IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER MACHINES FOR PRINTING WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1884

page_text: We, ROBERT RITCHIE, Manager, and JAMES GRANT, Electroplater, both in the
employment of Messieurs William Stirling and Sons, Cordale Print Works, Renton,
in the County of Dumbarton, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of our
said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER MACHINES FOR PRINTING WOVEN
FABRICS" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our said Invention has for its object to modify cylinder machines for printing
woven fabrics so as to be capable of automatically moving the printing rollers into
or out of action for printing borders across the piece and interrupting the printing
of centres, or filling, or ground patterns, or portions thereof, at suitable intervals in
the length of the piece the means or apparatus applied for this purpose being of an
improved and convenient kind and such as to admit of great accuracy and of
being easily adjusted or arranged for different lengths or intervals between the
borders. Our improved apparatus is designed for printing scarfs, shawls, and
similar goods.
In carrying out our Invention the bearings carrying the printing rollers are
connected to rocking shafts which are moved, by means of cylinders supplied with
steam or air or water or other suitable fluid. The valves controlling the action of
the cylinders are worked by rods which are moved by rotating cams; and these
cams whilst turning on axes coincident with that of the cylinder are moved by
means of change wheels which can be adjusted to suit different lengths between
the borders as required.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood we hereunto append two sheets of explanatory
drawings to be hereinafter referred to and showing the application of our
Invention.
Figure, 1, on sheet, 1, of the accompanying drawings is a front elevation, and
figure, 2, on sheet, 2, is an end elevation of a cylinder printing machine as fitted
with our improved apparatus. In these figures the same reference numerals are
used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The machine shown in the drawings is provided with seven printing rollers_but
our Invention is also applicable with machines having other numbers of rollers.

page_text: Three of the printing rollers, 3, are of larger size than the four others, 4, and are
intended for printing the cross or end borders of scarfs or similar goods, each of
such larger rollers, 3, having on it two borders, one for the finishing end of one
scarf and the other for the beginning end of the next. The four smaller rollers, 4,
are for printing the centres, or filling, or ground pattern together with the side
borders or the parts of the border which run along the sides of the fabric. The
different rollers are for printing different colors; and it may be that in some cases
the action of one or more of the small rollers is never interrupted, it or them
being used to print ground details which extend uniformly over the borders as
well as the centres.
The several printing rollers, 3, 4, are held in bearing pieces, 5, which at one side
of each are jointed to brackets, 6, formed on the main end frames, 7, the bearing
pieces being at their other sides connected by links, 8, to levers, 9, on rocking
shafts, 10, carried by brackets or lugs, 11, on the end frames, 7. There are hearing
pieces, 5, and other parts at both ends of the machine for each printing roller and
rocking shaft; and each rocking shaft, 10, has at one end of it a lever, 12,
connected to the piston rod, 13, of a cylinder, 14, fixed on one end frame, 7.
Each cylinder, 14, is provided with an ordinary slide valve or other suitable valve,
and the valve rod, 10, is guided in brackets, 16, and has a helical spring app'ied to
it to tend to move it towards the centre or axis of the main cylinder. The several
cylinders, 14, or at least their valve rods, 15, are arranged in different planes so
that the rods may be acted on by separate narrow cams, 17, and the ends of the
rods are fitted with antifriction rollers. The cams, 17, are in the form of circular
rings, having parts which whilst circular or concentric are of somewhat less radius
than the other parts; and when these parts of less radius cone under the valve
,rods, 15, the rods are pressed inwards by their springs, whilst the raised parts or
parts of larger radius press the valve rods outwards when coming under them.
When the raised part of any cam, 17, is acting on the corresponding valve rod, 15,
the motive fluid is admitted to the cylinder, 14, in a manner to move the piston
and its rod, 13, outwards, and this movement causes the rocking shaft, 10, to
move the bearing pieces, 5, of the corresponding printing roller, 3, or 4, inwards,
so as to print its pattern on the part of the fabric then passing between it and the
main cylinder or bowl; and the opposite action takes place with any printing
roller, 3 or 4, whenever a low or depressed part of the corresponding cam, 17, is
under the corresponding valve rod, 15. When any or all of the smaller printing
rollers, 4, are required to have their printing action interrupted whilst the end
borders (of a scarf for example) are being printed, the respective cams, 17, are
made with depressions at parts which come under the respective valve rods, 15, at
the times when the part of the fabric on which the borders have to be printed is
passing under the respective rollers, 4. And similarly the larger rollers, 3, for
printing the borders are kept out of action excepting at the proper times by
suitably placed depressions on their respective cams, 17. If the cams, 17, rotate
with the main cylinder or bowl, or in other words make the same number of
revolutions; then the raised and depressed parts of the cams will have the same
proportion to the corresponding lengths or distances on the fabric that the longer
radius of the cams has to the radius of the cylinder, but by driving the cams at
different rates from that of the cylinder, their raised and depressed parts can be
made to have any convenient proportion to the corresponding lengths or distances
on the fabric. In this way, by suitably constructing the cams and by suitably
arranging the rate of their rotation relatively to that of the main cylinder the
apparatus can be adapted for printing various lengths of scarfs or shawls or
similar articles having end borders. The cams, 17, are carried loosely on the
shaft, 18, (figure, 1) of the main cylinder, and have fixed to them a spurwheel, 19,
with which there gears a pinion, 20, on a counter shaft, 21.
The cylinder
shaft, 18, and the counter shaft, 21, are geared together by three sets of
spurwheels, 22, 23, 24, proportioned to give different speeds to the counter
shaft, 21, and through it to the cams, 17, clutches or equivalent engaging and

page_text: disengaging appliances being provided for putting into action which ever set is at
any time required.
Having thus particularly described the nature of our said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed we have to state that we do not restrict.
ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated, and we proceed to
ascertain the distinctive novel features of our Invention by declaring that what
we claim is :-
1. The improved arrangements for automatically moving the printing rollers of
cylinder machines for printing woven fabrics, into and out of action and consisting
of cylinders worked by fluid pressure with valves moved by cams and acting
through rocking shafts connected to the roller bearings substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. The gearing of the cams to the shaft of the main cylinder by two or more
sets of spurwheels giving different speeds substantially as and for the purposes
hereinbefore described.
19 T
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