A New or Improved Apparatus for Accurately Adjusting the Press Table in Machine Presses for Printing on Glass-, Porcelain-, and similar Plates.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1899-Accepted, 18th Mar.,
1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Apparatus for Accurately Adjusting the Press
Table in Machine Presses for Printing on Glass-, Porcelain-, and
similar Plates.
I, HENRY VON BAENSCH, of 225, Kurfuerstendamm, Charlottenburg, near Berlin,
in the Empire of Germany, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of the present invention is a new or improved apparatus for accu-
rately and expeditiously adjusting the press table in machine presses for printing
on glass-, porcelain-, and similar plates, wherein the adjustment is effected by
means of a suitable source of pressure, acting from below, and in such manner
that plates of uneven thickness may be employed with complete success as regards
the quality of the printing. In presses of most constructions hitherto known the
adjustment of the press table is effected by mechanical means, a method which,
owing to the fragility of the aforesaid material cannot in the present instance
afford the necessary accuracy and precision of adjustment however efficient it may
be with paper and similar elastic material. The new or improved apparatus form-
ing the subject of the present invention offers the important advantages of assur-
ing in addition to accurate adjustment, a perfect uniformity in the pressure of
the press table against the printing cylinder, the degree of which pressure may
furthermore be regulated according to requirement.
Reference being had to the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a side view of a printing machine provided with my improved
apparatus, one of the pressure cylinders being shown in section.
Fig. 2 is a top view of the same, the position of the pressure cylinders being
indicated in dotted lines.
Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section of the machine and the press table.
Fig. 4 illustrates the method of adjusting the press table when plates of uneven
thickness are being employed, and
Fig. 5 shows one of the traverse rules or justifying battens required for accu-
rately adjusting the plates.
The adjustment of the plate and pressing the latter against the printing cylinder
is effected by means of a convenient source of pressure, which is conducted into a
suitable number of pressure cylinders C through main pipe R and branch pipes
connecting the latter with said cylinders. In the drawings six pressure cylinders C
are shown, but any other suitable number may be used.
The press table F is supported by rods K extending in a vertical direction from
the pistons of the cylinders C, said rods K being hemispherically rounded off at
their upper ends and made to engage in dished socket plates secured to the lower
surface of press table F. The length of rods K is determined according to the
length of stroke that may be required at one time or the other in order to admit
of printing on plates of considerably different thickness. The plate to be printed
is secured to the press table by displaceable cheeks S, and the proper adjustment
is effected in the following manner :-
The traverse rules or justifying battens R', which are displaceably held by
lateral rails W of the machine frame, are so placed in position as to lie close
over the edges of the plate to be printed. Upon the main cock of pipe R, and
the branch pipe cocks H, the latter being close to pressure cylinders C, being

page_text: opened, the cylinder pistons and therewith the rods K are pressed upwards
whereby the press table F is raised until the edges of the printing plate on the
latter bear with uniform pressure against the traverse rules R'. The pressure
is then shut off by operating the cock of main pipe R, and the press table is left
immoveable in position. Owing to the lower surfaces of traverse rules R¹ being
placed slightly higher than the level of the lowermost portion of the circum-
ference of the printing cylinder D, the latter, after leaving the ink or colour
slab F placed at a slightly lower level than the printing plate, will pass with a
certain degree of pressure over the surface of the plate, the said pressure being
maintained perfectly uniform during the whole 'extent of the travel of the printing
cylinder.
If the printing plate is of uneven thickness, i.e. one side thicker than the other
as shown in Fig. 4, the cocks H serving the pressure cylinders C situated at that
side of the press table where the thicker edge of the plate is placed, will have
to be turned off before those servng the cylinders on the opposite side. The press
table F is therefore made to occupy an oblique position (Fig. 4), whereby the
difference in thickness of both sides of the plate is equalized and the surface of
the plate is accurately adjusted to traverse rules R' and is held in a correct position
for printing.
Before the printing process proper is commenced the traverse rules R¹ have to
be removed, and for that purpose they are drawn forward or backward, as the
case may be, until they reach the rabbets or channels provided in the lateral guide
rails L (Fig. 1); they can then easily be disengaged and be placed in traverse
grooves Q provided for their reception in press table F, until again required for
use with the next printing plate.
The printing cylinder D, having its bearings in the sliding blocks or carriages G
which are moveable in lateral side guide rails W, is coupled with guide rollers or
wheels R2 supported in displaceable and adjustable bearings G¹, and adapted to
find a firm and reliable guide on the inner horizontal flange of rails W. Both
sets of bearings are connected with the curved rail s by suitable nuts; in presses
operated by hand the tail ends of the said curved rails may be bent upwards and
be connected with each other by means of a wooden roller or bar, adapted to serve
as a handle for giving the required movement to the printing cylinder carriage.
The bearings G¹ are made displaceable and adjustable in longitudinal slots pro-
vided in said curved rails s for the purpose of allowing the guide rollers or
wheels R² to be set and fixed in proper position as to their distance from the
printing cylinder D, according to the size of the plate to be printed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
A new or improved apparatus for accurately and expeditiously adjusting the
press table in machine presses for printing on glass-, porcelain-, and similar plates,
in which the required uniform pressure of said plates against the printing cylinder
is effected by several pistons acting through rods against the press table, said
pistons being operated in their cylinders by a common source of pressure in such
manner that their action can be regulated separately and independently of each
other, substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
1000
CAMBIE & WINCKELSETT,
Warwick Buildings, 40, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
For the Applicant.