IMPROVE. MENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE BLOCKS TO BE USED IN SUCH MACHINES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Dellagana and Bartholomew Dellagana,
both of Shoe Lane, in the City of London, and of Saint John Street
Road, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Printing Machine
Makers, and Stereotype Founders, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE
BLOCKS TO BE USED IN SUCH MACHINES."
Sealed the 30th June 1868, and dated the 3rd January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Dellagana and
Bartholomew Dellagana at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd January 1868.
We, JAMES DELLAGANA and BARTHOLOMEW DELLAGANA, both of
Shoe Lane, in the City of. London, and of Saint John Street Road,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Printing Machine Makers,
and Stereotype Founders, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES AND IN THE
FACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE BLOCKS TO BE USED IN SUCH MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
MANU.
Our first improvement relates to the cylinders for carrying curved
blocks for printing from, and consists in providing the cylinders with
[Price 8d.]

page_text: rings undercut at their sides for the purpose of holding the printing
blocks, the edges of which are received under and held by the projecting
edges of the rings. The rings are adjustable on the cylinders to suit
any length of block, so as to allow of any sized sheet being printed from,
the narrowest up to the widest the length of the cylinders will take.
Our second improvement relates to the distributing rollers for
distributing the ink upon a cylindrical inking table, and consists in
fitting these rollers, or some of them, at one end in bearings carried by
a frame to which an oscillating motion is imparted, the opposite end
of the rollers being fitted in fixed bearings; these rollers have long
journals which work freely in their bearings. As the machine works
and the cylindrical inking table revolves the oscillating frame gradually
lowers one end of the distributing rollers in a curved direction and then
gradually returns them to their first position, keeping them always in
contact with the inking table; during this movement the rotary motion.
of the cylindrical inking table causes the distributing rollers to revolve
and at the same time, owing to their long journals, to travel a certain
distance along the cylindrical table, and then back again, whereby
the ink is uniformly distributed. We prefer to have two or more
distributing rollers fitted in the oscillating frame and one or more
distributing rollers fitted in fixed bearings at both ends.
Our third improvement relates to the feed apparatus for supplying the
white sheets to the machine, and consists in the employment of endless
travelling webs or belts in combination with grippers or drop bars. The
grippers are carried by the endless webs and are opened and closed at the
proper times by cams, guides, or other convenient means. The sheets
are placed singly upon a laying-on board, from which the grippers take
them, and we employ stops which prevent the sheets being carried off
too soon, but which rise at the proper time to allow the sheets to
pass. There may be three or other convenient number of laying-on
boards, according to the required number of feeders.
Our fourth improvement relates to apparatus for taking off or
delivering the printed sheets, and consists in the employment of a double
action oscillating fan or light frame, this fan works at its lower end on a
transverse rod or bar between two delivery tables, and the rod or bar
receives an oscillating motion by means of a connecting bar and cam
from the gearing of the machine or otherwise. The oscillations thus

page_text: given to the fan are so timed that in its backward movement it takes a
sheet from the delivery tapes and places it on one of the delivery tables,
and in its forward movement it takes another sheet from the delivery
tapes and places it on the other delivery table, and so on alternately,
being thus double acting. The fan and its rod are counterweighted so
that in the normal position the fan is vertical. The tables are hinged
so as to close up when not required for work.
The fifth part of our Invention consists in means of readily changing
the blanket on the blanket cylinders of printing machines; we fit two
rollers inside the blanket cylinder and we employ a blanket which passes
round each of the rollers, when the part of the blanket which passes
round the cylinder requires changing we draw the blanket by turning
one roller and slackening the other so that another portion of the blanket
is brought round the cylinder. Any convenient appliance may be
adopted for securing the blanket in the required position.
The sixth part of our Invention consists in constructing printing
machines which will work at four points, two points, or one point
according to requirement; we employ for this purpose a single type
cylinder placed between two blanket cylinders and a pair of type
cylinders having a blanket cylinder between them; we feed the white
sheets simultaneously at both ends of the machine. The sheets fed at
that end next the single type cylinder are carried first between this type
cylinder and the upper blanket cylinder so that one side is printed, and
then between the upper of the pair of type cylinders and their blanket
cylinder so that the other side is printed. The sheets fed at the other
end of the machine pass over the lower of the pair of type cylinders
and then under the single type cylinder. After the sheets have been
printed they are carried off and are delivered by the fans herein described
or in any convenient manner. This machine inay be made to print on
one or both sides of the paper; for printing on one side only, one of
the blanket cylinders and one of the type cylinders must be taken away
or lifted from the impression.
The last part of our Invention relates to the manufacture of electro-
type blocks for employment in the cylinders of our printing machine,
and it consists in making them of a curved shape by the means hereafter
described in order that they may correspond with the circumference of
the printing cylinders. We proceed as follows:-We first take än

