US2424732A - Paper sheet varnisher and printing machine - Google Patents

Description

y 29,.1947- E. w. BELLUCHE arm. 2,424,732

PAPER SHEET VARNISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE Filed-Nov. so, 1942 a Sheets-Sheet 1 Defecfire S/nef Disco-d y 1947- I E. w. BELLUCHE ETAL 2,424,732

PAPER SHEET VARNISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 50(1942 s sheets-sh et 2 {mum .Elmpz" WEE/M0112 Frank fi llzrch y 1947- E. w. BELLUCHE arm. 2,424,732

PAPER SHEET VARNISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE I Filed Nov. 50, 1942 8 Sheets-Sheet a 3mm Elmr HEM/U517; FdnkEBEd/w/m y 9, 1947. E. w, BELLUCHE ETAL. 2,424,732

PAPER SHEET VARNISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 30, 1942 8 Sheet-Sheet 4 07 position M QE /"-24 Sheet receiw' July 29, 1947. E. w. BELLUCHE ETAL 2,424,732

\ PAPER SHEET VARNISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 5Q, 1942 BSheets-Sheet sv F fixed centers ummlllll lh July 29, 1947 E. w.' BELLUCHE ETAL PAPER SHEET VARNISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 30, 1942 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 IIIIW 524W Elm?!" WEE/M2179 frank if. Del/why y 1947. E. w. BELLUCHE ETAL 2,424,732

PAPER SHEET VARRISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 30, 1942" Y s Sheets-Sheet 7 E. W. BELLUCHE EI'AL PAPER SHEET VARNISHER AND PRINTING MACHINE Filed NOV. 30, 1942 8 SheetsF-Sheet 8 Federated duty 2%, i4?

, trap PER SHEET VSHER BRKNTHNG IWKAC F W- Elmer W. Bcllnche and Frank R.

Whit,

cine, Wis, assignors to The Christensen chine Company, Racine, Win, a corporation of Wisconsin This invention relates to the printing art and, although applicable .to cylinder printing presses in general, is particularly directed to varnishing machines.

Broadly, it is an object of this invention to provide means for protecting the impression cylinder in the case ofprinting presses or the varnish cylinder of varnishers against receiving an impression or a coating of varnish in the event a sheet is not fed thereto, which occurs when an imperfect sheet is presented at the front guides of the machine.

Another broad general object of this invention is to provide means for keeping the liquid varnish from setting during periods of disuse of the machine without necessitating the running of the entire machine.

Heretofore, printing presses have been equipped with means for protecting the impression cylinder against receiving an impression from the form upon failure of a sheet to be fed onto the impression cylinder, as is evidenced Coy reissue Letters Patent No. 16,905, dated March 20, 1928, and PatentsNcs. 1,740,058, issued December 17, 1929, and 1,746,812, issued February 11, 1930.

However, all previous schemes for preventing the objectionable sheets of having the impression cylinder receive an impression when a sheet is not thereon, and the associated mechanism for rejecting the defective sheet, have been such as to entail stopping the entire press and feeder every time a defective sheet is encountered. While these past schemes protected the impression cylinder from receiving an impression, they wasted stock and considerable time, especially in v the operation of varnishing machines.

varnishing machines of necessity are quite long, often as much as eighty feet. Thus,'if the operator is busily engaged at the far end of the machine when the feeding of a defective sheet stops it he must run a considerable distance to reach the head end of the machine where the defective sheet can be cleared and the machine restarted and if such shut-downs occur in close sequence, as is often the case in vamishers due to the fact, that the'sheets have been previously passed through the printing press and thus repeatedly handled, the resulting loss of time and waste of stock, to say nothing of the hardship upon the operator, would he appreciable.

It is, therefore, a particular object of this invention to provide an improved mannenofprotectingthe impression cylinder against receiving an impression when a defective sheet is presented which is so designed and constructed that it does not entail stopping the machine. Instead, the machine continues'to operate and each defective sheet is'merely shunted into a. discard pile accompanied by the operation of an appropriate signal. From the discard pile the operator can reclaim such sheets as are not actually unusable, like those where a turned down corner portion rendered them defective.

