IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Martyn Nicholls at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th January 1871.
I, HENRY MARTYN NICHOLLS, of 143, Great, Portland Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES AND APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
:-
The printing machines to which these my improvements relate
are those which print continuous paper, the machine supplying itself
with paper from a roll, and the printing cylinders of which revolve
continuously.
The object of my first improvement is to arrange and construct such
printing machines in such a manner as will allow of several webs of
paper after being printed simultaneously in the same machine being
afterwards dealt with by means of a single set of apparatus just as if a
single web only had to be similarly dealt with. With this object in
view I arrange the printing cylinders in parallel planes, either horizontal
or vertical, and bring the several webs of paper together after they are

page_text: printed in correct "register" with one another and pass them between
rollers which advance them into the apparatus above referred to.
The object of my second improvement is so to arrange and construct
such printing machines that the diameter of the printing cylinders
remaining unaltered lengths of the web which are not equal to the
entire circumference of the said cylinders may be printed with facility.
To effect this I cause the true length of the sheet only to be delivered
from the roll during each entire revolution of the printing cylinders, the
delivery of the paper being thereby uniform and continuous. I stop the
web between the paper roll and the printing cylinders after each im-
pression is given by means of mechanism, substantially the same as
that described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me No. 3510,
(1869) where it is employed to stop the web when a sheet is about
being severed from it, and I allow the slack paper to accumulate between
the said stopping mechanism, and the roll of paper in the form of a loop
or fold by means of rollers. To maintain this loop in form I either
force air into it or place a round tube or rod in it, which tube or rod
rises and falls with the loop. When both sides of the web are to be
printed, I make one set of printing cylinders capable of adjustment (as
regards distance apart) with reference to the other set, and with this view
and also with a view to smoothness of motion, I couple these cylinders
of each set which revolve in the same direction together by means of
cranks and coupling rods, I use fly wheels to render the motion of the
machine more uniform.
The mode of dealing with the slack paper here described is applicable
where the web is stopped for the purpose of cutting off a sheet in the
apparatus, for cutting the web or webs of paper into sheets, and piling
the same when cut, for which Letters Patent have already been granted
to me No. 2808 (1866) and No. 3510 (1869). The said apparatus
connected with printing machines are apparatus for folding the web or
webs of paper longitudinally, and the apparatus for cutting and piling
the sheets.
The object of my third improvement is to fold a web or webs as it or
they issue from the printing machine. When a publication consists of a
single sheet, and it is desired to pile the sheets folded, I pass the centre
of the web between rollers which form a crease along it. The two sides
of the web being brought together it is so passed folded between rollers
which advance it into the apparatus for cutting it into sheets and piling

page_text: the Summe.
1.11 UITIS Case 1 make ՆԵ ՆԱ
With a lengon of a paze was
passed the knife. When a publication consists of say two sheets, one
inside another, and it is desired to pile the sheets so, I print one web
with the matter of the outside, and one with that of the inside sheet, and
fold the webs and then make the cut when the length of a page has
passed the knife. The sheets are thus piled the outside enclosing the
inside, several webs each corresponding to a sheet of a publication may
be similarly treated.
The objects of my fourth improvement are as follows:- -When dealing
with a single unfolded web printed with the sheets of a publication
which consists of a single sheet, I make the cut each time the length
of a sheet has passed the knife. Where the publication consists of two
sheets, an inner and outer, both printed on the one web, I either make
the cut when the length of both sheets has passed the knife, or if it be
desired I cut off the outside sheet first, and then the inside, piling the
latter on the former and if desired I separate each pair from the next
succeeding pair by an interval. Where a publication consists of two
sheets, an inner and an outer, which sheets are printed on separate
unfolded webs, I make the cut each time the length of a page or single
sheet passes the knife, piling both sheets at once, the inner on the
outer. A publication consisting of several sheets may be similarly
treated. When desired instead of separating each separate sheet by
an interval, as described in my said Patents, I cause the motion of the
apron or its equivalent for the removal of the sheets to move only after
say a quire of sheets have been piled one upon another so as to separate
quire from quire. This may be conveniently effected by supplementing
the mechanism for moving the travelling apron described in my said
Patent No. 2808 (1866) with a cam movement which alternately puts
the said apron or its equivalent into and out of gear with the said
mechanism.
When it is desired to pile the sheets in a horizontal pile, one sheet truly
above another, I prefer to employ a table which sinks gradually as the
pile accumulates, so that the level of the surface may remain unaltered.
I find the employment of independent blowing fans, one on each side of
the web or webs, to be a convenient arrangement for the supply of the
air blasts to the apparatus. The air to supply the blasts may if thought
desirable be supplied to the blast passages from a reservoir into which it
is constantly forced. The said air blasts may be produced by exhaustion

page_text: instead of compression, but not so conveniently. The action of the air
blasts on the sheet in the space into which they carry it is conveniently
regulated by contracting the said space as it recedes from the mouth.
pieces which supply the air. The place and office of one of the two air
blasts employed in piling the sheets may be filled by tapes or their
equivalent kept constantly running in the same direction, as the air or
such mechanism may be used in conjunction with the two blasts.
In that modification of the piling apparatus described in my Speci-
fication No. 2808 (1866) in which the piles of paper are formed on
edge, I employ a crank or a cam movement to actuate the knife as I
think fit.