IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND MAUNDRILS USED IN PRINTING CALICO AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Montgomery Gilbert, of the City of Man-
chester, Engraver, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND MAUNDRILS USED IN PRINTING CALICO AND
OTHER SURFACES."
Scaled the 1st November 1858, and dated the 11th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Montgomery
Gilbert at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th May 1858.
1, JAMES MONTGOMERY GILBERT, of the City of Manchester, Engraver, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND MAUNDRILS USED IN PRINTING CALICO AND OTHER
SURFACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of an improved method of fixing the cylinder on the
maundril, and combines a firm fixture of the cylinder with a ready means of
loosening or removing it from the maundril, and also with a method of freeing
the cylinder from the injurious action caused by the bending of the maundrill
under pressure.
My improved maundril consists of an exterior shell and an interior spindle,
the exterior shell being again in two pieces, one being inserted at each end of
the cylinder. The interior spindle is so constructed as to be the means of

page_text: drawing together the exterior shells, whilst the form given to the surfaces
of these maundril shells, and to the interior surface of the printing cylinder
causes the aforesaid drawing together to result in the firm fixture of the
cylinder upon the shells.
By means of these improvements cylinders are made available which would,.
by the ordinary method of fixing them on the maundrils, be too thin and weak
to secure good work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Montgomery Gilbert in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MONTGOMERY GILBERT, of the City of Manchester, Engraver, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
Oue thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Montgomery Gilbert, Her special licence that I, the said James
Montgomery Gilbert, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Montgomory Gilbert, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND MAUNDRILS USED IN
PRINTING CALICO AND OTHER SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Montgomery Gilbert, 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 James Montgomery Gilbert, 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):—.
The nature of my Invention of improvements in the construction of cylinders

page_text: and maundrils used in printing calico and other surfaces, consists, as regards
the cylinders, in the form given to their interior, which, instead of being one
regular cone from end to end, as is usual at present, is formed by two cones,
having their small diameters towards the middle of the cylinder.
The maundril is constructed of three principal parts, two of which are
hollow cylinders or shells, formed conical on their exteriors to fit the interior
of the cylinder. The third part is a spindle or shaft made to fit the printing
or other machines at the ends, and to carry the two coned shells at its middle
part. By means of a right-hand thread or screw, and a left-hand thread or
screw upon this shaft, and corresponding nuts or threads in the two coned
shells, the latter may be drawn together within the cylinder until a sufficiently
tight fixture of the cylinder upon the shells is effected. The same means, but
reversing the direction of the action, suffice for releasing the cylinder when
required to be removed from the maundril. By this improved mode of con-
struction, the cylinder can be firmly fixed to the maundril, and released there-
from with facility.
In order to avoid the tendency to communicate to the cylinder the deflection
caused by the pressure in printing, I recommend the adoption of the plan
already known, of a short bearing, about midway between the centre and each
end of the cylinder, instead of a bearing the whole available length of the
cylinder.
Inasmuch as the use of the screws above mentioned is confined to the opera-
tions of fixing and releasing the cylinder, a separate apparatus may be used for
those operations, if desired. A shaft, similar to the ordinary maundrils, may
then be inserted into the hollow shells, for the purposes of printing or engraving.
Another mode of obviating the tendency to communicate to the cylinder
the deflection caused by the pressure in printing, and which is applicable
either to cylinders as at present constructed, or to my improved maundril con-
structed as last described, consists in slightly enlarging towards the ends the
interior surface of the cylinder, or of the shell forming part of my improved
maundril.
My improvements in cylinders and maundrils are applicable to cylinders of
the ordinary thickness, but they are especially intended to effect economy of
copper by enabling the cylinders to be engraved and printed when so thin, or
so reduced in thickness by repeated turnings off, as to render them useless
for such purposes, if the means hitherto at command are employed; and in
order that my Invention may be more fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.

