IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ETCHING OR ENGRAVING CYLINDERS USED FOR PRINTING
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edmondson, of the Firm of Messieurs
Edmondson Brothers, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engravers to Calico Printers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR ETCHING OR ENGRAVING CYLINDERS USED FOR PRINTING AND
Sealed the 18th March 1870, and dated the 2nd October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edmondson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd October 1869.
I, WILLIAM EDMONDSON, of the Firm of Messieurs Edmondson
Brothers, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engravers to
Calico Printers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ETCHING OR ENGRAVING CYLINDERS USED FOR
PRINTING AND EMBOSSING," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a certain improved combination of machinery
for giving a partial rotary motion to the cylinder to be etched or
engraved, and a lateral to-and-fro motion to the diamond points or

page_text: other instruments to produce the required design or pattern on the
cylinder.
In performing my Invention I employ a tracer which is supported in
a cross slide connected to a cross bar forming part of the main slido;
the tracer is moved over the enlarged design placed on a horizontal
table in the usual manner. The cylinder to be etched is supported on
rollers or discs which rest upon the main slide, and these discs are made
considerably larger than the cylinder, so that the to-and-fro-motion given
to the main slide imparts a reduced motion to the cylinder. The cross
slide of the tracer is connected by steel or other bands to pulleys
mounted on side shafts, and on these shafts are other pulleys con-
siderably smaller than the first, which smaller pulleys are connected by
bands to the diamond or tool bar. By varying the relative diameter of
the discs on the axle of the cylinder and the diameters of the large and
small pulleys on the side shafts the pattern to be traced can be reduced
in any proportion; or by making the discs equal in diameter to the
cylinder and the pulleys on the side shafts of the same diameter the
pattern on the cylinder can be made of the same size as the original
pattern from which the tracing is made.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edmondson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDMONDSON, of the Firm of Messieurs Edmondson Brothers, of Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Engravers to Calico Printers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edmondson, Her special licence
that I, the said William Edmondson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edmondson, 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

page_text: 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
IF MACHINERY FOR ETCHING OR ENGRAVING CYLINDERS USED FOR PRINTING AND
EMBOSSING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edmondson, 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 William Edmondson, 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 (that is to say) :-
:
My Invention consists in a certain improved combination of machinery
for giving a partial rotary motion to the cylinder to be etched or
engraved, and a lateral to-and-fro motion to the diamond points or
other instruments to produce the required design on the cylinder.
In performing my Invention I employ a tracer which is supported in
a cross slide connected to a cross bar forming part of the main slide;
the tracer is moved over the enlarged design placed on a horizontal table
in the usual manner. The cylinder to be etched is supported on rollers
or discs which rest upon the main slide, and these discs are made con-
siderably larger than the cylinder, so that the to-and-fro motion given
to the main slide imparts a reduced motion to the cylinder. The cross
slide of the tracer is connected by steel or other bands to pulleys
mounted on side shafts, and on these shafts are other pulleys considerably
smaller than the first, which smaller pulleys are connected by bands to
the diamond or tool bar. By varying the relative diameters of the
discs on the axle of the cylinder and the diameters of the large and
small pulleys on the side shafts the pattern to be traced can be reduced
in any proportion; or by making the discs equal in diameter to the
cylinder and the pulleys on the side shafts of the same diameter the
pattern on the cylinder can be made of the same size as the original
pattern from which a tracing is made.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation I-will proceed to describe the accompanying-

