IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Murdoch Napier, of Vine Street, York Road,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRINTING MACHINES."
ealed the 1st April 1858, and dated the 1st October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Murdoch Napier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st October 1857.
I, JAMES MURDOCH NAPIER, of Vine Street, York Road, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES," to be as follows:―
My Invention relates to machines which are used for printing from type or
other raised surfaces, in which plattens or flat surfaces are used to obtain the
impressions, and is peculiarly applicable to machines in which the type tables
have horizontal motion. And the improvements consist in the arrangement of
knuckle joints actuated by a crank or excentric action, by means of which the
necessary rising and falling motion is imparted to the platten, and the friction
and torsoinal strain common to the machines now in use are very much
reduced. I employ a weight to balance the platten, and place it underneath
the impression table. The weight may exceed the weight of the platten, so
as to raise it when the knuckle joints are released, in which case the knuckles
will not require any provision for taking an upward strain; but I prefer to
connect the knuckles so that they will not fall out if the weight should'at any
time prove insufficient to raise the platten with the necessary speed. In some
cases I employ a cam movement to raise the platten, the knuckles being used
for depressing the platten only. In order to enable me to proportion advan-
tageously the times of rest and motion given to the table or tables upon which

page_text: the type or other surface to be printed from are placed, I introduce what may
be termed a "switch" at each end of the "worm" usually employed for
giving motion and rest to the type tables. By the action of these switches
the "rest" of the tables may be prolonged during more than a complete
revolution of the "worm." I prefer to give the inclined guides or grooves a
varying inclination, so that the motion communicated to the tables will be
similar to that which would be transmitted by a crank.
For the better distribution of the ink or coloring matter, I attach an ink
distributing cylinder to the table. It moves with the table, and while the
impression is being taken the inking rollers are in contact with the dis-
tributing cylinder. I also place a distributing cylinder at the other end of the
table. This cylinder distributes the ink upon the inking rollers while the
table is in its outward position with respect to the platten.
When the class
of work to be produced is of a very superior description, I give the distributing.
cylinders a reciprocating motion lengthwise, and the cylinder which is nearest
the ink duct is furnished with a small travelling roller, called a "mouse roller,"
to equalize the ink upon its surface.
The ink is supplied to this cylinder directly from the duct roller by a
messenger roller, but I obtain a more complete evenness of color by intro-
ducing a preparatory distributing cylinder, with mouse roller equalizer, from
which the ink is supplied to the final distributing cylinder by suitably arranged
messenger roller or rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Murdoch Napier in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MURDOCH NAPIER, of. Vine Street, York Road, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Murdoch Napier, Her special licence that I, the said James
Murdoch Napier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Murdoch Napier, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all.

page_text: 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Murdoch Napier, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 James Murdoch Napier, do hereby
déclare the nature of the 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, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to machines which are used for printing from type or
other raised surfaces, in which plattens or flat surfaces are used to obtain the
impressions, and is peculiarly applicable to machines in which the type tables
have horizontal motion. And the improvements consist in the arrangement of
knuckle joints actuated by a crank or excentric action, by means of which the
necessary rising and falling motion is imparted to the platten, and the friction
and torsional strain common to the machines now in use are very much
reduced. I employ a weight to balance the platten, and place it underneath
the impression table. The weight may exceed the weight of the platten, so
as to raise it when the knuckle joints are released, in which case the knuckles
will not require any provision for taking an upward strain; but I prefer to
connect the knuckles so that they will not fall out if the weight should at any
time prove insufficient to raise the platten with the necessary speed. In order
to enable me to proportion advantageously the times of rest and motion given
to the table or tables upon which the type or other surface to be printed: from
are placed, I introduce what, may be termed a "switch." At each end of the
"worm" usually employed for giving motion and rest to the type tables, by
the action of these switches, the "rest" of the tables may be prolonged
during more than a complete revolution of the "worm." I prefer to give the
inclined guides or grooves a varying inclination, so that the motion. com-
municated to the tables will be similar to that which would be transmitted by
a crank. For the better distribution of the ink or coloring matter, I attach
an ink distributing cylinder to the table; it moves with the table, and while
the impression is being taken the inking rollers are in contact with the dis-
tributing cylinder; I also place a distributing cylinder at the other end of the

page_text: table. This cylinder distributes the ink upon the inking rollers while the
table is in its outward position with respect to the platten. When the class of
work to be produced is of a very superior .description, I give the distributing
cylinders a reciprocating motion lengthwise, and the cylinder which is nearest
the ink duct is furnished with a small travelling roller, called a "mouse"
roller, to equalize the ink upon its surface. The ink is supplied to this
cylinder directly from the duct roller by a messenger roller, but I obtain a
more complete evenness of color by introducing a preparatory distributing
cylinder with "mouse roller" equalizer, from which the ink is supplied to
the final distributing cylinder by suitably arranged messenger roller or
rollers.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed, in all of which the same letters are used to indicate similar portions
of the machinery and different views of the same parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Drawing Sheet 1 indicates an arrangement of platten machine in which
two pairs of knuckle joints E are used, placed outside the frames F of the
machine, and inserted into the impression rods G, which support the platten H.
The knuckles are actuated by a crank or excentric action transmitted through
the connecting rods I. In order to prevent the knuckles falling apart, and to
connect them with the impression bars, the screws a are provided, to keep the
lower bearing cylinder bin its place, the plates c, which are bolted to the
lower limb of the joint, embrace each end of the cylinder b. The upper limb
of the joint is also provided with the plates d, which embrace the ends of the
cylinder e, while the cylinder e is in turn attached to the wedge f by the two
plates g, and the wedge f is supported in its place by the projections from the
frame of the machine h, and similar projections on the covering plate J,
Figures 1 and 3. The upper and lower limbs of the knuckle joint are con-
nected together by the two rings i, which are made to suit recesses turned
in the ends of the limbs. The red lines, Figure 2, shew the joints in their
outward position, and the platten raised to its highest point of action. The
weight L is used to balance the platten and its appendages, and is attached
to the impression rods I by bands passed over pullies supported by the bed
of the machine. Figure 3 shews the wedge fin plan, with screw for adjusting
the same, so as to regulate the pressure upon the form of matter at pleasure.
M, in Figure 1, indicates the type table in section.
Another arrangement of knuckle joints is shewn in Drawings, Sheet 2,

