An Improved Method of and Apparatus for Producing Lithographic Prints in Colours.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Aug., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 3rd May, 1899-Accepted, 4th Aug., 1899
An Improved Method of and Apparatus for Producing Lithographic
Prints in Colours.
I, JOHANN MARTIN HEPPLER, of Leer, (Ost-Friesland), in the Empire of Germany,
Lithographer and Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:
Lithographic prints in several colours have heretofore been produced in such a
manner, that each constituent colour was transferred from a special stone upon the
paper of the printing cylinder, in other words that the paper received one coloured
impression after the other.
The object of the present invention now is, to obtain impressions, composed of
several colours, by one single printing operation, the operation being such that the
print formed of several colours is first put on the stone by means of suitable devices
and is subsequently transferred from the stone upon the paper of the printing
cylinder.
For this purpose as many ink moulds as there occur inks or colours in the print to
he produced, are arranged behind one another upon a rotary body, or cylinder, behind
are located the trains of inking rollers. As the cylinder is rotated, each figured ink
mould only receives the ink or colour from its appertaining inking device, while the
respective single-ink or single-colour roller of the other inking trains reinain lifted
off, until the non-appertaining ink moulds have passed along underneath.
The single inks or colours of the ink moulds are transferred to an intermediate
roller, which effects the impression upon the inking table, as the latter is being
moved along beneath said roller.
The inking table is located beside the lithographic stone upon the carriage of a
lithographic printing press and is, by the movement of the carriage, passed along
under laying-on-rollers which serve to transfer the print, received by the table, upon
the stone which rests upon a plate adapted to be displaced or adjusted by means of,
set screws. From the stone the print of several colours is finally delivered to the
paper of the printing cylinder.
For the above described parts of this improved lithographic press the following
actuating mechanisms are provided.
The carriage of the lithographic press, rests upon guide rollers running on rails, and
bas a reciprocating notion imparted to it by means of a toothed rack gearing. The
latter consists of a rack bar and of toothed wheels.
The toothed-wheel-work or gearing is composed of a number of gear wheels several
of which are in duplicate. The first wheel is mounted on the driving shaft and
rotates the second wheel. Upon the shaft of the latter, two toothed wheels are
mounted, one wheel of which gears with a third shaft through the intermediary of
the fourth wheel while the other wheel is in direct gear with both the two fifth wheels
each of which latter is mounted on a separate shaft. Consequently, upon the wheels
two and three and the intermediate wheel (fourth wheel) the two fifth wheels
one,
DQ27

page_text: Each
are simultaneously rotated in opposite direction upon their co-axial shafts.
shaft carries a semi-circular toothed wheel (sixth wheel) set at 180 degrees relatively
to its corresponding semi circular wheel, each of which wheels gears with a toothed
wheel (seventh wheel) the shaft of which moreover carries the eighth wheel, gearing
with the rack bar of the carriage.
Thus, as this toothed gearing is rotated, the carriage is moved to and fro under the
intermediate roller, the laying-on-rollers, the printing cylinder and the damping
rollers which latter co-operate in the ordinary manner with the damping table of the
carriage. Simultaneously, by means of toothed gear wheels, of a second rack bar
arranged on the carriage and of toothed wheels, arranged on the intermediate, the
laying on and the cylinder, the latter rollers are respectively rotated, while the
arrangement for actuating the trains of inking rollers being of the ordinary kind-is
not specially described.
The laying-on-rollers are located in eccentric bearings in arms which are suspended
from the supporting bars, connected by cross bars, which said supporting bars, can,
through the intermediary of a lever mechanism be so displaced, that, as the carriage
advances toward the printing cylinder, the laying-on-rollers come in contact with
the inking table and the printing stone, whilst, as the carriage returns, the said parts
are brought out of contact with each other, while their toothed wheels, however,
constantly remain in gear with the rack-bar.
