IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING PRESSES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Skertchly, of Kingsland, Middlesex,:
and Ansty, in the County, of Leicester, Engineer, for the In-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Skertchly:
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his. Petition,"
on the 16th February 1853.
I, JOSEPH SKERTCHLY, of Kingsland, Middlesex, & Ansty, in
the County of Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING PRESSES" to be as follows:-
My improvements in copying presses consist in combining there-
with some of the parts of a lithographic press, whereby such presses
are adapted for the purposes of lithography & zincography, as
well as copying presses, thus rendering a single press capable of
performing these several operations.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Joseph Skertchly in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th August 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH SKERTCHLY, of Kingsland, Middlesex, and Ansty, in the
County of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Skertchly, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Skertchly, 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 COPYING PRESSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Skertchly, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Joseph Skertchly, 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 thereof, reference being had to
the sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and.
figures marked thereon (that is to say):
My Invention consists in combining with the ordinary copying
press such parts of a lithographic press as will render one and
the same press applicable for lithographic purposes as well as for

page_text: ordinary copying. The copying press usually employed is formed
with a bed. plate, to which is affixed upright arms with a strong
cross head.
A screw works vertically through the cross head, to
the lower end or nose of which screw a platten is suspended. In
copying with this.press the manuscript, with the book or paper
on which it is to be copied, is placed on the bed, the platten is
brought down, and a pressure exerted upon it by the screw. This
process will. supply. but one copy, which to be legible must be
read through the paper upon which it is taken. It often oc-
curs that a number of copies of a letter are required, to afford
facilities for which it. is the object of this Invention to supply
in one..and the same machine. For this purpose it is simply
necessary to write the letter on transfer paper with lithographic
ink, in order. that the manuscript may be transferred to a stone,
also to change some of the parts of the press. Having so prepared
the machine, any number of copies may be thrown off, as will be
readily understood from the annexed description. Fig. 1, is a side
elevation; Fig. 2, an end elevation; and Fig. 3, a plan of my
improved copying press. A, is the frame or bed; B, the cross head;
C, the pressure screw; D, D, the lever arm for working the same.
The platten E, is. shewn seperately in plan at Fig. 4, and in
elevation at Fig. 5, and is also seen in dotted lines in the side view
at Fig. 1. The platten. E, is attached to the screw in such manner
that it may be readily removed when required; this is effected by
means of a, screw b, the point of which takes into an annular recess
formed round the nose of the screw. This allows a free rotary
motion in the screw, permits the necessary pressure being exerted;
and also sustains the platten. In order to adapt the press to
take lithographic copies instead of a fixed bed as heretofore en-
ployed as the surface on which to receive the pressure, I fit a bed
or table. G, thereto, in such. manner that it may traverse to and
fro., This table. G, is. bedded upon surfaces c, c, c¹, c¹, of which
c¹, c, also act as guides, and between whose vertical sides the
table. is. fitted, thereby maintaining its parallelism of notion.
A rock H, is attached to the under side of the table for the

page_text: purpose of giving the traversing motion; this is communicated by
means of a pinion K, fixed on a transverse shaft I. The pinion
geers into the rock H, while the shaft, which. is. mounted in
fixed bearings, is furnished with a winch handle J, as a first
mover. The bed G, is thus equally applicable to receive pressure
while stationary for a copying press, as in motion for the pur-
poses of lithography. In order to adapt the press, for the latter
purpose it is necessary to remove the platten E, from the screw C.
and substitute the beam F; as shown in Fig. 2. The beam F, is
attached to the screw C, by a set screw b, as seen in plan Fig..6,
and described with reference to the platten E; both the platten E
and the beam F, are fitted and move.in vertical guides formed on
the side arms of the frame. The beam F, carries the scraper f, the
immediate instrument of pressure in the. lithographic press. If
preferred, a roller may be substituted for the beam and scraper; and
instead of the bed passing beneath either of those instruments, the
bed may be stationary, and those instruments caused to traverse over
it in order to give the, pressure required to take lithographic im-
pressions. In taking these impressions, the stone or zinc surface
on which the manuscript, is transferred having been prepared, it is
placed on the bed B, and the manuscript.placed on the stone., The
transfer is effected by traversing the stone below the .scraper, causing
sufficient pressure, by first, bringing down the screw C. Motion is
given to the winch handle, which by, rotating, the pinion causes.the
traverse of the bed B, and with it the stone carrying the manuscript.
The pressure of the scraper.f, on the transfer paper, causes the
writing to be transferred to the stone. Impressions are then taken
precisely as practised, in lithography.
Having described the nature of my Invention; and the manner in
which it is to be performed, I would have..it understood: that I do
not confine myself to the precise detail shown in the Drawings, as
that may be varied without departing from my Invention, and that
what I claim is, the combination of any of the respective parts of
lithographic and copying presses in one machine, whereby to render
it applicable for lithographic. purposes as well as the ordinary copy

page_text: ing of letters. I also claim the employment in one machine of a
beam and scraper, or a roller, with a platten in connection with a
fixed or moveable bed for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Skertchly, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
WILLIAM CLARK.
JOSEPH SKERTCHLY. (L.S.)