IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR PRINTING FROM LETTERPRESS FORMS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Watson, of No. 10, Old Bailey, in the City of
London, Printer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
MACHINES, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR PRINTING FROM
LETTERPRESS FORMS."
Sealed the 19th December 1862, and dated the 27th June 1862. :
5
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Watson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
June 1862.
IN
I, JOHN WATSON, of No. 10, Old Bailey, in the City of London, Printer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
PRINTING MACHINES, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR PRINTING FROM
LETTER-PRESS FORMS," to be as follows:-
To print sheets of paper from letter-press forms, stereotype blocks; and
wood engravings, by feeding in the sheets to be printed from either side of a
cylinder alternately revolving backwards and forwards instead of from one
side only, by which means an impression is given, and a fresh sheet printed
from the same form each time it passes underneath the cylinder, whether
going or returning. The machine is equally adapted for hand and steam
power.
A shaft turned by any suitable power imparts motion through toothed
wheels or pullies fixed thereon to endless chains or straps passing over and
round other toothed wheels or pullies: fixed: inside the frames below; the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: cylinder and type table. The said chains or straps are attached to the under
side of the table by means of a sliding bar or pin, to which they are fastened,
and which moves up and down in a slot at each end of the last-named toothed
wheels or pullies. The slot or frame in which the pin slides is bolted to the
under side of the table, and moves backwards and forwards in front of and
between the toothed wheels or pullies, imparting to the table a backward and
forward motion to any extent required.
A rack is fixed on the top of the table, which gears into a toothed wheel
fixed on the end of the cylinder in the usual manner. The teeth of the said
wheel being all complete, the cylinder is never at rest when the rack is in
motion, but revolves both ways along with it. No part of the movements
already described are out of gear when at work.
The forms are inked in the usual manner, but the inking rollers and appa-
ratus are disposed on both sides of the cylinder instead of on one side only,
The sheets fed in from one side of the cylinder are delivered at the opposite
side by means of two sets of small rollers and guides carrying tapes for the
purpose. The same object may be accomplished by means of grippers only.
The cylinder tape rollers and guides are hung in a sliding frame, which can
be moved up and down instantly by turning the handle of. a horizontal bar.
placed over them, the bar having an eccentric or crank motion at each end
working within the frame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Watson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WATSON, of No. 10, Old Bailey, in the City of London, Printer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Watson, Her special licence, that I, the said John Watson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Watson, 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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING MACHINES, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR PRINTING FROM
LETTER-PRESS FORMS," upon the condition (amongst others). that I, the said
John Watson, 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 John Watson, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly. described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery and apparatus
for printing from letter-press forms, stereotyped blocks, wood engravings, and
the like, and consists in the general design of the mechanism and arrangement
of the parts of the apparatus, by which the following advantages are obtained,
that is to say,-
First, printing from both sides of the cylinder taking one impression from
the letter forms, blocks, &c., as they pass under the said cylinder from left to
right, and another as they return from right to left, and sp on continuously.
Secondly, by so constructing the cylinder and feed and delivery rollers and
apparatus in connection therewith, that the whole can be instantly lifted by a
hand lever moved to the right or left so as to cause the paper to pass through
the machine without taking an impression in the event of its becoming
deranged in the laying-on operation.
Thirdly, in giving a reciprocating motion to the table carrying the letter-
press forms, blocks, &c., and inking boards by the running gear without any
additional reversing mechanism.
Fourthly, causing the said apparatus to start the sheets upon the laying-on
boards at each return of the tables from the left to right, and vice versa, by
adjusting spring catches and levers."
Fifthly, by such adjustment, adapting the same cylinder and tables for.
printing sheets of various sizes.
The various parts of the improved mechanism and apparatus are shewn upon
the accompanying Drawing, to which the following reference applies, and in
the description of which improvements the mode of operating the machine
is also explained.
i

