T FOR MANIFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF PRINTING APPARATUS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cameron MacDonald, of Waddon, near
Croydon, in the County of Surrey, and Joseph:Calverley, of 26, George
Street, Peckham, in the same County, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
T FOR MANIFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF PRINTING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 29th December 1863, and dated the 4th July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cameron MacDonald
and Joseph Calverley, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 4th July 1863.
We; JOHN CAMERON MACDONALD, of Waddon, near Croydon, in the
County of Surrey; and JOSEPH CALVERLEY, of 26, George Street, Peckham,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS: IN THE MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF PRINTING APPARATUS,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to an improved method of casting stereotyped plates
and of applying them to machines for printing upon paper or other surfaces
more especially to such machines as are termed perfecting printing machines,
which print upon continuous lengths of surface, and cut them into sheets of the
required-size after they are printed. Machines of this class have not hitherto
been used for printing newspaper or letter-press owing to the difficulty
experienced in imposing ordinary type in forms that would be secure upon
drums of small diameter, and to the necessity of re-composing where several
machines are required to be used.

page_text: By employing the stereotype process according to the improved method we
have adopted these difficulties are overcome, and it becomes practicable to use
for the fast printing requirements of a newspaper office simple endless webb
perfecting printing process. In preparing our stereotype printing surfaces we
employ the ordinary papier maché process, but instead of making them in the
form of plates more or less curved we cast them in a tubular form, being
cylindrical on the external surface and coned in a slightly tapering form on
the internal surface. The caster itself is so made that all the difficulties
which arise in getting a uniform impression from plates made by the ex-
isting methods of stereotyping for newspaper purposes are obviated. These
difficulties were due to the, form of the plates and casters used, the casters
being conformed to the plates cast in them. They had, therefore, to be
locked up, and were liable to-spring-and-to give plates with thick edges.
The irregular expansion of the metal and the obstacles to the, use of material
in the caster suitable to stand the sudden application of heat, also combined
to make the plates. produced far from satisfactory. The new caster is a
cylinder fitting into a bottom plate in such a way as that two or more
papier maché matrixes of pages can be adjusted accurately to the internal
curve of the cylinder. A proper allowance being made for the thickness ofthe
stereotype plate to be cast, a core con ed in a slightly tapering form, with its
thicker end uppermost, is placed in the centre of the cylinder, and has suitable
means provided for removing it when the casting is made. By this method it
will be perceived that the ordinary means employed for locking up are dis-
pensed with, and a stereotype surface of the required cylindrical form is
produced with readiness and certainty. The interior of the tubular stereotype
surface being slightly coned, it is not only easily removed from the caster,
but is easily and accurately adjusted upon the drum of the printing machine,
which may be made of a suitable form tapering from the centre to its two
ends, so as to receive two of the tubular stereotype surfaces, each corres-
ponding to half a sheet.
The machine has suitable printing apparatus for printing continuously on
an endless surface, and for cutting the printed surface into lengths. The
method of casting and applying the tubular stereotype surfaces as herein
described can be applied advantageously not only to letter-press printing
but to every form of cylindrical printing, whether on paper or cloth.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cameron MacDonald and Joseph Calverley in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
CAMERON MACDONALD, of Waddon, near Croydon, in the County of Surrey.
and JOSEPH CALVERLEY, of 26, George Street, Peckham, in the same County,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundredandsixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant uuto us, the said
John Cameron MacDonald and Joseph Calverley, Her special licence that we,
the said John Cameron MacDonald and Joseph Calverley, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Cameron
MacDonald and Joseph Calverley, our 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 law-
fully 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 THE MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF PRINTING
APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Cameron MacDonald and Joseph Calverley, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and
seals,should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 we, the said John Cameron MacDonald and
Joseph Calverley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our Invention relates to an improved method of casting stereotyped
plates, and of applying them to machines for printing upon paper or other
surfaces, more especially to such machines as are termed perfecting printing
machines, which print upon continuous lengths of surfaces, and cut or
partially cut them into sheets of the required size after they are printed.

