Improvements in and in Machinery for Printing Floor Cloths and Textile and other Fabrics and Materials, and also for Embossing Certain Materials or Fabrics.TINGOTHERCSERIALS
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 27th July 1887
Complete Left, 27th Apr., 1888
Complete Accepted, 1st June, 1888
Improvements in and in Machinery for Printing Floor Cloths and
Textile and other Fabrics and Materials, and also for Embossing
Certain Materials or Fabrics.
I Sir JAMES FARMER of Salford in the County of Lancaster Knight, do hereby
declare the nature of said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN AND IN MACHINERY FOR
PRINTING FLOOR CLOTHS AND TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS AND MATERIALS AND ALSO
FOR EMBOSSING CERTAIN MATERIALS OR FABRICS to be as follows:-
My invention relates to machinery for printing linoleum and other floor cloths and
textile and other fabrics and materials such machinery being also applicable for
embossing certain materials or fabrics.
The chief object of my Invention is to construct a machine which will combine the
advantages of the block system of printing by hand with those of the roller system of
printing by machinery but without the principal disadvantages of either system. That
is to say by my Invention fabrics or materials are printed by blocks actuated by
machinery instead of by hand as now customary and the fabrics or materials are fed
into or through the machine automatically and preferably continuously whereby the
tedious process of hand printing is dispensed with but the superior results obtained by
block printing are retained.
The following is a convenient arrangement of mechanism for carrying my Invention
into effect
I employ a reciprocating table composed of an upper and a lower platform or table
both mounted adjustably in sliding brackets supported in slideways on the machine
frame. The fabric to be printed travels upon the lower platform being drawn or fed
through the machine by a roughened or card roller or other means and the printing
block is secured to the underside of the upper platform. The combined table consisting
of the two platforms is traversed or reciprocated by any suitable means such as a crank
so arranged as to depress the upper platform and hold it in contact with and print the
fabric on the lower platform while the combined table is traversed forward with the
fabric a certain distance when springs or other suitable means are arranged to raise
|the upper platform away from the lower platform.

page_text: The colour or ink for the printing block is contained in a colour box supported on
the frame near the table and in this box is a revolving colour roller which gathers
the colour and lays a film of it on a second revolving roller which applies it to an
ordinary furnishing roller preferably of such diameter that one revolution will more
than cover the printing block. The colour or ink is applied to the printing block
when the upper platform is raised by springs or equivalents as above described the
furnishing roller being traversed at a quick speed to and fro so as to apply a fresh
coat of colour or ink to the face of the block during the time that the upper plat-
form is raised clear of the fabric. Any other suitable arrangement for inking or
supplying colour to the block may be employed.
While the colour is being applied as described the fabric is slowly drawn forward
so that by the time the crank has completed its revolution and the upper platform is
again brought down on to the lower platform a fresh portion of the fabric will have
arrived in position between them ready to be printed.
The fabric is fed forward at such a speed and the other parts are severally so
operated as to insure the pattern being printed in correct register and for this
purpose it may be found advantageous to cause either automatically or by hand a
periodical dwell or pause in the movement of the fabric as it passes through the
inachine.
The fabric or material may be printed with several colours in succession in the same
machine by employing a corresponding number of reciprocating tables and additional
colour boxes and furnishing rollers.
When employing the machine for embossing purposes care must be taken that the
materials are in such a condition or of such a consistency that they will receive and
retain the impression of the block or type which may be employed either with or
without colour.

page_text: Certain Materials or Fabrics.
I Sir JAMES FARMER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Knight, 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
My invention relates to machinery for printing linoleum and other floor cloths and
textile and other fabrics and materials such machinery being also applicable for
embossing certain materials or fabrics.
The chief object of my Invention is to construct a machine which will combine
the advantages of the block system of printing by hand with those of the roller
system of printing by machinery but without the principal disadvantages of either
system. That is to say by my Invention fabrics or materials are printed by blocks
actuated by machinery instead of by hand as now customary and the fabrics or
materials are fed into or through the machine automatically and preferably con-
tinuously whereby the tedious process of hand printing is dispensed with but the
superior results obtained by block printing are retained.
