IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Gustave Gilbert Leboyer, of Rue St. Sebastien,
Paris, in the Empire of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1863.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY,"
to be as follows:-
In the machine or apparatus which forms the subject of the present
Invention the types or printing surfaces are not inked in the usual manner;"
they are, on the contrary, left dry, and act as printing agents or surfaces
through the interposition of a sheet of paper or other suitable substance pre-
pared or coated with a preparation or composition of ink compounded of
glycerine and lampblack, or any other suitable printers' inks which will adhere
firmly and perfectly to the surface of any kind of paper. The prepared paper
coated with ink as aforesaid is rolled upon two cylinders or rollers, from which
it is unwound as the printing operation proceeds, so that the types or printing
surfaces should not be brought into contact several times with the same place
on the prepared paper, which would give rise to unequal colour in the printing.

page_text: Nevertheless, as the paper remains always slightly damp owing to the compo-
sition with which it is coated, the same bands may be used two or three times,
and even oftener if necessary.
This Invention is applicable to various kinds of printing machinery, but I
will refer more particularly to a machine for printing cards. In this machine
are combined the following peculiarities, namely:-The cards to be printed
are supplied automatically, and for this purpose it is only necessary to place
a pack of cards piled one on the other at one end of the machine, and by a
very simple mechanical arrangement, consisting of a roller and endless tapes,
a single card is carried forward from the bottom of the pile to a place imme-
diately above the prepared paper and below the rising and falling platen or
surface which gives the impression. The time of rest necessary for printing
each of the cards is obtained by means of a toothed rack, some of the teeth of
which are cut away; the tapes are therefore caused to stop at the required
moments without further attention. The prepared paper placed between the
form and the platen is advanced as, the printing operation proceeds by
unrolling it from one roller and rolling it on to the other.
From the above description of the Invention it will be easily understood
that the same principle may be applied to various other printing operations
besides that of printing cards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
.reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY," being a com-
munication from abroad by Gustave Gilbert Leboyer, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edward Newton, 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 in-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say): :-
This Invention consists in a novel method of printing by interposition, that
is to say, the printing types or surfaces are not inked as in the ordinary method,
but, on the contrary, they act in a dry state through the agency of a paper
prepared with a composition of glycerine and lampblack, which will adhere
perfectly.to all kinds of paper. The prepared paper, which is wound upon
two small cylinders, is unwound as the printing operation proceeds, in order
that the types may not bear several times in the same place, which might cause
some parts to be darker than others. As the paper is, however, always slightly
damp from the nature of the composition which covers it, the same sheet may
be made to serve two, three, or more times if necessary.
The advantages of this novel method of printing are, firstly, the blots or
blurs arising from faulty inking are done away with, and secondly, the types
cannot become foul; it is therefore a substitute for the inked types, which
generally mark very badly.
This method of printing by interposition may be applied to various kinds of
printing machinery; but I will refer more particularly to a machine for printing
cards, and which possesses the following peculiarities:-The feeding operation
is performed in an entirely automatic manner, as it is only necessary to place
a packet of superposed cards at one end of the machine, and by a very simple
arrangement of mechanism each card is laid upon endless tapes, which have
a rectilinear motion imparted to them, thereby conducting the card above the
form placed directly in the axis of the moveable platen which. gives the im-
pression. The pause necessary for the printing of each card is obtained by
means of a segmental toothed pinion; the tapes are therefore caused to stop
at the required moments without attention. The prepared paper placed

page_text: between the form and the platen is advanced as the printing operation proceeds
by unrolling it from one roller and rolling it on to the other.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of
the machine set up ready for use; Fig. 2 is a plan or bird's-eye view of the
same; Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same taken in the line 1, 2 of
Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a view taken at the feed end of the machine.
A foundation plate X is cast with the side standards A, which serve to
support the shafts for the different movements of the machine. In the middle
of the length of the machine is the small framing B, the standards of which
support the driving shaft C, upon which are keyed the fly wheel V and the
excentric E. This excentric turns in the square slot D, by which means the
platen P is caused to rise and fail, and effect the printing operation. Directly
underneath the platen P is the chase or form of type F to be printed from; this
form is slidden into the machine after the manner of a drawer. Between the
platen P and the form of type is the prepared paper G, which acts as ink for
the printing operation; this paper, which is covered on one side with a layer
of lampblack and glycerine, is wound at both ends round two small wooden
rollers Hand H³, held in place by a spring situate outside the framing. The
advance of the paper G is determined by mechanism, which will be hereafter
described.
The cards, which are placed in small packets at one end of the machine,
are taken one by one and carried upon endless tapes, which conduct them
(making a pause so as to allow of their being printed) to the other end of the
machine, where they may be collected. This method of feeding, which works
with a perfect regularity, and which constitutes one of the important points of
the machine, is composed of two endless chains I and I', working in a parallel
direction, and which carry a single card by means of the metal carriers i, i,
which are guided in a horizontal direction by tables and t', fixed upon the
plate X, and also by the covors k and k¹, the position of which may be regu-
lated at pleasure. The carriers advance in the direction shewn by the arrow,
Fig. 1, and when they present themselves at the upper part they are guided
between the tables and the covers, as their thickness is less than that of the
cards, and therefore they can only take up one card at a time. A plate of metal
may be applied upon the cards, which by its pressure shall facilitate the action
of the small carriers, and a kind of vertical knife L holds each card during its
passage from the cylinder o¹ to the endless tapes M, M¹. The movement of
the cylinder o, which drives the endless bands I and I', is obtained by means
of spur gearing a, c, e, the latter wheel e being keyed upon the end of the
main shaft C. The tapes M and M' are mounted upon small pullies m and m';

