IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Cope, of Farringdon Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
MACHINERY."
Sealed the 9th September 1879, and dated the 13th March 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Cope at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th March 1879.
66
JAMES COPE, of Farringdon Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer. IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY."
The chief object of this Invention is to introduce any given number of colours
into a printing machine, and thereby to produce at one operation finished work in
a variety of colours. The main difficulty hitherto experienced has been in the
distribution of the colour preparatory to the transferring it to the "form."
I now propose in place of the loose diagonal rollers heretofore employed for
distributing the colour on the inking table to employ rollers mounted transversely
of the table, and capable of receiving an endway as well as an axial motion in their
bearings, such endway motion being adjustable at pleasure for the purpose to be
presently explained.
In carrying out this Invention I employ for example the press known as the
"two colour Wharfedale printing machine," the impression cylinder of which is
situate intermediate between two colour troughs. The troughs I now propose to
divide up transversely into compartments corresponding in number and in width to
the colours and breadth of colours which are required to be used for producing the
work in hand.
This troughs I fit as usual with ductor or fountain rollers which by their rotation
deliver lines of colour to their respective transferring rollers. These rollers being
mounted on reciprocating arms are brought into contact alternately with their
fountain rollers and with the flat distributing tables which traverse respectively
beneath them, and thus parallel lines of colour are transferred to the distributing
tables. Intermediate between these tables and travelling therewith is the form
which is to print the paper supplied to the impression cylinder. This form is com-
posed in two parts, the one part being a complement of the other, and the two parts
are inked by the colours supplied from their respective distributing tables. Situate
LD0J1

page_text: above the table on either side of the impression cylinder is a pair, or it may be two
pairs, of distributing rollers whose axles carry pinions in geer with racks attached
to the table, or the rollers may be driven by frictional contact. An endway motion
is given to each pair of these rollers through a double forked rock lever keyed to
a vertical shaft which is actuated by an excentric driven from any convenient part
of the machine.
.
The connection of this shaft with the excentric will be such as to permit of the
adjustment of the motion of the rock lever to suit the work in hand.
Thus by increasing the motion of the rock lever the endway traverse of the
distributing rollers may be increased to an extent that will ensure the blending of
adjacent colours on the distributing table and thereby produce a greater variety of
tints in the printed impression. By properly arranging the type composing the
two parts of the form and also the colours in the colour troughs, two, three, or more
colours may be introduced to one line of type, and that without continuing these
colours to the next succeeding line.
The better to ensure a good impression I propose to introduce supplementary
inking rollers which shall come into use only to ink a particular part or parts of
the form where a large supply of colour is required. These rollers will be held out of
action by bearers which being cut away at a part corresponding to the portion of
the form required to be specially inked will allow the supplementary rollers to run
into contact with the form and thereby ink the selected portion thereof.
For insuring the proper intermittent action of the fountain rollers I substitute
for the ordinary ratchet and pawle arrangement balls fitting loosely in inclined
recesses, and surrounded by a collar or inclosing ring which is in cotact with the
balls. By giving this ring an intermittent axial motion through a cam or excentric
it will through the balls which act as wedges transmit motion with a great exactness
to the fountain roller.
My improvements in color printing are also applicable to what are known as
perfecting machines in which two impression cylinders are used. These cylinders,
as is well known, are alternately raised out of and lowered into action in order that
they may respectively miss the form that is passed under them at each alternate
traverse of the table. Much difficulty has hitherto been experienced in effecting
this rise and fall of the cylinders, and in some cases toggle joints have been applied
for this purpose.
Their unequal action has however been detrimental to the
character of work produced, and it is for the purpose of insuring good work that
the improvement which I will now describe is designed.
The toggles of the two cylinders I connect together by a horizontal bar, and at
about the middle of its length I joint thereto a connecting rod which is coupled to
a sliding frame carrying a pair of antifriction rollers.
This frame embraces a cam or excentric which is free to rotate between the two
antifriction rollers for the purpose of giving a traverse motion to the toggle joint
bar. Keyed to the cam or excentric shaft is a spur wheel which receives motion
from a spur pinion on the central driving shaft of the machine directly or through
an intermediate pinion.