page_text: Figures 1, 2, and 3 represent in elevation, section, and end elevation
respectively, one mode of constructing my improvements in cylinders and
maundrils. A is a wrought-iron spindle or shaft, having its ends formed to
fit the machine in which it is required to be used; A', A', are the narrow
bearings or turned surfaces referred to above as being preferable to bearings
of the length of the cylinder, but which I do not claim as my Invention; A³ is
the right-handed thread, and A³ is the left-handed thread, by means of which
the two hollow cast-iron shells B and D are drawn together or parted asunder
at pleasure, as will be readily understood; C is the cylinder on which the
Figure or design to be printed is engraved. The form of the interior is a
double cone, as shewn in the section, Figure 2, where it will also be seen that
the exteriors of the shells B and D are shaped to correspond. I prefer to
make the cones of equal lengths, so that they may meet in the centre of the
length of the cylinder, but they may be of unequal lengths, if preferred. I
would also remark that their lines may be slightly curved instead of straight,
as shewn. In the mode of construction here represented, B and D aro sup:
ported at their junction by the joint shewn in Figure 2, the shell B fitting into
the shell D at B' and D', when the two are drawn together.
When the two shells have been forced into the cylinders sufficiently for
usc, it is desirable that they should not be disturbed by the action of the
screws A3 and A3 during the rotation of the maundril in printing. The nuts
B and D, which may he called locknuts, are therefore employed. They lock
up against a shoulder on the shaft, and presuming the maundril to be driven
in the direction which would tend to tighten up the shells, they entirely
prevent the tendency referred to.
Figures 4 and 5 represent another mode of constructing my improved
maundril. The shaft A is made to support the shells B and D along the
greater part of their length, rendering unnecessary the jointing of the two
shells. Along this length it is made stronger than in Figure 2, and may be
still further stiffened by a swell at its middle part, as shewn in the Drawing.
The nuts E and F are by preference of steel, and are inserted into B and D,
at their ends. They are retained in their places by the shoulders B³ and D³
in the shells, and by the nuts E' and F', which are screwed up to a shoulder
in the shells, so as to leave some space for movement or back lash to the
nuts E and F. Keys, one of which is shewn at G, suffice to prevent the
rotation of these nuts within the shells. This key G is also made to effect
the same purpose as the lock nuts B and D in Figure 2, by keying the shells
to the shaft A. The space allowed to the nut F for back lash, admits of one
or other of the slots or key ways A* on the shaft being brought to correspond

page_text: with the key way in the shell by a backward motion of the shaft, if necessary.
The key G is then pushed up into its way until the shaft and shell are keyed
together. By this means the screws are rendered entirely inoperative during
the rotation of the maundril when in use.
A third mode of constructing my improved maundril is shewn in Figures G
and 7. As before stated, the right and left handed screws on the shaft are
only required to force the parts of the maundril together, and for separating
them. It is obvious, therefore, that, if desired, the coned shells may be forced
iuto the cylinder, and removed therefrom by means of a separate apparatus,
such as will readily suggest itself to any mechanical person, and an ordinary
printing or engraving maundril may then be inserted for use.
Such an
arrangement is shewn in Figure 6, where B is a shell of cast or wrought iron,
coned to fit the interior of the cylinder along the part of its length from X
to Y. D is a shell of wrought iron, also coned to fit the interior of the
cylinder on its outside surface, but turned true and parallel on its inside
surface to fit the turned parallel part of the shell B. The interior of the shell
B is turned to the cone or taper of the shaft or printing maundril A, on which
it is placed in the usual way, after the cylinder has been fixed upon it, by the
forcible insertion of the shell D into its place, as shewn in the Drawing. The
shoulders Z and Z may be left to facilitate the separation of the shells.
Figures 8 and 9 shew a method by which the maundril may be applied to
rollers of large size, such as those used in printing handkerchiefs. The parts
may be made in cast iron, and the ordinary maundri! inserted, as in Figures
6 and 7.
Figure 10 represents a section of a cylinder, or of the shell of a maundril,
similar to those shewn in Figure 6 and 8, into which the shaft or printing
maundril, shewn in dotted lines, is to be inserted.
If the lines which form the cone or taper to fit the printing maundril are
very slightly curved or ground away towards the ends, as indicated in the
Drawing, the interior shaft or maundril will deflect with the pressure, without
communicating its deflection to the shells and cylinder, and the pressure will
be uniform along the length of the cylinder instead of greatest at the ends.
The degree in which this object is attained, will depend upon the adjustment
of the curve to the strength of the shaft or maundril. In adopting this plan,
it would be desirable to substitute a short key and key way for the long slut
and key commonly employed, in order to avoid the unequal deflection of the
shaft or maundril. If more convenient, the curve may be given to the lines
of the shaft, instead of to those of the shell, or it may be divided between the
two, if preferred. Various other modifications of my improvements in the

page_text: construction of cylinders and maundrils might be shewn, but the foregoing aro
sufficient to illustrate the peculiar character thereof; it must, therefore, bo
understood that I do not limit myself to those particularly described in this
Specification, neither do I limit myself to the use of the materials named
herein.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I declare that I claim :-
First, constructing the interior of cylinders used in printing with a double
cone, and the exterior of the shells forming part of the maundril to correspond,
so that when the shells are drawn together, the cylinder is securely fixed and
supported thereon by the dilating tendency of the two opposing cones.
Secondly, slightly enlarging towards the ends the interior surface of the
cylinder, or of the shell forming part of my improved maundril, as shewn and
described in reference to Figure 10, for the purpose of obviating the tendency
to communicate to the cylinder the deflection caused by the pressure in
printing.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Montgomery Gilbert, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
J. M. GILBERT. (L.S.)