Improvements in Printing Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Printing Machines.
I, SAMUEL THACKER, of 32, Ball Street, Wells Road, in the County of the Town of
Nottingham, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The invention has for its object a simple, effective, strong, and durable
construction of platen printing machine.
In carrying my invention into effect I fix the type-bed in an approximately
vertical position in the main frame of the machine, making it therefore a fixture in
use, and I employ a four-sided rotating block having a platen on each of its sides
and mounted in a frame carried by a pair of levers at each side of the machine,
such levers being pin-jointed to the base of the machine and forming, with the platen-
carrying frame, a parallel motion, so that each platen is carried up to and away
from the type-bed in a truly parallel manner. To and fro motion is given to the
platen frame by links connected thereto and to crank pins on a disc and cam on
the main shaft. Suitable locking means are employed to fix the platen block
firmly during the printing action and to liberate the same after printing.
Each platen is fitted with its own grippers, and intermittent rotary motion is
given to the platen block so as to bring each platen in succession in position to be
pressed against the type-bed. Paper is fed to the platen which for the time is at
the top of the block, and each gripper is hinged to its platen along the edge which,
when in the act of printing, is lowermost. A fixed cam on the platen-carrying
frame acts in succession on levers connected to the axles of the grippers. In the
rotation of the platen block, the gripper of the platen which has just acted, is
caused to open, so as to deliver the printed sheet, the printed side upwards, to the
receiving box or tray. A taking-off gripper is arranged below the platen and is
operated by a cam and connections so as to seize the printed sheet at the required
time and assist in its proper delivery.
As a modification I substitute for the four revolving platens, a single fixed
platen, and I employ a revolving frame having a set of grippers and paper-carriers
pivoted to each angle of the same, and I give intermittent rotary mot on to said
frame in a similar manner to that of the revolving platens, the paper being fed to
and removed from said carriers and grippers in a similar manner to that before
described.
In larger machines I substitute for the parallel motion levers of the platen-
carrying frame, a pair of quadrant levers having a toothed quadrant at their lower
ends working in connection with fixed horizontal toothed racks. In this case the
platen-carrying frame is mounted in the upper ends of these quadrants and is
carried in a truly horizontal line to and from the type-bed.
Dated this :) 1th dox of Manah 1908

page_text: I, SAMUEL THACKER, of 32, Ball Street, Wells Road, in the County of the Town
of Nottingham, Engineer, 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 :—
I will describe my invention by the aid of the accompanying drawings in
which-
Fig. 1 is a right hand side view of the machine in its closed or printing position.
Fig. 2 is a left hand side view of the machine in the same position.
Fig. 3 is a right hand side view of the machine in its open or feeding position.
Fig. 4 is an end view of the platens and platen block showing grippers and
actuating means therefor.
Fig. 5 is a plan of the gripper actuating levers.
Fig. 6 is a face view of the disc and pawl for giving the intermittent rotary or
racking movement to the platens.
Fig. 7 is a partial section of the platen frame and block showing the position of
the parts relating thereto and the cam for giving motion to the gripper actuating
levers.
Figures 8, 9 and 10 are respectively an end view, a side view and a plan, of one
form of locking mechanism and means for regulating the impression, also for
throwing the impression on and off.
Figures 11, 12 and 13 are detail views of the taking off grippers and some of
the parts connected therewith.
Figures 14 and 15 are respectively a plan and an end elevation representing a
modification, parts being removed for clearness.
In carrying my invention into effect, I fix the type-bed in an approximately
vertical position in the main frame b of the machine, making it therefore a fixture
in use, and employ a four sided rotating block c having four platens d, one on
each of its sides, and mounted in a frame e carried by a pair of levers f at each side
of the machine, such levers f being pin jointed at f, to the base of the machine
and forming, with the platen frame e a parallel motion, so that each platen is in
turn carried up to and away from the type bed in a truly parallel manner.