The connection of the horizontal bar with the toggles is such that when one
toggle is in action or vertical the other will be out of action or bent. Thus as the
main driving shaft rotates the cylinder will be brought alternately into action and
in a manner that will insure the production of clear or unblurred impressions. This
part of my improvements is applicable not only to color printing but to book work
generally.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Cope in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th September
1879.
JAMES COPE, of Farringdon Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer. "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY."
The chief object of this Invention is to introduce any given number of colored
inks into a printing machine and thereby to produce at one operation finished works
in a variety of colors. The main difficulty hitherto experienced has been in the
distribution of the colour preparatory to the transferring it to the form.
I now propose in place of the loose diagonal rollers heretofore employed for dis-
tributing the color on the inking table to employ rollers mounted transversely of
the table, and capable of receiving an endway as well as an axial motion in their
bearings, such endway motion being adjustable at pleasure for the purpose to
be presently explained.
In carrying out this Invention I employ, for example, the press known as the
"two-color Wharfedale printing machine," the impression cylinder of which is
situate intermediate between two color troughs. The troughs I now propose
to divide up transversely into compartments corresponding in number and in width
to the colors and breadth of colors which are required to be used for producing the
work in hand.
These troughs I fit as usual with ductor or fountain rollers, which by their rota-
tion deliver lines of color to their respective transferring rollers. These rollers
being mounted on reciprocating arms are brought into contact alternately with
their fountain rollers and with the flat distributing tables which traverse respec-
tively beneath them, and thus parallel lines of color are transferred to the
distributing tables. Intermediate between these tables, and travelling therewith,
is the form which is to print the paper supplied to the impression cylinder. This
form is composed in two parts, the one part being a complement of the other, and
the two parts are inked by the color supplied from the respective distributing tables.
Situate above the table on either side of the impression cylinder is a pair of, or it
may be two pairs of distributing rollers whose axles carry pinions in gear with racks
attached to the table, or the rollers may be driven by frictional contact. An end-
way motion is given to each pair of these rollers through a double forked rock
lever keyed to a vertical shaft, which is actuated by an eccentric driven from any
convenient part of the machine.
The connection of this shaft with the excentric is such as to permit of the adjust-
ment of the motion of the rock lever to suit the work in hand; thus by increasing
the motion of the rock lever the endway traverse of the distributing rollers may be
increased to an extent that will ensure the blending of adjacent colors on the dis-
tributing table, and thereby produce a greater variety of tints in the printed
impressions. By properly arranging the type composing the two parts of the form
and also the colors in the color trough, two, three, or more colors may be introduced
to one line of type, and that without continuing these colors to the next succeeding
line.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings is shewn a Wharfedale two-color
printing machine with my improvements applied thereto, Fig. 1 being a side
elevation partly in section, and Fig. 2 a plan view of the same. A, A, are the side
frames of the machines, between which the travelling bed B, carried on rib ways
and runners, is reciprocated in the usual manner; C is the impression cylinder,
mounted in bearings carried on the side frames, and provided with spur wheels
gearing in the usual manner with racks on the travelling bed; D is the main
driving shaft situate below the table and furnished with pinions d, d. Gearing into
these pinions is a pair of spur wheels d', mounted on independent short shafts and
carrying between them a crank pin for receiving the connecting rod d², which is

page_text: coupled to the axle of the table wheels E as usual. These wheels roll over racks
on the base plate of the machine and gear with racks on the underside of the bed B,
and thus communicate a reciprocating motion to that bed. The bed B carries a
form composed of two parts b, b¹, which are the complement the one of the other;
62, 63, are two color distributing tables on opposite sides of the form; G, G¹, are the
color troughs or fountains carried by bracket standards from the side frames at
opposite ends of the machine. These fountains are divided up by transverse parti-
tions into compartments according to the number of colored lines of type required
in the work; g, g, are the fountain rollers, rotated intermittently by means of cams
G¹ carried by rotating cross shafts as usual. These cams actuate the rock levers.
