Improvements in and Applicable to, Machinery.or Apparatus for Embossing or Printing upon Tissues, Fabrics, and similar Materials.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements in and Applicable to, Machinery.or Apparatus for
Embossing or Printing upon Tissues, Fabrics, and similar
Materials.
.
We SAMUEL STANSFIELD of 7 Norwood Street Chorlton upon Medlock in the
County of Lancaster Mechanical Engineer and EDWARD JOHN HOMAN of Bowdon
in the County of Chester Solicitor do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This Invention, relates to machinery or apparatus for embossing or printing
upon tissues fabrics and similar materials any pattern or patterns of the type or
class hereinafter indicated and its object is to facilitate the motion of the embossing
or printing rollers into or out of contact with the material to be embossed or
printed without stopping the machine.
The type or class of patterns herein before referred to is that in which any
pattern or portion of a pattern or patterns or portions of patterns is or are at
intervals alternately or successively and alternately combined intermingled or
repeated upon across along or in the centre of the material.
One example of the type of this class of pattern or design is represented on the
sheet of drawings forming part of the Specification to Letters Patent granted to
Edward John Homan No 918 dated the 22nd day of January 1885.
The variety
of patterns or designs capable of being produced by the machinery or apparatus to
which these improvements relate are, as is well understood so numerous that it is
impossible to specify them and we have therefore indicated them in general terms.
These improvements consist in operating or moving the embossing or printing
rollers as and to the extent desired by means of fluid pressure exerted upon rams
or pistons working within suitable cylinders one ram or piston being connected to
each end of the axis or mandril of each embossing or printing roller.
For the purpose of this invention we apply attach or secure to the framing of
the embossing or printing machine or apparatus or to brackets or fixings attached
to or connected therewith as many rams plungers or pistons and cylinders as may
be required for the number of embossing or printing rollers to be employed, one
ram plunger or piston and cylinder being required for each end of each embossing
or printing roller-The cylinders are preferably so arranged that their axes are
C

page_text: radial to the axis of the machine bowl or bed roller and they may be arranged
within or outside a circle passing through the axes of the embossing or printing
rollers,
The ram plunger or piston within each cylinder is connected by a rod or lever
or by suitable rods or levers or their equivalent to its end of the embossing or
printing roller in such a manner that when the pressure upon the ram plunger or
piston is increased or diminished or when the pressure is exerted upon one or other
side of the piston and the piston plunger or ram is consequently moved a
corresponding motion is imparted to the embossing or printing roller.
The direction and duration of the fluid pressure and relief are governed by
means of cams, wipers, pattern-chains or equivalent apparatus actuating or con-
trolling suitable valves: These cams wipers or pattern-chains may be driven from
the gearing driving the machine bowl or be otherwise driven so as to have motion
corresponding to that of the machine bowl. They may act directly upon the valve
rod or upon a projection arm or lever attached or connected thereto. In some cases
there may be attached to the valve rod or to some arm lever or projection con-
nected therewith a tumbling lever which will keep the valve open or closed
between two contacts of the cam wiper or pattern-chain. This tumbling lever is
arranged to be put into position by one contact point or surface and to be dis-
placed by a following contact point or surface of the cam wiper chain or equivalent
apparatus.
Dated this 21st day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight

page_text: Improvements in and Applicable to Machinery or Apparatus for
Embossing or Printing upon Tissues, Fabrics, and similar
Materials.
We, SAMUEL STANSFIELD of 7, Norwood Street Chorlton upon Medlock in the
County of Lancaster and EDWARD JOHN HOMAN of Bowdon in the County of
Chester Solicitor 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 :-
This Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for embossing or printing
tissues fabrics and similar materials, and its object is to facilitate the motion of the
embossing or printing rollers into and out of contact with the material to be
embossed or printed when it is required to emboss or print patterns or designs
which are not continuous, without stopping the machine. An example of the type
of patterns or designs for the production of which these Improvements are more
particularly intended is illustrated in the sheet of drawings appended to the
Specification to Letters Patent granted to Edward John Homan No. 918 dated tho
22nd January 1885. The variety of patterns and designs and combinations of
patterns and designs capable of being produced by the machinery or apparatus to
which these Improvements are applied is, as may be well understood, so extensive
that it would be impossible to specify them precisely and we therefore indicate
them only in general terms. The patterns or designa referred to are those in
which any pattern or patterns or portions of patterns is or are at intervals, alter-
nately, or successively and alternately, combined intermingled or repeated upon
across or along or in the centre of the material; or in which the action of
embossing or printing of such patterns may be interrupted when desirable as for
example when a plain centre filling or ground pattern required.
