IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING FROM ENGRAVED PLATES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING FROM
ENGRAVED PLATES."-A communication from abroad by Thomas Cecil
Andrews, of the City of Philadelphia, United States of America.
Sealed the 21st January 1868, and dated the 27th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th August 1862.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING FROM
ENGRAVED PLATES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of machine whereby the
inking of engraved plates, and the printing off of impressions therefrom may
be efficiently and economically performed. To this end a table is provided
for receiving the engraved plate, and passing it over inking rollers, and then
(when the plate is cleaned by hand) carrying it between a pair of pressing
rollers, whereby the impress of the engraving is transferred to the overlying
surface intended to receive the same. The table for holding the plate receives
an intermittent traverse motion, the object being that it shall remain stationary
sufficiently long to allow of the face of the plate being cleaned by hand. At
this time it is.held by vertical sliding catches, which are kept up to their work
by springs, which yield when the table is either passing forwards to be
received between them, or is required to be disengaged from its supporting

page_text: catches. The table is connected by means of a pair of travelling clamps with
a pair of endless chains, to which a continuous rotary motion is communicated
from the main driving shaft. The clamps are formed with a fixed jaw attached
to the chains, and a vertically sliding jaw, the latter carrying teeth which take
into notches in the edges of the travelling table. Switches formed of
tumbling V-shaped pieces connected together by rocking straps are used for
operating the clamps, and causing them to close upon the table, which is
required to be carried forward, the clamps being brought up into contact with
and caused to traverse under the inclined surfaces of the switches, which
are mounted on the main framing. The upper pressing roller is held in
position by means of an elastic band attached to a fixed point on the framing,
and thus it is prevented from revolving too freely directly it is touched by the
plate, and thereby blurring the impression. This roller is covered by a
suitable elastic or yielding surface. The plate when it has passed between the
pressure rollers is brought over inking rollers fitted in an ink-distributing
box, and when inked, it passes to a scraper, which is pressed up to its work,
and removes the superfluous ink from the printing surface. To effect the
disengagement of the table from the clamps, the moveable jaws of the clamps
are provided with pins which traverse over or under endless rails attached to
the side frames. The moveable jaws are therefore at a portion of their
traverse sustained by the rails, and openings made in the rails admit of their
dropping into their clamping position. In order to release the table from the
supporting sliding catches, an arm stretching across the machine, and
attached to the lower of the tumbling pieces of one of the switches, is caused
to depress the spring which keeps the catch in its raised position, and thereby
draw down the catch clear of the table.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR PRINTING FROM ENGRAVED PLATES," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates
to a novel construction of machine, whereby the inking of engraved plates,
and the printing off of impressions therefrom may be efficiently and economi-
cally performed.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the
improved machine, taken in the line a, a, Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a plan or top view
of the same; Fig. 3 is a section, taken in the line y, y, Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a
section, taken in the line z, z, Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a detached side view of a
portion of the machine. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts in the several Figures.
constructed in any proper way to
In each end of this framing there
These shafts are parallel with
A represents a framing, which may be
support the working parts of the machine.
are boxes, in which shafts B, C, are fitted.
each other, and have a transverse position with the framing A. Upon the
shaft B there are placed three chain wheels a, a, b, and two chain wheels a¹, a¹,
are placed on the shaft C, the wheels a, a, being in line with the wheels a', a¹.
D, D, are endless chains, which pass around the wheels a, a', the chains being
parallel with each other, and at opposite sides of the machine, as shown in
Fig. 2; E, E, represent the pressure rollers, by which the paper or other
substance to receive the impression is pressed upon the plate to be printed.

page_text: rdj
These rollers are placed one over the other, in the same axial plane, and are
parallel with the shafts B, C. The axis or shaft d of the lower roller E has a
chain wheel c upon it, around which and the wheel 6 of the shaft B a chain F
passes. Motion is communicated to the endless chains D, D, from the shaft
of the lower roller E by means of the chain F. The axle of the roller E
works in fixed bearings, but the axle of the upper roller E¹ is mounted in
adjustable bearings, the position of which are regulated by set screws
arranged in the usual way or in a way common to most pressure rollers.
The upper roller E' is provided with a covering f of cloth and felt or other
suitable material, and the axle of this roller has a pin g projecting from it,
which when the roller E¹ is not acted upon by the passing of the plate between
the two rollers, is kept in contact with a stop h attached to one of the guides i
of the bearings of the upper roller by means of an elastic cord j, one end of
which is attached to the framing A, the opposite end being wound around
the shaft of the upper roller, see Fig. 2. This elastic cord j serves to keep 1
the roller E in a certain position when the plate strikes that roller, and
prevents the covering f being smeared with ink. To each endless chain D
there is attached a jaw or clamp G, formed of two bars k, k³, see Figs. 1 and 3.
The bark is attached to the chain and has an arm projecting from it at
right angles. On this arm 7 the upper bar k¹ is fitted, and allowed to slide 2
freely. The bar is provided with a socket m, through which the arm
passes (see Fig. 2). Each bar is provided at its inner side with two
triangular projections n, n, which are shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 3.
Projecting horizontally from the sockets m of the bars k¹ are pins o, which
work upon and under rails p on the inner sides of the framing A, and corre. 2
sponding in form to the endless chains D, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. On
each side of the framing A there is placed a switch H; these switches are
formed of two triangular shaped blocks q, q. one placed on the upper surface
of the side pieces a* of the framing, and the other against the under surfaces
of the side pieces. These blocks 9 are connected by a bar r, which is pivoted 8
at its centre to the outer side of the framing, and causes the blocks 9, q, to
move simultaneously in opposite directions (see Fig. 4). The blocks q. q, are
secured to the framing by set screws 8, which pass through oblong slots t in
the blocks, the slots being sufficiently long to admit of a requisite length of
movement of the blocks (see Fig. 2). The rails p have each an opening u, 3
(Fig. 3) made in them to admit of the pins o of the bars passing above and
below the rails p. This passing of the pins o above and below the rails p
causes the jaws to open and cluse, that is to say, causes the upper bar k² to
rise and fall, and the blocks 4, 7, are the means by which the pins are guided