G2 connected by links G³ to arms loose on the fountain roller axles and carrying
pawls in gear with ratchet wheels on the rollers. This motion of the cams may
however be transmitted to the rollers by the improved gripper arrangement herein-
after described, in place of pawle and ratchet wheels; F, F, are the take off or vibrating
rollers operated by link rods from the rock levers G'; H, H, are the color distributing
rollers arranged to work in couples. The shafts of these distributing rollers are
mounted in spring bearings which will admit of their rising and falling, and also of
their pressure upon the distributing surface of the table being adjusted by means of
screw nuts h*, which bear upon a cross bar ** that overlies the bearings. These
rollers may, if thought desirable, be driven by pinions gearing with racks projecting
from the table, as indicated by dots in Fig. 1, but in general their rotation may be
ensured by a proper adjustment of their pressure upon the table of the machine. A
slight endway or shogging motion is communicated to these rollers in the following
manner-H¹ is a longitudinal shaft carrying a worm wheel which receives an axial
motion from a worm H* on the main shaft D. On the shaft H¹ are excentrics H²
adjustably attached thereto. These excentrics are furnished with excentric straps
carrying rods which are pivotted respectively to the slotted arms h on vertical
rock shafts h¹ mounted in stud bearings from the side frames A.
Projecting from these shafts ' on a level with the rollers are arms h² which
embrace the end of the axles of the rollers H between collars made fast to those
axles. By adjusting the position of the pivot pin m of the excentric rods in their
slotted arms any required amount of endway motion may be given to the dis-
tributing rollers to secure the proper distribution of the stripe of color on the table,
or the blending of two adjacent stripes of color as may be required by the work in
hand.
The distributing rollers do not extend as usual over the width of the table but
are made up of a number of small rollers corresponding to the widths of the stripes
of color on their respective distributing tables. These divided rollers will be
mounted adjustably on their axles, and their width and position will be changed
according to the requirements of the work.
I, I, are the form inking rollers, the axles of which are mounted in the ordinary
roller carriages on the side frames A, and they are free to rise and fall as the type is
carried under them to be inked. J is the feed board, and K the taking off board.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-Supposing it is desired to print a
poster having several lines of letters of different colors, and one line, for example,
consisting of letters of two separate colors, the letters being, say, red and blue
alternately, and the second line of letters green on a black ground or scroll. The
type for, say the red letters, would be on the part 6 of the form, and that for the
blue letters on the part of the form b₁; so again the type for the black ground or
scroll would be on the form b and the type for the green letters on the form b¹. The
several colors would be carried in divisions of the fountain ducts corresponding with
their respective lines of type.
The machine is shewn in the Drawings in the position for receiving the paper to
be printed. The paper is pushed from the table J within reach of the gripping
fingers of the impression cylinder C, which fingers closing upon it will hold it while
the bed B now moving in the direction of the arrow carries the right hand color dis-
tributing table b³ under its inking rollers, distributing rollers, and the take off roller

page_text: in succession, whereby the table 6 will receive a fresh charge of color from the
fountain roller g. During this motion of the bed the impression cylinder remains
stationary, but on the return of the bed (the left hand side of the form b being
under the cylinder C) the cylinder C will make its first rotation in the direction of
the arrow, and an impression will be taken from this form consisting of the red
letters of the first line and the black scroll or ground work of the second line. On
its second rotation the form 6' passing under the cylinder C a second impression
will be taken (from that form) consisting of the blue letters of the first line and
the green letters upon the black scroll of the second line. By suitably dividing the
color ducts and arranging the position of the distributing rollers any desired number
of colors may be laid upon the color distributing tables, either in separate lines or
blended lines, according to the amount of endway motion given to the distributing
rollers.
In Sheet II. of the Drawings is shewn in sectional elevation and plan view, at
Figures 3 and 4, a modification of the divided color trough or fountain, which con-
sists of a series of detachable color troughs or vessels set side by side or in line
behind the fountain roller, which is common to all those troughs. Each color
trough consists of an open box g¹ having the ordinary cross section of a fountain
trough; it is provided with a knife g2, forming the bottom of the box on which the
color rests, which knife is adjustable by a set screw g³ for the purpose of regulating
the discharge of the color. These detachable troughs when suitably placed in
position on the ordinary supports of bar g of the fountain are secured by pressure
screws g³ carried by sockets whose position is adjustable laterally on a bar go that
extends across the machine, and is attached to standards on the side frames. The
spreading of the color side ways upon the fountain roller g beyond the width of the
aperture in the trough is prevented by strips of leather g' attached to the face of
the troughs.
