CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINES
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
APPLEGATH, of Duke Street, Stamford Street, Blackfriars, in the County of
Surrey, Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of February, in the fifth year of Ilis reign,.
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Augustus Applegath, His special license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Augustus Applegath, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Augustus Applegath, my exors, aditiors,
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 MACHINES;" and in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Augustus Applegath, 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 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
Augustus Applegath, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
My first improvement consists in an apparatus for distributing the ink or
colour, and in the mode of supplying the same to the rollers, which apply it
to the form of type, &c., and which are commonly called inking rollers.
Figures 1 and 2 are side views of my improved apparatus, and of part of a
printing machine to which they are attached.
LETTERS OF REFERENCE, TO FIGURES 1 AND 2, the same apply to each.
A is a distributing cylinder, which may be made of cast iron turned true and
smooth, or of any other suitable material. The spindle of the cylinder A runs
in bearings in the arms B, B, one of which only is seen in each Figure; on the
spindle of A is a toothed wheel. The armi B, on the wheel side of the machine,
is furnished with two studs, having upon them the intermediate toothed
wheels C and D. The wheel D is connected with the toothed wheel of the
printing cylinder E, so that as the printing cylinder revolves a rotatory motion
is communicated to the distributing cylinder A, and the ink is spread or distri-
buted by means of the small rollers 1, 2, which lie in the carriage F beneath
the distributing cylinder A. These rollers should have also a longitudinal or
motion endways communicated to them by any of the well-known methods of
producing such motion.
In Figure 1, the distributing cylinder A is shewn raised up into contact
with the inking rollers I, I, I, and communicating the ink to them. This
action takes place at the time when the printing table G and the types H
are at (2), but when they come to the position (a), as shewn in Figure 2,
the distributing cylinder A is lowered in order that it may be clear of the
printing table G. This upward and downward movement is produced by the
cam wheels K, K, one of which is fixed at each end of the spindle of the
printing cylinder. The rods L, L, which are connected by loose joints with
the arms B, B, have friction pullies M, M, fixed to them, acting upon the
cams K, K, by which, as the printing cylinder E revolves, the rods L, L, and
the arms B, B, and the distributing cylinder A upon them, are accordingly
raised and lowered. The upper ends of the rods L, L, move up and down
freely in the guides x, a. The distributing cylinder A acquires the requisite
quantity of ink by coming slightly into contact with the intermediate roller N,
which acts against the metal roller of an ink trough of the ordinary construç

page_text: tion. By this improvement the room occupied by the patent inking tables is
saved, and the distribution of the ink may be carried to any extent required,
by encreasing the velocity of the distributing cylinder by means of a corre-
sponding alteration in the train of wheels which drive it.
My second improvement is chiefly applicable to printing machines having
two printing cylinders to impress one form, and in which great dispatch is the
desideratum. It consists in diminishing the motion of the printing or type
table, by causing each of the printing cylinders alternately to move or vibrate
into the same place to give the impression, so that the distance which the type
table would have to travel between two fixed cylinders is saved. Figure 3 is a
side view of this improvement, and part of a printing machine. A is a cast-iron
carriage, which can be occasionally moved in the manner of a pendulum upon
the spindle B. The spindle B has two toothed wheels fixed upon it C and D.
The wheel C receives motion from the large wheel E, and the wheel D commu-
nicates' motion to the wheel F, which is fixed upon the spindle of the drum G 1.
Upon the spindle of G 1 is fixed another wheel H, which works into the
wheel I upon the spindle of the drum G 3. The wheel I gives motion to the
wheel on the drum G 4, which communicates it to the wheel fixed upon the
spindle of the printing cylinder K. The wheel H on G 1 also works into the
wheel fixed on the spindle of the drum G 2, and the wheel of G 2 gives motion to
the other printing cylinder L, by means of the wheel on its spindle. The wheels
on the drums and printing cylinders are not shewn in the elevation, but the
train of wheels is further explained by the Plan. M is the printing or type
table, having the form or types upon it. This table is moved alternately back-
wards and forwards from (a to z) in the ordinary manner. The cylinder Lis
shewn as printing a sheet of paper, and the type table is supposed to be moving
towards (a), when the sheet is printed, and the type free from the pressure
of the cylinder. The pendulum frame A is caused to move by means of a
friction pully on the arm Y acting in the grooved cam wheel Z, so that the
cylinder K may fall into the position of L, or the printing position, ready to
print another sheet of paper when the type table returns towards (a), and thus
a machine with two cylinders, or a double-action machine, is obtained with the
table motion requisite for a machine with one cylinder only. The spindle B is
supported by a strong triangular cast-iron frame, which is not shewn in the
Drawing to avoid confusion. The types may be inked with rollers and inking
tables in the manner usual in many printing machines; but the carriages of
the inking rollers should be moveable along the frame of the machine, and they
may be conveniently moved by means of rods connected with the pendulum
frame, as shewn at N. The sheets of paper to be printed may be laid upon

page_text: fecders O, O, of the usual construction, and they are received from the feeders
upon the set of endless tapes S, S, by which they are conveyed by other
tapes U, U, U, U, in the usual manner, to the drums and printing cylinders.
The small rollers Q, Q, of the set of endless tapes S, S, are moveable in the
chased bearings R, R, and are connected with the pendulum frame by slight
rods x, x, so that the sets of endless tapes move with the pendulum frame.
T, T, are wires or small flat pieces of metal, which serve to support the sheets
of paper when passing from the feeder to the endless tapes S, S. The
tapes U, U, U, U, have weighted pullies at X, X, X, X, to keep them tight
when the pendulum frame vibrates. I do not mean or intend hereby to limit
myself to the particular constructions herein shewn and described, but to
avail myself of any other construction by which the same or similar effects
may be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Applegath, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
AUGS (L.S.) APPLEGATH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Augustus Applegath came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One"