CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR LETTER PRESS PRINTING
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
WILLIAM BODMER, of Paris, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the thirteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick William Bodmer, my exors, admiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Frederick William Bodmer, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Frederick William Bodmer, my exors, adiiors, or assigus, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR LETTER PRESS PRINTING;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Frederick William Bodmer, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the snid
Frederick William Bodmer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the present Specification, reference being
had to the Drawings bereunto annexed (that is to say):—
By my said Invention of Improvements in Machinery for Letter Press
Printing, I can damp, print, and partially dry two continuous lengths or rolls
of paper on both sides during their passage through my printing press without
the aid of any tapes or other stays to keep them in their places. Each row
of paper is independent of the other, and is entered and removed at opposite
sides of the machinery.
The nature of my said Invention, and the nanner in which the same is
to be carried into effect, will be understood from a description of the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
The parts marked A, A, A, Figure 1, are the framework of the machinery
or apparatus; B is the driving wheel or prime mover of the several parts of
the press. This wheel B drives C and O by teeth, and the fans or driers
(coloured pink) by the bands a, a, a. p is a roll of paper round a drum or
roller, and passing through the machinery, as shewn by the letters p, p, p,
over or in contact with the rollers marked 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; and p¹ is a similar
roll of paper passing through the machinery from its opposite side, as shewn
by the letters p, p, p, over or in contact with the rollers marked 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
and 11. The pressure of the roller 2 stretches the paper p, and that of the
roller 8 the paper p'; roller 4 is driven by a band from P, and roller 11 by a
band from F; C drives D and F by teeth; F drives G and G, H, by teeth; G
drives K by teeth; K drives L by chain or band; L drives M by teeth. On
the other side of the machinery O drives P by teeth, and P drives Q, R, and T
by teeth; T drives W by teeth, and W drives X by chain or band; X drives
Y by teeth; is a screw to raise or lower the wheel B; M and L on
the one side of the machinery, and X and Y on the other, are cylinders
covered with cloth to receive and retain sufficient moisture from N and Z
respectively, which revolve in baths of water for this purpose; L drives N,
and Y drives Z by friction. The cylinders G, C, and P, coloured brown, are
cylinders holding the type, and cylinders F, O, and Q, coloured yellow, pressure

page_text: rollers holding the paper against the type. The cylinders II, h, are the
inking and distributing rollers belonging to the ink reservoir I. The cylinder
h is driven round by contact with H. In like manner D, d, and E constitute
the inking apparatus for the type cylinder C and R, r; and S and T, t, and
U the inking apparatus for the type cylinder P; the small rollers h, d, r, and
t have a motion from end to end by cams at the extremities of their axes so
as to distribute the ink on the inking rollers H, D, R, and T. The type
cylinders G, C, and P may be removed from the press by throwing or drawing
back the brackets or arms marked f, g, and k and m respectively, and which
are fastened to the frame of the machine when at work by nuts or screws.
The type is attached to the type cylinders by a series or number of collets or
flat rings having a groove or channel on each side with a corresponding groove
or notch in the tail of each letter of the type, as shewn in Figures 2, 3,
and 4, where c, c, c, are the collets, and b, b, b, the notches in the type. The
letters of the type are connected with these collets and with each other by
fillets which fall or fit into the notches b, b, b, and into the grooves in the
collets c, c, c.
The type cylinder G is provided with a brush (marked 12)
formed by placing hairs or bristles round a cylinder. This brush is suspended
in a frame from the framework of the printing press, and is to be brought in
contact with the type by hand as often as may be considered needful to keep
the types free; 13, 14, and 15 shew similar brushes for the type cylinders C
and P. It has been already seen that the roll of paper p is passed between
M and L, and is damped ready for the printing cylinder G. When printed
on the one side, it is passed over the roller 1 to be printed on the other by the
type cylinder P, and in its course the impression is set by the upper fan,
coloured pink. After passing P the last impression is set by the fan at the
right hand of the machinery. The paper p is then delivered by the rollers
3 and 4, and being cut into equal portions by cutters or shears worked by
the machinery, the journal or printed paper is ready for use.
In the same
manner the roll of paper p' is passed between X and Y, and is damped
ready to be printed on the one side by the cylinder P. It is then passed over
rollers 6 and 7 to be printed on the other side by the cylinder C, and in its
course the impression is set by the upper fan. When printed on both sides,
the last impression is set by the fan to the left hand of the machinery. The
paper p' is then delivered and cut in the same manner as the paper p.
I do not intend my improvements to be applied to printing generally so
much as to printing daily journals or newspapers, because in that class of
printing the length of paper between the cylinders G and P and P and C

page_text: may, by the position of the rollers 1 and 2 and 6 and 7 respectively, be easily
arranged so as to insure a perfect register on both sides of the printed
paper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick William Bodmer, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
F. W. (L.S.) BODMER.
Enrolled the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.