IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gill, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid
Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
MACHINERY."
Sealed the 2nd October 1863, and dated the 13th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gill at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th April
1863.
I, JOHN GILL, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING MACHINERY," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to machinery designed for printing from types, but i
also more or less applicable to other kinds of printing, and has for object to
obtain increased speed in the printing operation, and other advantages.
In a modification embodying the improvements two flat forms of types are
used, and are suspended in vertical positions from the opposite sides of an
overhead drum or pulley. This drum is mounted eccentrically in such a way
that when the forms are in their middle positions and directly opposite to each
other the centre of the pulley is below its journals. If one of the forms is
lifted up the other will descend, but the leverage of the rising one will
increase, whilst that of the descending one will decrease, so that the forms
will tend to return of themselves to their middle positions. The eccentric
pulley is made to vibrate by means of a crank and connecting rud, c

page_text: equivalent movement, and there is thereby imparted to the forms vertical
reciprocating movements, which are continually opposite to each other, and
which, in consequence of the eccentric action absorb no more power than that
required to merely overcome the friction of the parts. In this modification
the forms are arranged with their printing surfaces outwards, and each works
between inside rollers or pulleys which resist the pressure, and an outside
pressing cylinder or roller, round which the paper or other sheet to be printed
is passed in contact with the types. The sheets when being printed are
guided and held against the pressing cylinder by tapes actuated by or in
connection with the eccentric pulley, and the pressing cylinder is made to
turn correctly by means of a rack on the form gearing with a spur wheel on
the roller. A sheet is printed from each form during each upward movement,
and another during each downward movement, the feeding arrangements
herein-after described being such as to feed alternately in opposite directions.
The inking of the form is effected by means of plates at each end of the form
moving therewith, and acting in combination with inclined distributing rollers
and with inking rollers much as in common machines. For feeding in the
sheets there is at the outside of the pressing cylinder a roller formed with a
longitudinal notch or groove, into which groove the front edge of the sheet is
entered. Below the pressing cylinder and grooved roller there are two rollers,
round and between which endless tapes are stretched, and these two rollers
are mounted so that the outer one which is normally clear of the grooved
roller may at the proper times be moved into contact therewith. The two
rollers and endless tapes receive motion from the pressing cylinder, and impart
it to the grooved roller when in contact therewith, this contact taking place
when the form is rising by the action of a raised part of the form on a lever
connected with the rollers. The grooved roller is thereby turned, so as to
carry the sheet between itself and a nipping roller downwards upon the
endless tapes, and it passes thence under the pressing cylinder, and upwards
between it and the form. There is a similar but inverted arrangement above
the pressing cylinder and the grooved roller, and when the form descends the
various motions are reversed, and the sheet is fed over the pressing cylinder
and down between it and the form. The sheets may be in a pile immediately
outside of the grooved roller, being in succession pushed by hand into the
groove, which comes round to its starting position at every movement; or, as
the action of tho grooved roller is better when lifting the sheets off the pile,
there may be another grooved roller, which lifts every sheet instead of moving
them upwards and downwards alternately, the sheets being separately passed
by one grooved roller to the other. By an intermittent pressing action on the