Inasmuch as this invention contemplates allowing the machine to continue to operate notwithstanding the feeding of a. defective sheet, a sheet already on the impression cylinder is delivered in the 'usual way.

Hence, the impression cylinder, at least for one cycle, runs naked. To prevent an impression on the naked cylinder the present invention has as another of its objects to provide means for automatically opening the printing or varnishing couple by efiecting retraction of the plate cylinders or the varnishing roll away from the impression cylinder concomitantly with the rejection of the imperfect sheet.

In this respect it is more specifically an object of this invention to provide a releasable latch mechanism for holding the varnish roll or plate cylinders in their operative positions, which latch mechanism is adapted to he tripped in consequence to the actuation of the trip mechanism in response to the presentation of an imperfect sheet at the front guide.

Rejection of imperfect sheets received by the feed cylinder in accordance with this invention is eflected by preventing their transfer onto the impression or varnish cylinder. This is accomplished as in the aforesaid patents by allowing the sheet grippers'on these cylinders to remain closed as they pass their transfer point so that a sheet being carried oh the feed cylinder will not be transferred to the impression or varnish cylinder.

To this end the gripper opening cams are allowed to swing out of their operative positions in response to actuation of the trip mechanism initiated by the presentation of an imperfect sheet at the front guide somewhat in the manner in which the gripper opening cams retract in the aforesaid patents; but the present invention contemplates an improvement in this respect. The gripper opening cams are held in their proper operative positions by latches which, like the latch holding the plate cylinder or varnish roll in its operative position, are released in consequence to the functioning of the trip mechanism, all latches being tripped by the same mechanism.

Whenever a varnisher is stopped there is 9.1.. ways the possibility that the varnish on the applicator rolls and in the fountain will set. Hence, it is desirable to keep the applicator rolls running. In vamishers heretofore in use no provition was made for this other than to move the varnish roll away from the impression cylinder without disconnecting it from the drive of the machine so that the machine could be run empty, 7 i. e. without having sheets pass through.

The present invention, however, contemplates Q the provision of simple means for running the vision of an improved varnish applicator assem-' bly so designed and constructed that access to all parts thereof is easily had.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of theherein disclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one complete example of the physical embodiment of the invention. constructed according to the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a varnishing machine diagrammatically illustrating the elements with which this invent-i on is concerned;

Figure 2 is a feed side view of a varnishing machine embodying this invention and showing the parts diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side view on an enlarged scale of the retractible gripper opening cams and the mechanism by which they are controlled;

Figure 4 is an end view of the feed cylinder and part of the impression cylinder with the grippers of the feed cylinder shown in three positions to diagrammatically illustrate the manner in which good sheets are received by the feed cylinder and transferred to the impression cylinder, and defective sheets are dropped into the discard pile;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the levers and linkage through which response of the detector finger upon presentation of an imperfect sheet at the front guide of the machine acts to prevent ,transfer of the defective sheet to the impression cylinder and simultaneously opens the printing couple by retracting the varnish applying roll;

i d simply-moved out and the varnish roll swung Figure 10 is a gear side view of the machine illustrating particularly the varnish applicator assembly moved out and being driven by its own independent motor;

Figure 11 is a detail view illustrating the sheet detector finger and its associated mechanism; and

Figure 12 is a perspective view illustrating how a back-turned edge portion of a sheet renders it defective and causes the sheet detector finger to remain in the position which initiates functioning of the trip mechanism.

Referring now particularly to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals indicate like parts, the numeral 5 designates the impression or varnish cylinder on which the sheets are carried in their passage past a varnish applicator, including a varnish roll 6.

The sheets are fed singly to the varnish cylinder by a feed cylinder '1. Both these cylinders have the usual grippers and at their point of tangency the sheets. are transferred from the feed cylinder to the varnish cylinder through suitable manipulation of the grippers.

