Print′ing-press.
A machine to take an impression on paper or parchment from type, electrotype, or stereotype forms, steel or copper plates, lithographic stones, etc.
Presses for book or newspaper printing are broadly divided into
platen and
cylinder machines, and the latter again into such as have a flat type-bed reciprocating at the same speed as the surface speed of cylinder, and those which carry the type or printing plates on a revolving cylinder.
See list on page 1793.
The first
printing-press was a common screw-press with a bed, standards, a beam, a screw, and a movable platen.
A contrivance for running the form in and out was afterward added.
 |
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Fanklin's press. |
Blaew of
Amsterdam made a number of improvements in 1620, which entitle him to the rank of the
[
1796]
first great improver of the
printing-press.
His press had a traveling bed, a platen depressed by a screw which was moved by a lever, and by a spring to raise the screw and platen after the delivery of the impression.
The condition of the press in the time of the most illustrious printer on record is shown by the annexed cut, which is taken from the original press used by
Franklin in
London, and now in the museum of the
United States Patent-Office.
It is still the “Blaew” press, with minor modifications.
It operates on the screw principle, the horizontal sweep of the handle rotating the screw which traverses through a nut in the cross-beam above, raising or lowering the platen, the center of whose upper surface has a cup which rests against the lower end of the screw-head; the four corners of the platen being fastened by thongs to the screw-head, so as to give it a certain independence of adjustment, to enable it to fit against the face of the form, that is, to assume parallelism therewith.
The form rests on the bed and is secured in position by temper screws.
The bed runs in and out on a track; a rack on the under side of the bed being engaged by a pinion on the shaft beneath, which is rotated by a hand-crank.
The platen is only large enough to cover one half the bed, and in printing a newspaper it was necessary to screw down the platen on each page, running the bed forward or back between
pulls.
This may be taken as a sample of the press in use until the advent, late in the eighteenth century, of Lord Stanhope's improved press, which so long maintained its position and has so familiar an appearance.
The oscillating hand operates a toggle to force down the platen upon the paper on the form, and the platen is raised again by a spring when the force is withdrawn.
The bed travels on ways, and the frisket is hinged and is so jointed as to lie back in an elevated position when raised for the purpose of withdrawing the sheet, inking the type, and placing a sheet thereon.
The Columbian hand-press was invented by
George Clymer of
Philadelphia, who completed his invention about 1817.
The Columbian press was considered superior to
Stanhope's. The power is applied to the platen by a compound lever, consisting of three simple levers of the second order.
This press is interesting as being the first important.
American addition to the art of printing.
Peter Smith's hand-press soon succeeded the Columbian as an American invention, and, in 1829, the
Washington press was patented by
Samuel Rust.
This press has been modified in various ways, and is now the only hand-press much used in the
United States for printing large sheets.
The pressure is applied by a compound lever acting on a togglejoint, and the platen is lifted by springs on each side.
In
Fig. 3950,
a is the frame of the press, cast in sections;
b is the bed, which slides on track
c, and is run in and out by turning crank
d, which has a belt attached to its pulley or
rounce; e is the platen,
f the handle or bar (sometimes called
devil's tail), and
g the toggle.
Tympan
h and frisket
i are held up by the nature of their hinges, which allow only a certain amount of swing.
 |
|
Columbian press. |
An automatic inking action, shown in the cut, was some time since introduced into hand-presses, whereby the inking-roller is operated by a weight raised by the
pull of the pressman in delivering an impression.
The descent of the weight draws the roller over the type and returns it to the inkingtable while the pressman is placing another sheet upon the
tympan and folding down the
frisket.
The parts of a hand-press are:—
Bar; the lever by which pressure is applied.
Base; the cross-bar below the track.
Bed; a heavy casting with smooth face, which supports the form.
Belt; a leathern strap attached to the drum, moving the bed back and forth under the platen.
Cap; a heavy cross-bar connecting the
cheeks or
standards.
Carriage; the bottom of the bed resting on the
track.
Cheeks; the uprights at each side of the platen.
Drum; the pulley on the rounce.
Frame; the
cheeks, head, and
base.
Frisket; a light frame pivoted to the tympan.