page_text: pile of sheets, combined with a roller or raised part of the feeding board, it is it is
proposed to render the feed self-acting. To deliver the printed sheets in piles
there are at each point of delivery two sets of pulleys with endless tapes or
pitch chains disposed more widely apart than the width of the sheet. Nipping
strips are fitted across these endless tapes, and by suitably regulated move-
ments meet at the proper periods, and taking hold of the sheet draw it along,
hanging down more or less between the tapes until the proper point is
reached, when the nipping strips separate, and the sheet is gently deposited
on the pile.
The improved arrangements are obviously susceptible of various modi
fications. Thus there may be a single form suspended from one side of the
eccentric pulley or drum, with a counterweight on the other side. By giving
sufficient vertical movement to each form it may be made to print two or
more copies at each up-stroke or down-stroke, by providing two or more
pressing cylinders with accompanying feeding and delivering details. Tho
form will require to be inked between every two pressing cylinders, which can
be effected by means of a series of inking rollers with a cylinder, on which the
ink is equally distributed by a roller reciprocating longitudinally through a
small space. The forms may in some cases be placed with the types facing
inwards, and by suitably arranging the guiding tapes the machine may be
made to print the two sides of the sheet one after the other. The improved
machinery may be easily adapted for printing from stone or zino, or from
wood blocks.
The Invention also comprises improved arrangements for printing with two
or more inks or colors in separate spaces crossing the sheet. The stripes of
colors are supplied by separate doctor rollers and are distributed on the
inking table or plate by separate pulleys or sections of rollers; the distributing
pulleys being narrower than the respective stripes to permit of their distribu
ting action being confined to the stripes.. The inking table or plate may be
formed with grooves to keep the colors separate.. The inking roller takes up
he colors and applies it to the form in the usual way.
The separate or independent arrangements for supplying the separate colors
permit of the colors being fed in different quantites if required, and this may
e taken advantage of in printing with a single color, where from the dif
erent sizes of the types occupying different lines it may be desirable to supply
nore ink to one part than to another.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Gill in the Great Seal Patent Offico on the 13th
October 1863.
TO ALL, TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GILL, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Gill, Her special licence that I, the said John Gill, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Gill, my executors, administrators, and 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 PRINTING
MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Gill, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Gill, 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
in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to machinery for printing from types, but is also
more or less applicable to other kinds of printing, and bas for object to obtain
increased speed in the printing operation, and other advantages.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing modi-
fications embodying my improvements.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a vertical section, showing one of my
improved arrangements, but with various parts omitted such as the framing

page_text: details for carrying the various rollers, which details may be constructed in
any convenient ordinary way. It must also be understood that the details
shown at one side of the machine are repeated at the other sido also, although
not shown. In this modification two flat forms 1, 2, are used, and are sus-
pended in vertical positions by means of straps 3, from the opposite sides of a
pair of overhead drums or pulleys 4, the section in the Figure being supposed
to be taken between the two drums, which are connected by a cranked shaft
or spindle 5. It will, however, be obvious that a single drum or pulley of a
sufficient size might be substituted for the two referred to. The pulleys 4 are
mounted eccentrically, being formed with semicircular journals 6, which rest
and roll upon horizontal bearing surfaces 7, formed on frame pieces extending
between the vertical standards 8, in which the guiding grooves are formed for
the sliding forms 1, 2. Teeth are formed upon the sides of the semicircular
journals 6, and on the sides of the horizontal bearing surfaces 7, to prevent the
journals from slipping out of their proper positions, and the straps 3 are fixed
to the pulleys 4 also to prevent slipping. The eccentric pulleys 4 aro not
designed to make more than half a turn, and their peripheries are shaped as
shown, to maintain the straps 3 in the same vertical lines in all positions of
the pulleys. The proper shape is casily obtained by placing a pattern or tem-
plate successively in the various positions.corresponding with the rolling of the
journal 6 on a straight line, and marking thereon lines corresponding to the
positions of the vertical lines. A curve drawn tangentially to the lines so
obtained will be the proper shape, and will be the more accurate the greater
the number of positions taken.. The same conditions may be otherwise
fulfilled, as will be herein-after pointed out. The eccentric pulleys 4 are
shown in their middle positions when their centres are below their journals 6,
whilst the journals rest on the centres of their bearing surfaces 7, and the
forms 1, 2, bear with equal leverage on the opposite sides of the pulleys.
When the eccentric pulleys 4 are turned in either direction from the position
in which they are shown, one form will rise and the other will descend, but in
consequence of the eccentric disposition of the pulleys the leverage on the
rising side will increase, whilst on the descending side the leverage will
correspondingly decrease, the effect of which will be to give the pulleys and
forms a strong tendency to return of themselves. In the absence of frictional
resistances the momentum acquired in returning to the middle position of the
eccentric pulleys would carry the parts as far on the other side of that position,
and they would continue to oscillate or reciprocate alternately to opposite sides
thereof. To make sure of the forms 1, 2, descending properly, they are con-
nected by straps 9 to lower eccentric pulleys 10, shaped and mounted like the

