IMPROVEMENTS Y DAD PRINTING."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac "Taylor, of Stanford Rivers, in the
County of Essex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
Y DAD PRINTING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Taylor at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
..on the 15th July 1858.
I, ISAAC TAYLOR, of Stanford Rivers, in the County of Essex, Gentle-
man, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRINTING" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in employing two cylinders parallel the one to
the other, their axes being on the same horizontal plane, and at such a
distance apart as shall be less than the diameter of a third cylinder
which is deposited between them, and which by its weight produces a
nip, greater or less in proportion as it is less or more raised above the
horizontal line which passes through the axes of the other two cylin-
ders. The three cylinders being thus arranged, rotatory motion is
communicated to them, either by being applied to the axis of one of
the two sustaining cylinders or to both of them.

page_text: The usual appliances of blanketting or other clastic materials are
employed in the working of this machine, so far as may be found best
adapted to the nature of the work to be performed by it.
It will be evident, that although it may usually be found most con-
venient to use the upper cylinder as the engraved roller, the two below
acting as bolls, either or both of these may be made the engraved roller
or rollers, while the middle one serves as the boll.
When two, three, or more colours are-to-be printed at the same time
on a fabric or material, a set of rollers for each colour is placed over or
on one side of the first
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Taylor in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 18th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ISAAC TAYLOR, of Stanford Rivers, in the County of Essex, Gentleman;
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Isaac Taylor, Her special licence
that I, the said. Isaac Taylor, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Isaac Taylor, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
.should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great. Britain and Ireland, the Cliannel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
.FOR PRINTING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Isaac Taylor, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Isaac Taylor, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say): "
The machinery which I claim as my Invention, and which is now to
be described, is adapted like that for which I obtained a Patent, dated
March Twenty-first, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, to
facilitate the use of thin shell rollers, which do not require adjustments
for fixing tliem immoveably upon the mandril while printing, but which
may be passed on to a cylindrical mandril at an easy fit. At the same
time this machinery, like that above referred to, is also adapted to the
thick shell rollers at present generally employed in calico printing and
in other analogous processes. This machinery is, moreover, especially
adapted to exclude those many mischances and inconveniences which in
the working of the machines now generally in use result from the
springing of the roller while revolving in the machine, and also to
remove those sources of faulty printing which attach to machines
wherein several rollers requiring different degrees of pressure are
brought to bear upon the same boll, and are made to compress the
same thickness of elastic material, whether it be lapping, blanketting,
or any other kind of yielding substance.
These various sources of faulty printing attaching to the machines
now generally in use I have already particularly adverted to in the
Specification of my former Patent above mentioned, and I now there-
fore procced to describe that for which the present Patent has been
obtained. Described in its simplest form, and as adapted to printing
from one engraved roller only, or, as it is called; a single color machine,
my Invention consists in employing two cylinders parallel the one to
the other, the axes of the two being on the same plane, and which are
placed at such a distance the one from the other as shall be less than
the diameter of a third cylinder which is deposited between them, and
which by its weight produces a nip, which nip will be greater or less in
proportion as this roller is less or more raised above a horizontal plane

page_text: "passing through the axes of the other two cylinders, or of one of
them.
The three cylinders being thus arranged, rotatory motion is commu-
nicated to them, either by being applied to the axis of one of the two
sustaining cylinders or to both of them.
The usual appliances of blanketting or other elastic material are
-employed in working this machine as may be found best adapted to the
nature of the work to be performed by it.
It will be evident, that although it may be found most convenient
to use the upper cylinder as the engraved roller while the two below
act as bolls, yet either or both of these may be made the engraved
.roller or rollers, while the middle one serves as the boll, and as the
means of effecting the required nip.
The Drawing, Figure 1, represents the printing machine in its
simplest construction, and as adapted to the printing of a single.roller.
It is a sectional elevation through the operating parts of the machine.
A, A, is a stable foundation or framing on which the machine. is
planted, and to which it is firmly bolted as at e, e, e, e.
pedestals, giving support to the
spindles of which appear at d, d.
by caps and screws in the usual mode.
B', B³, are
two cylinders or bolls C, and C, the
These are fitted in steps, and secured
Of the two bolls, that one the pedestal of which is marked B²; is
fixed in its position upon the table A, A. The boll, on the other hand,
the pedestal of which is marked B', is capable of an adjustment by slot
f, and screw h, with winch, so as to regulate its distance from the boll
which is its antagonist, and thus the relative height at which the en-
graved roller G, shall come to a bearing when deposited freely between the
two bolls is determined, which relative position determines also the nip
which this roller receives when revolving between then; that is to say,
allowance being made for the absolute weight of the roller thus resting
upon the two bolls. H. and I, represent respectively the color box and
the doctor, at least as to their position in relation to the engraved roller
(supposing the direction of motion to be as indicated by the arrows).
The color box is shewn to pivot or rest upon points (p.) so as to give
its edge a bearing against the face of the doctor, so as to receive the

