Improvements in Printing Machinery.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Feb., 1893—Accepted, 9th Sept., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Printing Machinery.
A communication from JOSEPH LEVI Cox, of Battle Creek, Michigan, United
States of America, Inventor.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent 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, to wit:-
:-
first
This invention is an improvement in printing machinery, and its objects are,
to produce a rapid printing press employing reciprocating forms of type, electro-
types, blocks or other objects, from which the impression is to be taken; and
continuously travelling rotary impression gripper cylinders, which carry the sheets
to be imprinted over the forms, and travelling inking rollers; second, to provide
improved inking mechanism for such press. Third to provide mechanism for
feeding such press with sheets cut directly from a roll of paper, and fourth, and
principally, to provide an improved duplex press by which the sheets may be
printed on both sides or "perfected" during their passage through the press.
This invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts
hereinafter described and claimed.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the duplex or perfecting press.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal diagrammatical section of the same.
Figures 3 and 4 are detail views illustrating the transfer of sheets from one
travelling impression cylinder to the other.
Figure 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view on line 5-5 Figure 1.
Figure 6 is a detail illustrating the mechanism for shifting the ink distributing
sections.
Figure 7 is an enlarged detail sectional view of a drum.
In these drawings similar letters of reference indicate like parts.
In Figures 1 & 2 of the drawings, A, A', designate two stationary cylindrical
drums lying side by side at a proper distance apart and having their peripheries
accurately finished. At their ends are bearing flanges a which project slightly
above the face of the drum, and at one side of these bearing flanges a are formed
or secured annular racks or gears a¹ hereinafter referred to.
These drums have interior bracing webs, spokes or flanges by which their
peripheries or shells are strengthened or braced as indicated in the drawings, or
other suitable bracings or stiffenings, and they have elongated hollow trunnions A³
on their ends which are fixed in proper bearings on the main frame of the machine
so that the drums are rigidly and fixedly mounted in the frame as indicated in the
drawings. Through the hollow trunnions of the drums extend shafts B, B, driven
as hereinafter described. A longitudinal opening is made in the upper portion of
each drum to accommodate type beds C, C', one in each drum, which beds are
vertically movable, and are guided in their movements by the sides of the opening,
or suitable guides a³ in the drum as indicated in the drawings, or in other suitable
manner, so that their reciprocating movements up and down will be regular and
accurate, and lateral vibration of the bed be prevented.
The beds have depending brackets c on their under sides in which are mounted
friction rollers c¹ which run upon the peripheries of cams b, b, on shafts B which
are so arranged that the beds will be raised and lowered in, and during, the proper
time or times.
Springs C may be placed beneath the beds to lift, or assist in lifting, the same,
being placed on rod C³ fixed in the drum and playing through eyes c³ attached to

page_text: the beds, as indicated in Figure 2. But as the mechanism for raising and lowering
the beds can be readily varied by mechanics, my correspondent does not confine
himself to the particular mechanism herein described; nor to the particular
construction of the beds or drums herein described.
D, D, are spider-frames journalled on the trunnions A' of each drum between
the ends of each drum and the side frames of the press. The spider-frames at the
end of the same drum are connected together by stay rods, or in other suitable
manner so that they revolve simultaneously and alike.
These spider-frames have, as shown, four equidistant arms, which are slotted to
receive journal boxes e in which are journalled the shafts or trunnions of
impression-gripper-cylinders E, E', of suitable size, and of ordinary, or any
preferred construction. These cylinders are referred to hereinafter as simply
cylinders "E" and "E." The cylinders E are grouped around drum A, and
cylinders El around drum A¹, as shown in drawings.
These cylinders have bearing flanges or treads e¹ at their ends which run upon
the bearing flanges of the drums, herein before described, and also have gears e
which mesh with the gears on the ends of the drums and ensure the exact and
proper rotary movement of the cylinders as they are travelled around the drums
by the rotation of the spider frames.
