Improvements in Feeding Apparatus for Printing Machines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Der., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 17th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 29th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Feeding Apparatus for Printing Machines.
I, CALVERT BARON COTTRELL of No. 20 Elm Street, Westerly in the
County of Washington and State of Rhode Island, United States of America,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention relates to what is known as a roll feed, the paper being supplied
to the printing machine from a roll or continuous web and cut into sheets which
are successively fed to the impression cylinder. The improvement consists in
means hereinafter described for cutting up a roll of paper into sheets of different
lengths with clean-cut edges and means of properly feeding the sheets to the
cylinder with due regard to their lengths.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of those parts of a two-revolution
printing machine which are necessary to illustrate my invention, including the
impression cylinder and the feeding apparatus.
Figure 2 represents a horizontal section of the same in the line a, a of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view representing the cylinder and
part of the feeding apparatus taken in the line y y of Figure 1, and viewed from
the left of that figure.
Figure 4 is a side view of part of a train of gearing for driving the feeding
apparatus and the cutters.
Figure 5 represents a transverse sectional view of the shafts of two rollers of
the feeding apparatus, showing their driving gearing which will be hereinafter
described.
Figures 6 and 7 are vertical sectional views of part of an impression cylinder and
parts of a feeding apparatus showing modifications of some of the details of my
invention.
Similar numbers and letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the
figures.
I will first describe my invention with reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
A is the framing of the machine, B the impression cylinder furnished with the
usual grippers B'; and C C₁ C² are the feed rollers hereinafter termed "web feed
rollers" for feeding a web D of paper from a roller D' which supplies it. The
shafts c, c, c of the said web feed rollers and the shaft d of the roller D' are
arranged in suitable bearings in the framing and the said rollers are geared together
by spur gears c* c* c* on their respective shafts. A short distance in front of
the web feed rollers C C C there is arranged the cutting apparatus which is
represented as of a well known kind inasmuch as it consists of two rotating
shafts running in bearings in the side framing and carrying cutter stocks I I
in which are secured the cutter blades i*, *. In front of the cutting apparatus is
arranged a pair of feed rollers F F¹, and immediately behind the cylinder is
arranged another pair of feed rollers G G. The distance between these two pairs
of feed rollers is represented somewhat greater than that of the longest sheets that
will be required to be fed to the cylinder. The lower feed roller F has its length
made up of sections which are fast upon its shaft u at short distances apart as shown
in Figure 2, and between these sections there are pulleys 6, 6, fitted loosely to the
said shaft. The lower roller G has in it grooves, the bottoms of which form
pulleys 7, 7 (see Figure 2) which receive and drive a series of endless tapes or
bands E E which also run on the loose pulleys 6, 6 above mentioned, the said
bands running at the same speed as the front feed rollers G G and serving to
support the end of the web and the cut sheets between the feed rollers F

page_text: and G G. Between the rollers G G₁and the cylinder are a series of adjustable
tongues carried by a bar for supporting the front ends of the sheets between
the said rollers G G and the cylinder B.
The cutter shafts I I' are geared together by gears I* I*. On the shaft i of the
lower cutter stock is a spur gear 12 through which, except at intervals as herein-
after described, the said shaft i derives rotary motion to drive the cutters at the
speed required for cutting the shortest sheets intended to be printed in the machine.
The said gear I' derives motion at a speed, which never varies relatively to that of
the cylinder, from a bevel gear a (sce Figure 2) on the cylinder shaft B. This
bevel gear a gears with and drives a bevel gear 6 on the end of a small shaft e (see
Figures 2 and 4) which works in bearings in brackets e' outside of the framing A,
and on the other end of which is a bevel gearf gearing with and driving a bevel
gear g running on a stud gl secured in the framing. To this bevel gear g is affixed
a spur gear to which gears with and drives the spur gear 1 on the cutter shaft i.
