Improvements in the Art of Printing, and in Machinery therefor.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 14th May, 1895-Accepted, 15th June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[Comunicated from abr d by C B. COTTRELL & SONS Co., a corporation
organized under the Laws of the States of New Jersey, and engaged in
business at Stonington, in the State of Counecticut, and at No 41, Park Row,
in the City of New York, in the State of Now York, United States of
America.]
Improvements in the Art of Printing, and in Machinery therefor.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the saine is to be
performed, to be' particularly described and ascertained, in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to what is known in the art of printing as "perfecting,"
that is to say, the printing on both sides of a sheet or of a portion of a continuous
web by causing said sheet or web in a continuous movement to pass first between
one punting surface and corresponding impression surface to print one of its sides
and afterwards between another pinting surface and corresponding impression
Bu face to print its other side.
According to this invention the sheets or portions of a continuous web are so fed
between the two printing surfaces and corresponding impression surfaces in
succession that each sheet or each portion of the web to be printed on both sides
15 mnde first to act as a tympan or offset sheet for another sheet or portion of the
web and after wards has the offset thereby produced upon it covered or hidden by
printing over it.
The invention consists not only in the means hereinafter described for thus
feeding the sheets or portions of the web, but consists broadly in a method of
punting by which each sheet o portion of the web to be printed is, before being
printed upon, made to serve as an offset sheet and separate offset sheets such as
are known as "slip sheets " and other special means of receiving the offset are
dispensed with
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention as carried out by means of
a flat bed perfecting machine for printing on separate sheets and also as carried
out by a continuous web printing machine.
Figure 11s a side view of the two impression cylinders and as much of the
adjacent parts of a flat bed perfecting printing machine as is necessary to illustrate
the invention.
Figme 2 is a plan view corresponding with Figure 1, but with the feed board
removed
Figure 3 represents a vertical section taken parallel with the side view
Figure 1.
Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 are diagrams each representing a vertical section of the
impression cylinders, the feed board, delivery reel and forms of a flat bed perfecting
machine, said diagrams showing the parts in different positions to illustrate the
Buccessive stages of the operation.
Figures 8 and 9 represent on a larger scale, vertical sectional views of portions
of the second impression cylinder and its grippers corresponding with the preceding
figures, Figure 8 showing also a portion of the feed-boaid

page_text: Figue 10 represents a plan of a portion of the impression cylinder and paits of
its grippers coresponding with Figure 8
Figure 11 represents a longitudinal vertical section of the principal parts of a
totary continuous web perfecting machine adapted for cariving out the invention
Figure 12 18 an outline diagram representing the puncipal parts of a rotary web
perfecting punting machine somewhat modified from that represented in Figure 11,
but also adapted for carrying out the invention.
Figure 13 is a plan view corresponding with Figure 12.
I will first describe the invention with reference to the flat bed machine
illustrated by Figures 1 to 10
A desiguates the framing, B Figures 3-7 indicates the line of the form bed;
CC designate respectively the fist and second impression cylinders, and V the
feed-board which is aanged over the second impression cylinder C, for feeding
the beets first to that cylinder whereon they serve as the offset 'Figures 4-7,
are respectively the first and second forms on the bed B. These cylinders and the
form bed may be driven in the same way as the cylinders and bed of Hat bed
perfecting machines in common use.
The first impression cylinder C is furnished with only one set of grippers g, as
18 usual. The second inipi ession cylinder is furnished with two sets of guppers
and z of which y take the cle in sheet from the fced-board V and carry it over the
impression surface of the second impression cylinder, whereon it first serves as a
tympan or offset sheet, and then deliver it to the guppers g on the first impression
cylinder, whence after having been printed on one side, it is delivered to those 2 on
the second impression cylinder by which it is again carried over the impression
surface of the latter cylinder to take the impression on the second side. The
grippers y and the shaft which carries them, are like those commonly employed
on impression cylinders and they are represented as operating in a well known
inanne with pads 4* Figures 3-10 which project from a bai W which is fixed
between the heads of the cylinder. The grippers are longer than y and then
shalt is arranged behind the shalt y', or further back within the cylinder than
the said shaft y', the said guppers reaching over the said shaft to operate
with other pad "ananged on the same bar W with the pads y
between the latter
at intervals
The shaft carrying the grippers of the first impression cylinder may have its
properly timed opening and closing movements produced in any known or suitable
matuer The said shaft is represented (see Figures 1 and 2) as having a spring 9*
applied to it in the usual way to close the grippers and as operated upon for the
purpose of opening the
guppeis by means of two cams ' ' carried by a disc h on
a short shaft which works in a beaung in a bracket on the framing. The
cam shaft derives rotary motion through two spur gears 11', one on the shaft of
the cyluder C and the other on the said shaft, the said gears being so pro-
portioned that the shaft makes one revolution for every two revolutions of the
cylinder. The said spring and the said cams operate respectively on the gripper
shaft g' through two arms y', ' provided on the said shaft outside of the cylinder.
