IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Smith, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark
North Britain, Machine Maker, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER
SURFACES."
Sealed the 20th July 1855, and dated the 6th February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th February
1855.
I, PETER SMITH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND
OTHER SURFACES" to be as follows, that is to say:―
This Invention relates to the adaption of lifting and traversing apparatus
to cylinder printing machinery employed in printing calicoes and other fabrics,
for the purpose of facilitating the shipping and unshipping or removal of the
printing rollers and mandrils as is required in working such machinery. As
applied to an ordinary cylinder printing machine, the latter is so modified as to
carry upon the top of its framing standards a pair of horizontal parallel bars
or railway surfaces, for the running thereon of a set of four small carrying
wheels. These wheels form the traversing support of an open rectangular
frame, which is made of such a length that when traversed over to one side,
it shall overhang all the parts of the printing machine. The frame stands at

page_text: right angles to the axes of the printing cylinders, and its two ends arc each
fitted with a pair of freely running rope or chain pulleys. When in use, cach of
these pulleys has passed over it a short rope or chain, having at its pendant
end a wide hook, capable of grasping the mandril of a printing roller. The
other ends of the two ropes are connected to and wound upon a hoisting
barrel, set in end bearings near the top of the machine, and parallel to the
axes of the printing cylinders beneath. On one end of the hoisting barrel
shaft is a worm wheel, having in gear with it a worm on the upper end of a
vertical shaft, carried in collar bearings on the side of the main standard
framing, and descending to a level to suit the convenience of the attendant, a
handle being fitted at this part for turning the shaft. A similar shaft is also
fitted up close to the one just described, for the purpose of providing means
for effecting the necessary horizontal traverse of the shifting frame; the upper
end of this latter shaft is connected by means of a pair of bevil pinions with
a horizontal shaft passing across the machine above the frame. This shaft
carries a spur pinion, gearing with a horizontal rack passing along the centre
of the frame. The system of operation is this:-When a cylinder is to be
shipped or fitted into the printing machine, the attendant turns the adjusting
shaft, which is in gear with the traverse motion of the frame, so as to run the
frame quite over to that side of the machine on which the cylinder is 'to be
fitted. This outward traverse is determined by curved stop pieces on the
traverse rail bars, corresponding to the carrying wheels of the frame. The
cylinder to be fitted is brought on its carriage in the usual manner to a spot
on the floor immediately beneath the vertical line of the hoisting ropes, and,
the hooks being let down, they are engaged with the cylinder or its mandril.
The attendant then turns his hoisting shaft and winds up the cylinder to the
necessary height, and he then turns the traverse shaft, and in this way conveys
the cylinder in a horizontal direction until it comes directly over its bearings
in the printing machine framing, when he lowers the cylinder into its place.
When a cylinder is to be taken out the converse of this operation is obviously
followed.
The object carried out in fitting the traversing frame with rope pulleys at
both ends is the facilitating the the application of the arrangement to both
sides of the printing machine, as by traversing the frame back or forward the
latter answers equally well for shipping the cylinders of both sides.
