IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES FOR TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1884

page_text: I WILLIAM MATHER of the firm of Mather and Platt of the Salford Iron Works
Manchester in the County of Lancaster Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
my Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES FOR TEXTILE FABRICS,
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to print samples of designs from the engraved
copper rollers used in calico printing machines without having to put the rollers
into the ordinary printing machine.
The process of "sampling" is at present extremely costly, as the same trouble
and care must be taken to obtain one or two yards as a sample from one or a set of
engraved copper rollers as are required to adjust the printing machine for printing
any number of pieces. It is essential in the business of calico printing that one
set of copper rollers making up one design should by different colours and
combinations show a great variety of effects. For each effect a trial must be made
and each trial involves a readjustment of the machine for the sake only of "striking
off" one or two yards of cloth. Hence great delay and cost are incurred and fewer
samples or combinations are made than are possible and desirable if the process
were inexpensive and simple.
My invention consists of a machine which enables the engraved design on a
copper roller to be printed on a yard or two of cloth without the necessity of first
putting the roller on a solid mandrel as at present.
The cloth to be printed is stretched with the requisite tension partly round a
large bowl as in an ordinary printing machine from a batch' or roll of cloth-the
upper roller is placed upon bearing or friction rollers which support it firmly to
withstand pressure-It is adjusted end wise by forcing screws and plates to a
definite position-a small color box and cleaning doctor are used to give the color
and clean the roller. The bowl is raised from or brought into contact with and
caused to press on the roller. The part of a revolution given to the bowl will turn
simultaneously the copper roller and leave the pattern impressed on the cloth. The
bowl lifts and returns to the exact position whence it started carrying the cloth
with it the roller is removed and if the design has more than one roller the second
one is put in on the first one being lifted out. The second roller is adjusted to the

page_text: exact position to fit its engraved figure into the impression taken from the first
roller, a fresh color box is applied with the doctor-The bowl is dropped on to the
roller making the fitting true, when the partial revolution is again made as before.
The third roller is treated likewise and so on to any number. On each return of
the bowl it revolves the exact distance as in printing. When the pattern is
completed the return is double or more, so that a fresh surface of white cloth is
brought into position for another set of rollers or different colorings off the same
rollers.
The simplicity of adjustment of the rollers one after the other to fit exactly,-
the absence of the ordinary printing machine and large color box, and the rapidity
with which the motions are automatically made in printing and reversing-enable
a large number of combinations and colorings to be made and many samples
produced in a short time with a small quantity of cloth as compared to that
required in the usual way in the ordinary printing machine.