The web feed rollers C C C all derive their motion from the aforesaid gear 12 on
the lower cutter shaft. The said gear 12 gears with and drives a spur gear which
turns freely on a stud j¹ secured in the framing and the said gear gears with and
drives a spur gear k on the shaft on the feed roller C' which in turn drives C
and C through the gears c2* c* c*. The gear on the feed roller shaft c is
changeable for one of a larger or smaller size for the purpose of driving the web
feed rollers at a greater or less speed relatively to the speed of the cylinders as
required to feed just paper enough for longer or shorter sheets. To provide for
the larger or smaller gear k being driven through the spur gear I on the lower
cutter shaft i, the stud j₁ which carries the spur gear j is made adjustable towards
and from the said gear k in a curved slot (Figure 4) in the side framing A, in
which the said stud is capable of being secured in different positions with the geari
always in gear with 12. It will be understood that the gears a, b, f, g, h, I, J,
k, c2 cl and c* constitute a train between the cylinder and the web feed
rollers C, C¹, C' through which, the gear k being changed as required, the said
feed rollers may be made to supply paper for sheets of different length and that
the said train includes a changeable gear and a gear loose upon one of the cutter
shafts.
The said loose gear I' is not, however, entirely independent of the cutter shaft i,
but is only made capable of a lost and regained motion thereon by means of a
yielding connection with the said shaft so that it may sometimes drive the said
shaft and at other times allow the speed of the said shaft and of its fellow i¹ to be
accelerated as hereinafter described. The said yielding connection as here repre-
sented consists of an arm y fast on the shatt i, a stud p fast in the gear 12 and a
spiral springs applied on a rod s¹ which is connected with a pin r in the gear and
which passes through a swivelling guide on the arm q, the said spring being
confined between a shoulder or collars on the said rod and the said swivelling
guide s². The said spring always tends to keep the stud p in contact with the
arm for driving the cutters through the said gear I at a speed which has a fixed
relation to the speed of the cylinder, but the said spring yields to permit the speed
of the cutter shafts to be accelerated to make the edges of the cutters move at
exactly the same speed as the web when the speed of the web feed is increased to
supply paper enough for longer sheets, it being necessary that the cutting edges
should move at the same speed as the paper in order to make a clean cut without
tearing the cut edges. The acceleration of the speed of the cutters is produced by
temporarily engaging the gear I*, on the lower cutter shaft with a gear n (see
Figures 1 and 2) on a fixed stud n¹ which is secured in one of the side frames A,
.and which gears with and derives motion from a gear c on the shaft of the feed
roller C, the said gear n being a continuation of the train herein before described
between the cylinder and the feed rollers which includes the changeable gear k and
the gear I. For the purpose of thus temporarily engaging the said gear I* with
the said gear n, I provide on the inner face of said gear 1* (as shown in Figures 2
and 3) a short toothed sector t which comes into gear with the said gear n just

page_text: before the edges of the cutter blades *, come together in their revolution and
continues so in gear driving the cutter at the accelerated speed until the blades
have passed each other. After the sector t runs out of gear from the said gear n,
the rotation of the cutter shafts is temporarily suspended or retarded until the
arm 9 on the lower cutter shaft which has run away from the projection p on the
loose gear I, is overtaken by the said projection and the driving of the cutter shaft
by means of the gear I' is resumed, the cutters being driven through the change-
able gear k at and just before and after the time of cutting and being at other
times driven from the cylinder without the intervention of the changeable gear.
It will be understood that notwithstanding the acceleration and retardation of the
velocity of the cutters above described, the average velocity of rotation of the
cutter-shafts is constant relatively to that of the cylinder, that is to say the said
shafts always make the same number of revolutions relatively to the number made
by the cylinder.
The feed rollers F F' hereinbefore mentioned, which receive and carry forward
the end of the web before the cutting takes place and afterwards carry forward the
cut sheets some distance are geared together by gears 10, 11 upon their respective
shafts uu and rotary motion is given to them positively so that their surface
velocity may correspond with the speed of the web, through a spur gear n³ which is
fast to the spur gear n' hereinbefore described, the said spur gear n³ gearing with
& spur gear 13 which turns on. a fixed stud 14 secured in the side framing and
which gears with a spur gear 15 turning on a fixed stud 16; the last mentioned
gear gearing with a gear 10 on the lower feed roller F. The feed rollers G G¹
which are next the cylinder B are geared together by spur gears 17, 18 on their
shafts vv and are driven from the cylinder itself, at such a speed that their surface
velocity corresponds with the surface velocity of the cylinder, through a gear 19
which turns on a fixed stud 20 the said gear 19 gearing with and deriving motion
from the gear B³ on the cylinder and gearing with the gear 17 on the lower
roller G. Some distance behind the feed rollers G G¹ is another pair of feed
rollers the purpose of which is to take the cut sheets from the slow moving
feed rollers FF and accelerate their movement towards the cylinder. The lower
roller H runs within the endless tapes or bands E, and the corresponding upper
roller H' runs above the said tapes or bands, and the lower one has grooves in it
at 8, 8, (Figure 2) through which the said tapes or bands run freely. The top
rollers GH¹ may be and are represented in Figure 1 as grooved opposite the
tapes E E.
