IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATE PRINTING PRESSES
Year: 1878

page_text: -LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Varicas, of No. 24, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATE
PRINTING PRESSES." A communication from abroad by Walter Stone Appleton,
of the City of New York, in the County of New York, in the State of New
York, one of the United States of America, Gentleman.
aled the 20th May 1879, and dated the 10th December 1878.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Lionel Varicas at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th December 1878.
LIONEL VARICAS, of No. 24, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATE-PRINTING PRESSES." A communication from abroad
by Walter Stone Appleton, of the City of New York, in the County of New York,
in the State of New York, one of the United States of America, Gentleman.
This Invention relates to plate-printing presses, in which the cleaning or wiping
and the polishing of the engraved plate previous to each impression are effected by
automatic means. In the practical operation of. plate-printing presses of this
character great difficulty has been experienced in effecting the wiping of the
engraved plate with that thoroughness and nicety indispensable to the production of
good, clean, and sharp impressions. It is owing to this difficulty mainly that plate-
printing is still very very largely practised with hand presses where the wiping is
done by hand. Among the best automatic wipers known anterior to my Invention
may be mentioned the travelling endless belt and the revolving drum. The
travelling endless belt was arranged around small rollers, one of which was located
as to cause the belt to wipe the slate in passing; and the belt was driven from one
of the other rollers. The revolving drum had an elastic or somewhat yielding

page_text: backing under a surface covering of leather. In the practical application of these
two styles of wipers it was ascertained that both were defective, and could not be
relied upon at all for steady work.
After patient daily experiments for many months with a full sized plate-printing
press, at this day in full practical operation I finally devised a wiper which has proved
a perfect success, and which is now doing steady work, day in day out. This im-
proved wiper constitutes the principal feature of my Invention. It consists of an
endless cloth or woven belt combined with a positively driven drum, around which
the belt is lapped far enough by guide rollers to give the drum the required tractive
power upon the belt for running it with precision and uniformity. The drum has
a somewhat elastic or yielding surface, and brings the endless belt in contact with
the engraved plate to wipe off the surplus ink.
In the annexed Drawings Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section of a
reciprocating plate-printing press provided with my improved wiper.
Figures 2 and 3 illustrate improved modes of removing the surplus ink from the
wiper belt.
The same letters of reference are used in all the Figures in the designation of
identical parts.
The engraved plate is secured upon the reciprocating bed A, by which it is moved
alternately under the inking apparatus B to be inked, and under the impression
cylinder C to make impressions. On its return from the inking apparatus the
engraved plate is wiped to remove the surplus ink by the wiper belt D running in
a contrary direction. The wiper belt is driven by the large drum E, which is
located directly over the path of the engraved plate, and sustains the belt at the
point where it wipes said plate. The wiper belt is made of cloth or other woven
fabric suitable for this purpose, and encircles a large portion of the surface of drum E,
so that the latter has great tractive power on the belt. In connection with drum E
a series of guide rollers F are used to sustain and direct the wiper belt. The drum E
is constructed with a surface of yielding material G, so as to make it somewhat
elastic in order that the wiper belt may wipe with an elastic touch. A knife H
scrapes the surplus ink from the wiper belt directly, as shewn in Figure 1, where
it bears on the belt between two adjacent rollers. To operate properly the knife
To obviate this
must bear quite hard on the belt, which causes considerable wear.
wearing of the wiper belt the surplus ink may be rubbed from it by an oppositely
running cloth covered roller I, or by a short endless belt M (as shown respectively
in Figures 2 and 3), from which the ink is then in turn scraped by the knife H.
The advantage of either of the two last mentioned arrangements is that the com-
paratively expensive wiper belts can be used for a much longer time, which more
than compensates the expense of the rubber I or K, which may be made of cheap
material. The knife-H has a dull edge of course.
In some cases I propose to give an endwise reciprocating motion to the rubber I
in order to provide for a more uniform condition of the wiper belt as regards its
saturation.
The cleaning of the engraved plate is completed by the polisher L, constructed as
shewn, and operating in connection with the usual endless polisher belt M impreg-
nated with whiting as usual.
As the general construction and mode of operation of plate-printing presses of
the character illustrated in the Drawing hereto annexed is well known to persons
skilled in the art it is deemed unnecessary to enter upon a description of the
same. My Invention may be applied to other styles of plate-printing presses now
known.
What I claim as my Invention is as follows:-
1st. A wiper for a plate-printing press composed, substantially as before set
fortb, of an endless wiper belt and a revolving elastically surfaced drum, which
drives the belt and brings it in contact with the plate.
2nd. The combination; substantially as before set forth, of the driving drum, the

page_text: endless wiper belt, a rubber for removing the surplus ink from said belt, and a
knife for scraping the rubber.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Varicas, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth (10th) day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy eight.
LIONEL VARICAS. (L.S.)