IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER-PRESS PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Mark Mason at the Office of the
Commissiouers of Patents, with his Petition, ou the 27th October 1858.
I MARK MASON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LETTER-PRESS PRINTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
1570
My Invention relates to improvements in letter-press printing machines.
The paper to supply the machine is rolled in one continuous length or web
around a cylinder provided for the purpose; it then passes into the machine,
and is printed on its upper side, the printing cylinder having its type arranged
on its surface, and is placed above the paper; it is then carried forward a short
distance to another cylinder, and printed on the reverse or under side, the
printing cylinder being placed below it. On emerging from the machine it is
passed on to a sloping form, & when the proper length has been carried
through, the paper is severed by a pair of shears operated by a lever which is
struck by a catch placed in a proper position on the periphery of the lower
printing cylinder.
This description of printing machine is self-feeding, the paper being fed in
in one continuous length; the two printing cylinders are connected together by
bevil gearing, all the other cylinders & rollers also being connected together
they operate simultaneously. It is also supplied with tapes in the usual
manner, some of which are shewn in red lines for the purpose of carrying
forward the paper in its proper course through the printing machine.
In order to shew more clearly the nature of my said improvements, I have

page_text: hereto appended a Drawing, shewing one mode of carrying out my said
Invention. A, A, is a portion of the framing; B is a portion of the upper
printing cylinder, on whose periphery the type is fixed. The paper passing into
the machine receives its first impression on its upper surface from the upper
cylinder B passing between it and the pressure roller A2; it then is carried
between the rollers C, C, which serve the purpose of straightening it out &
keeping it in position; from thence between the lower printing cylinder D) and
the
pressure roller E, and is thus printed on its lower surface, the type being
arranged around the printing cylinders. It then passes between the two
rollers F, F, which serve the same purpose as the rollers C, C, smoothing and
straightening the paper out, and is thus carried out of the machine on to the
inclined form G. When a proper length has passed through, the paper is cut
by the shears H, H, which are operated by the lever J, having its centre of
suspension at K, a catch being fixed on the cylinder D, which strikes the lever
at the proper moment. This machine is supplied with four inking apparatus,
L, L, the other two apparatus being placed above the printing cylinder B.
The centre rollers M, M, in each case are metallic rollers; the other two
rollers N, N, are composition rollers in each set of inking apparatus. A spiral
spring is supplied to the lower set of inking apparatus for the purpose of
keeping the rollers against the printing cylinder. By the novel combination
of the parts of this description of printing machine, I obtain greater 'simplicity
of action, and a great reduction in the first cost of this class of machines.