IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th March 1870.-A communication from abroad by Jesse
Bailey Brown, of Nashville, County of Davidson, State of Tennessee,
United States of America.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY PRINTING MACHINES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to furnish a simple, convenient, and
effective rotary printing machine, which shall be so constructed as to
dispense with the complex machinery usually employed, both sides of
the paper being printed while the paper is passing through the machine
in a horizontal plane. It also consists in the construction and com-
bination of various parts of the machine, as herein-after more fully
described and illustrated in the Drawings annexed, in which Figure 1
is a central, vertical, longitudinal section of this improved machine;
Figure 2 is a detail vertical cross section of one of the type rollers;
Figure 3 is a detail view of one
of the key plates; Figure 4 is a

page_text: detail view of one of the leads; Figure 5 is a side and edge view of
one of the types. These detached Figures are shown on an enlarged scale.
A is the frame of the machine, to which the horizontal table B is
attached, along which the paper moves while passing through the
machine; O is the ink fount, from which the ink is conveyed to the
type rollers D, the journals of which revolve in bearings in the bars E,
the rear ends of which are pivoted to the standards F, the lower ends of
which are attached to the frame A, and by which the ink fount C is also
supported. The forward end of the bars E move up and down upon
the screws G, so that by turning a nut upon the said screw the inking
rollers may be raised and lowered at will to regulate the application of
the ink to the type cylinder. H are the feed rollers, which are pivoted
to the rear part of the machine, the one directly above the other, in
such a position that the line of contact between their faces may be in the
horizontal plane of the upper surface of the table B. I is the rear type
cylinder, which is pivoted to bearings attached to the frame A directly
above the rear printing roller J, so that their line of contact may be in
the horizontal plane of the upper surface of the table B; K is the
forward type cylinder and L is the forward printing roller, which are
pivoted to the frame A, the one above the other, in such positions that
their line of contact may be in the horizontal plane of the upper surface
of the table B. The type cylinders I and K. are placed, the one above
and the other below the table B, so that one side of the paper may be
printed by the one cylinder and the other side by the other cylinder as
the paper is passing through the machine. MI are the frames in which
the types of each column are secured. The frames M are made of the
width of the column. The bottom of the frames M, upon which the
feet of the types rest, is made convex upon its upper side and concave
upon its under side to fit upon the surface of the type cylinders, and
their sides are made upon the radial line of said cylinders, as shown in
Figures 1 and 2. N are the types, the sides of which are inclined, as
shown in Figures 2 and 5, so that the sides of the type when set may
be upon the radial lines of the type cylinders. By this construction
the types will exactly fill up the space between the sides of the frame M.
The types N are grooved upon one of their edges, as shown in Figure 5,
to receive the key plates o, which are made upon the arc of a circle,
and the ends of which enter grooves in the sides of the frame M. By
this construction the lower shoulders of the types N bear against the
lower or concave edges of the keys O, which thus secure them in place

page_text: and hold them down upon the bottom of the frames M. Pare the
leads, the ends of which have tenous formed upon them to fit into the
grooves of the sides of the frames M, as shown in Figure 4. The middle
part of some of the leads P may project upward to serve as dashes.
By cutting off the upper shoulders of the types N the leads P may serve
as keys for securing the types in place. The types are locked in the
frame M by the curved angular plates Q, which are secured to the
frames M, as shown in Figure 2, the types having been first pressed
together by screw clamps or other convenient means. The types are
set and secured in the frames M, in the compositor's room, and the
plates and types are secured to the cylinders I, K, by screws, as shown
in Figure 2. When stereotype plates are used they may be secured
directly to the surface of the type cylinders. As the printed paper
passes out of the machine it is cut off into sheets by the knives R, S.
The knife R is stationary, being attached to the bed or table B. The
ends of the upper knife S, or of the bar to which said knife is
attached, are connected to the rods T, which pass down through
guides attached to the frame A, and are held up to keep the knife S
out of the way of the paper by the coiled springs U placed upon the
upper parts of the said rods. The upper ends of the coiled springs U
rest against nuts placed upon the upper ends of the said rods, and their
lower ends rest upon the frame A, or upon supports attached to said
frame. Upon the middle part of the rods T are formed collars V, against
which strike projections W formed upon or attached to the ends of the
forward type cylinder, so that at cachi revolution of the cylinder the
upper or movable knife may be drawn down to cut off the sheets. The
roll of paper which is to be printed is pivoted to the rear part of the
machine or to other suitable supports placed at the rear of said machine.
The machine may be driven by any convenient power, and the cylinders
and rollers are connected by a train of gearing, so arranged that all the
moving surfaces that come in contact with the paper passing through
the machine may move with exactly the same speed, so that there may
be no strain upon the paper.