IMPROVEMENTS IN BRONZING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRONZING MACHINES."-A com.
munication from abroad by Edward F. Benton, of Buffalo, New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 8th March 1872, and dated the 18th January 1872.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 18th January 1872, pursuant to the 9th.
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BRONZING MACHINES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto
mc, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters

page_text: Figure 1 is an end elevation of a bronzing machine embracing my
improvements. Figure 2 is an elevation of the opposite end of the said
machine. Figure 3 is a vertical cross section on the lines x, x, Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical section showing the construction of
the hopper and its relation to the bronzing roller and cylinder.
Figure 5 is a vertical cross section on the line y, y, Figure 4; and
Figure 6 is a detail view showing the construction and operation of the
gripers and the springs for closing the arm holes in the cylinder. The
same letters indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A is the frame of the machine constructed to form the proper
bearings for all the necessary journals, and adapted to rest upon a table
or the floor according to size of machine. It is also formed to provide
supports for the feeding table B. The bronzing roller C is hung in
adjustable bearings in the upwardly extended portion of the frame, and
on one side of the frame (which is at the end of the roller that is
driven by the friction rollers) is pivotted a raising lever D. The latter
is connected by an arm a to the shaft of the bronze roller C, so that
depressing the handle of the lever will raise the roller out of gear and
away from the cylinder and stop its motion as well as that of the
revolving bronze cylinder E, with which it is connected by a belt b
passing around the cones c on their respective shafts.

page_text: To automatically raise the bronzing roller from the cylinder during
the travel of that part of the same not covered by the sheet I provide
a raising platform or rail on the outer edge of the cylinder (which may
be applied in any desirable manner). I hang from the bronzing roller
shaft, or box, a leg provided with a caster wheel, which running up
on the raising platform or rail lifts the bronze roller from the cylinder
and out of gear. The object of the spring bearings of the bronzing
roller is to permit this operation as well as varying the distance between
the periphery of the bronze roller and cylinder proper F when working
sheets of greater or less thickness. In this case should it be necessary
to raise the bronze roller to such an extent as to throw it out of
gear with
its driving friction pulley an extra rubber or friction tire is sprung upon
the bronze roller pulley.
To raise the roller for this purpose the
lever is not used but the adjusting screw d.
G is the main driving shaft, upon which are keyed the main pulley H
and the balance wheel I. K is the shaft of the cylinder F, on one end of
which is keyed the gear wheel L that meshes into the intermediate
pinions M, M. These are both of the same diameter and consequently
revolve at the same speed. These intermediate pinions M. and M' mesh
with the pinions N, N', keyed to the shafts of two cleaning rollers,
represented by the dotted lines O, O', so that as the cylinder is rotated
the cleaning rollers (both the upper one O and the lower one O¹) are
rotated at the same speed (that is with reference to each other) and in
a direction indicated by the arrows, which is the reverse of the line of
motion of the cylinder F. The shafts of these cleaning rollers are
mounted in adjustable bearings that are controlled by adjusting
screws e, e, and the teeth of the gear wheels are necessarily made quite
long to admit of this adjustment without destroying the action of one
upon the other.
Mounted in the frame A and somewhat above the centre of the
cleaning rollers O, O', in similar adjustable bearings, are two cleaning
brushes P, P, driven from the other end of the machine by means of a
main gear wheel Q, neshing into two intermediate gear wheels Q',
which in turn mesh with pinions R keyed to the shafts of the
brushes P, P. This train of gearing is so arranged with reference to
speed as to drive the brushes much faster than the cleaning rollers O, O'.
Hung in arms is a reel R', which is simply two discs joined by
horizontal wires arranged in the arc, and a central shaft upon which

page_text: h
there is a small pulley driven by a belt y passing around it, and a
larger pulley on the shaft of the brush. The reel is thereby rotated
in a reverse direction to that of the brushes and at a faster speed, and
is so located that the bristles of the brush will overhang the wires
slightly. It will thus be seen that the bronze taken off of the cleaning
rollers O, O', by the brushes P, P', is effectually knocked out of the said
brushes and deposited in the receptacle or drawer S, S¹, of the shape
illustrated in the Drawing, turned up at the rear side, and having two
shields 1, 2, shewn in dotted lines, running the length of the drawer
and secured to the ends thereof. This drawer is made of tin or other
suitable sheet metal, and the bottom and shields extend up near to the
periphery of the cleaning brushes (leaving just room for them to pass
without touching) to keep the bronze from flying back upon the
cleaning rollers after it has been " 'fillipped" or knocked out of the
brushes by the reel. This is important, as the cleaning rollers must be
kept perfectly clear of bronze. The lower cleaning roller O' and its
attendant brush are merely auxiliary to remedy any possible defect in
the cleaning by the upper one 0; and as only a small quantity (if any)
of bronze is taken up by this roller a simple comb i may be arranged
to clean this brush.
A large gear wheel on the outside of the frame is secured to the
cylinder shaft, the said wheel being of equal diameter with the said
cylinder, and meshing into a gear hub on the main shaft G. The proper
motion and speed are thus imparted to the cylinder F. Meshing into
this same cylinder gear wheel is an intermediate gear wheel T, which
meshes with a smaller wheel T on the shaft of one of two small
drums U. Over the latter are passed several tapes, which form a skeleton
apron for carrying off into a receptacle at the foot of the machine (seen
at V) the finished sheets as they are automatically deposited thereon, as
will be presently explained. At one or more proper points on the
periphery of the cylinder F a groove is cut longitudinally of slight
depth, and then filled up with rubber to form an clastic bed for the
edge of the griper blade to close against.
The griper is shown at W, Figure 1, as closed and on a larger scale
at Figure 6 in an open and a closed position. This griper W is composed
of a blade of the same length as the cylinder F secured to any desirable
number of arms, which are passed from the interior of the cylinder
through arm holes y, and secured to the blade where they are drawn