A feeder of any suitable design presents the sheets S to the front guide 8 of the machine, which is located above the' feed cylinder. If the sheet is perfect it is transferred to the impression cylinder and thereby carried past the varnish roll to be presented to the gripper bars 9 of an endless chain conveyor I0, which carries the varnished sheets through a drying chamber, not shown.

If the sheet is defective, as when a corner por tion thereof is turned over as shown in Figure 12, a detector finger ii at the front guide is allowed to remain in its normal position whereupon the functioning of the trip mechanism controlled by the detector finger actuate's mechanism to be hereinafter described, by which the grippers on the feed and varnish cylinders are left closed as they pass their transfer point so that the defective sheet which has been taken by the feed cylinder is not transferred to the varnish cylinder but is carried around to a discharge point and dropped into a receptacle l2 adapted to hold the discard pile.

The response of the trip mechanism to prevent transfer of the sheet to the impression or varnish cylinder is accompanied by retraction of the varnish roll away from the varnish cylinder to preclude the application of' varnish onto the naked cylinder, for as noted hereinbefore, the rejection of the imperfect sheet does not entail stopping the machine. Instead the machine continues to operate and a sheet on the varnish cylinder is delivered therefrom in the usual way so that the varnish cylinder runs naked until the next proper sheet is transferred thereto by the feed cylinder.

As is customary in printing machines, the feed and varnish cylinders are supported by side frames l3, the feed cylinder being mounted on a shaft 14 and the impression or varnish cylinder on a shaft (5.

The grippers ll of the feed and impression cylinders'are illustrated as being of the conventional tumbler type to be opened and closed in the conventional manner which need not be specifically defined except to point out that the opening of the grippers at the transfer point where the sheet is transferred from the feed cylinder to the impression cylinder is controlled by retractible cams.

The retractible cam I8 which controls the grippers on the feed cylinder is pivoted as at l9 and the retracti'ble cam 20 for the grippers on the pers at the proper time to effect transfer of the sheet, but when the cams are permitted to swing to their inoperative positions, shown in dotted lines, as a result of retraction of the supports 22 and 23, the grippers remain closed. Thus, a defective sheet that enters the machine and is picked up by the grippers on the feed cylinder, shown in light broken lines at the top of Figure 4, if not transferred to the impression cylinder is carried to a discharge point also indicated by the open gripper shown in light broken lines at the lower portion of Figure 4, at which point the defective sheet is released to pass down to a discard pile.

Being of the tumbler type, the closing and opening of the grippers at the receiving and discarding positions is effected by fixed pins 25 and 25 located in the Path of the tumbler arms of the grippers to be engaged thereby as the feel cylinder revolves a plurality of levers 48 fixed thereto which in the The tumbling of the grippers to their open posltions can, of course, take place anywhere beyond the transfer point where the sheet is transferred from the feed cylinder to the impression cylinder, but by having it occur at the point indicated in Figure 4 it facilitates the discard of defective sheets carried along by the feed cylinder.

The cam supporting bell crank levers. 22 and 23 are held in their operative positions by a link- 6 about its pivotal support is required to disengage the latch 21. A tension spring 43 yieldingly restrains such clockwise rotation of the lever 4!. but when a defective sheet is presented at the front guides of the machine, the lever M is rocked about its pivotal support in a clockwise direction 5 to release the latch '21 and allow the cams t0 swing to their inoperative positions.

To so actuate the lever 4| in response to th presentation of a defective sheet at the front guides, a lever arm 44 fixed to a shaft 45 carries a finger 46 at its lower outer end in line with a roller on the end of the lever 4|.

'upon oscillation of the shaft 45 in a counterclockwise direction.

Such oscillation of the shaft 45 is brought about in the following manner: the shaft 45 which extends across the entire width of the machine has normal position of the shaft 45 extend substantially. horizontally toward the direction from which the sheets are fed. The levers 48 are in exact alignment and the number employed depends upon the width of the sheets. At least two are preferably employed and they are adjusted along the length of the shaft 45 to be near the sides of the sheet.

