IMPROVEMENTS IN "PLATEN" PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1885

page_text: I DANIEL THOMAS POWELL of 33a Ludgate Hill in the City of London printers'
engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
"PLATEN" PRINTING MACHINES to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that class of printing machine known as the Platen or
Treadle Platen jobbing machine or card-press and has for its object the providing
of means whereby greater accuracy of "lay" and greater perfection of inking may
be obtained than hitherto by the application of a novel arrangement of apparatus
which will cause the platen to remain stationary while the other motions are at
work and which will prevent the rollers from imparting ink to the type when it is
desired they should not do so.
The form of Platen machine I prefer and to which this invention is most easily
applicable is that known in America as the "Gordon Press" and in England as
"The Arab" and "The Bremner" all three of which are practically identical in all
important movements or actions, the platen being operated by means of a camb
and levers and having a swinging or oscillating type bed. The invention may
however be applied to machines having a stationary type bed and in which the
platen is worked by cranks and links or carriers instead of camba and levers.
In order that the platen may be stopped I adapt to the machine the following
arrangement of apparatus.
The cambwheel, which operates the levers that present the platen to the
approaching type bed, has two channels cut in it instead of one. The outer
channel is the shaped or working camb and the inner channel being nearest the
centre and a true circle does not impart any motion to the levers. It is necessary
to state that the channels are of different depths and that the outer or working
channel is the deeper one.
The friction roller instead of being fixed to the lever or crank on an ordinary
stud pin is provided with a moveable stud pin having two bearings in which it
moves to & fro, a spring keeping it extended as far as desirable.
About the centre of this bolt or spindle is fixed a coned collar and the whole of
this portion of the apparatus is attached to and moves with the platen levers.
Underneath and attached to the side frames in such a position that the coned
collar may enter into contact with it I place a slotted wedge which is projected

page_text: upwards or drawn back again by means of a handle and a connecting link con-
veniently placed for the purpose or it may be operated automatically by means of
geared wheels When the slotted wedge is projected upwards it cause, by reason
of its action on the cone, the friction roller to be drawn nearer to the levers and
consequently halfway out of the camb and into a position to enter into the inner
or stationary channel By this means the action of the platen in arrested and it
will remain stationary until the wedge is withdrawn and the spring has forced the
friction roller into the outer channel of the camb.
In order that the type should not receive too much ink while the platen is
stopped I adapt the following arrangement of apparatus. The roller bearers at
either side of the type bed and on which the roller lifts run are at present fixed at
one definite height and I cause them or a portion of them to move and become
adjustable by means of a motion similar to that of a parallel rule or by means of
eccentrics and springs at either end of the bearers.
The swinging type bed renders it necessary to provide that the oscillation should
not impart any motion.
I accomplish this by placing a rocking lever having its fulcrum on the frame
which carries the type bed and at a convenient distance below the type bed One
end of this rocking lever is connected with the levers or eccentrics before
described and at the other end a friction roller is placed. Working on its 1
axis in the main side frame I place a bell crank having a shaped surface to
correspond with that portion of the circle described by the oscillating type bed
and this is connected by a light connecting rod to either the throw off impression
handle the stop platen handle or to a handle specially provided. By moving
this handle the shaped surface of the bell crank causes the rocking lever to
alter its position thus straightening the levers or turning the eccentrics and
causing the roller bearers to be advanced lifting the rollers beyond the type &
preventing them from coming in contact with the type.
Dated this 1st Jace of A UN 100k