For the purpose of exactly fixing the end-positions of the carriage and of ensuring
each time the engagement of one of the semi-circular wheels (sixth wheel) with the
complete gear wheel (seventh wheel) after the other semi-circular wheel has passed
out of gear with its corresponding complete gear wheel or seventh wheel an oscillating
catch fork is provided, which through the medium of a system levers and of a heart-
shaped cam mounted upon a shaft between the rollers of a slide rod is so moved to
and fro as to grip one of two rollers on the carriage-when the latter occupies one of
its extreme positions-retain such roller and gradually again release the same as the
carriage leaves its end or extreme position.
A similar catch mechanism is provided for the printing cylinder. The catch-fork
is formed by the upper end of a bell crank lever which, through the intermediary
of two eccentric cams or discs, is moved to and fro upon the shaft between the rollers
of the slide rod, for the purpose of catching or releasing, respectively, the roller,
provided on the printing cylinder.
As there is an intermediate space between the inking table and the stone, those
places of the surfaces of the rollers which are passed over these intermediate spaces,
are not utilized; these said spaces therefore may be utilized for receiving tension rods
for the leather coverings of the rollers, so that the defective method of sewing the
edges of the leather-covering together, is entirely dispensed with.
This arrangement now is such, that, a rod is inserted into a recess of the roller-
cover, the one end of which said rod projects from the bottom of the roller to such
an extent, as to be capable of carrying a ratchet wheel, with which engages
a pawl. The two edges of the leather cover to be connected, are fastened along the
rod, so that, as the rod is rotated, say by means of a key, mounted on one of its ends,
the roller covering is tightened. The ratchet gear maintains the rod in its tightening
position, whilst the covering admits of being at any time re-tightened or be easily
exchanged by a new one, in case of any defect being found.
Instead of curved ink-moulds being used upon a cylinder, it is also possible, to
employ plane ink-moulds upon a rotary body, having several sides. The drum shaft
is rotatably located in two slide blocks or prisms, which are guided in slots of the
frame walls, and carries two discs, which have the same kind of peripheral surfaces,
formed of several sides, as the drum, and rest upon circular discs, the latter being
located in the frame walls.
The shaft of one of the discs is prolonged and carries a driving disc or wheel. The
shaft further carries a toothed wheel which gears with a toothed disc, having
peripheral surfaces; formed of several sides like the aforesaid drum.
By the driving mechanism the drum is set in rotary motion, in which operation, as

page_text: the discs which are composed of several sides, revolve upon the circular discs, the
drum receives an ascending and descending rotary motion relatively to the inking
trains and to the intermediate roller, so that consequently the inking moulds take ink
from the inking trains and transfer the colour pictures upon the intermediate roller..
This intermediate or transfer roller, which transfers the pictures upon the inking
table, has its axle ends located in oscillating lever bearings, which can be adjusted by
means of set screws, and is rotated by toothed wheel gearing.
On the faces of the drum discs are mounted, which are of equal periphery with the
druin and carry the guide discs of the inking rollers of the inking trains, for the
purpose of maintaining the rollers in exactly uniform contact with the ink moulds.
The inking rollers are arranged on levers and are, according to requirement, held
against the ink moulds or the rubbing rollers by means of suitable lever arrangements,
Dated this 4th And of A1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
An Improved Method of and Apparatus for Producing Lithographic
Prints in Colours.
•
I, JOHANN MARTIN HEPPLER, of Leer (Ost-Friesland), in the Empire of Germany,
Lithographer and Mechanic, do bereby declare the nature of this invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:—
My invention relates to improvements in producing multi-colour or polychromatic
prints and in apparatus therefor.
The object of the present invention now is, to obtain impressions, composed of
several colours, by one single printing operation, the operation being such that the
print formed of several colours is first put on the stone by means of suitable devices
and is subsequently transferred from the stone upon the paper of the printing
cylinder.
I attain this object by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
in which
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the improved lithographic printing press,
partly in section;
Figure 1 illustrates a pair of semi-circular wheels of the mechanism actuating
the carriage to which the lithographic stone is fitted.