Examples of such patterns or designs are generally produced by block printing
and include designs for papers and materials for mural decoration (in which for
example, are included a dado, border, medallion and frieze), window curtains,
handkerchiefs with borders and medallions or central ornamentation, dress goods
with different bottom and top borders and a body pattern, window blinds, shawls,
and the like.
These Improvements consist in operating or moving the embossing or printing
rollers as and to the extent desired, by means of fluid pressure exerted upon rams
plungers or pistons working within suitable cylinders, one ram plunger or piston
being connected to each end of the axis or mandrel of each of the embossing or
printing rollers which it is desired to move into or out of contact with the
material.
For the purpose of this Invention we apply attach or secure to the framing
of the embossing or printing machine or apparatus or to brackets or other fixings

page_text: •
attached to or suitably connected therewith as many cylinders with their contained
rams pistons or plunger, as may be required by the number of rollers to be actuated,
one cylinder with its ram piston or plunger being required for each end of each
roller to be actuated. The cylinders are preferably so arranged that their axes are
radial to the axis of the machine bowl or bed roller and they may be arranged
either within or outside a circle passing through the axes of the embossing or
printing rollers.
The piston ram or plunger within each cylinder is, connected by a rod or by
suitable rods or their equivalents to its end of the axis'or mandrel of the embossing
or printing roller in such a manner that when the pressure upon the piston ram or
plunger is increased or diminished or when the pressure is exerted upon one or the.
other side of the piston and the piston ram or plunger is consequently moved, a
corresponding or equivalent motion is imparted to the embossing or printing
roller. The direction and duration of the fluid pressure and relief are governed
or controlled by means of cams wipers pattern-chains or equivalent. apparatus
operating and controlling a suitable valve or valves. These cams wipers pattern-
chains or the like may be driven from or operated by the gearing driving the
machine bowl, or be otherwise driven or operated in such a manner as to have
motion relative to or corresponding with motion of the machine bowl.
.
They may act. directly upon the valve rod or upon a projecting arm or lever
attached or connected thereto. In some cases there may be attached to the valve
rod or to an arm lever or projection connected therewith, a tumbling lever which
will keep the valve open or closed between two contacts of the cam wiper or
pattern chain. This tumbling lever may be arranged to be put into position by
one contact point or surface and to be displaced by a following contact point or
surface of the cam wiper pattern-chain or equivalent apparatus.
And in order that this our Invention may be more readily understood and
carried into practical effect there is appended hereto a sheet of drawings to which
reference is hereinafter made. In the various Figures similar parts are denoted by
similar letters.
.
Fig. 1 represents partly in side elevation and partly as a diagram a portion of an
embossing or printing machine having these Improvements applied thereto.
Fig. 2 represents a view similar to that shown in Fig. 1 but with the cylinder
below instead of above the embossing or printing roller.
Fig. 3 is a diagram representing the control valve in the opposite position to
that indicated in Fig.-1.
Figs. 4 and 5 represent modifications of the apparatus employed to govern the
position of the control valve.
Figs. 6 and 7 are diagrams of the control valve as used in conjunction with
single acting cylinders.
Fig. 8 represents partly by diagram and partly in side elevation two modifi-
cations of the arrangement or combination illustrated in Fig. 2.
Fig. 9 shows an end elevation, partly in section, of an embossing or printing
machine having these Improvements applied thereto, only one embossing or
printing roller being indicated for the sake of clearness.
