IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND PRESSING PRINTED PAPER
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Davidson Nichol, Publisher, and James
Eckersley, Engineer, both of Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND PRESSING PRINTED
PAPER."
Sealed the 13th August 1869, and dated the 18th February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Davidson Nichol
and James Eckersley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 18th February 1869.
We, JOHN DAVIDSON NICHOL, Publisher, and JAMES ECKERSLEY,
Engineer, both of Edinburgh, Scotland, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND PRESSING
PRINTED PAPER," to be as follows:-
Our Invention has for its object an arrangement of apparatus for
drying printed paper adapted to obviate the necessity for the ordinary
drying room and the use of hydraulic presses and pressing boards, and
consists in the combination and arrangement of hollow drums,

page_text: heated by steam or otherwise, over and under and in contact with which
the printed sheets of paper are separately passed, and thence through a
pair of pressing rollers, whence they pass successively into a suitable
box or receptacle.
The printed sheets may be fed into the apparatus as required, either
by hand or by suitable mechanism, and they may be guided over, under,
and around the heated drums by means of brass tapes or otherwise, so
as to have both sides of the sheets brought in contact therewith in
the course of their passage through the series of drums. The printed
sheets on leaving the heated drums may be caused to pass on to a
travelling endless web or endless tapes, and thereby introduced to
the pressing rollers, or they may be caused to pass directly from the
heated drums to the pressing rollers. These pressing rollers may be
adapted for either hot or cold pressing, and for glazing if required.
The box or receptacle for the printed sheets after they have been dried
and pressed in the manner stated is arranged so that the sheets may
pass directly thereinto from the pressing rollers, and is or may be fitted
with a moveable bottom connected with a lever and weight adapted to
keep the said moveable bottom in its required position to receive the
sheets as they are successively delivered from the pressing rollers.
By means of the process of drying and pressing the printed sheets
as above stated the frequent delays in the publication of printed books
hitherto experienced will be obviated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Davidson Nichol and James Eckersley in 2
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, JOHN
DAVIDSON NICHOL, Publisher, and JAMES ECKERSLEY, Engineer, both of
Edinburgh, Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Hera
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-

page_text: cessors, give and grant unto us, the said John Davidson Nichol and
James Eckersley, Her special licence that we, the said John Davidson
Nichol and James Eckersley, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said John Davidson Nichol and James
Eckersley, our executors, administrators, and 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 APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND PRESSING
PRINTED PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
John Davidson Nichol, and James Eckersley, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 we, the said John Davidson Nichol and James
Eckersley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus for Drying and
Pressing Printed Paper" has. for its object an arrangement of apparatus.
for drying printed paper adapted to obviate the necessity for the ordinary
drying room and the use of hydraulic presses and pressing boards, and
consists in the combination and arrangement of hollow drums, heated
by steam or otherwise, over and under and in contact with which the
printed sheets of paper are separately passed, and thence through a
pair of pressing rollers, whence they pass successively into a suitable box
or receptacle.
The printed sheets may be fed into the apparatus as required, either by
hand or by means of suitable mechanism, and they may be guided over,
under, and around the heated drums by means of tapes or otherwise, so
s to have both sides of the sheets brought in contact therewith in the

page_text: course of their passage through the series of drums. The printed sheets
on leaving the heated drums may be caused to pass on to a travelling
endless web or endless tapes, and thereby introduced to the pressing
rollers, or they may be caused to pass directly from the heated drums
to the pressing rollers. These pressing rollers may be adapted for either
hot or cold pressing, and for glazing if required.
The box or receptacle for the printed sheets after they have been
dried and pressed in the manner stated is arranged so that the sheets
may pass directly thercinto from the pressing rollers. This box or
receptacle is mounted on wheels or rollers so as to be readily removed
when filled with sheets. In some cases it may be fitted with a moveable
bottom connected with a lever and weight adapted to keep the said
moveable bottom in its required position to receive the sheets as they
are successively delivered from the pressing rollers.
By means of the processes of drying and pressing the printed sheets as
above stated the frequent delays in the publication of printed books
hitherto experienced will be obviated.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, we will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed
by reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which are represented
the principal parts of the apparatus above referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the drying machine or apparatus,
and Fig. 2 is a transverse view of one end of the same.
A, A, is the frame or standards of the machine; B, B, are the hollow
drums heated by steam or otherwise, three of which are shewn in the
present machine, but the number may be varied; C is a steam pipe
provided with suitable connections for heating the drums as required;
D is a safety valve; E is the main driving shaft for giving the required
motion to the drums through the bevil gear F, F, or otherwise; G, G,
are air valves, one at each end of each hollow drum, to admit air on the
removal of pressure by the exit of the steam; H is a steam gauge; I is
a feeding table on which the sheets are successively fed by hand into
this drying machine or apparatus, or the sheets may be fed into the
machine by other convenient means; J, J, are feed rollers for taking
the sheets off the table and introducing them into the machine; K, K,

page_text: are conducting rollers, by means of which the several conducting
tapes L, L, are caused to travel as required, the tapes being held
in tension by the weights M; L*, L*, are double tapes (one above
and another below the sheets) adapted to carry the sheets forward
between them; there are three of such double tapes in the length of a
sheet, as shewn in Fig. 2. The arrows in Fig. 1 indicate the course
of the conducting tapes L, L, carrying the sheets of printed paper for-
ward in contact with the heated drums, and the sheets are ultimately
discharged on to the guiding web N leading to the pressing rollers or
calender represented in Fig. 3. In this Figure the pressing rollers
and frame arc shewn without the gearing, the usual construction of
calendering machines being well understood, and our Invention having
no reference to any peculiarity of their construction. O, O, are paper
rollers, and P, P, hollow iron rollers which may be heated. The top
rollers are furnished with the usual weighted levers for regulating their
pressure. Qis an endless guiding web for taking the sheets away from
the rollers similar to the web N for leading them into the same; R is a
receptacle in which the sheets are successively deposited as they pass
from the web Q; the end of each sheet by coming in contact with
the raised portion of the box or receptacle will be caused to fall back
into the same, and the several sheets will thereby become piled regularly
one over the other until the said box or receptacle is filled, when it can
be removed and an empty one brought into its place. This simple form
of receptacle is preferred, but it may be constructed with a moveable
bottom furnished with a lever and weight, as herein-before referred to.
It will thus be seen on reference to the Drawings that the several
printed sheets on being successively fed into the drying machine are
carried forward by the conducting tapes and caused to pass round and
in contact with the first heated druin, thence the sheet is reversed and
passed over the second drum, then it is reversed again and passed
over the third drum, whence it passes to the pressing rollers or
calender and is delivered into the receptacle dried and pressed ready for
folding and binding. It is to be observed that the sheets are kept in
close contact with the heated surface of the hollow drums, the con-
ducting tapes, with the exception of the double tapes, being all outside
the sheets.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, we hereby declare that what we
claim as of our Invention is, the combination of a drying machine or
apparatus composed of hollow. drums heated. by steam or otherwise, and
conducting tapes with a pressing or calendering. machine, the two
machines together being adapted for drying and pressing printed sheets
of paper; in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Davidson Nichol and James
Eckersley, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Tenth day
of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-nine..
Witness,.
JOHN DAVIDSON NICHOL. (L.S.);
JAMES ECKERSLEY.
(L.S.);
WILLIAM NICHOLAS GRUT,
31, Grindlay Street,.
Edinburgh,
Printer.