The shafts ww of the rollers H H' which are geared together by gears 21, 22
have their bearings in two carriages K K which are adjustable horizontally in
guides K K affixed to the side framing A to bring the said rollers farther from
the web feed rollers F F and nearer the rollers G G' according to the greater or
less length of the sheets which have been cut, the said adjustment as herein
represented being provided for by racks 23 on the said carriages and pinions 24 on
a shaft 25 which works in fixed bearings provided in or on the side framing A, the
said shaft being provided with a hand crank 26 for the purpose of turning it. It
is preferable that the rollers H H' should, whatever the length of the sheet, be
near enough to the rollers F F¹ to take the sheet before it leaves the latter rollers
although, if they should not be so near, the sheet after leaving F F¹ might be
carried on to HH' by the endless bands E E. The said rollers H H' are driven
from the shaft of the lower feed roller G through a shaft J (see Figures 2 and 3)
which is arranged parallel with the length of the machine in bearings in brackets L
secured to one side of the machine, the said shaft being furnished with bevel
gears 27 and 28 which gear respectively with bevel gears 29, 30 on the shafts v
and w of the lower feed rollers G and H, the said gear 28 being movable length-
wise of the shaft J that it may be always in gear with the gear 30 notwithstanding
the changes of distance of the rollers H H' from the rollers G G¹. The bevel
gears above described give motion to the rollers H H at the same surface speed as
the feed rollers and the cylinder.
.:

page_text: In order that the rollers H H₁ may accelerate the movement of the sheets
without any hindrance from the slower moving rollers F F I provide the latter
rollers with some liberating device. This liberating device is here represented as
a slip connection between the shaft u of the lower roller F and its driving gear 10,
the said slip connection consisting as shown Figure 5, of a ratchet wheel 32 fast
on the said shaft u and a pawl 31 on the driving gear 10 which is fitted to run
freely on the said shaft. I prefer to make the same slip connections between the
shafts and w of the lower feed rollers G and H and their respective driving
gears 17 and 21 so that after the sheets have been taken by the cylinder grippers
they may not be held back by any slight inaccuracy of the gearing between the
said shafts vw and the cylinder.
The operation of cutting and feeding the sheets is as follows:
The paper supplied by the web feed rollers C C₁ C and passing by the cutting
apparatus during the intervals between the operations of the cutters is taken
between the rollers F F' moving at the same surface speed as the said web feed
rollers and is represented by the said rollers F F¹ upon the tapes E E. These
latter moving faster than the said rollers F F¹ drag along under the paper and
keep its front part pulled straight. After a sheet has been cut from the web the
rollers F F continuing to carry it forward, soon bring its front edge between the
rollers H H which, seizing it, carry it forward at an accelerated speed which is
permitted freely by the slip connection between the rollers F F' and their driving
gear, the said rollers F F being turned by the sheet until its rear end has passed
through the said rollers which then fall back to their normal speed corresponding
with that of the web. The rollers H H¹ moving at the same surface speed as the
rollers G G and the cylinder, then quickly give the sheet to the latter rollers
which present its front edge to the cylinder grippers which arrive opposite to the
said edge in time to receive it. If the cylinder should have a slightly greater
surface speed than the rollers G G or H H' the slip connections of the driving
gears of the said rollers permit the said rollers to be turned by the sheet if
necessary and the danger of tearing the sheet or pulling it from the grippers will
be obviated.
It will be understood that if the rollers H H should be set at a distance from
the rollers G G to take the longest sheet and give it at the proper time the
accelerated velocity at which it is transferred to the rollers G G₁, and at which it
is given to the cylinder, it is only necessary in order to give a shorter sheet to the
said rollers G G in proper time, that the said rollers H H₁ should be set
sufficiently further back from the said rollers G, G¹ and nearer to the rollers F FI
for the said rollers H H to take the front end of the said sheet and produce its
acceleration sufficiently earlier for the said end of the said sheet to reach and be
taken by the said rollers G G' at the same time relatively to the movement of the
cylinder and the position of the cylinder grippers, that the latter would have
received the front end of the longer sheet. Therefore by a proper adjustment of
the rollers H H', sheets having any differences of length within the limit of said
adjustment may be properly fed to the cylinder.
