IMPROVED MEANS OF MOUNTING AND SECURING STEREOTYPE OR OTHER SIMILAR PLATES IN PRINTING MACHINES.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Purdy Tickle, of Sherborne Street,
Blandford Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED MEANS OF MOUNTING AND SECURING STEREOTYPE OR OTHER
SIMILAR PLATES IN PRINTING MACHINES.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left; by the said Robert Purdy Tickle
at the Office of the Commissioners of, Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd November 1873.
I, ROBERT PURDY TICKLE, of Sherborne Street, Blandford Square, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF MOUNTING AND SECURING STEREOTYPE OR
OTHER 'SIMILAR PLATES IN PRINTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to the mode of mounting and securing
stereotype or other similar plates, whether flat or curved in printing
machines, and it chiefly consists in the construction and employment of a
bed or block of iron or other suitable material, across the face of which I
form a number of dovetailed grooves or channels, diagonally or otherwise,

page_text: In these dovetailed grooves I slide loose pieces, the dimensions of which
are such that they cannot pass above the top of the dovetail, nor can ·
they turn round in it. In these loose pieces are female screw threads to
receive screws, which are passed through clips above the dovetails.
The stereotype or other plate to be secured is placed in the required
position upon the bed; a sufficient number of clips with the corre-
sponding loose pieces screwed lightly thereto, are then moved along the
dovetail channels against the several sides of the plate, the screws are
then screwed up tight and the plate is thus firmly secured.
In some cases I form the clips and the loose pieces in one, and then
the screws when screwed up will press upon the bottom of the dove-
tailed grooves, and therefore wedge these clip pieces up tight against the
top of the dovetail. ----
For printing pages which require a "brass rule" or other border round
then, I form the clip pieces or some of them with depending flanges, in
which I fit a screw. There is a hole in the brass rule to allow of this
screw being screwed up or loosened as required, and to allow the clip
picce to fall back, in order that the stereotype or other plate may be
removed. When the screw is unscrewed the clip picce can be moved
inwards right up against the block or bed, while by screwing up the
screw its inner end presses against the block or bed and forces the clip
piece out, so that a wider stereotype plate can be inserted, without in
any way interfering with the brass rule or other border. A portion of
the block or bed is cut away at the side to receive the clip piece.
By the means above described I can mount a plate of the size of the
brass rule or border, or of any smaller size, and I can also arrange a
number of these beds or blocks with a brass rule or other border round
each, to make up a "form" of any number of pages.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
· filed by the said Robert Purdy Tickle in the Great Seal Patent 30
Office on the 22nd May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
PURDY TICKLE, of Sherborne Street, Blandford Square, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Purdy Tickle, Her
special licence that I, the said Robert Purdy Tickle, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Purdy Tickle, my 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 "IMPROVED MEANS OF MOUNTING AND SECURING STEREOTYPE OR OTHER SIMILAR
PLATES IN PRINTING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Robert Purdy Tickle, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said Robert Purdy Tickle, do
hereby declare the nature of my 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
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to the mode of mounting and securing
stereotype or other similar plates, whether flat or curved, in printing
machines, and it chiefly consists in the construction and employment of
a bed or block of iron or other suitable material, across the face of which
I form a number of dovetailed grooves or channels, diagonally or
otherwise, and in the employment in these dovetailed grooves of pieces
which cannot pass above the top of or turn round in the grooves, but
which can be moved to and fixed at any required positions therein, so as
to bring and hold clips in the necessary positions for securing stereotype
or other similar plates at the desired places on the said bed or block.
I proceed to describe with the aid of the accompanying Drawings
several modes of carrying my Invention into effect.