The cam is for opening the guppers g to take from the second impression
cylinder, the printed sheet which has solved as a tympan or offset sheet; and
the cam is for opening the said grippers to again deliver the sheet to the second
impression cylinder after the printing of its fist side. The closing spring g³ is
coiled upon a rod gª connected with the aim gª and 15 compressed between a
colla Figure 1 on the said 1od and a guida g' on the cylinder through which the
rod works. The opening cams operate against a roller on the end of the
aim of the guppe shaft.
The shafts y' and 'which carry respectively the grippers y and of the second
impression cylinder, may also have their properly timed opening and closing
movements effected in any known or suitable manuer. The said shafts are
epresented (see Figmes 1, 2, 3) as respectively provided for this purpose with
tumblers y' and 2 to which are respectively applied spuugs y and z². The

page_text: tumblors y and are represented as aanged at opposite ends of then respective
shafts y aud and consequently at opposite ends of the cylinder C. The
springs and are represented as applied in a well known manner to shouldered
1ods y and 2, which are connected with the tumblers and work thiough guides y* 2*
on the cylinder. The said tumblers y and 2 are operated upon at the proper
times by being carried by the revolution of the cylinder Cover pins y' y' and 2ª
attached to opposite ends of levers Y and Z which work on fulcium pms y
which are carried by fixed brackets Y and Z bolted to the framing A. The
pius yy are movable by the said levers towards and from the cylinder
through guides provided for them on the said brackets but they are otherwise
stationary
The lever Y is operated at the proper times to push in the cam pins y and y'
respectively towards the cylinder into their operative positions and to withdraw
them from such positions by means of a grooved cam Y on a shaft y' which works
in a bearing in the bracket Y', the said lever being furnished with a pin or roller
which works in the groove of said cam. The cam shaft y' is furnished with a spur
gear 20 gearing with a spur gear 21 o fhalf the size on the shaft of the cylinder C*,
the cam Y thereby making one revolution for every two of the cylinder The
lever Z 15 operated upon at the proper times to push in the pins and ' respectively
to their operative positions and to draw them out therefrom by its engagement with
a grooved cam Z' on a shaft z' which works in a hearing in the bracket Z'. The
cain shaft is geared with the cylinder shaft to make one revolution for every two
of the cylinder by means of spur gears 22, 23.
=
These
On the gripper shaft y' there are loosely fitted a set of fingers e Figures 8, 9
and 10 the points of which come between the grippers y of the list set
fingers are connected with the grippers y by spring el which are coiled upon the
shaft y' and which tend to hold the said fingers to a position in which the sheet
may pass under them when it is first taken by the guppers y from the feed-board.
