CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING CALICO AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
APPLEGATH, of Crayford, in the County of Kent, Calico Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date, at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of November, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give. and grant unto me, the
said Augustus Applegath, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Augustus Applegath, my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Augustus Applegath, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times, during the term of years therein expressed, should and. lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Borwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
CALICO AND OTHER FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained, a
proviso that I, the said Augustus Applegath, shall cause a particular de-
scription of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's. High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of, the
said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Augustus Applegath, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:
Figure 1 is the wheel side of a machine for printing six colours. Figure 2
is the opposite elevation of the same. Figure 4 is a plan of the upper parts
thereof. The same letters refer to the similar parts in all the Figures. A, A,
is the cast-iron frame; B, B, the moveable frames or heads to which the
block tables C, C, are attached by means of hinges, which permit the block
tables to be turned over when the blocks require brushing, &c. D, D, are
the blocks, which are cast, coppered, pinned, or engraved in the usual manner.
They are fixed to the block tables by means of screws or T-headed holders,
as further explained in the Diagrams Figures 5, 6, 7, & 8. E is the im-
pression table, which is made of cast iron or stone, and which should be
'flat, solid, and heavy, in order to receive the blow or impression. At each
end of the impression table is a roller, which serves to guide the cloth to
and from the impression table. F, F, are the rubber carriages, which support
the rubbers G, G, in the notches. The inner surface of the rubber carriages
is made with inclined planes, so that when the carriages advance they lift the
rubbers one quarter of an inch. H, H, are the hammers or mauls which
give the impressing blow to the block tables C, C. The hammers are fixed
to the wrought-iron shafts I, I, by means of the sockets and binding screws,
which permit them to be adjusted so as to strike the block tables simul-
taneously. K, the feeding drum, which advances the printing cloth and the
material to be printed; and its periphery should contain or be divisible into
any certain number of spaces, each equal to the set of the blocks or the
quantity of cloth which each block prints at one impression. In this machine
it contains fifteen spaces of three inches each, which is the set of the pattern
here shewn. The feeding drum is furnished with a wheel L, having ninety
teeth of half-inch pitch, and it has also fifteen stop pins accurately pitched,
which regulate and govern the advance or feeding in of the cloth and the
material to be printed, and upon the correctness of which the joining of the
pattern depends. M is a double pinion or two pinions fixed upon the same
axis. The small pinion has twenty-fourt teeth, and is always in gear with
the wheel L. The large pinion has forty-eight teeth, and is furnished with
four arms. It is occasionally driven by the toothed segment N, which is
furnished with a curved wiper, which acts against the arms of the larger

page_text: a
pinion M. O is a segment within the frame A, which occasionally comes
in contact with the small wheel or roller P. The segment O and the roller P
are made of wood, and are covered with coarse cloth, so as to produce motion
by the pressure of their surfaces against each other without teeth. Upon
the spindle of P. two band pulleys are fixed, which occasionally give
backward and forward to the rubber carriages F, F, by means of their catgut
bands. Qis another wheel or roller clothed as P, against which the clothed
segment acts as soon as it has left P. Upon the axis of the roller Q is a
band pulley, which carries a crossed band to another pulley fixed upon the
spindle P, whereby the motion of the spindle of P and its band pulleys is
reversed, and the rubber carriages are drawn back. R, R, are small groved
pulleys, which guide the catgut bands. S is a roller which binds or confines
the printing cloth to the feeding drum K; T is a similar roller which binds
the oilskin and the material to be printed in like manner to the feeding
drum K, so that they are conveyed by the feeding drum without any drag or
stoppage. V is a pall which acts against the division pins of the feeding
drum wheel L. The printing cloth or blanket is made endless, and passes
from the feeding drum across the impression table, and over the roller at the
leaving end of the impression table, turning under the impression table to the
roller S and the drum L. The oilskin upon which I prefer to print is also
made endless, and passes over the roller T to the feeding drum, then over
the roller at the entering end of the impression table, across the table,
over the roller at the leaving end of the table, and away from the machine
in the manner shewn in the Diagram Figure 9. The cloth, silk, or material
to be printed is first supplied from a roller in the usual manner. The cloth, &c.