It may be understood from the foregoing description that the most essential
feature of my apparatus is the adjustable feed rollers H H', whereby I provide for
taking sheets of different lengths while they are moving toward the cylinder at the
same speed as a web of paper from which they have been cut and accelerating the
movement of the said sheets to a speed corresponding with that of the surface
speed of the impression cylinder; and I also provide for the commencement of that
acceleration at a greater or less distance from the cylinder according to the less
or greater length of the sheets in order that the sheets may always meet the
cylinder grippers at the proper time whatever their length. I prefer generally to
use in combination with these adjustable rollers H H¹, the rollers G G¹ herein-
above described between the said rollers and the impression cylinder but these
rollers G G¹ may be dispensed with as I will explain with reference to Figures 6
and 7.

page_text: In the example shown in Figure 6, the upper roller G₁ and its shaft are omitted;
the lower roller G is also omitted but its shaft v is retained to carry the pulleys 7
which drive the bands E. In this case the shaft v and the adjustable rollers H H¹
may be driven in the same way in which they are driven in the first described
example, and the sheet is carried by the said rollers H H assisted in some degree
by the tapes E all the way to the cylinder grippers.
In the example shown in Figure 7, the feed rollers G G and their two shafts
are all dispensed with and the lower adjustable roller H carries the tapes E which
run on the idlers 6 and also on idler pulleys 33, 34, the shaft of the said pulleys 33
having fixed bearings, and the shaft of the pulleys 34 having its bearings in the
adjustable carriages K of the rollers H H¹ and hence serving to keep the tapes
tight as the said rollers H H are adjusted toward and from the cylinder for the
different lengths of sheet. In this example the tongues are prolonged backward
to reach over the roller H for the support of the front portions of the sheets on
their way to the cylinder but the feeding of the sheets to the cylinder is performed
entirely by the rollers H H' which may be driven from the cylinder by gearing
substantially like that described with reference to the first described example.
Dated this 29th day of December 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Feeding Apparatus for Printing Machines.
I, CALVERT BARON COTTRELL, of No. 20 Elm Street Westerly, in the County
of Washington, and State of Rhode Island, United States of America, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention relates to what is known as a roll feed, the paper being supplied
to the printing machine from a roll or continuous web and cut into sheets which are
successively fed to the impression cylinder. The improvement consists in means
hereinafter described for cutting up a roll of paper into sheets of different lengths
with clean-cut edges and means of properly feeding the sheets to the cylinder with
due regard to their lengths.
In the drawings left with my Provisional Specification,
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of those parts of a two-revolution
printing machine which are necessary to illustrate my invention, including the
impression cylinder and the feeding apparatus.
Figure 2 represents a horizontal section of the same on the line x x of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view representing the cylinder and
part of the feeding apparatus taken on the line y y of Figure 1, and viewed from
the left of that figure.
Figure 4 is a side view of part of a train of gearing for driving the feeding
apparatus and the cutters.
Figure 5 represents a transverse sectional view of the shafts of two rollers of
the feeding apparatus, showing their driving gearing which will be hereinafter
described.
Figures 6 and 7 are vertical sectional views of part of an impression cylinder
and parts of a feeding apparatus showing modifications of some of the details of
my invention.
Similar numbers and letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the
figures.
Referring to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5,
A is the framing of the machine, B the impression cylinder furnished with the
fry toomed 66 weak food

page_text: rollers" for feeding a web D of paper from a roller D' which supplies it. The
shaft c c c of the said web feed rollers and the shaft d of the roller D are arranged
in suitable bearings in the framing and the said rollers are geared together by
spur gears c* c* * on their respective shafts. A short distance in front of the
web feed rollers G G G there is arranged the cutting apparatus which is repre-
sented as of a well known kind inasmuch as it consists of two rotating shafts i
running in bearings in the side framing and carrying cutter stocks I in which
are secured the cutter blades i* i*. In front of the cutting apparatus is arranged
a pair of feed rollers F F¹, and immediately behind the cylinder is arranged
another pair of feed rollers G G¹. The distance between these two pairs of feed
rollers is represented somewhat greater than that of the longest sheets that will
be required to be fed to the cylinder. The lower feed roller F has its length made
up of sections which are fast upon its shaft u at short distances apart as shown in
Figure 2, and between these sections there are pulleys CC fitted loosely to the
said shaft. The lower roller G has in it grooves, the bottoms of which form
pulleys 7, 7 (see Figure 2) which receive and drive a series of endless tapes or
bands E E which also run on the loose pulleys C C above mentioned the said bands
running at the same speed as the front feed rollers G G¹ and serving to support
the end of the web and the cut sheets between the feed rollers F F and G G¹.
