CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING PRESSES
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
KITCHEN, of the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the fourth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Kitchen, His especial licence, that I, the said John Kitchen, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Kitchen, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend; within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING PRESSES;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John
Kitchen, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Kitchen, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the annex'd Drawings, and the following description
thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention of certain improvements in printing presses consists in a novel
arrangement of the several parts and appendages of a machine for printing
from types or blocks or other surfaces in relief, as in the operation of letter-
press printing, in which novel arrangement I place the table or surface, upon
or against which the form of types, blocks, or other surfaces are to rest, in a
perpendicular position, and adjust the situation of the form of types, blocks, or
other surfaces by means of racks and pinions. Fink the form or supply colour
to the printing surface by conducting an elastic roller up and down, in perpen-
dicular directions, in front of the form by means of guides and pulleys. I cause
the platten or pressing surface, with the tympan and frisket holding the sheet
of paper about to be printed; to be brought in contact with the table and form
by means of vibrating arms, moving upon pivots, which carry the platten,
bringing it up to the table and form when the impression is about to be given,
and allowing it to fall back for the removal of the sheet when printed, and for
the supply of a fresh sheet; and I obtain the power for giving the pressure, and
apply it, by means of jointed levers, actuated by a crank and rod, as will be
seen by reference to the annexed Drawings, in which similar letters and
numbers point out and refer to corresponding parts of the machine in all-the
'Figures.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved machine; Fig. 2 is a plan
or horizontal section of the lower parts of the machine; Fig. 3 is a longitu
dinal section of the machine, taken in the same position as Fig. 1; and Fig. 4
"is an end elevation thereof. A frame of cast iron or other suitable material,
consisting of four angular columns A, A, standing upon a base B, B, encloses
the whole of the machinery. A thick plate of. iron C, C, with strong ribs or
braces behind, to give it stability, constitutes the table for the form of types.
This 'table is placed in a vertical position, and is made fast to the frame, as
'shown in Fig, 3 and Fig. 4. The attachment is by screw bolts-passed through
'slotted holes in the columns of the frame, and any small adjustment required
may be obtained by wedges z, z, &, shown in Fig. 3. Against the face of the
table C, tlie chase or frame holding the form of types or other printing surfaces
is secured by screwed clamps a, a, shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, attached to
sliding adjustable racks b, which racks are capable of being moved up or down
in slots in the table by pinions affixed to the shaft c, extending across the

page_text: back of the table, as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The platten is a thick plate
of iron D, mounted upon vibrating arms or, bent levers E, E, which turn upon
pivots & below, as shown in Fig. 3. The face of this platten is to be covered with
a blanket or felt, and a light frame of iron, carrying the parchment or canvass
tympan, is let into a groove round the face of the platten near its edges, and is
made fast to the platten by thumb screws f, which draw the tympan tight and
smooth over the surface, and thereby prevent it bagging. The frisket h is also
a light frame of iron, attached to the platten by jointed levers i and g, as repre-
sented in Fig. 1, and when closed, this frisket or light frame lies, round the
outside or edge of the platten. To the back of the platten the pressing
levers are attached by joints. These pressing levers consist of a rod or lever
F, connected at one end with the platten by a pink, and at the other end with
the two rods or levers G and II by a pin l, which together form what is com-
monly called a toggle joint. The lever G turns upon a strong shaft m as its
fulcrum, which shaft is mounted in the columns of the frame by inserting its
ends into sliding blocks n, capable of adjustment, so as to vary the pressure or
power of the toggle joint by raising or lowering the wedges o, worked by
screws above, and a balance weight is placed upon the outer extremity of the
lever G. The lever H is a crank rod, attached by a pivot pin p to the side of
the large wheel I, by the rotation of which wheel the rod H is brought up for
the purpose of forcing the levers F and G into horizontal positions when the
pressure. is to be given. The wheel I is driven by a pinion K upon the
shaft J, which shaft is actuated by a winch or handle and fly wheel L, aș
shown best in the horizontal view, Fig. 2. This corresponds with the usual
operation of the rounce in the ordinary presses, in which the table and form
of types move to. and fro in horizontal directions, and motion may also be
given to this machine by a rigger fixed on the shaft J, and a band from a
steam engine. The inking rollers, or apparatus by which the ink or colour is
given to the face of the types or printing surfaces previous to every impression,
are shown best in the section, Fig. 3. In this Figure, M represents a box
extending across the machine, in the upper part of which is a trough containing
the printing ink, and in this trough, partly immersed in the ink, is a roller N,
of iron or other metal, called the ductor roller. This roller is made to revolve
in the.ink trough by means of a pulley with three grooves upon the end of its
axle, which is driven by a cord or band extending from a sheave with three
grooves, fixed upon the axle p of the large wheel I, as shown in Fig. 2. A
slip of metal is placed along the front of the trough, for the purpose of
scraping off any superfluous ink from the surface of the ductor roller, as
it revolves, and the box below may be filled with hot or cold water to regulate
0