page_text: I WILLIAM MATHER, of the firm of Mather and Platt, of the Salford Iron Works,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES FOR TEXTILE FABRICS,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to print samples of designs from the engraved
copper rollers used in calico printing machines without having to put the rollers
into the ordinary printing machine.
The process of "sampling" is at present extremely costly as the same trouble
and care must be taken to obtain one or two yards as a sample from one or a set
of engraved copper rollers, as are required to adjust the printing machine for
printing any number of pieces. It is essential in the business of calico printing
that one set of copper rollers making up one design should, by different colours and
combinations show a great variety of effects.-For each effect a trial must be made
and each trial involves a readjustment of the machine for the sake only of
"striking off" one or two yards of cloth. Hence great delay and cost are incurred
and fewer samples or combinations are made than are possible and desirable if the
process were inexpensive and simple.
My invention consists of a machine which enables the engraved design on a
copper roller to be printed on a yard or two of cloth without the necessity of first
putting the roller on a solid mandrel as at present.
The cloth to be printed is stretched with the requisite tension partly round a
large bowl as in an ordinary printing machine from a batch' or roll of cloth.-the
copper roller is placed upon bearing or friction rollers which support it firmly to
withstand pressure. It is adjusted end wise by forcing screws and plates to a
definite position-a small colour box and cleaning doctor are used to give the
colour and clean the roller.-The bowl is raised from or brought into contact with
and caused to press on the roller. The part of a revolution given to the bowl will
turn simultaneously the copper roller and leave the pattern impressed on the cloth.
The bowl lifts and returns to the exact position whence it started carrying the
cloth with it the roller is removed and if the design has more than one roller, the
second one is put in on the first one being lifted out. The second roller is adjusted
to the exact position to fit its engraved figure into the impression taken from the
first roller, fresh colour box is applied with the doctor,-The bowl is dropped on
to the roller making the fitting true, when the partial revolution is again made as
before. The third roller is treated likewise and so on to any number.-On each
return of the bowl it revolves the exact distance as in printing. When the pattern
is completed the return is double or more, so that a fresh surface of white cloth is
brought into position for another set of rollers or different colourings off the same
rollers.
The simplicity of adjustment of the rollers one after the other to fit exactly,-
the absence of the ordinary printing machine and large colour box, and the rapidity
with which the motions are automatically made in printing and reversing-enable
a large number of combinations and colourings to be made and many samples
produced in a short time with a small quantity of cloth as compared to that
required in the usual way in the ordinary printing machine.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, reference
being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a side view and Fig. a front view of my improved machine for
printing patterns or samples.
The cloth to be printed is stretched with the requisite tension round a large
bowl a as in an ordinary printing machine: the bowl a is supported in adjustable
bearings a secured to two arms a² pivoted to the standards of the frame b
at a³ and at their outer ends jointed to rods c by which they are connected to
horizontal weighted levers d pivoted to the frame at d and operated by means of
rods e which are secured below to the levers d and carry at their upper ends bowls e
which rest upon and are operated by cams f keyed to a cam shaft g; a spur
wheel g¹ is fixed on the cam shaft g and is driven by a pinion secured to the
driving shaft h. A clutch i free to slide on a feather key bedded in the shaft h is
moved by the handwheel into or out of gear with clutch teeth formed on the boss
of the driving pulley 2 loose on the shaft h; one of the rods e is slotted at e² to
admit one end of a lever j, pivoted to the frame at ji and thus the lever jis actuated
as the rod e rises and falls. To the lever j is jointed a rod k, jointed above to a
lever pivoted at ; the lever is connected to a tappet fork m which acts upon a
clutch n free to slide on a feather key in the shaft o and engage with one or other
of two bevel wheels p p loose on the shaft o and both gearing into a carrier
wheel q on a stud q'; to the boss of the bevel wheel p is secured the spur wheel
which receives motion from the spur wheel g¹ secured to the cam shaft g and driven
by the pinion when the clutch is engaged with the driving pulley h².
Keyed to the inner end of the shaft o is a wheel s which gears into the wheel t
secured to the shaft of the bowl a and thus drives the latter in either direction
according to the position of the clutch n. Fixed on the shaft of the bowl a is a
pulley which is driven by a countershaft to turn the bowl and bring on to the
latter a fresh supply of fabric to be printed after a pattern has been completed;
is the engraved copper roller supported at each end by a pair of antifriction
rollers v, free to revolve in bearings v¹, secured to a transverse beam ², bolted to
the frame of the machine. To adjust the copper roller u endwise I employ screws w
with plates w secured to their ends, the screws pass through side plates;-the
plates w bear against the roller ends; locknuts are used to secure the roller when
in position for printing; a small colour box y is carried by a bracket secured to the
side plates and a furnishing" roller revolves in the colour box; a "doctor" is
also employed as usual.
The drawings represent the various parts in the position they occupy when the
bowl a is raised and the machine at rest.
When the clutch i is moved by the handle ¹ into gear with the clutch teeth on
the pulley 2, the shaft h and pinion revolve and motion is given to the wheel g¹
and thus to the cam shaft g; the cams fturn with the shaft g in the direction
indicated by the arrows Fig. 1 and the bowls e¹ and rods e are drawn down by the
weighted levers d; the end of the lever j is also depressed as the rod e is drawn
down and thus the tappet fork m is moved and the clutch n brought into gear
with and driven by the revolving wheel p and motion is thus given to the shaft of
and spur wheels and so by the wheel t. to the bowl a.
While the clutch n is being moved into gear with the wheel p the weighted
levers d and connecting rods chave raised one end of the arms a² and so brought
the bowl a into contact with the engraving roller u; as the bowl a turns it drives
the engraving roller u by friction and the pattern is thus printed on the cloth.
As long as the motion of the shaft g continues the cams falternately raise and
lower the levers e by which means the clutch n is moved automatically from the
wheel p to the wheel 21 as already described and the motion of the bowl a and
other parts of the machine is reversed; the bowl a raised out of contact with the

page_text: copper roller and turned back to the position from which it started previous to
printing from a fresh roller.
A catch or stop piece not shown on the drawings is employed to stop the bowl
when in this position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed.
I declare that what I claim is
1. Printing samples or patterns of designs on textile fabrics from engraved
copper rollers and the mechanism for effecting the same, substantially in the
manner and for the purposes herein described and as shown on the Drawings.
2. In a machine for printing samples, the method of and means for supporting
an engraved copper roller without the use of a solid mandrel, substantially as and
for the purposes herein shown and described.