Between the rollers G G¹ and the cylinder are a series of adjustable tongues
carried by a bar for supporting the front ends of the sheets between the said
rollers G G and the cylinder D.
The cutter shafts I I¹ are geared together by gears I* 11*. On the shaft i of
the lower cutter stock is a spur gear 1' through which except at intervals as herein-
after described, the said shaft i derives rotary motion to drive the cutters at the
speed required for cutting the shortest sheets intended to be printed in the machine.
The said gear I derives motion at a speed, which never varies relatively to that
of the cylinder, from a bevel gear a (see Figure 2) on the cylinder shaft B. This
bevel gear a gears with and drives a bevel gear b on the end of a small shaft e (see
Figures 2 and 4) which works in bearings in brackets e' outside of the framing A,
and on the other end of which is a bevel gear f gearing with and driving a bevel
gear 9 running on a stud 9' secured in the framing.
To this bevel gear g is affixed a spur gear h which gears with and drives the
spur gear on the cutter shaft i. The web feed rollers C C'C' all derive their
motion from the aforesaid gear 1 on the lower cutter shaft. The said gear I'
gears with and drives a spur gear j which turns freely on a etud j' secured in the
framing and the said gear; gears with and drives a spur gear k on the shaft con
the feed rollers C' which in turn drives C¹ and C through the gears c* c¹* c*. The
gear k on the feed roller shaft c is changeable for one of a larger or smaller size
for the purpose of driving the web feed rollers at a greater or less speed relatively
to the speed of the cylinders as required to feed just paper enough for longer or
shorter sheets.
To provide for the larger or smaller gear k being driven through the spur
gear I on the lower cutter shaft i, the stud which carries the spur gear j is
made adjustable towards and from the said gear k in a curved slot (Figure 4) in
the side framing A, in which the said stud is capable of being secured in different
positions with the gear jalways in gear with I. It will be understood that the
gears afgh 12 j k c²* c* and c* constitute a train between the cylinder and
the web feed rollers c c c through which the gear k being changed as required,
the said feed rollers may be made to supply paper for sheets of different length
and that the said train includes a changeable gear and a gear loose upon one of the
cutter shafts.
•
The said loose gear 1' is not, however, entirely independent of the cutter
shaft i, but is only made capable of a lost and regained motion thereon by means
of a yielding connection with the said shaft so that it may sometimes drive the
said shaft and at other times allow the speed of the said shaft and of its fellow i¹
to be accelerated as hereinafter described.

page_text: The said yielding connection as here represented consists of an arm 9 fast on
the shaft i, a stud p fast in the gear I' and a spiral springs applied on a rod 8¹
which is connected with a pin r in the gear and which passes through a swiveling
guide on the arm q, the said spring being confined between a shoulder or
collar on the said rod and the said swiveling guide. The said spring always
tends to keep the stud p in contact with the arm q for driving the cutters through
the said gear I at a speed which has a fixed relation to the speed of the cylinder,
but the said spring yields to permit the speed of the cutter shafts to be accelerated
to make the edges of the cutters move at exactly the same speed as the web when
the speed of the web feed is increased to supply paper enough for longer sheets,
it being necessary that the cutting edges should move at the same speed as the
paper in order to make a clean cut without tearing the cut edges. The accele-
ration of the speed of the cutters is produced by temporarily engaging the gear I*,
on the lower cutter shaft with a gear n (see Figures 1 and 2) on a fixed
stud n which is secured in one of the side frames A, and which gears with and
derives motion from a gear c³ on the shaft of the feed roller C³ the said gear n
being a continuation of the train hereinbefore described between the cylinder and
the feed rollers which includes the changeable gear k and the gear I".
