IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR, ETCHING AND ENGRAVING CYLINDERS AND CYLINDRICAL DIES USED. IN. PRINTING AND EMBOSSING
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and
Frederick William Edmondson, of the Firm of Messieurs Edmond-
son Brothers, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engravers.
to Calico Printers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR, ETCHING AND ENGRAVING CYLINDERS AND CYLINDRICAL DIES USED. IN.
PRINTING AND EMBOSSING."
Sealed the 22nd December 1871, and dated the 12th July 1871.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edmondson,.
William Edmondson, and Frederick William Edmondson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the
12th July 1871.
We, JAMES EDMONDSON, WILLIAM EDMONDSON, and FREDERICK
WILLIAM EDMONDSON, of the Firm of Messieurs Edmondson Brothers,
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engravers to Calico Printers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR ETCHING AND ENGRAVING CYLINDERS AND CYLINDRICAL DIES USED
IN PRINTING AND EMBOSSING," to be as follows:-
'Our Invention consists in an improved combination of machinery for
giving motion to the diamond points or other instruments by which the
design or pattern is produced.

page_text: In performing our Invention we employ a tracer supported in a
carriage moving on a cross bar which is connected to two side bars,
these parts form the main slide. Upon one of the side bars rests a
segment, to the axle of which is fixed a pulley, which is connected by
steel bands to a disc on the mandril of the cylinder. The parts above
referred to give the partial rotary motion to the cylinder, and are made
in the manner described in former Letters Patent granted to us on the
8th day of April 1870, No. 1033.
Our present improvements consist in imparting the requisite lateral
to-and-fro motion to the tool slides, by means of a rail fixed to the
tracer carriage; this rail passes over antifriction rollers supported in
bearings fixed to a cross rail which runs on bowls on the cross stay.
In the centre of and between the two rails supporting the tool slides
is a shaft on which is a large and two small pulleys, the large one, being
connected by steel bands to the ends of the cross rail, and the small
ones in a similar manner to the tool slides. The large pulley is four
times the diameter of the smaller ones, or the pulleys are of such
other definite proportions as may be found requisite, or pulleys of
variable diameters, as described in the Patent above referred to may be
used.
Our Invention consists also in improved machinery for giving partial
rotary motion to the cylindrical dies used in the business of engraving
to calico printers. To the pulley connected to the segment above
referred to is fixed a steel band for giving motion to a carrier pulley,
and around this carrier pulley and the cylindrical die a steel band is
passed one or more times, the ends of which are weighted, or the cylin-
drical die may be held in a chuck and turned by a steel band passing
round a pulley fixed to the axle of the chuck, or the cylindrical die
may be driven by a steel band passing round the copper cylinder, or a
disc fixed on the mandril thereof and around the die.
Our Invention consists also of an improved arrangement of levers
connected with the ordinary treadle motion of pentagraph engraving
machines, by which patterns or designs composed wholly or in part of
spots or pin effects can be produced by punches, the rise and fall and
the position of which on the surface of the cylinder are regulated by the
worker from an enlarged design or sketch, as in the ordinary mode of
tracing with diamond points.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and
Frederick William Edmondson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
EDMONDSON, WILLIAM EDMONDSON, and FREDERICK WILLIAM ED-
MONDSON, of the Firm of Messieurs Edmondson Brothers, of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engravers to Calico Printers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of
Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said James Edmondson, William Edmond-
son, and Frederick William Edmondson, Her special licence that we,
the said James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and Frederick
William Edmondson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said James Edmondson, William Edmondson,
and Frederick William Edmondson, 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 lawfully 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 MACHINERY FOR
ETCHING AND ENGRAVING CYLINDERS AND CYLINDRICAL DIES USED IN PRINTING.
AND EMBOSSING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said James Edmondson, William Edmondson, and Frederick William
Edmondson, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands. and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 James Edmondson, William
Edmondson, and Frederick William Edmondson, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say) :-
Our Invention consists, first, in an improved combination of machinery
for giving motion to the diamond points or other instruments by which
the design or pattern is produced.
