US1070764A - Alining device for printing-presses. - Google Patents

Description

J. E. BELL. ALINING DEVICE FOR PRINTING PRBSSES. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30, 1912.

1 70,764, Patented Aug. 19, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. B. BELL.

ALINING DEVICE FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

' APPLICATION FILED mumo, 1912.

1 70,764, Patented Aug. 19, 1913.

2 SHEETSSHBET 2.

JAMES E. BELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ALINING DEVICE FOR PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 19,1913.

Application filed March 30, 1912. Serial No. 687,551.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES E. BELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Alining Devices for Printing-Presses; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the numbers of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

A large amount of waste and loss has heretofore resulted from imperfect registering in two or more color printing of platen presses. IVhere the material must be inserted in the press more than once, the slightest variation in the positioning of the sheets results in defective work, inasmuch as the impression fails to properly register. Various devices and expedients have been tried to obviate this difficulty, but heretofore such devices have proven unsatisfactory because inefiicient or because so complicated that the same readily got out of order, and occasioned additional loss from poor printing rather than decreasing such loss. But exceedingly small space is available in which to apply or insert the adjusting means without danger of injury to the same, or injury to the press, and this, no doubt, has also been one of the reasons why such a device has not heretofore been devised or come into use.

It is an object of the invention to afford a mechanical device, adapted to occupy exceedingly small space, and adapted to me chanically adjust the sheet to be printed into exact position for the impression.

It is also an object of the invention to afford a mechanically operated device, adapted for minute and exceedingly accurate adjustment, and operated from the moving parts of the press to accurately adjust all sheets fed to the press to exactly the same position for printing, thereby 0bviating the overlapping of the printing occasioned by imperfect registering.

It is an object of the invention to afford a construction whereby the mechanism for operating the grippers acts also to operate mechanical means for adjusting the sheet to be printed to exact register.

It is an important object of the invention to afford means for mechanically adjusting the sheets into register at the time the grippers are disengaged therefrom, and to afford means for accurately adjusting the same to afford a coarse or rough adjustment and a more accurate or finer adjustment for the work.

The invention (in its preferred form) is illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view of the platen for a platen press, and illustrating the application thereto of a device embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary top plan view of a device embodying my invention, showing the platen and the actuating rod broken away. Fig. 4

is a front elevation of the same, with the platen broken away and in section. Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig. 3, with parts omitted. Fig. 6 is a section on line 66 of Fig. 3, with parts omitted. Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the adjusting and actuating arm. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary detail section of the eccentric connection between the rocker arm and the connecting rod.

As shown in the drawings: 1, indicates the platen; 2, the tympan sheets secured thereon, having stops or gage strips 3, secured thereon in suitable position to limit the inner feed of the sheet or card A, to be printed.

4, indicates the grippers adjustably secured upon the rocker shaft 5, in the usual or any suitable manner.

Removably secured to one end of the platen near the middle thereof by means of screws or bolts 6, extending through the flange 7, is a plate or bracket 8, whlch extends horizontally outward from the platen and is provided with a straight, flat, bot-- tomed groove therein extending for the entire length thereof at right angles with the end of the platen and with its bottom flush with the upper face thereof. As shown in Fig. 6, and in dotted lines in Fig. 3, a slot B, is provided through said plate in the bottom of said groove and extending centrally and longitudinally thereof, and near the front or platen end of the groove. Journaled on said plate 8, by means of a bolt 9, which extends through the apex thereof, is a rocker plate 10, the sides of which extend from the apex substantially at a right angle with each other, the one toward said slot and the other toward the outer end of said plate 8, as shown in Fig. Slidably engaged in said groiiive in. said plate and extending across the end of the platen, is a thin gag-e bar 11, the inner end 12, of which is turned upwardly at a right angle, as shown in 1, and 1, to bear against the end of the sheet to be adjusted. The inner end of said gage bar 11, lies in a suitable slot cut therefor in the tympan, as shown in Fig. 1. The outer end of said gage bar is graduated, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, by closely arranged transverse graduaticns 11 in accordance with the printers scale and marked upon said plate 8, at one side the slot is a mark or indicator 13, whereby the adjustment of said gage bar in wardly or outwardly on the platen may be read in the printers scale. Said gage bar is provided at said graduated portion 11 thereof, with apertures slotted transversely the gage bar and arranged conveniently a standard distance apart on said printers scale.