It is obvious that the mechanical details may be variously modified for
thus facilitating the objects herein-before described, and the same general
contrivance is applicable to various classes of printing machinery.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th
August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
SMITH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Smith, Her special license that I, the said Peter Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said Peter
Smith, my executors, administrators, or 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 MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Smith, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and scal, 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 Peter Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manuer the same is to be per-
formed, 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 the adaptation of mechanical lifting and
traversing apparatus to cylinder printing machinery employed in printing
calicoes and other fabrics, for the purpose of facilitating the shipping and
unshipping or removal of the printing roller and mandrils as is required in
working such machinery. As applied to an ordinary cylinder printing machine
the latter is so modified as to carry upon the top of its framing standards a
pair of horizontal parallel bars or railway surfaces, for the running thereon of
a set of four small carrying wheels. These wheels form the traversing support
of an open rectangular frame, which is made of such a length that when

page_text: traversed over to one side, it shall overhang all the parts of the printing
machine. The frame stands at right angles to the axes of the printing cylinders,
and its two ends are each fitted with a pair of frecly running rope or chain
pulleys. When in use, each of these pulleys has passed over it a short rope or
chain, having at its pendant end a wide hook or link, capable of grasping the
mandril of a printing roller. The other ends of the two ropes are connected to
and wound upon a hoisting barrel, set in end bearings near the top of the
machine, and parallel to the axes of the printing cylinders beneath. On one
end of the hoisting barrel shaft is a worm wheel, having in gear with it a worm
on the upper end of a vertical shaft, carried in collar bearings on the side of the
main standard framing, and descending to a level to suit the convenience of the
attendant, a handle being fitted at this part for turning the shaft. A similar
shaft is also fitted up close to the one just described, for the purpose of pro-
viding means for effecting the necessary horizontal traverse of the shifting
frame. The upper end of this latter shaft is connected by means of a pair
of bevil pinions, with a horizontal shaft passing across the machine above the
frame. This shaft carries a spur pinion, gearing with a horizontal rack passing
along the centre of the frame; or two racks may to be used, one on each side of
the frame. The system of operation is this:-When a cylinder is to be shipped
or fitted into the printing machine, the attendant turns the adjusting shaft,
which is in gear with the traverse motion of the frame, so as to run the
frame quite over to that side of the machine on which the cylinder is to be
fitted. This outward traverse is determined by curved stop pieces on the
traverse rail bars, corresponding to the carrying wheels of the frame. The
cylinder to be fitted is brought on its carriage in the usual manner to a spot
on the floor immediately beneath the vertical line of the hoisting ropes, and
the hooks being let down, they are engaged with the cylinder or its mandril.
The attendant then turns his hoisting shaft and winds up the cylinder to
the necessary height, and he then turns the traverse shaft, and in this way
conveys the cylinder in a horizontal direction until it comes directly over its
bearings in the printing machine framing, when he lowers the cylinder into
its place. When a cylinder is to be taken out, the converse of this operation
is obviously required. The object carried out in fitting the traversing frame
with rope pulleys at both ends is the facilitating the application of the arrange-
ment to both sides of the printing machine, as by traversing the frame back
or forward the latter answers equally well for shipping the cylinders of both
sides. It is obvious that the mechanical details may be variously modified for
thus facilitating the objects herein-before described, and the same general
contrivance is applicable to various classes of printing machinery.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the explanatory Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is an end elevation, and Figure 2 is a
corresponding plan, of an eight-color printing machine, as having my improved
roller shifting apparatus fitted to it. In these Drawings certain of the minor
details of the printing machine are omitted, as not being required in the expla-
natory description of the present Invention. The framing of the machine
consists of the two cast-iron end standards A, which are connected together by
various longitudinal frame pieces. Vertical slots are formed in the centres of
the end standards to receive the bearings B of the large central counterpressure
cylinder C, round which the several printing rollers D are arranged. The
bearings B of the central cylinder are adjustable, as is usual in machines of
this class, as are also the bearings E of the rollers D. The latter bearings E
are arranged in slots F, radiating from the centres of the standards, and
communicating with deep indentations G in the standards, these slots and
indentations being arranged so that the rollers D can be removed with facility
completely away from the machine. The apparatus for removing and replacing
the printing rollers D, and which forms the subject of the present Invention,
consists of a rectangular frame formed by the parallel side pieces II, connected
togetlicr the spindles I at the turned-up extremities of tho side pieces H.
The side pieces II are fitted each with four carrying pulleys J, which run
upon rail surfaces K, formed upon the upper edges of the end standards A.