page_text: Figures 1 and 2, and Drawing, Sheet 3, Figures 1 and 2, where the knuckle
joints are placed within the frames of the machine, and take their abutment
on the under side of the bed of the machine at A3, while the lower limbs of
the joints are attached to a cross head N, to the ends of which the impression
bars are fixed. In this arrangement the balance weight is divided, so as to
pass on each side of the cross head N, and it should be of sufficient size to
compensate for the weight of the cross head, as well as of the platten and
impression rods.
In reference to this part of my Invention, I would remark that I am aware
that knuckle joints have before been used for working the plattens of machines
in which the type tables have no horizontal motion, although in a manner very
different from that herein described. I do not, therefore, claim generally the
use of knuckle joints to work the plattens of printing machines in which the
type tables have no horizontal movement.
Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, Drawing Sheet 2, illustrate my improvements in
the ordinary worm barrel, which is used to give the necessary times of rest and
motion to the type table or tables. O represents one end of the worm barrel;
P is the shuttle or slide, which travels in the groove Q, and to which the type
tables may be connected in the usual way; R is a switch guide, which vibrates
upon a pin fitted into a slide k. This slide works freely in the brass guide 1,
but is kept in its position at one end of the guide by the spring m. Figures
7, 8, and 9 shew the various positions which the switch occupies (the barrel is
supposed to revolve in the direction indicated by the arrows). In Figure 7
the shuttle is entering into the "rest" portion of the groove, as in the ordi-
nary worms; in Figure 8 it has passed round and has displaced the switch,
but has not entered the inclined portion of the groove, as would have been the
case with the common worm barrel; in Figure 9 the shuttle has come round
again, and as at its previous passage in Figure 8 the force of the spring m
has caused the switch to vibrate into its inclined position, shewn at Figure 9,
the shuttle is at once guided into the inclined portion of the groove, and thus
the time of. rest has been equal to about one turn and two-thirds of a turn of
the barrel, whereas in the ordinary worm barrel the time of rest has never
been equal to one complete turn of the worm barrel.
Figure 1, Drawing Sheet 3, is a sectional elevation of a platten machine
with my improved method of distributing the ink applied. One end only of
the machine is completely shewn, as it will be sufficient to explain the Inven-
tion. M and M are the type tables, M' being in its outward position, while
M² is under the platten (the platten is shewn raised for the sake of clearness,
but such is not its true position with respect to the tables). Each table has a

page_text: cylinder fixed at each end of it, upon which the ink is distributed, and which
are carried along with the tables in their movement.
The ink is placed in the ink trough T in the usual way, and by the messenger
roller p is conveyed from the roller q to the cylinder r, upon which it is dis-
tributed by the well-known mouse-roller motion s; it is then carried from the
cylinder by the messenger roller t to the cylinder u, which is connected with
the outer end of the type table, and on this cylinder it is again distributed by
a mouse-roller motion at v.
When the type table M¹ is under the platten,
the cylinder u on its outer end will then deliver the ink from its surface to the
inking rollers w. The smaller cylinder x, attached to the inner end of the
type table, serves to distribute the ink on the inking rollers during the time the
cylinder u is receiving ink from the roller t, and prepares the inking rollers
for the second passage of the form of matter. Figures 3, 4, and 5 shew the
manner of attaching the distributing cylinders u and a to the table M' more
clearly, and also the method of driving the cylinders by a band or cord passed
round the pulley y. The driving spindle z passes from one end of the machine
to the other, and is supported by a bracket u, fixed to the end of the machine
frame F. The bevil pinion c¹ is fixed to the spindle, and gears with one fixed
on the end of the short spindle d. The pinion e¹ slides on the spindle longi-
tudinally, but is provided with a feather or key, which slides in a groove along
the spindle, and by which the pinion is made to revolve with the spindle. The
pinion is similarly arranged with respect to the spindle g¹, upon which
the cylinder u is fixed, in order that a longitudinal motion may be com-
municated to the cylinder through the small cross worm h¹, which is fast on
the spindle g', and which by the slide ¹ falling into its groove, the required
longitudinal action of the cylinder is obtained. The other distributing
cylinders are similarly arranged. The cord or band which drives the pulley y
may be conducted to the main driving shaft of the machine, or to any
convenient motor.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Murdoch Napier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
FRED HARRIS.
JAMES M. NAPIER. (L.S.)