page_text: above and below the rails. A horizontal bed I, placed in the framing A,
between the switches H, H, is provided with two vertical rods J, J, notched
at their upper ends, the back rod J having a helical spring v on it, which has
a tendency to keep it elevated. The rods J, J, are placed one at the front
and the other at the back end of the bed I, and they receive at certain times
pins 6 at the front and back ends of a plate K, on which the engraved
plate L to be printed from is placed and secured in any proper way. A series
of inking rollers M is placed in a box N in the lower part of the framing in
such a position as to ink the plate L as it passes over them; and O is a scraper
which is placed on or attached to a shaft P, which passes through the box N.
This scraper O projects above the box N, and serves to scrape the superfluous
ink off from the plate L. The shaft P is bent at one end and has a weight Q
attached to it, said weight having a tendency to keep the plate L in contact
with a pin c at one side of the box N. The lower block g of the switch at
the right-hand side of the machine is connected to a lever R, which passes
underneath a spring rod S, connected to the front rod J of the bed I,
as shown in Fig. 1. The spring rod S has a tendency to keep not only
the latter elevated, but also to keep the lower block 9 at the right-
hand side of the machine in contact with the front side of the opening u,
so as to allow the pin o of the bar ¹ to pass from the lower to the upper side
of the rail p, see Fig. 5. The other switch H, at the left-hand side of the
machine is free or not connected with any working parts of the machine. The
operation is as follows:-Suppose the plate K, with the inked plate L to have
been left upon the bed I by the travelling clamps G, G, the pins 6¹ of the
plate K being in the notches in the upper ends of the rods J, J; the plate L
while in this position is to be wiped and polished by the attendant or operator
in the usual manner, and the blank sheet is then to be placed upon the now
polished plate. By the time this operation has been gone through the jaws or
clamps G, G, will have arrived at the switches H, H, it being understood that
the chains D are kept constantly moving, and the pins o, o, of the bars k¹ will
strike the upper blocks q of the switches H, and move them forward, thereby
throwing the lower blocks q backward into the position shewn by red lines in
Figs. 3 and 5, that is, in contact with the back edges of the openings u, and
causing the pins o, which are on the upper sides of the rails p to pass (in the
onward progress of the clamps) down below the rails. This downward move-
ment of the pins o depresses or forces down the bars ¹ of the clamps, and
causes them to gripe the edges of the plate K, the projections n, n, fitting into
notches in the edges of the plate K. Simultaneously with the moving of
the upper blocks q the front rod J of the bed 1 is forced down in consequence

page_text: of the connection of that rod with the right-hand block 9 formed by the
lever R and rod S. The plate K and engraved plate L are then carried
along with the endless chains D, D, and pass between the pressure rollers E, E¹,
which give the impression. The printed sheet is now removed from the
plate L by an attendant at the back end of the machine, and the plate L
continuing in its course is passed down over the rollers M, by which it is
inked; it is then scraped by the scraper o. As the plate K again ascends at
the front end of the machine, the pins o will be below the rails P, it being
recollected that they were above them at the previous movement. . As the
pins o come into contact with the lower blocks g, they will throw these blocks
in their former position, and pass up through the openings u, and above the
rails sp, and the bars k¹ of the clamps G will consequently be elevated, and the
plate K released and deposited as before on the bed I, when the engraved plate
is again to be wiped and polished, and a blank sheet placed upon it. The
endless chains D, D, may be provided with two plates K, K, and a suitable
number of clamps G, if desired, but the operation and construction would be
the same.
.
.
.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improved machinery
for printing from engraved plates, 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,-
1st, the attaching of the plate K, to which the engraved plate L is secured
to the chains D, D, and the detaching of it therefrom, so that it may "dwell"
or remain stationary at certain periods, to admit of the manual wiping and
polishing of the same, as set forth.
2nd, the endless rails p, p, and the endless chains D, D, with the jaws or
clamps G attached, for the purpose specified.
3rd, the combination of the switches H with the endless rails p, p, endless
chains D, D, and jaws or clamps G, G, for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)