IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA- RATUS FOR EMBOSSING NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, AND WOOLLEN, COTTON, PAPER, SILK, AND OTHER WOVEN OR FELTED FIBROUS MATERIALS; THE SAID IM- PROVEMENTS BEING MORE PARTICULARLY ADAPTED TO THOSE MACHINES IN WHICH HEAT IS EMPLOYED FOR EFFECTING SUCH SAID EMBOSSING
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Rowley at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th December
1854.
I, JOHN ROWLEY, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS FOR EMBOSSING NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, AND WOOLLEN, COTTON,
PAPER, SILK, AND OTHER WOVEN OR FELTED FIBROUS MATERIALS; THE SAID IM-
PROVEMENTS BEING MORE PARTICULARLY ADAPTED TO THOSE MACHINES IN WHICH
HEAT IS EMPLOYED FOR EFFECTING SUCH SAID EMBOSSING," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to embossing machines, such as are commonly
used by bookbinders for ornamenting the covers of books, portfolios, and other
articles of a similar character, and are designed with a view of facilitating and
expediting such said operation, by a novel and peculiar mode of arranging the
embossing dies and mechanism in connection therewith; that is to say, in lieu
of the ordinary fly press, hitherto employed for exerting pressure upon the em-
bossing dies, I employ pressure rollers or cylinders of metal, the surfaces
whereof are plain. The axes of these rollers are supported by bearings in a
suitable framing, and to the said framing I connect a sliding bed plate, which
moves upon projecting pieces fixed to said framing at about right angles to the

page_text: axes of the aforesaid pressure rollers, and upon said sliding bed plate the upper
and lower dies are placed and move therewith, said dies being connected toge-
ther in the following manner:-First, as regards the upper die, it is securely
fixed to a thin plate of metal, which is connected by a hinge to another plate to
which the lower die is affixed, and thus I ensure the proper registering of the
said embossing dies, and maintain them in proper position during the time
they are passing between the before-mentioned pressure rollers or cylinders;
and I render the bringing together and separating of the dies self-acting, by
attaching a weight to the hinged plate which carries the upper embossing die,
so that, supposing the material which it is desired to emboss to be placed upon
the lower die, and motion imparted to the sliding bed upon which the said dies
are placed, it will appear evident that the before-mentioned upper die plate,
coming into contact with the uppermost pressure roller or cylinder, will be
forced down thereby, and thus bring the two dies opposite to each other; and
in this state they will pass between the aforesaid pressure rollers or cylinders,
and effect the embossing of the material which is between the dies; and as the
dies are again brought forward by a reverse movement of the sliding bed plate,
and as they emerge from between the pressure rollers, the upper die plate will
be raised upon its hinges by the gravitating power of the weight which is con-
nected thereto, as above stated, and thereby effect the separating of the dies for
removing the embossed material therefrom, and substituting other material in
lieu thereof to be embossed, as before stated.
And a peculiar feature of novelty in this Invention, by which I am enabled
to facilitate and expedite the operation of embossing, consists in arranging and
disposing each separate pair of embossing dics side by side, and in the direction
of the axis of motion of the pressure rollers, for the purpose of causing the
pressure therefrom to be exerted upon such said several pairs of dies simul-
taneously, and by these means to emboss at one time a quantity of separate
patterns, either similar or different, instead of using only one pair of dies and
embossing only one pattern, as commonly practised in using embossing machines
of the ordinary construction; and I would here observe, that as regards the
application of heat, which is indispensable to the embossing of leather in parti-
cular, I supply it, according to this Invention, from jets of gas, suitably disposed
upon the before-mentioned sliding bed plate, so as to cause the heat from
the lighted gas to impinge against the under side of the lower die holder, and
thereby impart heat to the dies; and it is the above novel and peculiar mode
of combining revolving pressure rollers or cylinders with a sliding bed plate
and die holder, and the mode of imparting heat for the purpose of embossing
leather, &c., as above stated, which constitutes this Invention. Observing, that

page_text: in some instances I propose employing a revolving die holder in lieu of the
sliding bed and die holder above mentioned, and when this is the case, and
the length of the material to be embossed is considerable, I arrange the same
around a roller, and insert one end of the said material between the upper and
lower dies, and by these means I render the feeding of the material to the
several dies in succession, and the removing it therefrom, self-acting and
continuous, instead of intermittent, as before stated, with reference to the
reciprocating bed plate upon which the die holders are placed.