AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR LETTER-PRESS PRINTING
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
NORRIS, of Walworth, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twelfth day of February, in the fifth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edwin Norris, my exors, adññors, and assigns, His especial license,
that I, the said Edwin Norris, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Edwin Norris, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR LETTER-PRESS PRINTING;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Edwin Norris, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference 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
Edwin Norris do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist
in a printing machine, so arranged that it may be termed a double action
printing machine, inasmuch as no delay takes place for the return action of
the cylinder, a sheet being printed each time that the cylinder passes over the
form. And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Edwin
Norris, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be
performed by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS MARKED A AND B.
Figure 1 is a section of one of my said improved machines; and it may
be as well here to observe, that similar letters are used to denote similar
parts in all the Figures, and that italics are used for all those parts con-
nected with the carriage and cylinder, and roman letters for the other parts.
B, 13, is a frame of iron standing on legs; in the centre is fixed the press
table S, to hold the form; on each side of this table is placed an inking
table T, either of wood or metal, which is made to traverse from side to
side upon the fixed rods g, g, g, g, in the same manner as in other printing
machines, by an eccentric or other usual machinery; upon the cross pieces
of the frame are fixed inking ductors V, V, as in other machines, which
inking ductors I retain, as well as the inking tables in common use; all
the inking and carrying rollers are placed upon a carriage which is placed
upon the frame just described, and of which the following is a description:
A, B, are checks of metal, bolted together by the stretchers i, i, i, i, running
on the four wheels h, h, which run in grooves cut or cast in the frame.
a is a cylinder of iron or steel, furnished with a spindle, and running in the
centre of the carriage; the cylinder is covered with a blanket or felt, such as
is in common use; on each side of this cylinder a set of several small rollers
are fixed, b, c, d, e, in the positions here shewn; b, d, are connected by endless
tapes; cand e are in like manner connected; f is the end of a rod of iron,
on which several small reels are fitted at a distance from each other, which
are made to slide from end to end, but which when the machine is working
are fixed by set screws at the distance apart required; long tapes fixed from
f to f, pass under the little reels on the bars f, f, over b, b, and d, d, and under
the cylinder a, so that when the carriage slides from one end of the frame to
the other all these reels and rollers turn round by the friction of the tapes on
their surfaces; in order to produce a greater friction, I generally use a piece of
strong gut parallel with the tapes, near the extremities of the rollers; the

page_text: endless tapes round b, b, and d, d, cause d, d, to turn also, and the rollers c, c,
being in contact with b, b, will turn with it, as will also e, e, which are also
connected with c, c, by an endless tape. The rollers c and should not be in
contact in the whole of their lengths, but only at their ends, which must have
raised rims covered with leather for the purpose; all these rollers turn alter-
nately in opposite directions, as the motion of the carriage is to the right or
the left. Very near the cylinder are two fans or scrapers m, composed of thin
slips of wood or metal, fastened on bars the whole width of the machine,
which are made to revolve in the same direction as the roller c, by a band
passed round the ends of c and the axis of the scraper. All those last-
mentioned rollers and scrapers b, c, d, e, f, and m, are capable of being
detached from the carriage without being separated from each other, by being
fixed in a smaller brass frame, which is shown in Figure 6; the rollers b and d,
and the bar f, are in the pieces marked s, and the rollers c and e, with the
scraper m, in the pieces marked q. The pieces q, q, are connected with S, S,
by thumb screws 0, 0, and may be separated for the convenience of fitting on
the tapes; the brass frame is furnished with steadying pins p and t, which
drop into corresponding grooves in the cheeks of the carriage A, B. At each
end of and connected with the carriage are what I call the depositors k, l, k, 1;
these depositors are square wooden frames, with a simple roller at each end u
and v, connected by endless tapes, placed so near each other as to form a
surface for supporting a sheet of paper; the rollers v turn in the brass pieces S,
and are fitted with cog wheels at one end, which are worked by other wheels
on the bars ff; one of these wheels is fitted with a click and ratchet wheel,
so that the roller v can only turn one way, that is to say, from the cylinder as
shewn by the arrows drawn above the tapes. 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, are the usual
composition rollers fixed on the carriage and moving with it, they serve to
distribute ink over the surface of the form. The manner in which the paper
passes through the carriage in order to receive the impression is as follows:-
The sheet of paper is presented (by means which I shall hereafter explain)
with its edge to the opening between the rollers c and b, in the centre of the
machine, or on the right hand of the carriage as it stands in the Drawing;
the carriage is then pushed towards the right of the frame by levers at the
side proceeding from the ends of a shaft at the bottom of the machine, or by
any mechanical means which the Patentee may choose to employ, and the
paper is caught between the rollers c and d; as the carriage advances the
rollers g, 9, 9, covered with the usual composition of glue and treacle, and
supported in forks or crutches fixed to the carriage, ink the form placed upon
the table S; the paper passes between the rollers, and goes under the cylinder