Figure 2 is a cross section on the line II-II (Figure 1) and
Figure 3 is a like view on the line III-III (Figure 1);
Figure 4 is a detailed view explaining the catch mechanisin for the carriage of
the printing press;
.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 are detailed views showing the fastening and stretching device
for the covers of the transfer rollers;
Figure 8 is a longitudinal section of a modified printing press having a polygonal
drum carrying plane ink-plates and
Figure 9 is a cross section on the line IX-IX (Figure 8).
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
For carrying my invention into practice as many figured ink-plates a¹ a² a³ a¹
is there occur inks or colours in the print to be produced, are arranged behind
one another upon a rotary body or cylinder A at the side, of which are located the
corresponding trains of inking rollers 61 62 63 64 (Figure 1). As the cylinder A is
otated, each figured ink plate only receives the ink or colour from its appertaining
nking device, while the respective inking or colour rollers of the other inking

page_text: trains remain lifted off, until the non-appertaining ink plates have passed along
underneath.
The different single inks or colours of the ink plates are transferred to an inter-
mediate roller c, which transfers the impression upon the inking table d, as the
latter is being moved along beneath said roller c.
The inking table d is located beside the lithographic stone e upon the carriage of
a well known lithographic printing press and is, by the movement of the carriage,
passed along under rollers f¹ f f f which serve to transfer the print, received by
the table d, upon the stone e which rests upon a plate 9.adapted to be adjusted in,
height by means of set screws g¹. From the stone the multi-colour print is finally
transferred to the paper of the impression cylinder h.
For the above described parts of this improved lithographic press, the following
actuating or driving mechanisms are provided.
The carriage of the lithographic press rests upon rollers k running on rails i, and
has a reciprocating motion imparted to it by means of a toothed rack gearing. The
latter consists of a rack bar and of a toothed-wheel work.
2
The toothed-wheel-work or gearing is composed of a number of gear wheels m¹ m
m³ m² m² m² m² m² several of which are in duplicate. The first wheel m¹ is mounted
on the driving shaft n¹ Figure 1 and rotates the second wheel m². Upon the shaft n²
of the latter, two. toothed wheels m³ m³ are mounted, one wheel m³ of which gears
with a wheel m³ through the intermediary of a wheel m' of the shaft n while the
other wheel n³ is in direct gear with a second wheel m³ each of the wheels m being
mounted on separate shafts n³ (Figure 3). Consequently, by means of the wheels m¹
m² m³ and the intermediate wheel m¹ the two wheels m are rotated simultaneously
but in opposite directions upon their separate co-axial shafts no n³. Each shaft no
carries a semi-circular toothed wheel mº (Figure 1 and 2) set at 180 degrees to each
other, each of the said wheels m is capable of gearing alternately with a corre-
sponding toothed wheel m' Figures 1 and 2. These latter wheels m' are mounted
upon the shaft n which moreover carries the wheel m³, gearing with the rack bar of
the carriage.
Thus, as this toothed gearing or wheel-work is rotated, the carriage is moved to
and fro under the intermediate roller c, the transfer-rollers f f f f the printing
cylinder and the damping rollers o which latter co-operate in the ordinary manner
with the damping table p of the carriage. Simultaneously, by means of toothed gear
wheels 1, 2, 3, Figure 1, of a second rack bar arranged on the carriage and of
suitable toothed wheels, attached to the intermediate roller c, the transfer rollers f¹,
fff and the cylinder or roller A, these rollers c, ff ff and A are respectively
rotated, whereas the arrangement for actuating the trains of inking rollers 61 62 63 64
being of the ordinary kind is not specially shown and described.
