IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING OR ETCHING ROLLERS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Leake, of the Strangeways Engraving
Works, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, and Henry Larkin,
of Hydes, Theydon Gernon, in the County of Essex, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING OR ETCHING ROLLERS
Sealed the 24th September 1870, and dated the 3rd June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Leake and
Henry Larkin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 3rd June 1870.
We, ROBERT LEAKE, of the Strangeways Engraving Works, Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, and HENRY LARKIN, of Hydes,
Theydon Gernon, in the County of Essex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING
OR ETCHING ROLLERS FOR CALICO PRINTERS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention is applicable to engraving machines, and consists in
improved machinery for imparting a lifting, carrying, or impinging
action at varying intervals to the mill or other engraving tool, and the
application of the same to the rollers to be engraved used in calico
printing and embossing fabrics and other materials.

page_text: In carrying out our Invention we employ a sliding carriage, to which
a to-and-fro motion is given by two corresponding series of screws,
toothed wheels, and ratchet wheels. The screws, which are kept con-
stantly revolving, work in bearings fixed to the under slide upon which
the sliding carriage moves, and the toothed wheels actuated by the
screws are mounted on a stud fixed to the carriage. To each toothed
wheel a ratchet wheel is connected in such wise that the two wheels may
revolve conjointly. To the said sliding carriage and over the ratchet
wheels two rising and falling levers with spring catches are also attached.
When one of the catches falls into its corresponding ratchet wheel it at
once arrests the revolutions of the adjoining toothed wheel, which then
acts as a stud or nut in the thread of the screw and is caused to traverse
by it, and being fixed to the sliding carriage as aforesaid, causes it also
to traverse. To each lever is also attached a projecting stud, which as
the carriage traverses passes up a fixed incline, which by the time the
end of the traverse is reached lifts the lever with its spring catch out
of the ratchet wheel, which thus becomes again liberated. The return
traverse is similarly obtained by the other series of screw, toothed wheels,
and ratchet. We also employ a vibrating catch, which passes to and fro
from beneath one lever to the other alternately, supporting and letting
them fall at any varying intervals, according as it is actuated by the rise
and fall of the pattern on the roller with which it is connected, or by
any other suitable means.. To the sliding carriage thus traversed to and
fro an inclined slide is affixed for lifting the weighted lever to which
the mill or other engraving tool is attached, and which impinges on the
roller to be engraved. We also employ an arrangement of balance
weights and inclined slides for the purposes of preventing any irregular,
sudden, or undue strain upon the machinery when the engraving lever is
heavily weighted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said Robert Leake and Henry Larkin in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 14th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
LEAKE, of the Strangeways Engraving Works, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, and HENRY LARKIN, of Hydes, Theydon Gernon, 35
in the County of Essex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Robert Leake and Henry Larkin, Her special
licence that we, the said Robert Leake and Henry Larkin, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert
Leake and Henry Larkin, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ENGRAVING OR
ETCHING ROLLERS FOR CALICO PRINTERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Robert Leake and Henry Larkin, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or
one of our or 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 we, the said Robert Leake and Henry Larkin,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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) :—
Our Invention consists in certain improved combinations of machinery
for imparting a lifting, carrying, or impinging action at varying intervals
to the mill or other engraving tool acting on the roller to be etched or
engraved, the said roller being applicable for printing and embossing
fabrics and other materials.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the two accompanying
Sheets of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters
marked thereon.
On Sheet 1, Fig. 1, is an end elevation, and Fig. 2, a front view of an
engraving machine to which our improvements are applied, and on

page_text: Sheet 2, Fig. 3, is a front view; Fig. 4, a vertical section; Fig. 5 a plan,
and Fig. 6 an end view of our improved machinery, drawn on an
enlarged scale.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a is the roller to be engraved; b, the mandril on
which it is fixed; c, the bed; d, the carriage, which is moved to and fro
along the bed by the screw d¹; e is the mill connected to the weighted
lever e¹, and f the lever for transferring the action of the pattern on the
pattern roller g to the lever et; the levers e¹ and fare connected by the
link f¹; these parts and all the others, not particularly referred to
hereafter, are made as in the ordinary transferring engraving machines.
Our improved machinery for actuating the lever e¹ and the mill e, or
other engraving tool, is shewn best in Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6; in these
views is the sliding carriage, which fits in V grooves in the under
slide ¹ fixed to the carriage d, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2. In the
bottom slide ¹ are bearings for the screws h² and h³, which are geared
together by the pinions *, so that they may revolve in contrary direc-
tions, one of the pinions * gears into and is driven by the pinion i, as
shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, connected by a key and groove to the shaft ;
this shaft is turned round by a strap and speed pulley on a countershaft
passing round the pulley ³. The shaft ¹ drives the roller a, the screw d³,
and the pattern roller g by suitable gearing, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2.
The screws h² and h³ gear into the worm wheels h³ and hº, the axles of
which revolve in the sliding carriage h. To each worm wheel is fixed a
ratchet wheel marked and 8, the teeth of which point in opposite
directions. The catches j and j₁ take into the teeth of the ratchet
wheels, and these catches are jointed to the levers and ³, which are
hinged to the slide h, and are counterbalanced by weights. The catches
j and are acted upon by light springs shewn in Figs. 3 and 4; these
springs hold the catches out of gear with their respective ratchet wheels
when the levers and are up, but they must be so light that as soon
as either of the levers is lowered to bring the point of the catch in
with the teeth of the ratchet wheel the tooth of the ratchet wheel acting
on the catch draws it down, as shewn in Fig. 4. On each of the
levers and j³ is a projection j' and j³, as the levers ² and j³ are moved
to and fro by the ratchet wheels 7 and ³ these projections come against
the inclines ¹ and k projecting from a bracket fixed to the under
slide h¹. The levers and are also provided each with a diamond-
shaped projection j and 17, which projections come alternately in contact
gear