The outer ends of these levers 48 carry notched pendants 49 in line with the sheet detectors ii.

' Each detector finger is pivotally mounted on an arm 50 pivoted to a fixed support as at 5| and connected at its outer end by a .link 52 to a lever 53 fixed to a rock shaft 54. The shaft 541s con age restrained against movement to a releasing position by a latch indicated generallyby the number 21. The linkage by which the cam supports are held up comprises a lever 2-8 fixed to ashaft 29 which is journalled in the adjacent side frame of the machine, the lever it being inside the frame.

Links W and 3t connect the outer end of the lever 28 with the cam supporting levers 22 and .23 respectively so that as long as the lever 2b is held in its normal raised position defined by an adjustable stop 32, the cam supports hold the cams in their proper operative positions. Assurance that the lever 28 will remain in its normal position defined by the stop 32 is provided-by a tension spring 33 which pulls down on the lever. It

is to be observed that adjustment of the stop 32 sets the location of the cams l8 and 20. A horizontal bar 34 connecting the lever 2 i with the latch releasably holds the lever in its normal position. This bar 34 has one end thereof connected to an arm of the lever 28 and its other end is connected to a lever 35 medially pivoted on a fixed stub shaft 36. A compression spring 31 acting against the lever 35 yieldingly.urges the same in a counterclockwise direction (in Figure 3) and tends to push the horizontal bar 34 to the left. Such leftward shifting of the bar 34 would release the gripper. opening cams for gravitational descent to inoperative positions, but as noted hereinbefore the latch 21 restrains the shifting of the bar.

The latch 21 comprises a notch 38 in the bar 3% and a flange 39 carried by a pin it and engaging in the notch. The pin 40 is secured to a lever li which is pivoted as at 42 upon a fixed support and these parts are so arranged that clockwise rotation of the lever 4i (Figure 3) tinuously oscillated by a cam 55 acting through a cam follower 56 mounted on 'a lever 51 which in turn is connected with the shaft 54 through a link 58 and a lever 59.

The cam 55 is mounted on the shaft l4 of the feed cylinder and has a concentric high" exbe engaged by thejleading edge of the sheet and swung out of their normal positions to disalign their upper ends from the notches in the pendants 49. Hence, when the detector fingers are lifted by the oscillation of the shaft 54 they willhave no eflect upon the cross shaft 45 and the latch 2'! will be left engaged.

However, if the sheet presented to the front guide is defective as would be the case if the front edge were turned over as shown in Figure 12, at least one of the detector fingers would not be moved out of alignment with the notch in its associated pendant .49 and consequently the elevation of that detector finger would result in counterclockwise oscillation of the cross shaft 45. Such oscillation of the cross shaft 45, as noted hereinbefore, ieffects disengagement of the latch 21 with the result that the gripper opening cams drop down out of their operative positions so that the defective sheet, which would be carried along by the feed cylinder, would not be transferred to the impression or varnish cylinder. Instead,

An adjustable stop 4'! defines the normal position of the lever r as shown in Figure 4, the defective sheet would be carried around to the point at which the grippers of the feed cylinder are tumbled to their open positions; whereupon the sheet would be released for passage to the discard pile.

With the next revolution of the feed cylinder the gripper opening cams would be restored to their normal operative positions and the latch 21 reengaged. This is accomplished by a resetting cam 62 also revolving with the feed cylinder and in line with a cam follower 63 on the lower end of the medially pivoted lever 95. The lever 36 being connected to thehorizontal bar 94 pulls the some back against the tension or the spring 91 as the resetting cam 62 passes under the cam following roller 63 to reengage the latch 21 and restore the cam supports 22 and 29 to their positions holding the gripper opening cams operative.

Concomitantly with the release of the gripper opening cams l8 and 26 to release the latch 21 in the manner described, the varnish roll 6 is supported by a lever 84 pivoted as at 65 to a fixed support and in turn supported against dropping by a bell crank lever 66.