page_text: back and pivotted to the interior surface of the cylinder, forming a
fulcrum upon which the griper is moved. The rear or inner ends of
these arms are turned up at right angles, as seen at 3, and have a pierced
ear 4, into which one end of a spiral spring Z is secured while the other
end is fastened to a similar ear 5 secured to the interior of the cylinder.
The tendency therefore of this spring is to keep the griper closed down
upon its elastic bed or seat, and the object of making this bed of rubber
is that should any particle or hard substance get under the griper blade
at any point it will be embedded in the rubber and not prevent the
griper from coming down and clasping the paper it is designed to hold.
Secured to thesc arms x back of their centres is a stiffening rod J,
passing entirely through and having its ends turned at a right angle, as
seen at 6, which part coming in contact with lugs 7 projecting from the
frame of the machine and at the proper points opens the gripers. In
the Drawing I have represented these lugs so located as to open the
griper to permit a sheet to be fed under it from the feed table (after
which it closes, and to again open when the sheet has been finished to
drop it on the skeleton apron for conveying it to a proper receptacle.
The arm holes y are necessarily elliptical, in order that the proper
movement of the arms may be allowed; and were there no means
provided to prevent it these holes when the gripers are closed would
allow bronze to drop through the cylinder. To obviate this difficulty
and avoid every possibility of escape of bronze in any manner whatever,
I arrange on the back of the griper arms small flat springs t curved as
shown, so that when the griper is closed they will effectually fill up or
close the arm hole back of the gripers, and supply the break in the
periphery of the cylinder. When the gripers open these springs will be
flattened up against the back of the arms between them and the back
edge of the arm holes.

page_text: which the bronze is received, and the said door is fastened in any
convenient manner. Several rows of little holes seen at 1, Figure 3,
running from end to end of this cylinder and parallel to the axis, are made
in the face of the same. They are designed to drop the bronze as each
successive row of holes arrives in a vertical line over the bronze roller,
and the speed of this bronze cylinder and consequently the amount of
bronze dropped in a given time will be regulated by the cone pulley on the
shaft driven by the belt b, as heretofore explained. One or more slides
are arranged within the hopper to regulate the flow of bronze according
to the width of sheet.
Arranged around the periphery of the bronzing roller C are spreading
rollers m, which effectually and evenly spread the bronze dropped from
the hopper on the periphery of the plush bronze roller, and they at the
same time prevent the bronze from being thrown off at a tangent, as
has heretofore been the case. The bronze roller is driven through the
medium of the friction wheel n on its shaft and the two intermediate
wheels o, o', the latter running in contact with the large friction
wheel A¹ on the main shaft G. A sheet metal cover B¹ made in sections
is constructed to completely cover the working parts, as shown in
Figure 1. Those parts obscured by the frame of the machine are
indicated by the dotted lines, and it will be seen that any escape
whatever of bronze to any of the working parts of the machine or
out into the room is prevented in the most perfect manner. The
direction in which the several parts of the machine move is indicated
by the arrows.
Having described the construction I will now describe the operation
of the said machine.
The operative standing in front of the feed board feeds the sheet
under the griper, which is open when on a level with the feed table and
closes just before passing under the cover, clamping the sheet against
the rubber bed on the periphery of the cylinder. The sheet having
been previously sized is carried under the bronze roller, which receives
its supply from the hopper and has it evenly spread on its periphery by
the four spreading rollers. It is completely rubbed over by the said roller,
the bronze adhering perfectly to the sized portions of the sheet and
lying loosely on the balance. It is then carried under the upper
wiping or cleaning roller, which is travelling slowly and about the same
speed as the cylinder, and the sheet is slowly and surely wiped and

page_text: Sixth. The combination with the polishing and cleaning rollers of the
brushes for freeing the same of the bronze they take up from the sheet,
when arranged to operate as shewn and described.
Seventh. The combination with the polishing and cleaning roller or
brushes,for freeing superfluous bronze of a reel or comb for cleaning
the same, substantially as described.
Eighth. The combination with the first or upper polishing and
cleaning roller and freeing brush of a lower or auxiliary polishing and
cleaning roller and freeing brush to more perfectly effect the certain
and complete polishing and cleaning of the sheet, as herein-before set
forth.
Ninth. The bronze receptacles constructed as described, with two or
more shields to prevent the return of bronze to the cylinder or cleaning
rollers.
Tenth. The rubber seat on the periphery of the cylinder for the
griper blade to close upon, as and for the purposes set forth.
Eleventh. The cover or covers constructed and applied as described,
to prevent the escape into the room of any bronzing material.
Twelfth. In a cylinder bronzing machine the general arrangement of
all the parts as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
W³. ROB™. LAKE. (L.S.)