CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER SURFACES, AND ALSO IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF COPPER OR OTHER METALLIC ROLLERS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL. TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
NASMYTH, of Patricroft, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and JOHN
BARTON, of Manchester, in the same County, Copper Roller Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of September, in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty, did,
for. Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto us, the said James
Nasmyth. and John Barton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said James Nasmyth and John Barton, our
exors, admors, or assigns, and such others as we, the said James Nasmyth
and John Barton, our 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 and Wales and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER SURFACES, AND ALSO IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF COPPER OR OTHER METALLIC ROLLERS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN, AND
IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH SUCH MANUFACTURE;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said James Nasmyth
and John Barton, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our

page_text: said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part 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, we, the said
James Nasmyth and John Barton, do hereby declare that the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is
particularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed,
and the following explanation thereof, that is to say :-
First, our improvements in machinery or apparatus for printing calicoes and
other surfaces relate solely to cylinder printing machines as usually employed
for such purposes, and apply particularly to that part alone of such apparatus
commonly called the "doctor," which is an instrument or thin blade of steel
or other material employed for the purpose of scraping or cleaning off from
the revolving engraved printing rollers whilst at: work all superabundant
coloring matter, and thus leave the plain or unengraved parts of the printing
roller clean and entirely free from impurity. It is well known that to
accomplish this end to perfection it is requisite that the edge of the "doctor"
which is in contact with the revolving printing roller shall fit and coincide
with the utmost exactness throughout the entire length of the surface of the
roller with which it is in contact. Hitherto this exactness of fitting or coinci-
dence between the cleaning edge of the "doctor" and the printing surface of the
copper roller has been only imperfectly accomplished by filing and whetting
with a sharpening stone or whetstone, a process requiring much manual dex-
terity and expenditure of time. By our Invention this required exactness
of fit or coincidence is perfectly accomplished, and by certain mechanical
means and arrangements, whereby we are enabled to effect this important
improvement in printing machinery or apparatus, and at the same time to
dispense with the manual labor and expenditure of time hitherto employed, as
the truth and correctness of coincidence of the clearing edge of the "doctor"
and the revolving surface of the printing roller is hereby ensured.
Secondly, our improvements relate to the manufacture of copper or other
metallic rollers to be employed in machinery or apparatus for printing calicoes
and other surfaces, and in the machinery or apparatus connected with such
manufacture, and consist in the employment, adaptation, or use of certain
means whereby increased solidity and soundness is given to the rollers during
the time and process of manufacture. The copper rollers hitherto employed
in calico printing have been formed by pouring molten copper into the upper

page_text: end of a hollow cylindrical mould, and allowing the same to consolidate
naturally by gradual cooling, or else assisting the consolidation and pro-
moting the compactness and soundness of the casting by means of pressure
given to the upper surface of the metal while yet in a molten state by means
of a plug or piston pressed down upon the yet fluid metal by a weight, the
effect of which was sought to be increased by the agency of certain combina-
tions of levers or screws, or such like ordinary modes of exerting pressure.
Such means of manufacturing rollers, although to a certain degree effective,
were of two gradual a nature, and too slow in their action, to meet the require-
ments of a metal such as copper, which has the peculiar property of passing
very rapidly from the fluid to the solid state. In order to increase and extend
the advantages derived from the action of pressure in adding to the soundness
and solidity of such copper rollers whilst they are passing from the fluid to
the solid condition after having been cast, it is requisite that the pressure
which the yet fluid copper is subjected. to be not only excessive in degree, but
also, as it were, instantaneous in its action. To this end we employ, in place of
any gradual pressure or "squeeze," the comparatively instantaneous and
violently compressive action of a powerful blow, derived from the fall of a mass
of iron or other suitable body, which falling mass is made to act direct upon
the upper surface of the molten copper then in the mould. The effect of
this percussive force (by reason of its intense and instantaneous action) is to
confer on the metal so acted on a degree of consolidation, soundness, and
freeness from flaws and air bubbles such as has never hitherto been attained
As the most convenient means of attaining
by any other method or means.
this object we employ the direct action of steam as the agent for raising up
the mass of iron or other suitable body to the height required for giving forth
the required blow to the molten copper in the roller mould.
may be employed for raising up the mass of iron, but the "steam hammer"-
like action we prefer, owing to its simplicity, efficiency, and manageableness.
We. would here remark, that this peculiar adaptation of the direct action
of steam, whereby its elastic force is made directly applicable to raise the
hammer or striking block, formed the subject matter of Letters Patent granted
by Her present most Excellent Majesty to the said James Nasmyth, bearing
date at Westminster the Ninth day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-two, the Specification of which was duly enrolled in Chancery in the
Office of the Petty Bag.
Other modes
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention, we will proceed to
describe and exhibit the manner in which the same is to be performed;. and
for the sake of more perfect illustration, we have attached to these Presents