page_text: Figure 1 is a plan of a bed or block, formed with diagonal dovetailed
grooves A, A, as shewn. B`and C represent two stereotype or other
plates secured thereon, but in ways slightly differing from each other.
Referring to the means by which the plate B is secured a, a, are pieces
which can be moved or slidden.in the dovetailed grooves A, but cannot
pass above the top thereof nor turn round in them, see Figure 2, which
is a section at 1.-
1 of Figure 1. . These pieces a, a, are formed with
female screw threads to receive screws b, b, which are passed through
clips c, c, above the grooves. The plate B having been placed in the
required position upon the bed, a sufficient number of the clips c, with
the corresponding pieces a, to which they are screwed lightly, are moved
along the grooves A against the several sides of the plate, as seen in
Figure 1; the screws bare then screwed up tight and the plate is thus
firmly secured...
.
The means by which the plate C is secured 'differ from those last
described chiefly in that the clips c and pieces a, are formed in one; in
this case when the clips have been moved up against the sides of the
plate the screws 6 are screwed up and will by pressing against the
bottom of the grooves A, wedge the pieces a up tight against the upper
part of the grooves.
-
Figure 3 is a section at 2.- 2 of Figure 1, and Figure 4 is an end
view of one of the clip pieces.
Figure 5 represents means which may be adopted with advantage for
simultaneously fixing several plates upon one bed or block. In this case
the dovetailed grooves A run parallel with the sides of the bed.
Supposing three plates represented in red lines at B, C, D, have to be
fixed to the block, I place at one side of each of them two (or more)
clips c, carried by loose pieces a (see the end and side views, Figures 6
and 7).
.
The pieces a are formed with an aperture, through which a screw b
passes freely. On the screw 6 is a nut d, and at one end is a part e to
lie' in the transverse grooves. In the central longitudinal groove lies a
screw 6', which carries a piece a¹ with a clip c³, for each plate B, C, D;
béhind each piece a¹ is a nut d¹. Before placing the plates B, C, D, in
position the nuts d are adjusted on their screws.b, so as to allow the
clips c.to.be moved to the points, to which that edge of the several plates
has to come, and the puts d' are likewise adjusted so as to allow the

page_text: clips.c¹ to be moved to such positions as will allow the plates to clear
them, when being laid on the bed.
After the plates have been placed on the bed with one edge under the
clips c, the screw 6¹ is turned by means of the handle f, whereby the
nuts d' are caused to draw the clips c¹ tight up against the opposite edge
of the plates, which are thus firmly secured; g is a steadying or bearing
nut for the screw b¹.
Figure 8 is a vertical section, and Figure 9 a sectional perspective
view, representing the manner in which I secure plates to a cylindrical
or curved bed; A, A, are dovetailed grooves as before. In the cir-
cumferential grooves I place screws 6, each provided with a part e,
similar to that shewn in Figure 5, to lie in the transverse groove. On
each of these screws is a piece a carrying a clip c, and behind the piece a
is a nut d. The nuts having been adjusted so as to bring the clip c to the
position which one edge of the plate has to occupy, the plate is placed
on the bed with its edge under the clip c, and then one or more pieces a¹
with clips c, similar to those described with reference to plate B of
Figure 1, are moved up against the opposite edge of the plate and
screwed up tight; similar pieces and clips may if thought necessary be
moved up against the side, as shewn at c², Figure 9.
For cases where a "brass rule" or other border is required, I secure
the stereotype or other similar plate by the means shewn in Figure 10.
The bed or block is formed with dovetailed grooves A, A, as before, and
around its edges I secure by screws the brass rule or border E in the
ordinary manner. B represents the plate to be secured. Before putting
it in place I adjust clip pieces c, c, (one of which is shewn detached in
Figure 11) at one side, and at one end according to the size of the plate
and the position it has to occupy, and I fix these pieces by screwing up
their screws b in the manner described with reference to the plate C of
Figure 1; I now put the plate in position, then move up against the
other end a clip piece c¹, which I also fix in a similar manner, and I
finally secure the remaining side of the plate by turning the screw 6' by
its handle, so as to draw inwards the nut d', which carries the clip c³,
this clip being thus moved into position against the plate. The brass.
5 rule is formed with a hole at h to allow the screw to pass through it. A
number of these beds or blocks with a brass rule or other border
round each can be arranged to make up a "form" of any number of
nages.

page_text: The beds or blocks herein-before described may also be formed in small
pieces and put together with their dovetailed grooves, forming con-
tinuations one of another so as to make up a form of any size
required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Purdy Tickle, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.