A NEW OR IMPROVED LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING PRESS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
SMART, of 10, Leather Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Lithographic Printer,
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 Twenty-first day of
December, One thousand eight hundred and forty-six, in the tenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Walter Smart, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Walter Smart,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Smart, my
exors, admors, or assigns, 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 "A NEW
OR IMPROVED LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING PRESS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Walter Smart, 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 seal, to
be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part

page_text: 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 said
Walter Smart, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, or of
the improvements in respect of which my said lithographic press is distin-
guished from others, consists in the whole of the presswork, with the exception
of the operation of laying on and taking off the paper, being performed by a
series of movements all resulting from the first motion given to the machine,
and not requiring the intervention of any hand labor, whereby not only a great
saving in labor is effected but a much greater quantity of work is produced in
a given time than can be accomplished by the ordinary lithographic printing
presses. And I declare that the manner in which the said Invention is
carred into effect is particularly set forth in the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:―
Figure I. is a right-hand side elevation of the press; Figure II. is another
right-hand side elevation, with a greater number of the external parts removed
in order to shew more clearly the interior arrangements of the machine;
Figure III. is a detached view of the roller M in Figure II., and its imme-
diate appendages; Figure IV. is a back elevation on the line a, b, Figure I.,
with part in section; and Figure V. is a top plan on the line y, z, of Figure I.
A', A', is the framework of the machine. S', is the stone which is "backed"
or cemented to a slate bed S in the usual way. The bed S² again is bolted
to a wooden bed W, which fits into a cast-iron traversing frame Y, to the
under side of which at the centre there is attached a rack R. A is a secondary
framework mounted on A', at one end of the stone S, which carries the
wetting, inking, and cleaning portions of the machine. And A is another
secondary framework mounted on A¹³, at the other or opposite end of the stone,
which carries the tympan and scraper and their appendages.
In working
the press the stone is moved on the traversing frame Y, first towards one end
to be wetted and inked, and then back to the centre to have the paper laid
on; after which it is moved towards the opposite end to have the requisite
pressure brought. upon the paper and stone, when it returns to the centre in
order to have the paper which has now been printed taken off. And the
motive parts of the machinery are so adjusted as to produce successively the
exact pauses required for the accomplishment of each of the said opera-
tions.
A is the driving shaft which gives motion to a series of toothed
wheels B, C, D, E, &c., and may be turned by steam, water, or any other
adequate power. A' and A", are two pinions attached to the shaft A, one at
each end. The pinion A' takes into a wheel B, which works into another

page_text: wheel C, keyed to a shaft H, which carries a larger wheel D, which turns a
wheel E, which last turns a pinion F, which gives motion through the arrange-
ments shewn in the Plan, Figure 5, and herein-after explained, to the main
wheel H", which takes into the rack R of the traversing frame Y. The shaft
of the wheel E also gives motion through the medium of a pulley and
band to the wheel of the inking apparatus, as also herein-after explained.
The other pinion A" turns a wheel B" (see Figures II. and III.), which takes
into a wheel C, keyed on the shaft of a pressure roller M (between which and
the scraper O the stone is passed in order to receive the required pressure),
and so gives motion to the roller in the direction indicated by the arrows.
The pinion F, which is turned by the wheel E, is keyed to a spindle (see
Figure 5), which is inserted in the cord a of a forked piece a", the shaft of
which piece rests at its inner end in a guide piece G", and carries a pinion G',
which takes into the circular reversing rack G", which is keyed to the same
shaft I", on the man wheel H", the pinion G' acting alternately on the inside
and outside of the rack, as in the well-known machine called "Baker's
Mangle." The wheel H" is loosely attached to the shaft I" in order that it
may be put in or out of gear as required, and this is effected by means of
three sets (or more if necessary) of projecting pins p, p, placed at equal dis-
tances on one side of the rim of the wheel, which pins drop into holes q, q, in
a ring K (attached to the shaft I", at the side of the wheel H"), producing
thereby the same effect as the clutch in ordinary wheel gearing. The ring K
has a short collar by which it slides on the the shaft I", and this collar carries
at its outer end a flange K. J is a lever centred on the fulcrum K¹¹, which is
connected by a forked end to the flange K" of the ring K, and is moved side-
ways by means of a cam wheel I, which derives its motion from a pinion I'¹ on
the shaft of the wheels C and D, and is kept to its work by a weight J¹.
When the lever J is moved outwards it draws the ring K also outwards clear
of the wheel H", and when moved inwards it presses the ring K inwards
towards the wheel H", and causes the pins p, p, to enter the holes q, q, and
thereby to interlock the ring and wheel together (in which position it is repre-
sented in Figure V). To the shaft of the cam wheel I there is attached at
one end a mitre wheel 6', which takes into another mitre wheel 62, the shaft
of which extends at right angles to I, towards the opposite end of the machine,
and carries at its other extremity a bevil wheel d¹, which takes into a fourth
bevil wheel d² on the cross shaft e, to the ends of which cross shaft are
attached two cams c, c, which, as the bevil wheels revolve, raise and lower
alternately two vertical levers e¹, e', which support at top the sponge wetting
box S, B), as presently herein-after explained. The wetting and inking appa-

