A PORTABLE PRINTING APPARATUS, ADAPTED ALIKE FOR MOVEABLE TYPE, LITHOGRAPHY, AND COPPER PLATE
Year: 1857

page_text: the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 1st April 1857, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
EGAN LEE, of Number Three, Giltspur Street, in the City of London, Printer;
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A PORTABLE PRINTING
APPARATUS, ADAPTED ALIKE FOR MOVEABLE TYPE, LITHOGRAPHY, AND COPPER PLATE,"
and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn declaration that I verily believe myself to be tlie first and true Inventor
thereof:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Egan Lee, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully
describes the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists of a portable printing apparatus, represented by
the Drawings hereunto annexed, marked Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3 respectively.
Fig. 1 is the plan of a cylindrical press invented by me, and adapted
especially for amateurs; Fig. 2 is an elevation of one of the sides of the said
press, with a part shown also in section; and Fig. 3 is the plan of an improved

page_text: type case for the use of amateurs, the whole being so constructed that both the
said press and case, together with the usual requisite materials for printing
from type, or stone, or copper, or steel, may be enclosed and carried from
place to place in an ordinary work box or dressing case, thereby effecting con-
siderable economy in space, weight, and cost of construction, and enabling
unskilled persons to print any required number of copies of letters, essays,
sketches, music, coloured drawings, or any other subject matter, whether the
surface thereof be raised, as in type, or sunk, as in copper or steel plate
engravings.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several explanatory letters on the Drawings
hereunto attached.
In Fig. 1 the bed or table of the press upon which the type or other matter
to be printed is placed is marked A, A, and I cause the cylinder, marked B,
to pass over the bed or table in giving an impression, instead of imparting a
reciprocating motion to the table conveying the form, as is the case in the
presses now in use. The manner in which motion is conveyed to the said
cylinder B is as follows:-The handle, marked C, being fastened upon a
spindle, marked D, carrying at each end a bevil wheel, marked E and E¹, will
upon being turned impart motion to other two bevil wheels of the same size,
marked F and F¹, which gear with them; the said bevil wheels, marked F
and F, are severally keyed upon two helically-screwed spindles, marked G, G,
which revolve in the same direction as each other, and at right angles with
the moving spindle D. It must be obvious to every mechanic that upon
turning the screwed spindles G, G, the cylinder B, which is carried by a pair
of gudgeons, each bored with a nut or box corresponding to the screws, must
traverse from end to end of the screw thread, and thus be made to print both
in travelling backwards and forwards throughout the whole length of the bed
or table A, A. I wish to observe, that Fig. 1 in the Drawings is upon a scale
of one half the full size of the press herein described, although it may be made
larger or smaller, as may be desired. The Drawing, Fig. 2, is of the full size,
and upon reference thereto it will be seen that to increase or decrease the
pressure, the cylinder B, which works at either end in the bearing, marked B',
must be raised or lowered, as the case may be, by turning the set screws,
marked H, H. Now, although I have herein described the construction of
my said press and its operation, as printing by means of a cylinder, it should
be stated that a common lithographic scraper may be used instead thereof;
but I prefer the cylinder, as being far less liable than a scraper to get out
of working order, and thereby more suitable for amateurs; but whether a

page_text: cylinder or a scraper be used, I claim the Invention or application of the
machinery herein-before described for printing any description of raised or
sunken surfaces by means of a stationary form and traversing pressure, which
said machinery may be made wholly or partly of brass, iron, or any other
suitable material. And I claim also the improved arrangement of a type case
for amateurs, which said type case is shown in Fig. 3 of the Drawings hercunto
annexed as of half the size of that which I prefer, although it is obvious that
any other dimensions may be adopted having regard to portability; and the
said type case may be constructed wholly or partly of zinc, wood, millboard,
papier maché, or any other suitable material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Egan Lee, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our Lord Onc
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
RICHARD EGAN LEE. (L.S.)