The to and fro motion is given to the platen frame e by means of links
connected at one end to the eccentric pins c of the shaft carrying the platen
block c and at the other end to crank pins g on a disc g¹ and cam wheel g² fixed
on opposite ends of the main shaft h, the wheel 2 having teeth on its periphery
which gear with a pinion on the crank shaft receiving motion by treadle
gearing as shown, or by power.
Suitable locking means bereinafter described are employed to fix the platen
block firmly during the printing action, and to liberate the same after printing.
Each platen is fitted with its own grippers, which act in the following manner.
A fixed cam k, see Figures 4 and 7, on the frame e and surrounding the hollow
trunnion c of the platen block c, acts in succession on a crank lever 1, see Figures 4.
and 5, one of which is fulcrummed to each platen; one end of this lever carries a
roller acting with the cam k, and the other end acts on a spring pressed lever j¹
connected to the gripper carrying axle. In the rotation of the platen block c,
the grippers of the platen which have just acted, are caused by the cam k to
open.
Taking off grippers m, see Figures 1, 3, 11, 12, 13, are arranged below the platen
and are operated by suitable means so as to seize the printed sheet and deliver it,

page_text: printed side uppermost, to the receiving box or tray b¹. The grippers j are curved
to allow the printed sheet to slip down on being released.
Paper is fed to the platen which for the time is at the top of the block, and the
grippers j are hinged to their respective platens d along the edge which, when in
the printing position, is lowermost.
The take-off grippers are actuated as follows:-m is the gripper-bar, which is
carried by one end of levers m¹ mounted on axles m²; on one of the axles m² is also
fixed a lever m³, which by a connecting rod m*, is connected to the ink roller frame u.
As the gripper-bar rises to take the sheet, a loose lever m', coming in contact with
a projection m' on the machine frame, presses on the small lever m' which is fixed
on the finger shaft m and thereby rotates such shaft and separates the fingers m
thereon from the fixed fingers mo; ordinarily the fingers are kept closed by a coiled
spring mo. As the gripper bar m continues to rise, the loose lever m² gets past
the projection m³ and the fingers snap to and grip the sheet, which by this time is
well between them. The sheet is released from the grippers by the other end of the
lever mo coming in contact with the back edge of the box b¹, into which the sheet
falls.
It is evident that the delivery of the sheet can be automatically effected by
arranging the cam k so that it does not allow the grippers j to open until the
platen d to which they are attached has reached the front of the machine, in which
case the sheets would fall on to the receiving table printed side uppermost. With
this arrangement the take off grippers would be dispensed with.
Intermittent rotary motion is given to the platen block e as follows:-A disc e²,
see Figures 2, 6 and 7, having four notches c³ in its circumference, is fixed firmly
on the hollow trunnion of the platen block c, and is acted upon by a spring
pressed pawl ct carried by disc mounted loosely on the shaft c passing through
the trunnion. A connecting rod c' is pin jointed at one end to the disc c and at the
other to a lever c8, one end of which is pinjointed to the main frame, whilst the
other has a roller c mounted thereon which runs in a groove cam g³ on the inner
face of the wheel 9², see Fig. 2. These are so arranged that when the platen frame
commences to move away from the printing position, the spring pressed pawl c
enters one of the notches ³ of the disc e² and causes said disc to be moved through
a quarter revolution, each platen thus being brought in succession to the printing
position.
The means employed for locking the platens d in position for printing are shown
in Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10, and are as follows:-On one end of the hollow trunnion c¹
I mount a square plate n, having a recess in each side, and in a bracket e¹
hanging from the frame e is hinged a gate o having a part shaped to fit each
recess n' and which is pressed into the recess n which for the time being is lower-
most by means of a spring o'. The gate is withdrawn from the recess by means
of a spring-pressed roller o² fixed to the gate o and acted upon by a cam o³ on a
rod of fixed at one end to a bracket p and sliding in a bearing of on the bracket e¹
and projecting through a hole in the gate o. The cam or projection o³ is so shaped
that when the frame is moving forward to the printing position and the platens
are locked, the roller o² slides up the inclined face of of the cam o³, and the curved
face o' of the came o³ allows the spring o* to press the roller down so that on the
return the roller runs over the acting face of the cam 03 and so withdraws the gate o
from the recess n' of the plate n against the action of the spring o¹.