The bell crank lever 66 is fixed to a cross shaft 91 which extends across the entire machine, and

one arm of the bell crank lever carries a roller 69 and the otherarm has a stub shaft 69 projecting therefrom. The roller 69 engages the finished surface of a pad 10 on the underside of the lever 64, and the stub shaft 69 is engaged by a latch bar 1| and reset bar 12.

It is, of course, to be appreciated that there are two levers 64, one at each side of the machine and that there are likewise two supporting bell crank levers 66; but on the gear side of the machine, which is the one illustrated in Figure 10, the lever 66 does not carry a stub shaft 69. Instead, it provides a spring abutment 13 against which the pressure of a spring 14 isapplied. The spring 14 thus tends to rock the cross shaft 61 in the direction urging the stub shaft 69 against the latch bar 1|. Consequently, if the latch bar 1i is moved out of engagement with the stub shaft 69 the cross shaft 61 rocks and the support for the levers 64 moves down a distance sufllcient to, disengage the varnish roll 6 from the impresrich or varnish cylinder. Y

The extent to which the cross shaft 61 rocks upon withdrawal of the latch bar 1i is defined by an adjustable stop 15 on each side of the machine.

The latch bar 1| has a fixed pivotal support 16 and is connected by means of a link 11 to a lever 18 fixed to the shaft 29. Thus, when the shaft 29 rocks in response to release of the latch 21 the latch bar 1| is lifted out of engagement with the stub shaft 69 with the result that the varnish roll is retracted concomitantly with the swinging of the cams l9 and to their inoperative positions. I

Restoration of the varnish roll to its operative position and reengagement of the latch bar 1| with the stub shaft 69 is effected by reciprocation of the reset bar 12. The free end of this bar is supported on a roller 19 to be at all times in line with the stub shaft 69, and its opposite end is connected as at 80 to a. medially pivoted lever 8| which carries a cam follower 82 to track on a reset cam 83. The reset cam 83, which like the other reset cams is mounted on the shaft I 4 of the feed cylinder, is timed to operatively actuate the reset bar when the opening in the impression or varnish cylinder in which the grippers are located is opposite the varnish roll.

Consequently, the momentary positive lifting of the varnish roll once each cycle the machine runs without a sheet on the impression or varnish cylinder will have no objectionable effect as the varnish roll will not contact the naked cylinder.

To enable the latch, which consists of the bar ,1! and the stub shaft 69, to be accurately set, a

i it is seen that this entire assembly is arranged to be moved or slid to and from its operative position which in itself is highly advantageous due to the accessibility it affords.

For this purpose the applicator assembly is slidably supported on tracks 85 fixed to and projecting from the side frames l3 of the machine. These tracks, which are U-shaped in crms section, provide slideways for supporting rails 86 on the outer ends of which the side frames 81 of the applicator assembly are secured.

Movement of the applicator assembly toand from its operative position is effected by rocking a shaft 88 by means of a crank 89 fixed to one end of the shaft. Also fixed on the crank shaft are two crank arms 96 the free ends of which are connected by links iii to the side frames 81 of the applicator assembly. Thus, by swinging the crank 89 the assembly is quickly moved to and from its operative position, and when moved out to its inoperative position shown in Flgure 10, an electric drive motor 92 conveniently mounted on one of the side frames of the machine is automatically drivingly connected with the applicator assembly through the tensioning of a belt 93.

Thus, when the applicator assembly is racked back the liquid varnish may be kept agitated without'necessitating the running of the entire machine.

The fountain or pot 94 which contain the liquid varnish is mounted between the side frames 91 to which it is rigidly secured, and extending across-the top thereof with its axis fixed with relation thereto is a metal gauge roll 95. The ends of the shaft which mounts the gauge roll project beyond the side frames, and on the gear side ofthe machine, shown in Figure 10, this shaft carries a pulley 96 over which the belt 93 is trained and a drive gear 91 which meshes with a drive pinion 98 when the applicator assembly is in its operative position shown in light broken lines in Figure 10.

