IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING IN COLOURS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomas Loft, of Brooklyn, New York, United
States of America, but now residing at Berwick Street, Pimlico, in
the County of Middlesex, Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR PRINTING IN COLOURS."
Scaled the 30th May 1862, and dated the 2nd April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomas Loft at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd April 1862.
I, JOHN THOMAS LOFT, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of America,
but now residing at Berwick Street, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR PRINTING IN COLOURS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the operation of printing in
colours, the process being particularly applicable to showbills, bankers'
bills, cheques, and other like articles.
I propose to print from both raised and sunk surfaces, and, by preference,
from a roll of paper mounted on the tympan of the press. For printing in three
or more colours I provide, say, three plates or forms, which together consti-
tute the complement of the design to be printed. These I arrange side by
FiPrice 8d.1

page_text: side on the sliding bed of the press in guides that will ensure their being
always placed in the exact position requisite for ensuring a proper" register."
On a level with this bed, and close beside it when the bed is at its backward
reach, I place an inking or colour table, the surface of which is composed of
detached parallel slabs. A traversing inking roller receives the colours
simultaneously from a series of fountains set at the end of the table, and
thus charged it is passed over the table, receiving in its passage a slight
endway motion for the purpose of distributing the colours more evenly.
From the inking table it passes to the printing surfaces, and imparts thereto
at one operation broad or narrow lines, as the case may be, of the various
colours with which it is charged. Supposing the design intended to be printed
to be produced in relief, the operator then draws forward over the face of the
tympan the
paper from the roll, and having secured it in position by a
"fly," brings the paper down upon the inked surface. The bed next passes
between a pair of pressing rolls, the upper one of which is brought down
upon the tympan by the operation of a cam lever, and rotary motion being
given to the under roller, the forms are passed under the nip of the rollers.
The upper roller is then released, and the bed is traversed back by the
lower roller to its former position to allow of the repetition of the inking
operation. The paper, it will be understood (before the design is com-
pleted), must be applied to all the plates or forms in succession, and for
this purpose after every impression it must be shifted forward. At the time of
giving the last impress, I propose to cut off a length of paper equal, say, to
one shewbill, cheque, or other document. This I effect by means of a pair
of cutting blades, one of which is attached to the bed of the press and the
other to the tympan. As therefore the tympan is pressed down the blades
will come together and cut the paper like a pair of shears. When printing
from engraved plates after being inked, as described, they are taken from
the press and cleaned and polished, as usual, and then returned to the press
to receive the pressure. When printing a design or showbill surrounded
by a border I use au inking roller with the middle part cut away for inking
the sides or ends of the border, working it over the plate or form at right
angles to the course which the inking roller, already referred to, traverses
the plate or form. The above described mode of inking I propose also to
apply to the inking of lithographic stones and the like printing surfaces.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Thomas Loft in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS LOFT, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of America, but now
residing at Berwick Street, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Architect,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Thomas Loft, Her special license that I, the said John Thomas Loft, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Thomas Loft, 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 MACHINERY
FOR PRINTING IN COLOURS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Thomas Loft, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Thomas Loft, 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 follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say)
:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the operation of printing in
colours, the process being particularly applicable to showbills, bankers'
bills, cheques, and other like articles. The main improvement consists in
a novel mode of applying the colours to the set or series of printing sur-
faces, which together constitute the design to be printed.
In carrying out the Invention I propose to employ both raised and sunk
printing surfaces, but in general I prefer to operate with raised surfaces,
deeming the Invention most applicable to block or type printing. The paper
to be printed 1 provide, by preference, in the form of a roll, which I mount