Shafts B, B, may be rotated as follows ;-
Pinions B are keyed to the outer ends of the shafts B and mesh with pinions B2
on stub shafts B' journalled in the side frames below the trunnions A. On the
inner ends of the stub shafts B are pinions B³ which are driven by annular
gears D³ on the spider frames D as indicated in Figure 2. By properly arranging
the gearing the shafts B will be rotated simultaneously with the movement of
cylinders E, E around the drums, and should be rotated once for each cylinder E,
or E', that is, four times during each rotation of spider-frames, as the frames carry
four impression cylinders, and the cams b, should be so arranged that the beds will
be once raised and then lowered during the travel of a cylinder over the beds, so as
to cause the cylinder to produce an impression on the type.
It will be particularly noticed that in this press the beds are not stationary; that
they reciprocate; and that the cylinders travel around the drum in a circular
orbit, and are not deflected from or toward the axial lines of the drum. Now then
as the cylinders travel over the beds, they travel through an arc-shaped path, and
hence rise at one side of the bed and descend at the other side, being more elevated
when they are centrally over the beds than when at either side thereof. Therefore
it is necessary that the type beds should be so actuated that as the cylinders come
thereover at the "rising" side the bed is also raised and the type forms thereon
kept in contact with the impression cylinder during its upward movement, and are
lowered gradually with the impression cylinder as it "descends" at the opposite
side of the bed. The cams can be readily calculated to produce this movement of
the bed and keep the forms thereon in contact with the cylinders while they travel
thereover. This movement of the bed brings it back to original position as
the impression cylinder leaves it so that it is ready to coact with the succeeding
cylinder.
From this it will be understood that the beds have a continuous to and fro or up
down reciprocating movement, while the cylinders have a continuous rotary and
orbital movement, and during the taking of the impression the coacting cylinder
and bed move together so far as concerns their variation in position from a
horizontal plane. By this action of parts the beds are brought back to normal
position during and at, or just before the finish of the impression by one cylinder,
and in position to be inked by the travelling inking rollers hereinafter described,
and then immediately coact with a succeeding impression cylinder so that the
operation of printing by successive cylinders moving constantly over reciprocating
beds can be accomplished with great rapidity.
The spider frames are rotated by means of large gears De formed thereon or
affixed thereto.

page_text: The gears on adjoining spiders at the same side of the machine intermesh so as
to impart a positive, simultaneous but opposite similar rotary movement to the
spiders at the ends of the opposite drums which will therefore revolve the cylinders
around the respective drums as indicated by the arrows in Figure 2.
The gears D on spiders D mesh with small gears fon a cross shaft F journalled
in the frame and to which power is applied in any suitable manner to drive the
press.
It will be noted that cylinders E are rotated over drum A toward drum A³, and
that cylinders E¹ are rotated over drum A' toward drum A.
The drums are so placed in relation to each other that as the cylinders E, E¹
travel along their respective orbits, they approach each other as they begin to
descend at the inner sides of the drums, and nearly meet, so that their peripheries
barely avoid contact, coming within about a sixteenth of an inch at their nearest
points of travel, which is when they are in line with the axes of the drums or
spiders; they then separate and travel around the peripheries of the drums until
they begin to again descend.
The sheets are fed to the cylinders E successively as they ascend at the outer
side of the drum A, and at such a point that the sheet will be properly imprinted
Then as the
by the type on the bed C as the cylinder E travels thereover.
cylinder E descends with the imprinted sheet X it meets a descending cylinder El
on drum A' and as they come nearest together the gripping fingers of cylinder E
close upon the edge of the sheet X (and at the same time the gripper fingers of
cylinder E release the edge of such sheet) as indicated in Figure 3, and as the
cylinders continue their travel and rotation, the sheet is transferred from cylinder E
to E' as indicated in Figure 4.