The drive pinion 98 is so mounted as to accommodate possible improper meshing with the gear 91, and to automatically bring these gears into proper mesh as the machine begins to operate.

The end portions of the gauge roll shaft provide the fixed suppo ts for the levers 64 and also have supporting arms 99 pivotally mounted thereon. These arms 99 lie between the side frames 91 and the levers 64 and their free ends are connected by a cross shaft I96.

The cross shaft I pivotally supports another set of lever arms IN, the free ends of which carry bearings I02 in which the shaft ends of the rubber varnish roll 6 are joumalled.

An eccentric adjusting bushing I03 mounted in each of the lever arms IOI and'fitted onto the shaft ends I00 provides an adjustment for accurately setting the pressure with which the rubber roll 6 engages the gauge roll '95, and thereby determines the thickness of the varnish film applied to the work. Adjusting screws I04 provide means for turning the eccentric bushings, as will be readily apparent.

When the varnish roll 6 is in its operative position contacting the gauge roll and capable of applying varnish to the sheets carried by the impression or varnish cylinder, the outer ends oi-the-lever arms IOI, which carry the varnish rolLare supported on rests I05 fixed to the supporting arms 99. The varnish roll is thus ar ranged to swing about the axis of the gauge roll and its position of elevation with relation toy is dependent upon the the impression cylinder.- position of the supporting arms 99. 1

These arms '09 in turn are adjustably supported on the levers 64 the adjustment being effected by screws I05 carried by the levers 64 and engaging portions of the supporting arms 98. Through this latter adjustment the operative position of the ,vamish roll 6 with respect to the varnish cylinder 5 is properly set.

When the latch bar II is disengaged from the stub shaft -69, allowin 'the bell crank lever 66 to swing in a counterclockwise direction, the leverage system supporting the varnish roll 6 is allowed to drop down to the position shown in Figure 6', in which the varnish roll is spaced from the impression cylinder and the printing coupleisopen.

The varnish roll is positively driven to revolve in the same direction as the varnish cylinder, but at a speed slightly difierent from that of the "varnish cylinder to effect a wiping action by means of a sprocket chain I01 trained about a sprocket I08 fixed to the varnish roll shaft, a sprocket on the shaft of the gauge roll, which is the driven roll, and an idler sprocket I08.

When the entire varnish applicator assembly.

is racked back or moved to its inoperative position shown in Figure 10, the varnish roll 6. may

be swung upinto plain view as clearly shown in Figure 9. This not only exposes the entire varnish fountain to view so that it can be readily 10' adapted to be secured in any position along length thereof by a set screw I M.

Medially pivoted to the bracket is a lever arm II5 the upper end of which has the wiper arm per se pivoted thereto and the lower end of which is arranged to abut against an adjustable stop A toggle to its operative position defined by the engagement of the undersurface thereof with the adjacent top edge of the fountain, or holds the wiper in an upwardly swung position shown in Figure 9. With the wiper in its operative position, adjustment of the screw H6 moves the same toward and from the rubber varnish roll, as will be readily apparent.

v the It is to be observed that this manner of mounting the wipers and particularly the to le arrangement, permits the wipers to be automatically swung to inoperative positions as the rubber varnish roll is lifted, and that when swung to such positions the toggles hold the same elevated so that the varnish roll can be returned to its operative position without interference from the wipers. V I

If, after the varnish roll is returned to its operativeposition. the wipers are not individually restored to their positions engaging the roll, the

return of the varnish applicator assembly to its operative position automatically brings the wipers back-into engagement with the varnish roll. This is accomplished by a guard II8 carried by the fixed part of the machine and provided with e an overhanging arm which engages the raised wipers as the applicator assembly is moved into its operative position.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawingsfit will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention provides means whereby clefective sheets presented to the front guides of a i printing press, varnisher, or the like are discardcleaned out if necessary, but so holds the bearings I02 of thevarnish roll that the roll can be easily removed. The position shown in Figure 9 to which the varnish roll is swung is defined by a stop link I I0.