page_text: Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters
marked thereon.
Figure 1 is an elevation in section of my improved machinery for
etching or engraving cylinders used in printing and embossing; Figure 2
is a front elevation, and Figure 3 is a plan of part of the same.
a, a, are the frame sides, which are connected by stays as usual; 6 is
the horizontal table on which the enlarged design is fixed as now
customary; c is the cylinder to be etched or engraved mounted on the
axle or mandril c', the journals of which pass through bearings which
fit in slots in the side frames a; d, d, are the diamond or other tool
holders which are fixed to the tool bars e; these tool bars rest upon the
antifriction bowls e', supported by the cross rails f. To the mandril c¹
are fixed pulleys or discs o* which rest upon and are moved round by the
slide bars g, and these slide bars are supported by antifriction bowls g¹
running upon the rails h which are secured to the side frames a; these
rails are provided with T-shaped grooves to receive the heads of the
bolts for securing the brackets f¹ to which the cross rails fare bolted.
To the ends of the slide bars g are fixed the rods g³, which are connected
to the cross bar g³; upon this cross bar the cross slide or tracer carriage i
traverses to and fro when the tracer j is moved over the pattern as in
ordinary pentagraph engraving machines, the parts marked 9, 9³, and g*
form the main slide of the machine, and it is supported partly by the bowls
g¹ above referred to and partly by the rollers grunning on the rails b**
fixed to the table b. To the table 6 are also fixed the pillar standards b³
supporting the front ends of the side shafts k, the other ends of which
revolve in bearings fixed to the side frames a; the shafts k are made
by preference in the shape of a cross with bevilled edges, and on each
shaft is mounted a pulley k¹ provided with two sets of grooved rollers
fitting on the angles of the side shafts; these pulleys have each a grooved
boss in which antifriction rollers connected to the cross bar g³ enter,
so that as the cross bar is moved to and fro in passing the tracer over
the pattern the pulleys k¹ are also moved lengthwise to and fro on the
side shafts k. The tracer carriage i is also connected by the steel or
other bands /³ to the pulleys k¹, one end of each band being fixed to
each pulley, and the other ends being fixed to the tracer carriage. The
tension of these bands can be regulated by a double nut taking in right
and left hand screws fixed to the 'bands. By this arrangement the
lateral motion of the tracer carriage imparts a partial rotary motion to

page_text: the side shafts. To the inner ends of the shafts k are mounted the
pulleys, which are connected by steel or other bands to the bracket e
projecting from one of the tool holder bars e. When these bars are
required to move in the same direction they are united by the stay e³,
but if it should be desirable to move them simultaneously in opposite
directions the stay e³ is disconnected, and the connection of the bars is
effected by steel bands and pulleys, as shewn by dotted lines in
Figures 2 and 3. The pulleys e' are mounted on shafts supported by
brackets fixed to the ends of the cross rails f; the ends of the steel
bands are fixed to the upper sides of two of the pulleys, and the
bands e are fixed to the under sides of the two other pulleys. Both the
bands e* and e* are connected by regulating screws to brackets fixed to
the tool bars e; by this arrangement as one tool bar is moved to the
right hand the other moves to the same extent to the left, and vice
versa. The pulleys are smaller than the pulleys k¹, and they are
made of two or more diameters, bearing some definite proportion to the
pulleys, to vary the reduction of the pattern, the bands k being
easily transferred from one sized pulley to another. The Drawing shews
the bands attached to the smallest of the pulleys ³, which are
one-fourth of the diameter of the pulleys k¹, when the bands are changed
to either of the larger pulleys. The pulleys must be moved endwise
on the shafts k, so as to bring them in line with the bracket e³. The
rollers or discs are also made a definite number of times larger than
the cylinder to be etched for the same purpose, and these rollers or
discs can be easily removed and others of a different diameter put in their
places. The side face of one of the pulleys or discs c³ is graduated,
and a pointer is connected to one side frame to accurately set out the
patterns on the cylinder. The tools d are lifted off and lowered on to
the cylinder by the treadle / and the lever and links shewn in Figure 1,
as in other pentagraph machines. The mode of operation is very similar
to that of ordinary machines, the size of the enlarged pattern on the
table 6 and the size of the pattern to be etched on the cylinder c being
determined, the requisite rollers or discs care secured to the mandril c',
and the ends of the bands * are secured to the proper diameter of the
pulleys. The operator then proceeds to move the tracer point over the
pattern, and in so doing the lateral to-and-fro and backward and forward.
motions of the carriage slide impart the requisite partial rotary motion
to the cylinder and the to-and-fro motions to the diamond points or
other tools. The machinery above described is simple and not liable

page_text: to get out of order, and the changes can easily be effected for varying.
the size of the pattern to be etched or engraved on the cylinder.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, I declare that I claim, the mode of
reducing the tracing or etching on the cylinder c from the enlarged
design on the table 6 by the use of enlarged discs or pulleys c³ on
the axle or mandril of the cylinder c, and the side shafts k, k, with their
pulleys and, when used in the manner and for the purposes.
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edmondson, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this First day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM EDMONDSON. (L.S.)