page_text: the lower tape is kept to tension by means of the tension rollers N and N.
The object of the upper tape M' is to hold the card well, and prevent as much
as possible its displacement; it is worked by friction of contact with the lower
tape M. Motion is communicated to the tape M in the following manner :-
Upon the shaft of the intermediate wheel cis keyed a pinion f, which is
toothed upon a portion only of its circumference, and which gears into the
pinion g mounted upon the shaft 1 of the pullies m, to which an intermittent
motion will be thus given, producing the requisite pause to allow of the printing
operation taking place.
It has been stated above that the prepared paper had motion communicated
to it for the purpose of preventing contact with the types twice in the same
place, which might cause a lighter impression to be produced; this movement is
obtained in the following manner :-Upon the shaft of the roller H¹ is a ratchet
wheel, which receives motion from a spring click upon the excentric bar k,
shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 1; another spring serves to keep the wheel in
the position into which it had been moved by the click whilst this latter moves
back. The paper, which is held in a perfectly horizontal position by two cross
pieces T and T (Fig. 1), always presents itself in a suitable position to the
action of the platen P, which causes the card to bear upon the form of type.
When the paper has become entirely wound on to the roller H¹ it may
be removed and another supplied in its place, or the paper may be used over
again, if found suitable, by shifting the rollers Hand H¹.
The operation of the machine (which will be readily understood from the
foregoing description) is as follows:-The cards are placed upon the tables t
and t, and they may be covered as above stated by a plate, which by its pres-
sure shall facilitate the action of the carriers i and 2, which by advancing in a.
parallel direction shall conduct the cards forward one by one to the endless
tapes M and M¹, the advance of which is intermittent by reason of the action of
the partially toothed driving pinion f. Under the platen P the card is brought
into contact with the printing side of the prepared paper; on the platen
descending by the action of the rotating excentric E the card is brought down
forceably upon the form of types, and the printing operation is performed by
interposition, as it is the unprepared side of the paper which comes in contact
with the types. The printed cards are conducted by the-endless tapes M and
M' to the end of the machine, where they may be collected in any suitable
manner. By turning by hand the hand wheel V of the shaft C two hundred
cards may be printed in a few minutes, as when once the types have been fixed
in the form the machine may be worked as quickly as may be desired. This
apparatus will, therefore, be found of very great utility, especially in cases

page_text: where great rapidity of execution is required, as cards may be printed by it in
a very short space of time.
From the foregoing description the various applications of which this method
of printing is susceptible will be readily understood. Thus, for a hand stamp,
which it would be necessary to ink by means of a pad for the purpose of
stamping letters, and other similar purposes, it would only be necessary to
apply under the engraved part of the stamp the prepared paper, the two extremi-
ties of which might be wound on rollers in the same manner as above described
for the card-printing machine. The movement made by pressing down the
stamp might be made to actuate any suitable ratchet and click movement for
the purpose of giving motion to one of the rollers, and thus moving the paper
forward in order to obtain a good impression.
A similar arrangement of mechanism may be applied to any kind of dry
stamp, which should for that purpose be engraved in relief.
Having now described this Invention of improvements in printing
machinery, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as
communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I desire it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the method of printing by interposition by means of very thin
prepared paper, whatever may be the color of the coating for producing the
impression.
Second, the preparation the thin paper by means of a mixture of glyce
rine and lampblack, for printing in black, the glycerine imparting to the paper
the property of keeping moist.
Third, the special combination and arrangement of the machine for printing
cards, or any mere modification thereof, according to the nature of the work
to be performed.
Fourth, the application of the prepared paper to any apparatus, such as wet
or dry stamps, printing presses, or seals.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)