The sheet is taken around the drum A¹ by cylinder E' and imprinted by the
form on bed C¹ and as cylinder E¹ rotates over bed C¹ the imprinted sheet is.
delivered to the stripper cylinder G which is journalled in bearings directly over
drum A' and in such position that as the cylinders E¹ pass over bed C¹, the
collecting or stripper cylinder G rotates, and its gripping fingers catch the edge of the
sheet being imprinted on bed C', and at the same time the gripping fingers of
the cylinder E' producing the impression, releases the sheet which is consequently
taken off by stripper cylinder G as indicated in Figure 2.
The stripper cylinder G may be driven by shafting and bevel gearing from the
shaft B of drum A' as indicated in Figure 1, or in any other suitable manner, pro-
vided it rotates at proper times to take the sheets from the cylinders E¹.
From this stripper cylinder the imprinted sheets are stripped off by fingers G¹
and caught by delivery carrying tapes G which conduct the sheets to a folding
mechanism as indicated in the drawings, of any suitable construction; or other
suitable mechanism for stripping and delivering the imprinted sheets may be
employed, as for instance a "Hat delivery device" such as a "fly" which will lay
the sheets upon a table as in ordinary sheet cylinder presses.
The sheets of paper may be fed to the cylinders by hand, or may be fed in by
machinery as may be found desirable by the press builder. It is preferred to
employ a mechanism which will cut the sheets from a web and feed them into the
press as indicated in the drawings. As I have represented the machine the web of
paper W is led from a paper roll P between two cutting rolls H, H¹ by which it
is severed into sheets ✗ of the proper length; the severed sheet X is carried
by endless tapes I running over rollers i, i, to the side of drum A in position to
deliver the sheets to the cylinders E as they ascend as indicated in Figure 2.
Rollers i, i, are driven by gearing from the shaft of the lower cutting roller H'
as indicated in Figure 2 or in other convenient manner, the gearing being so
calculated that these tapes move somewhat faster than the peripheral speed of the
cutting rollers so that they will carry the sheet toward drum A at a speed equal
to the peripheral speed of a cylinder E, plus its travel or orbital-movement around
drum A.
In order to facilitate the gripping of the sheet by the fingers on cylinders E,

page_text: a guide or guides J are interposed between the tapes and drum shown in Figure 2
said guide having its edge next the drum A. or projections on its edge slightly
upturned so that the edge of the sheet is presented in such position that it will
be readily grasped by the gripping fingers of a passing cylinder E.
The cutting rolls may be driven by gearing from the main shaft, as indicated in
Figure 1, the gearing being so calculated that the cutting rolls will cut one sheet
of paper for
every impression cylinder E (as shown there would be four sheets cut
from the web during the time required to rotate one cylinder E around the drum,
or during one rotation of the spider frames). Any suitable mechanism for severing
the sheets may be employed to enable sheets of the proper length to be severed
from the web and forwarded to the impression cylinders E as described.
As
The ink is supplied to the fountains by means of travelling inking rollers R, R,
which run upon the periphery of the drums between the bearer flanges and
distribute the ink upon the surface of the drums, by which thorough dissemination
of the ink is obtained. The shafts of the ink rollers are connected to the spider
frames by any suitable means so that the rollers are travelled by said frames, and
successively rolled over the form of type on the type bed to ink the same.
shown, the ink rollers are arranged in pairs on each drum, one pair between
adjoining cylinders, and in front of each cylinder; each pair of rollers is connected
to the drum by a hanger rod K, which plays through perforated studs on the frames
as indicated in Figure 1, and is controlled by a spring k which tends to draw the
rollers toward the axis of the drum and keeps them in continual contact therewith
except when they contact the type forms as will be readily understood by builders
of printing machinery.
The ink rollers ink the forms just in advance of the impression cylinder and
consequently the beds will begin to rise before the ink rollers pass thereoff, when
the rollers move at the same speed as the impression cylinders, consequently bearer
cams C are employed, secured to the offside of the beds as indicated in Figures 2
and 7, by which the ink rollers are lowered onto the periphery of the drum without
jar; the bearer cams are raised and lowered by the beds. The ink rollers receive
ink from fountains L, one in each drum, located inside the drum at the "offside"
of the type beds as shown in Figure 2.
