THE London JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. No. XXXVIII. Recent Patents. TO WILLIAM CHURCH, late of Nelson Square, Southwark, but now of the Britannia Works, Birmingham, Warwickshire, for an improved Apparatus for Printing, to be used by Type, Block, or Plate Printers. [Sealed 18th February, 1823.] THIS improved apparatus for printing, applies particularlyto the printing of calicoes, linens, silks, and other fabrics for dress, furniture, or decoration, and consists of a new method of forming a cylinder of types, blocks, or plates, combined in a peculiar manner, for the composition of designs, patterns, or subjects, to be printed upon such fabric; and also in the mode of applying these cylinders to printing in more than one colour. The individual types are made convex on their face or outer surface, and concave at their back or inner surface: the curve of the latter must be formed to the periphery of a solid cylinder, upon which they are to be bedded; that of the former to a segment of the entire cylinder of types, when combined and formed. Plate IV. shews the manner of constructing this apparatus. Fig. 1. shews a single type or block, viewed edgewise; of these, any required number may be combined to form the cylinder of types, provided that the curved surfaces are shaped, as above said, to the proper radii, and the sides of the types formed of right lines radiating from the centre of the said cylinder. Fig. 2. shews the outer surface or face of a single type, with the figure raised upon it, or a portion of the figure or design which is to be produced by the combination of several types, as seen on the surface of the entire cylinder. Fig. 3. Fig. 3. represents the solid cylinder of iron, round the periphery of which the types are mounted, as at a a. Fig. 4. is an end view or section of the cylinder, shewing the manner in which the types stand radiantly round it. A nick or groove, formed to the segment of a circle, is made in the flat sides of each of the types, for the purpose of receiving a ring, which, by falling into the groove, holds each circle of types securely together, and the outer moveable collet b, with its cap, is screwed up against the last circle of types, when the cylinder is filled, in order to make them all fast. Several of these types or blocks, with a pattern or portion of a pattern raised upon each of their faces, being combined in the manner above described, upon a solid cylinder, are designed collectively to produce an entire subject, or a series of devices, and are employed for printing calicoes, silks, and other fabrics, and also paper for paper hanging, or other purposes, with a similar effect to the wooden or metal blocks usually adopted in surface printing. The manner in which these cylinders are proposed to be employed for printing in several colours, is shewn at Fig. 5. which is an end view of a machine, with its appendages, (the frame-work being omitted) exhibiting the manner of arranging the printing cylinders round what is usually called the pressing cylinder, and in which also is seen the fabric distended while printing, and a series of heating tubes, for the purpose of drying the goods between the impressions. a a, is a large cylinder, answering the object of a pressing cylinder; b b b, are three printing cylinders, constructed as above described; these are to be placed at convenient distances from each other, round the large cylinder, with weighted levers applied to their axles, in order to produce the necessary pressure. The axles of the printing cylinders are placed in the frame-work, which supports them in such a manner as will permit their being shifted to any required distance apart, for the purpose of effecting the register of the different colours of the pattern with perfect accuracy; ccc, &c. are a series of hollow cylindrical tubes, heated within, by steam or hot air, which passes through the hollow pivots and corresponding channels in the frame-work from one to another. These cylinders are placed near to the fabric, for the purpose of drying the ink deposited by one printing cylinder, before it comes under the operation of the next printing cylinder. They are placed in the frame-work, and made to revolve upon their axles by means of bands and pulleys communicating with a moving power, or by any other convenient mode. On the outer periphery of the heating cylinders, there are radiating fans, as shewn by dots; the object of which is to circulate the heated air, and between each two cylinders, there is a curved partition d d d, for more effectually conducting the damp from the fabric during the operation. The cloth or other material intended to be printed, is first to be wound upon the roller, e, and being attached to a constant piece, brought over the pressing cylinder from |