page_text: impression or matrix in wax or gutta percha from the type or "form"
or engraving, we then remove this impression or matrix, first slightly
heating it by placing the plate on which it has been formed on a heated
table; when the impression or matrix is still warm we place it on the
concave face of a curved plate, the curve of which corresponds with the
circumference of the printing cylinder, and we bend and press the matrix
to the curve of this plate. We then submit it to the galvanic bath and
thereby obtain a metallic printing surface having the desired curve. After
tinning the back of this surface as usual we place it in a mould, dip the
mould in the ordinary molten metal, and we continue to run molten
metal into the mould while the cooling is taking place. We thus
produce a curved electrotype block of the required thickness.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Dellagana and Bartholomew Dellagana in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
DELLAGANA and BARTHOLOMEW DELLAGANA, both of Shoe Lane, in
the City of London, and of Saint John Street Road, Clerkenwell, in
the County of Middlesex, Printing Machine Makers, and Stereotype
Founders, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said James Dellagana and Bartholomew Dellagana, Her
special licence that we, the said James Dellagana and Bartholomew
Dellagana, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said James Dellagana and Bartholomew Dellagana,our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
MACHINES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE BLOCKS TO BE USED IN
SUCH MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said

page_text: James Dellagana and Bartholomew Dellagana, or one of us, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
one of our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Dellagana and Bartholomew
Dellagana, do hereby declare the nature of our 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:-
Our first improvement relates to the cylinders for carrying curved
blocks for printing from, and is represented in Figure 1 of the annexed
Drawings, which represents a longitudinal section of part of a cylinder.
The improvement consists in providing the cylinders with rings a, a,
undercut at their sides for the purpose of holding the printing blocks,
the edges of which are received under and held by the projecting edges
of the rings. The rings are adjustable on the cylinders to suit any
length of block by the arrangement shown in the Figure, or by any
other convenient arrangement, so as to allow of any sized blocks being
inserted, and consequently to allow of any sized sheet being printed,
from the narrowest up to the widest the length of the cylinders will
take.
We claim under this head of our Invention the adjustable undercut
rings a, a, for the purpose described.
Our second improvement relates to the distributing rollers for
distributing the ink upon a cylindrical inking table, and consists in
fitting these rollers or some of them at one end, in bearings carried by
a frame to which an oscillating motion is imparted, the opposite end
of the rollers being fitted in fixed bearings; these rollers have long
journals which work freely in their bearings. Figure 2 represents in end
view a cylindrical inking table b, and three distributing rollers c, c, c,
carried at one end in a frame d to which oscillating motion is imparted.
The manner in which the oscillating motion is imparted is represented in
Figure 3, which is a side elevation of a complete machine; b, b, in this
Figure are two inking tables, each provided with three distributing

page_text: C
rollers c carried in frames d, d. The two frames are connected together
by rods e, e, and by an excentric on the main shaft f. As this shaft
revolves the excentric gives the required oscillating motion, any other
convenient arrangement may however be adopted to produce the
oscillating motion of the frames d, d. As the machine works and the
cylindrical inking table revolves, each oscillating frame d gradually
lowers one end of the distributing rollers in a curved direction, and then
gradually returns them to their first position, keeping them always in
contact with the inking table; during this movement the rotary motion
of the cylindrical inking table causes the distributing rollers to revolve,
and at the same time owing to their long journals to travel a certain
distance along the cylindrical table and then back again, whereby the
ink is uniformly distributed. We prefer to have two or more distributing
rollers fitted in the oscillating frame and one or more distributing rollers
fitted in fixed bearings at both ends.
We claim under this head of our Invention fitting distributing rollers
in such manner that oscillating motion can be imparted to them at one
end for the purpose described.
Our third improvement relates to the feed apparatus for supplying the
white sheets to the machine, and consists in the employment of endless
travelling webs or belts in combination with grippers.
This part of our Invention is represented in Figure 3, and on a larger
scale in Figure 4. The grippers g are carried by the endless webs m
and are opened and closed at the proper times by cams, guides, or other
convenient means. The means shown in the Drawings consist of a
double forked cam h on the gripper bar, and of stops i and j on the
frame. The sheets are placed singly upon a laying-on board from which
the grippers take them, and we employ stops k which prevent the sheets
being carried off too soon, but which rise at the proper time to allow the
sheets to pass. After the grippers have taken a sheet a given distance
round the drum 7 the cam h comes against the stop i, which turns it over
with the grippers and releases the sheet; when the cam h reaches the
other stop it is again turned over with the grippers ready to take
another sheet. There may be three or other convenient number of
laying-on boards according to the required number of feeders.
We claim under this head of our Invention the combination of
grippers and endless travelling webs or belts substantially as described.

