IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER-PRESS PRINTING MACHINERY
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER-PRESS PRINTING
MACHINERY." -A communication from abroad by Richard March
Hoe, of the Oity and State of New York, United States of
America.
Sealed the 25th March 1875, and dated the 7th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th October 1874.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER-PRESS
PRINTING MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention of improvements in letter-press
printing machinery, relates to machinery for printing from cylindrical ~
surfaces on a continuous web of paper, and consists in a novel com-

page_text: bination and arrangement of the feeding, printing, collecting, and
delivering mechanism.
The principal objects attained by this improved arrangement and
combination of parts are efficient working at high speeds also as much
compactness in the several parts of such mechanism as is consistent with {
convenience of access for inspection or repair. To this end the several
parts of this mechanism are arranged in the following manner:-Two
type or stereotype cylinders of equal diameters provided with the usual
inking apparatus (consisting of distributing and inking rollers), are
mounted in adjustable bearings in suitable side frames in a horizontal:
line, each inking apparatus extending outwards from the machine.
Between these type cylinders and similarly mounted on the same
horizontal line is an impression cylinder applied to the periphery of the
first type cylinder. A second impression cylinder of three, four, or more
times the diameter of the type cylinders is mounted below the second
type cylinder. This large impression or "set off" cylinder may be con-
structed and provided according to the method described in a Patent
granted to me July 12th, 1871, No. 1825, or in any well known manner.
Above this large impression cylinder and so placed as to be immediately
above the first pair of type and impression cylinders (or nearly so), and
in close proximity thereto are suitable bearings in which is mounted the
continuous web or roll of paper, so that the web may be led down to
and between the first printing cylinders without the intervention of a
guide or conducting roller. By this arrangement the liability of the
web of paper travelling diagonally or transversely in puckers or creases,
when passing into the machine at high speed is avoided, and there
is but littlo liability of producing imperfect impressions owing to the
irregularity of the feed.
The web of paper having been printed on both sides (by passing
between the two pairs of type and impression cylinders) is to be cut up
into lengths. For this purpose a pair of cutting cylinders of any
ordinary construction are mounted as close as possible to the large
impression cylinder, and at the opposite side of the cutting cylinders are
mounted a pair of tape rollers to take up and convey the cut or partially
cut web of paper to and around another tape roller mounted immediately
above, and close to the periphery of the collecting cylinder. This collecting
cylinder and its accessories may be constructed in the improved manner
herein-after described in the description of the second part of the

page_text: present Invention. The collecting cylinder will receive the set of five or
more separate sheets, and on completion of the collection they will by the
action of switches be thrown down in front of a fly frame against which
they are to be supported by a blast of air that issues from a conveniently
situated blast pipe. By this arrangement of parts no marginal tapes will
be required to hold up the paper, and the fly frame may be constructed
lighter than has hitherto been usual.
The second part of the Invention relates to a novel construction of
the fixed guides or deflectors and switches, employed in connection with
the collecting cylinder to direct or guide the successive sheets of paper
on to the collecting cylinder and to remove the collected sheets from the
cylinder, and guide them to the tapes which carry them down in front
of the fly frame, whereby they will be deposited in parcels of 5 or 6,
as the case may be, on a table provided for the purpose. The diameter
of this collecting cylinder which is caused to revolve turn for turn
with the setting cylinders is about 1½ inches greater than the
cutting cylinders, so as to cause the tapes carrying the partially cut web
to travel somewhat faster than the paper. This increased speed will
separate the partially severed web when it is caught by the nip of
the grooved rollers, and is passing around the curve of the said rollers on
its way to the fixed deflectors or guides which guide the separated
sheets on to the cylinder.
In order to prevent the sagging or buckling to which the sheets of
paper are liable when piled in numbers on the cylinder, fixed guides or
deflectors and switches are mounted above the upper portion of the
periphery of the collecting cylinder, and in order that no obstruction to
the rotation of the sheets may be presented, the fixed guides and
switches which are mounted back to back are provided at their heels
with tongue and groove projections which interlock, and the sheets are
thus kept up to the periphery of the collecting cylinder throughout their
whole rotation. The mechanism may therefore with safety be run at
such high speeds as would be found practically impossible in printing
machinery of the ordinary kind.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Newton,
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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER-PRESS PRINTING MACHINERY,” being a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Richard March Hoe, of the City and State
of New York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, 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 calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
'NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
This Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for Letter-press

