IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMING OR EMBOSSING PRESSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Gowans, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ARMING OR EMBOSSING PRESSES."
Scaled the 26th February 1875, and dated the 28th August 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Gowans at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th August 1874.
I, CHARLES GOWANS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-.
PROVEMENTS IN ARMING OR EMBOSSING PRESSES," to be as follows, that is to
say:
This Invention, which relates to improvements in presses for em-
bossing designs on book covers, cloth, leather, paper, and for other
similar purposes, consists in so arranging such presses that the em-
bossing dic is caused to make a segmental or rotatory movement in licu
of pressing flatly on the surface being embossed as hitherto.

page_text: The die is fixed to a curved or segmental plate attached to a shaft
through which the gas or other heating medium for the die is conducted
to the under side of the curved plate. On the shaft a spur wheel is
fixed, which is driven by a pinion operated either by hand, steam, or
other power. The bed or table of the machine, on which the material
to be embossed is placed, is moved backwards and forwards in a
horizontal plane by means of a cam or its equivalent situate above the
spur wheel, and operated by a lever or other suitable means. The bed
or table is adjusted to rest a sufficient time to permit of feeding and
accurate registry; and when ink is used, to change the colour thereof as
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Gowans in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GOWANS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four,
in the 38th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Gowans, Her special
license that I, the said Charles Gowans, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Gowans, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ARMING OR EMBOSSING PRESSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Gowans, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Gowans, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in presses for
embossing designs on book covers, cloth, leather, paper, and for other
similar purposes, consists in an arrangement of such presses by which
the embossing die is caused to rotate or move through a circular arc,
instead of pressing flatly upon the surface being embossed as hitherto.
The embossing die is fixed to the face of a curved plate, a cylinder or
segment of a cylinder carried on a shaft. The die is heated by gas or
other heating medium conducted through the said shaft and ignited at
the inner surface of the curved plate or cylinder. On the shaft a spur
wheel is fixed, which is driven by a pinion operated either by hand,
steam, or other power. The bed or table of the machine, on which the
material to be embossed is laid, is moved backwards and forwards in a
horizontal plane by means of a crank or cam or their equivalents
operated from the mechanism, and actuating a system of shafts and
levers, such mechanism being so arranged as to allow the table to rest
at the required intervals.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I.
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, reference being had to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
Figure 1 on the annexed Sheet of Drawings is an elevation at the
feeding end; and Figure 2, a side elevation at right angles to Figure 1
of my improved arming or embossing press.
The mechanism consists of a curved plate or segment of a cylinder A
(or otherwise a complete cylinder may be employed) secured to the
shaft B by arms and covers C. The shaft B is carried in bearings
formed in the frames D and E, which frames are tied together at the
top by stays F, and at the bottom by a stay bracket G. At one end of
the shaft B a spur wheel H is fixed, which gears with a pinion I
running loosely upon the shaft J, but capable of being put in gear
therewith by means of the clutch K, which is shifted on the shaft J by

page_text: means of a forked clutch lever L, fixed to and operated by the shaft M
and handle N. The shaft J is supported in bearings at the upper part
of the frames D and E, and is driven from the fast pulley O of the fast
and loose pullies O and P situated at the end thereof, a lever and
guide Qbeing employed to. shift the driving belt from one pulley to the
other. A fly wheel R is also keyed or otherwise fixed upon that end of
the shaft J opposite to the pullies O and P. In order to heat the
plate A gas or other heating medium is conducted thereto through a
passage formed in the centre of the shaft B to which the gas is admitted
by a cock S. Outlet passages or burners a, b, and c, are situated beneath
the curved plate A, which outlet passages or burners are preferably of
the curved form shewn more particularly at Figure 4, which is a vertical
section of the curved plate A. and shaft B at the line x, Figure 3. The
gas is ignited on coming through the perforations in the burners a, b,
and c, and by playing upon the curved plate A communicates heat
through it to the die fixed upon the face thereof. The table T, whercon
the material to be embossed is placed, slides in a horizontal plane in
angular guides, and is raised or lowered by means of wedges U and V,
the lower wedge V being operated by means of a screw and hand
wheel W. When adjusted to the proper height the wedges are secured
in position by the screw and hand wheel X, binding them to the stay
bracket G. The table T receives reciprocatory movement from a cam
formed on the disc Y. The said cam acts upon a roller Z, which is fixed
to the end of a lever d, whereby the shaft e and levers fare caused to
oscillate and impart corresponding reciprocatory motion (through the
links g) to the table T. An ordinary gauge or fence is applied to the
table against which the work is adjusted.
In operating my Invention a dic of brass, stereotype, electrotype, or
other suitable material bent to the same curve as the plate (or cylinder) A.
is fixed on the face thereof. Heat is imparted to the curved plate and
die by the herein-before described heating apparatus, or by any other
convenient means, and the book cover or other object which has to
receive an impression being placed upon the table T, while at the
position shewn at Figure 2, is upon the return of the table carried
beneath the curved plate and die, which in revolving at the same rate
of speed as the table is traversed makes the desired impression upon the
book or other object carried thereon.
The mechanism may be stopped by shifting the driving belt from

page_text: the fast pulley O to the loose pulley P by means of the belt guide Q,
the clutch K being provided for the more sudden stoppage of the
machine.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which
the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would
observe in conclusion that I do not confine myself to the exact details
of mechanism herein-before described, as the same are capable of modi-
fication. For example, the employment of a crank, instead of a cam,
to reciprocate the table; the employment of a completo cylinder, instead
of a curved plate or segment of a cylinder, to carry the die plate; and
the application of steam or hot air, instead of gas, to heat the said
cylinder or segment of a cylinder; but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The general arrangement or combination of machinery or
apparatus whereby a curved die is caused to make an impression upon
a book cover or other object, substantially as herein-before described and
shewn.
Second. The revolving curved dic plate and die, whether constituting
a complete cylinder or a segment of a cylinder, as and for the purposes.
herein-before described.
Third. Heating the die or embossing plate by means of gas, steam, or
hot air admitted through the tubular shaft B, substantially as herein-
before desavibed and shown