is conveyed to the impression table in the following manner :-The toothed seg-
ment N moves the pinions M one quarter of their circumference, which causes
the feeding drum to advance as much as is equal to one set or impression
of the pattern cut upon the blocks and a little more, so that the division
pin may pass the end of the pall V just so much as to admit it to fall
behind the pin, when the elasticity of the cloth, &c. will draw the drum
and wheel a little back, until the pall stops the pin and holds the drum, and
the materials upon it, firm and steady during the impression. W, W, are
wrought-iron bars moving up and down in guides; they are connected with
the moveable heads B, B, and are furnished with friction pullies v, v, against
which the cams act, and occasionally raise and depress the heads B, B, and
the blocks; their brass guides are seen in Figure 1. X, X, are the depressing
cams or shapes. Y, Y, are the lifting cams; they are fixed on the spindles
of the wheels. Z, Z, are counter weights and their levels; they serve to

page_text: counterpoise the bars W; W, and the heads B, B, and thus steady and soften
the up-and-down motion. The wheels q, q, q, are in geer with each other,
and have seventy-two teeth of one inch pitch. a, a, are cams, which oc-
casionally depress the pullies and levers. b, b, which are connected with the
rods c, c, the upper ends of which are made to loop over and embrace the
arms d, d, of the hammer shafts I, I. When the full part of the cams a, a,
depress the levers b. b, the rods c, c, draw the arms d, d, in a downward
direction, and raise the hammers to the position shewn in Figure 1, and they
are detained in this position by means of the hooked levers e, e, which move
on the pins f,f. On the cams a, a, are detaching pins g, g, which occasionally
raise the lower ends of the hooked levers e, e, and cause them to let go
the arms d, d, of the hammer shafts I, I, when the hammers fall by
their own gravity, and give the impressing blow upon the block tables
C, C, C. The force of the hammers may be increased by circular weights,
having a central hole to fit on the head of the hammer; one of such weights
is seen in Figure 1. h, h, are counter weights, which overbalance the rods
.c, c, and the levers b, b, and thus keep the looped ends of the rods clear of
the arms d, d, when they rise on the fall of the hammers. The blocks are
supplied with colour in the following manner :-i, i, is the sieve frame, con-
taining the sieves or colour surfaces j, j; they are made of waterproof cloth or
any suitable material that will not suffer the colour to pass through. k, k, k,
,are brushes to spread or distribute the colour, called teering brushes. They
are attached to the cross bar l, which is furnished with a small friction
roller m, against, which the inclined planes n, n, act as the sieve frame
advances, and by which means the brushes can be lifted clear of the ends of
- he sieves and sieve. frame, and the length of their contact with the sieves
.letermined. To assist the action of the teering brushes a cross bar of wood
or iron padded with a blanket, and covered with a piece of oil silk, may be
fixed under the sieves to the side bars upon which the sieve frame slides,
which will bear the sieves up as they slide between the cross pad and the
brushes, and better enable the brushes to teer out and obliterate the im-
pression of the blocks upon the sieves. This pad is indicated by dotted
lines in Figures 3 and 4. o is a catgut-band pulley, which revolves upon an
axis fixed to the frame, and motion is occasionally given to it by the clothed
segments p and p+, which are fixed to the wheels 9, 9, by acting against
the clothed wheel r, which is fixed upon the axis o, which is furnished
with the two arms. s and s+, against which the pins, t & t* of the clothed
segment act, and thus ensure the starting of the band pulley and the sieves
at the proper times. The action of the machine is as follows:-The cam V

page_text: having raised the moveable heads B, B, and the blocks from the impression
table E, as shewn in Figure 1, the seginent p is shewn with its starting
pin in contact with the arm s of the wheel of the band pulley o, which 'as
it moves will draw the sieve frame i, i, and its sieves under the blocks, with
the colored surface of the sieves about one inch below the engraved surface
of the blocks. The cams X, X, will then in their progress press against
the lower friction pullies of the rods W, W, and depress 'them, and the
heads B, B, with the block tables and blocks, nearly one inch," so' as
to bring the engraved surfaces of the blocks slightly into contact with the
colour upon the sieves, but by no means to press upon the said sieves
themselves, the segment O' will then come in contact with the small friction
wheel P and cause it to revolve with its band pullies, which will by means of
their catgut bands draw the rubber carriages F, F, forward in the direction
of the arrow seen in Figure 1. The under sides of the rubber carriages are
furnished with small inclined planes, which, as they advance, raise them
upwards and cause the elastic surfaces of the rubbers gently to press against
the under side of the sieves, and thus as the rubbers move they complete
the contact of the coloured sieves with the engraved blocks, whereby a proper
portion of colour is transferred from one to the other. The action of the
machine containing the segment O will next act against the small wheel Q,
which by means of its cross band will reverse the motion of the wheel 'P, and
cause its band pullies to draw the rubber carriages back into their former
position. The segment p* will then act against the arms of the wheel r,
and thus cause the band pulley o to draw the sieve frame back to its former
position, as seen in Figures 3 and 4. The detaching pius will then disengage
the hooked levers from the arms on the hammer shafts, and the blow or
impression will take place, and thus each block will print cloth equal to its
own size or set at one revolution of the wheels 7, 7, the full part of the
depressing cams x, x, having previously caused the heads B, B, and the
blocks to descend upon the material on the iinpression table.