page_text: pression is made from a cylindrical surface on a long continuous web or
length of paper, which is afterwards cut up or divided into separate sheets.
This improved machine is composed of two type or stereotype
cylinders and one impression cylinder, which are mounted on a hori-
zontal line and having the requisite inking apparatus (for inking the
stereotype surfaces) extending outwards from the two type cylinders at
both sides of the machine. A second and larger impression cylinder is
mounted below the second type cylinder. This large cylinder is called
the blanket cylinder or "set off" cylinder, because when the wet ink of
one impression "sets off" on the blanket, the latter can be moved
forward on the face of the cylinder so as to shift its position. At the
side of this large cylinder is a pair of cutting rollers for severing the
web of paper in separate sheets after it has been printed.
A novel means for assembling a number of these separate sheets
together upon a collecting cylinder, and throwing the set of collected
sheets down by means of a fly apparatus is also adapted to the
machine.
This improved continuous web printing machine is shewn in the
accompanying Drawings in sectional elevation at Sheet I., and in end
elevation at Sheet II.
The two cylinders A, A², are the printing cylinders to which curved
stereotype plates are secured in the well-known manner.
These printing
cylinders are mounted in adjustable bearings in the side frames B, and
are arranged in a horizontal line with the inking apparatus C, C³, for
inking the stereotype surfaces of the two printing cylinders A, A².
The inking apparatus extends outwards from the printing cylinders at
both sides of the machine. This inking apparatus consists of an ink roller
and fountain a, ink distributing roller a¹, and the ordinary composition
and form rollers a³, and a³. The inking apparatus is to be provided with
the requisite mechanism for giving vibrating motion to the inking and
distributing rollers as is well understood. The first and smaller
impression cylinder D constructed in the ordinary manner is of the
same diameter as the stereotype printing cylinders A, A', and is mounted
on the same horizontal line. The second impression blanket or “set
off" cylinder D¹ which is of three or more times the diameter of the
printing cylinders A, A', is mounted below the horizontal line on which
the other cylinders are mounted. The periphery of this cylinder which

page_text: touches the printing surface of the cylinder A¹ is divided at d by a slot
extending the whole width of the cylinder, and immediately below is a
recess formed to receive the rollers d¹ and ďª; the roller d has wound
thereon a given length of blanket which is led up through the slot in
the periphery of the cylinder, and passing around its outer circumference
enters again the slot d, and is attached to the roller d³. Outside the end
of this cylinder a ratchet wheel and pawl is arranged in connection with
the axles of these rollers a, a, so that when a number of impressions
have been taken from the type cylinder, and the "set off" of the ink on
the blanket renders it desirable to move the blanket, the machine is
stopped and a key is put on the squared end of the axle of the empty
roller d², and the blanket is wound thereon, the pawl of the roller d
being first lifted to loosen or free the roller. The endless web of paper
E which has been previously damped is wound on a spool or pin, and is
mounted in bearings on standards supported on the side frames of the :
machine, immediately above the larger impression cylinder and close
adjacent to the first pair of printing cylinders.
The web of paper is led directly between the first pair of printing
cylinders A and D to receive its first impression without the intervention
of any guide or roller. By this arrangement of parts all tendency of the
web to travel sideways in puckers or creases as it enters the machine is
avoided. Moreover as the paper is not subjected to friction no dust or
fibres will be detached therefrom as has been the case heretofore, and
which fibres by falling on the printing surface of the cylinders A will
produce bad work. The web of paper after receiving its first impression:
passes over the large impression cylinder D¹, and between it and the
second type cylinder A¹, receiving thereby a second impression on its
opposite side. It is then carried down to and passed between a pair of
cutting rollers G, G', which consist of a male and female roller, the male
carrying the projecting knife g, and the female being provided with
pieces of wood 9', which are let into the periphery of the cylinder to
receive the cutting edge of the knife. The web as it passes between
these cylinders is nearly severed, the small unsevered portions serving to
carry the partially severed web between the two series of endless tapes
that conduct it to the grooved collecting cylinder I. This cylinder is
caused to revolve exactly the same number of revolutions as the cutting
cylinders G, G¹, by means of suitable bevil gear. The diameter of the
cylinder I is about one and a half inches greater than the cutting