The transfer rollers f¹ f f f are located in eccentric bearings of arms 81 82 83 84
which are suspended from the supporting bars u, connected by cross bars t, which
supporting bars, may through the medium of a suitable lever mechanism not
especially shown be so displaced, that, as the carriage advances toward the printing
cylinder h, the transfer-rollers come in contact with the inking table d and the
printing stone e, whilst, as the carriage returns, the said transfer-rollers are brought_
out of contact with the table d and stone e their toothed wheels, however, remaining
constantly in gear with the rack-bar l¹.
The manner in which the rollers f', f², f³, f, act in transferring the colours from
the table d to the stone e is as follows: As shown in Figure 1 the carriage is sup-
posed to be travelling from left to right, the transfer rollers being lowered at this
time come in contact with the stone e and transfer to the latter the colours of the
multi-colour print previously received from the table d, as will be explained later on.
At the same time the transfer rollers transfer their colours to the stone, the inter-
mediate roller c transfers the impression received from the ink plates of the cylinder A
upon the inking table d. The carriage continuing its movement to the right until
the table d and the stone e have passed the roller c and transfer rollers f¹, f, f³‚ ƒª.
respectively. The carriage further continues its motion towards the right and brings

page_text: the stone e in the proper position under the impression cylinder h, whilst the
table d comes in contact with the transfer rollers and transfers to the latter the
colours before received from the roller c. After an impression has been taken from
the stone, and the table d has passed all the transfer rollers f¹, 2, 3, f, the carriage
reaches the limit of its movement to the right, and reverses its motion to the left.
As soon as the carriage begins this return stroke the transfer rollers f,f,f,f, are
lifted so that they are unable to come in contact with the table and stone e, the
table d being inked in by the roller c with fresh colours during this return motion
of the carriage. After the carriage has reached its left hand end position, it again
travels to the right and same operations will be repeated.
The object of using a plurality of transfer rollers is to insure a proper supply
of ink or colour to the stone, but of course a single transfer roll may be
used.
For the purpose of exactly fixing the end-positions of the carriage and of ensuring
each time the engagement of one of the semi-circular wheels with its corresponding
complete gear wheel m' after the other semi-circular wheel me has passed out of gear
with its corresponding complete gear wheel m' an oscillating catch fork v (Figure 4)
is provided, which through the medium of a system of rods or levers w¹ w w³ and
of a heart-shaped cam, mounted upon one of the shafts 5 between the
rollers ww of the slide rod w³, is so moved to and fro as to grip one of two
rollers on the carriage-when the latter occupies one of its extreme positions-
retain such roller and gradually again release the same as the carriage leaves its
end or extreme position.
A similar catch mechanism is provided for the printing cylinder h. The catch-fork in
this case is formed by the upper end of a bell crank lever y connected with a slotted
slide rod y capable of being moved upward and downward upon the shaft and the
other shaft n by means of two eccentric discs or cams y' mounted upon the said
shaft n and acting respectively against friction rollers y³ and y³ attached to either
side of the slide rod yt (Figure 1 and 2). The catch fork lever y according to its being
raised or lowered by the to and fro motion of the slide rod y catches or releases,
respectively, the roller Z provided on the printing cylinder h.
As there is an intermediate or free space between the inking table d and the stone c,
those places or parts of the surfaces of the transfer-rollers f f f f which pass along
right over this free space, will not come in action; these parts of the said transfer-
rollers therefore may be utilized for receiving the tension rods for the leather coverings
of the transfer-rollers, so that the inconvenient method of sewing the edges of the
leather-coverings together, is entirely dispensed with.
This arrangement now is such that, a rod 1 (Fig. 5-7) is inserted into a recess of
the transfer-roller-body f¹; one end of the said projecting from the end of the transfer-
roller to such an extent, as to be capable of carrying a ratchet wheel 2 with which
engages a pawl 3. The two edges of the leather cover 4 to be connected, are fastened
along the rod 1, so that, as the rod is rotated, say by means of a key applied to one of
its ends, the roller covering 4 is tightened. The ratchet gear 2, 3 maintained the
rod in its tightened position, whilst the covering admits of being at any time
re-tightened or be easily exchanged by a new one, in case of any defect being
found.