page_text: color, and 'to allow the doctor to traverse about three quarters; of an
inch in the usual mode. K, is the lint doctor. The fixing or slider L
is an adjustment for giving pressure to the doctor as it bears upon the
engraved roller. If the contrary direction were taken, then the supply:
of color and the cleaning doctor must of course be placed on the upper
side of the roller, inclined on the left hand; K, would then be the
cleaning doctor, and this is a mode of working the machine whicli
might in some cases be found the most convenient. Or if the machine
were so adjusted as to print on both sides the roller, that is to say, two
pieces at the same time, then a color box and doctor must be applied
both above and below, so as to fill in the engraving, and to clean it
twice in the course of each revolution.
In this case the supply of color is effected in the manner now prac-
tised in eight or ten color machines in regard to the colors that take
the upper place around the boll.
The two bolls C, C, receive motion from the engine by means of the
wheel and pinions shown partly in the Drawing in dotted lines.
The Drawing, Figure 2, is a sectional elevation through the.
operating parts of a three color machine, in which the same me-
chanical means are employed as in the single color above described,
with such difference only as are required in the nature of the case.
A, A, is a cheek or frame of such thickness as to give steady support
to the working parts of the machine while it is at the highest speed
for which it is adapted. This cheek is an arched pedestal cast in
one piece or in two, as may be thought best. By its feet or flanges
it is firmly bolted down to the table B, B, which is of such dimeu-
sions as to receive the two checks conveniently, and it is itself placed
at such elevation as to bring the topmost roller within convenient
reach of the printer. c, c, c, c, c, c, are six bolls of equal dimensions
and which must be perfectly true, as well circumferentially as lon-
gitudinally, and also true upon their spindles. The spindles of these
bolls d, d, d, d, work in steps attached to the sides or cheeks A, A.
The three bolls, on one hand, occupy a fixed position in the cheek,
but, on the other hand, the spindles work in sliders e, e, e, shown in dotted
lines, which are recessed within the cheek, so as to admit of an adjust-

page_text: ment by the screws fff, which determines the distance of each boll
from its opposite, and thus determines the relative position of the
engraved roller which is deposited between them. These sliders are
secured in their place by bolts (l), as shown in dotted lines, as soon as
their due position has been ascertained. The same letters as in the
first Figure indicate in this Figure the positions of the color boxes and
doctors, and the Drawing shows the same adjustment for giving the
color box its bearing upon the doctor.
Motion is conveyed to the system of cylinders as thus combined by
cogged gearing attached to the spindles of the bolls on one side or both,
as.may be found to be best, with intermediate wheels or pinions, as
shown partly in dotted lines, so as to maintain the uniform action of
the bolls one with another, the perfect agreement of which as to
velocity being indispensable to the correctness of the work performed
by the machine.
Each boll is furnished with its own elastic material, whether it be
lapping or blanketting; by which means an exact adjustment as to the
nip required by cach roller may be effected; that is to say, if one
engraving requires a much more severe pressure to bring it out than
another, so as to compress the clastic material, and in so doing to
diminish the working diameter of the holl, then this difference, which
if not compensated affects its circumferential velocity, must be made
up by a corresponding addition to the lapping or blanket.
Each of the opposed bolls is also furnished with a blanket or other
fabric adapted to its action upon the engraved roller which it sustains,
which is partly represented by the lines m.
The engraved rollers G, G, G, are loaded in their interiors, more or
less heavily, as niay in each case be found requisite for increasing the nip.
The piece, takes its course through the machine in the direction
indicated by the arrows. The small cylinders k, k, which are adjustable
as to their horizontal position, by working in sliders n, with screws, as
shewn in the Drawing, are brought to bear against the back of the
piece in its passage from one roller to the next above it, and thus afford
the means of bringing the several engravings to an exact fit when the
machine is started, or even during its action. In effecting this adjust-