The following is a convenient arrangement of mechanism for carrying my Invention
into effect: :-
The
I employ a reciprocating table composed of an upper and a lower platform or
table both mounted adjustably in sliding brackets supported in slideways on the
machine frame. The fabric to be printed travels upon the lower platform being
drawn or fed through the machine by a roughened or card roller or other means
and the printing block is secured to the under side of the upper platform.
combined table consisting of the two platforms is traversed or reciprocated by any
suitable means such as a crank so arranged as to depress the upper platform and
hold it in contact with and print the fabric on the lower platform while the
combined table is traversed forward with the fabric a certain distance when
springs or other suitable means are arranged to raise the upper platform away from
the lower platform.
The colour or ink for the printing block is contained in a colour box supported on
the frame near the table and in this box is a revolving colour roller which gathers the
colour and lays a film of it on a second revolving roller which applies it to an ordinary
furnishing roller preferably of such diameter that one revolution will more than cover
the printing block. The colour or ink is applied to the printing block when the upper

page_text: platform is raised by springs or equivalents as above described the furnishing roller
being traversed at a quick speed to and fro so as to apply a fresh coat of colour
or ink to the face of the block during the time that the upper platform is raised
clear of the fabric.
Any other suitable arrangement for inking or supplying colour to the block may be
employed.
While the colour is being applied as described the fabric is slowly drawn forward
so that by the time the crank has completed its revolution and the upper platform is
again brought down on to the lower platform a fresh portion of the fabric will have
arrived in position between them ready to be printed.
The fabric is fed forward at such a speed and the other parts are severally so
operated as to insure the pattern being printed in correct register and for this purpose
it may be found advantageous to cause either automatically or by hand a periodical
dwell or pause in the movement of the fabric as it passes through the machine.
The fabric or material may be printed with several colours in succession in the same
machine by employing a corresponding number of reciprocating tables and additional
colour boxes and furnishing rollers!
When employing the machine for embossing purposes care must be taken that
the materials are in such a condition or of such a consistency that they will receive
and retain the impression of the block or type which may be employed either with or
without colour.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect I will describe the accompanying five Sheets of Drawings reference being had
to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2 a plan of a two colour machine, embodying
my improvements, for printing floor cloths and other fabrics and materials. Figs. 3,4
and 5 are detail views of parts of the same.
The machine shown is one with two heads and may be used for printing a fabric or
material with two colours one after the other.
C
C
In these views. a designates the frame of the machine, the roller over which the
fabric or material to be printed is fed into the machine and between the lower
reciprocating table c and the upper reciprocating table d. Each of the tables c d is
mounted upon a pair of sliding blocks c¹ e¹ and d' d' respectively, and each sliding
block is fitted in vertical slideways, see Figs. 3 and 4, in a frame e and is capable of
being set or adjusted by adjusting screws so as to move the two tables nearer to or
farther from one another as required. The frame e is formed with a slide e' which is
fitted and free to be moved in horizontal slideways a¹ in the machine frame a by means
of a crank shaft which passes through vertical slots d² d² formed in the upper sliding
blocks d¹ d. On the crankshaft g is secured a cam wheel with spur teeth on its
periphery which gear into a spur wheel i driven by a pinion on the driving shaft j
which receives its motion by means of a pulley 2. The upper table has attached to
its under side the type or printing block k which imprints a design or pattern on the
fabric when the crank g is turned into its lowest position and the upper table dis
pressed down upon the lower table c as shown in Fig. 3; between the two tables c d
are fitted springs which are compressed when the crank g is in its lowest position,
see Fig. 3, but which expand and raise the upper table d clear of the lower table cas
the crank g approaches its highest position as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
After the pattern or impression has been printed on the fabric or material by the
first head it passes forward over guide rollers m m¹ to the second head where it is
printed with the second colour by means of another arrangement of reciprocating
tables substantially the same as that already described and operated in a similar
manner by a second crank shaft g' driven at the same speed as the first crank shaft g
by means of a spur wheel n geared to the wheel i.
The fabric or material passes from the second head over a guide roller o being drawn
forward by a winding-out roller p the surface of which is preferably roughened or
covered with card clothing. The winding-out roller pis driven preferably from a
pulley on the crankshaft g by a crossed belt, not shown, which passes over a

page_text: pulley pl on the winding-out roller the speed of which is so adjusted in relation to the
rate of movement of the reciprocating tables as to cause the fabric or material to be
traversed continuously through the machine at the exact speed necessary to insure the
pattern or design being printed on it in correct register.