In Figs. 1 to 8 the control valve is indicated by diagram only. Its precise
construction and position relatively to the cylinder must be governed by local
circumstances and may be varied indefinitely; A is the machine bowl or bed
roller; B the fluid pressure cylinder; C the piston ram or plunger; D a port
connected to an bydraulic accumulator or other equivalent source of fluid pressure;
D¹, a port connected to the control valve; E, a piston rod connecting the piston to
the axis F of the embossing or printing roller; G the port in the control valve
connected to the port D¹; H, the exhaust port; K, the inlet to the valve from the
source of fluid pressure; L, a cam or wiper; M, a weighted lever connected to the
slide of the control valve; N, a weighted arm or tumbling lever pivotted on M;
and P, the slide of the control valve.

page_text: As represented in the drawings Figs. 1 and 2 the effective areas of the two sides.
of the piston C are unequal, the difference of area being equal to the sectional area,
of the piston rod.:
Hence it follows that when both sides of the piston are open at the same time
to the same or to similar sources of fluid pressure the piston will be moved in the
direction of the embossing or printing roller and the roller and the piston being
connected it follows that the roller will be forced into or out of contact with the
material according to the position of either cylinder above or below the roller. If
on the other hand the larger area of C is open to an exhaust outlet and the smaller
area is still in communication with the source or sources of fluid pressure the
piston and roller will be forced in the contrary direction. These movements may
be determined by the position of the control valve slide P as shewn in the Diagrams
Figs. 1. 3. and 4. That side of the piston C having the smaller area and the
inlet K of the control valve are always in open communication with the source or
sources of fluid pressure, and that side of the piston having the larger area is in
communication through D' and G with the interior of the control valve and with
either a source of fluid pressure or with the exhaust according to the position of
the slide P.
When the slide P is at the top of its stroke as shewn in the diagrams Figs. 1
and 4 the larger area of the piston is open through D' G and P to the exhaust H
and the fluid pressure is exerted on the smaller area of the piston C which is
consequently forced in the direction indicated by the arrows Figs. 1 and 4. When
on the contrary the slide P at the bottom of its stroke both sides of the piston C
are open to the source or sources of fluid pressure and C will be forced in the
contrary direction as indicated by the arrow Fig. 3. So long as the slide P
remains in either position, the piston C and consequently the embossing or printing
roller will be held in a corresponding position. The position of the slide Pand
therefore of the embossing or printing roller may be governed as required in any,
one of several different methods or by a combination of them. As illustrated in
the accompanying sheet of drawings the slide P is connected to a weighted lever M
so that any motion communicated to M will also be communicated to P and
therefore through the fluid pressure to the embossing or printing roller.
The lever M may be operated by a pattern chain as in Fig. 5 similar to the
pattern chains employed on fancy looms, in which case the tappets or projections
on the chain may be so arranged or proportioned as to hold up the lever M at and
for the required periods. The chain should pass over a roller or pulley immediately
below the lever M, or a projection therefrom. We prefer however to operate the
weighted lever M by means of an adjustable or folding cam or-wiper L Figs. 1. 3. 6
and 7. This cam or wiper may consist of two segments of equal circles one or both
of which are provided with concentric slots so that they may be opened or closed to
include a larger or smaller arc and be held in any position relatively to each other
by means of a bolt and nut. In Fig. 4 the cam or wiper L consists of two con-
tiguous similar and concentric parts which may be fixed upon their axis with. their
working arcs at such a distance apart as may be required. In action the first or
leading part of this cam or wiper lifts the lever M whereupon the tumbling lever N,
by the action of its counterweight O, falls into the position shown in Fig. 4 and is
there supported as indicated. The second or following part of the wiper L
subsequently comes in contact with N and displaces it when the leading part of
the cam or wiper having moved from below M, the latter falls and with it the
valve slide P with the resulting effect that the embossing or printing roller is forced
into or out of contact with the material as herein before described.
Instead of using a double acting Cylinder and piston we may use a single acting
ram or plunger as indicated in Fig. 8. In this case the arrangement of the control
valve may be different as indicated in diagrams Figs. 6 and 7. Since the source
of fluid pressure now acts in one direction only, the return or contrary motion of
the roller and ram or plunger may be obtained by the action of the spiral spring Q

page_text: the weighted lever R, or by equivalent means such as by the action of suit-
able cams.