page_text: with the guide pieces and fixed to the under slide h¹. Each lever ²
and is made with a notched bridle; these notches take alternately on
the T-headed arm, forming a vibrating catch m projecting from the
vertical shaft m³, which is supported in a bracket fixed to the under
slide. To the shaft m¹ is also fixed the finger m³ taking into the lever n
projecting from the horizontal plate n², which is supported in the same
bracket as the shaft m². The horizontal plate n¹ is acted upon by the
regulating screw projecting from the lever o', see Fig. 1, which is
jointed to the standard & fixed to the carriage d, to the lever o¹ is
connected the tracer o², which is raised and lowered by the projections
and recesses on the surface of the embossed pattern roller g. The
adjustable screw o³ acting on a bracket fixed to the slide d is for
regulating the amount of action of the screw upon the horizontal
plate n¹. To the sliding carriage h is fixed the bracket p, in which is a
slot partly inclined and partly horizontal; this slot imparts an up-and-
down motion to the lever p', which is jointed to a bracket fixed to the
under slide h¹. The inner end of the lever p₁ is held by the weight p³
against a bowl f², see Figs. 2 and 3, connected to the lever f. The
weight p³ should be about equal to half the pressure of the bowl f*
upon the inner end of the lever p². To the sliding carriage h are also
fixed the two double inclines q, which act on the levers q' jointed to
brackets fixed to the under slide h¹; these levers are pressed against the
inclines by the weights q³, which two weights should be together equal
in their pressure on the inclines q to the pressure of the one weight p³,
that is to say, allowing for the leverage of q¹ each of the two weights q³
should be one-fourth of the weight p³. The height of the two double
inclines q should be equal to half the rise of the inclined slot in the
bracket p. In setting the machine great care should be taken that the
inner end of the lever p¹ begins to impinge against the bowlf, and thus
to take the weight of the lever f at exactly one-half the traverse of the
sliding carriage h. There is no practical difficulty whatever in thus
setting the machine each time of starting. If this point be accurately
adjusted the weights p² and q' will together exactly counterbalance the
pressure of the lever ƒ while it is being lifted, and again will exactly
counterbalance the pressure of each other, when the inner end of the
lever p¹ is out of contact with the bowl f*.

page_text: :-
in the positions they occupy when the mill e is in contact with the
roller a, and when the tracer o² is in a recess of the pattern roller g :
When the pattern roller in revolving raises the tracer o² and lever o¹ the
screw o is lifted off the horizontal plate n¹, and the spring * then
reverses the position of the lever n, thus bringing the vibrating catch m
out of the notch in the bridle of the lever ², and inserting it in the
bridle of the lever j³, the vibrating catch m having thus been removed
from the bridle of the lever allows this lever to fall, and the catch j
is then brought into gear with the ratchet wheel h³, thereby arresting
the rotation of the worm wheel h³, which then acts as a nut for the
screw h³, which moves the sliding carriage h in the direction of the arrow
in Fig. 3. When the carriage is moving in this direction the projection j³
on the lever comes against and slides up the incline ³, thus lifting the
lever j³ to release the catch j¹ out of the ratchet wheel 8, and to bring
the bridle of the lever above the level of the vibrating catch m. As
soon as the catch j' is released from the ratchet wheel the motion of
the lever is arrested, and the sliding carriage has come to the end of
its traverse. By this action also the inclined slot in the bracket p acting
on the stud in the lever p' will have lifted the end of the said lever, and
with it the levers fand e¹, so as to raise the mill e off the roller a. The
parts will remain in that position until a recess in the pattern roller
allows the tracer o³ to drop, when the screw o acting on the horizontal
plate n¹ reverses the position of the vibrating catch m, and brings the
lever and parts connected therewith into operation to reverse the
traverse of the sliding carriage h. When the sliding carriage is moving
in the direction of the arrow the projection 7 passes clear over the
inclines on the guide picce 1, and the projection j passes under the
inclines of the guide piece 1, and when the sliding carriage is moving in
the contrary direction the action is reversed, the object of these projec-
tions and guide pieces is to prevent the levers and rising or falling
before the traverse of the sliding carriage k is complete. It is evident
that when the sliding carriage h is at the extremity of its traverse in
cither direction both the catches j and j are out of gear with their
respective ratchet wheels, and they remain out of gear until a change in
the pattern roller raises or lowers the point of the tracer, at which time
the vibrating catch m is instantly moved from the bridle of the lever 12
to j³, or vice versa, thus again bringing the parts for moving the slide to
and fro into operation.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, we declare that we claim the improved
machinery shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, for actuating the mill or
other engraving tool.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Leake and Henry Larkin,
have hereto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh day of October
One thousand eight hundred and seventy..
ROBERT LEAKE.
(L.S.)
HENRY LARKIN. (L.S.)
ROBERT LEAKE. (L.S.)
HENRY LARKIN. (L.S.)