page_text: upper ones 4, aud made to move simultaneously with the latter by parallel
rods 11, 12. With forms of considerable weight the lower pulleys 10 may
not be required. The eccentric pulleys 4 are made to vibrate by means of a
revolving crank 18, driven by any convenient prime mover, and acting through
a connecting rod 14 jointed to a bar 15 mounted in guides so as to slide
horizontally. The bar 15 has at its middle a frame with a vertical groove,
which acts on the crank 16 of the pulley spindle 5. By these means vertical
reciprocating movements are imparted to the forms 1, 2, which movements are
continually opposite to each other, and which, in consequence of the eccentric
action, absorb no more power than that required to merely overcome the
friction of the parts.
proper
In this modification, the forms 1, 2, are arranged with their printing surfaces
outwards, and each works between inside rollers or pulleys 17, which resist
the pressure, and an outside pressing cylinder or roller 18, round which the
paper or other sheet to be printed is passed in contact with the types. The
sheets when being printed, are guided and held against the pressing cylinder
either by tapes actuated by, or in connection with the eccentric pulleys 4, or
by means of grippers such as are used in existing machines, such grippers
being acted on so as to lay hold of and release the sheets at the times.
The pressing cylinder 18, is made to turn correctly by means of a rack on the
form 1, (or 2,) gearing with a spur wheel on the cylinder. A sheet is printed
from each form during each upward movement, and another during each
downward movement, the sheets being fed in alternately in opposite directions.
The inking of the form 1 is effected by means of plates 19 at each end of the form
moving therewith and acting in combination with inking rollers 20. Ink is
supplied to each plate 19 from a distributing cylinder 21, which rotates contin-
uously and receives ink from the usual doctor or trough roller 22. A pair of
rollers 28, 24, are carried by a reciprocating frame, and move intermittently
into contact with the cylinder 21, and with the doctor roller 22 on the one
hand, and plate 19 on the other. Revolving in contact with the cylinder 21,
there are a series of rollers 25 of graduated sizes, which serve to spread or
distribute the ink uniformly, this being assisted by a slight end motion given
to the cylinder 21. Not finding feeding mechanism of the kind described in the
Provisional Specification of my said Invention to be suitable, I have not
adopted the same in this modification, and I hereby relinquish any claim
thereto, but I have employed ordinary feeding arrangements, consisting of a
slanting board 26, above the pressing cylinder 18, down which one attendant
moves the sheet separately until each is taken hold of by the tapes or grippers.
For feeding in the opposite direction, a second board or table 28 is used, the

page_text: sheets being fed therefrom by a second attendant, and being carried upwards
to the pressing cylinder 18, by a pair of endless tapes 29, always running one
way. The printed sheets in being delivered are in the first place lifted off the
surface of the pressing cylinder 18 by endless tapes 30, which pass round the
cylinder between it and the sheet of paper, but which at the outer side are
deviated away from the cylinder by rollers placed as shown. The sheets as
they come off the cylinder are received between nipping strips carried by pairs of
endless tapes or pitch chains 31, 82, a pair of which nipping strips 33 with
parts of the appertaining tapes 31, and the pulleys round which they are
carried are shown enlarged in Figure 2. The tapes or pitch chains are
disposed more widely apart than the width of the sheets, and they are
actuated so that the nipping strips coming round meet and lay hold of the
sheets at the proper times. If necessary the strips may be kept in contact in
various ways; for example, by making them with projecting ends to move
along guide grooves in the side frames. The sheet is held by the nipping
strips at its front edge and is carried outwards over the receiving board 34, and
at the proper point the nipping strip tapes 31, 32, are guided so as to separato
the strips when the sheet falls gently on the pile beneath. When necessary
the machine may be stopped by means of a catch which will hold up one of
the forms in its highest position, and when the machine is driven by steam.
power the action for throwing off the driving belt is by preference arranged.
to simultaneously throw in the retaining catch.
The improved arrangements herein-before described are obviously susceptible
of various modifications. Thus the eccentric pulleys (4, 10,) may be made
cylindrical instead of being shaped as shown in Figure 2, and if formed with
circular journals rolling on horizontal surfaces or turning in fixed bearings,
they may be placed so far above and below the points of attachment of the
straps to the forms, that the lateral deviation of the pulleys will not act
injuriously. Or cylindrical pulleys may be used with circular journals, rolling
on circular bearing surfaces of double the radius of the journals, in which case
the pulleys will have no lateral deviation. Or the journals, and bearing
surfaces may be made with various other corresponding curvatures giving a
like result; or, finally, the pulleys may be suspended in sliding or rolling
bearings, or as shown in Figure 8, that is, by means of eccentric pins 35,
resting in suspending links or levers 36, turning on fixed centres 37, whilst
the pulleys are guided vertically at the sides or at the centres 38. In some
cases there may be a single form suspended from one side of the eccentric
pulleys, with a counterweight on the other side. By giving sufficient vertical
movement to cach form it may be made to print two or more copies at each