Figure V represents the back of a printing block, with three iron strengthening
plates let into the wood, which have gaps in them to receive the nut T, holding
screws and nuts, which are seen in Figure VI. fixing the block D to the
block table C. Figures VI. and VII. shew a convenient method' of con-
necting the block tables C with the moveable heads B, B, before described.
a, a, are flat plates of wrought iron, one eighth of an inch thich, which are
firmly screwed to the ends of the block tables. b, b, are pins rivetted into the
hinges c, c, and screwed to fit the thumb nuts d, d. The holes in the plates
a, a, are larger than the pins b, b, to admit a little motion for adjusting the

page_text: blocks. The hinges c, c, are firmly fixed at one end to the moveable heads by
the screws e, e; at the other end they are held by the thumb screws f, f.
Figure VIII. is a Diagram of the moveable heads and block tables, with one
of the tables reversed in order to bring the face of the block in view. One
set of the hammers is thrown back out of the way, which is done by partly
unscrewing the binding screw in the socket of the arm d, which then permits
the hammer shaft to be moved round. Figure IX. is a Diagram in which
instead of a rubber, as before described, a roller is used to make the contact
between the sieve or colour surface and the block. B is a part of the move-
able head; C, the block table; i, i, part of the sieve frame; and D is the
block, which is retained near the colour surface, but not in contact with it;
R is the roller, which may be made of wood or of brass tube, and is covered
with the elastic composition made of treacle and glue commonly used in
letterpress printing machines, and it is then covered with waterproof cloth.
The roller revolves freely upon its axis, and may be made to press up against
the sieve by counter weights or springs. The contact of the colour surface and
block takes place only where the roller raises the sieve as it passes backward
and forward. And this modification of the colouring appearances I prefer
when the blocks are very finely cut or coppered. A slight degree of elasticity is.
required in the sieve, which may be given either by lacing the sieve to the
sieve frame with india-rubber bobbin, or by attaching it with fine spiral
springs, or by any other convenient methods. Figure X. shews a rubber
detached from the machine before described. It consists of a cast-iron trough,
holding a flexible or yielding waterproof tube nearly filled with water or any
other fluid that will not penetrate the tube, and securely closed at either end
so as perfectly to retain the enclosed fluid. The tube can be securely
retained in its position in its trough by enclosing both in a covering of thin
linen cloth sewed together, and the firmness of its action or touch against the
sieve can be easily regulated by tying the ends, more or less, so as either
to increase or diminish its capacity and consequent resistance without either
removing or injecting more fluid. But I do not limit myself to either this or
any other kind of rubber or roller, or to a brush or a pad for making the
contact between the colour surface and the block in the manner here shewn ;
but I claim the right to do so by any suitable implement or contrivance.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, the colours are supposed to be supplied by the
boys, one standing on each side of the sieve frame, as the teering brushes
which are attached to the bar l only spread or distribute the colour but do not
supply it. Figure XI. shews a method by which the teering brushes may
themselves supply the colour to the sieves. B is the moveable head, and its

page_text: block i, i, is the sieve frame.
When the sieve frame has run in under the
blocks to supply them with colour, the bar and its teering brushes may be
lowered down, by means of its friction pulley m and the inclined plane z, into
contact with the rollers s, s, in the colour boxes t, t. The quantity of colour
on the rollers can be regulated by the padded straight-edge v, which may be
adjusted and held by the screws x, x; and the colour rollers should have a
very slow motion around their axes to renew the colour taken from it by the
teering brushes. In this case the pad beneath the teering brushes may be
removed, and a double set of brushes, as shewn in the Drawing, may be used
if required.