The said fingers are furnished with projections upon which the second set of
grippers bear in closing and so depress the said fingers within the cylinder and
correspondingly depress the edge of the fresh sheet 6 which is being carried for the
first time round the cylinder C by the grippers y as shown in Figure 9, that a
sheet & printed on both sides may be taken from the said cylinder by the grippers n
Figues 3-7 of a delivery reel m without the latter grippers interfering with the
said sheet & which up to that time has only served as an offset sheet. The delivery
apparatus used in carrying out this invention for taking the sheets punted on both
sides from the cyhuder C', may be of any known or suitable kind. I have
represented for that purpuse such a delivery ieel m furnished with guppers n as is
commonly employed for taking the sheets from the cylinder of a back delivery
press and as such a device and the means of operating its guppers are well
understood, it is not thought necessary to her em particulaily describe them. The
cylinders must be furnished with lift and tip mechanism which may be of the
same kind as is commonly used in flat bed pe:fecting machines and therefore need
not be herein described
Having described in detail the devices necessary to the canying out of the
invention in the flat bed machine, 1 will now descube with reference to the
diagrams Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, the printing operation
Referring first to Figure 4, the cylinders rotating in the directions of the arrows
shown upon them, a sheet is fed from the board V to the grippers y of the
second impression oylinder C, which cylinder should at this time be tripped so
that it cannot descend to print this sheet but will deliver it unprinted to the
grippers y of the hrst impression cylinder C when, after having made about one
and a quarter revolutions with the second impression cylinder C, it comes for a
second time to the point. The grippers g of the first impression cylinder C' then
take the sheet b' and the latter receives an impression fioin the first type form i',
and as the guppers y come for the third time to the point of feeding they take a
second sheet and shortly afterwards the two cylinders teach the position shown

page_text: in Figure 4, the first impression cylinder C'having upon it the first sheet o
printed on its outer side and the second impression cylinder C' having upon it the
clean secoud sheet b as shown in the said figure When the gripper edges of the
impression surfaces of the two cylinders reach the point for the third time,
the grippers of the second impression cylinder C seize the front edge of the first
sheet which is at this time released by the grippers g of the first impression
cylinder. The fist sheet is now taken by the second impression cylinder C³ and
receives its second impression on the opposite side, from the form as illustrated
in Figure 5, after which it 18 taken by the grippers n of the delivery reel m and
released by the grippers 2, while the second sheet & held by the grippers y goes on
as shown in Figure 6, to be taken to the cylinder C' on which it receives its first
impression from the form as shown in Figure 7.
•
It will be understood by refereuco to Figure 5, that the freshly printed side of
the sheet is pressed against the sheet b while the said sheet & is receiving its
second impression; thus some of the letters of the second form may show on
the sheet b. When the guppers y again each the feeding position they take a third
sheet and in about a quarter of a revolution later the grippers z tako the second
sheet from the cylinder C' and give it its second impression on the form. The
latter sheet being on the outside will now receive print over the same places
which received the offset when it was under the sheet & while the latter received
its second impression. The sheet is then delivered to the delivery reel and the
sheet will go to the cylinder C' to receive its first impression. This operation is
repeated each sheet receiving the offset from the second impression on a previously
printed sheet and afterwards taking its own second impression on the said offset.
In the drawings hercinabove described of the flat bed machine the second
impression cylinder C and the feed-board are represented as so arranged that
the clean sheets may be fed to said cylinder directly from the feed-board by
hand, that being the simplest illustration of the means for feeding, but it is
obvious that any known of suitable means of feeding the sheets to said cylinder
may be adopted.
I will now describe with reference to Figme 11, one way in which, in a
continuous web perfecting machine, every portion or section of the web that is to
be printed on is first made to serve as an offset sheet to another portion
A designates the haming of the machine; B¹ the first form or plate cylinder ;
C' the first impression cylinder; B' the second form or plate cylinder aud C' the
second impression cylinder.
D is the roller from which the web of paper E to be printed 12 supplied.
F G H are gunde rollers. The rollers D G II are represented as supported in
stationary bearings The roller F is represented as supported in adjustable
bearings I.
The operation of this machine is as follows
The web of paper from the roller D passes, as indicated by arrows, first around
the second impression cylinder C, thence around the rollers F G H between the
first form cylinder B' and first impression cylinder C where one side is printed, it
passes thence up between the second form cylinder B and seconil impression
cylinder C where its second side is printed. While the second side is thus
receiving the impression the types on the second form cylinder B' piess the fresh
mk of the impression on the side first printed into contact with the fresh unprinted
portion of the web which pas-es around the second impression cylinder under
that portion of the web which has been printed between the cylinders B'C' and
thereby produce a faint outline of some of the types of the second form cylinder B
on the otherwise clean web at the point N on the cylinder C to which the latter
comes from the roller D. When the part on which this faint outline or
"offset
is produced again reaches the point N it is on the outside and comes against the
same types which cause the said offset, and these types print over the same places
and cover up the said offset. The operation is now completed and the web runs off
to the folder or delivery.