page_text: the temperature of the ink in the trough. Above the ductor is another
roller O, made of elastic materials, for carrying or communicating the ink
from the ductor to the distributing roller P, next above it. The axle of the
carrying roller O is mounted upon a vibrating lever s, shown by dots in Fig. 3,
at the opposite end of which lever there is a preponderating weight for the
purpose of keeping the roller O raised up from the ductor, excepting at such
times as the platten D and its arms E are brought into the pressing position
shown in Fig. 3, when the end of a screw or pin r, attached to the vibrating
arm E, strikes upon a perpendicular arm t, extending at right angles from the
lever s, shown also by dots, which forces the arm forward and causes the roller
O to come down into contact with the ductor, and being then turned by the
friction of contact to receive its supply of ink as they revolve. The distributing
roller P is of wood, and receives the ink from the carrier roller on the retiring
of the arm E, which allows the lever, with the roller O, to rise and bring that
roller into contact with P. The roller P has a pulley on the end of its axle,
and is made to revolve by a band or cord leading from a sheave on the prin-
cipal driving shaft J, as shown at v, in Fig. 2, and in addition to its rotary
motion, this roller P is made to slide to and fro by any of the ordinary con-
trivances, for the purpose of producing a more uniform distribution or
spreading of the ink over its entire surface. Above the distributing roller is the
flexible feeding roller Q, which is always in contact with P, and therefore on the
distributing roller receiving ink as it revolves, it delivers that ink on to the
flexible surface of the feeding roller above, and this also communicates its ink to
the inking roller R, whenever the two last-mentioned rollers come into contact.
The manner in which the inking roller R is made to pass up and down against
the face of the form of types is the subject next to be described. The
ends of the axle of the inking roller R turn in small boxes S, shown in Fig. 1,
which slide up and down upon perpendicular guide rods T. A cord u is
attached to each of these sliding boxes, and which cords pass upwards and over
pulleys V, V, at the top of the frame of the machine (see Fig. 3), and then
downwards to pulleys W, W, on the auxiliary shaft X. This auxiliary shaft
is driven by a toothed wheel Y on the main shaft J, which wheel takes into a
similar toothed wheel Z on the auxiliary shaft. The last-mentioned wheel
slides loosely round the shaft, and, therefore, can only give rotary motion
thereto when the wheel and the shaft are locked together by the clutch box w.
This clutch box may be slidden to and fro at certain periods of the evolutions of
the machinery by any of the ordinary contrivances applied to a similar purpose.
I employ two tappets, extending from the axle p of the large wheel I, which, as
the axles goes round, act alternately upon a tumbler lever x, connected with

page_text: the clutch box, and slide the clutch to and fro at intervals, thereby locking the
wheel Z and axle X together, or unlocking them, as may be required.
Having now described the construction of my improved printing press, I
proceed to explain its mode of operation. The form of types being placed
vertically against the table in the frame, as described, and the platten D thrown
back, as in Fig. 1, the pressman proceeds to lay and adjust the sheet of paper
on the tympan upon the face of the platten, and then to close the frisket, in
order to confine the sheet, which is done by depressing the handle of a right-
angled lever g, turning upon a pivot at the lower part of the platten. This,
with the assistance of another guide lever i, brings the frisket frame on to the.
face of the tympan. The types having been previously inked, the pressman
now applies his hand to the winch or handle of the fly wheel L, on the main
shaft J, and by turning it brings the wheel I, with the crank rod H, into the
position shown in Fig. 3, which is the period of the operation when the
levers F and G are brought into horizontal coincidence, and the platten
carrying the sheet to be printed is pressed with great force against the form of
types to obtain the impression. The further-rotation of the shaft J brings the
levers again into the situation shown in Fig. 1, the platten being thrown back:
The frisket frame is then opened and the printed sheet removed, a blank
sheet being placed in the same situation as before, ready for the next operation.
While the platten is falling back into the position shown in Fig. 1, one of the
tappets upon the axle p comes in contact with the tumbler lever a, and throws
it into that position which locks the wheel and the auxiliary shaft X together.
This shaft, in consequence, is now made to revolve, and the pulleys W, W, to
wind up the cords u, connected with the carriages S of the inking roller R,
which causes these carriages and the inking roller to be carried up on the
perpendicular guide rods T, and the periphery of the roller being in contact
with the face of the types, the ink is communicated thereto by this operation.
On the other tappet striking the tumbler lever a, it is thrown over in the
opposite direction, and the clutch w being thereby slidden back, the shaft X is
unlocked from the wheel Z. The weight of the inking roller and its carriages
now operating upon the loose axle or auxiliary shaft X, draws it round,
unwinding the cords from the pulleys W, and allowing the roller R to descend
by its gravity into the situation shown in Fig. 3, there to be again supplied
with ink. But in order to prevent the roller R descending too rapidly, a
flyer y is connected with one of the pulleys, which, by the resistance of the air
as it revolves, retards the rotation of the pulley, and thereby enables the roller
to descend gradually. The principal features of advantage which I conceive
to belong to this improved printing press, are the compact positions of all its