page_text: ratus is, as before stated, mounted in the secondary framework A³. h is a
drum with two endless threads on it (similar to the one used in Brown's well-
known letter-printing machines), which is connected by the band and
pulley to the shaft of the wheel E. No. 1 is the docter roller, and 2, 3,
and 4, the supply rollers. 5, 6, 7, are the inking rollers, and 1*, 2, 3, and 4*,
small distributing rollers. The docter roller (1) is attached to the bearings
of the drum h, and caused by its rotation to move on the faces of the supply
rollers 3 and 4, in a direction at right angles to their line of rotation; and the
inking rollers 5, 6, and 7, are kept to their work by springs coiled on their
respective shafts. The rollers 3 and 6 are supplied by 4 and 7 through the
medium of 3, and the rollers 2 and 5 by 3 and 6 through the medium of 2ª.
The object of this arrangement is to make the supply to the roller 5 the
least in order that it may act as a clearing roller. 9, g, are friction rollers
which work in guide bars f.f.f.f. W, T, is a water trough attached to
the front of the machine. t is one of a row of vertical tubes open at both ends,
which rise above the level of the water and project a little way through the
bottom of the trough. These tubes are each filled with threads of worsted or
cotton, the upper ends of which drop over the tops of the tubes into the water,
thence they draw up, by the force of capillary attraction, a continuous supply
of water, which they deliver at their lower ends to the sponge box (S, B).
When the stone is moved towards the wetting and inking apparatus it passes
under and in immediate contact with the sponge, whereby it is wetted; but on
its return, after being inked, the sponge box is raised by the water of the
cams c, c, quite clear of the shore. The docter roller 1, and the supply rollers
2, 3, and 4, are all made of gutta percha or vulcanized caoutchouc, in the
manner separately represented in Figure VI. m is the axis, which has a
passages made through it at one end, which is commanded by a stopcock n;
0, 0, are two discs of metal, which are screwed on to the axis m, one near to
each end; p is a seamless tube of gutta percha, or vulcanized caoutchouc,
which is brought at the ends over the discs o, o, and made fast thereto by a
ring 9 and bolts r, r. A hollow roller with a flexible surface is thus produced,
which may be distended to any degree required, and also kept cool by the
admission into the interior of water or any other refrigerating liquid through
the passage 3.
Rollers made of brass, as usual, may be constructed in the same manner
as the proceeding, in so far as regards the provision made for introducing
cold water into the interior. A roller of this description is represented in
Figure VII.
The tympan and scraper and other parts connected with the pressing or

