985. Lagerman, A. Jan. 14. Platen presees ; feeding sheets; delivery apparatus.-Relates to a machine in which the sheets are automatically separated, carried to the platen, and, after printing, carried from the platen to a delivery table. Fig. 1 shows a side view of the machine. The platen 8 is carried by arms 9 pivoted at 10, and is moved to and from the type bed 11 by rods 7 connecting it to crank-pins 6, one on a crank 5 and the other on a wheel 3 both on the shaft 4. The wheel 3 and shaft 4 are driven by a pinion 2 on the driving-shaft. The forme is inked in the ordinary way by rollers 12 and suitable inking-mechanism. The paper, card, envelopes, bags, &c. to be printed are placed on a table 13. There are preferably two tables 13 placed side by side, which may be fed up together or independently for feeding one or two sheets. The top sheet is lifted by a suction pipe 17 having nozzles 18, and connected to the suction bellows or apparatus 16 by a pipe 15. This suction device is described in Specification No. 193, A.D. 1903. The lifted sheet is grasped by grippers on arms 27 fixed to a shaft 26 oscillated by an arm 44 connected by a rod 45 to a pin 46 fixed on one of the crank-pins 6 but eccentrically to it. The grippers are mounted on arms 28 pivoted at 41 on the arms 26, an extension of one of the arms 28 limiting their movement by a pin and slot 42, 43, Fig. 9. The grippers consist of a set of jaws 30 fixed on the transverse bar 29 connecting the ends of the arms 28, and a set of jaws 31 pivoted at 33 and held in closed position by a spring 35. On the grippers 31 are projections 37 engaging projections 38 on a shaft 39 having an arm 40, which contacts with a cam-piece pivoted on the frame, to open the grippers to take the separated sheet. When the grippers have carried the sheet up to the level of the platen, the latter has moved up so that the grippers are close to it, and they deliver the sheet to a set of spring fingers or grippers on the upper edge of the platen. The grippers 31, 30 are properly guided by a roller on one of the arms 28 running upon a guide-track fixed on the platen. The spring fingers on the platen are opened to receive the upper edge of the sheet by a projection on one of the gripper arms 27. As the arms 28 can move on the pivots 41, against the pressure of a spring, the movement of the platen towards the bed is not interfered with as the sheet is placed upon it by the grippers. After the impression, the grippers move down between the platen and bed for another sheet. The sheet is taken from the platen, when it has moved back from the bed, by a set of grippers carried by arms 59 on a shaft 58 rocked by an arm 90 connected by a rod 91 to one of the arms 9. The delivery grippers 64, 65, Fig. 11, are mounted in arms 61 pivoted at 62 on the ends of the arms 59, and one of the arms 61 carries a roller running on guides to guide the grippers to and from the platen and the delivery table 69. A part of the guide is pivoted at 72, and is attached to a part 79 engaged by a projection on one of the arms 27 to rock the guide and move the grippers so as to lift the sheet away from the upper edge of the platen. The grippers consist of a set of jaws 65 fixed on the cross-bar 60 connecting the arms 61, and a set of jaws 64 on a pivoted cross-bar 63. The grippers 64 are closed by a spring, and are opened by arms 66, 67 attached to the bar 63. The arm 67 engages a pivoted cam-piece 76 to open the grippers when at the platen, and the arm 66 engages a fixed piece on the framing to open them to deliver the sheet on to the table 69. The released sheet is pressed down on to the table 69 by a pivoted frame 68 on the gripper arms operated by a projection 85 on the guide. The platen grippers 93 are of ordinary construction, but the bar 94 from which they extend is pivoted on the platen arms. The feedtables 13 are mounted to move up and down in a magazine 14 attached to arms 14<x> hung on a shaft 100 in arms 20 of a shaft 19 rocked by an arm 22 and rod 21 connecting it to one of the arms 9. The magazine and tables are thus moved together, up and down, at each operation of the machine. The tables are fixed to rods 102 extending down through holes in arms 103 on rack bars 105 mov able in guides on the magazine arms 14<x>. The tables are held up, as high as shoulders on the rods 102 permit, by springs 104. There is a rack bar 105 at each side of the machine, one for each table, and these may be operated to raise the tables independently, to keep the tops of the piles at constant level, when two sheets are fed together. Each rack bar engages a pinion on the shaft 100, which is in two parts connected by a clutch, so that the pinions may be rotated independently or together. Each pinion is rotated by a ratchetwheel 107, and a pawl 110 on a lever 111 operated by a cam 113 on the rocking shaft 26. To the lever 111 is pivoted a rod 121, the lower end of which extends down over the top of the pile. The pawl 110 is normally held away from the wheel 107 by a pivoted stop arrangement, but when the level of the pile falls sufficiently, the rod 121 permits the lever 111 to move the pawl down far enough to clear the atop, and the pawl then, in its upward movement, engages the wheel 107, and feeds up the table 13.