The better to ensure a good impression I propose to introduce supplementary
inking rollers which shall come into use only to ink a particular part or parts of the
form where a large supply of color is required. These rollers will be made of such
width as to cover only that portion of the type which needs the additional inking,
and they will be held out of action by special or independent bearers, which being
cut away at a part corresponding to the portion of the form required to be specially
inked will allow the supplementary rollers to run into contact with the form, and
thereby ink the selected portion thereof.
For insuring the proper intermittent action of the fountain rollers I substitute for
the ordinary ratchet wheel and pawl above referred to the arrangement shewn at
Fig. 5, Sheet III. In that Figure a are the balls or rollers which serve to connect
the fountain roller with the rock lever G2 of Fig. 1.
These balls or rollers lie in recesses made in the periphery of a disc b which is
keyed to the fountain roller axle. This disc is embraced by a ring or flanged disc c
which is mounted loosely on the axle of the fountain roller g. Projecting from the
ring or disc c is an arm, which being connected by a link with the rock lever G
will impart to the ring c an intermittent axial motion alternately in opposite
directions. When moved in one direction this ring will cause the balls or rollers to
advance and thereby jamb themselves between the disc b and ring c, at which time
these parts being locked together will transmit an axial motion to the roller. When
the motion of the ring c is reversed the balls or rollers will run back and a disen-
gagement of the locked parts will take place.
My improvements in color printing are applicable to what are known as perfecting
machines, in which two impression cylinders are used. In this class of machine the
cylinders are, as is well known, alternately raised out of and lowered into action in
order that they may respectively miss the form that is passed under them at each
alternate traverse of the table. Much difficulty has hitherto been experienced in
effecting this rise and fall of the cylinders, and in some case toggle joints have been
applied for this purpose; their unequal action has however proved detrimental to

page_text: the character of work produced, and it is with the object of insuring good work
that the improvement, which I will now describe, has been designed.
In Sheet III. Fig. 6 shews a printing machine in partial side elevation fitted
with my improved toggle arrangement, and Fig. 7 shews in plan view a portion of
this arrangement. A, A, are the impression cylinders, mounted as heretofore, in
bearings carried by sliding frames B, B, which move in vertical guides on the main
framing of the machine. Within these frames are mounted the toggles B*, the upper
limbs of which are pivotted to studs projecting from the main framings. The lower
limbs of the toggles bear down upon the foot of the frames B, and thus when the
toggles are straightened the frames, and consequently the impression cylinders, will
be drawn down against the upward pressure of the bearing springs of those
cylinders.
The joints of the toggles of the two cylinders are connected together at each
side of the machine by a horizontal bar C. At about the middle of the length
of these bars C I join thereto a connecting rod D which is coupled to a sliding
frame D¹ carrying a pair of antifriction rollers. This frame embraces a cam or
excentric E on a transverse shaft E' having its bearings in the main framing and
receiving rotary motion from the main driving shaft. The cams or excentrics E
rotate between the anti-friction rollers of the frame D¹ for the purpose of giving a
traverse motion to the toggle joint bars. Keyed to the cam or excentric shaft is a
spur wheel which receives motion from a spur pinion on the central driving shaft of
the machine directly or through an intermediate pinion. The connection of the
horizontal bars C with the toggles is such that when one pair of toggles is in action,
or vertical, the other will be out of action or bent. Thus as the main driving shaft
rotates the cylinders will be brought alternately into action, and in a manner that
will insure the production of clear or unblurred impressions. This part of my
improvements I would remark is applicable not only to color printing but to book-
work generally.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in Printing
Machinery," 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,-
First. The arrangement of parts above described with reference to Sheet I. of the
Drawings, or any mere modification thereof, whereby I am enabled to produce
finished work at one operation in a variety of colors.
Secondly. The use in color printing machines furnished with flat distributing
tables, of distributing rollers constructed, mounted, and operated, as above
described.
Thirdly. The means above described with reference to Sheet III., for driving
the fountain rollers.
Fourthly. The toggle arrangement, described with reference to Sheet III., for
ensuring the proper action of the impression cylinders of perfecting machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Cope, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy nine.