page_text: cylinders, which will cause the tapes H, H³, to travel somewhat faster
than the paper, and as the front edge of the partially cut web of paper
arrives at the tape roller J, it is caught by the nip of the tapes H and H¹
round the curve of the roller, and is carried forward at an increased
› speed, and a sheet is torn loose from the web. At this time the front
edge of a second partially severed portion of the web or sheet has entered
a sufficient distance between the tapes H, H³, for them to support and
carry it forward. In the meantime the first sheet is carried past the
tape guide roller K to the grooved collecting cylinder I, the upper set of
tapes H' return under the roller K, over the roller L, and under the
roller M, and are conducted by guide rollers to the receiving roller N:
The sheet is thus conducted to the fixed guides O, and by them is
deflected on to the collecting cylinder I and will be carried round with it,
being held to the periphery of the cylinder I and supported by the lower
tapes H, which after passing round the circumference of the cylinder are
led over the tape roller L, and down in front and between the bars of
the fly frame, returning by the tape rollers P and Q to the receiving
roller R. The sheet having made one revolution on the collecting
cylinder I, will meet and receive the front edge of the second sheet
which is deposited directly on the top of the first. The collecting
cylinder I will continue to receive in like manner a third and a fourth
sheet until the sixth sheet is deposited on it. As the collecting cylinder
is in diameter one and a half to two inches larger than the cutting
cylinders, its circumference is from five to six inches greater than the
length of the sheets that are on it, and this space of five inches is
sufficient to allow the points of the deflectors or switches S to be moved
into the grooves of the cylinder I behind the six sheets, and by this
means to lift them from the cylinder, and guide them down in front of
the tapes H, and the bars of the fly frame T, which latter will at that
time be in a position to receive them.
The fixed deflectors O and switches S, of which there are twelve or
more in the width of the machine (see Figure 2, Sheet II.), are mounted
back to back at the upper portion of the cylinder I, which is provided
with grooves to correspond. The back of these guides and switches are
provided with tongued and grooved extensions (see under side plan views,
Figures 4), which interlock so that no opening between them is exposed,
even when the switches S are in motion as will be readily seen by the
detached view, Fig. 3, on Sheet III. The switches S are operated by a

page_text: grooved cam U formed on the inner side of a spur wheel keyed on the
shaft V. This wheel will be driven by suitable gear from the main
shaft of the machine. The collecting cylinder I having received six
sheets, the cam U will move the points of the switches in behind these
six sheets, and will thus lift and guide them off to the sheet flyer T, as
before described. The switches S return to their original position in
time to guide the next sheet on around the cylinder. The set of six
sheets which are carried down in front of the tapes H, are held up
thereto and prevented from separating or opening out at the bottom by
a blast of air which issues from the pipes W, by which arrangement no
marginal tapes are required, and the fly frame may be of lighter con-
struction than heretofore. The bars of the fly frames T are attached by
bolts or rivets at their lower ends to a broad plate of iron X, which is
attached to the pivot x, the cam V* (see Fig. 2, Sheet II.), which
operates the fly frame. T is connected to the same by the levers V', V²,
and connecting rods V³, V², in the usual manner.
It will be understood that the number of sheets received on the
collecting cylinder I at one time may be increased or diminished by
simply increasing or diminishing the proportions of the driving gear,
which operates the switches of the collecting cylinder. It will be
evident that if desired a machine constructed on the above described
principle may be arranged to print two webs of paper simultaneously by
duplicating several of the working parts around the large impression
cylinder, and causing the two webs of paper to travel in opposite
directions.
Having now described the Invention of "Impovements in Letterpress
Printing Machinery," which has been communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent as aforesaid, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The general arrangement of the several working cylinders as
herein set forth, whereby the whole machine is rendered more compact
than heretofore, and at the same time the several working parts are
easy of access.
Second. I claim adapting to the collecting cylinder I the interlocking

page_text: on to the cylinder and removing them therefrom in sets or batches of any
convenient number, as herein set forth.
Third. I claim the use of a blast of air for supporting the set or batch
of collected sheets against the vertical tapes, without the use of marginal
tapes as heretofore, and thereby preventing them from separating or
opening out at the bottom, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.