For the purpose of thus temporarily engaging the said gear I* with the said
gear n, I provide on the inner face of said gear I* (as shown in Figures 2
and 3) a short toothed sector t which comes into gear with the said gear n just
before the edges of the cutter blades i*, come together in their revolution and
continues so in gear driving the cutter at the accelerated speed until the blades
have passed each other. After the sector t runs out of gear from the said gear n,
the rotation of the cutter shafts is temporarily suspended or retarded until the
arm 9 on the lower cutter shaft which has run away from the projection p on the
loose gear I, is overtaken by the said projection and the driving of the cutter
shafts by means of the gear 12 is resumed, the cutters being driven through the
changeable gear k at and just before and after the time of cutting and being at
other times driven from the cylinder without the intervention of the changeable
gear. It will be understood that notwithstanding the acceleration and retardation
of the velocity of the cutters above described, the average velocity of rotation of
the cutter-shafts is constant relatively to that of the cylinder, that is to say the said
shafts always make the same number of revolutions relatively to the number made
by the cylinder.
The feed rollers F F¹ hereinbefore mentioned, which receive and carry forward
the end of the web before the cutting takes place and afterwards carry forward
the cut sheets some distance are geared together by gears 10, 11 upon their
respective shafts u u and rotary motion is given to them positively so that their
surface velocity may correspond with the speed of the web, through a spur gear n
which is fast to the spur gear n' hereinbefore described, the said spur gear n³
gearing with a spur gear 13 which turns on a fixed stud 14 secured in the side
framing and which gears with a spur gear 15 turning on a fixed stud 16, the last
mentioned gear gearing with a gear 10 on the lower feed roller F. The feed
rollers G G which are next the cylinder B are geared together by spur gears 17, 18
on their shafts bb and are driven from the cylinder itself, at such a speed that
their surface velocity corresponds with the surface velocity of the cylinder,
through a gear 19 which turns on a fixed stud 20, the said gear 19 gearing with
and deriving motion from the gear B' on the cylinder and gearing with the gear 17
on the lower roller G. Some distance behind the feed rollers G G¹ is another
pair of feed rollers the purpose of which is to take the cut sheets from the slow
moving feed rollers F F and accelerate their movement towards the cylinder.
The lower roller H runs within the endless tapes or bands E, and the corre
spanding upper roller H¹ runs above the said tapes or bands and the lower one
has grooves in it at 8, 8 (Figure 2) through which the said tapes or bands run freely.
The top rollers F G H may be and are represented in Figure 1 as grooved
opposite the tapes E.E.

page_text: The shafts ww of the rollers H H' which are geared together by gears 21, 22
have their bearings in two carriages K K which are adjustable horizontally in
guides K K affixed to the side framing A to bring the said rollers farther from
the web-feed rollers F F¹ and nearer the rollers G G' according to the greater or
less length of the sheets which have been cut, the said adjustment as herein
represented being provided for by racks 23 on the said carriages and pinions 24 on
a shaft 25 which works in fixed bearings provided in or on the side framing A,
the said shaft being provided with a hand crank 26 for the purpose of turning it.
It is preferable that the rollers H H should, whatever the length of the sheet,
be near enough to the rollers F F¹ to take the sheet before it leaves the latter
rollers although, if they should not be so near, the sheet after leaving F F' might
be carried on to H H by the endless bands E E. The said rollers H H' are
driven from the shaft of the lower feed roller G through a shaft J (see Figures 2
and 3) which is arranged parallel with the length of the machine in bearings in
brackets L, secured to one side of the machine, the said shaft being furnished
with bevel gears 27 and 28 which gear respectively with bevel gears 29, 30 on the
shafts and w of the lower feed rollers G and H, the said gear 28 being movable
lengthwise of the shaft J that it may be always in gear with the gear 30 notwith-
standing the changes of distance of the rollers H H from the rollers G G'. The
bevel gears above described give motion to the rollers H H₁ at the same surface
speed as the feed rollers and the cylinder.
