Improved Means for Discharging Electricity from Paper and other Materials while being Operated upon in Printing and other Machines.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Sept., 1887
Specification Accepted, 15th Nov., 1887
Improved Means for Discharging Electricity from Paper and other
Materials while being Operated upon in Printing and other
Machines.
I, LEWIS EMERSON BATHRICK of 1209 Fulton Street Brooklyn, in the County of
Kings and State of New York, one of the United States of America, Electrician, 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:-
My invention relates to certain new and useful Improvements in Means for
Dissipating Electricity for Printing Presses, of which the following is a specification.
It is a well-known fact that in the ordinary operation of printing upon sheets of
paper, cloth, linen, cotton, or silk considerable charges of static clectricity make their
appearance upon the loose sheets, due to the friction or pressure upon these substances
in their passage through the machine, which latter, being mounted upon dry and to
some extent oily floors of the building, are effectually insulated from the ground.
These electrical charges manifest themselves by the adherence of the printed sheets to
their supports and to each other, caused by electrical attraction. While in this
condition it is difficult to manage the printed sheets, especially when it becomes
necessary to again feed them to the press to receive a second or third impression.
This objectionable feature of the process of printing is well known to those familiar
with the art; and it is the object of my invention to remove the same by placing a
grounded conductor of electricity into the path of the paper or other material in such
a manner as to cause the sheets operated upon to make good electrical contact with
the same during their progress through the machine, whereby the accumulation of
electrical charges is prevented. It is evident that the conductor thus placed in the
path of the sheets, which conductor I shall call the "discharging-conductor," may be
placed at any one or several points in the press, and that my invention is not limited
to any particular location of the same; nor do I propose to confine myself to the use
of my invention in connection with printing-presses, since it is applicable for use in
connection with other machines which are designed to operate upon paper or any
textile threads, fabrics, or fibrous threads or materials of any description. In all such

page_text: machines the accumulation of electrical charges constitute a source of difficulty in
their operations, and my invention effectually avoids these difficulties. There is a
wide range of materials which may be used for the discharging-conductor, although
the same is limited by the condition that it must be of a character that will insure
good intimate contact with the material operated upon. I have found that conducting-
fluids, like water, salt water, alum water, acidulated water or similar conducting-fluids,
are admirably fitted for establishing intimate contact with the material operated upon,
and I use these fluids in preference to solids as discharging-conductors, although I do
not confine myself absolutely to the use of fluids, since in some instances I use solid
discharging-conductors with advantage. All this will more fully appear from the
following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings, forming part
thereof, in which I have illustrated specific forms of apparatus embodying my
invention, and in which
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of so much of a cylinder-press as is necessary to show
my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a diagram of a delivery apparatus with another
form of my invention attached to the same, and Fig. 3 a perspective view of still
another form of my invention.
In Fig. 1 the impression cylinder 1 is shown in proper relation to the moving
bed 2, which supports the form 3, as usual, and to the feed-board 4. The delivery
cylinders 5 and 6 are arranged below the feed-board, and the fly. 7 receives the
printed sheets and deposits the same upon the fly-table 8.
My invention may be applied to any part of the machine through which the sheets
or strips operated upon pass or upon which they rest, and I have shown the same
applied to the impression-cylinder, delivery cylinders, the fly, and the fly-table. At
each end of each delivery-cylinder portions 9, 9, 10, 10 of the faces of the same are
formed of some soft fibrous material, like cotton, woollen, linen, or other textile fabric;
or in place thereof leather or other like material may be used. The material used
must be an absorbent of moisture, but in all other respects it have
may
charac-
teristic whatever. It is of no consequence how the fibrous material is applied if it is
in good electrical contact with the metal of the cylinders, or is so situated as to be
brought into contact with the material operated on as it passes through the machine.
