US814927A - Apparatus for producing matrices for electrotypes and the like. - Google Patents

Description

No; 814,927. PATENTED MAR.13, 1906.

. E. ALBERT.

- APPARATUSFOR PRODUCING MATRICES, FOR E'LEOTROTYPBS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 6. 1905.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

v I 5 07mm 7 h r/m m. wzzzwm No. 814,927. PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906.

- E. ALBERT. APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING MATRICES FOR ELEGTRQI YPES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED DOT. 6.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

, I V D I I 1 LI U nessea' UNITED STATES PATENT err-Ion EUGEN ALBERT, or MUNICH, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO FERDINAND w sEnJoF NEW YORIQN. Y. A

' APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING MA'lRlCl-IS FOR' ELECTROTYPE AND THE LIKIE..

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 13, 1906.

Application filed October 6,1906. serial No. 281,668.

To all whom it 1ncty,c 0ncern;.

Be it known that'I, EUGEN ALBERT, a sub resident of Munich, Bavaria, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Producing Matrices for Electrotypes and the Like, which the following is a specification, reference being had to the ac.- companying drawings, forming a part hereof.

In the manufacture of matrices for electrotypes it has long been recognized that if the impression could be made satisfactorily from the die or original directly upon a lead late a great saving of time and labor wou d be gained. The process of electrotyping asitis commonly practiced at the present time involves the preparation of awax plate, the making of the impression in this wax plate from the die or original, the so-called buil'ding up of'the impression, and the leading of the plate before the electrolytic formation of the copper shell thereon'and the removal of the wax and the substitution of a lead back I therefor after the. coppershell has been com ment of a able meta in the place of the wax late Would tend toward the simplication o the Broadly pleted. It is-at once obvious that the elimination of the wax and the direct employlate of lead or of some other suitprocess in a very large -measure. speaking, there .have been two difliculties which have heretofore stood in the Way of -.eliminating the wax and effecting the impressions directly in lead or other soft metal plates. One of the difliculties has been that notwithstanding any degree of pressure which might beapplied to press a die and a lead plate together the lead would not take the impression properly, and the other difficulty was that to make relatively large impressions such an enormous amount of pressure was required to impress the lead that it was-quite out of therange of even a large hydraulic or other ress to effect. The first-mentioned difliculty was due to the fact that when a die or original was pressed into a lead plate the portions of the plate opposite the elevations of the original had to be forced into the plate, I displacement of such portions of the plate by compression within itself. Notwithstanding the large pressures applied to effect the impressions, WlllCll in the case of half-tones and photogravures often destroyed the fine linesof the originals, the lead could not be made to enter and fill, properly the hollows or deep portions of the originals, whereby, although the elevated portionsof the originals might be impressed in the lead, yet the impressions as a whole were in most cases'very unsatisfactory. In accordance with the present improvements this difficulty is overcome by employing a yielding or relatively soft layer between the lead or other substance receiving the impression and the platen of a press by which it is supported or through whlch it receives pressure, so that the lead plate or other substance being impressed rests between this yielding layer and the die or original. In this way when the impression 1s bemg made the elevated dportions of'the die or original force the lea orother impressionsreceiving substance into the yielding layer, wh1ch by reactionary pressure forces the lead or other lmpression-receiving substance into the deep portions of the die. Furthermore, this result is effected with com' aratively moderate pressures, and thus the e lines of the originals in the cases of half-tones and photogravures and the elevated portions of the dies in the case of woodcuts are uninjured. The other difficulty in effectingdirect impressions upon lead, or for that matter upon wax, is due, as was stated above, to the very great pressure needed to produce relatlvely large impressions. For instance, to efiect in wax an eight by ten half-tone impression requires a pressure of about two hundred tons, and the power required to produce any 1mpression is substantially proportional to the size or extent of the impression. On this account the size or extent of the impression which could be produced heretofore even in wax was limited the power which ,the press employed to make the impression could exert. In accordance with the present invention the impressions are produced in sectlons, Whereby the power requiredto produce. the whole impression will not necessarily be of a very high degree, but will be substantially proportional to the size of the section and w ll have to be applied to produce the whole impressionat, least as many times as the particular. section produced by one operat1on of the press is contained in the whole impression. In order to efiect the sectional molding of the impression, a peculiarly formed pressure- A block or platen is employed, between which and the die or original theiinpressionqeceiv' inggpiece is placed, a soft layer or some placed between said piece and the peculiarlyformed pressure-block, as referred to above. The improvements will be more fully described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the invention is illustrated in a general way and in which a press that may be employed in car rying out the improvements is shown.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a number of brass rules set at d fferent dis- Sing particularly the platens an tances apart in a block. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of thesame, taken on a plane indicated by the line 2 2 in Fig.1 Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a metal matrix stamped in the ordinary way, the matrix resting down during the stamping upon a rigid surface, such as a steel platen. Fig. 4 is a similar view of a metal matrix which during the stamping rests down upon a yielding substance. Fig. 5 is a view in front elevation of a ress, show- 5 the parts immediately adjacent thereto with a die or original, an impression-receiving piece, &c., resting between the platens. F ig. 6 is a similar view in side elevation. Fig. 7 is a view in vertical section of the lower end of the upper platen, taken on a plane indicated by the line 3 3 in Fig. 5, the difference inelevation between the successive steps in the stepped surface in this platen being exaggerated for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the same; and Fig. 8 is a plan view of the under side of the u per platen.

