and the felt, the material still in a heated state is rolled and impressed in
being rotated in contact with the pressure cylinder which is of polished steel.
A sheet of metal of the thickness of the paper may be interposed. This operation
avoids the starting of the pressing.
3rd operation. Engraving. If an engraved cliché is available, it is fixed on
the cylinder B (Fig. 12) then, for engraving the cylinder C, the part of the design
which has to be printed by C¹ is inked on the cylinder B with a brush. A sheet
of paper
is placed on the pressing cylinder A and the machine being rotated, the
design is first transferred to the paper, then on to the cast metal ink roller on C¹ ;
this roller is removed in order to be re-touched as may be necessary and to be
engraved with acid. The same process is carried out for B¹. The inking rollers C
are then engraved by direct contact with B and B¹, but as these latter already
have a design in relief a sunk or hollow engraving will be obtained by rotating
one of these cylinders over the other, the material of the ink-rollers C being
hot. This sunk engraving will be immediately set in relief by means of acid
after it has been inked as stated above. The ink rollers of all the cylinders
having been engraved, it is sufficient to put them back into their places, which
is easy as they bear in the interior the letter of the cylinder and number of
the moulded mark or register as stated. If instead of an engraved cliché, only
one original design on paper is available, this design is placed on the pressing
cylinder and the colours to be reproduced one after the other are inked in with
a brush, these colours being transferred step by step (proportionally) to the
corresponding printing and inking rollers.
4th operation. Printing. After putting the ink-rollers in position, a pull
is taken and if the paper is smudged owing to insufficient relief, it is only
necessary to heat the cylinder and the cliché to about 150°; and then with a
knife or a soldering iron made white hot, to go over the parts which remain too
prominent and to reduce them sufficiently by fusing the metal.
For continuous printing in a model machine (Fig. 12), the paper is introduced
to the cylinders B', which print three colours, then passed under the cylinders C¹,
which prints one of them, and finally under the cylinder B, which prints three
of them.
5th operation. Cutting the paper. On leaving the cylinder B the paper pre-
senting the middle of the margin to the straight blades is cut in a straight line
by the friction of the said blades on the oblique blade (Fig. 12) and con-
sequently divided into sheets. These two blades (Fig. 3) in meeting produce
precisely the well known effect of shears, without being mounted like them:-
the two on one axis. This novel arrangement differs from that of the rotary
cutters in use, in the straight blade being mounted on the cylinder and the oblique
blade fixed to the frame. The oblique blade is formed by a thin steel band
enclosed between two rules made of hoop iron. This band has the peculiarity of
possessing a flexible edge which is very advantageous as regards cutting freely.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
(1) The means of effecting the engraving of colours on the spot, by transfer,
moulding and etching with acid from (or according to) a single cliché or an
original design on paper, substantially as mentioned above.
(2) The employment of inking and printing evlinders covered with a malle-
able substance either in a hot or a humid condition, but which is hard when

page_text: cold or dry, in order to facilitate the transfer of the impression from the said
cylinders substantially as described.
(3) The means herein described for promptly forming large hollows by heating,
and casting, the part to be engraved, by means of a heated iron.
(4) The employment of blades substantially as described above for cutting
the paper without notching and without stoppage.
Dated this 9th day of May 1900.
F. W. GOLBY,
Patent Agent, 36, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.