The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-22 00:00:00

NEW PATENT PRINTING MACHINERY.

On Saturday afternoon a large number of gentle-
men assembled at No. 5, Waterloo-place, to inspect seine
patent printing machinery, which it is proposed to many
into operation by means of a company of shareholders. The
inventor is Major Beniowski. The primary feature of the
scheme is the use of logotypes, the peculiarity of which is
that, besides being composed of double, treble, and even
quintuple combinations of letters, the character to be printed
is stamped at the bottom of the type, and so presented
first to the aye of the compositor, and consequently
a person not trained in what is technically termed compos-
ing can soon with great facility single out the letter or let-
ten he requires. Logotypes, so far from being novel, were
used in printing one newspaper at least towards the close of
the last century, The reason assigned for their abolition
was the immense space required for their proper arrange-
ment, the frames employed being ten times as long as the
ordinary existing case. To remedy this Major Beniowski
has devised what is termed " the authoritor," com-
posed of 1,650 compartments rising above each
other, and all placed within the reach of a
person sitting opposite them in • chair. Here the
single and combined letters are arranged in convenient
alphabetical order ; and, instead of being selected with the
hand, are picked out with metal twee:en. Whatever diffi-
culties may attend the practical every-day working of the
machinery, there can be no doubt that the composing of the
logotypes is an operation of great rapidity. It is part Of
the system that females and children can seen be taught to
compose. On Saturday, • young lady composed five and a-
baltlines from a newspaper, taken up at random, within 3
minutes, which is at the rate of 110 lines per hour,
a speed far above that which is attainable under the estab-
lished system, and which, if the other parts of the plan
correspond with it, must have the effect of immensely re-
ducing the cost of composition. The distribution of the
type, after being used, is performed by means, first, of
drawers into which it has to be dropped, and then by being
slid down the composing apparatus in separate grooves.
One important element of the scheme is the power which
it will afford, if it can otherwise be made
to work, of correcting the composed type in
metal instead of proofs. In addition to the type appa-
ratus, there is a new printing machine, the novel features
of which are that the types are imposed on the interior sur-
face of a cylinder, and therefore cannot, it is alleged, fall
out by their own gravity, or be driven off by the centri-
fugal force, and that the feeding and receiving boards, the
distributing, inking, and impression rollers, &c., are in the
interior of • cylinder, and therefore the whole occupies one-
third of the space that would otherwise be required. Great
stress also is laid on the use of vulcanised India rubber
rollers, which arc not affected by the temperature of the
atmosphere.
The machinery, patents, and m,dels were explained to
the company by the inventor and others concerned in the
matter, and much interest was aaturally manifested. The
following, amongst other gentlemen, were prima' :—Mon-
Chambers, M.P., Colonel Dunne, M.P., Sir Joshua
Wa/meley, M.P., Sir DenhamNorreys, Hart., M.P., E.
H. Craufard, M.P, John Vance, M.P., James Sedleir,
M.P., Benjamin Oliveira, M.P., George Macartney,ll.P.,
Fitestephen French, M.P., Robert Keating, M.P., John
Greene, M.P., W. F. Russell, M.P., Mr. Barlow, director
rest Western Railway, &c.

SALE 0E TIIE SITE OF OLD VERCLAY.—The sale
of this property took place oa Friday. The lot, comprising
the Veralam halls and the site of the Raman city, with the
St. Germain'• estate of KG acres, was bought by Mr. Adams,
beaker, of Ware, for O,StOI. The Earl of Feral= bought
10 urea of the land adjoining for 1,0301. The sale realised
3,000/. more than the sale of the same estate two years
ago, when it was purchased by thiErreehold Land Society,
who it is thought have been induced to give it up in 001114-
Thence of the dialraachisoutent of St. Albans.