In the varnishing of printed sheets it is necessary to provide means. for leaving parts of the sheets unvarnished, that is, dry strips must be left at intervals along the width of the sheets.

' For this purpose wipers III are provided. These wipers wipe the varnish off the rubber varnish roll so that in the finished work an unvarnished strip will appear in line with each such wiper.

Inasmuch as thelocation of the unvarnished or dry strips is dependent upon the nature of the I work, the wipers are adjustable lengthwise of the varnish roll and to this end they are all mounted on a bar or track Il2'fixed to the undersured without necessitating stopping the machine,

, and that this invention further provides means operable without stopping the press for opening the printing couple upon presentation of a defective sheet at the front guides so as topreclude the possibility of having the impression cylinder, which continues to run naked," receive an impression; and that this invention also provides a simple manner of keeping the varnish in the fountain of a-varnisher agitated when the machine is idle and without necessitating running the entire machine with the added advantags that the entire varnish applicator assembly may be moved to a position making all parts thereof readily accessible.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In a printing machine of the character described, the combination of: a printing couple biased to open position; means for feeding sheets to the printing couple including a pair of cylinface of the fountain and extending for the length I thereof.

Each wiper has a mounting bracket II3 slidable along the lenth 0f the bar or track and ders equipped with sheet grippers for holding sheets thereon; means for actuating the grippers to effect transfer of the sheets from one cylinder to the other including retractible cams; latch held means for holding the cams in their operative positions; latch held means for holding the printing couple closed; adetector for ascertaining if the sheets fedare' defective; means governedgby the detector for releasing both of said latch held means upon presentation of a defective sheet to the detector so that such defective sheet is not passed through the printing couple,

n1 yieldingly urges the wiper down f 11 and the printing couple is open during the time no sheet passes therethrough; and means automatically operable during the next cycle of the' machine for reclosing the printing couple, restoring the cams to their operative positions and resetting said latch held-means to hold the printing couple closed and the cams in their operative positions. 1

2. In a printing machine of the character described, the combination of a feed cylinder to receive sheets entering the machine; grippers on the feed cylinder to grip and hold a sheetthereon; animpression cylinder in juxtaposition to said feed cylinder so that sheets maybe transferred from the feed cylinder to the impression cylinder; grippers on the impression cylinder to the other including retractible cams; latch means take the sheet from the feed cylinder and hold it on the impression cylinder; means for actuating said grippers to effect transfer of the sheet from the feed cylinder to the impression cylinder; a detector for ascertaining if the sheets fed'to the feed cylinder are defective or defectively presented thereto; mechanism controlled by said detector for rendering said gripper actuating means ineffective totransfer a sheet from the feed cylfor holding the retractible cams in their operative sheet transfer positions; a detector'for ascertaining if sheets presented to the machine are defective; means governed by the detector for releasing said latch means in the event a defective sheet is presented to the detector: means also governed by the detector for effecting opening of the printing couple in the event a defective'sheet V is presented to the detector; meansope'rable durcylinders arranged in juxtaposition so that the inder to the impression cylinder so thatanimperfect or imperfectly fed sheet on the feed cylinder is held thereon by its grippers beyond the transfer point; and means for opening the grippers on the feed cylinder to release the imperfec or imperfectly fed sheet for discard, V 1- 3. In a printing press equipped with a printing couple movable from closed to open positions and having a feed cylinder to receive sheets entering the press and a receiving cylinder to receive sheets from the feed cylinder prior to passage of the sheets through the printing couple: sheet grippers on said cylinders; mechanism for opening said grippers to effect transfer of sheets from the feed cylinder to the receiving cylinder; mechanism responsive to the presentation of an imperfect sheet to the feed cylinder for rendering said last named mechanism ineffective to open the grippers, without necessitating stopping of the press, so that the press continues to operate and a preceding sheet on the receiving cylinder passes through the press in the usual manner while the imperfect sheetcis retained on the feed cylinder beyond the transfer point between the cylinders; means for opening the grippers of the feed cylin.

der at a point beyond said transfer point to discard the imperfect sheet; means also responsive to the presentation of an imperfect sheet to the feed cylinder-for effecting opening of the printing couple so that the'printing couple is open at discard of an imperfect sheet from the feed cylinder.