Gallows; an upright to support the tympan.
Girdle; the belt.
Head; the cap.
Hook; a substitute for the gallows.
[
1797]
Lever; the
bar or
devil's tail.
Platen; a casting with smooth under face parallel with the bed.
Press-cloth; a blanket inside the tympan to regulate impression.
Rounce; the winch which moves the bed.
Spindles; bolts parallel with the cheeks to hold the platen in parallelism with the bed.
Springs; to lift the platen.
Standards; the cheeks.
Taggle; the compound lever through which pressure is applied.
Track; the bars on which the bed slides.
Tympan; a frame covered with linen pivoted to the bed, so as to turn down over the form.
Tympan-drawer; a frame just fitting the tympan.
The presscloth comes between the tympan and drawer.
Wedge; a double inclined plane above the platen to regulate impression.
Power-presses.
Nicholson obtained a patent in
England, 1790, for a cylinder printing-machine which is believed to be the first on record.
It was not brought into effective use, but some of the ideas were quite original, and were adopted by subsequent inventors.
The main features are as follows:—
“The types, being rubbed or scraped narrower toward the foot, were to be fixed radially upon a cylinder.
This cylinder, with its type, was to revolve in gear with another cylinder covered with soft leather (the impression-cylinder), and the type received its ink from another cylinder, to which the inking apparatus was applied.
The paper was impressed by passing between the type and impression cylinders” — Hansard.
Konig, a German, constructed a printing-machine for
Mr. Walter of the London Times, in 1814; the issue of the 28th of November of that year, being printed on
Konig's press, was the first newspaper printed by machinery driven by steam-power.
The rate was 1,100 impressions per hour; this was afterward increased to 1,800.
In this machine ordinary type was used; the form was flat, and passed beneath a large cylinder which delivered the impression.
The paper was held to its cylinder by tapes; the form was reciprocated beneath the inking apparatus and the paper-cylinder alternately.
To double the rate, a paper-cylinder was to be placed on each side of the inking apparatus.
The ink was placed in a trough and ejected upon the upper of a series of rollers, passed downward in the series; and here first occurred the distributing-roller with end motion.
Konig designed to combine two single machines to form a perfecting-press, but did not succeed.
Donkin and
Bacon's machine, 1813, was built for the
University of
Cambridge, England.
Several forms were attached on the sides of a prism, and were presented consecutively to the inking-cylinder and paper-cylinder.
In this machine were first used the composition inkingrollers of glue and molasses.
In 1815,
Cowper obtained a patent for curved electrotype-plates to be affixed to a cylinder.
The greater portion of the cylinder formed a distributing surface for the ink; the remainder was occupied by the stereotypeplate.
Applegath and
Cowper's single machine went back again to the flat reciprocating bed. This machine was the first to have diagonal distributing-rollers to spread the ink smoothly by sliding on the reciprocating inking-table.
Applegath and
Cowper's four-cylinder machine, 1827, superseded
Konig's in the “Times” office, and printed at the rate of 5,000 per hour, on one side.
It had four printing-cylinders, one form of type on a flat bed, and the paper-cylinders were alternately raised and depressed so that two were printed during the passage one way and the other two on the return passage.
A pair of inking-rollers between the paper-cylinders obtained their ink from the table.
Applegath's machine, 1848, was long used upon the “Times.”
It introduced one novelty: placing the whole series of cylinders on end. On the vertical type-cylinder the type was arranged in upright columns, forming flat polygonal sides to the drum.
Arranged around it were eight sets of inking apparatus, alternating with eight impressioncylinders, and the paper, fed from eight
banks, was delivered upon as many tables.
The paper fed from each feed-board was carried by tapes and rollers, and, passed on edge to the type and impression cylinders, was carried off, thrown over flatwise, and laid by boys upon the pile on the table.
The number of sheets per hour worked upon this machine rose from 8,000, in 1848, to 12,000, printed on one side.
The Hoe type-revolving printing-machine is made with two to ten printing-cylinders arranged in planetary form around the periphery of the larger type-carrying cylinder.
The type is secured in
turtles, or the stereotype is bent to the curve of the cylinder.