' Re erence will first be had to Figs. 1 to 4, in which there is illustrated in a eneral way the result obtained when a piece of metal resting down upon a hard fiat surface is molded under pressure and the result obtained when a piece of metal in contact with a relatively soft layer is molded under pressure. The brass rules (1 represent the elevated portions of a die or origina b, and the spaces between them represent the hollows, recesses, depressions, or deep parts of the die or original. When the impression-receiving piece 0 is in contact with an unyielding surface-as when resting down,

' up into .the hol for instance, upon the steel platen of a press the elevated portions of the die or ori inal, in the present case the brass rules, disp ace under great pressure (indicated at d, Fig. 3) portions of the impression-receivin piece, which remains perfectly fiat upon the supporting-platen, Figl. 3. If the pressure be sufficiently great, t e elevated portions of the die or original will sink deep enough into the impression-receiving piece to bring the portions of the im ression-receiving piece well lbws and depressions of the die; but, as was stated above, in the case of such impression-receiving substance as lead these great pressures usually result in the destruction of the die or original. On the other hand, by the use of a yielding layer a, Fig. 4,

next to the impression-receiving substance equivalent device also being preferably the pressure from the elevated portions of the die, in the present case from the brass rules a, is transmitted thereto and causes reactionary pressures in said layer, the lines of force of such reactionary pressures being illustrated in Fig. 4.. Such pressures tend, as is obvious, to press the impression-receiving substanceinto the hollows or depressions of the die, while when the impression-receiving substance is in contact with the steel platen, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the rigidity of the steel offsets the reactionary pressures therein, and they are not, therefore, transmitted to the impressionreceivin substance. Such a smooth or yieldin layer e may comprise a number of sheets ofpaper or any other handy material, the thickness of this layer being about one centimeter, more or less, and depending somewhat upon the particular character o the stamping. It'is always placed next to the impression-receiving piece, which may rest upon it, or vice versa, as shown in Figs. 5 to 8, where the yielding layer rests upon the impression-receiving piece. In any case the.impression-receiving piece rests between the yieldin layer and the die or original. When a yie ding layer is not employed in the manner above described, the im 3ression-receiving piece, as is obvious, has to e at least a little thicker than the depth of the hollows in the diethat is, than the difference in level between the elevated and depressed portions of the die, as will be clear from Fig. 3. On the other hand, with the yielding layer, as in the present case, an impression-receivin piece of a thickness about equal to onethird tie difference in level between the elevations and depressions of the die is required in ordinary cases, although this depends somewhat upon the nature of the metal or other substance to be impressed. It will be clearly obvious, therefore, that much less pressure is required to form a matrix when a yielding layer is employed, as described, than has been necessary heretofore and that woodcuts, photogravures, and half-tones can be successfully handled by this method, while according to the old process the originals were generally destroyed or the impressions were unsatisfactorily made.

When a large matrix is to be made in which the impression cannot be effected satisfactorily in one operation owing. to the degree of pressure required, it is, in accordance with the present invention, molded in sections. When one section or portion of the impression has been effected, the i1npressionreceiv ing piece, together with the die or original, is moved so as to change its position with respect to the platens or one of them, whereby upon the next operation of the press another will be shaped or formed, and so on until the whole surface has received the completely: formed impression. As the impressions have been roduced heretofore platens of the press have een larger in area than the impressions to be produced, whereby, as will be seen,,the