In order that the rollers H H¹ may accelerate the movement of the sheets without
any hindrance from the slower moving rollers F FI provide the latter rollers
with some liberating device. This liberating device is here represented as a slip
connection between the shaft u of the lower roller F and its driving gear 10 the
said slip connection consisting as shown in Figure 5 of a ratchet wheel 32 fast
on the said shaft u and a pawl 31 on the driving gear 10 which is fitted to run
freely on the said shaft. I prefer to make the same slip connections between the
shafts and w of the lower feed rollers G and H and their respective driving
gears 17 and 21 so that after the sheets have been taken by the cylinder grippers
they may not be held back by any slight inaccuracy of the gearing between the
said shafts v w and the cylinder.
The operation of cutting and feeding the sheets is as follows.
The paper supplied by the web feed rollers C C C and passing by the cutting
apparatus during the intervals between the operations of the cutters is taken
between the rollers F F moving at the same surface speed as the said web feed
rollers and is presented by the said rollers F F upon the tapes E E. These
latter moving faster than the said rollers F F' drag along under the paper and
keep its front part pulled straight. After a sheet has been cut from the web, the
rollers F F continuing to carry it forward, soon bring its front edge between the
rollers H H which seizing it, carry it forward at an accelerated speed which is
permitted freely by the slip connection between the rollers F F¹ and their driving
gear, the said rollers F F¹ being turned by the sheet until its rear end has passed
through the said rollers which then fall back to their normal speed corresponding
with that of the web. The rollers H H¹ moving at the same surface speed, as
the rollers G G and the cylinder, then quickly give the sheet to the latter
rollers which present its front edge to the cylinder grippers which arrive opposite
to the said edge in time to receive it. If the cylinder should have a slightly
greater surface speed than the rollers G G¹ or H H¹ the slip connections of the
driving gears of the said rollers permit the said rollers to be turned by the sheet
if necessary and the danger of tearing the sheet or pulling it from the grippers
will be obviated.
It will be understood that if the rollers H H' should be set at a distance from
the rollers G G¹ to take the longest sheet and give it at the proper time the
accelerated velocity at which it is transferred to the rollers G G and at which it
is given to the cylinder, it is only necessary in order to give a shorter sheet to the
said rollers G G₁ in proper time, that the said rollers H H should be set sufficiently

page_text: further back from the said rollers G G₁ and nearer to the rollers F F¹ for the
said rollers H H¹ to take the front end of the said sheet and produce its
acceleration sufficiently earlier for the said end of the said sheet to reach and be
taken by the said rollers G G¹ at the same time relatively to the movement of the
cylinder and the position of the cylinder grippers, that the latter would have
received the front end of the longer sheet. Therefore by a proper adjustment of
the rollers H H sheets having any differences of length within the limit of said
adjustment may be properly fed to the cylinder.
It may be understood from the foregoing description that the most essential feature
of my apparatus the adjustable feed rollers HH', whereby I provide for taking
sheets of different lengths while they are moving toward the cylinder at the same
speed as a web of paper from which they have been cut and accelerating the move-
ment of the said sheets to a speed corresponding with that of the surface speed of
the impression cylinder, and I also provide for the commencement of that accele-
ration at a greater or less distance from the cylinder according to the less or
greater length of the sheets in order that the sheets may always meet the cylinder
grippers at the proper time whatever their length. I prefer generally to use in
combination with these adjustable rollers H H the rollers G G₁ hereinabove
described between the said rollers and the impression cylinder but these
rollers G G may be dispensed with as I will explain with reference to Figures 6
and 7.
0
In the example shown in Figure 6, the upper roller G¹ and its shaft are omitted,
the lower roller G is also omitted but its shaft vis retained to carry the pulleys 7
which drive the bands E. In this case the shaft and the adjustable rollers H H
may be driven in the same way in which they are driven in the first described
example, and the sheet is carried by the said rollers H H' assisted in some degree
by the tapes E all the way to the cylinder grippers.