The circumference of the central cylinder has a series of binary systems, the elements of which are an inking apparatus and an impression apparatus, the paper being fed to the latter and carried away therefrom by tapes to a flyer, which delivers it on to a table.
It has as many banks as feed or impression cylinders.
See cylinder-press.
There are numerous modifications of the flat-bed and type-revolving machines for more or less rapid work; perfecting, or for one side only; for fine woodcut work, for book work, or job work; with continuously revolving cylinders, or stop cylinders, which pause while the bed returns; with inking-rollers varying in numbers with the kind of work required; and with many other variations in size for posters, hand-bills, and cards.
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“Victory” printing and folding machine. |
[
1798]
The “Victory” printing and folding machine is illustrated in the plate opposite.
The roll of paper is placed on brackets at the end of the machine; the paper is led over two wetting-boxes, then, being damped, is led over two hot copper cylinders and entered between the first printing and impression cylinder; when it is printed on one side, it enters between the second pair of cylinders, which print the paper on the second side; it then travels on tapes to the cutting and folding cylinders.
The
first fold is given by a blunt knife fixed transversely across the peripheries of the wheels, and forces the paper into the gripper of a second cylinder, which carries the doubled paper half a revolution; a serrated steel knife is then forced through the intervening web of paper into a groove, thereby cutting the first perfect printed sheet from the web; a second blunt knife forces the doubled paper into the grippers of the third folding-cylinder; the newspaper thus twice folded is carried round by the grippers to a vibrating frame, entering each alternate sheet to a pair of cross folding-rollers, when it is forced by means of a steel knife, raising the middle of the paper between the tapes which traverse up each side of the delivery end of a frame, carrying each alternate sheet to the second pair of rollers, when the second cross folding-knife comes sharply down and forces the middle of the paper in between the two rollers under which the delivering apparatus works.
This delivery consists of a frame which swings backward and forward like a pendulum, the papers traveling down between the tapes while it is going one way, and being thrown out as it comes back, falling like flakes on to the top of the accumulating heap on the table, where they are piled regularly one over the other.
This machine is especially adapted to damp, print, cut, fold, and deliver an eight or a four page newspaper.
It prints and folds 9,000 perfect copies of an eight-page paper of fifty inches square, or 18,000 copies of a four-page paper per
hour. It also prints, folds, and pastes at the back a twentyfour-page paper, like the “Christian Union,” of New York, this at the speed of 7,000 per hour.
The space required for the working of this machine is eighteen feet long, ten feet wide, eight feet high to the top of the delivery frame.
With the lower delivery, as shown in
Fig. 3951, a pit underneath the machine is required.
The plate shows the upper delivery.
In working, it only requires one pressman, and one boy for taking away the papers; and as it folds the papers at the same time that they are printed, it saves the cost and expense of working separate folding-machines, which have always been used until the “Victory” combined machine for printing and folding was invented.
See also per-Fecting-press; web-press.
Fig. 3951 shows the “Victory” with lower delivery.
Fig. 3952 is a longitudinal vertical section of an Adams flat-bed press.
a is the bed of the press, which is raised by straightening the toggles
b b; c is the platen;
d is the ink-fountain and inkdistributing apparatus.
The inking-rollers
e e pass twice over the form, and are attached to the frame of tympan
f. The segment
g serves to straighten the toggles and cause the impression.
h is the feedboard;
i, the drive-pulley; and
k, a gear-wheel with pitman-rod to
g.
l is the fly.
The first power-printing machine in the
United States was the invention of
Daniel Treadwell, of
Boston, in the year 1822. Two of these machines were set up in New York City, one in the printinghouse of the “American Bible Society,” and another in that of the “American tract Society.”
The former was driven by a steam-engine and the latter by two mules working in the upper story, the animals having been hoisted by means of tackle.
This machine was a flat-bed press, and was long a favorite; it was used by Gales and
Seaton in
Washington in their printing for the United States government.
The platen was moved to the form, and not the form to the platen, as with the
Adams, which is shown in
Fig. 3952.
The
Adams power-press was introduced in 1830, but has since been much improved, and still stands very high with book-printers.
Its movement is based on that of the hand-press, and gives a perfectly flat impression by lifting the bed of the press and its form against a stationary platen.