H, impression was made'complete in a single operation of the press. If, on the other hand,

one of the platenssay the one which is in con;

tact with the impression-receiving piecebe smaller in area than the impression to be produced, it will be clear that each time the press i'sil operated only a portion of the whole impression will be made, and accordingly only a proportion of the total pressure necessary 'for the production of the whole impression atonce will be required to produce the part al impression-as is represented by: the

ratio of the area of the partial impressionto tha'tlof the complete impression. It will be at once obvious, therefore, that in efiecting impressions by this sectional method no relatively'large degree of power is required to be versely with the power which the exerted by the pressandthat the number of impressions required by this sectionalfmethod to elfect'acomplete impression will vary inpress employed is capable ofexertin a In order to prevent the deformation, spreading, giving way sidewise, &c., ofthe' impression-receiving piece during the efiecting of the sectional impressionsthat is, during the; operation of a platen smaller than the whole impression to be produced-the platen is constructed to exert what maybe referred to as. a secondary pressure upon' the impression-receiving piece in addition to the is formed with principal or main pressure, which effects the complete molding-of one of the sections of the impression. For this urpose one of the platens of the press, pre erably the upper platen, is formed with an elevated portion aving an area considerably less than that of the total surface of the laten, and on each side of thiselevated portion the surface of the platen recedes very gradually. These reced-- mg surfaces are preferably in the form of steps, as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, but may be continuously smooth surfaces. -If more convenient than forming each one of the platens of the press with a central elevated portion receding toward the front and just described, a separate plate may be provided with such a surface, and'this plate may be secured to the. platen of the press.

In carrying out the invention a press of any ordinary construction may be employed. In' the drawin s are, shown two platens 1f and 9, one of whic preferably the upper p aten, agcentral elevated portion'ih,

whichextends from one side of the, platen to the other side, and receding from this central -eleyated portion, both toward the front and .tOWard t'he rear of the platen, is'a stepped surface 70. forms a relatively long and narrow oblong back, as

,The central elevated portion thus strip, and the stepped portions on the surface of the platen form similar strips at different elevations which recede successively toward the front and the back from this central elevated portion. The width of each of the steps is largely arbitrary. In the case of impressions in lead where the width of the ele- Vated portion is about seven and one-half centimeters the width of thesteps may be about two andone-half centimeters. The difference in levels between the central elevated portion and the adjacent steps and between successive steps should be chosen so'that at the moment when the central elevated portion eX-- verts a pressure sufficient to completely mold a a section the steps on either side thereof will exert a secondary pressure suflicient to prevent the deformation, spreading, giving way sidewise, &c., of the impression-receiving piece. This in the case of lead-molding necessitates a very'slight difference between the the impressionreceiving piece may be advanced into the press between-the successive impressions, and suitable mechamsm, illustrated in a general way at m, 1s prov1ded whereby the plate Z may be ccnveniently. 'moved' to the-exact extent desired, which mechanism it is unnecessary to show and describejnidetail.

When an impression is to be made in accordance with the improved process, the die or original from which the impression is to be taken, together with the material for receiving the impression, :which is in contact with the face thereof,iis placed upon the plate I in such a position, or the plate Z is subseue'ntly broughtto such a position, that upon iihe dropping of the u per platen the central elevated portion h o the upper platen will be brought 'down, preferab y over the forward end of the im ression-receim'ng piece, which is upon the orward end of the die, form, or original from which the impression is to be. made. When the requisite pressure has been applied through the platens to completethe formation of that portion of the im" pression which is covered by the central elevated portion of the,upper platen,'the upper platen is raised and the plate Z is advanced into the machine, so that upon the neiitpressing a further'portion of the impression will be effected; Then the upper platen is again brought down and the pressure renewed; This operation is continued until the central elevated portion of the upper platen has been brought down over every ,part of the die or formand has thus completed the whole impression.

Byemploying the present improvements the impressions, which are commonly made in Wax at the present time from the dies or originals, may be made directly in lead, and

the pressures required for the direct stamping of the lead will by no means be very great. Accordingly, relatively small presses may be employed, thus not only simplifying the nature of the process, but greatly simplifying the apparatus which it is necessary to employ It will beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the use. of lead as an impression-receiving substance, the invention having been described with specific reference to lead, for the reason that it is a metal which -may be conveniently employed in carryingout the improvements. Neither is the 1nvention to be understood as limited to the elevated surface, and a receding surface fixed with respect to the elevatedsurf-ace upon each side of the elevated surface.

3. A press having upon or inteal with one of its platens a continuous an smooth central elevated surface extending from side to side, a surface fixed with respect to the elevated surface and receding therefrom toward the front .of the press, and a surface fixed with respect to the elevated surface and receding therefrom toward the back of the press.

4. A press having upon or integral with one of its platens a continuous and smooth elevated surface, and a stepped surface fixed with respect to the elevated surface upon each side of the elevated surface.

5. A press having upon or integral with one of its platens a continuous and smooth central elevated surf-ace extending from side to side, a stepped surface fixed with respect to the elevated surface and receding theme. from toward the front of the press and a stepped surface fixed with respect to the elevated surface and receding thenefrom toward the back of the press.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EUGEN ALBERT. Witnes'ses:

MATHILDE K. HELD, Gnono KoRNER,

Images