page_text: pulling part of the machine are best seen in Figures II., III., and IV. A' is
the secondary framework raised on A¹. a is a regulating screw rod which
works through a cast-iron cross head 6, and is attached at bottom to the
box c³, which carrys the scraper o, which box slides up and down in grooves
in the side standards of the framework, so that the position of the scraper o
may be exactly adjusted by the screw a², according to the thickness of the
stone and the degree of pressure applied. is the tympan leather, which is
fastened at one end to the rod 93, and rolled at the other end round the
drum d. ff, are clasps which rise from the end of the traversing frame Y,
and lay hold of the bar g.,, are guides which keep the rod g³ in its place.
,, are pullies on the ends of the shaft of the tympan drum d; and z, z,
are cords which are carried from the pullies e³, e, over other pullies e³, e³, and
hold suspended from them the weights J". When the bar g³ is clipped by the
clasps ff, of the traversing frame Y, the tympan is unwound from the drum
ds, while the cords z, z, with the weights J" attached to them, keep simul-
taneously winding on the pulleys e, e³, and thereby keep the tympan tight
during the pull. The length or duration of this pull depends on the time which
the pressure roller M, before mentioned, is kept pressed up against the stone,
and this again is regulated by cams F, F, on which the roller rests, which are
attached to the shaft of the wheels C, D, and partake of their rotary motion.
When by the revolution of these cams the pressure roller M is lowered from
under the stone, the tympan begins to be wound up on the drum de, and the
cords 5, z, to be unwound, when the descending weights J", attached to the
cords z, z, reacting on the traversing frame Y, cause it to recede towards the
contre of the machine. The edges of the two cams F, F, work. The edges
of the two cams F, F, work on steel friction rollers E, E, the ends of which
are borne by steel plates D, D, bolted to a cast-iron block C with gun metal
bearings B.
.
Instead of a tympan and scraper, such as before described, being employed,
an arrangement may be substituted, such as is represented in Figure VIII.
O is a metal roller covered with gutta percha or vulcanized caoutchouc, which
runs in bearings in a sliding box 0%, attached to the under end of the screw
rod a. It is kept cool by water admitted through the passage p, and presents
always a flexible yet firm surface to the paper and stone. The tympan leather
being thus superseded, the tympan rod g is connected by cords g³, g³, to the
drum d, on the ends of which are the pulleys of the cords, z, to which the
weights J" are suspended.
Lis a lever which stops the traversing frame when run back by the

page_text: action of the weights J" after the pull has been made. It is raised at
one end by a tappet N, attached to the shaft H' of the cam wheel I, and
has a weight W suspended from it at the opposite end. L is a spring
rod to which the lever L is coupled at its weighted end to prevent any jar
being caused by the sudden stoppage of the traversing frame.
The mode of working the machine, the different parts of which have been
thus described, is as follows:-The wheel H" being clutched by 'the ring K
in manner before explained, and power being applied to the driving shaft A,
motion is thereby communicated through B, C, D, E, F, and G, to the main
wheel H", which causes the traversing frame Y, with the stone upon it, to
pass under the sponge box and inking rollers. By the time that the stone has
been wetted and inked, the action of the pinion G¹ begins to reverse the
action of the circular rack G, while at the same time the sponge box is
raised by the action of the cams c, c, so that the stone in repassing may pass
clear of the sponge when the stone returns to the point in the centre of the
machine from which it started. The lever J is brought into play by rotation
of the cam wheel I, and uncouples the ring K and wheel II", which allows of
pause enough for the workman in attendance on the machine to lay the paper
on the stone. The gradual reaction of the weight J' on the lever J causes
the latter once more to disconnect the ring K from the wheel H", on which
the frame and stone are carried forward under the scraper O. Immediately
on arriving under O, the pressure roller M is raised by the action of the cams
F, F, and presses up the stone against the scraper O for the distance required;
while simultaneously therewith the clasps f,f, lay hold of the tympan rod g³,
which causes the tympan to be unwound, and the weights J", J", to be raised
by means of the cords z, z. At the same time that the pressure roller M is
thus raised, the ring K and wheel H" are once more uncoupled by the action
of the cam wheel I and lever J, and thus they remain during the time the
pressure is continued, or, in other words, the pull is being made; when the
pressure roller M from the cams F, F, ceasing to press upon it, descends, the
unwinding of the cords 2, 2, and descent of the weights J", J", causes the
traversing frame to run back towards the centre of the machine, where it is
stopped by the raising of the lever L by means of the tappet N on the shaft of
the cam wheel I, in order to allow the attendant time to take off the printed
sheet of paper. The wheel C can be changed for either a larger or smaller
one, and thereby produce a longer or shorter interval of pressure. The inter-
mediate wheel B can also be changed to suit the wheel C, while the roller M
always runs at the same speed.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim in respect
thereof is as follows:-
First, I claim the lithographic printing press before described, in the general
arrangement and combination of parts of which the same consists, and more
particularly the mode of fastening the stone to the traversing frame, the means
employed to lock and unlock the main wheel II", the mode of connecting
the traversing frame to the tympan bar, the mode of regulating the length of
the pull or interval of pressure, the mode of constructing the water trough
and raising and lowering the sponge box, the mode of producing and
regulating the pressure of the roller M, and the means employed to
obtain the pauses requisite for each of the operations performed by the
press.
Second, I claim the constructing of the doctor and supply rollers of
gutta percha or vulcanized caoutchouc in manner before described; and,
Third, I claim the employment in such presses of a tympan roller formed of
gutta percha or vulcanized caoutchouc, in manner also before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Smart, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.