Sheets are fed to the press by hand, and taken away by tapes and a fly. One thousand impressions per hour is a fair speed for a large
Adams press on book forms.
Single-cylinder presses have a flat bed which is geared to reciprocate at an even speed with a revolving cylinder.
Sheets of paper are fed to the cylinder, which carries a prepared tympan.
The inked form runs along with the sheet until it is printed, when the form is retracted and inked again.
[
1799]
A segment of the cylinder is removed to allow of a backward movement of the bed, and in some machines the cylinder stops after a partial revolution.
See cylinder-press.
Fig. 3953 is a single-cylinder press of the Campbell pattern.
It is controlled in its operation entirely by the sheet, so that it is impossible to print the sheet out of register.
When a sheet is fed badly it is thrown out unsoiled, and it will continue to be thrown out so until it is properly fed. If pointing is necessary in fine register, the points are operated by electricity, in which case it is impossible to print out of register on it. This result is obtained through an exhaust-apparatus that operates a bolt attached to a diaphragm, which locks up the impression.
The registering is operated by a small valve, through the agency of points making a circuit through the pointholes in the sheet, it being necessary that both should be through before the impression is thrown on to point the sheet.
When the press fails to point, the former is hooked up and the fountains are thrown out of gear.
Color is taken for each successive sheet only.
Another peculiarity is a double fountain, having two sets of inking apparatus which distribute the ink on the form in two strata; these, like two wedges, overlap to form a single stratum of uniform thickness throughout.
There is one inking apparatus on each side of the cylinder.
As many as fourteen distributing and inking rollers may be used with this press.
A large number of small job-presses have been built by American mechanics, and are capable of doing excellent work at very high speed.
Among these may be mentioned the
Gordon, Globe, Liberty, Universal, Cincinnati, and others, adapted to print sheets to the size of foolscap or larger.
Three sizes are in common use, known by the size of the sheet they will print, as 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 medium presses.
Fig. 3954 shows a press of this character.
C is the platen, which pivots in the shaft
B, and is thrown into parallelism with bed
Q, by the curved projection
a. The rolls are carried by arms
R, and receive ink from the distributing cylinders
O, P, above and below the type form.
In the
Gordon press (
Fig. 3955, upper one), the form is secured in a chase which is clamped to the bed
b of the press.
This bed rocks on a pivot at
c, and comes into parallelism with the platen
p when the impression is about to be given.
The platen rocks on the main shaft
d, which is propelled by pitman and intermediate gearing from the treadle
i. The arm
m s is the roller-carrier, which swings on a pivot
r, and carries the rollers
n n alternately over the form and the revolving disk
t, which distributes the ink;
g is a counterweight to balance the swinging bed and attachments, and operates the movable fingers by a spring bar
a. A feed-board
v rests on top of the frame of the press.
The platen is moved by set-screws, and is covered by the usual blanket.
Gordon's press (
Fig. 3955, lower one), patented March 3, 1874, has a rocking platen and bed, bound together by a compound toggle-lever, which holds them in locked position during the impression, as seen in the figure.
By straightening the togglelever, the bed and platen are rocked back out of parallelism, the form on bed
a is rolled, and a fresh sheet fed to platen
b.
Bryson's inking apparatus for
printing-presses, patented June 30, 1874, relates to a means for inking the types from one fountain in opposite directions, so that there is an equalization, one set of form-rollers commencing when charged at the front edge of the form and inking toward the back, and the other commencing at the back and inking toward the front of the form, so as to secure equality in the distribution of the ink, with but few rollers.
Leboyer's press uses a sheet of porous paper introduced between the type and the card, as a substitute for fluid ink and the roller.
Hydraulic presses have been adapted to the printing of bank-notes and steel and copperplate engravings, but their operation is necessarily slow.
See
[
1800]
copperplate-press; lithographic press; tick-et-
printing press, etc. See also perfecting-press; web-press; cylinder-press.
A valuable compendium of patents on printingpresses may be found in
Ringwalt's “Encyclopaedia of printing,” pp. 236-248.
2. (
Plate-printing.) See copperplate
printing-press.