Instead of curved ink-plates being used upon a cylinder A (Fig. 1), it is also
possible, to employ plane ink-plates upon a rotary square or quadrangular prismatic
drum A¹ having ink-plates as a a7 as, Figures 8 and 9. The drum shaft is rotatably
located in two slide blocks or bearings B B, which are guided in slots of the frame
walls C C, and carries two discs D D, which have the same kind of peripheral form or
cross section as the drum, and rest upon circular discs E E, the axles of the latter
being located in the frame walls.
The shaft of one of the discs E is lengthened and carries a driving disc or wheel r³
which may be driven in the same manner as the corresponding driving wheel,³ shown
in Figure 1. The shaft further carries a toothed wheel F which gears with a toothed
disc G, having also the same peripheral form like the aforesaid drum A¹.

page_text: By the driving mechanism F G the drum A¹ is set in rotary motion in which
operation, as the square discs D D, revolve upon the circular discs E E the said drum
receives an ascending and descending rotary motion relatively to the trains of inking
rollers 65 66 67 68 and to the intermediate roller c³, so that consequently the inking
plates as a a7 as take ink or colour from the inking trains and transfer the colours or
colour design upon the intermediate roller c¹.
This intermediate or transfer roller c¹ which transfers the pictures upon the inking
table, has its axle ends supported in bearings of oscillating levers K capable of being
adjusted by means of screws L, and is rotated by toothed wheel gearing F H.
On the end faces of the drum A¹ discs M are mounted, which are of equal peripheral
shape with the drum and support the guide discs N of the inking rollers of the
inking trains bo bo b7 and 68, for the purpose of maintaining the inking rollers in exactly
uniform contact with the ink plates.
The form rollers are supported by suitable levers and are, according to require-
ments held against the ink plates or the distributing rollers by means of any suitable
and well known lever arrangement not especially shown in the drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I am aware that in apparatus
for printing in several colours at one impression it has been previously proposed to
employ a combination of pattern blocks, each inked with a separate colour, a
transfer roller or rollers, and a single printing forme, receiving all the several colours,
and I wish it to be understood that I lay no claim to this combination, per se, but I
declare that what I claim is:-
1. In a litho-graphic press for producing multi-colour or polychromae prints
from a single stone, the combination with the lithographic stone fitted to a
reciprocating carriage, of a series of figured ink plates or blocks placed on the
surface of a cylinder, an inking table beside the lithographic stone, an intermediate
roller transferring the design from the ink plates or blocks to the inking table,
and a series of rollers which serve to transfer the print taken from the inking
table to the stone, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2. A lithographic press for producing multicolour or polychromate prints from a
single stone, comprising a series of figured ink plates or blocks, an inking table
beside the lithographic stone, an intermediate roller for transferring the design from
the ink plates or blocks upon the inking table, a series of rollers transferring the
print from the inking table to the stone, in combination with means for actuating the
carriage to which the stone is fitted which consists of two semicircular toothed wheels
set at 180° to each other upon two coincident shafts being simultaneously turned in
opposite direction and gearing alternately with corresponding toothed wheels,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
3. In combination with the hereindescribed lithographic press for producing
multi-colour or polychromate prints, an oscillating catch fork (v) moved to and fro
by a system of rods and levers (w₁ w² w³) and of a heart shaped cam (w) said 'fork
gripping one of two rollers (a) of the carriage to which the stone is fitted, substan-
tially as and for the purpose set forth.
4. A modification of the hereindescribed lithographic press for producing multi-
colour or polychromatic prints, which consist in placing the figured ink plates upon
a rotary prismatic drum receiving an ascending and descending rotary motion
relatively to the train of inking rollers (65 66 67 68) and to the intermediate roller (c¹)
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
5. The application and use of the herein described and illustrated improved
lithographic printing press for the purpose set forth.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.