CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PRINTING PRESSES
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HOPE, of Jedburgh, in the County of Roxburgh, North Britain, Ironfounder,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of March, 1828, in the fourth year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Hope, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Hope, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PRINTING PRESSES;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said
William Hope, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under his hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever. thereby granted.
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same (relation
being thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hope, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :—
My Invention of "Certain Improvements in the Constructing of Printing
Presses" consists in additions to and in alterations of the press commonly
known by the name of the "Stanhope printing press," and of which press the
construction being already well understood, it merely becomes necessary to
describe those parts which I have either added to the press, or altered, in
order to enable me to carry my said improvements into effect; and that they
may be the better understood, I have in the annexed Drawing shewn a
Stanhope printing press in different points of view in outline, and have
shadowed those parts which constitutes my said improvements.
Fig. 1 is a side view or elevation of the press; Fig. 2, an end view of the
same, taken from behind the press; Fig. 3, a front view of the upper part of it;
and Fig. 4 a plan of it; in all of which Figs. the same letters of reference apply
to the similar parts of the press. A, A, &c., the iron standards of the press;
B, the platten; C, the table to hold the form of types, capable of being,
run in
and out of the press by the usual contrivances, and fitted up with its tympan and
frisket; D, the handle of the press, affixed to a short arm or lever E, turning upon
a part of one of the standards A, made cylindrical for that purpose; F, a con-
necting rod, affixed to the arm E by a joint, and which rod in the usual construc-
tion of this press is jointed to another short arm or lever affixed to the screw or
bolt of the press; in my improved construction, bowever, it is connected with one
arm of the bent lever Ġ (shewn in Fig. 4), and which lever turns upon a cylin-
drical part of the other standard A as a fulcrum, and to the other arm of the
bent lever G I affix another connecting rod H, which is united with a short arm
or lever I upon the bolt of the press. I thus employ an additional connecting
rod and a bent lever, and thereby gain a proportionate encrease of power in the
press. These parts are shewn in the plan, Fig. 4, as at rest, but the red dotted
lines shew their positions when brought into action, whereby it will be seen
that I bring that well-known mechanical power, approaching to an infinito
power, twice into action, in my new arrangement of the parts above described,
whereas in the Stanhope press as hitherto made, it is employed only once, and,
hence I obtain the great additional power above mentioned. As in the
here shewn I do not employ the male and female screws commonly used, but
portions of circular inclined planes instead thereof, and as it is necessary to
press

page_text: shew how my additional power is employed in order to produce its effect upon
the platten of the press, so I have given the additional Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9,
in explanation thereof, in which Fig. 5 represents the short arm or lever I
affixed upon the bolt of the press; the upper pivot J of this bolt turns in a
socket made to receive it in the strong upper cross-piece or head. of the
press, and the upper end of it rests against the end of that socket, so as to
prevent all upward movement; the lower neck or pivot K turns in a hole
made in the slider of the press, shewn in section at Fig. 6, and in Figs. 7 and 8.
Two portions of circular inclined planes are formed upon the lower part of
the bolt of the press; and two others made in the slider correspondent
thereto. The lower part of the slider is made partly of a spherical shape, and
is lodged in a corresponding cavity made in the centro of the platten, which
is hung to the slider in the usual manner, by four screws. and nuts,. and thus
the power of the press is communicated to the platten, when the bolt is turned
by means of the handle, &c. as above described, the slider being at the same
time prevented from moving in any other direction than upwards and down-
wards in its guides. Fig. 9 is an outer view of the slider. The slider and
platten are raised up in the usual manner by means of a counterbalancing
weight affixed to a forked lever turning upon fulcrums, resting in gaps made
in the guides of the slider; as, however, these parts are not of my Invention,
nor claimed as such herein, it is unnecessary to enter into further particulars
of their formation. I do not mean or intend hereby to claim as my Invention
any of the parts of this press already in use, but I do claim the additional
connecting rod, the bent lever, and the manner of arranging them here
shewn, so as to produce a proportionate increase of power in the press and
a correspondent ease in working it.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hope, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelveth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three
Taken and acknowledged by William Hope,
(party hereto), this Twelveth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-three, before me,
WILLIAM (L.s.) HOPE.
SAM. WOOD, of Jedburgh, Writer.
Samuel Wood, of Jedburgh, in the County of Roxburgh, Writer, maketh
oath, that he was present at the signing and scaling, and acknowledging of
the annexed Specification, and that the signature and seal on the said Speci-