A Improvements in Copying Presses.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 15th June, 1894-Accepted, 28th July, 1894
NI
A
Improvements in Copying Presses.
I ALEXANDER VON DER NAHMER, of Alexanderwerk, Remscheid, Germany,
Machine Maker 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 and accompanying drawings
1
My said invention relates to improvements in copying presses.
In those copying presses in which a lever exerts pressure on the upper movable
press plate as constructed heretofore an adjusting arrangement is necessary for
setting the said upper plate according to the thickness of the copying plate when a
definite pressure has to be applied. This is owing to the movement which the lever
imparts to the plate being too small to enable any desired pressure to be exerted on
books of different degrees of thickness without such an adjusting device.
My said invention has for its object such improvements in the construction of
presses as to dispense with such an adjusting arrangement. In a press made in
accordance with my said invention as shown in several variations of detail in the
accompanying drawings both the press plates which receive between them the.
copying book are movable to and from each other.
In the press shown in front elevation (partly in section) in Figure 1, in side
elevation in Figure 2 and in plan (partly in section) in Figure 3, a a¹ are the press
plates secured to the press bars d d guided horizontally in bearings ff¹. On each
plate acts a press lever h h¹ mounted on centre pins or fulcrums z at z'. The upper
arms of the press levers engage with the pins e e' of the press bars. The lower
arms of the press levers are either simply rounded or are provided with bowls u u¹
and take into excentric cam grooves ss of the fixed base plate g of the
latter is shown separately in plan in Figure 3A.
press.
The
can be turned
The entire upper part of the press which is carried by the plate
about the pivot k on the base plate g by means of the handles when the lower
ends of the press lever h¹ follow the excentric cam grooves and are more or less
displaced from the centre of the pivot k and thus cause the upper arms of the press
levers and with them the press plates a a¹ to approach and to squeeze the copying
book lying between them. Since both plates move the play between them is so
great that various thicknesses of books can be sufficiently pressed and an adjustment
of the plates for a definite thickness is therefore not necessary. Another advan-
tage is that owing to the space between the plates being open in three directions
the book can be inserted with great facility and is not so easily damaged at the
edges as in presses with guides or cross bars and further owing to this free space
the oil sheets or other inserted matter is not subject to so much wear as there is not
so great liability to destroy the projecting parts thereof by knocking against the
press frames or bars.
The preparation of the book for copying, that is to say the damping of the
leaves, and insertion of the matter to be copied, has hitherto necessitated the
removal of the book from the press and its re-insertion for pressing. This requires
a clear space on the table to hold the book while being so prepared. When how-
ever the press is constructed in accordance with my said invention I can so arrange
the press that the book need not be removed from the press at all. To effect this
horizontal plates t t¹ (indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1) may be applied to the
press plates a a¹ to form a table for holding the book or the press plates may be
constructed as shown in Figures 4 and 5. In this construction the press plates are
hinged to pins oo' at the upper extremities of the press levers h, so that when
turned down they form a table on which the book can lie while being prepared.

page_text: °
In order that the press plates in this revolving type of press (of which another
modification is shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8 with another mode of operating the
press plates) may be brought into the horizontal position shown in Figures 4, 5
and 6 they are formed somewhat as combs at their lower ends and the plates are so
arranged with regard to each other that when the plates turn on their pins the
teeth or projections of one plate enter the spaces of the other and thus enable the
lower ends to approach and engage with each other as shown in dotted lines in
Figure 8 and thus form a continuous surface for the book to lie on. If when the
book has been prepared on this surface it is closed and the back is pressed down-
wards on the plates a a¹ at the centre where the combs engage with each other the
plates turn on their pins and against the book cover taking the dotted position
shown in Figures 4 and 6. To exert pressure on the book the press plates are
caused to approach.
For certain purposes where great pressure is needed I use the arrangement
shown in Figures 4, 5, and 5ª for preventing the press plates going back. In the
upper revolving part is a catch rod w which when pressed down takes into a circular
ratchet rack win the base plate g, so that the upper part cannot then turn back.
On removing pressure from the catch rod a spring w automatically lifts it and the
upper part of the press can be turned back.
In the modification shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8 the press plates a a' are hinged
at o o to the press bars d d which can slide in the bushes c c¹ of the press
levers h. The said bushes are free to rotate in the bearing blocks ffl mounted
on the base plate g and are secured by the collars b. For guiding the press bars d
aud to prevent them turning they are provided with guide pins secured to the
lugs and sliding in holes in the bearing blocks ff.
2
The motion of the press bars in and out of the bushes of the levers is effected by
worm grooves. sscut in the bushes and being a mechanical equivalent for the
excentric slots & s¹ of Figure 3. Studs m m¹ secured in the press bars take into the
said worm grooves. If therefore the levers are raised by the connecting handle r
the bushes rotate and the worm grooves cause the press plates to approach.
In the construction shown in Figure 9 in which the press plates are as in
Figure 1 attached to the press bars the motion of the press plates is effected as last
described in this case however the levers hh are placed outside so that when
raised they clear the corners of the table t t. In this case during preparation the
book lies on the tablet t¹ and after closing is let down between the press plates.
After pressing it is raised and can at once be laid open on the press table.
Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13 illustrate two other ways of carrying out my said
invention with rotating press plates in which a greater pressure may be exerted on
the book.
In the construction shown in Figures 10 and 11 the upper part of the press g¹ is
mounted on a screw s' instead of the pivot k and the lower ends u of the lever hare
displaced outwardly by the inclined edge or periphery of the shoe when the
part g' is screwed down on the screw s. At the same time the shoe which holds
the ends of the levers between the lugs & revolves about the lower part of the
screw and the more the part g' is screwed down the greater the separation of the
ends u of the levers and the nearer the press plates approach each other. When
the upper part is screwed back the ends u are kept pressed against the inclined
periphery of the shoes by suitable springs mounted behind them.
In the construction shown in Figures 12 and 13 the excentric slots s are arranged
as a spiral in the base plate g. The ends u of the levers h take therein and as the
radius of curvature augments very slowly a corresponding pressure is exercised on
the press plates when the upper part gl is caused to rotate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A copying press in which the matter to be prascod i holl between wate

page_text: which are caused to approach each other in the act of pressing substantially as
hereinbefore described and shown in the accompanying drawings.
2. In a press as set forth in Claim Number 1 the combination with the press
plates of wings or projections t t to form a table substantially as hereinbefore
described and shown in the accompanying drawings.
3. In a press such as set forth in Claim Number 1 the use of swivelling press
plates which when turned upwards form a table substantially as herein before
described and shown in the accompanying drawings.
4. In a copying press such as set forth in Claim Number 1 the press levers h h'
with the base plate g provided with excentric or spiral slots for operating the press
levers by rotation on the base plate substantially as hereinbefore described and
shown in the accompanying drawings, with special reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 12 and 13.
5. In a copying press such as set forth in Claim Number 1 the combination with
the press levers h h of the screw s' and the shoe shaving an inclined periphery for
operating the press levers by the act of screwing the upper part of the press down
on the screw by rotation on the base plate substantially as herein before described
and shown in the accompanying drawings with special reference to Figures 10
and 11.
6. In a copying press such as set forth in Claim Number 1 the means for
operating the press levers consisting of the levers h h having hollow bushes co¹
provided with worm grooves surrounding and engaging by means of studs m m¹
with the press bars d d substantially as herein before described and shown in the
accompanying drawings with special reference to Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Dated Fourteenth dex of June 1901
E. T. WHITELOW, A.M. Inst. C.E.,
70, Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.