IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION FOR ETCHING OR ENGRAVING CYLINDERS USED IN PRINTING AND EMBOSSING
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and
Frederick William Edmondson, of the Firm of Messieurs Edmond-
son, Brothers, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engravers
to Calico Printers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edmondson,
William Edmondson, and Frederick William Edmondson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on
the 8th April 1870.
We, JAMES EDMONDSON, WILLIAM EDMONDSON, and FREDERICK
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 IN PRINTING AND
EMBOSSING," to be as follows:-

page_text: Our 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 laterial to and fro motion to the diamond points or
other instruments to produce the required design or pattern on the
cylinder.
In performing our Invention we employ a tracer supported in a
carriage connected to a cross bar, which is connected to two side bars
united at the back to a cross stay, forming altogether 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 a disc
which rests upon a side slide, and this slide rests on movable antifriction
rollers supported by a bar fixed to the frame side. Upon one of the side
bars of the main slide rests a segment, to the axle of which is fixed a
pulley, one fourth, or other definite proportion of the radius of the
segment, and this pulley is connected by steel bands to the side slide on
which the disc on the mandril of the cylinder rests, the above parts give
the requisite partial rotary motion to the cylinder. To obtain the
lateral to and fro motions of the diamond points or other instruments we
employ a central shaft working in bearings on the foot bar and cross
stay, on which is a pulley connected by steel bands passing over guide
pulleys to the tracer carriage, this central shaft passes through a barrel
provided with antifriction rollers, and at each end of the barrel is a
small pulley one fourth less or some other definite proportion of the
pulley at the front end of the central shaft. These small pulleys (or
one as may be required) are connected to the tool bars by steel bands.
The partial rotary motion may be imparted to the cylinder by a disc
fixed to the axle of the segment above referred to, the end of the cylinder
resting upon the said disc, or instead of supporting the end of the
cylinder on the disc we fix a disc to the mandril, and this disc rests upon
and receives motion from the disc on the axle of the segment. The
surfaces of the discs above referred to must be roughened or made with
fine teeth. In some cases it may be desirable to employ a segment at
each end, and to continue the axle of the segments across the machine
with a disc at each end, on which the ends of the cylinder, or the discs
on the mandril rest.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and
Frederick William Edmondson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
EDMONDSON, WILLIAM EDMONDSON, and FREDERICK WILLIAM EDMOND-
SON, of the Firm of Mess". Edmondson, Brothers, of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Engravers to Calico Printers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by IIer
Jetters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, 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 James Edmondson, William Edmondson,
and Frederick William Edmondson, Her special licence that we, the
said James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and Frederick William
Edmondson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and Frederick
William Edmondson, 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 ETCHING OR ENGRAVING
CYLINDERS USED IN PRINTING AND EMBOSSING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and
Frederick William Edmondson, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their
hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 James Edmondson, William
Edmondson, and Frederick William Edmondson, 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) :-

page_text: Our Invention consists in certain improved combinations 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 instru-
ments to produce the required design or pattern on the cylinder.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying
two Sheets of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters
marked thereon.
On Sheet 1 Fig. 1 is an elevation in section of our improved machinery
for etching or engraving cylinders used in printing and embossing;
Fig. 2 is a front elevation, and Fig. 3 is a plan of part of the same.
a, a, are the frame sides, which are connected by the stays a¹; bis
the horizontal tablo 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 c¹, the journals of which are supported on antifriction
rollers, one pair of which enter into a groove in the mandril to prevent
it moving endwisc; 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 one end of the mandril c¹ is
fixed a pulley or disc c³ which rests upon and is moved round by the
slide bar g, and this slide bar is supported by antifriction bowls g'
running upon the rail / which is secured to the side frame d. The
tracer is supported in the tracer carriage i which moves to and fro on
the cross barj being supported on antifriction rollers as usual, the ends
of the cross bar j are connected to the two side bars which arc sup-
ported by antifriction bowls running on the rails 6 fixed to the top
stays a¹, and the side bars are united at the back by the cross stay j;
the parts marked j, j³, and ♬ form the main slide which supports the
central shaft, the object of which will be explained hereafter. Upon
one of the side bars ¹ rests the segment 1, and as the main slide is
moved to and fro by the operator in passing the tracer over the pattern
a partial rotary motion is given to the segment or, by preference, the
segment is connected to the side bar by two steel bands the ends of
which are secured to the segment and to the side bar. The segment 1
is counter-balanced by two adjustable weights shewn best in Fig. 1, and
it is fixed on the same axle as the pulley which is connected by steel
bands to the slide bar g supporting the cylinder. The pulley is one-