I do not wish to confine myself to this mode of locking the platen in the printing
position, as it will be evident that, without departing from the peculiar nature of
my invention, I may use the mode of locking employed in the "Cropper” machine,
i.e., with a gate in front of the machine.
To throw the impression on and off I employ a rod q mounted in a lug e² on the
frame e and in a lug p' on the bracket p, and on this rod q is fixed a wheel q², to
which is attached one end of a chain q³, the other end of which is attached to a stop
piece q pinjointed to the bracket p. This stop piece q' is so placed that the end of
a screw r screwing through a block r¹ fixed rigidly to the shaft co carrying the platen

page_text: block c acts against the front face of said stop piece q' and, through the block r¹,
partially rotates the shaft c", thus throwing the platen block c forward to give full
impression. When the platen frame moves from the printing position, the block 11
is moved into the position shown in Fig. 3 by means of a stop s¹ (see Figs. 8, 9, 10)
on a rod s which runs through a slot r2 in the back of the block 1; the other end
of the rod s is pinjointed to the bracket p; the impression is thus thrown off.
If the stop piece q₁ be lifted by the operator giving a partial rotation to the rod
the end of the screw r would not act on the said stop piece when the frame e moves
forward to the printing position, consequently the shaft co would not receive the
partial rotation to throw the impression on. If the stop piece q¹ however be left in
its lower position, the end of the screw catches on the face thereof and the shaft co
receives the partial rotation and throws the impression on. The impression may be
varied by rotating the screw and thereby causing it to project more or less through
the block 1.
A link t is pinjointed at each side of the machine to a lug e* of the platen frame e
and to the ink roller frame u to actuate the inking rollers u¹. The inking plates
receive a step by step rotary motion by means of a pawl v see Fig. 1 carried by a
lever fulcrummed to the main frame at 2 and pinjointed to a link v³, which is
pinjointed to an arm v fixed on the axle of the ink duct roller carrying arm u².
It will be evident that two or other number of platens, than four, may be fixed on
a platen block without departing from my invention.
In the modification shown at Figures 14 and 15, the platen block c is supported
and receives a to and fro motion in a similar manner to that described with respect
to the previous figures, but instead of carrying four platens, it has only a single
fixed platen d* and the platen block c is not rotated. In connection with this single
fixed platen I employ a revolving frame c** having arms c*** at each angle and at
each end thereof. In each pair of bearings at the ends of these arms is
mounted a gripper shaft 2, on which is mounted a tympan or paper carrier d**.
To allow these tympans or paper carriers d** and the grippers to come in front
of the fixed platen d*, I employ an arm d¹ fixed to each tympan, which, by coming
into contact with a fixed cam d², lifts the tympan and grippers clear of the platen in
the rotary movement of the frame c**. A similar arm jou the gripper axle j is
acted upon by a cam * to actuate the grippers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I a
claim is
1. In platen printing machines, the combination of a fixed forme, an intermit-
tently rotating platen block having a platen on each of its sides, a parallel motion
frame carrying such platen block, means for giving to and fro motion to the platen
block, and means for locking the platen block in position for printing and for 4
unlocking the same after printing, substantially as herein set forth.
2. In platen printing machines, the combination of a fixed forme, a non-rotating
platen block carrying a single fixed platen, a parallel motion frame carrying such
platen block, means for giving to and fro motion to the platen block, a tympan
and gripper carrying frame mounted on the platen block and having a step by 4
step rotary motion, and means for operating the tympans and grippers, substantially
as herein set forth.
Dated thin
1
1
1000