Secondly. In improved machinery for giving partial rotary' motion
to the cylindrical dies used in the business of engraving to calico
printers.
And lastly. In an improved arrangement of levers connected with
the ordinary treadle motion of pentagraph engraving machines, by whichí
patterns or designs composed wholly or in part of spots or pin effects
can be produced by punches, the rise and fall and the position of which
on the surface of the cylinder are regulated by the worker from an
enlarged design or sketch, as in the ordinary mode of tracing withi
diamond points.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and
readily carried into operation we will proceed to describe the two accom-
panying Sheets of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and
letters marked thereon.
On Sheet 1 Fig. 1 is an elevation in section of our improved machinery
for etching or engraving cylinders used in printing and embossing;
Fig. 2 is a front elevation, and Fig. 3 is a plan of part of the same.
a, a, are the frame sides which are connected by the stays a¹; b is the
horizontal table on which the enlarged design is fixed as now customary ;
c is the cylinder to be etched or engraved mounted on the axle or
mandril c¹, the journals of which are supported on antifriction rollers;
d, d, are the diamond or other tool holders which are fixed to the tool
bars e; these tool bars rest upon the antifriction bowls e' supported by
the cross rails f. The tracer is supported in the tracer carriage i, which
moves to and fro on the cross 'bar j, being supported on antifriction
rollers as usual, the ends of the cross bar are connected to the two
side bars j', which are supported by antifriction bowls running on the
rails be fixed to the top stays a', and the side bars j¹ are united at the
back by the cross stay, the parts marked j, j¹, and j, form the main
slide. One of the side bars j' is connected to the segment by steel
bands, and as the main slide is moved to and fro by the operator in
passing the tracer over the pattern a partial rotary motion is given to

page_text: the segment which is fixed to the same axle as the pulley c² connected
by steel or other metal bands to the expanding pulley fixed to the
mandril c¹ of the cylinder c. The parts above referred to give the partial
rotary motion to the cylinder, and are made in the manner described in
former Letters Patent granted to us on the Eighth day of April One
thousand eight hundred and seventy, Number 1033.
Our present improvements consist in imparting the requisite lateral
to-and-fro motions to the tool slides e by means of the rail fixed to
the tracer carriage i; this rail passes over antifriction rollers supported
in bearings fixed to the cross rail g, which runs on the bowls g¹ on the
cross stay h. In the centre of and between the two rails f supporting
the tool slides e is the shaft k, on which is the large pulley ¹ and two
small pulleys ², the large one being connected by steel or other metal
hands to the ends of the cross rail g, and the smaller ones in a similar
manner to the tool slides e. The large pulley is four times the diameter
of the smaller ones, or of such other definite proportion as may be found
requisite, or pulleys of variable diameters, as described in the Patent
above referred to, may be used.
We wish to remark here that the diamond points or other tools are
lifted out of contact with the cylinder by the treadle t lever t', and
upright in the ordinary manner.
By means of the improved combination of parts above described the
partial rotary motion is given to the cylinder, as described in our former
Patent No. 1033 above referred to, and the lateral to-and-fro motions
are given to the tool slides with less friction, and consequently the tracer
can be moved over the pattern with less power than by any of the
machines heretofore in use.