Figure 12 is a side view of an apparatus for applying the colour to a
hand block, such as used by a block printer. Figure 13 is an end view
of the same. Figure 14 is a plan thereof. The same letters refer to the
similar parts in each Figure. A is the cast-iron frame; B, the block;
C, the sieve or colour surface; D, the teering brush, which is fixed to the
cross bar E, which serves also to connect the side standards F, F, the under
sides of which are furnished with projections which enter into the slide
passage Z made between the frame and the top bar G, G. The side standards
F, F, are further connected by a stretcher bar or rod. II is the colour
trough; I, the roller, the colour on which is regulated by the padded straight-
edge K.
L is a padded board, which also moves freely in the slide passage Z,
and serves to support the sieve when the brushes pass over it. M is the
contact rubber, made as described in Figure X, and it also moves or slides
freely in the passage Z. N, N, are small grooved pullies which guide the
catgut bands. O is a segment covered with cloth and fixed upon the spindle
P; as it revolves it moves the clothed wheel Q, and causes it and its spindle
and the fly pullys R, R, fixed upon the spindle to revolve, when it draws the
standards F, F, and the cross bar E, with its teering brush, along the sieve in
the direction of the slide passage Z, and thus imparts the colour to the
surface of the sieve, the block being then used by the printer in impressing
the material. As the standards advance, the projections which slide in the
passage Z come in contact with the ends of the pad L and push it along the
slide, the teering brushes being then in contact with the upper surface of the
sieve, and the pad which is directly beneath them in contact with the under
surface of the sieve, and thus the sieve receives its colour, and the mark
or impression made by the pattern of the block is effectually obliterated or
"teered out." When the segment O has left the roller Q, it acts against
the reversing roller S, which is fixed to its spindle, as is also a small fly
pulley T, which carries a catgut band to V, which is a similar pulley upon the

page_text: spindle at R, and thus the motion of the fly pulley R becomes reversed, which
returns the standards F, F, and the teering brushes back to their situation
over the color roller. The pad L is also drawn back by the standards E, E,
by means of the spring catches or hooks a, which move upon pins p fixed to
the standards, and they act upon the small projecting studs b, b, at the ends
of the pad, and thus hold it during the return motion until the pad is stopped
by the stop pins c, c, fixed to the frame, when the spring catches rise up
the bevil edge of the stud band leave the pad in its first situation, as shewn
in Figure 12. In order that the spring catches may not, during the advance,
strike the pad studs and push the pad before it, the catgut bands which
draw the standards are attached to eyes fixed in the catches, which raise their
ends over the studs b, b, so that the pad is only acted upon by the spring
catches during the return. The spring catch is shewn by the side of Figure 12
on an enlarged scale. W is also a clothed roller, having upon its spindle
a fly pulley which carries a crossed band to a similar fly pulley upon the
spindle of X, which draws the contact rubber M backward and forward in the
same manner as the standards just described. The rubber having less distance
to travel than the brushes, its fly pulleys X, X, may be proportionably
smaller. In connecting this coloring machine with the driving power, it
would be convenient so to arrange it that the printer may stop and start it as
he requires by placing his foot upon a treadle or treadles connected with the
clutch or driving pulleys. Figure 15 shews an arrangement of the seives,
in which they enter sideways under the blocks. B is the moveable head.
C, C, are the block tables. D, D, are the blocks, as before described. i, i,
the sieve frames, which move towards each other until they meet in the centre
between the blocks, when the color is applied to the block in the manner
before described; and the backward and forward motion of the sieve frame
may also be produced by segments and band pulleys. The feeding in of the
cloth and the mode of giving the impression is likewise made in the same
manner, as herein-before contained. In this form of machine, and in that
described in Figures 1 and 2, the material to be printed is supplied to the
feeding drum from a roller, having a quantity of material around it in the
ordinary manner of copper-plate presses and cylinder machines, and after the
material has left the machine printed, it is carried away by the common
methods over and under guide rollers, the position of which, as well as of
the course of the machine, must depend upon the situation where the machine
is worked or placed. The course of the priuting cloth or impression blanket
is shewn in Figures 1 and 2 by a red line. And it is to be observed, that
when an endless oilsilk is used to print upon, the superfluous color which bas