page_text: up stroke or down stroke, by providing two or more pressing cylinders with
accompanying inking, feeding, and delivering details. Ordinary inking
arrangements, in which the ink is distributed on plates by means of inclined
rollers, may be used, with a single pressing cylinder 18, instead of those
described in connection with Figure 1, but where there are two or moro
pressing cylinders 18 to each form, the types will be supplied with ink between
such cylinders 18 by inking rollers receiving ink directly from cylinders, such
as the cylinders 21, on which the ink is distributed. In some cases the forms
1,2, may be placed with the types facing inwards, as indicated in the diagram
Figure 4, and by suitably arranging the guiding tapes as shown or otherwise,
the machine may be made to print the two sides of the sheet one after the
other. This diagram also shows arrangements for each form, giving two
impressions at each down or up stroke. The reference letters a, b, c, d, e,
mark the courses taken by the sheets fed in at one side, whilst the reference
letters f, g, h, i, j, mark the courses taken by the sheets fed in at the other
side, the sheets crossing each other at c, h. A sheet may bo printed on both
sides by means of one pressing cylinder (18) by making it after the first
impression to turn round a guide roller and return in the opposite direction
under the pressing cylinder, the sheet being afterwards divided to form two
copies, as is well understood. The improved machinery may be easily adapted
for printing from stone, or zinc, or from wood blocks.
My said Invention also comprises improved arrangements for simultaneously
printing from one surface with two or more inks or colors in separate spaces
crossing the sheet. The different inks are supplied from separate doctor or
trough rollers in the ordinary way to separate distributing cylinders.
In Diagrams, Figures 5 and 6, distributing cylinders 21, for three different
inks are shown. The inks are transferred from theso cylinders 21 to the
inking table or plate 19, by separate pulleys or sections of rollers 40, which
are adjustable on their spindles, and which are arranged so that no two colors
are applied to the same parts of the inking table or plate 19. Each ink is
distributed over the entire cylinder 21, the cylinder being in length equal to
the width of the form, and the distributing action being the same as in the
modification represented in Figure 1. In this way, the pulleys or sectional
rollers 40, receive ink which is already in a distributed state, and supply it in
that condition to the inking plate 19. The inking rollers (20, Figure 1,)
take up the colors, and apply them to the form in the usual way, and precisely
as though applying only one color. The separate or independent arrange-
ments for supplying the separate colors permit of the colors being fed in
different quantities if required; and this may be taken advantage of in

page_text: printing with a single color, where from the different sizes of the types
occupying different lines, it may be desirable to supply more ink to one part
than to another.
The term "form" is herein-before used to express either the "form
proper, or the frame upon which the form and inking plates are fixed.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the preciso details herein described or delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the constructing, arranging,
or combining of the details of printing machinery in the improved manner, or
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gill, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
JOHN GILL. (L.S.)