page_text: on the
tympan of the press. For printing in three, four, or more colours I
provide, say, three plates or forms, which together constitute the complement
of the design to be printed. These I arrange side by side on the sliding bed
of the press, and at such distances apart as will ensure their giving a proper
'register." On a level with this bed, and close beside it when the bed is at
its backward reach, I place an inking or color table, the surface of which is
composed of detached parallel slabs. A traversing inking roller receives the
colours delivered simultaneously from a series of fountains set at the end of
the table, and thus charged it is passed over the table, receiving in its passage
a slight endway motion for the purpose of spreading the colour the more
evenly. From the inking table the inking roller passes to the printing
surfaces, and imparts to them at one operation broad or narrow lines, as
the case may be, of the various colours with which it is charged.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation of my.
improved apparatus for colour printing; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;
and Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation, taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
A, A, is the main framing of the machine fitted with guides, which extend
from end to end thereof, and over which the bed or table B, carrying the form
or other printing surface, travels on its passage to and fro between a pair
of metal pressure rollers C, C¹, the upper one of which is the impress roller.
This roller C'is mounted in bearings in side standards A4. The bearings are
made capable of sliding vertically, so as to relieve the "form" of the
pressure
of the roller C¹ on the back traverse of the table B. These bearings I
suspend by liuks b from excentrics c, which are keyed to a cross shaft that
has its bearings in adjustable blocks d. A hand lever e is keyed to one end
of this shaft for operating the excentrics, and thereby raising and lowering
the roller C. The lower roller C is mounted in adjustable bearings in the
framing A, and keyed on its axle are a pair of spur pinions for taking into
parallel racks on the under side of the table. On the outer end of this axle
a spur wheel 1 is fixed, into which gears a spur wheel 2, mounted on a stud
axle on the side framing. This wheel 2 receives motion from a spur wheel 3,
also mounted on a stud axle projecting from the side framing. The wheel 3
is driven by a hand lever 4 attached to it, and worked by the attendant;
or the roller C may be driven directly by a strap from any first mover.
one extremity of the framing is a tympan D with a frisket E, constructed in
the ordinary way of such instruments, and used to bring down the paper upon
and hold it in contact with the printing surfaces,in order that it may receive
the desired impress therefrom. The paper I lead off from a roll F, placed
in a box attached to the swinging tympan, and having drawn it up by hand
At

page_text: to a given line or mark on the tympan I bring the frisket down upon it, and
thus secure the paper in position. Mounted on the tympau is a transverse
blade or cutter f, and on the table is a corresponding blade or cutter f¹.
These cutters form together a pair of shears for cutting the roll of paper up
into sheets as the printing of each bill or document is completed. The ink
or colour table is shewn at G, G, it being situate by the side of the press,
and made of a length about equal to the length of traverse of the bed of the
press. It is fitted with detached parallel colour slabs g, g, of widths corre-
sponding to the width of the lines of printing surfaces composing the "forms,"
and intended to have colour imparted to them. Thus, supposing, for example,
it is desired to print the bill, shewn at Fig. 4, in eight colours, and four forms
are employed for that purpose, as shewn at Fig. 2, slabs must be provided on
the colour or inking table, corresponding respectively in width to the width
of surface on the forms required to receive respectively the several colours.
The position of these colour slabs will be such as to be in a line with their
respective lines of type when the bed is at its backward reach. The slabs
being properly selected and so placed on the table, are secured thereto like
type in a chase by blocks or wedges h, h. In like manner the colour foun-
tains H, employed for giving out the colour, must be arranged to suit the
form, and the requirements of the printer. To facilitate this setting of the
fountains they are made, as shewn, on an enlarged scale at Figs. 5 and 6 ;
Fig. 5 being a side view, and Fig. 6 a vertical section. The fountain consists
of an elbow-shaped tubular vessel fitted with an adjustable mouth-piece. The
pedestal portion of the fountain is furnished at bottom with a pendent screw,
which projects through a slot running the whole length of the colour table,
and receives upon it a clamping nut i, by which the fountain is secured in any
desired position (laterally) on the table. The lower end of the bent tubular
chamber, which forms the reservoir for the colour, is closed by a stop-cock /,
and to the extremity of the tube the month-piece 7 of any desired width is
fitted. When the stop-cock is opened, the colour, thickened to a proper con-
sistency, will ooze out of the mouth-piece, and be taken up by a colour
roller I, mounted upon and lying lengthwise of the table G, in close contact
with the mouth-piece of the series of fountains in use. Rotary motion is
given to the colour roller I by a winch handle to allow of its being coated
with rings of the colours in use. At the ends of the table G, curved or
slightly zig-zag guides m, m, are provided, in which the guide rolls of a
second colour roller K run. This roller is actuated by a handle L attached
to the roller spindle, and it is intended to take up colour from the roller I,
and spread it on the colour slabs, as shewn in the Drawing From these