page_text: .
I DANIEL THOMAS POWELL of 33ª Ludgate Hill in the city of London, Printers
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 :—
This invention relates to that class of printing machines known as the Platen or
Treadle-platen jobbing machine or card press and has for its object the providing
of means whereby greater accuracy of lay and greater perfection of inking may be
obtained than hitherto by the application of a novel arrangement of apparatus,
which will cause the platen to remain stationary while all the other motions are at
work allowing the forme to be inked as many times as required, and giving at
least double the ordinary time for laying the sheet, and which will allow of the
pressure of the rollers on the forme being adjusted to the greatest nicety, and will
prevent the rollers from imparting ink to the type when it is desired they should
not do so.
"
The form of platen machine I prefer and to which this invention is most easily
applicable is that known in America as the Gordon press and in this Country as
the "Arab" and the "Bremner" all three of which are practically identical in all
important movements or actions, the platen being operated by means of a camb
and levers and having a swinging or oscillating type bed. The invention may
however be applied to machines in which the type bed is stationary and the
platen is worked by cranks and links or carriers instead of cambs & levers.
In order that my invention may be better understood I have annexed hereto
two sheets of drawings with reference letters marked; where the same part
appears in more than one drawing the same letter is used to indicate it.
Fig. 1. is a part side elevation of the platen machine with my improvements for
stopping the platen both by hand-stop motion and by automatic geared motion.
Fig. 2 is a part front elevation of the same apparatus.
Fig. 3. is a detail of the camb showing the inner & outer channels.
Fig. 4 is a detail of the moveable stud-pin showing friction, roller and .coned-
collar.
Fig. 5 is a part side elevation of the combined stop impression and roller lift and
adjustment motions.
Referring to the first portion of my invention for stopping the platen (Figs. 1
& 2) A is the camb wheel fixed on the main shaft J and A¹ & A' are the outer
and inner channels respectively A¹ being deeper than A3 and operating the.
levers F & F which present the platen P to the approaching type. Both the
channels are of the same width to enable the friction roller B to traverse both
This friction roller instead of being fixed to the lever or crank on an ordinary
stud-pin is provided with a moveable studpin O having its bearings in the platen
levers F&F on this stud-pin is fixed the coned-collar D and a spring keeps the
friction roller always in the deeper channel until the studpin is withdrawn by the
wedge El at the end of the lever handle E which has its axis on the main shaft J.
In the ordinary working of the machine the friction roller B is continually in
the camb channel A¹ and the platen keeps moving to & from the tyne.

page_text: By lifting the handle E the wedge E' is made to descend upon the coned
collar D thus drawing the studpin C with its friction roller B partly out of the
camb channel A¹. On the revolution of the wheel the platen being at its lowest
point (it is shown at its highest point in fig. 5) the friction roller B leaves the
outer channel A¹ and enters the inner channel A* causing the platen to remain
stationary until the wedge is withdrawn and the spring has forced the friction
roller into the deeper channel A¹ again. By this means the forme may be inked
or rolled any number of times desired, and much longer time obtained for "laying"
the sheet.
When it is desired to cause the platen to stop every other time automatically
I place geared wheels G & G¹ on the main shaft J and the subshaft I respectively.
The wheel G is twice the diameter of the wheel G¹ and the subshaft I carries a
coned. camb H which operates on the cone D. It is thus obvious that the friction
roller B will be withdrawn, every alternate revolution of the camb-wheel A, thus
causing the platen to remain stationary and work, alternately.
The hand stop motion may be used at the same time thus causing the platen to
remain stationary irrespective of the automatic gear.
The second portion of my invention is clearly indicated in Fig. 5 and relates to
the apparatus for moving and adjusting the roller bearers, or a portion of them.
R is a moveable roller bearer in which are two slots at angles R¹ & R³ and attached
to the type bed Q. by two studpins R³ & R' and having a friction roller S at the
lower extremity. T is a lever having at one end a surface T¹ shaped to correspond
with the arc described by the swinging or oscillating type-bed-frame U. The
lever T has its fulcrum at T while the other end is connected by a rod V with the
eccentric impression shaft W whose function is to "throw off" the impression by
means of the handle X in the ordinary well known manner.
The connecting rod V is constructed with a means for its being easily lengthoned
or shortened for the purpose of adjusting the "height" of the roller bearers, to
allow for shrinkage of the rollers or to regulate their pressure on the "forme."
When the handle X is moved, for the purpose of throwing off the impression it
at the same time causes the lever T to alter its position raising the end with the
shaped surface T₁ and pressing it against the friction roller S forcing the roller-
bearers upwards and by reason of the slots R¹ & R2 forwards also, thus lifting the
rollers off the "forme" and preventing it from being inked until such time as the
handle shall again be placed in its former position.
Having now described the nature of my invention and disclosed the method of
its performance, be it known that what I consider novel and claim as my invention
is as follows.
In a platen printing machine the introduction adaptation and use of a platen
which may be stopped and started by hand-stop-motion or automatically, sub-
stantially as described.
In a platen printing machine the adaptation, introduction and use of moveable
and adjustable roller bearers substantially as described.
In a platen printing machine the combination of moveable and adjustable roller
bearers with the "throw off" impression motion substantially as described.
Dated this 28th day of April 1886.