"

page_text: It may be understood that the distance along the web from the point N around
the rollers F G II and cylinders C' C to the point N agaiu, must be equal to an
exact multiple of the length of a single sheet or of the circumference of the form
cylinder B. It is to adjust this distance equally and to compensate for the
shrinking or expansion of the paper that the beatings for the roller Fare made
adjustable as bei embefore mentioned.
It might happen that with the arrangement of, 1ollers just described with
reference to Figure 11 for conducting the web enough ink would he pressed on
to the clean web at the point N from the first printed side to leave an offset ou
the tympan of the first impression cylinder C' as it passes the point O on the said
cylinder. To guard against this, the arrangement of rollers shown in Figures 12
and 13 mar he employed With this arrangement of rollers the web E passes from.
the roller D first over the roller H, thence to and around the first impression
cylinder C to angle bars P Q R S, thence to and around a 1oller F, whence the
path is similar to that shown in Figure 11. The distance measured on the path of
the web from the first impression cylinder C₁ around the angle bars to the second
impression cylinder C³, must be such as to bring the offset in such relation to that
produced at N, that it will be covered when it again 1oaches the point O. To
make this distance right and to provide for shrinking and stretching of the web,
means of adjustment may be made at some point, for instance, at the point T,
(Figures 12 and 13). Figure 14 18 a diagram of such means of adjustment. In
this figure, 17 represents rollers in fixed bearings over which the web passes to an
intermediate rolle 18 cared by a lever 15 adjustable by a screw 16 to depress the
web more or less between the rollers 17
To carry the web from the second impression cylinder C', in the example
illustrated in Figure 11, angle bars similarly arranged to those shown in Figures 12
and 13 may be used instead of the rollers FG H."
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to ine
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The improvement in the art of printing on both sides of a sheet or of the
same portion of a web during a continuous movement thereof, consisting in first
making such sheet or portion of a web serve as an offset sheet to receive the
offset of a preceding punted impression and afterwards taking a succeeding
printing impression upon the offset so received, substantially as herein set forth.
2. The improvement in the art of printing on both sides of a sheet or of the
same portion of a web, consisting in causing such sheet or portion of a web to
pass twice between the printing and impression surfaces which produce the
impression on one side of it, the said sheet or portion m its first passage between
the said surfaces acting as an offset sheet and in its second passago between the
said surfaces having the printed impression produced on the offset which was
produced on it in its first passage, substantially as herein set forth.
3. The improvement in the ait of punting on both sides of a sheet or of the
same portion of a web, consisting in first causing such sheet or portion to pass
between a puting surface and an impression surface to be printed on one side,
next causing the said sheet or portion to pass between a second printing surface
and second impression surface to be printed on the other side and at the same
time causing the passage of a second and clean sheet or portion of the web to
pass between the sheet or portion first printed and the said second impression
s face and afterwards causing the said second sheet or portion to pass first
between the hist mentioned printing and impression surfaces and afterwar.is
between the second printing and impression surfaces, substantially as herein set
forth.
4. The combination with the first and second impression cylinders of a perfecting
printing machine, of a set of grippers on the second impression cylinder for
receiving a clean sheet, a set of guppers on the first impression cy huder for taking

page_text: the said sheet from the second impression cylinder, and a second set of guppers om
the second impression cylinder for taking the sheet from the first impression
cylinder, substantially as her ein set forth.
5 The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine and two
sets of grippers thereon for receiving two separate sheets one over the other, of a
set of depressing fingers arranged between the grippers which receive the tonet
sheet to depress the edge of the said sheet between the latter grippers, substantially
as and for the purpose herem set forth.
6. The combination with the impression cylinder of a printing machine, of a
gripper shaft and grippets thereon for taking one sheet, depressing fingers arranged
loosely on said gripper shaft for depressing between the sand grippers the edge of
said sheet, a spring applied to said fingers to relieve the sheet from their pressure,
a second gripper shaft and grippers thereon for taking another sheet, said second
set of guppers also operating to depress said fingers, substantially as herein set
forth
Dated this 14th day of May 1805
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.