The second part of our Invention, which relates to an improved com-
bination of machinery for giving a partial rotary motion to the cylindrical
steel or other dies used in the business of engraving to calico printers,
is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. In these views a¹ are the upper stays sup-
porting the brackets a² of our pentagraph engraving machine as shewn
in Figs. 1 and 2, or other suitable machine; d is one of the ordinary
diamond points or other engraving tool supported on the tool bar e
which is traversed to and fro by the pulleys and, or other equi-
valents; and is the segment or wheel which is turned partly round by
the main slide as above described; the expanding pulley is fixed to the
axle of the segment or wheel 1, and this expanding pulley is connected

page_text: by steel bands to the carrier pulley m, the axle of which is supported
in bearings fixed to the main frame and to the bracket a². The cylin-
drical die n to be engraved is supported on centres passing through a
bracket similar to that shewn at as in Figs. 6, 7, and 8, fixed to the
bracket a², and the requisite partial rotary motion is communicated to
the die n by the steel or other metal band o, which is carried one or
more times round the pulley m and the end of the die, and held firmly
in contact with the carrier pulley m and the cylindrical die by a weight
suspended at each end or other equivalent. By this arrangement of
machinery the enlarged pattern on the table b, see Fig. 1, can be
transferred on a reduced scale to the cylindrical die n.
This part of our Invention may be modified in the following manner:
-The cylindrical die may be held in a chuck and turned by a steel
band passing round a pulley fixed to the axle of the chuck, or the
cylindrical die may be driven by a steel band passing round the copper
cylinder, or a disc fixed on the mandril thereof and around the die.
The last part of our Invention consists in the arrangement of machinery
for producing patterns or designs composed either wholly or in part
of spots or pin effects on cylindrical dies or on copper cylinders by
means of punches, the rise and fall and position of which are regulated
by the operator from an enlarged design or sketch, as in the ordinary
pentagraph engraving machines.
Figs. 6, 7, and 8 represent our improved machinery applied to the
production of such designs on a cylindrical die. In these views a³ is
one of the brackets fixed to the stays a', as shewn in Fig. 1; e is the
tool bar; f, the cross stay; 7, the segment or wheel; ", the expanding
pulley; m, the carrier pulley; and n, the cylindrical die which is
supported in centres connected to the bracket a³; these parts have been
described before in reference to Fig. 4. To the tool bar e is fixed the
socket p to receive the shank of the bearing p', in which are set screws,
the points of which support the punch holder r; this punch holder is
provided with the adjustable weight; the position of which can be
regulated to assist in giving any desired force to the blow of the punch.
To the under side of the punch holder r is cast or fixed the bracket
through which passes the set screw 7. The rod t is connected below
to the double elbow lever ³, and to this lever is jointed the rod t²; the
double elbow lever 18 is jointed to the treadle lever t¹ of the engraving
machine, as shewn in Fig. 1. The upper end of the rod is connected

page_text: as usual to the ordinary swivel bar e², and the upper end of the bar t
has a cross head to which the rods are connected; these rods support
the frame t, in which the trunnions of the plate lever & swivel; a
projection from this plate lever rests upon the end of the regulating
screw to. To the under side of the punch holder is also cast or fixed
the bracket ; which is provided with a regulating screw 7. The swivel
bar es, which is jointed as usual to the tool bar e, acts upon the screw r³
to hold the punch clear of the dic when required.
The mode of operation is as follows, and the Drawing represents the
parts in the positions they occupy when the treadle t is up as shown
in Fig. 1As soon as the attendant depresses the treadle the rod ť
is drawn down; the edge of the swivel plate lever to then acting on the
head of the set screw 3 causes the punch holder to assume a diagonal
position, as shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 6, and when the edge of the
plate lever passes beyond the head of the set screw 73 the punch
drops by its own weight and gives the desired spot or pin effect on the
cylindrical die. The force of the blow can be varied by altering the
position of the weight r¹, and the angle of the punch holder can be varied
by screwing the set screw 7 more or less into the bracket 22. When the
attendant releases the treadle the rod & rises, and in so doing the bevilled
edge of the plate lever comes against the under side of the head of the
set screw, and as the swivel plate lever to is supported on trunnions
it assumes a diagonal position while passing upwards, and it regains its
horizontal position as shewn in Fig. 6 when the rod is again up ready
for the next stroke. It is evident that every time the treadle is
depressed to operate upon the punch in the manner above described
the swivel bar e³ is lowered by the rod t to allow the punch to strike
on the die.