4. In a printing machine of the character described, the combination of: a! printing couple normally held closed but movable to an inoperative open position; means for feeding sheets through the printing couple including .a pair. of cylinders equipped with sheet grippers for holding sheets thereon and arranged in juxtaposition so that sheets maybe transferred from one cylinder to the other; means for actuating the grip pers to eifectsheet transfer from one cylinder to (5 feed cylinderygrippers for the feed cylinderfor sheets may be transferredfrom one cylinder to the other, said cylinders being equipped with sheet grippers; means for actuating the "sheet grippers to effect transfer of sheets from one cylinder to the other including retractible cams; means for holding the retractible cams intheir operative sheet transfer positions, 'said means being biased to a position releasing the camsfor retraction to non-transfer positions; means for holding the printing couplein an'oper'ative closed position; alatch for securing both of said holding.

means against their biasing forces to normally maintain the gripper actuating cams and the couple; resetting cam means; and .means ac v tuated by said resetting cam means for restoring the time when transfer of an imperfect sheet to said latch held holding means to their positions maintaining the cams and printing couple operative and for effecting resetting of the latch.1

.6. In a printing machine of the type having a printing couple and means for feeding sheets to the printing couple including a pair of cylinders provided with grippers for holding sheets thereon and for effecting transfer of sheets from one cylinder to the other prior to passage of the sheets through the printing couple: a detector for ascertaming if sheets presented'to the machine are defective or defectively presented; means governed by said detector in consequence to presentation of a defective sheet to the machine for concomitantly precluding transfer of such sheet from one cylinder to the other and for opening the printing couple without otherwise interfering with operation of the machine; means for actuating the grippers f the cylinder upon which the defective sheet is retained beyond the'normal transfer point thereof so that such defective sheet is discarded; and means for automatically reclosing the printing couple in consequence to continued rotation of said cylinders so that the printing couple is closed in time to act upon a properly fed sheet following said defective sheet.

'7. In a printing machine of the type having a printing couple automatically opened at the dictation of a sheet detector in consequence to feeding of a' defective sheet into the machine: means for feeding sheets into the machine for passage through the printing couple thereof including a 13 holding sheets thereon; means for opening said grippers in timed relation to the operation of the machine to effect transfer of sheets from said cylinder and into the machine, said gripper opening means including a retractible cam; latch held means for holding said retractible cam in its gripper opening sheet transfer position; means governed by said detector and operable in conse-' quence to detection of a defective sheet thereby for tripping said latch held means to effect retraction of said gripper cam to a non-transfer position and consequently retention of such defective sheet on the feed eylinderbeyond the normal transfer point thereof; and means for opening a closed gripper beyond said transfer point to release a defective sheet retained on said feed cylinder.

ELMER w. BELLUCHE. FRANK R. BELLUCHE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 151,499 Montague et a1. June 2, 1874 975,294 Scott Nov. 8, 1910 981,951 Scott Jan. 17, 1911 1,012,485 Waite Dec. 19, 1911 Re. 16,905 Albert Mar. 20, 1928 448,749 Fayol Mar. 24, 1891 1,670,569 Claybourn May 22, 1928 2,077,470 Federwitz Apr. 20, 1937 2,102,984 Von Hofe Dec. 21, 1937 1,114,020 Niles Oct. '20, 1914 1,840,750 Sweet et a1 Jan. 12, 1932 2,153,979 Eckhard Apr. 11, 1939 2,231,914 Huck Feb. 18, 1941

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