Improvements in Apparatus for Maturing, Seasoning, Drying, or Shrinking Paper for Printing in Colours.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Nov., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 20th July, 1893-Accepted, 30th Sept., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Maturing, Seasoning, Drying, or
Shrinking Paper for Printing in Colours.
JAMES PLUMMER JENNINGS Lithographer 8 Picton Road Wavertree Liverpool
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
My invention relates to an apparatus, devised for seasoning, maturing, drying, or
shrinking, printing lithographing and other papers either in sheet or in web-during
the process of making-before the process of printing or lithographing the paper-
and during the process of printing or lithographing the paper in one or more
printings and colours and thus I secure more accurate and exact register than is
possible with paper not so matured for printing.
The apparatus that I have devised for this purpose consists of a strong framework
of wood or iron between the two uprights at each end, I arrange a number of rollers,
one above another, and over these rollers, I pass a number of endless tapes which
are caused to travel by attaching, to the driving wheel a belt connected with any
motive power, or which may be turned by hand. A feed table is fixed near the top
of the two front uprights, on this the paper if in sheet is placed and fed sheet by
sheet by hand under the adjacent roller by which it is carried forward on the
endless tapes, by which the paper is carried over each roller in succession forwards ·
and backwards from and thereafter falls on to the sloping delivery table fixed near
the bottom of the two front uprights.
If the paper is in web the web is so fixed that the paper is run on to the tapes
over the feeding board and re-reeled from the delivery table.
The apparatus must be covered in on all sides so as to exclude dust, and damp
air but more especially in order to get the full benefit from the warm dry air
generated by an atmospheric gas stove or hot steam pipes placed underneath the
machine or in any other position from which a current of warm dry air can be
directed so as to envelop and act upon the paper during its passage through the
machine.
31st October 1892.
JAMES PLUMMER JENNINGS,
8, Picton Road, Wavertree, Liverpool.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Maturing, Seasoning, Drying, or
Shrinking Paper for Printing in Colours.
I, JAMES PLUMMER JENNINGS, Lithographic Printer, of 8 Picton Road,
Wavertree, Liverpool, 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 :-
It is a common experience of lithographic colour-printers to find, when working
a job with a number of different printings, that, after some of the colours have
been put on, the earlier impressions have become larger than they were when
originally printed, and it is generally supposed that the paper has stretched by
reason of the pressure to which it has been subjected between the cylinder and the
stone. This is not the case; the passing of a sheet between cylinder and stone will
not stretch it ; generally speaking, no amount of such pressure will do so.
drag or pull the paper and gather it in waves, causing the impression to be longer:
It may

page_text: on the paper at the back edge than on the stone, but in, no sense will the paper
have stretched. The reason why the earlier printed sheets have stretched since
printing must therefore arise from some other cause than pressure, and that cause
is dampness the damp from the stone stretches the paper, and the softer the
texture of the paper, the more moisture it will absorb as each printing is put on,
and the greater the expansion will be.
Besides this, I say that paper, when it comes fresh from the mill, and is
necessarily exposed to the atmosphere during transit and handling the outer edges
of the reams become warped or crinkled, that is to say, the sheets are then larger
in the centre than at the edges, or vice versa. This is, of course due to the fact
that exposure to the air during transit and handling, as it were, matures" the.
margins, but cannot reach and does not affect the middle portions of the sheets
while in bulk.
This "green" paper, as I may call it, is also possessed of a certain amount of
elasticity, and will pull out in passing between the stone and the cylinder, but
springs back again as soon as released from pressure causing the impression on the
sheet to be shorter or longer (as the case may be) than that on the stone.
My invention relates to an apparatus or machine designed to cure this:
"greenness" and to remedy the defects in the paper itself already referred to-in
other words, to season, mature, dry, or shrink paper for colour printing in sheet or
in web before and during the process of printing in colours, and thus ensure more
accurate and exact register than is possible with paper not so "matured "fur..
printing.
The construction of and the method of working the apparatus or machine which
I have devised for the purposes stated are amply illustrated in the annexed
drawing, which shows a side elevation of the most common form of the machine,
with the casing or dust-proof cover removed. I construct a strong framework of
wood or iron, and between the two uprights at each end (A), A') I place a number.
of wooden or iron spindles in suitable bearings. On each of these spindles, a
number of movable grooved iron or wooden rollers or pulleys are placed in. any
desired position. Over the grooves in these rollers or pulleys, I endless
pass
tapes
or cords or bands. (B1, B2, B3, B4). These are made to travel by means of a
belt (C) placed on a driving-wheel (D) and attached to a shaft driven by a steam
or gas engine or otherwise. The motion of the driving-wheel (D) is transmitted to
the entire series of spindles by means of a strong endless cord or belt (E). A feed-
table (F) is fixed as shown in the drawing and on this the paper, if in sheet, is
placed, and passed, sheet by sheet, by hand or otherwise, on to the uppermost set
of cords or tapes (B¹) by which the sheets are successively carried forward to the
opposite end of the machine, where one or more guards (G) or guiding-tapes
prevent them from falling outwards and cause them to pass round the rollers at
that end, and so on to the next set of cords or tapes (B) by which they are
similarly carried to the cords or tapes B³, and then on to and over the cords or
tapes B', which pass them on to a delivery-table (H) fixed at the base of the two
front uprights and under the feed-table.
If the paper is in web, the web is so fixed on a suitable spindle that the paper is
run over the feed-table on to the tapes or cords, and after travelling backwards and
forwards over these tapes or cords, passes over and is re-reeled from the delivery-
table.
The dimensions of the machine, the number of spindles and rollers, length of
tapes, or cords, or belts, may be varied to suit any available space or special
requirement.
The machine may be cased in or covered so as to exclude dust and damp air, but.
more especially in order to secure the full benefit from a current or body of warm
dry air generated by one or more gas stoves or burners placed on the floor or base
of the machine. A supply of warm air may be otherwise generated and directed
into the machine so as to envelop and act upon the paper during its passage from
the feed-table to the delivery-board.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination of parts forming the apparatus or machine for the purposes
stated, constructed and operating, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In machinery or means for seasoning maturing, or drying paper before being
printed in several colours, and for shrinking or contracting paper during the process
of printing in colours, the combination of a series of endless tapes or cords or bands,
with a driving cord, chain or belt, so that sheets or lengths of paper are caused to
pass from or over a feed-table on to each set of travelling tapes or cords in
succession and from the lowest of these on to or over a delivery-board.
3. The process of seasoning, drying, maturing or shrinking paper in sheet or in
web, by exposing the same to the action of dry or warm air in the manner and by
the means hereinbefore described.
Dated this 19th day of July 1893