The machinery.above described is applicable for producing designs
composed wholly or in part of spots or pin effects on copper or other
cylinders. The lever plate must in such cases be made as wide as
the copper rollers require so as to act simultaneously on all the punch
holders which may be in use at the same time. The ends of the
swivel bare must be connected with the treadle motion so as to be
actuated at the same moment.
This modification will be apparent to any competent workman
without the aid of Drawings; it is evident that the shorter arm of the

page_text: punch holder will have to be lengthened so as to bring the punch or
punches over the centre of the upper part of the cylinder.
To secure proper durability and uniformity in the punches we prefer
to have them made of diamonds ground to the angle required and
bedded firmly in steel studs or other matrix or holder.
Figs. 9 and 10 represent another combination of machinery for
producing designs in spots or pin effects on the copper or other cylinders
used in printing and embossing. c is the copper cylinder; e, the tool
bar; e, the swivel bar; and f, the cross stay. To the tool bar e arc
connected the weighted punch holder or holders v, any convenient
number of which may be divided over the length of the copper cylinder.
The cylinder c is turned partly round, and the tool bar e is moved to
and fro in the manner above described in reference to Figs. 1 and 2,
or in any other convenient manner. To each end of the cross stay f
is fixed a stud on which is jointed the double lever x connected by the
rod to the treadle above referred to. The upright arms of the
levers have bowls ¹ which act on the under side of the swivel bar e²,
and to the levers a are cast or fixed projections for the set screws x³
which act alternately on the short arms of the elbow catch levers w,
the longer arms of which fit under the edge of the swivel bar e. The
catch levers w vibrate on studs fixed in brackets bolted to the cross
stay f.
:
The mode of operation is as follows, and the dotted lines represent the
punch holder in the position it assumes when made ready to strike the
blow The bowls x¹ of the levers x now support the swivel bar e² and
the long arms of the elbow catch levers w are also under the swivel
bar e, ready to support it when the bowls are withdrawn. The
operator now depresses the treadle to lower the bowls x¹ from under
the swivel bar e, which then rests upon the catch levers w, until the
upper set screws a come in contact with the short arms of the catch
levers w; the pressure of the upper set screws a then suddenly with-
draws the longer arms of the catch levers w from under the swivel bar e²,
which then instantly drops and allows the punches to fall against
the copper cylinder. In this arrangement the force of the blow is regu-
lated by the set screw v¹ and the position of the adjustable weight v
If the spots or pin effects made on the cylindrical die or on the copper
or other roller are not sufficiently large it will be easy to remove the

page_text: punch holders and to substitute drilling apparatus, when by the use of
a steel or diamond drill or drills pin holes or spots of any required size
may be made. The drilling apparatus would be connected with the
treadle motion and regulated by the operator in the same manner as in
etching and punching as before described.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we declare that we claim,-
First. The improved machinery shewn and deseribed in reference to
Figs. 1, 2, and 3 for imparting the requisite to-and-fro motions to the
diamond points or other instruments, and particularly the shaft k, and
the pulleys ¹ and 2, in combination with the bar fixed to the
carriage of the tracer, and with the other well known parts of the
engraving machine.
Secondly. The improved machinery described in reference to Figs. 4
and 5 for giving the partial rotary motion to cylindrical dics, and parti-
cularly the weighted band o or its equivalent.
Thirdly. The improved machinery shewn and described in reference
to Sheet 2 for actuating punches in order to produce patterns composed
wholly or in part of spots or pin effects on cylindrical dies, or on copper
or other cylinders.
And lastly. The application of diamonds to punches used in producing
designs in spots or pin effects on dies and cylinders, as described
In witness whereof, we, the said James Edmondson, William
Edmondson, and Frederick William Edmondson, have hereto
set our hands and scals, this Tenth day of January One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-two.