If the cylinders be made of non-conducting material and the fibrous material be
applied thereto, as shown in Fig. 1, good electrical contact with the shaft of each
cylinder should be secured.
any
The fly 7 is formed of a number of parallel slats or fingers, 11, which are made
of metal, and each of these fingers is provided with a strip, 12, of fibrous material,
which may be inserted into a groove in each finger, or may otherwise be applied
thereto, care being taken to make good electrical contact between the metal fingers
and the fibrous material. If the fingers should be constructed of non-conducting
material, as is sometimes the case, good electrical contact with the shaft 13 of the
fly should be established. This is easily done by placing a metal strip, 14, under
each strip of fibrous material, and by connecting the same with shaft 13 metallically
in any desired manner. A similar connection of rings 9 and 10, of fibrous material,
with the shafts of the delivery-cylinders may be established by strips 15, as indicated
in the drawings, if said cylinders should be of insulating material. A portion of
the fly-table is also formed of strips 16, 17, of fibrous material, and metallic
posts 19, mounted upon the fly-table, are in electrical contact with said fibrous
strips 16, 17, as shown. By preference the fly-table is made of metal, and is by a
wire, 20, connected with a ground-plate 21, or with a water or gas distributing
system, as is usually done, in order to obtain a good ground-connection; or it may
be connected with any other suitable reservoir which will absorb or carry off the
electricity discharged from the machine or material operated on.
If the fly-table
should be constructed of wood or other insulating material, a metal strip, 18, is placed
under each fibrous strip 16, 17, and such metallic strips are then connected by
wires 22, 22 with the ground-plate, as indicated by dotted lines.
Shaft 13 of the fly and the shafts of delivery-cylinders 5, 6, are connected with the
ground plate by wires 23, 25, 26, respectively, and by preference the moving bed and

page_text: the impression-cylinder are also grounded by wires 27 and 24, as shown. The various
strips of fibrous material thus applied to the operating parts of the machine are
dampened with any suitable conducting-fluid, such as above referred to, and are
maintained in that damp condition as long as the machine is running. The means for
imparting and maintaining that condition form no part of my present invention, for
the purpose of which it is sufficient that suitable moisture should be applied in any
desired manner as, for instance, by a sponge dipped into the conducting-fluid and
passed over and in contact with the fibrous strips. This may be repeated as often as
necessary, and this simple mode of applying the discharging-conductor will be found
sufficiently effective. If the press shown in Fig. 1 is set in operation, the printed
sheets in passing through the delivery-cylinders will come into intimate contact at
their edges with the discharging conductors retained by the fibrous rings 9, 10, and
any electrical charge which may have been imparted to the sheets during the process
of feeding and printing will be discharged by wires 25, 26 to ground. The sheets then
passing on the fly will slide down and in contact with damp porous strips 12 on the
fingers 11, and their electrical charge will continue to pass to ground by wire 23
connected with the shaft of the fly. Being then deposited upon the fly-table S, the
first sheet will be in immediate contact with the damp fibrous strips 16, 17, and
will continue to discharge by wire 20, connected either with the body of the fly-table
or with wires 22 22, leading to metal strips 18, 18. The following sheets will depend
for the discharge of the remaining charge in a measure upon the contact of their edges
with the standards 19, which, as indicated in the drawings, may have their inner faces
covered with strips of damp fibrous material. It must be remarked, however, tlut
after having passed the fly and in rubbing contact with the damp strips 12 there will
be no great electrical charge in the sheets when arriving at the fly-table.
While I have shown the moving bed and the impression-cylinder both connected
with the ground-plate, such connections are not absolutely necessary; nor is it
necessary to apply the damp fibrous strips in all places where they are shown in the
drawings. In many instances it is quite sufficient to use the discharging-conductor
in connection with the fly alone or with the cylinders alone, or even with the fly-table
alone.
While I have shown the fibrous strips retaining the discharging fluid conductor
flush with the faces of the structures with which the sheets make contact, it is not
really necessary that this be so, since the fibrous material may be depressed slightly
below the faces of these structures, as indicated at 28 on the fly-table. By the con-
tinuous evaporation of the discharging conducting-fluid the vapors of the same will
come into contact with the sheets, so that actual contact with the fluid will not be
necessary.
