Surfaces for Printing upon Paper, Tin and other Metals, Glass, China, Linen, or other Materials or Fabrios.
Year: 1885

page_text: Surfaces for Printing upon Paper, Tin and other Metals,
Glass, China, Linen, or other Materials or Fabrios.
We WILLIAM MILLARD of 80 London Street Reading.in the County of Berks,
Printer and THOMAS JAMES of Reading aforesaid Secretary to the Reading Iron
Works Limited do hereby declare the nature of our invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
"
IN ROTARY PRINTING MACHINES AND PRINTING SURFACES FOR PRINTING UPON PAPER
TIN AND OTHER METALS GLASS CHINA LINEN OR OTHER MATERIALS OR FABRICS,"
to be as follows:-"
This Invention relates to improvements in the arrangement and construction of
rotary printing machines wherein..by a novel arrangement of the cylinders or
printing surfaces it is possible to print upon a variety of fabrics and materials and
also upon tin or other metal plates.china and terra-cotta plaques or mosaic slabs:
glass wood and papier-mâché sacks sail cloths oilskins leather without the interven-
tion of any process of transfer or stencilling in addition to its utility for printing
upon paper baga handbills and commercial work in general.
The improved flexible printing surfaces are made from a special composition with
which to mould a flexible cast from the "forme" of type and so avoid the great
cost and inconvenience attending the use of curved electrotypes and curved metal
stereotypes whilst ensuring superior effectiveness in the "forme" or printing surface.
Metal rollers are employed for effecting the distribution of the ink in place of the
ordinary flexible rollers and for inking the " "forme or flexible cast.
"
The invention also relates to the combination of the improved position of the
printing cylinders the new moulding composition and the inking by means of metal
rollers and travelling roller the machine being simple and inexpensive and at the
same time applicable to the requirements of printers, who use only electrotypes or
metal stereotypes.
In order that this invention may be the more readily understood we append the
following particulars of its principal features.
There are two cylinders one for printing the other for carrying placed imme-
diately one above the other the impression being regulated by means of a locking-
screw thus ensuring rigidity and freedom from slur.

page_text: The ink-duct is operated by means of a ratchet movement and the supply of ink
to the distributing rollers is provided for by a roller attached to a lever and cam
and acting in conjunction with a smaller traversing roller working across the
distributing rollers by connection with a lever and disc.
The lay-board is stationary and the feed and delivery are both effected by means
of tapes working on horizontal sectional tape-rollers. worked by direct cam motion
and leading from the lay board through the cylinders and down a slide board into
the receiver.
The flexible cast or metal stereotype or electrotype is placed on the uppermost
cylinder whose periphery is such as to secure for both cylinders the most accurate
equality of speed the cylinders being worked by means of suitable and properly
timed mechanism.
Two or more classes of rollers are used for effecting distribution of the ink and
for inking the flexible cast or metal stereotype or electrotype.
"
In the one case the distributing and inking. rollers would be of brass iron or
other suitable metal or other hard substances according to the size of the work
to be performed or in the case of electrotypes or metal stereotypes being used as
'formes" the rollers would be of the usual flexible character to ensure in each case
the maximum of distribution with the smallest expenditure of time and power.
Thus our improvements consists of the following novel features viz:-
The arrangement of the cylinders one immediately above the other whereby it is
permissible to print upon the materials before mentioned or others which could not
be printed upon so rapidly in any other position nor with such certain and effective
results.
The flexible "forme" or printing surface which is advantageously obtained by a
regulated intermixing of the following ingredients and proportions or thereabouts
viz 6 parts fine glue, 3 parts malt sugar, 2 parts glycerine 1 part shellac, boiled
together and thoroughly mixed then formed into suitable slabs for moulding from
the prepared heated matrix a hot plate is laid on top of the flexible slab and the
whole is placed under mechanical pressure. The matrices are made from an
admixture of china clay and French chalk with an addition of plaster of Paris and
dextrine then prepared on the surface with oil and plumbago.
The metal distributing and inking rollers are more effective than flexible rollers
where the "forme" is also of a flexible nature.
Also the combination and arrangement of the several parts mentioned and
described.