Journaled on the same screw or bolt 9, whereby the rocker plate 10, is engaged in place, is a bent lever, one arm 1 1, of which extends transversely the gage bar, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and is provided on its under side above said gage bar with a downwardly directed stud 15, provided with a central, downwardly directed projection or pin 16, adapted to project through any of the slots in said gage bar when adjusted. The other end 17, of said bent lever, is directed substantially at a right angle therefrom and is provided near its extremity with a transverse slot C, through which (and threaded into the rocker plate, as shown in Fig. 5) extends a set screw 18, provided with a milled head 19, adapted for manual engagement. Secured on the end of the rocker shaft 5, by means of a screw or bolt 20, which extends axially therethrough, and into the shaft. is a circular plate or disk 21, which is held in rigid adjusted engagement on said stud shaft by means of a pin 22, which extends therethrough beneath the head. of said bolt 20, and is inserted into a suitable indentation or seat therefor in the end of the shaft, as shown in Fig. 8. A cap screw 23, is engaged in said disk or plate 21, eccentrically thereof, and journaled thereon is a connectii'ig rod 24, the other end of which is engaged on the extended end of the rock plate by means of a screw or bolt 25, which extends therethrough and into said plate, the aperture in said connecting rod therefor being slightly reamed out on the upper and lower sides thereof to afford a somewhat loose fit to prevent the cramping of said end of the connecting rod on said screw or bolt because of the eccentricity of the connection of the opposite end thereof with said disk 21.

The operation is as follows: As the sheetis adjusted inwardly to position, it is also preferably adjusted in close relation with the upturned or angular end 12, of the gage bar, and the gage bar is suitably adjusted to position the sheet or card to be printed exactly as desired upon the tympan. This adjustment may be effected in three ways first, when first attaching the device to the machine, the disk 21., is properly positioned upon the end of the rock shaft and rigidly engaged in place by means of the pin 22, and bolt 20, so that the pin or screw 28, (upon which the connecting rod 2%, is journaled) shall be suitably positioned that the gage bar will be retracted when the grippers and platen are most widely separated, so that the gage bar will be projected transversely the platen to the limit of its movement just at the moment that the grippers again engage the sheet. The adjustment of the gage bar to the work is effected, first, by adjusting the pin 16, on the under side of the lever arm 14, into the proper slot into said gage bar to afford approximately the desired degree of adjustment, and if further adjustment be required, this may be accomplished by releasing the set screw 19, and adjusting said lever on the rocker plate to afford exactly the desired throw. Having once effected the desired adjustment, the set screw is again set up tight, and the machine may be started in operation. The sheets are fed to the press as usual, except that the same are adjusted sufliciently near the end of the gage bar as to necessitate some slight movement thereof to bring the same into register. In consequence, the normal operation of the machine acts through the mechanism before described, to mechanically and accurately adjust the sheets into exact register, thus obviating the loss of time and material occasioned by the imperfect print frequently resulting heretofore.

Of course, I am aware that numerous details of construction and operation may be varied. I have shown and described but a preferred construction of a device embodying my invention. I therefore do not purpose limiting the patent to be granted on this application otherwise then necessitated by the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device of the class described a bracket adapted for engagement to the platen, a bell crank having a slot therein and mounted on said bracket, a slidable gage actuated thereby, a plate pivoted adjacent said bell crank, an adjusting screw threaded therein and engaging through the slot in said bell crank, and a rod connected to said. plate and oscillated to cause reciprocation of the slidable gage.

2. In a device of the class described the platen and the rock bar therefor, a bracket attached to the platen, a bell crank pivoted thereon, a plate pivoted beneath the same,

adjustable connection between said crank and plate, a gage bar engaged by said crank and a connect-ing rod connected between said rock bar and said plate to cause actuation of the bell crank and gage rod.