As before indicated the slide P of the control valve may be actuated by a cam or
wiper or by an equivalent pattern chain. This method is shewn in Fig. 5 where
SS are the projections or tappets attached to a chain. The contact of S with M
lifts P during the period of contact. In every case the length of the acting arcs or
points of contact of L or S must be governed by the speed of rotation and by the
length or character of the pattern.
The cams wipers pattern-chains or their equivalent may be driven direct from
the first motion shaft of the machine or by suitable change wheels or gearing as
will be well understood.
Other forms or arrangements of control valve may be employed but we prefer
in most cases to employ the types indicated on the accompanying Drawings and
the valves may be actuated as there shown or the cams wipers pattern-chains or
the like may actuate the valve rod or a projection thereon instead of an arm
pinned to the valve rod as hereinbefore described. Generally one control valve
may be used to operate each pair of pistons and rollers but in some cases a separate
valve may be employed for each cylinder or, when the pattern or design will
permit, one control valve may be used for two or more pairs of cylinders.
The arrangements shown in Fig. 8 are applicable to existing embossing or
printing machines and any of the arrangements may be employed in combination
with printing or embossing machines of ordinary construction or with the machine
described in the specification to Letters Patent No. 918 of 1885 hereinbefore
referred to.
We are aware that it has been proposed to move printing rollers into and out of
contact by means of fluid pressure indirectly applied and controlled by valves
operated by cams having corresponding or relative angular motion with the bed
roller, but we are not aware that it has been attempted to operate embossing or
printing rollers by the direct action of fluid pressure or that the position of the
rollers in or out of contact could heretofore be maintained otherwise than by
valves actuated by cams collectively moving with and concentric to the bed roller
shaft.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what'
we claim is :-
(1.) In embossing or printing machines having the engraved rollers operated by
fluid pressure; controlling the duration of the pressure or of relief therefrom by
means of suitable valves actuated by cams tappets wipers pattern-chains or the
like, receiving their motion at equal or unequal rates from the bed roller shaft or
other convenient source; substantially as hereinbefore described.
(2.) In an embossing or printing machine having the engraved rollers operated
by fluid pressure, connecting the rod of the piston plunger or ram directly to the
mandrel or mandrel bearing of the engraved roller so as to obtain direct action.
(3.) In an embossing or printing machine, operating or moving the embossing or
printing rollers by means of fluid pressure exerted upon pistons rams or plungers
contained within suitable cylinders and directly connected to the axis or mandrel
of said rollers, substantially as hereinbefore set forth and described.
(4.) The combination adaptation and arrangement of direct double acting pistons
operated within a cylinder by fluid pressure; connecting rods; control valves, and
cams wipers pattern-chains or their equivalent, with or to the embossing or printing
rollers of embossing or printing machines; substantially as and for the purpose
herein before described with reference to the appended sheet of Drawings.
(5.) The combination adaptation and arrangement of direct single acting pistons
rams or plungers operated within a cylinder by fluid pressure; connecting rods;
control valves; cams wipers pattern-chains or their equivalent and counterweights

page_text: springs or cams, with or to the embossing or printing rollers of embossing or
printing machines; substantially as and for the purpose thereinbefore described
with reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
(6.) In or adapted to an embossing or printing machine having its rollers forced
into or out of contact with the material to be embossed or printed by means of
fluid pressure, the combination of the slide or equivalent valve P with an arm or
projection; a counterweight or spring; and a folding cam tappet or equivalent
pattern-chain, substantially as and for the purpose described and as illustrated in
Figs. 1. 3. 4. 5. 6. & 7 of the accompanying Drawings.
(7.) In or adapted to an embossing or printing machine having its embossing or
printing rollers moved into or out of contact with the material to be embossed or
printed by means of fluid pressure, the combination of the slide or equivalent
valve P, with an arm or projection; a counterweight or spring; a double acting
cam or wiper and a tumbling lever, substantially as and for the purpose described
and as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the accompanying sheet of Drawings.
WILLIAM E. HEYS,
Agent for Applicants,
70, Market Street, Manchester.