page_text: Our fourth improvement relates to apparatus for taking off or deliver-
ing the printed sheets, and is represented in Figure 3, and in a separate
view in Figure 5. It consists in the employment of a double action
oscillating fan or light frame n, this fan works at its lower end on a
transverse rod or bar o between two delivery tables p, q, and the rod
or bar o receives an oscillating motion by means of a connecting barr
and cam s from the gearing of the machine or otherwise. The
oscillations thus given to the fan n are so timed (and may be adjusted)
that in its backward movement it takes a sheet from the delivery
tapes and places it on one of the delivery tables, and in its forward
movement it takes another sheet from the delivery tapes and places it
on the other delivery table, and so on alternately, being thus double
acting. The fan and its rod are counterweighted at t, so that in the
normal position the fan is vertical. The tables are hinged so as to close
up when not required for work.
We claim under this head of our Invention the double action
oscillating fan or frame constructing and acting substantially as
described.
The fifth part of our Invention is represented in Figure 6, and consists
in means of readily changing the blanket on the blanket cylinders of
printing machines. We fit two rollers u, u, inside the blanket cylinder v,
and we employ a blanket which passes round each of the rollers as
shown; when the part of the blanket which passes round the cylinder
requires changing we draw the blanket by turning one roller and
slackening the other, so that another portion of the blanket is brought
round the cylinder. Any convenient appliance such as that shewn in
the Figure may be adopted for securing the blanket in the required
position.
We claim under this part of our Invention the means described of
readily changing the position of the blanket on the blanket cylinder.
The sixth part of our Invention consists in constructing printing
machines which will work at four points, two points, or one point
according to requirement. This part of our Invention will be understood
by the Diagram Figure 7. We employ for this purpose a single type
cylinder A placed between two blanket cylinders B, C, and a pair
of type cylinders D, E, having a blanket cylinder F between them.
We feed the white sheets simultaneously at both ends of the machine.

page_text: The sheets fed, at that end next, the single type cylinder A are carried
first between this type cylinder and the upper blanket cylinder B, 50
that one side is printed, and then between the upper of the pair of
type cylinders D and their blanket cylinder F, so that the other side
is printed. The sheets fed at the other end of the machine pass over
the lower of the pair of type cylinders E and then under the single
type cylinder A. After the sheets have been printed they are carried
off and are delivered by the fans shown in Figure 5, or in any con-
venient manner. This machine may be made to print on one or both
sides of the paper; for printing on one side only one of the blanket
cylinders and one of the type cylinders must be taken away or lifted
from the impression.
We claim under this part of our Invention the arrangement in
printing machines of type cylinders and blanket cylinders as and for
the purpose described.
"
The last part of our Invention relates to the manufacture of electro-
type blocks for employment in the cylinders of our printing machines,
and it consists in making them of a curved shape by the means hereafter
described in order that they may correspond with the circumference
of the printing cylinders. We proceed as follows:-We first take an
impression or matrix in wax or gutta percha from the type or "form"
or engraving we then remove this impression or matrix by first
slightly heating it if made of wax by placing the plate on which it
has been fornied on a heated table. When the impression or matrix
is still warm we place it on the concave face of a curved plate, the
curve of which corresponds with the circumference of the printing
cylinder, and we bend and press the matrix to the curve of this plate.
We then submit it to the galvanic bath, and thereby obtain a metallic
printing surface having the desired curve. After tinning the back of
this surface as usual we place it in a mould, dip the mould in the
ordinary molten metal for about 3 or 4 minutes in order that it may
become heated to the same degree as the molten metal, and after
removing the mould from the metal we run in molten metal into the
mould, and we continue to run it in while the cooling is taking place.
We thus produce a curved electrotype block of the required thickness.
Figure 8 represents in section the form of mould which may be
employed. a represents the metallic printing surface; b, the molten
metal run on to the back of this surface to form a block of the

page_text: required thickness; c is a mould; d is the guage frame to regulate
the thickness of the block; and e is a cylinder forming the outside of
the mould.
We claim under this head of our Invention the manufacture sub-
stantially in the manner described of curved electrotype blocks for use
in printing machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bartholomew Dellagana, on behalf
of myself and the said James Dellagana, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight.
B. DELLAGANA. (L.S.)