page_text: at the same time that the cylinder is rolling over the inked form, then the
paper receives the impression, and then, as the carriage goes on, the paper is
carried to the left hand of the cylinder, against which it is prevented from
striking by the whirling round of the scraper or fan m; it is then carried out
between the opposite rollers c and d, and deposited upon the depositor k, l,
the tapes running at the same time with the same velocity with which the
paper moves, so that it falls smoothly upon it; the carriage being now at the
right hand of the frame, another sheet of paper is presented at the left hand
between the other pair of rollers b and c, from which the printed paper has
just issued by the return of the carriage to the opposite side of the frame the
second sheet of paper passes through the carriage in the opposite direction,
and is printed like the first, but as it is unnecessary to repeat the description I
shall proceed with the first sheet of paper to its destination; this first sheet,
now printed and lying on the depositor, is carried back to the other end of the
machine while the second sheet is being printed; this operation brings
the depositor, with the said first sheet upon it, immediately over a light
pasteboard frame R, placed upon the fram B, B, and called the receiving
table; on the next return of the carriage, that is, when the third sheet is
about to be printed, the motion of the tapes on the depositors throws the
sheets gently upon the receiving table; the sheets are thus deposited at each
end of the machine. Three sheets are always in motion at one time, that is to
.say, one is being printed, another is being carried towards one of the receiving
tables, and a third is being deposited upon the other receiving table; and the
sheets may accumulate upon these receiving tables until it is convenient to
remove them. I now proceed to shew by what means I bring the sheet of
paper to the centre of the machine, in order to its being presented to the
receiving rollers c and b. The sheet is placed upon a tympan frame M, O, N,
which I will presently describe, when in the position of Figure 1, on the right
side of the Drawing; a similar frame is on the left hand, as shown by the
Drawing. The action is as follows:-A cani wheel A, shaped as in the Figure,
works against two friction rollers C, C, which are supported by rods D, D; a
rod C, E, extends from C, C, to the end E of a lever E, F, to which it
is attached by the joint E; the lever E, F, is inflexibly fixed to a bar F, which
goes across the frame transversely, from the ends of which bar the arms F, G,
extend to the rods G, H, to which they are jointed at G; these rods and similar
ones at the opposite side are connected with the tympan frames by the
joints H. By this arrangement, when the eccentric wheel A presses against
C, the rod C, E, will push the lever E and turn the bar F, which by the
action of the arms F, G, will raise the tympan frames. When that part, marked

page_text: with dots, of the wheel A reaches C, the frame falls down, and the motion
just described is reversed, the friction rollers C, C, constantly remaining close to
the circumference of the cam wheel A, either by the action of a spring P against
the lever E, F, as here shown, or by a weight upon the tympan frame; the
tympan frame is supported by bars of wood or metal of equal length I, M, and
L, O, which are jointed to the frame at M and O; they are also jointed at their
other ends L and I to two irons Y and Z fastened to the great frame B, B;
the tympan frame is always kept parallel to the frame of the machine, because
the distance from M to O is equal to that from I to L and the bars I, M,
and O, L, are of equal length; the pieces W, X, and U are added to raise the
frame when by its descent I, M, has fallen into a line with O, L, and has lost
power over it; the cam wheel A revolves with the shaft, which moves the
whole machine either by right-angled cranks or by a train of wheels, and it
must make a whole revolution while the carriage is going forwards and back-
wards. I now proceed to describe the tympan frame; it is constructed of three
pieces of thin metal or of wood, as shown in Figure 5, a, b, c, d. From N to O
is fixed a wire or plate Q, (shown in Figure 1, but not seen in Figure 5,)
which allows the spindles or ends of the axis of a roller P to slide between it
and the frame on the ends of the axis, and just within side the frame the
pulleys S, S, are fixed, of smaller diameter than the roller itself, and between
the roller and the fixed pullies are also placed two loose pullies T, T; a piece
of cloth or calico R is rolled round the roller, the other end being fastened at V;
springs m, m, fastened or let into the sides of the frame are connected with
strings n, n, the other ends of which are rolled round the pullies S, S, these
pullies being of smaller diameter than the roller P, the force of the springs
m, m, upon them will have a tendency to keep the cloth in the position shown
in the Figure; the paper is laid upon the cloth, and when, by the motion of
the machine, the cloth with the frame is dropped down before the carriage
advances, the brass frame which holds the rollers b, d, pushes against the
pullies T, T; the springs m, m, keep the cloth always stretched, the roller P
turns as the carriage advances, the cloth rolls up, and the paper is left free to
be caught between the rollers b and c, as stated before. When the carriage
reaches V, the larger part of the great wheel A will have reached the pulley
C, and the frame will be raised, and the cloth stretched out again by the action
of the springs ready to receive another sheet. It is scarcely necessary to add,
that the action of the two tympan frames is alternate as the carriage passes
from side to side of the machine. Figure 2 is a side elevation of one of my
said improved printing machines, the left-hand tympan frame being down in the
position for presenting a sheet of paper to the right side of the cylinder. Z is

page_text: one of the fixed guts described in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective elevation
of one of my said machines with the left-hand tympan frame and depositor
removed in order more clearly to show the reels before-mentioned and here
marked r, as also the fixed tapes and guts (2, 2, 2, and Z, Z,) fixed to the
thumb-screw pieces, and passing under the reels on the bars f, f. ff.
Now, whereas I claim as my Invention the tympan frames, the depositors,
and the fixed tapes z, z, z, herein-before described, together with action of the
two pair of drawing rollers c, b, c, b, and the manner in which the paper is con-
ducted by them under the cylinder and brought on to the depositors by their
means and that of the said fixed tapes, each pair of rollers acting alternately
as receiving rollers and depositing rollers; and such my Invention being to the
best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within
that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily
believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without
reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained, wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and title to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Norris, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.