page_text: a Sheet of Drawings representing the two parts of our improvements sufficiently
clear, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, being drawn upon a scale of about two inches to
the foot, and shewing the first part of our improvements; and Fig. 5 being
drawn upon a scale of about one inch to a foot, and exhibiting the second part
of our improvements.
The mechanical arrangements by which we attain this important improve-
ment in printing machinery first above described consists of a means of
causing the edge of the "doctor" to pass backwards and forwards under the
action of two rapidly revolving whetstones or grinding stones of a suitable
degrees of fineness of grain; and as the "doctor" during this whetting process
is held in a slide which constrains it to move backwards and forwards in
a perfectly straight line or direction whilst under the action of the revolving
whetstones, the result is, that in a few such traverse motions its edge becomes
ground, whetted, or sharpened to perfect straightness, or even to any definite"
curve, if such be desired, according to that which we give to the slide to which
it is attached during the whetting process. Reference to Fig. 1 will exhibit:
(in side elevation and end view) the general arrangement of our "doctor":
sharpening apparatus, in which A is the doctor held in the reciprocating slide B,
which reciprocating slide derives its backward and forward motion from a
screw C, furnished with any of the usual means or contrivances for the production.
of reciprocating motion, so that it will be seen that whilst the "doctor" is
held fast in the slide B it will partake of the same motion as that which we'
give to the slide. D and E are two circular revolving grinding or whetstones,
which receive a rapid revolving motion from a band proceeding from the
driving wheel F, each whetstone having its own independent band, and those
so arranged as that the whetstones may revolve towards each other, that is, in
contrary directions, as indicated by the arrows on the stones D, E. It will
also be seen that means are provided by which each whetstone may be placed
at any suitable angle with respect to the edge of the "doctor," as will be
more clearly seen in the three Diagrams or examples given in Fig. 2, Fig. 3,
and Fig. 4, so that any required peculiar bevil or chamfer may be given to
either edge or side of the edge of the doctor as it passes and repasses under the
action of the revolving whetstones D, E. The entire apparatus is made self-
containing, as represented in the Drawings, and can be made self-acting, so
far as respects the backward and forward or reciprocating motion of the
slide to which the "doctor" is attached, during the whetting or sharpening
process.
The second part of our improvements, namely, in the manufacture of
printing rollers or cylinders, and in the machinery employed therein, is

page_text: A
exhibited at Fig. 5 in the Drawing attached, which represents a sectional
elevation of the arrangement of apparatus we employ for this purpose.
represents the cylindrical mould, seen in section, as charged to the proper
height with molten copper. B, is the mass or block of iron which acts as
the hammer, and has a face C attached to it so as to act like a plug, in so far
as it fits into the mouth of the mould. D is the piston rod which connects
the block or hammer B to the piston in the steam cylinder E, after the
manner of the "steam hammer." The mode of operating with the appa-
ratus is as follows:-Steam is let in under the piston in the cylinder E,
so as to raise up the hammer block B to the desired height above the
mould. A. Molten copper is now introduced into the mould A, which
is filled up within two inches or so of the top with melted copper, the
steam is then let suddenly escape from under the piston, and then down
falls the hammer block B, and being exactly guided in its fall by the parallel
standards F, F, the full force acquired by the fall of the block B is in an
instant discharged on to the surface, and so throughout the entire mass of
the yet fluid or molten copper in the mould A. The result of this is, the driving
forth of every air bubble which may lurk in the metal, and also a condensation
of the entire mass of the copper at the most favorable moment for such a
change to be induced, namely, at the moment when it passes from the fluid to the
solid or chrystallized state. If desired, any number of blows in succession may
be given to the upper surface of the copper whilst in the mould by the means
just described, but so effective is this percussive action that one blow attains
the desired object. The mould A is then removed and another placed in the
same situation, and so the process of producing perfectly sound and dense
copper rollers may continued.
Having thus described the nature and object of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into practical effect, we desire it to
be understood that we claim as of our Invention,―
First, with respect to our improvements in machinery or apparatus for
printing calicoes and other surfaces, the perfecting or ensuring of the fitting or
coincidence of the clearing edge of the "doctor," and the printing surface of
roller or cylinder employed in such or similar machines, by the operation of
the certain mechanical means and arrangements above particularly described
and set forth, and consisting in the employment of two or more revolving
circular whetstones held or mounted in adjustable arms, by which they may be
made to act on the two sides of the edge of the "doctor" at once for the
purpose of giving to them any required definite bevil. We also claim, as part
of our Invention, the mode of giving to the
doctor,
whilst subject to the

page_text: action of the above-named revolving circular whetstones, the required definite
backwards and forwards motion for the purposes herein-before described, and
set forth; we also claim,
Secondly, with respect to our improvements in the manufacture of copper
or other metallic rollers for printing calicoes and other surfaces, and in the
machinery or apparatus connected with such manufacture, the employment
and application of percussion or percussive force as an agent in the consolida-
tion of molten copper or other suitable metal whilst in the mould into which
it has been poured, for the purpose of casting or forming such printing rollers
or cylinders.
Lastly, we claim, for the above special purpose, the employment, application,
or use of steam, acting directly after the manner of the "steam bammer,"
for the purpose of raising up to the required height the mass of iron or other
material, by the fall of which we obtain the percussive force employed
in such improved manufacture of copper or other metallic printing rollers or
cylinders.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Nasmyth and John Barton,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Eighteenth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-one.