Instead of the crankshaft g any suitable equivalent may be employed to operate the
reciprocating tables and any suitable means may be employed for applying ink or
colour to the type or printing block. The Drawings show a convenient arrangement
consisting of a colour box in which is placed a colour doctor and a gathering
roller which receives rotatory motion by means of a pulley and band (not shown)
from a pulley fixed on the crankshaft. The colour collected by the roller is laid
by it upon a second revolving roller s which is driven by a gear s¹ from a gear
on the roller and the roller s applies the film of colour to the first of a series of
three ordinary furnishing rollers t t t which are seen best in the detail view Fig. 4:
these three rollers are supported at each end in a slide or block u which is fitted in
.horizontal slideways in the frame a. The ends of each slide u are connected by
chains or equivalents u¹ and u² respectively to opposite ends of two levers which are
fulcrumed one near each end of a shaft on which is also fixed adjustably a short
lever w.
The lever wis connected by a link to one end of
lever fulcrumed
on the framing at 3 and the other end of the lever w² carries a bowl which works
in the cam groove in the wheel h. On referring to Fig. 1 it will be seen that
as the wheel revolves, in the direction of the arrow, the bowl travels for rather
more than half a revolution of the wheel in that portion of the cam groove h¹
which is concentric to the wheel and consequently no motion is transmitted
to the series of levers and the slides and during this half revolution of the wheel
the crank depresses the sliding blocks d¹ d¹ and forces the upper table d down
and prints the fabric or material on the lower table c. By the time that the bowl
on the lever has left the concentric portion of the cam groove h¹ the crank g
will have left the upper table d sufficiently to allow the springs to raise the latter
into the position shown in Fig. 4 and then as the eccentric portion of the cam
groove moves the bowl away from the centre of the wheel the lever w² is
turned on it fulcrum w and by the link w' and lever we turns the shaft v² partly round
in one direction whereby the front ends of the levers v are depressed and the chains u
draw the slides u with the furnishing rollers t t between the two tables c d along
the slideways to the front of the machine. As the wheel continues its revolution
the cam groove ¹ draws back the bowl towards the centre thereby rocking the lever w²
in the reverse direction, raising the front and depressing the back ends of the levers v,
and by the chains ² drawing the slides u with the furnishing rollers t t 2 back to the
position shown in Fig. 1. The middle roller t' is set rather higher than the other two
rollers and it has a pinion t fixed on its axis which, during its passage both back-
ward and forward as described, gears into a rack on the upper table d so that
the roller revolves in contact with the type or printing block k and thoroughly inks
or applies colour to it.
I have specified three furnishing rollers as being the number I propose to employ
but one would answer my purpose and instead of the cam groove h¹ and the connections
herein shown and described any suitable arrangement of mechanism for traversing the
furnishing roller or rollers and supplying it or them with ink or colour might be
employed.
To operate the furnishing rollers on the second head I propose to connect the slides
carrying the furnishing rollers by chains x1, x2 to a pair of levers a fixed one near
each end of a shaft on which is also fixed a short lever at and on the shaft c¹ I fix
a lever and couple the lever v2 by a link y to the lever at so that the two sets of
furnishing rollers move backward and forward together.
In machines with more than two heads another cam wheel or cam wheels or equivalents
would be necessary.
The machine constructed as above described or in an equivalent manner could be
employed for embossing purposes either with or without the ink or colour furnishing
annaratus.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a machine for printing floor cloths and textile and other fabrics and materials
or for embossing certain materials or fabrics the construction combination and arrange-
ment of mechanism herein shown and described or any other suitable arrangement of
mechanism for imparting a peculiar compound reciprocating movement to the type or
printing block and the tables whereby the fabrics or materials can be traversed con-
tinuously through the machine and be printed or embossed by blocks actuated by
machinery instead, of by hand as heretofore.
2. The combination with the type or printing block the reciprocating tables c d
the sliding frame e the sliding blocks c' c¹ and d' d' and the crank shaft g or equivalent
mechanism for imparting the compound reciprocating movement to the type or
printing block and the said tables, of the cam groove ¹ and its connections for
operating the ink or colour furnishing roller or rollers substantially as herein described
with reference to the Drawings annexed.
3. The several constructions combinations and arrangements of parts embodying
my improvements substantially as herein set forth for the purposes specified.
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester,
Agent for the Applicant.
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester,
Agent for the Applicant.