page_text: Machines of this class have not hitherto been used for printing newspaper or
other letter-press sheets owing to the difficulty experienced in imposing
ordinary type in forms that would be secure on drums of small diameter, and
to the necessityof re-composing where several machines are required to be used.
By employing the stereotype process according to the improved method
we have adopted these difficulties are overcome, and it becomes practicable
to use for the fast printing requirements of a newspaper office simple endless
web perfecting printing press. In preparing our stereotype printing surfaces
we employ the well-known ordinary papier machè process, but instead of
making these surfaces in the form of plates more or less curved we cast
them in a tubular form, being cylindrical on the external surface and coned
in a slightly tapering form on the internal surface. This will be readily
understood by reference to Sheet No. 1, Figure 3,showing the vertical section
of the caster. The caster itself is so made that all the difficulties which arise in
getting a uniform impression from plates made by the existing methods
of stereotyping hitherto employed for newspaper purposes are obviated. These
difficulties were due to the form of the plates and casters used, the casters
being conformed to the plates cast in them. They had therefore to be locked
up, and were liable to spring and to give plates with thick edges. The regular
expansion of the metal and the obstacles to the use of materials in the caster
snitable to stand the sudden application of heat also combined to make the
plates produced far from satisfactory. The new caster is a cylinder repre-
sented in Sheet I., Figure 3, fitting into a bottom plate (F) in such a way as
that two or more papier maché matrixes of pages may be adjusted accurately
to the internal curve of the cylinder, a proper allowance being made for the
thickness of the stereotype plate to be cast. A core (9) coned in a slightly
tapering form, with its thicker end uppermost, is placed in the centre of the
cylinder, and has suitable means provided for removing it when the casting is
made. These means need not be described, as any ordinary workman can
employ those usually found convenient. The caster is surmounted by a
guide.(H) accurately fitted to a stud (S) in the core to ensure its being con-
centric, and there is also a moveable guide (J) at the bottom fixed in the same
manner as the top one to be used if required. By this method it will be
perceived that the ordinary means employed for locking up casters are dis-
pensed with, and a stereotype surface of the required cylindrical form is
produced with readiness and certainty. The interior of the tubular stereotype
surface being slightly coned, as shown on Figure 3, Sheet No. 2, it is not only
easily removed from the caster, but is easily and accurately adjusted upon the

page_text: drum of the printing machine,as shown in Sheet II., Figure 3, which may be
made of a suitable form tapering from the centre (E) to its two ends (F, F,)
so as to receive two of the tubular stereotype surfaces (G), each correspond-
ing to half a sheet. The stereotype surfaces are secured on the cylinder by
wrought-iron rings, as shown at (H), Sheet II., Figure 3, fastened by nuts
and bolts in the usual way.
The printing machine has suitable apparatus for printing continuously ou
an endless surface, and for cutting or partially cutting the printed surface into
lengths. The construction of the apparatus is shown in elevation and plan,
corresponding parts being denoted by the same letters on Sheets III. and IV.
We propose to employ an improved mode of damping the paper by
steaming it. We pass an endless web of paper, as shown by the blue line
marked on Sheet No. III., between two steam rollers (A, A,) covered with
felt, or through a steam chamber closed at either end by copper rollers.
The printing and impression cylinders marked respectively B, B, and C C,
are arranged as shown in the Drawings, so that the two impression cylinders
(C, C,) remain fixed in the centre, while the two priating cylinders B, B,
can be readily fixed in or removed from their proper positions above and
below, when the stereotype surfaces on them require to be changed. The
machine is designed to cut the endless web in a particular manner by means
of rolls marked D and E on sheet No. III. On one roll is fitted a steel
knife (F), and on the corresponding face of the other a die of steel, wood,or
other substance (G), and as the endless web paper between the surfaces the
knife partially cuts it, leaving tags at either end and in the centre, so that
the web or continuous sheet may be wound up,as shown at H,and be carried
away,
, and afterwards be easily divided by tearing or otherwise separating it
into the required lengths. It should be observed that our apparatus for
printing surfaces has been described and shown in the Drawings in the form
adapted for printing newspapers or other similar letter-press, but it obviously
may be adapted as required by any competent workman conversant with
machinery of this class to print other surfaces, such as cloth or other fabrics
or materials.
Having now described our Invention, we claim (as described and shown
in the Drawings) the combination of parts forming our improved apparatus
for printing surfaces.
Secondly, the caster for producing the improved stereotype plates.
Thirdly, the coned stereotype plates and coned printing cylinder used as

page_text: Fourthly, the improved mode of damping the paper by steaming it in the
manner described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Cameron M°Donald and Joseph
Calverley, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourth day
of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
JOHN C. MACDONALD. (L.S.)
JOSEPH CALVERLEY.
(L.S.)