The grinding of the inks and colors that are employed in lithographing
is a long and delicate operation, which it has scarcely been possible
up to the present time to perform satisfactorily otherwise than by
hand, because of the perfect mixture that it is necessary to obtain in
the materials employed.
Per contra, this manual work, while it has the advantage of giving a
very homogeneous product, offers the inconvenience of taking a long
time and being costly. The Alauzet machine, shown in the accompanying
cut, is designed to perform this work mechanically.
[Illustration: ALAUZET'S MACHINE FOR GRINDING LITHOGRAPHIC INKS.]
The apparatus consists of a flat, cast iron, rectangular frame,
resting upon a wooden base which forms a closet. In a longitudinal
direction there is mounted on the machine a rectangular guide, along
which travel two iron slides in the shape of a reversed U, which make
part of two smaller carriers that are loaded with weights, and to
which are fixed cast-steel mullers.
At the center of the frame there is fixed a support which carries a
train of gear wheels which is set in motion by a pulley and belt.
These wheels serve to communicate a backward and forward motion,
longitudinally, to the mullers through the intermedium of a winch, and
a backward and forward motion transversely to two granite tables on
which is placed the ink or color to be ground. This last-named motion
is effected by means of a bevel pinion which is keyed to the same axle
as the large gear wheel, and which actuates a heart wheel--this latter
being adjusted in a horizontal frame which is itself connected to the
cast iron plate into which the tables are set.
This machine, which is 2 meters in length by 1 meter in width,
requires a one-third horse power to actuate it. It weighs altogether
about 800 kilogrammes.--_Annales Industrielles._
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