page_text: Improvements in Rotary Printing Machines and Printing
Surfaces for Printing upon Paper, Tin and other Metals,
Glass, China, Linen, or other Materials or Fabrics.
We WILLIAM MILLARD of 80 London Street Reading in the County of Berks
Printer and THOMAS JAMES of Reading aforesaid Secretary to the Reading Iron
Works Limited 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:-
This invention relates to improvements in the arrangement and construction of
rotary printing machines, wherein by adjustable cylinders and friction gearing, and
metal or flexible printing surfaces it is possible to print upon a variety of fabrics
and materials and also upon tin or other metal plates, china and terra cotta plaques
or mosaic slabs, glass, wood and papier mâché, sacks, sail cloths oilskins, leather &
without the intervention of any process of transfer or stencilling in addition to its
utility for printing upon paper bags, handbills and commercial work in general.
The improved flexible printing surfaces are made from a special composition with
which to mould a flexible cast from a cliché taken from the forme of type and so
avoid the great cost and inconvenience attending the use of curved electrotypes and
curved metal stereotypes, whilst ensuring effectiveness in the "formes" or printing
surfaces.
The inking apparatus is specially effective-the distribution being effected by
means of oscillating and vibrating rollers, working between, upon and in connection
with an ink fountain and three inking rollers in such a manner that the ink is
immediately split up in all directions in any desired quantity, the distribution
being largely assisted by means of circular bearings attached to each end of the
inking rollers which are thus kept in continual motion during the whole of the
revolution of the cylinders and not merely when in contact with the forme.
For stereo or electro formes the ordinary composition rollers are used but metal
rollers are employed for effecting the distribution of the ink and for inking the
forme when flexible surfaces are employed.
In order that our invention may be the more readily understood we append the
following particulars of its principal features. A is an adjustable forme cylinder,
grooved diagonally to receive the metal or flexible stereo or printing surface, whilst
the bottom cylinder A A is fitted with movable grippers A¹ which serve to hold
the paper until it reaches the point at which it is received by the delivery
apparatus.
B B B are inking rollers either of metal or of the usual composition to suit the
nature of the work each of these rollers being fitted at either end with a circular
bearing (shown at B* in Figure 3) which serves to keep the rollers in constant
motion during the whole of the revolution of the cylinder, and not merely at

page_text: intervals. Above two of the rollers is placed a travelling roller B' whose object is
to split up the ink received by the rollers B B B from the oscillating or vibrating
roller B². This vibrator is worked by cam E' lever E' and spring E³ from cylinder
shaft E, and is much larger than is generally the case, and having a longer dwell,
ensures a much more constant and effective distribution than would otherwise be
possible. The ink is contained in the ink fountain B3 and is communicated to the
vibrator by means of the ductor B' worked by ratchet movement B in connection
with lever rod B working from main shaft D. Thus it will be observed there is
no table or plate for the mechanical process of distributing the ink which is split
up in the most effective manner by the rollers B B B and B assisted by the
vibrator B.
The work on the lay board C C is fed in to a forked bar A which remains
stationary until the point at which the grippers open to seize the sheet or fabric,
and is then lifted out of the way by means of a raised plate on rim A³ of cylinder
say three fourths of the circumference or thereabouts upon which runs lever A*
carrying bar to which forks A are attached and lowered immediately after the
grippers A have closed. For the purposes of printing on wood the machine is
supplied with larger spur gear, to allow of increasing the opening between the
cylinders, thus when printing on paper only a small space is required between the
cylinders but when printing on wood a space of about an inch or more may be
necessary this is acquired by the size of the wheels attached to the cylinders or
rollers which are spur wheels and are of larger or smaller diameter to produce the
increased or diminished space between the cylinders as may be desired, and the
feed is effected by means of friction gearing (D' D2 in Figure 4) working off the
main shaft D the carrying roller 13 being assisted by the lay bar D' working in
adjustable bearings as shown in Figure 3.
The flexible forme or printing surface is advantageously obtained by a regulated
intermixing of the following ingredients and proportions or thereabouts viz, 6 parts
fine glue, 3 parts malt sugar, 2 parts glycerine, 1 part shellac boiled together and
thoroughly mixed then formed into suitable slabs for moulding from the prepared
heated matrix. A hot plate is laid on top of the flexible slab and the whole is
placed under mechanical pressure. The matrices are made from an admixture of
china clay and French chalk with an addition of plaster of Paris and dextrine, then
prepared on the surface with oil and plumbago.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we
make no claim to any of the parts separately which are well known and in common
use but what we claim is
1st The novel and effective arrangement and application of inking apparatus,
which economises working space whilst ensuring an extraordinary amount of
distribution substantially as described and represented in the drawings annexed.
2nd The adaptation and application of metal rollers for inking flexible formes
substantially as shown and described.
3rd The improved arrangement and application of circular bearings attached to
the inking rollers which causes the work of distrubution to be continued throughout
the revolution, instead of at intervals substantially as shown and described.
4th The substitution at will of flexible in place of hard metal printing surfaces
substantially as herein before described.
5th The improved composition of the flexible material for moulding the flexible
formes substantially as described.
6th The improved arrangement of apparatus for facilitating the process of laying
or feeding in of the sheets or fabrics arranged to act in combination with the other
parts of our invention substantially as shown and described.
7th The improved arrangement of mechanism for affording extra adjustability of
the cylinders and of the feed rollers and friction gear, for accommodating various

page_text: thicknesses of wood glass tin and other materials substantially as herein before
described and shown in the drawings.
Lastly, We claim the improved arrangement and combination of rotary printing
machines and printing surfaces for printing upon paper tin and other metal glass
china linen and other materials arranged to act substantially in the manner herein-
before described and represented in the drawings hereto annexed.