The fountain rollers partially occupy longitudinal slots in the drums, and their
peripheries project sufficiently through said slots to be contacted by the ink rollers R,
and supply ink thereto. If desired longitudinal sections of the drum periphery
may be removed, and replaced by slabs A' dressed to conform to the peripheral
contour of the drum; these slabs project slightly beyond the ends of drum and
are contacted alternately at opposite ends by cam surfaces d' on the inner surfaces
of the spider frames as indicated in Figure 6 by which reciprocating movements
are imparted to such slabs resulting in a more thorough dissemination and
distribution of the ink. The gripper fingers of cylinders E E' and G, are applied
and released at the proper times by the well known gripper actuating devices
employed in ordinary cylinder sheet printing machines, and therefore do not need
any detailed description herein, but other arrangements of gripper actuating devices
may be employed, if found desirable.
A single acting press; i.e.-one adapted to print on but one side of a sheet may
be readily constructed in accordance with this invention by simply omitting one
drum and its coacting spider frame, cylinders and ink rollers, the feed devices and
stripping roller being employed, in connection with a single drum and coacting
cylinders.
In this press it will be observed that the impression cylinders are not dropped
upon the bed, or lifted upon the forms, but continually travel in a perfectly circular
orbit, and do not deviate therefrom, that is, they do not approach or recede from
the axial line of the spiders, consequently it will be possible to throw out of
operation, or omit the mechanism for raising and lowering the beds, and have such 5
beds stationary, and place thercon "turtle" type forms; that is forms whose type
bearing surface corresponds in contour to a section of the drum ; adjusting these

page_text: "turtles" so that the cylinders will apply the sheets thereto and make an impression
while travelling thereover while the "turtles are stationary.
In the same way curved stereotype plates, and other curved surfaces from which
impressions can be taken may be fixedly mounted in the machine, and great speed
attained, as the bed will be stationary and the cylinders travel in an undeflected
circular orbit.
The output of the machine depends of course upon the number of impression
cylinders, primarily; and secondarily, upon the speed of rotation of the spider
frames. While four impression cylinders are shown on each frame, the number
thereof may be varied, using one, or any number desirable, and would be so
understood.
It is proposed to make a section of the periphery of the drum over or under the
ink fountain and adjoining it, removable, so that such fountain can be readily
cleansed and replenished.
Having particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as new is :—
1. In a printing press, impression cylinders adapted to be rotated and travelled
continuously in a complete undeviating circular orbit and produce an impression
during each complete passage through such orbit, substantially as described.
2. In a printing press the combination of a stationary drum, a reciprocating type
bed in said drum, and an impression cylinder, and inking rollers rotating around
said drum and over said bed, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
3. In a perfecting printing press the combination of stationary drums,
reciprocating type beds in said drums, and alternate impression cylinders and
inking rollers travelling around said drums and over said beds, all constructed and
operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
4. A single press for printing on one side of a sheet, constructed arranged and
operated, as herein described.
5. A sheet perfecting printing press constructed arranged and operating as herein
shown and described.
6. In a printing machine the combination of an impression cylinder travelling in
a circle, with a reciprocating type bed and mechanism whereby said bed is raised
and lowered at the proper time to keep the type forms thereon in proper contact
with the impression cylinder as the latter travels over the bed during a portion of
its orbital travel, substantially as and for the
described.
purpose
7. In a printing press the combination of a stationary drum, a bed therein
carrying a curved printing surface, inking rollers rotating around said drum and
over said printing surface, an ink supply thereto, and travelling impression cylinders
rotating around said drum in an undeviating circular orbit, all substantially as
specified herein.
Dated this 10th day of February 1893.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.