In the example shown in Figure 7, the feed rollers G G¹ and their two shafts
are all dispensed with and the lower adjustable roller H carries the tapes E which
run on the idlers 6 and also on idler pulleys 33, 34 the shaft of the said pulleys 33
having fixed bearings and the shaft of the pulleys 34 having its bearings in the
adjustable carriages K of the rollers H H¹ and hence serving to keep the tapes
tight as the said rollers H H' are adjusted toward and from the cylinder for the
different lengths of sheet. In this example the tongues 11 are prolonged backward
to reach over the roller H for the support of the front portions of the sheets on
their way to the cylinder but the feeding of the sheets to the cylinder is performed
entirely by the rollers H H which may be driven from the cylinder by gearing
substantially like that described with reference to the first described example.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :—
1. The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine and a
feeding apparatus for feeding a web of paper towards said cylinder and a rotary
cutter for cutting said web into sheets, of a train of gearing including a changeable
gear and a gear having a yielding connection with the said cutter, the said
changeable gear serving to drive the feeding apparatus and the rotary cutter at
corresponding speeds changeable relatively to that of the cylinder whereby the
cutter at the time of its operation moves at the same speed with the paper, and
the said gear having the yielding connection with the cutter serving to drive it
during other parts of its rotation, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
2. The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine, of a
feeding apparatus for feeding a web of paper toward said cylinder, a cutting
apparatus consisting of two rotary shafts geared together and cutters thereon, a
train of gearing for driving the feeding apparatus including a changeable gear for
varying the speed of said apparatus relatively to the cylinder and a loose gear upon
one of the cutter shafts, a connection between the said shaft and loose gear to
drive the said cutting apparatus while not cutting but yielding to permit the speed
B

page_text: of the cutters to be accelerated while cutting, and a toothed sector on one of the
cutter shafts for temporarily engaging it with the said train of gearing to drive
the cutters at a speed corresponding with the feed while cutting, all substantially
as herein described.
3. The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine and a
feeding apparatus for feeding a web of paper towards said cylinder, of the two
intergeared cutter shafts the gear I and the arm q, one loose and the other
fast on the said shaft i, the said gear being geared with the cylinder to rotate at a
constant speed relatively thereto, the springs between said arm and gear to take
up lost motion, of said gear on said shaft, the changeable gear k between the
cylinder and feeding apparatus, and a toothed sector t affixed to the other shaft i to
be driven at intervals through the changeable gear, substantially as herein set forth.
4. The combination substantially as herein described with the impression
cylinder of a printing machine and a pair of feed rollers for carrying a sheet
towards the said cylinder, of a second pair of feed rollers arranged between the
first mentioned rollers and the said cylinder and driven with a surface speed equal
to that of the said cylinder and higher than that of the first mentioned rollers and
a liberating device substantially as herein described applied to the first mentioned
rollers to permit the acceleration of the speed of the sheet by the second set of
rollers, as herein set forth.
5. The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine of a web
feeding apparatus, a cutting apparatus arranged in front of said web feeding
apparatus, a pair of feed rollers arranged between said cutting apparatus and the
cylinder and having a surface velocity equal to that of the web feeding apparatus,
a second pair of feed rollers adjustable to and fro between the first mentioned feed
rollers and the cylinder and having a surface speed equal to that of the cylinder
for taking a sheet from the first mentioned feed rollers, and a liberating device.
applied to the first mentioned feed rollers to permit the free movement of the sheet
by the second feed rollers at an accelerated velocity towards the cylinder, all
substantially as herein set forth.
6. The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine, of a
web feeding apparatus, a cutting apparatus for cutting said web into sheets, a train
of gearing for driving the said web feeding apparatus and cutting apparatus
including and a changeable gear for varying the speed of said web feeding and
cutting apparatus relatively to the cylinder, a pair of feed rollers geared with the
said train of gearing to have the same surface speed as said feeding and cutting
apparatus, a pair of feed rollers arranged between the first mentioned feed rollers'
and the impression cylinder and having a surface speed equal to that of the
cylinder, and a liberating device applied to the first mentioned feed rollers,
substantially as herein set forth.
7. The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine, of a
web feeding apparatus for supplying a web of paper, a cutting apparatus for
cutting said web into sheets, a train of gearing for driving the said feeding
apparatus and cutting apparatus including a changeable gear for varying the speed
of the said feeding and cutting apparatus relatively to the cylinder, a pair of feed
rollers geared with the said train of gearing to have the same surface speed as
the said feeding and cutting apparatus, a second pair of feed rollers arranged in a
fixed position near the cylinder and having the same surface velocity therewith,
a third pair of feed rollers geared with the said second pair of feed rollers to have
the same surface speed therewith and adjustable to and fro 'between the said first
and second pairs of feed rollers, and a liberating device between said first
mentioned feed rollers and said train of gearing, substantially as herein set forth.
Dated this 17th do of Avous 1800
HASELTINE, LAKE & 'Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.