PRINTING MACHINERY. The first attempts to construct printing machinery, consisted in the application of the force of horses, or steam, to the common printing press ; and working models of a press of this kind were actually constructed. They possessed no advantage, how ever, as they only substituted the power of a horse for that of a man, without performing any additional work.
Mr William Nicholson was the person who took the first real step in this invention. In April, 1790, he ob tained a patent for " a machine, or instrument, for print ing on paper, linen, cotton, woollen, and other articles, in a more neat, cheap, and accurate manner than is effected by the machines now in use." In this machine the types were so formed, with sterns smaller at one end than the other. that, when composed, they ffirmed a cylindrical sur face in place of a plane one. The types were inked by a stuffed cylinder covered with soft skin, the uniform distri bution of the ink being produced by smaller rollers. The paper was then made to pass between the cylinder of types and another plane roller, to receive the impression. This machine was found to answer tolerably well for the print ing of calico goods, paper hangings, Sec. when the surface of the roller was engraved out of a solid block ; but with moveable types it did not succeed.
This invention, however, had the effect of directing other minds to the same subject. In 1813, Messrs. Bacon and Dunkin took out a patent for a printing machine, which was publicly exhibited at Cambridge, and which was ac tually used for printing Bibles and prayer-books in that university.
Messrs. Bacon and Donkin's Printing Machine.
A perspective view of this machine is given in Plate CCCCLXVIII. Fig. 12, where A is a square prism, on the four surfaces of which the types are firmly fixed in gal leys. The pivots at the end of the axes of this prism are sustained in the frame BB, and it is made to revolve by wheels D, E, F, G, driven by the handle H, and regulated by the fly-wheel Z. A second roller I i, called the pla ten, is placed immediately beneath the prism A, and serves to give the proper pressure upon the paper. The surface consists of four segments of cylinders, which apply them selves to the four faces of the prism, which are attached to the different sides of the central axis by means of screws. The ink is applied to the surface of the types by means of a cylinder KK, placed above the prism, and composed of a soft elastic substance. In order that the inking cylinder may rise and fall, and thus accommodate itself to the mo tion of the types, its spindle is fitted in pieces L, L, which move upon an axis 72, in order to give play to the cylinder while suiting itself to the motion of the types. The ink cylinder KK receives its ink from the distributing roller AIM, and this again from a third roller NN, made of me tal, and turned with great accuracy. A quantity of the ink is placed against the roller, and upon a steel plate 00, which allows the revolving roller NN to draw down a thin film of it, which being successively taken up by M and K is taken front the latter by the types.
The following description of the general motion of the machine, and of the minute structure of its parts, is abridged from Dr. Rees's article on Printing.
The sheet of paper is introduced, by placing it upon a blanket, which is extended upon a feeding-board P P, and drawn into the machine at a proper time, by having a small ruler, 2, fixed to it. The ends of this are taken forward by
two studs, b, attached to endless chains, which are extended from the wheels e, e, at the end of the platen, to other wheels, d, d, which are supported in the frame of the feed ing-board. The wheels, e, e, having teeth entering the links of the chains, cause them to traverse when the machine is turned round, and at the proper time the pins, b, draw the ruler, 2, and blanket forward, and introduce the paper into the machine, and by passing between the prism and platen, it is printed as before mentioned. The pages of types are placed in frames or gallies, a, a, and fastened by the screws at the ends. These galhes are attached to the four sides of the central axis of the prism by the screw-clamps, 1, the edges of the gallies being mitred to gether. The platen I i, is composed of four segments of cylinders, i i, which are attached to the different sides of the central axis, I, by means of screws. The two wheels, D, E, which cause the prism and platen to accompany each other, are formed to correspond with the two. Thus the upper wheel, D, is a square, with its angles rounded off, and the pitch exactly of the same size as the square formed by the surfaces of the types. The lower wheel, E, is of the same shape as the platen, and its pitch line the exact size of the surface thereof. These wheels being cut into teeth, will turn each other round, and make their surfaces at the point of contact exactly correspond in their motions, so as to have no sliding or slipping upon each other. To regulate the pressure upon the paper, the bear ings in which the pivots of the platen are supported, can be elevated by screws, 3, and its surface will press with more force upon the types ; hut that this may not derange the action of the wheels, D and E, universal joints are applied in their axles at R. The inking cylinder, K, is caused to preserve its proper distance from the centre of the prism by wheels, S, fixed upon its axis, and resting upon shapes, T, fixed upon the axis of the prism. Each of the shapes, like the wheel D, has four flat sides, corres ponding in size with the surfaces of the types ; the angles are rounded to segments of a circle to the centre: the wheels, S, are of the same size as the inking cylinder. The inking cylinder is turned round by a cog-wheel, V, on the axis of the prism, of the same shape as the wheel, D, and engages another wheel, W,upon the end of the spindle of the inking cylinder : the latter wheel likewise gives motion to the distributing roller by a pinion, f, and this again turns the ink roller by a third pinion, g, fixed upon the end of its axis, n, which is supported upon bearings, B, B, in the frame. The pieces, L, L, which support the pivots of the distributing roller and inking cylinder, are fitted upon the axis n of the inking cylinder so as to rise and fall upon its centre. The steel plate, 0, which, as before mentioned, regulates the quantity of ink that the roller, N, shall take round with it, is supported by a piece extended across the fixed frame, B B. The machine is put in motion by the handle with the fly-wheel,H, and this has a small wheel, G, turning a large one, F, upon the end of the axis I.