3. A sheet adjusting device for platen presses embracing a bracket centrally attached to the end of the platen, a transversely slotted gage bar slidable thereon and adapted to engage a sheet to shift the same laterally, a connecting rod operatively connected for operation by the press mechanism, a bell crank, a projection on said bell crank adapted to be engaged in any one of said transverse slots to actuate the gage bar and to vary the inward movement thereof, and at the other end adjustably connected. with the connecting rod to afford a finer adjustment for the gage bar.

4:. The combination with the platen of a platen press and its rock bar, of a connecting rod bracket secured centrally to the end of the platen, a graduated gage bar slidable on said bracket and transversely the platen, and having apertures therein at graduated distances apart, a bell crank fulcrumed on the bracket, a projection on one end thereof adapted to engage in any of the apertures in the gage bar to actuate said bar, and a connecting rod eccentrically engaged on the rock bar at one end and adjustably connected with the other arm of the bell crank at the other to vary the adjustment of the gage bar relatively the platen.

5. The combination with the platen and the rock bar of a platen press, of a bracket centrally secured on the end of the platen to project horizontally therefrom, and having a channel in the face thereof, the bottom of which is flush with the face of the platen, a gage bar graduated with the printers scale slidable in said channel transversely the platen, a mark or pointer on the bracket adjacent said scale, an upturned right-angled end on the inner end of the gage bar adapted to engage the paper if shifted laterally, a connecting rod engaging at one end the rock bar, and a bell crank fulcrumed on the bracket and at one end adjustably connected with the connecting rod and at the other adjustably connected with the gage bar to afford a double adjustment of said bar.

6. In a platen printing press the combination with the platen, the grippers and the rock bar, of mechanism for adjusting later ally the sheets to be printed embracing a graduated gage bar extending transversely the end of the platen, a connecting rod eccentrically journaled on the rock bar, and means connecting said connecting rod with the gage bar to afford a double adjustment of the latter to vary the adjustment of the sheet thereby.

7. In a device of the class described a bracket having a flat bottomed channel in the face thereof, and a mark or pointer arranged transversely the same at the edge thereof, a gage bar graduated wit-h the printers scale and provided with transversely slotted apertures arranged uniform distances apart, a connecting rod, means fulcrumed on the bracket and affording connection for the connecting rod, and a bell crank pivotally engaged on said means and at one end adapted for engagement in any of the apertures in the gage bar and having a transverse slot in the other, adapted to receive a set screw therethrough for engagement'in said connecting means, thereby affording a double adjustment of the throw of the gage bar on the platen.

8. The combination with the platen of a platen press and its rock bar, of a bracket secured to the platen, a graduated gage bar slidable on said bracket and transversely the platen, and having apertures therein at graduated distances apart, a bell crank, means on one end thereof adapted to engage in any of the apertures in the gage bar to actuate the same, and a connecting rod affording connection between said rock bar and the bell crank.

9. The combination with the platen and the rock bar of a platen press, of a bracket secured on the platen to project therefrom, a slidable gage bar graduated with the printers scale, a mark or pointer on the bracket adjacent said scale, an upturned end on the inner end of the gage bar adapted to engage the paper if shifted laterally, a connecting rod engaged at one end the rock bar, and a bell crank having one end adjustably connected with the connecting rod and at the other adj ustably connected with the gage bar.

10. In a device of the class described a bracket, a mark or pointer thereon, a gage bar graduated with the printers scale, and provided with slotted apertures arranged uniform distances apart, a connecting rod, actuating means connected to one end there of,, movable means connected to the other end of the connecting rod, and a bell crank pivotally engaged on said movable means and at one end adapted for engagement in any of the apertures in the gage bar and having a transverse slot in the other, adapted to receive a set screw therethrough for engagement in said movable means.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES E. BELL. Witnesses:

CHARLES W. HILLS, J r., GEORGE E. MOORE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

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