IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING FROM ENGRAVED PLATES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Tirebuck, of Windsor Court, in the City of
London, Printer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING
FROM ENGRAVED PLATES."
Sealed the 13th December 1859, and dated the 29th June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Tirebuck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th June 1859.
I, ISAAC TIREBUCK, of Windsor Court, in the City of London, Printer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR PRINTING FROM ENGRAVED PLATES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the application to single cylinder letter-press
printing machines of apparatus whereby the printing of engraved plates may
be automatically performed in such machines. Over the reciprocating bed or
table (to which the plate to be printed is secured) a rotary brush is mounted,
the same being carried by slides supported by the main framing, and operated
by slotted rock levers, to which they are respectively connected by a link, the
slotted ends of the rock levers being connected by rods to crank pins on
the ends of the pressing cylinder. The brush, as the table moves under it,
takes up ink from an inking slab, and lays it on to the face of the plate. For
cleaning the face of the plate, an elastic scraper or doctor, formed by

page_text: preference of thin sheet steel, held fast in a clamp is employed. This doctor
is carried by a rotating axle, which turns in bearings in the main framing, and
is set obliquely instead of at right angles to the line of traverse of the plate.
The adjustment of this doctor is such that as the plate passes forward towards
the pressing roller, it will press upon the face of the plate and scrape off the
superfluous ink; the plate will then pass forward, and meeting with the paper
to be printed, which is fed on to the cylinder in the usual way, it will pass
with the paper under the cylinder, where the nip will be given to ensure the
transfer of the ink from the lines of the plate to the paper; the printed
paper will then be carried away by the cylinder, from which it is to be taken
by an attendant, the plate meanwhile returning to receive a second inking.
Before, however, the plate passes in its return movement under the doctor
an axial motion is given to the doctor shaft to throw up the steel blade clear
of the plate. In its raised position it is caused to "dwell" for the purpose of
being cleaned by an attendant. A spring stop arrangement is provided for
retaining the doctor in position after performing given portions of its rotation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Tirebuck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
TIREBUCK, of Windsor Court, in the City of London, Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Isaac Tirebuck, Her special license that I, the said Isaac-
Tirebuck, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Isaac Tirebuck, my 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
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING FROM ENGRAVED PLATES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Tirebuck, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,

page_text: 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 I, the said Isaac Tirebuck, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to adapt single-cylinder letter-press printing
machines to the automatic printing of engraved copper plates and other incised
printing surfaces. This end I propose to attain by the application to such
machines of suitable apparatus, consisting mainly of a travelling rotating inking
brush for transferring the printing ink from a trough and slab to the engraved
plate, and an elastic scraper or doctor for removing from the plate the
superfluous ink imparted thereto by the brush.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in side elevation so much of a
single cylinder printing machine fitted with my improvements as will serve to
explain the nature of my Invention; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.
a, a, is the main framing of the machine; b, b, the impression cylinder; and
c, c, the reciprocating bed or table which carries the plate to be printed under
the impression cylinder. This table is extended rearwards to carry the ink or
color trough, and it forms an inking slab for the spreading of the ink, while to
the forward part of the table the copper or other printing plate is firmly
secured by screws or otherwise. Extending diagonally over the reciprocating
bed or table c, is a rotary brush d, the same being mounted in slides d*, which
are slotted to receive guide pins projecting from bracket pieces on the main
framing. The slides d* are operated by rock levers e, e", to which they are
respectively connected by links f, f*. The rock lever e (see Fig. 1) is pro-
longed below its fulcrum rod, and the lower limb is slotted to receive the joint
pin of a connecting rod g (Fig. 2), which is connected at its other end to a
crank pin h on the driving wheel of the impression cylinder. Besides the
reciprocating motion thus imparted to the brush, it also receives rotary motion
from friction of contact with the table c, as it moves under the brush to impart
ink thereto from the inking slab, or to effect the inking of the face of the plate.
By thus making the rotation of the brush in part independent of the movement
of the table, a more even distribution of ink over the surface of the brush, and
consequently over the face of the printing plate will be effected than would
otherwise be obtained, and ready access will be afforded during the recession'
of the brush from the doctor for the attendant to remove from the doctor the

page_text: ink or color which it has taken up. This doctor, which is intended to take off
the superfluous ink from the surface of the printing plate, consists of an elastic
scraper, formed by preference of thin sheet steel, as shewn at i, i, (Fig. 2,)
held fast in a clamp attached to an axle k, which extends across the machine,
and turns in bearings in the main framing. The doctor i, like the brush, is
set diagonally instead of at right angles to the line of traverse of the plate,.
and its movements are so timed that as the plate passes forward towards the
impression cylinder, it will press upon the face of the plate and scrape off the
superfluous ink. The plate continuing to pass forward, will meet with the
paper to be printed, which is fed on to the cylinder from the feed board / in
the usual way, and it will pass with the paper under the cylinder, when the.
nip will be given to ensure the transfer of the ink from the lines of the plate
to the paper.
When the plate has passed from under the doctor, the latter
will, by reason of the axial motion imparted to it, bring the scraper edge to
the position shewn in the detached view, Fig. 3, at which movement the ink
which it has gathered must be removed by the attendant; when this is effected,
(a "dwell" in the rotation of the doctor being provided for the purpose), the
doctor will continue its rotation, and take up a position for repeating the
operation of cleaning the face of the printing plate. During the cleaning of
the plate the doctor will remain stationary, and not until the plate has passed
from under the scraper blade will the rotation of the doctor be continued.
This intermittent axial motion I obtain by driving the spur pinion m on the
doctor shaft by means of a toothed wheel n, on the periphery of which two
blank spaces are formed, the larger one for giving the "dwell" requisite for
ensuring the passage of the plate under the scraper, and the smaller one for
presenting the scraper, as shewn at Fig. 8, to be cleaned. For the purpose of
maintaining the doctor in its quiescent positions, that is, while the cleaning of
the plate and the cleaning of the scraper is being effected, I use the stop
arrangement shewn at Fig. 4. 0, 0, is a bracket piece, bolted to the framing a,
and carrying a spring click p, which is notched to receive alternately one or
other of the ends of a forked piece q, keyed to the doctor shaft. As this shaft
rotates in the direction of the arrow, the forked piece q is forced past the notch
of the click p, but when the shaft ceases to rotate the doctor will be locked by
the forked piece being caught in the notched click. It will now be understood
that during the forward motion of the table the brush will ink the plate, and
the scraper will clean it ready for the reception of the paper, which is fed to
the plate by the impression cylinder, the nip being then given and the
impression cast off, the printed paper will be carried away by the cylinder from'
which it is to be taken by an attendant. The return motion of the table will

page_text: ineanwhile bring back the plate to receive a second inking, the doctor by the
rotation of its shaft being thrown up clear of the plate; thus a rapid repetition
of the printing operation will take place, and great economy in the printing of
plates of various kinds will result. The inks which I prefer to use as being
most manageable are made of water color thickened with some glutinous
substance, and combined or not with oil according to whether the printing is
intended to be fugitive, as for bankers' cheques and bills of exchange, or
otherwise.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Printing from Engraved Plates," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim adapting letter-press printing machines to the
printing of engraved plates, in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Tirebuck, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
ISAAC TIREBUCK. (L.S.)