In Fig. 2 only one of the delivery-cylinders, 5, is provided with dampened fibrous
rings 9 on depressed portions of said cylinder, the other being left in its normal
condition. Under the travelling delivery-tapes 29 there is placed a metallic
receptacle, 30, filled with fibrous material of any description and dampened with a
suitable discharging conducting-fluid. The receptacle 30 is so placed that it does
not quite touch the tape 29; but the evaporation of the conducting-fluid is sufficient
to establish a conducting-bridge between the receptacle and the tape, as will be readily
understood by those skilled in the art. Delivery-cylinder 5 is connected with the
ground-plate 21 by wire 25, as in the construction shown in Fig. 1, and receptacle 30
is grounded by wire 32.
It will be noticed that in this construction the sheets are not in physical contact
with the fibrous material saturated with the discharging-conductor, nor with the fluid
itself in its liquid form; but there is always contact with the vapors of said fluid,
which in this instance form a part of the discharging-conductor.
In Fig. 3 the cylinder 5, which receives the sheet in due course of operation, either
for printing or delivery or for any other purpose, is surmounted by the feed-table 4,
which is here shown supported by standards or parts 31, one at each end of the
cylinder. A metal rod, 33, is supported above the cylinder and parallel thereto in
metal supports 32, which latter may be of any desired construction. I have shown

page_text: simple eyes screwed into the posts 31. Any fibrous material, like a sheet, 34, of cloth,
felt, or cotton, is hung over rod 33, and hangs down from the same with its lower
edge in contact, or nearly so, with the paper or other material which at this line
passes through the machine. The cloth or other fibrous material is dampened with a
Auid discharging-conductor, and is grounded by a wire, 34, connecting with one or
both of the supports 32 or rod 33.
The fly-table, instead of being provided with the strips of dampened fibrous
material shown in Fig. 1, may be constructed with a metal top, 35, and in place of
the peculiarly-constructed standards 19 in said figure of drawings, simple metal
pins, 36, project vertically from the edges of the metal top of the table. The table, as
well as the fly, is properly connected with the ground, as in Fig. 1.
"
The fluid discharging-conductor may also be applied with advantage to the
packing-paper" or blanket" on the impression-cylinder in place of the oil usually
used, and in this case I make sure that the prepared packing-paper or the blanket, or
both, are electrically connected with the ground wires, either through the grippers
and cylinder, or in any other way.
In Fig. 1, where the impression-cylinder is shown connected with the ground-wire,
the packing-paper or blanket are intended to be dampened with a fluid discharging-
conductor. While I have described my invention as applied to a printing-press with
reference to Fig. 1, and to a delivery apparatus of a specific form with reference to
Fig, 2, it will be readily understood that the invention is not confined for use in con-
nection with such machines, but may be applied to any machine in which the material
operated upon receives an objectionable charge of electricity which it is desired to
carry off to ground.
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. In combination with a machine for operating upon sheets or strips of fibrous
insulating material, a grounded fluid discharging-conductor arranged in the path of
the sheets or strips, substantially as described.
2. In combination with a machine for operating upon sheets or strips of fibrous
insulating material, a grounded fluid discharging-conductor held in a mass of fibrous
material and arranged in the path of the sheets or strips, substantially as described.
3. In a printing-press, the combination of the delivery apparatus thereof with
fibrous material arranged in relation thereto and a grounded fluid conductor held by
said fibrous material in the path of the material operated upon, substantially as
described.
4. In a printing-press, the combination with the delivery apparatus thereof, of
fibrous material secured to the same and a grounded fluid conductor held by said
fibrous material in the path of the printed sheets or strips, substantially as described.
5. In an apparatus for delivering sheets or strips of insulated material after having
received a charge of electricity, the combination of strips of fibrous material located
in depressions below the surfaces of the apparatus, and in the paths of the sheets or
strips, with a conducting-fluid held by the fibrous material, and ground-connections
from the same, substantially as described.
D
1
17h day of Santu 1007
.