page_text: ment the roller upon which a shifting of the piece is found to be
nceded as related to the rollers next to it, above or below, is for the
movement lifted from its bearing, just so far as is necessary for setting
the piece at liberty, and thus far effecting the requisite adjustment.
.In working the machine, two means are available for the purpose of
giving to each roller the precise degree of pressure which is most
advantageous for it in respect of the quality of the engraving.
The first of these means is the one just above mentioned, namely, an
increase or diminution of the weight with which the interior of the
roller is laden. The second means is the raising or lowering the roller
in its position between the two bolls which sustain it. A. combination
of these two means will, in most cases, best answer the purpose
intended.
It must always be understood, as has been already stated, that when
a very severe nip is applied to one roller in a set, such as must in some
appreciable degree diminish the diameter of the boll by compressing the
elastic material which covers it, and thus affect the circumferential
velocity of its surface and derange the unison of the system, then and
in every such case so much more of this material is to be introduced
as shall be equivalent to the difference of compression, and thus secure
an equality of speed among the rollers.
Whatever may be the principle or the structure of a machine adapted
for printing from several rollers simultaneously, it is certain that if these
cylindrical bodies are to any extent out of relation among themselves,
so as to imply a difference in their velocitics, even to the smallest
extent, then no force that can be applied to one or to all of them, with
the view of controlling and correcting these rates of speed, and of com-
pelling them to maintain an uniformity, will actually suffice for this
purpose so as to exclude the natural consequence, naniely, frequent
misfits, and a constant tendency toward some derangement of the
pattern.
In the machine now described it is therefore assumed as an in-
dispensable condition of perfect printing in several colors that the
machine itself, as well as to the bolls as to the engraved rollers, and as
to its gearing, shall be true within itself, and wholly exempt from mis-

page_text: adjustments from irregularities of surface, and from those faults of
construction-which show their existenco in cycles of misfitting on the
piece.
:
A machine that is true to itself will produce good work, but if
not true no mechanical violence will be availing to remedy its defects.
In disposing of the parts of a machine constructed on the principle
of the one above described, and which is adapted to the printing of
more than three colors simultaneously, say as many as eight or ten, an
oblique position of the series of bolls, instead of a vertical position, might
have an advantage; yet I am of opinion that, all things considered, the
vertical arrangement, as shewn in the Drawing, Figure 2, will be
preferable as being the most simple, and inasmuch as the entire
height of the working part of the machine for three colors, reckoning
from the table to the summit of the uppermost roller, need not exceed
five feet, and in the arrangement of a machine for more colors bolls of
a less diameter may be introduced without damage, and the space
between them may be less, so as to preclude inconvenience to the
printer.
Although the-machine- above described is especially adapted to the
printing upon woven fabrics, such as calicocs, de laines, and muslins, yet
by means of some small adjustments in the accessory parts it is easily
made available for printing upon paper, subject to this condition, namely,
that the coloring material or ink shall be of such a nature and consis
tency as may readily be removable from the surface by a scraping
edge or doctor.
The machine is, moreover, adapted to the printing from raised
surfaces or type, with oleaginous inks, inasmuch as in this case the ink
is not wiped or cleaned off from the surface.
For the purpose of printing upon paper from indented or engraved
surfaces, and with ink or pigments soluble in water, the paper is to be
furnished in lengths of any required extent, and of such width as suits
the nature of the work. Duc attention being given to the thickness
and quality of the blanketting, the same machine that prints woven
fabrics will also with great advantage print lengths of paper.
When the machine as above described is to be adapted to printing

page_text: from raised surfaces, such as letter press type or engravings in relief
after the manner of woodcuts, and which require an oleaginous ink
or coloring matter, then the requisite adjustments of the machine are
such as the following, and they relate chiefly to the apparatus for
supplying and distributing the ink or color.
On inspection of the Drawings, either Figure I., or II., it will be seen
that if in place of the color box and doctor, as there shewn, an elastic
distributing roller were introduced, which receives its supply of ink
from a series of rollers, such as are employed in machine printing or
in the lithographic process, and if due care be given to adapt the
blanketting to the work, then a machine like that which has been
described for printing woven fabrics from engraved rollers with color
soluble in water will print paper from rollers executed in relief, and
with ink or pigments prepared with oils. In such cases, moreover,
regard must be had to the pressure or nip proper to this kind of work,
which generally is less in printing from surfaces in relief than is
required for bringing out work indented, engraved, or etched upon a
surface.
What I claim as my Invention is, the employing three cylinders, or
any combination of sets of three cylinders, the axes of which are always
parallel, one of the three being freely deposited between the other two,
from one or both of which it receives rotatory motion by contact and
pressure, the nip which it undergoes being greater in proportion as
its position between them is lower in relation to the horizontal diameter
of the sustaining cylinders.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Taylor, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twelfth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
ISAAC TAYLOR. (L.S.)