page_text: EXPLANATION OF DRAWING.
The Drawing accompanying this Specification is laid down to a geometrical
scale of one inch to a foot.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is a transverse section at the line
A, B, (Fig. 1 & 4); Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section at the line C, D, (Figs. 2.
& 4); Fig. 4, plan at the line E, F, (Fig. 1.)
Where the same letters recur in the respective Figures, they indicate the
same parts of the machine. The following reference, therefore, applies to
each illustration:-a, the main side frame; b, b,. upper side frames; c, c,
brackets; d, d, the main transverse table-bearing frames; .e, e, bearing rails;
e¹, e¹, running rails upon which the tables are mounted; f, f, friction rollers
between the bearing and running rails; g, driving wheel turned by hand or
other power; h, driving shaft; i, i, spurr wheels keyed on to driving shaft;
i, i pinions in gear with said wheels; k, k, two chain wheels keyed on to
pinion shafts, k; similar wheels at the opposite end of the machine;
1, 1, endless chains passing round and driven by the wheels ; &.k, the latter
being adjustable by screw slide bearings; m, the projecting arm secured to the
under side of the table, and moving therewith; n, a slide rising and falling
in the slot m¹ or the arm before mentioned. Through this slot and through a
link of the chain on each side a strong pin is passed. By turning the
shaft h, which carries the spur wheels i, i, the pinions i, j, and chain wheels
are caused to rotate, and thus give motion to the chains 1, 1, which cause the
arm to travel therewith, and move the tables alternately from left to right,.
and vice versa.
,
On reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the arm which is driven by the
chain, and is bolted to the table, traverses a space between the chain wheels.
at each end. Now, when the chain is being driven in the direction indicated
by the arrows No. 1 (Figs. 1 & 3), the arm m arrives at the point 1 at the
wheel; the pin in the slide n passes round the wheel to the point 2 rising
in the slot m¹ of the arm, which is then carried in the contrary direction indi-
cated by the arrow No. 2, until it the point 3 at the top of the chain
wheel at the opposite end of the machine, when the pin in the slide again
descends round that wheel to the point 4, and then travels with the chain
from right to left. A reciprocating motion is thus imparted to the type
table o and inking tables p, p, without reversing the driving motion. Along
the side of these tables a toothed rack is securely fixed, as shewn at q, q,
(Fig. 2 & 4.) r is the cylinder, on the end of which a toothed wheel r is fixed
gearing with and turned by the rack last mentioned.

page_text: The diameter of the cylinder is regulated by the length of the type table.
Along the top of this cylinder an opening is formed, into which the two ends
of the blanket are passed and secured under a bar sunk therein in a longi
tudinal groove or slot. This bar is fitted with screws or 'other media by which
its position or depth can be increased or. diminished for slacking or tightening
the blanket as circumstances may require.
:
The cylinder thus constructed is mounted in the bearings-s, -s, see Fig. 1.
These bearings are carried by the slides 1, 1, which rise and fall as required;
these slides are suspended on two eccentrics, one at each end of the shaft u,
which shaft is turned by moving the hand lever veither in the direction
marked a or in that marked b, and thus raises with the slides the
cylinder, rods, pullies, and tapes in connection therewith altogether, so that in
the event of the sheet, as it passes in getting out of order, it passes through
the machine clear of the letter forms. These sheets are fed in from and
delivered at both sides of the cylinder by means of tapes, rollers, and guides,
or by any other suitable means. 6, 6, are the laying-on boards;'-7, 7, the
delivery or taking-off boards; 8, 8, are the feeding tapes which pass round the
rollers 9, 9.
The rollers 9 91, are mounted upon a shaft, on the ends of which small
spurr wheels 10, 10, are keyed. These wheels are turned by the segmental
racks 11, 11, formed on the ends of vertical levers turning upon dead
pins 12, 12; the opposite ends w, w, of these levers pass down between the
side frames and the sides of the machine tables, at both ends of which spring
catches are fitted so as to be adjustable thereon. These catches pass the ends
of the levers going, and pull them slightly over as the table returns. The
motion thus imparted to the levers cause the wheels 10, 10, and rollers to
rotate sufficiently to move the tapes 13, 13, and sheet of paper laying thereon
until it is moved on to the feed roller 14, where the tapes receive it, and
carry it round the cylinder and through the machine being fitted with an
inking apparatus distributing rollers, and also with inking rollers at each end,
the type or blocks are inked thereby in passing alternately backwards and
forwards. The inking apparatus at each end of the machine is driven by
the bands and pullies 15, &c.
The lever by which the cylinder is raised moves against a spring shewn at y,
Fig. 1. Upon this spring, at the top of the arch, there is a projecting nipple
or stud and in the lever an indentation into which the nipple passes and
catches when the lever is in a vertical position, and the cylinder is down; this
nipple, however, does not prevent the lever from being moved at pleasure, but
with the spring serves to hold it in a proper position while the cylinder is

page_text: printing, and the sheets are passing through the machine in proper order.
2z, are india-rubber springs for retaining the levers in the proper vertical
postion.
1:
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby further declare that I
do not absolutely restrict myself to the precise forms and dimensions of the
parts of the mechanism and apparatus: shewn upon the Drawing, as the same
may be varied in various ways in form' and dimension in the several details;
and I therefore include, as my improvements, all such modifications; so long
as the same are identical in principle therewith.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Watson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN WATSON. (..)