page_text: fourth or other definite proportion of the radius of the segment 7, con-
sequently the to-and-fro motion of the main slide imparts a partial
rotary motion to the cylinder, and this motion is reduced in the pro-
portion determined upon by the relative radii of the segment 2 and
pulley P.
The lateral to-and-fro motions are given to the diamond
points or other instruments in the following manner :-To the central
shaft is fixed the pulley, which is connected by steel bands passing
around the guide pulleys to the tracer carriage i; the shaft k, which is
shewn with four bevelled edges, but which may be made of any other
suitable shape, passes through the barrel ', which is provided with
antifriction rollers bearing on the shaft k, and at each end of the barrel
is a small pulley *; these pulleys are one-fourth less or other definite
proportion of the pulley, and the pulleys are connected by steel
bands to the brackets e fixed to the tool bars e. By this arrangement
as the tracer carriage is moved to and fro on the cross bar j, the
requisite reduced lateral motion is given to the diamond points or
other instruments. The tools are lifted off and lowered on to thic
cylinder by the treadle levers and links shown in Fig. 1, as in other
pentagraph engraving machines.
On Sheet 2, Fig. 4 is an elevation, and Fig. 5 a front view of part
of an etching or engraving machine to which a modification of our
improvements is applied; in this arrangement the disc c on the mandril c¹
of the cylinder c, the segment 1, and the main slide, are the same as
in Figs. 1 and 2, but the mode of giving the partial rotary motion to
the cylinder is modified in the following manner:-The axle of the
segment is provided with the pulley 1, and as this pulley is turned
partly round by the segment it imparts direct motion to the disc c* by
means of steel bands, the ends of which are fixed to the pulley and disc.
The pulley may either be solid and of the diameter of the disc c², or
it may be an expanding pulley, as shown full size in Figs. 6 and 7,
or of any other suitable construction, so that the diameter thereof
may be varied to correspond with the diameter of the cylinder to be
engraved.
The expanding pulley, shewn in Figs. 6 and 7 consists of the block
with radial grooves and of the cover 1, which can be tightened
together by the nut . In the radial grooves are fitted the spokes l',
cach spoke having a segmental head and a projecting stud, as shown
in Fig. 8, and these studs fit into a spiral groove cut in the cover lª.

page_text: In Fig. 6 all the spokes are drawn in so as to make the expanding
pulley of the smallest diameter; and when it is requisite to enlarge
the diameter the nut must be slackened to allow the cover to
be turned round, independently of the block ; the spiral groove in
the cover then acting on the studs projecting from the spokes causes
all the spokes to move simultaneously to the same extent, thereby
increasing the diameter of the expanding pulley. When the nut is
again tightened the pulley will remain a fixture until another change
in its diameter is required. The pulley and segment wheel 7, shewn
in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, may also be made to expand in the manner above 1
described, in order to vary the proportion between the enlarged tracing
plate and the pattern to be etched on the roller.
Fig. 9 represents another modification of this part of our Invention ;
in this case the axle of the segment extends from one side frame to the
other, and upon it are fixed the two discs I, the surfaces of which must 1
be roughened or made with fine teeth to impart the requisite rotary
motion to the cylinder c, the ends of which rest upon the said discs.
The axle of the segment / may be supported on antifriction rollers, and
the ends of the mandril c¹ pass through bearings sliding in the slots
in the frames a. In some cases one of the discs may be dispensed 2
with.
Fig. 10 represents another modification of our Invention; in this
arrangement the disc c³ on the mandril of the cylinder c bears upon and
is turned round by the roughened disc fixed on the axle of the
segment 1. In all the arrangements shewn in Figs. 4, 9, and 10 for 2
giving the partial rotary motion to the cylinder the diamond points or
other tools may be actuated in the manner shewn in Figs. 1 and 2,
or by any other suitable combination of machinery.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, we declare that we claim,-
First. The improved combinations of machinery shewn and described
for imparting a partial rotary motion to the cylinder, and particularly the
segment and pulley or disc l.
Secondly. The improved combination of machinery for imparting
the lateral to-and-fro motion to the tool slide or slides, and particularly 3
the central shaft k, the pulley ', and the barrel with the pulleys '.
3

page_text: And, lastly. The application of the expanding pulley, shewn in
Figs. 6, 7, and 8, or other equivalent for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Edmondson, William
Edmondson, and Frederick William Edmondson, have hereto set
our hands and seals, this Fifth day of October One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.