page_text: slabs it takes up the colours, and imparts to all the printing surfaces their
respective colours at one and the same operation. To provide for this forward
movement of the roller K, the grooves m, m, of the colour table are con-
tinued to the moveable bed of the press. As therefore the roller K is
pressed forward its guide rolls will pass into the grooves on the bed, and
ensure the coloured portions of the roller inking with the proper colours the
several lines or portions of the printing surface. The slight end way motion
given to the roller K by the grooves m, m, of the colour table will ensure the
even spreading of the colour upon the slabs.
From the foregoing description it will be readily understood that all the
colours used will be imparted to the printing surfaces at one operation.
Similarly it will be understood that several bills will be in course of printing
together. Thus, according to the arrangement shewn in the Drawing, the
inking of four bills will take place simultaneously. At the starting of the
machine there will necessarily be three cancels. When, however, the bill
receiving the impression from the rearmost form has travelled up to the fore-
most form, the printing will proceed in regular order; every traverse of the
bed under the grip of the pressing rollers completing the printing and the
cutting off of one bill, and advancing by one stage the printing of three
others. Before the return motion is given to the bed, the pressure roller C¹
is raised out of action by means of the cams c, operated by the attendant
through the hand lever e, and thus the risk of blurring the impression by a
double rolling is avoided. When the roller C¹ is raised, it is retained in that
position by means of a pin inserted in one of a series of holes made in the
top of the standard A', and acting as a stop to the lever e.
As the arrange-
ment of the colours will differ in different bills or kinds of work, it is
necessary to provide a speedy means for changing the mouth-pieces of the
fountains, I therefore make them detachable and of different widths, as
shewn at Figs. 7 and 8, and attach them to the fountains by binding screws.
The lips of the mouths I also make adjustable, in order to regulate the
delivery of the colour. If thought desirable, I may also attach one broad
mouth-piece to two or more fountains to give a good breadth of colour. This
modification of mouth-piece is shewn at Fig. 8. The paper after every
impression is drawn forward over the tympan by the attendant a sufficient
distance to ensure a good "register" for the next printing operation. The
inking of the printing surfaces is then repeated as before, and the tympan being
brought down over these surfaces the impress roller is lowered, and the bed is
again traversed between the rollers C, C. By this means the printing of a
second bill is completed, and it is simultaneously cut off from the continuous

page_text: length or roll of paper. The bed is then returned to its back reach, the
tympan raised, and the severed and completed bill removed. I would remark
that presses designed for large work may with advantage be fitted with the
tympan at the side instead of at the end of the machine, as otherwise the
frisket when elevated will be beyond the reach of the workman. When
printing from engraved plates, after having been inked, as described, they are
taken from the press and cleaned and polished as usual, and then returned
to the press to receive the pressure, suitable provision being made for securing
them in their proper relative position on the bed of the press. The above
described mode of inking I propose also to apply to the inking of lithographic
stones and the like printing surfaces. When working from engraved plates
or lithographic stones, in order to prevent the blurring of impressions already
imparted to the paper I back the tympan, so that pressure shall for the time
being be made only on those parts of the paper that are intended to receive
an impression from the printing surfaces; those parts therefore that already
carry their portion of the design or inscription will pass under the pressure
roller without being affected thereby.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improved machinery
for printing in colours, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim the means above described for facilitating the operation of
printing in colours from printing surfaces generally.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas Loft, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOHN T. LOFT. (L.S.)