The overhanging ends of the spindles I, which are capable of revolving in
their eyes in the pieces H, carry pulleys L, over either pair of which pulleys
are passed chains M, for suspending the printing roller by. These chains M
are each attached at one end to a winding barrel N, fixed upon a spindle O
passing across the machine. The opposite end of each chain is furnished
with a jointed link P, to embrace the spindle Q of the printing roller D',
which is being removed from or put into its bearings in the machine. The
operation of winding or unwinding for raising or lowering the roller D' is
effected by means of the vertical spindle R, carried in footstep and upper
bearings in brackets upon the outside of one of the end standards A. This
spindle R carries on its upper end a worm, in gear with a worm wheel S, fast
on the spindle O of the winding barrels N. The lower end of the spindle R
carries a bevil wheel T, in gear with a bevil pinion on a short horizontal
spindle, fitted with a handle U in a convenient position for the hand of the
attendant. The upper bearing of the spindle R can be shifted by means of
the. screw spindle V, so as to take the worm out of gear with the worm

page_text: wheel S, so that when the roller D' is quite clear from the framing of the
machine, it may be allowed to descend by its own weight. Command is given
over its descent, however, by means of a friction strap W, which embraces a
pulley fixed to the winding barrel N, and is tightened up by means of the
lever handle X. The traverse of the frame H, I, upon its rails is effected by
means of racks Y, fitted to the side pieces H, into which racks gear pinions Z,
fixed upon a transverse shaft a, carried in bracket bearings fixed to the end
standards A. On one end of the shaft a is fixed a bevil wheel 6, which is in
gear with a bevil pinion c, fast on a vertical shaft d, carried in footstep and
upper bracket bearings, bolted to the end standard. The shaft d has fast on
its lower end a bevil wheel e, in gear with a bevil pinion f, fast on a short
horizontal spindle, upon which last is fixed a small handle g, in a convenient
position for the attendant. In using this apparatus for removing rollers from
the machine, the frame H, I, is first traversed, by means of the shaft d and the
rack movement above, so as to bring the chains M immediately over the
laterally projecting spindles Q of the roller to be removed. The chains M are
passed over either pair of pulleys L, according as the roller to be removed is
at one or the other side of the machine. The links P being then made to
embrace the spindle so as to suspend the roller, the shafts R and d are worked
conjointly in such a manner as to lift the roller upwards, and carry it out
back or forwards from the machine. The roller is brought immediately over
the carriage, upon which it is to be taken away, and is lowered down upon it.
In conveying a roller into its place in the machine, the necessary operations
are the reverse of those just described as for removing it therefrom. Each of
the rail surfaces K is formed with a central ridge, and the two inner wheels J
of the side pieces H run inside this ridge, and the two outer wheels, or those
nearest the extremities of the traversing frame, outside the ridge. The inner
wheels are prevented from running off the rail endways by turned-up stops
h on the ends of the latter, so that the traversing frame cannot be traversed
beyond a limited extent over to either side. The traversing frame H, I, is
prevented from being tilted up by the overhanging weight of the roller by
the shaft a of the pinions Z, which crosses the machine above it, and also
by a pair of anti-friction rollers i, held down upon the side pieces H of the
traversing frame, or upon the rack Y, fixed to the pieces H by brackets bolted
to the end standards A. It is not absolutely necessary that the traversing and
lifting details be actually fitted upon the machine, provided they are fitted up
above it in such proximity and in such a manner as to appertain to the
machine, or so as to be specially arranged or adapted therefor.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery or apparatus
to be applied to machines used in printing textile fabrics and other surfaces,
as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use in machines for printing textile fabrics and
other surfaces of suitable mechanism for removing and replacing the printing
rollers or cylinders thereof, this mechanism being specially adapted to, or
forming part of, such machines, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of removing and replacing the printing rollers
or cylinders of machines for printing textile fabrics and other surfaces by
means of a traversing frame, combined with suspensory chains or cords and
winding apparatus, these details being specially adapted to, or forming part of,
such machines, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
PETER SMITH. (L.B.)