IMPROVEMENTS IN STEREOTYPE PLATES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio, of Nevill's Court, in the
City of London, and County of Middlesex, Stereotyper, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEREOTYPE PLATES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME."
Sealed the 30th July 1861, and dated the 11th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th February 1861.
I, GIOVANNI GUISEPPE AGGIO, of Nevill's Court, in the City of London, and
County of Middlesex, Stereotyper, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEREOTYPE PLATES, AND IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
These improvements have reference to stereotype plates formed as segments
of a cylinder, and intended to be employed for printing in connection with
such machines as print from a cylindrical or partly cylindrical surface, such as
the American or Hoe's machine, and others of asimilar character. Segmental
stereotype plates as hitherto used upon machines of the class referred to have
been considerably less than "type high," or, in other words, have been much
less in depth from the bearing surface or back to the printing surface of the
plate than the depth of ordinary type when placed in position for printing.
Paine 11

page_text: This has been the cause of much inconvenience and difficulty in adjusting the
plates with sufficient accuracy upon the cylindrical bearing surface for printing
from. In order to avoid this difficulty I make my plates for such machines as
referred to "type high" as now practised with flat plates, and in like manner
I plane the bearing surfaces, so as to ensure perfect parallelism between the
bearing and printing surfaces. For this purpose I either make use of a
machine (driven by manual or other power) upon which in a suitably curved
bed the plate to be planed is fixed, in such manner as to be operated upon by
a cutter ground to the required segmental curve, and moving along in a
straight line, so as to plave the bearing surface of the plate parallel with the
printing face thereof. Or otherwise I employ a machine, which, instead of
the curved cutter referred to, operates by means of a straight cutter carried by
a radial arm, or by radial arms, or otherwise, so as to move in and plane the
plate to the required segmental curve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GIOVANNI
GUISEPPE AGGIO, late of Nevill's Court, in the City of London, and County of
Middlesex, but now of Fletcher's Row, Clerkenwell, in the same County,
Stereotyper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio, Her special licence that I, the said Giovanni
Guiseppe Aggio, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio, my executors, administrators, 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 Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEREOTYPE PLATES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
MANUFACTURING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should

page_text: 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 nextand immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
These improvements have reference to stereotype plates formed as segments
of a cylinder, and intended to be employed for printing in connection with
such machines as print from a cylindrical or partly cylindrical surface, such as
the American or Hoe's machine,and others of a similar character. Segmental
stereotype plates as hitherto used upon machines of the class referred to have
been considerably less than "type high," or in other words, have been much
less in depth from the bearing surface or back to the printing surface of the
plate than the depth of ordinary type when placed in position for printing.
This has been the cause of much inconvenience and difficulty in adjusting the
plates with sufficient accuracy upon the cylindrical bearing surface for printing
from. In order to avoid this difficulty, I make my plates for such machines
as referred to "type high," as now practised with flat plates, and in like
manner I plane the bearing surfaces, so as to ensure perfect parallelism
between the bearing and printing surfaces. For this purpose I either make
use of a machine (driven by manual or other power) upon which in a suitably
curved bed the plate to be planed is fixed, in such manner as to be operated
upon by a cutter ground to the required segmental curve, and moving along
in a straight line, so as to plane the bearing surface of the plate parallel with
the printing face thereof. Or otherwise I employ a machine, which, instead
of the curved cutter referred to,operates by means of a straight cutter carried
by a radial arm, or by radial arms, or otherwise, so as to move in and plane
the plate to the required segmental curve.
The manner in which my said Invention may be carried into effect will be
fully understood on reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, whereof
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a machine constructed for planing the
bearing surfaces of segmental "type high" stereotype plates by means of a
moveable cutter ground to the required segmental curve; Fig. 2, a plan, and
Fig. 3, a section of the same through the line A, A, of Fig. 1.
The cutter frame a slides upon guides 6 formed with the framing c of the
machine,and is actuated by the screw d, which passes through a nut in the
utter frame at e, and revolves in a bearing attached to the main framing c

page_text: of the machine. The screw d is actuated by means of a crank handle g fixed
in one of the arms of the fly wheel h keyed upon the end of the screw. The
segmental cutter i is fixed to the sliding cutter frame by means of the screwsj,
and its distance from the bed k of the machine is capable of adjustment by
means of the screws 1. In using the machine the plate to be planed is placed
face downwards upon the bed k, with its end resting against the projecting
part thereof,and the cutter (previously adjusted to the proper distance from
the bed) is moved forward by means of the screw d, so as to pass over and
plane or cut the bearing parts of the plate to a circular curve perfectly
parallel with the printing surface thereof. This machine may be modified by
constructing it with a stationary curved cutter (instead of the moving cutter
described), and causing the plate to be planed to pass beneath it.
Fig. 4 is a transverse section of a machine which operates by means of a
straight cutter attached to radial arms, such cutter being thereby guided so
as to move in the required segmental curve; and Fig. 5, a plan of the same.
In this case the framing a of the machine carries the fixed studs or fulcra m,
upon which are hung the arms or segments of worm wheels n, connected
together by a transverse bar c, to which the cutter i is attached. The
segments receive motion from worms o formed with shafts p working in
bearings q,and actuated by means of a cross shaftr and bevil wheels s..
cross shaft may either be driven by hand by means of a crank handle fixed to
the fly wheel, or by other power, as found most convenient. The plate to
bc operated upon is placed upon the bed k, and is held therein by suitable
stops, while the cutter i is by means of the worms o and segments n caused to
move over and plane it as required.
The
Fig. 6 is a transverse section of a machine similar to the foregoing, but in
which the cutter i is stationary, and the bed k (upon which the plate to be
planed is placed) instead of being fixed is suspended from the studs or
'centres m, and is moved in the required segmental curve by worms o taking
into worm segments n, as the cutter was in the former instance.
In casting the stereotype plates for the purposes herein referred to, I make
them in one piece of the size to print an entire page, and form them with ribs
as now practised with straight plates, and for facility in removing the surplus
metal or "head" of the casting, I cast a notch or groove across the plate in
the required line of division,so that the head may readily be broken off. This
notch is shewn at t, in Fig. 7, which represents a longitudinal section of a
plate as it leaves the casting box with the head or surplus metal u attached.
In the foregoing statementIhave fully described and ascertained the nature
of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same may be performed

page_text: I would, nevertheless, have it distinctly understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details or arrangements therein set forth, as the same
admit of being variously modified without departing from the distinguishing
features of my Invention; but that I claim,-
Firstly, the use or employment of type high circularly curved stereotype
plates, prepared as described, and formed in one piece to print an entire page.
Secondly, the use of a curved cutter, as described for planing the bearing
surfaces of circularly curved or segmental stereotype plates.
Thirdly, the employment of a straight cutter guided in a circular curve by
radial arms, for planing the bearing surfaces of circularly curved or segmental
stereotype plates.
Fourthly, the employment for planing the bearing surfaces of circularly
curved stereotype plates, of a stationary straight cutter in conjunction with a
table or bed moving in the required circular arc, for receiving and carrying
the plato to be planed.
Fifthly, casting a thin part or groove across circularly curved stereotype
plates, to enable the head or surplus metal attached to the rough casting to be
readily broken off.
In witness whereof, I, the said Giovanni Guiseppe Aggio, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
GIOVANNI GUISEPPE (L.s.) AGGIO.
FRANCIS WISE, C.E.,
Chandos Chambers,
Buckingham Street, Adelphi.